Agribusiness
(http://www.pssac.org/SoilMappingHistory/medium1883californiasoilmap.pdf)
1883 - Agriculture in California
California’s agricultural abundance includes 400 different commodities (produces about half of U.S.-grown fruits, nuts and vegetables); 75,000 farms and ranches –– less than 4% of the nation’s total; agricultural production represents 12.8% of the nation’s total value; California’s top 20 crop and livestock commodities accounted for more than $30 billion in value; 28% of agricultural production shipped to 156 overseas markets ($10.9 billion in 2007 - Canada, European Union, Japan = 57% of total) vs. 16% in 1999.
1841 - William Wolfskill planted oranges on two acres of land between, what is now, 4th and 6th streets, east of Alameda Street, in Los Angeles; first attempt to commercially produce oranges in the state; grove expanded to over 2,500 trees on 100 acres; 1862 - owned over two-thirds of all orange trees in California (largest grove in the United States); planted first persimmon trees in Los Angeles.
1846 - More than 500 ranchos in Alta California (most carved out of former mission-controlled lands following start of secularization of the missions in 1834); northernmost (almost entirely in Shasta County) - San Buenaventura, along the Sacramento River (granted in 1 844 to naturalized citizen Pierson B. Reading (native of New Jersey, came to California in 1843); southernmost - Otay (San Diego County, close to border) owned by Magdalena Estudillo (daughter of Jose Maria Estudillo, Spanish captain of the San Diego company, founder of Estudillo family in California), site of Indian rancheria (Otay Indians helped to destroy first mission of San Diego in 1775). 1850 - some 200 Californio families owned about 14 million acres of land; sold cattle hides and tallow, animal fat used to make candles and soap; made wine, grew citrus fruits (for export); 1851 - Land Law of 1851 set up a group of people to review the Californios' land rights; 1870s - Californios' empire gone.
1850 - Wheat dominated California agriculture; 1860s - 100 flour mills operated in California; 1870s - wheat and flour were the state's most profitable exportable products (bushel of wheat sold for $1.82 in 1870); California was the nation’s most important cattle-raising state, second largest wheat producer; 1894 - glut drove the market price of a bushel down to $0.64; many wheat growers sold their land to farmers who wanted to grow specialty crops (oranges, lemons); end of the 1890s - California dominated by specialty crops; 1970s - wheat prominent in California again, with exports to Northern China.
1851 - George G. Briggs brought 50 peach trees from New York State to Yuba River, near Marysville, California; 1852 - planted trees, started Briggs Orchard; 1853 - produced some of best peaches ever seen.
1852 - Austin Sperry erected his first mill in Stockton, CA, to grind wheat into flour, to provide feed, for the horses and mules which pulled the wagons from tidewater into Sierra mining camps; 1862 - firm name changed to Sperry Mills; 1881 - Sperry four children took over; packed Sperry Drifted Snow Home Perfected Enriched Flour in Salinas, CA; August 5, 1892 - merged with 11 other mills, formed new company named Sperry, Horace Davis as President.
March 1853 - Dr. Thomas Flint, Benjamin Flint and Llewellyn Bixby (cousin) formed company Flint, Bixby Co.; 1854 - arrived in California after driving about 2,000 sheep from Illinois; October 1855 - bought Rancho San Justo from Don Francisco Perez Pacheco for $25,000; 1866 - selected Jotham Bixby (Llewellyn's brother) to manage southern California sheep ranching operations
(Rancho Los Cerritos in Southern California); 1869 - Jotham Bixby (J. Bixby & Co.) exercised purchase option, bought property; half owner along with Flint, Bixby & Co.; 1869-1877 - operated The Coast Line Stage Co. (ran from San Jose to San Diego); 1896 - company dissolved (Llewellyn Bixby's death), properties separated: Flints retained the lands in the North, Bixby heirs kept lands in the South; June 13, 1896 - John Bixby founded Bixby Land Company founded; operated dairies, built the first Sears store in the Long Beach area to accommodate automobiles (1928), built some of the first gas stations for General Petroleum, Shell and Texaco, and developed business parks, car dealerships, hotels and shopping centers; 1922 - Flints property on the San Justo Rancho dwindled to 2,400 acres, acquired by Mme. Leila Butler Hedges for $150,000.00; 2005 - shareholder election changed Bixby Land Company to Real Estate Investment Trust.
1860 - Horace Davis and Andrew Davis received flour mill as payment of bad debt; named Golden Gate Flouring Mills; 1866-76 - Horace served as president of Produce Exchange of San Francisco; 1885 - produced 1,000 barrels of El Dorado brand flour/day; January 1888 - unanimously chosen as 6th President of the University of California; August 5, 1892 - merged with 11 other mills, formed new company named Sperry, Horace Davis as President.
1855 - 1866 - General Edward Fitzgerald Beale, former manager for W.H. Aspinwall and Commodore Stockton, former Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California and Nevada (appointed on March 3, 1853 by President Millard Fillmore), former Surveyor General of California and Nevada (appointed by Lincoln), and family acquired four Mexican land grants (Rancho el Tejon, Rancho la Liebre, Rancho los Alamos y Agua Caliente, and Rancho de Castac) for $90,000; 270,000–acre working ranch located about 60 miles north of Los Angeles, 30 miles south of Bakersfield, CA; largest contiguous piece of private property in California, about 40% the size of the state of Rhode Island; named ‘Tejon’ by Lt. Francisco Ruiz who called the region El Tejon, “the badger,” after his soldiers discovered a badger at the mouth of the canyon during an 1806 expedition; 1868 - Tejon Ranch cattle brand, Cross and Crescent, first recorded in Kern County, CA; 1893 - Truxtun Beale (son) took over.
