^^^<^' ;° '^^•V^ ''■..■ 1 z '^ ' .^ °<. '' ..^'' vP ., ^ "'TVs- aC 1 Z v^^v- ^ f^^'^- ^'^ K^ °^ \' •.-'-.%" cP^.,X-.% ,c?t.:,;^">^ *^ -;-S->t-."v"--'v^*'';.. .^ W /M^:\.^' ■<^<^ Xk^" Ci^°- '. HISTORY OF TULARE and KINGS COUNTIES CALIFORNIA WITH Biographical SJ^etches OP The Leading Men and Women of the Counties Who Have Been Identified With Their Growth and Development From the Early 'Days to the Present ^ HISTORY BY EUGENE L. MENEFEE AND FRED A. DODGE ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913] •IT 1^5 G A \ <} Lf 30 CONTENTS ^ CHAPTER I. Introductory to History of Tulare County 5 Earliest White Comers to County Bore Name of Smith — Indian Records of Prior Inhabitants — The Year 1849 Brings Changes — First Real Settler Locates in 1850 — Other Settlers Follow — Rescue of the Wingfields — Election of Officers — Derivation of Name Visalia — Survey for Railroad in 1853. CHAPTER II. Indian War op 1856 -ry. 20 Indians a Factor in Growth of Settlement — Interesting Accounts by Stephen Barton — Cattle Stealing the Source of Trouble — ^Tocsin of War Continues to Sound — War Is Waged Between Whites and Indians — Indian Troubles in Owens River District — Hospital Rock. CHAPTER III. The Effect of the Civil War on Tulare County 28 Southerners Constitute Larger Part of Tulare's Population — Troops Sent to Visalia — Whiskey Plays a Part in the Difficulties — Union Meet- ing Held — Southern Sympathizers Meet — Killing of Vogle — Killing of Stroble — Rowley Affair — Destruction of Newspaper Plant. CHAPTER IV. Visalia 34 Impress of the Vise Family on the Little Settlement — Settlers Who Fol- lowed — Early Newspapers — View of the Town in Early Days — First Fireworks — Gas Works and Electric Plant Established — City Hall Erected — Effect of the Wyllie Local Option Law — Visalia of Today. CHAPTER V. Tulare County's Citrus Fruit 41 Eastern Slope of the County Almost Continuous Orange Grove — First Orange Tree Planted in 1860 — Growth of the Industry — County's Fruits Displayed at St. Louis Fair — Tulare County Ranks Fifth in Point of Citrus Production in State — County's Present Area. CHAPTER VI. The General Rodeo 46 Cattle Raising in the Early Days — Act of Legislature of 1851 — White River Incident — Interest in Mining Superseded by Cattle Raising — "No- Pence" Law. CHAPTER VII. Exeter and Other Towns 49 Railroad Reaches Exeter in 1888 — Pacific Improvement Company — Exeter's Steady Progress — Monson — Kaweah — North Tule — Pixley — Tipton — Alila — Poplar — Frazier — Woodville — Strathmore — Eshom Valley — Alpaugh — Tagus — Goshen — Paige — Angiola — Yettem — Piano — Three Rivers — Springville — Mineral King — Traver — Hockett Meadows — Redbanks — White River — Giant Forest — Orosi — Naranjo — Monson — Oriole Lodge — Venice — Klink — Waukena — Woodlake — California Hot Springs — Terra Bella — Ducor and Richgrove — Farmersville — Camp Nel- son — Camp Badger — Auckland — Kaweah Station. V i CONTENTS CHAPTER VIII. PORTERVILLE AND OthER TowxS 75 Located on the old immigrant road — J. B. Hockett, a camper of '49 — Town named for Royal Porter Putnam — Cattle raising chief occupation Coming of railroad in 1888 — Porterville becomes a town of the sixth class in 1902 — Schools — Water system — Packing houses — Library — Churches — Banks — Newspapers — Fraternal Lodges — Dinuba — Tulare — Lemon Cove — Sultana — Lindsay. CHAPTER IX. Anecdotes 88 Adventures with Indians — Poindexter nuptials — Fiddling from Donkey's back — The McCrory Episode — Morris-Shannon affray — Stapleford-Dep- uty affair — James M'Kinney's High Life — The Magana Butchery — Mis- cellaneous Items — Crossing Streams in the '50s — County Scrip and Gold Dust — An Indian Runner — Visalia's First Business Directory — Second Courthouse — Cemeteries — Visalia's Title — Politics — Arrival of the Tele- graph — A Vigorous Protest — A Novel Engine — Flood Times — The Lost Mine — Some Statistics of 1870 — Mankins' Party Arrival — No Fence Law — As Seen by Fremont. CHAPTER X. The Mussel Slough War 110 Early Settlers in the Mussel Slough Country — Land League's Fight With the Railroad. CHAPTER XI. The Kaweah Colony 113 One of the Greatest Community Enterprises Ever Inaugurated in the United States — Its Chief Promoters. CHAPTER XII. The Aborigines 118 Traditions — Creation Myth of the Yokuts — Diet — Indian Weapons — The Medicine Man — Gathering Salt — Capturing Wild Pigeons — Novel Fishing — Hunting Deer — Charming a Squirrel — Catching Ducks. CHAPTER XIII. National Parks, 123 General Grant Park — Sequoia National Park — Mountain Trails — County Roads During the Late '50s. CHAPTER XIV. Development of Industries 130 Electric Power — Irrigation — Alta District — Tulare Irrigation District — Artesian and Other Wells — Dairying Industry — Deciduous Fruit — The ' Watermelon. CHAPTER XV. The Railroad Dream 144 Bidding for the Railroad — The Visalia and Tulare Railroad — East Side Railroad — Coming of the Santa Fe — The Visalia Electric — The Por- terville NorthEastern. CHAPTER XVI. Great Train Robberies 148 First of Five Robberies Occurs at Pixley — The Dalton Gang — The CoUis Robbery — The Evans and Sontag Tragedies. CONTENTS V i i CHAPTER XVII. Churches, Schools, Population 154 The South Methodist — Baptist — Sunday Schools — Presbyterian — Luth- eran — Episcopal — Catholic — Methodist Episcopal — Christian — Training of the Young — Population — Property Values. CHAPTER XVIII. Tul.\re's Officers 163 Supervisors — The Judiciary — The Lawmakers — Sheriff — District Attor- ney — Assessor — Surveyor — Tax Collector — Treasurer — Recorder — Public Administrator — Auditor — Superintendent of Schools — Coroner. CHAPTER XIX. TuL.\RE County Today 167 The County's Boundaries — Nature of the Soil — Towns and Cities — Or- ange Groves — Forests. CHAPTER XX. The Organization of Kings County 174 Creation and Organization of the County — Received Its Name from Kings River — The Division Fight a Feature of the Session of 1892-93 — Area of the County. CHAPTER XXI. Lucerne Valley 178 Mussel Slough Rechristened Lucerne Valley — The Founding of the Han- ford Weekly Sentinel. CHAPTER XXII. Early County Politics 179 Political Organization of Kings County — First Election Called — Parties in Action — Setting Up Housekeeping — No County Building — County Without Funds — First Tax Rate Fixed — County Elections. CHAPTER XXIII. Irrigation 192 Beginning of Irrigation in Kings County — Pioneers in the Venture — Settlers' Ditch — Last Chance — Lakeland Canal and Irrigation Company — Blakeley Ditch — Kings Canal and Irrigation Company — Rainfall for Twenty-one Years. CHAPTER XXIV. Exit and Return of Tulare Lake 200 An Interesting Natural Phenomenon — Original Area of Lake — Swamp and Overflow Land Act — "Lakelanders" — Lake Disappears in 1895 — Water Returns and Grain Is Destroyed. CHAPTER XXV. Railroads 202 San Joaquin Valley Railroad Company — Its Promoters — Upbuilding In- fluence of Improved Transportation Facilities. CHAPTER XXVI. Dairy Industry 207 Dairying in County Dates from 1889— Co-operative Company Formed — Factories Built — Alfalfa-Raising and Cheese-Making — Butter-Making — County Has Five Incorporated Creameries. V i i i CONTENTS CHAPTER XXVII. City of Hanford 209 City Laid Out in 1877 — Named After James Hanford — Officers of City From 1891 to 1913— Hanford of Today— Vanishing of the Saloons- Churches — Schools of Kings County — Free Public Library. CHAPTER XXVIII. Lemoore 219 Location and Population — Its Founder — Early Settlers — Coming of Rail- road — Churches and Public Buildings — Industries. CHAPTER XXIX. Evolution of the San Jo.