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A WONDERFUL FARM.“Lucy Baldwin's” Great Ranch In California.L Princely Domain, Fourteen Miles Lon£, Containing 58,000 Acrea,■v1o£IA letter from California to tho St. .Louis O lobe-Democrat says: LuckyBaldwin’s possession from the control of mines on the Comstock have gradually grown until now he has a half a dozenVgreut enterprises under full headway. He owns tho largest and finest hotel in Ban Francisco, with the single exception of the Palace, and which contains a theatre within it. He has a fine summer hotel on Lake Tahoe, and he has shrewdly bought up a large strip of tho shore of this beautiful lake, which in a few years will be sought after for villa sites. Finally, he owns the great Santa Anita ranch,near,,Los Angeles the breeding place of the string of swift-footed fiycr3 with which lie goes East to contest for tho prizes on the chief racing circuits, and one of the best general fruit and stock ranches in the State. This princely domain extends fourteen miles east and west and twelve miles north and south, and embraces 58,000 acres. He shears thousands of sheep every year, raiso3 wheat enough to charter entire ships for conveying it to Liverpool, and makes moro brandy than any one else in tbe State, besides turning out a large quantity of wine.The men who aro boarded on the ranch get $1 a day, and the few Chinese who remain—not over a dozen, all told—ct3 O„ $1 a day and board themselves. What»j_0 adds to the likeness to the Southern re | plantation is tho appearance of young : darkies driving carts or herding stock.i ° °„ j These arc members of a colony of North Carolina negroes whom Baldwin’ brought out hero from their old homes two years ago. He paid their fares and made a contract with them to work for him for a term of years. lie built them neat houses, and here arc installed the ten families comprising about sixty members. They have made cxcellcut hands in the field and the orchard, because tho women and children can be counlc 1 on for good work in cultivating and picking fruit.The man who has charge of all tho practical details of this huge place is J. F. Fulby, a shrewd, energetic Californian, who knows wheat growing and fruit culture so thoroughly that he is a terror to ill incompetent hands, and who keeps ais small army of workmen uudcr regular military discipline. Judged by the remits, his management is the best of any ;hat I saw in the louthcrn country.The wiuc collcr is always an object of Euriosity to the average tourist, but even ‘.hough one cnjny the companionship of :hc manager and the hospitality of the ranch, it is very dangerous to sample Uabfornia wines. There is so much Jtrcngth in the juice of those lusty grapes, :vcn when mellow with age, that unless me is a seasoned vessel tho chances arc ;hnt lie will be orercomo before lie kno\rs it. The cellar is piled high with them rcn years old. All th j latest machinery for distilling is hero, and the placo is in :hargo of a French expert, of life-long Experience in wine and brandy making in ais native country.After one has seen the orange groves, the orchards, vineyards, and the other features of the home place, he is prepared to extend his observations to tho great wheat and sheep ranches on the Santa Anita. You may drive for miles through fields when; the whcit is now knee high and shows an even stand which would delight the eye of a Dakota wheat grower. Beyond the wheat farm the visitor comes to the Puento sheep ranch, comprises alxmt 05,000 acres of gently rolling foothill land reaching back to the mountains. The old Scotchman, named Cameron, who has eared for sheep all his life, going from Scotland to New Zealand and from New Zealand coming here. He is a man of wide information, and he seemed liked an anachronism in this free and easy California life, for ho adheres to the Calvinism in which he was bred. An example of the rigid insistence upon his creed was furnished last summer when Baldwin had a party of friends at the ranch. The supply of meat ran out and the millionaire sent over to old Cameron to slaughter four sheep. The an-ciaca•itIrea£Itint£irraI1Ir\tt*\ttIca1t1vt1Ja7niIlt;tt1Jii1cVtc£rtccfFIJ.cc\cLIcr1:r.ct1av,f1:aaI1swer was returned in broad Scotch:“There will be na killing of the sheep on the Sawbath,” and Baldwin had to send to town for his meat.Ba dwin is engaged in splitting up a portion of the ranch into small tracts of from twenty acres upward and selling them to Los Angeles people for summer villas and to Eastern people who wish a winter home in one of the most beautiful valleys of southern California. A railroad will be completed through the ranch this fall, and then one may reach tbe city of Los Angeles in fifteen min-ates. The only drawback to rapid settlement ot the ranch is the price charged.for the land. With perpetual water right, $250 per acre is asked for unimproved ’ land. The majority of those who buy this land will be wealthy people, who can afford to spend from $10,-000 to $20,000 in laying out and improving a place.cIs1:IRoom to K'lit,“Had a terrible shock this mawnra’, Awthaw. Met ft low fellow who asked me if I had rooms to rent; actually took me for a beggarly landlord.”aOJ\ no, Percy. I daresay he only meant to insinuate that you had an 1+emptf. hiad.” . ^ '*.‘Dq you tfuftk sof Quite a relief, I*** .ijcajou, So jgmpeetr ihtf £.....hIarcvn8iyVaat'abbvoaCtiftn•*.jtitlt;v. . .. .a*. -----
Newspaper Details
Kane Leader
Kane, Pennsylvania, US
Thu, Jul 15, 1886
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Michelle S.
USA 03 Mar 2019
Other Publications Near Kane, Pennsylvania
Kane Daily Republican
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