1858 - Henry Miller (born Heinrich Alfred Kreiser in Brackenheim, Germany), Charles W. Lux, immigrant butchers, formed partnership to sell beef during California Gold Rush; acquired massive land empire, owned over 1.25 million acres of land (stretched from California’s San Joaquin Valley across northwestern Nevada, northward over much of Oregon’s Harney County, Idaho’s Owhyee County into Blue Mountains of Baker and Grant counties, Oregon); 1889 - organized Pacific Live Stock Company; detested as "ruthless monopoly" to many of region’s smaller ranchers, newer residents; meat wholesalers to cattle, irrigation, land reclamation leaders; 1900 - one of nation's largest industrial corporations.
1864 - James Irvine I (had bought an interest in a produce and grocery business in San Francisco in 1854), Benjamin and Thomas Flint, Llewellyn Bixby purchased 120,000 acres that had been assembled through Mexican and Spanish land grants to form The Irvine Ranch; 1876 - Irvine bought out his partners; 1894 - James Irvine II (son) incorporated the land holdings as The Irvine Company; Ranch used for agriculture and grazing; early 1960s - changed as urbanization moved south from Los Angeles County.
1866 - Col. William Welles Hollister, Thomas and Albert Dibblee acquired 14,500 acres in Santa Barbara County, CA after Civil War (fourth largest cattle ranch in County); 1881 - partnership dissolved, Hollister took coastal ranches; 1899 - John James (Jim) Hollister (grandson) became superintendent of Ranch; 1910 - Hollister Estate Company incorporated; 1964 - group of 12 attorneys (The Hollister Company) acquired option to purchase Ranch; 1969 - acquired by Macco Realty (subsidiary of Pennsylvania Railroad); 1970 - acquired by Mortgage Guarantee Insurance Corporation; 1971 - developed as Hollister Ranch real estate, working cattle ranch under Hollister Ranch Cattle Cooperative; 2005 - shipped over 1,500,000 pounds of beef.
1868 - Frank A. Kimball, Warren and Levi Kimball (brothers) purchased El Rancho de la Nación (approximately 27,000 acres), Mexican land grant, and other large tracts of land in south San Diego County for $30,000; 1872 - beginnings of an olive crop; began to process and sell pickled olives for $1.00 per gallon, sold cuttings from his olive trees for 10 cents each; 1883 - shipped 50,000 cuttings to Los Angeles; 1887 - incorporated National City ranch; became the leading San Diego grower-processor of olives, one of a handful of national experts on olive
cultivation and processing.
1869 - Abraham Dubois Starr (proprietor of the Buckeye Grain Mill at Marysville, CA since 1857) built grain mill in South Vallejo, CA (produced 2,200 barrels of flour/ day); 1883 - incorporated flour mill; became the largest employer, producer, exporter of grain in California; 1884 - completed warehouse, cleaning plant and docks of new mill; 1891 - completed biggest, best flour mill in the world (milling capacity of 8,000 barrels a day) on the Carquinez Strait called Wheatport (now west end of Crockett, CA); 1893 - financial panic; wheat dropped to lowest average price ever recorded in United States; Starr forced into bankruptcy; 1894 - acquired by George W. McNear.
1870 - Census recorded 11.5 million acres of farmlands, 6.2 million improved (vs. less than 2.5 million acres improved in 1860); average farm size = 4,466 acres (4x greater than average texas farm, 8x greater than average South Carolina farm); produced 17 million bushels of wheat (vs. 5.5 million bushels in 1860); wool crop = 11.4 million pounds (vs. 2.7 million in 1860); October 1870 - value of wheat shipped (mainly to England) - $20 million (source: New York Times: Wednesday, December 1, 1873).
1872 - Livingston Stone (sent by Professor Spencer F. Baird, first United States Commissioner of Fisheries, to Pacific Coast to obtain supply of king salmon eggs for introduction into East Coast waters to compensate for depletion of Atlantic salmon), William T. Perrin (nephew), Myron Green established Baird Hatchery on McCloud River in Shasta County, CA; first salmon breeding station on Pacific Coast; 1874–1875 - largest in world for hatching of salmon eggs (six to ten million hatched, distributed each year); 1884 - closed due to railroad construction; 1888 - reopened to supply eggs for newly established Sisson Hatchery; 1943 - inundated by water stored behind gigantic Shasta Dam; cut off king salmon of Sacramento River system from ancestral spawning grounds.
December 1873 - Eliza Lovell Tibbets and Luther Tibbets, Riverside, CA, received Bahia navel orange seedlings (sweet, seedless grown in Brazil) bought from William Saunders, head of Experimental Gardens at Department of Agriculture (Washington, DC); planted oranges as source of income (prior plantings failed in rough desert climate); watered them with dishwater; February 1879 - oranges shown at first California Citrus Fair; sold buds of mature trees ($1 per bud) to neighboring nurserymen; birth of California citrus industry; 1893 - Riverside County formed, wealthiest city per capita in country due to orange industry; Washington Navel Orange most successful of Saunders's tenure at Experimental Gardens.
August 1, 1874 - George Washington McNear established G. W. McNear Company (had formed a commission grain merchandise partnership with his brother in 1860, McNear & Brother, in Petaluma, CA; sent their first ship-load of wheat to Europe in 1867); 1880 - concentrated shipping facilities in Port Costa, CA; 1888 - George W. McNear and John McNear (sons) took over; 1893 - acquired huge amount of wheat (more than could be shipped) in Panic of 1893; 1894 - acquired flour mills and warehouses of bankrupt Starr & Company (Wheatport and Vallejo, CA), largest on the Pacific coast; became miller and shipper of wheat; owned about 25 warehouses in the interior portions of California (capacity of 8 million bushels of grain); 1897 - converted flour mill into a sugar refinery; 1905 - acquired by group of Hawaiian sugar planters, renamed C&H Sugar Co.