\quin Valley 220 Address by John G. Covert Upon History of the Valley — First Seen by White Men in 1772 — Mount Diablo — Valley Begins to Attract Attention in 1849 — Cattle Raising First Industry — Wheat Farming Follows — Area of Valley — Oil Fields — Improvement in Railroad Facilites. INDEX A Abbott, Daniel 534 Adams, Frank C 424 Adams, William J 423 Agnew, Jesse B 875 Ainsworth, Francis M 761 Akin, James M 364 Alford, William 829 Allen, Byron 783 Allen, George E 832 Antrim, Calvin H 841 Arnett, Richard H 513 Ashley, A. N 687 Askin, Herbert 598 Askin, Capt. Robert M 784 Atwell, Allen J 855 Aiilman, Phillip 527 B Baca, Santos 752 Bacon, James A 830 Bacon, John 839 Bagby, Earl 494 Bairstow, John W 602 Baker, Chauncey M 496 Baker, Sands 357 Balaam, Alfred 757 Ballou, George A 464 Bardsley, L. W 662 Barnett, Bright E 702 Barney, B, L 552 Barney, Fred M 648 Bartlett, George 679 Barton, Orlando D 483 Bass, Alexander W 505 Bassett, Mark 717 Bassett, William G 715 Batchelder, Elmer A 617 Baumann, George W 380 Baxley, John W 553 Belz, Andrew G 276 Bequette, Charles C 419 Bequette, James R 669 Bequette, Louis 772 Bequette, Paschal, Jr 456 Bergen, Jasper N 858 Bernstein, William F 625 Berry, R. L 695 Bertch, Henry 482 Best, Alexander M 621 Bezera, Joseph 597 Biddle, Joseph D 315 Biddle, Samuel E 326 Blain, Frank L 533 Blain, William H 546 Blair, Thomas H 418 Blakeley, Frank 528 Blakeley. James M 588 Blamquist, Charles R 509 Blaswick, Charles F 477 Bliss, George L 796 Blossom, Ira 628 Blowers, Cassius M 298 Bloyd, Levi 650 Bloyd, William W 323 Bloyd, Winfleld S 382 Bloyd, W. W 716 Bondson, Peter 755 Booker, Sanford 243 Boone, James T 763 Borgman, Henry J 596 Bowker, N. B 874 Bozeman, John W 833 Braly, William H 794 Brazill, M. P 689 Brewer, Samuel A 481 Bridges, George 785 Brooks, Parker R 660 Brothers, John 502 Brown, H. P 871 Brown, Joseph C 272 Brown, Philip S 759 Brown, Samuel C 754 Brown, Volney A 272 Brown, William S 664 Brown, William W 756 Bruce, Lewis 654 Buckbee, Martha J 668 Budd, William 678 Burgamaster, Julius 550 Burke, Ivan C 374 Burke, Richard 835 Burnham, John B 580 Burr, Walter S .- 531 Burrel, Cuthbert 703 Burrell, John .-. 615 Burton, Absalom 689 INDEX Burton. Arthvir 724 Bush, Edward E , 877 Byron, E. H., M. D 404 Byron, Henry W 676 Byron. Lincoln H 485 Byron. William P., M. D 426 C Campbell, F. D 427 Cann, .James M 661 Carle, Charles J 648 Carlisle. Frederick M 776 Carter. David F 880 Cartmill, Wooster B 296 Cartmill. W. F., M. D 446 Chance, Edward H 398 Charles, William B., M. D 868 Chatten, John 632 Chatten. Richard 489 Chatten. Wilmot L 632 Church, Caryl 492 Church. Elery H 672 Clark, Harry A 551 Clark, Isaac 309 Clark. William B 590 Clark, William M 867 Clarke, Robert C 381 Clarkson, Thomas J 616 Clement, George S 735 Clemente, John V 593 Click, Martin 838 Coats, Claude D 657 Cochran, S. D 729 Cody, George W 536 Collins. Albert H 468 Collins, Oscar F 554 Collins. William W 425 Colpien, Henry 549 Comfort, Aimer B 417 Comfort, Byron G 650 Conkey, Fred W 800 Cooke, William