1880-1893 - California's citrus acreage grew from 3,000 to more than 40,000 acres,
1883 - Charles Henry Holt, Benjamin Holt established Stockton Wheel Company in Stockton, CA (Charles had formed C.H. Holt and Co. in 1869 in San Francisco, a West Coast branch of family’s New Hampshire-based wagon-making business; William Harrison Holt, Ames Frank Holt joined Charles in 1871, formed Holt Brothers Manufacturing; produced wagon wheels made from imported, seasoned Eastern hardwood but climate too cold, damp for wheel fabrication; William and Ames Holt sold ownership to brothers); expanded into agricultural, mechanical implements; 1886 - produced 'Link Belt Combined Harvester', first combine (used flexible chain belts rather than gears to transmit power from ground wheels to working parts of machine); 1892 - incorporated as Holt Manufacturing Company; November 24, 1904 - Benjamin Holt invented first successful track-type tractor (crawler track, with tracks to disperse weight, provide better traction; used later for tanks, moving heavy artillery); made first 'caterpillar' tractor (chosen because motion of track as it traveled resembled movement of caterpillar); December 17, 1907 - received a patent for a "Traction Engine" ("improvement in vehicles, and especially of the traction engine class; and included endless traveling platform supports upon which the engine is carried"); 1910 - Stockton, CA plant manager, Clarence Leo Best, left Holt, resurrected his father's (Daniel Best) tractor company, acquired by Holt in 1908 (had acquired rights to manufacture Remington steam engine, produced range of steam-driven farm machinery, including steam tractors and combine harvesters); named reestablished company C.L. Best Gas Traction Company; February 16, 1910 - Holt Caterpillar accepted deed to bankrupt Colean Manufacturing Company plant in East Peoria (10 1/2 acres of field on which plant stood, later became Caterpillar's first proving ground, selected by Pliny Holt, nephew of Holt Manufacturing founder Benjamin Holt); 12 employees began building track-type tractors; 1913 - introduced crawler tractor patterned after Holt design; 1920 - restructured, renamed C. L. Best Tractor Company; April 15, 1925 - Chickering and Gregory (law firm) filed articles of incorporation for merger of Holt Caterpillar and C. L. Best Gas Traction Company of San Leandro, CA; name changed Caterpillar Tractor Co. (Clarence Leo Best as CEO, headquarters in East Peoria; both businesses had suffered after WW I because military flooded market with used tractors, competition from Fordson, agricultural machinery division of Ford Motor Co.); 2010 - more than 16,000 employees in Peoria area (more than 90,000 employees).
1890 - James Haggin, Lloyd Tevis (brother-in-law, president of Wells Fargo & Company from 1872 to 1892) formed the Kern County Land Company ((had acquired several hundred thousand acres in the San Joaquin Valley, without water, from former Mexican grantees, homesteaders, Southern Pacific Railroad and assorted "swamps" during the 1870s; engineered land-grab in 1877; involved in a major legal battle in 1881 with Henry Miller and Charles Lux over irrigation versus riparian rights to the Kern River; water rights in Kern County suit settled in 1888).
1893 - Nathan W. Blanchard (had shipped oranges by Southern Pacific rail around the country since 1887) and Wallace L. Hardison purchased 413 acres of land from J.K. Gries in Ventura County, CA; developed first large scale citrus production, named Limoneira (‘lemon lands’ in Portuguese); primary crops were lemons, Valencia oranges, walnuts; 1901 - C.C. Teague hired as first General Manager (later became Chairman of Sunkist, founded many organizations including Diamond Walnut); 1920s - acreage under cultivation had quadrupled; 2009 - over 7,000 acres in agricultural production of lemons, avocados, oranges, specialty citrus, pistachios, pluots, cherries.
August 29, 1893 - Group of about 100 prominent orange growers formed Southern California Fruit Exchange (proposed by T.H.B. Chamblin, leader of Pachappa Orange Growers Association in Riverside, CA); federated structure, based on system of cooperative marketing; eight exchange districts, local associations organized within each district; each association did its own packing, established local brand with individual or company names attached; represented approximately 60 Southern California orange growers, shipped 6 million cartons (of state's 7 million total cartons), obtained average net price of about $1 per box (estimated 75 cents more than growers would have received if they had sold it on their own); October 3, 1895 - incorporated; March 27, 1905 - renamed California Fruit Growers Exchange (membership of 5,000 grower-members, represented 45% of California's citrus industry, shipped more than 14 million cartons); 1906 - formed Fruit Growers Supply Company, timber supply company (wooden shipping crates); 1907 - created $7000 advertising campaign (first time perishable food product advertised); 1908 - launched in Iowa, orange sales increased 50%; April 1908 - adopted "Sunkist" as trademark for highest quality oranges (name given by Lord & Thomas, advertising agency); January 5, 1909 - registered "Sunkist" trademark first used October 10, 1907 (oranges); February 1952 - California Fruit Growers Exchange name changed to Sunkist Growers, Inc.
1899 - Sugar and molasses refining = California’s # 1 industry - product sales of @ $16 million (@ $1/2 million more than gold production).
1899 - Carl and Hannah Olson planted their first cherry tree in Valley of Heart’s Delight (now Silicon Valley) in Sunnyvale, CA; 1933 - Rual Charles Olson (son) built the original fruit stand for his wife Rosie; 1996 - lost last major fruit orchard, shut down main operations; July 15, 2009 - opened C.J. Olson airport kiosk in new Terminal B, Mineta San José International Airport, serving Southwest Airlines; fourth generation management (great granddaughter).
April 1899 - George C. Roeding, nurseryman, Chief of the Department of Horticulture, introduced caprifigs containing Blastophaga (fig wasp), imported from from Algiers by Walter Swingle of the USDA, to increase pollination of Smyrna, or Caliimyrna, fig on Fancher Creek Nurseries (founded by his father) in Fresno, CA (transferred pollen, allowed successful propagation and commercialization of Smyrna fig - caprification; 14,000 'Bulletin' cuttings first planted in California in 1880, by Gulian P. Rixford, business manager of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, but died prematurely); 1903 - produced 65 tons; 1943 - fig production in California declined; total acreage dropped by almost half (34,499 to 16,628); 1972 - turn-around; 2009 - California ranked second to Turkey in worldwide production of figs
1909 - M. B. Moraghan obtained permit for harvesting oysters from Tomales Bay (entered trade in oysters from Shoalwater Bay, Washington in 1868, introduced Pacific oysters to San Francisco in 1896; planted oyster beds in Tamales Bay, founded Tomales Bay Oyster Company in 1906); 1936 - last commercial oysters harvested from San Francisco Bay; Company acquired by Gretchen and Drew Alden, partners; 2009 - acquired by Tod Friend, owner of Marshall (CA) Store since 2006; California’s oldest continuously run shellfish farm; oysters, mussels, clams - $2.6 million business in Marin County (4% of county's $67 million agricultural yield, according to Marin County Department of Agriculture).
1913 - Humboldt County Farm Bureau organized as first county Farm Bureau in California; 1914 - Congress created Cooperative Extension Service; 1919 - delegates from 32 county Farm Bureaus met in Berkeley, established California Farm Bureau Federation (combined membership of 24,168; W.H. Walker of Willows elected first president; established offices in two rooms within Hilgard Hall, University of California); 1921 - began publishing Farm Bureau Monthly; 1950 - launched Voice of Agriculture radio program; 1986 - membership peaked at 103,608.
1917 - Orrin O. Eaton, president of the Central California Berry Growers' Association (formed April 9, 1917; 1958 - changed name to Naturipe Berry Growers, Inc. [now part of Naturipe Farms] = largest cooperative in the industry), proprietor of the Oak Grove Berry Farm in Watsonville, CA credited as first to plant lettuce in Monterey County at his Oak Grove Berry Farm (near Sheriff’s Posse Grounds in Natividad; first significant acreage of strawberries in the Salinas Valley by 1921).
May 1, 1917 - Prune, apricot growers of San Joaquin Valley, CA formed California Prune and Apricot Growers Association, Inc. as agricultural marketing cooperative to offer crops of its members to consumers at better prices than were offered by individual growers; membership of about 7,000 controlled about 75% of apricot-bearing acreage, 80% of prune-bearing acreage in California; May 14, 1918 - registered "Sunsweet" trademark first used July 7, 1917 (dried apricots and prunes); April 1921 - reincorporated; 1960 - name changed to Sunsweet Growers, Inc..
1919 - Danish immigrant Tom Knudsen started Knudsen Dairies in Los Angeles; 1983 - acquired by Winn Enterprises for $74.8 million (name changed from Builders Investment Group in 1983; Ted D. Nelson, Dee R. Bangerter and his twin, Lee R. Bangerter - built Care Enterprises from one Anaheim nursing home to nation's fourth-largest nursing home chain, with 1985 revenue of $238.5 million); July 1985 - acquired San Francisco-based Foremost for $50.1 million (nearly tripled its size); 1986 - Knudsen Foods, biggest dairy operation in the West.
1921 - James Griffin Boswell, former regional cotton broker from Georgia, started farm in Corcoran, CA; October 1925 - incorporated J. G. Boswell Company; 1948 - J. G. Bosewell II (son) took over; produced, processed, marketed cotton, tomatoes, wheat, alfalfa in (San Joaquin Valley) California and (New South Wales) Australia; developed real estate projects in Colorado, California, Arizona (Sun City retirement community); largest irrigated farming operation in the U.S.; world’s largest privately owned farm.
1926 - Bruce Church, with financial backing from Whitney Knowlton ($3,000) bought field of head lettuce in Salinas, CA; packed in ice, shipped to eastern markets; made $100,000 on shipment; founded Bruce Church, Inc.; became one of Salinas Valley's largest produce growers, shippers; responsible for popularizing idea of shipping lettuce across US continent from Salinas, CA to East coast (used ice to cover heads of lettuce; legend - term ‘iceberg’ lettuce [known until 1930s as Crisphead lettuce] originated with these deliveries, as children in Maine greeted arrival of the vegetable shipments with shouts of "The icebergs are coming!"); 1958 - Edward "Ted" Taylor (son-in-law) took over; mid-1960s - California lettuce growers introduced packaged shredded lettuce; 1966 - acquired TransFresh Corporation from Whirlpool (controlled- and modified-atmosphere packaging); 1968 - formed venture called Trim Fresh to develop packaged salad for foodservice channel (eventually closed); 1975 - established Fresh International (parent holding company); 1978 - revived the packaged salad idea as Red Coach Foods; 1987 - renamed Fresh Express; acquired modified fill and seal system, began packaging garden salad; foodservice quickly became major market; created national network of food brokers, overseen by regional managers, to provide help to produce managers in marketing, managing this new value-added category; 1991 - Steve Taylor (son) took over; 1994 - chairman, CEO of Fresh International; 1995 - Fresh Express contributed about $350 million of $450 million annual sales; 2000 - $509 million in sales, controlled leading share of bagged salad market (nearly 38% vs. Dole's 35.7%); October 2001 - acquired by Performance Food Group for approximately $300 million; 2003 - sales of $933 million; February 2005 - acquired by Chiquita Brands International Inc. for $855 million.
December 8, 1933 - Maxine Albro (painter, muralist, lithographer, sculptor) began to paint fresco, titled 'California Agriculture' (10ft x 42ft), at Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, CA (had been commissioned by Federal Works of Art Project under New Deal program); mural emphasized social realist view, showed struggles of farm worker’s during Great Depression, depicted them gathering oranges as well as flowers; most significant commission in her career; June 30, 1934 - completed.