R 805 Coolidge, Wilbur 518 Cooper, J. R 730 Cosper, Elias T 654 Courtney, Samuel E 352 Crabtree, James A 516 Cramer, M. L 855 Crane, Henry A 589 Crawshaw, J. A., M. D 629 Creath, John V 658 Crook, Alexander 537 Cutler, A. R 420 Cutler, John 420 D Daly, Arthur G 486 Danner, .lohn C 441 Davenport, William H 607 Davidson, John W 674 Davis, Andrew J 601 Dean, Gilbert M. L 582 Dean, .label M 868 Dean. William F 766 Deardorff, Oscar S 515 Decker, Louis 591 De La Grange. Barney 847 DeMasters, David W 728 Denny, Harvey N 641 DeWitt. E 665 DeWitt, William M 407 Dibble, A, Leroy 516 Dibble, Judson A 721 Dineley, Samuel 765 Dingley, Willard E 445 Dockstader, John W 524 Dodge, A. Fred 524 Dodge, Fred A 307 Donager, Benjamin 637 Donahue. Martin 767 Doyle, John J 801 Dreisbach, A. M 836 Drennen. Winfred D 597 Dungan, A. Clifford 807 Dunlap, James E 592 Dunlap. John W 555 E Eccles, Alexander C 501 Eklof, Charles J 423 Elliott, James M 556 Elster, C. A 771 Erlanger, Edward 726 Esrey, Jonathan 685 Estes, R. J 651 Evans. John F 558 Ewing, John, Jr 690 F Farmer, George T 586 Farmer. Lyman D 538 Fenwick Sanitarium 493 Ferguson. Josiah M 837 Fickle, Benjamin J 764 Ficklin, Joseph L 535 Fincher, Robert P 666 Findley, William 840 Fine, James W 768 Finn, Daniel 758 First National Bank of Lemoore 308 INDEX X 1 First National Bank of Tulare 451 First National Bank of Visalia 731 Fisher, Charles 722 Fisher, James 733 Fitzsimons, Frank E 436 Follett, Lyman L 735 Fontana, M. J 872 Foster, Earl P 642 Foster, E. C, M. D 457 Fowler, Perry D 397 Frans, John 691 Freeman, C. E 641 Fry, Walter 704 Fudge, Edmund J 603 Fulmer, Alfred C _ 348 Furman, William E 514 G Gallaher, W. C 367 Gamble, David 770 Garcia, Mike V 652 Garr, John W 430 Gavotto, S 696 Giannini, Frank 559 Gibbons, O. E 545 Gibson, E. J 688 Gill, Charles 587 Gill, Fred 584 Gill, Lee 406 Gill. Levi L 686 Gilligan, Michael 846 Glasgow, John M 723 Glover, Louis N 706 Goble, William E 258 Gordon, George 370 Gough, William 566 Grabow, J 639 Graham, R. M 643 Gray, Dallas H 759 Gregory, Levy N 725 Gribi, Albert E 673 Griffin, Asa T 484 Griffith, Frank 439 Griswold, Oscar T 544 Guiberson, J. W 411 Gurnee, Brewster S 791 H Halford, Isaac T 787 Hall, Albert A 618 Hall, John E 513 Hall, Samuel W 671 Hamilton, Hugh L 389 Hamlin, Benjamin, M. D 335 Hanford National Bank 636 Hannah, J. A 723 Hansen, Christ S 653 Harris, G. C 376 Harris, Jesse W 586 Hart, Charles W 458 Hart, Edwin F 793 Harvey, John W 530 Hastings, U. G 720 Hauschildt, John H 4S7 Hawley, Luther C 395 Hayes, Frank P 876 Hays, John N 314 Headrick, Daniel : 595 Henley, Stepnen E 508 Herrin, Daniel M 506 Heusel, William P 775 Hickman, David H 644 Hicks, Benjamin 261 Hicks, Stephen B 548 Higdon, William J 304 Hight, Frank R 148 Hill, Melvin A 718 Hine, John H SSI Hockett, John B «48 Holley, C. H 732 Holley, H. H 732 Homen, Manuel R 715 Homer, Joseph W 788 Horsman, Henry C 039 Hoskins, Charles W 802 Houston. George W 719 Houston, James 851 Howard, Charles H 657 Howe, Albert P 705 Howe, Edwin H 532 Howe, Frank E 519 Howe, Fred C 490 Howes, Thomas E 495 Howeth, Lewis W 738 Hubbs, Arthur P 786 Huffaker, Jacob V 670 Hunsaker, I. B 554 Huntley, John H 255 Hyde, Jeremiah D 692 Hyde, Richard E 682 J Jacob, Elias 737 Jacobs, Hon. Justin 278 Jacobs, H. Scott 405 Jameson, Irving L 414 Jasper, George 461 Jenanyan, Moses S 568 Johnson. James L 817 X 1 1 INDEX Johnson, John C S44 Jordan, John F 331 Joyner, Charles E 630 K Kaehler. Mrs. Ida M 496 Kanawyer, Napoleon P 640 Kellenberg, Frank R 859 Kelly. Samuel W 403 Kelsey, Hiram 861 Kennedy & Robinson 4.'j5 Kenney. Samuel L 837 Kimball, S. C TS9 Kincaid, Roland L. 520 King. Lowery B 4S0 Kinkade. Squire H S15 Kitchel, Elmer L 795 Klindera. John 697 Kneeland. Joel 696 Knierr. Albert 694 Knight, U. G _ 368 Knight. Zenias 581 Knox, George W 256 Knutson, Iver 873 Kyle. T. W 392 L .Lafever. Andrew J 808 LaMarche, Joseph 434 LaMarsna, Eber H 673 LaMarsna. Jeffery J 699 Laney, Archie P _. 