2009 - California produced 99% of olives in United States (less than 1% of American consumption); top four varietals: Mission, Manzanillo, Sevillano, Ascolano olives; 2010 - California olive oil production will top a million gallons for first time (surpass France’s production volume); considered “second crop’’ to grapes in Sonoma County (most olive growers per capita of any county in state),
December 11, 2009 - Decline and fall of California’s fisheries - confluence of expanding global markets and more assertive local controls: 71% drop in commercial fishing revenue along the north-central California coast since 1990 (source: Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, federal advisory group); membership in the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations is down by two-thirds in 15 years; August 2009 - California protected 155 square miles of ocean, permanently banned professional fishing in reserves covering 11% of California coastal waters; 2008 - more than three-fourths of fish Americans eat comes from other countries, mostly China (source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
(J. G. Boswell Company), Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman (2003). The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire. (New York, NY: Public Affairs, 560 p.). Boswell, James Griffin; Boswell family; Pioneers--California--San Joaquin Valley--Biography; Cotton farmers--California--San Joaquin Valley--Biography; Businessmen--California--San Joaquin Valley--Biography; Cotton growing--California--San Joaquin Valley--History--20th century; San Joaquin Valley (Calif.)--History--20th century; Agricultural industries--California--San Joaquin Valley--History--20th century; San Joaquin Valley (Calif.)--Economic conditions--20th century; San Joaquin Valley (Calif.)--Biography. Boswell owned more agricultural acreage, controlled more river water than any other land baron in the West, grew more cotton than anyone on the planet.
(Beef), Robert Glass Cleland (1951). The Cattle on a Thousand Hills: Southern California, 1850-1880. (San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 365 p. [2nd ed.]). Professor of History (Occidental College). Cattle trade--California, Southern--History--19th century; Ranch life--California, Southern--History--19th century; California, Southern--History. Transition from cattle frontier of Mexican rule and culture to agricultural American community on eve of great industrial, urban expansion; conversion of great grazing ranchos into farms and settlements, gradual displacement of frontier violence, instability by more restrained, law-abiding society, impact of Anglo-Saxon customs and institutions upon pastoral life of Spanish-Californians.
(Beef), Lester Reed (1986). Old Time Cattlemen and Other Pioneers of the Anza-Borrego Area. (Borrego Springs, CA: Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association, 146 p. [3rd ed.]). Reed, Lester, 1890-1984; Frontier and pioneer life --California, Southern; Ranch life --California, Southern; Cattle trade --California, Southern --History; Cowboys --California, Southern --Biography; California, Southern --History; Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (Calif.)
(Beef), J. H. Russell (1957). Cattle on the Conejo. (Pasadena, CA: Ward Ritchie Press, 135 p.). Cattle trade --California, Southern; Ranch life; California, Southern --Social life and customs.
(Beef), (Cattle), Richard F. Pourade (1963). The Silver Dons. Commissioned by James S. Copley. (San Diego, CA, Union-Tribune Pub. Co., 286 p.). Editor Emeritus (The San Diego Union). Cattle trade --California; Ranch life; California, Southern --History; San Diego (Calif.) --History.
(Calcot Ltd.), Catherine M. Merlo (1995). Legacy of a Shared Vision: The History of Calcot. (Bakersfield, CA: Calcot Limited, 192 p.). Calcot Ltd. --History; Cotton trade --California --History; Cotton trade --Arizona --History. February 1927 - Frank Green organized cotton co-op in Delano, CA; 151 growers met, unanimously approved terms for co-op called San Joaquin Cotton Growers Association; 1953 - name changed to Calcot Ltd.; 1980s - U.S.A.'s largest cotton shipper.
(California Associated Raisin Company), Victoria Saker Woeste (1998). The Farmer’s Benevolent Trust: Law and Agricultural Cooperation in Industrial America, 1865-1945. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 369 p.). California Associated Raisin Company; Agriculture, Cooperative--Law and legislation--United States--History; Raisin industry--Law and legislation--California--History.
(Caterpillar), General Editor, Walter A. Payne (1982). Benjamin Holt: The Story of the Caterpillar Tractor. (Stockton, CA: University of the Pacific, 102 p.). Holt, Benjamin, 1849-1920; Caterpillar Tractor Company--History; Businesspeople--United States--Biography; Stockton (Calif.)--History.
(Dos Pueblos Ranch), Walker A. Tomkins (1960). Santa Barbara’s Royal Rancho: The Fabulous History of Los Dos Pueblos. (Berkeley, CA : Howell-North, 282 p.). Den family; Dos Pueblos Ranch (Calif.); Santa Barbara County (Calif.) --History. 1842 - Nicholas Den, naturalized Mexican citizen of Irish birth, awarded Mexican grant of 15,000 acre Rancho Dos Pueblos; 1887 - acquired by John H. Williams; 1917 - acquired by Herbert G. Wylie, oil baron; 1943 - acquired by Samuel Mosher (Signal Oil and Gas Company); 1977 - acquired by Rudolf "Rudi" Schulte (made fortune in medical equipment, engineering).
(Driscoll Strawberry Associates), Manabi Hirasaki with Naomi Hirahara (2003). A Taste for Strawberries: The Independent Journey of Nisei Farmer Manabi Hirasaki. (Los Angeles, CA: Japanese American National Museum, 217 p.). Hirasaki, Manabi, 1923- ; Japanese-American farmers--California--Gilroy--Biography; Strawberries--California--Gilroy; Strawberry industry--California--Gilroy. World's largest commercial strawberry distributor. First non-European American board member of world's largest commercial strawberry distributor.
(Flower Market), Peggi Ridgway and Jan Works. (2008). Sending Flowers to America. (Los Angeles, CA: American Florists' Exchange, Ltd., 288 p.). Floral industry; horticulture--California--history. Flowers in Southern California from 1850; Southern California early florists, flower growers, wholesalers, suppliers, florists how they established, grew their own businesses , Los Angeles Flower Market, area grand central of flower trading.
(Forest Products), Lynwood Carranco and John T. Labbe (1975). Logging the Redwoods. (Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, 145 p.). Coast redwood; Lumbering --California --History; Lumbering --California --Pictorial works. California redwood lumber industry; stories of the men, trains, and land.
(Forest Products), Lynwood Carranco (1982). Redwood Lumber Industry. (San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 218 p.). Redwood industry --California --History; Logging --California --History; Lumbering --California --History; Coast redwood.
(Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics), Eds. Warren E. Johnston, Alex F. McCalla (2009). A. P. Giannini and the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics. (Davis, CA: University of California, Davis: Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, 389 p.). Professors Emeriti, Agricultural and Resource economics (University of California, Davis). Giannini, Amadeo Peter, 1870-1949; Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics -- History; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- Research -- California. 1928 - Amadeo Peter Giannini, founder of Bank of Italy, gave $1.5 million to University of California to construct Giannini Hall for the College of Agriculture on Berkeley campus, to establish Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics; majority of gift created endowment for programs in support of California agriculture and rural areas in period of difficult economic times; history of agricultural economics at University of California, early foundation history, reflections contained in oral histories, biographies of selected members.
(Hollister Ranch), Ed. Nancy W. Ward (2004). Hollister Ranch: Its History, Preservation and People. (Santa Barbara, CA: Hollister Ranch Conservancy, 171 p.). Ranchers --California --Santa Barbara County; Ranch life --California --Santa Barbara County; Santa Barbara County (Calif.) --History; Hollister Ranch (Calif.) --History.
(Kern County Land Company), Norman Berg (1971). A History of Kern County Land Company. (Bakersfield, CA: Kern County Historical Society, 50 p.). Kern County Land Company — History.
(Kern County Land Company), Daniel Alef (2009). James Ben Ali Haggin: A King for all Seasons. (Santa Barbara, CA: Titans of Fortune Publishing, 53 KB, Kindle Edition). Haggin, James Ben Ali; Kern County Land Company.
(Miller & Lux), M. Catherine Miller (1993). Flooding the Courtrooms: Law and Water in the Far West. (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 255 p.). Miller & Lux; Water rights --California --History; California --History --1850-1950. Legal biography; 1870s -1930s - Miller & Lux looked to law to mediate its place amid change (corporate counsel, new concept for late-19th-century America, creative development and use of new legal doctrines); relationship between law, economic change, distribution of wealth and power; law in environment undergoing rapid development.
(Miller & Lux), David Igler (2001). Industrial Cowboys: Miller & Lux and the Transformation of the Far West, 1850-1920. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 267 p.). Historian (University of Utah). Miller & Lux--History; Cattle trade--West (U.S.)--History; Animal industry--West (U.S.)--History; Packing-houses--West (U.S.)--History; Land use--West (U.S.)--History; Water rights--West (U.S.)--History; Big business--West (U.S.)--History; Industrialization--West (U.S.)--History.
(Miller & Lux), Edited by Charles Sawyer. (2003). One Man Show: Henry Miller in the San Joaquin. (Los Banos, CA: Ralph Milliken Museum Society: Loose Change Publications, 328 p.). Miller, Henry, 1827-1916; Miller & Lux--History; Pioneers--California--San Joaquin Valley--Biography; Ranchers--California--San Joaquin Valley--Biography; Businessmen--California--San Joaquin Valley--Biography; Cattle trade--California--San Joaquin Valley--History; Water rights--California--San Joaquin Valley--History; San Joaquin Valley (Calif.)--History; San Joaquin Valley (Calif.)--History--Sources; San Joaquin Valley (Calif.)--Biography.
(Newhall Land & Farming), Ruth Waldo Newhall (1958). The Newhall Ranch; The Story of the Newhall Land & Farming Company. (San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 120 p.). Newell family; Newhall Land and Farming Company.
(Newhall Land & Farming), Andrew Rolle (1991). Henry Mayo Newhall and His Times: A California Legacy. (San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 168 p.). Newhall, Henry Mayo, 1825-1882; Pioneers--California--Biography; Businesspeople--California--Biography; Ranchers--California--Biography; California--Biography.
(Olives), Judith M. Taylor (2000). The Olive in California: History of an Immigrant Tree. (Berkeley, CA, Ten Speed Press, 316 p.). Retired Physician. Olive --California --History; Olive industry and trade --California --History; Adventive plants --California --History. Path of sturdy, life-giving tree as it developed into California agricultural phenomenon. Path of sturdy, life-giving tree as it developed into California agricultural phenomenon; cultivation of olive trees, their place in agricultural life of Golden State for more than two centuries; olive-growing businesses that prospered,endeavors of olive-oil trade; botulism outbreaks of ]1920s, involvement of University of California in olive industry's development.
(Peterson Tractor), Eileen Grafton (1998). Peterson Tractor Co.-- the First Sixty Years. (San Leandro, CA: Peterson Tractor Co., 227 p.). Peterson Tractor Co.--History; Tractor industry--United States--History. November 16, 1936 - incorporated as the Caterpillar Dealership for the five bay area counties.
(Rancho San Julian), A. Dibblee Poett (1991). Rancho San Julian: The Story of a California Ranch and Its People. (Santa Barbara, CA: Fithian Press: Santa Barbara Historical Society, 233 p.). Ranch life --California --Santa Barbara County --History; Rancho San Julian (Calif.) --History; Santa Barbara County (Calif.) --History. 1817 - Jose de la Guerra y Noriega established Rancho of San Julian under management of Presidio of Santa Barbara as source of meat, income for presidio of Santa Barbara soldiers; 1837 - Alta California Governor Juan Alvarado granted ownership of Rancho San Julian to de la Guerra; 1848 - controlled over quarter million acres of prime California ranch land (had acquired 4 more ranchos); 1858 - Pablo de la Guerra (son), brothers assumed control; 2010 - 13,000 acres with cattle, fruits and vegetables, honeybee colonies; one of last, great Spanish-Mexican land grants still in family of original grantee.
(Rancho San Julian), Louise Pubols (2010). The Father of All: The de la Guerra Family, Power, and Patriarchy in Mexican California. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 448 p.; published for the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West by University of California Press and Huntington Library, San Marino, CA). Chief Curator of History at the Oakland Museum of California. Guerra family; Patriarchy --California --History --19th century; Elite (Social sciences) --California --History --19th century; Domestic relations --California --History --19th century; Spaniards --California --History --19th century; California --History --To 1846; California --History --1846-1850. Winner of the William P. Clements Prize for the Best Non-Fiction Book on Southwestern America Published in 2009. de la Guerras of Santa Barbara continually adapted, reinvented themselves; region's trading and provisioning economy, its volatile political rivalries; web of business and family relationships, how patriarchy functioned from generation to generation in Spanish and Mexican California; one of last, great Spanish-Mexican land grants that remains in family of original grantee.
(Strawberries), Miriam J. Wells (1996). Strawberry Fields: Politics, Class, and Work in California Agriculture. (Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 339 p.). Professor Emerita of Anthropology (UC Davis). Strawberry industry --California; Strawberry industry --California --Employees; Agricultural laborers --California; Agriculture --Economic aspects --California.
(Sunsweet Growers Inc.), Robert Couchman (1967). The Sunsweet Story; A History of the Establishment of the Dried Tree Fruit Industry in California and of the 50 Years of Service of Sunsweet Growers, Inc. (San Jose, CA, Sunsweet Growers, 139 p.). Sunsweet Growers, Inc.
Sucheng Chan (1986). This Bittersweet Soil: The Chinese in California Agriculture, 1860-1910. (Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, 503 p.). Professor of History and Director of Asian American Studies (University of California, Santa Barbara). Farmers --California --History; Agricultural laborers --California --History; Chinese --California --History; Agriculture --Economic aspects --California --History. Thousands (6000 to 7000) of Chinese agricultural pioneers, entrepreneurs, workers who helped make California nation's premier agricultural state.
Matt Garcia (2001). A World of Its Own: Race, Labor, and Citrus in the Making of Greater Los Angeles, 1900-1970. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 330 p.). Associate Professor of American Civilization, Ethnic Studies, and History (Brown University). Mexican Americans --California --Los Angeles Region --Social conditions --20th century; Whites --California --Los Angeles Region --Social conditions --20th century; Agricultural laborers --California --Los Angeles Region --Social conditions --20th century; Citrus fruit industry --Social aspects --California --Los Angeles Region --History --20th century; Community development --California --Los Angeles Region --History --20th century; Intercultural communication --California --Los Angeles Region --History --20th century; Los Angeles Region (Calif.) --Ethnic relations; Los Angeles Region (Calif.) --Social conditions --20th century; Los Angeles Region (Calif.) --Economic conditions --20th century. Intercultural struggle, cooperation in citrus belt of Greater Los Angeles; citrus-growing regions of San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys in eastern Los Angeles County developed along segregated lines, primarily between white landowners and Mexican and Asian laborers; Los Angeles, unlike other agricultural regions, saw important opportunities for intercultural exchange to develop around arts and within multiethnic community groups; interethnic encounters formed basis for political cooperation to address labor discrimination, solve problems of residential and educational segregation; constituted important chapter in Southern California's social and cultural development, in larger history of American race relations.
Ed. with an extended introd. by Paul W. Gates (1967). California Ranchos and Farms, 1846-1862, including the Letters of John Quincy Adams Warren of 1861, Being Largely Devoted to Livestock, Wheat Farming, Fruit Raising, and the Wine Industry. (Madison, WI, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 232 p.). Author. Agriculture --California --History. Ranchos.Ranchos.
Joan H. Hall (1992). A Citrus Legacy. (Riverside, CA: Highgrove Press, 152 p.). Herrick, Stephen Henderson; Citrus fruit industry --California --Riverside County --History; Banks and banking --California --History; Riverside County (Calif.) --History.
Christopher Henke. (2008). Cultivating Science, Harvesting Power: Science and Industry in California Agriculture. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 226 p.). Assistant Professor of Sociology (Colgate University) Agriculture --Research --California --Salinas River Valley: Agricultural productivity --California --Salinas River Valley. Ways that science helped build the Salinas Valley and California's broader farm industry; how agricultural scientists and growers collaborated, struggled in shaping state's multi-billion-dollar farm industry.
Lawrence J. Jelinek (1979). Harvest Empire: A History of California Agriculture (San Francisco, VA, Boyd & Fraser, 113 p.). Author. Agriculture --California --History. Califronia agribusiness.
Yvonne Jacobson; with a foreword by Wallace Stegner (1984). Passing Farms, Enduring Values: California’s Santa Clara Valley. (Los Altos, CA: W. Kaufmann in Cooperation with the California History Center, De Anza College, Cupertino, California, 240 p.). Jacobson, Yvonne, 1938-; Agriculture--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)--History; Horticulture--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)--History; Farms--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)--History; Industries--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)--History; Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County, Calif.)--History; Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County, Calif.)--Biography.
Photographic Project by Stephen Johnson and Robert Dawson; text by Gerald Haslam; Edited and Designed by Stephen Johnson (1993). The Great Central Valley: California’s Heartland. (Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, 253 p.). Teaches Photography (Skyline College, College of San Mateo). Central Valley (Calif. : Valley) --History; Central Valley (Calif. : Valley) --Pictorial works. California's economic hub, physical center (430 miles long, up to 75 miles wide, surrounded by mountains, covering nearly 15 million acres); richest farming region in world - more than 25% of table food produced in U.S. is grown here; past 150 years of massive agricultural expansion, population growth have systematically destroyed much of area's original wildlife, "plain of majestic oaks" seen by early travelers; plagued by chemical pollution, soil erosion, water politics, treatment of minorities, economic inequities, farm foreclosures.
Eds. Esther H. Klotz, Harry W. Lawton, Joan H. Hall (1989). A History of Citrus in the Riverside Area. (Riverside, CA: Riverside Museum Press, 72 p.). Oranges --California --Riverside Region --History; Citrus --California --Riverside Region --History; Orange industry --California --Riverside Region --History; Citrus fruit industry --California --Riverside Region --History.
Michael K. Orbach (1977). Hunters, Seamen, and Entrepreneurs: The Tuna Seinermen of San Diego. (Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, 304 p.). Professor of the Practice of Marine Affairs and Policy (Duke University). Fishers --California --San Diego; Tuna industry --California --San Diego; Purse seining --California --San Diego.
Donald H. Pflueger (1976). Charles C. Chapman: The Career of a Creative Californian, 1853-1944. (Los Angeles, CA: Anderson, Ritchie & Simon, 241 p.). Chapman, Charles C.; orange growing; orange industry. Pioneered growing, selling of Valencia oranges to U.S. grocery trade.
Donald J. Pisani (1984). From the Family Farm to Agribusiness: The Irrigation Crusade in California and the West, 1850-1931. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 521 p.). Irrigation--Economic aspects--California--History; Agriculture--Economic aspects--California--History.
Douglas Cazaux Sackman (2005). Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 386 p.). Assistant Professor of History (University of Puget Sound). Orange industry--California--History; California--History; California--Economic conditions; California--Environmental conditions. 1870s - growers, scientists, workers transformed natural and social landscape of California into factory for production of millions of oranges; put up billboards across nation, placed enticing pictures into nearly every American's home; convinced Americans that oranges were pure nature and health; tables turned during Great Depression - symbol of what was wrong with America's relationship to nature.
Paul R. Spitzzeri (2007). Workman and Temple Families of Southern California: 1830-1930. (Dallas, TX : Seligson Pub. Inc., 280 p.). Collections Manager at the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum in City of Industry, CA. William Workman, David Workman, Jonathan Temple, and F. P. F. Temple (and their descendants) played active roles, as cattle ranchers, farmers, politicians, bankers, businessmen, real estate developers, in the transformation of the Los Angeles region from an isolated frontier area of Mexico with only a couple of thousand people to a burgeoning metropolitan area of several million.
Steven Stoll (1998). The Fruits of Natural Advantage: Making the Industrial Countryside in California. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 273 p.). Assistant Professor of History (Yale University). Fruit trade -- California; Fruit -- California -- Marketing; Horticulture -- California; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- California. How class of capitalist farmers made California nation's leading producer of fruit, created first industrial countryside in America; California from 1880 to 1930 - origins, evolution, implications of fruit industry; window through which to view entire history of California.
Charles G. Teague (1944). Fifty Years a Rancher: The Recollections of Half a Century Devoted to the Citrus and Walnut Industries of California. (Los Angeles, CA: The Ward Ritchie Press, 199 p.). Citrus fruits; Walnut; Agriculture, Cooperative--California.
David Vaught (2007). After the Gold Rush: Tarnished Dreams in the Sacramento Valley. (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 328 p.). Associate Professor of History (Texas A & M University). Agriculture--Economic aspects--California--Sacramento Valley--History; Sacramento Valley (Calif.)--History. Hard-luck miners-turned-farmers in Putah Creek (became Davis, CA); endured disputes, confusion over land policy, struggled with vagaries of local, national, world markets.
Richard A. Walker (2004). The Conquest of Bread: 150 Years of Agribusiness in California. (New York, NY: New Press, 382 p.). Professor and Past Chair of Geography (University of California, Berkeley). Agricultural industries--California--History; Agriculture--Economic aspects--California; Agricultural industries--Environmental aspects--California; Agricultural industries--Social aspects--California; Agricultural laborers--California--History.
LINKS
Crate Label Museum
American crate labels depict not only the history of its agricultural, but also the history of its commercial art; Starting in the 1880s, the Transcontinental Railroad made coast-to-coast shipping of fruits and vegetables possible, and as a result, the commercial art and printing industries developed a form of advertising art known today as fruit crate labels or crate labels, to be pasted onto the ends of crates. These vibrant and highly collectible pieces of American advertising art were created from a wide range of iconographic images in order to entice the public to buy the produce; currently have over 10,000 images for this project with more being acquired.
Guide to California Dairy Industry History Collection
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt0d5nc666&chunk.id=c01-1.7.8.3&brand=oac.
Materials from California dairies, cooperatives, creameries, and processors. Administrative items include articles of incorporation, bylaws, constitutions, financial reports, minutes, photocopies, and organizational charts. Promotional items include brochures, clippings, histories, newsletters, posters, and press releases. Other items in this series are butter wrappers, maps, and photographs of dairy interiors and exteriors, cattle, and delivery trucks and wagons from different time periods.Materials from California dairies, cooperatives, creameries, and processors. Administrative items include articles of incorporation, bylaws, constitutions, financial reports, minutes, photocopies, and organizational charts. Promotional items include brochures, clippings, histories, newsletters, posters, and press releases. Other items in this series are butter wrappers, maps, and photographs of dairy interiors and exteriors, cattle, and delivery trucks and wagons from different time periods.
Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics
Founded in 1930 from a grant made by the Bancitaly Corporation to the University of California in tribute to its organizer and past president, Amadeo Peter Giannini of San Francisco. Members of the Giannini Foundation are University of California faculty and Cooperative Extension specialists in agricultural and resource economics on the Berkeley, Davis and Riverside campuses. The broad mission of the Foundation is to promote and support research and outreach activities in agricultural economics and rural development relevant to California.
Mission Olive Preservation, Restoration & Education Project
Aims to preserve the cultural link to the California Mission Olive tree for the purpose of general public education and enjoyment of the historical significance, culinary heritage, and health benefits of the Mission Olive tree and its oil.Aims to preserve the cultural link to the California Mission Olive tree for the purpose of general public education and enjoyment of the historical significance, culinary heritage, and health benefits of the Mission Olive tree and its oil.
History of California Prune Industry
http://www.sutterfoods.com/history.htm,
TV: California Heartland
http://www.californiaheartland.org/.
Ninth season — the first in high definition — (KVIE Public Television’s weekly half-hour series). California Heartland will take a fresh approach at presenting compelling stories and relevant information, communicating to millions of Californians how our $27 billion agricultural industry affects our lives.Ninth season — the first in high definition — (KVIE Public Television’s weekly half-hour series). California Heartland will take a fresh approach at presenting compelling stories and relevant information, communicating to millions of Californians how our $27 billion agricultural industry affects our lives.