565 Lathrop. Ezra _ 288 Leach. John H 753 Leavens. Peter ^ 675 Leavens. William A 675 Lee. Anderson W 816 Leebon, John A 547 Lemos. Manuel B 776 Leoni. Leo 665 Lewis, D. W 707 Lewis. Thomas 445 Ley, Joseph „... 852 Light. H. J 320 Lindsey, Tipton 270 Lorendo. Gideon 391 Loucks, Hon. Geo. P 821 Lovelace. Byron 396 Lovelace, Joseph W., 631 Luce. Eugene A 792 Lynch. Jlichael M .S21 McAdam, Frank S 325 McAdam, James 746 McAdam Ranches 319 McAdam, Robert 744 McAdam, William J 363 McCarthy. Thomas 512 McClure. Benjamin E 700 McCord. William P 345 McCracken. W. H _ 521 McFarland. Charles G 616 McFarland. J. H. C 283 McLaughlin, Stiles A 843 McLean, P. A 336 Macfarlane. W. C 778 Machado. Manuel 1 497 Maddox, Ben M 362 Majors, Columbus P 241 Mardis. Oliver P 361 Marshall, Lionel W 390 Mathewson, Arthur W 541 Mathewson, Earl 625 May. James H 504 May. Jonathan W 764 Mayer, James B 511 Mayes, Francis M 842 Melidonian, E. G 354 Michaelis, William 845 Miller. Herman T 747 Miller. Robert W 324 Miller, William H.. M. D 882 Miller. William R 360 Millinghausen, William H 572 Mills. Merritte T 748 Mitchell. Adolphus ^ 803 Mitchell. Levi 769 Mitchell. S 731 Montgomery. Elbert R 518 Montgomery. John 523 Montgomery. Litchfield Y 287 Moore. Hiram 529 Moore. Orlando 379 Moore. Robert A 429 Moorehead. James A 452 Morgan. John T 626 Murphy, Daniel 569 Murphy. Henry and Philena A 656 Murphy. Rev. James 812 Murray, Abram H 448 Murray, ^y alter D 645 N Navarre. Elizabeth 570 Newman, Frank A 310 Newman. Robert 478 Newman. Thomas C 613 Noble. George A 275 Null. Robert 749 INDEX X 1 1 1 Oakes. James W 853 Ogden. Robert K 864 OgiU-ie, Albert G 6*9 Osborn. Frank 359 Overall, Daniel G 428 P Parker. Hiram L 781 Parrish. F. M 540 Parsons. Ulysses G 573 Peacock. Harrison F 701 Perry. A. J 814 Peterson. Alfred 347 Peterson. Carl A 525 Phariss. Tillman B 875 Phelps. A. W 790 Phillips. Perry C 777 Piatt. Louis F 527 Poe. Frank 721 Pollock. George W 750 Powell. Frank 385 Powell. Harrison A 634 Powers. Richard 811 Prestidge. J. L 799 Price. James S 788 Putnam. Robert A 620 R Ragle. Emanuel T 249 Ragle. Henry 752 Ragle. J. Albert 609 Raisch, Harry J 604 Ramsey. George D 698 Raney. Asbury C '. 883 Ratliff. William P 870 Rea, Frank 814 Reed. Henry W 818 Reed. John R 619 Rehoefer. Samuel 714 Reinhart. William 557 Renaud. Emerie 561 Rhodes. William C 575 Rice. John C 605 Rice, J. Clarence 606 Rice. J. W. B 373 Richardson. Freeman 638 Richardson. Gustavus A 510 Richland Egg Ranch 778 Rivers. William 883 Robertson. Frank P 574 Robinson. William W 820 Robison. George A 567 Rock. Henry F 708 Roes, Henry C - 856 Boss. Ean 677 Rosson. Charles T., M. D 290 Rourke. Michael F 522 Russell, J. C. C 708 S Sage. J. M 609 Sahroian. Fred 823 St. Bridget's Catholic Church 462 Salladay. A. J ■ 782 Scher. Rev. Philip G 462 Schimmel Brothers 473 Schnereger & Downing 663 Schueller, John J 824 Sciarone. Andrew 610 Scoggins. Andrew J 269 Scoggins, J. E 884 Scoggins. R. E 886 Scott Francis C 339 Sears, William A 821 Sellers. Edward G 680 Setliff. James M 469 Shannon, Carleton J 594 Sharp, Benjamin V 543 Shippey, Ahin B 498 Shoemaker. Robert M 472 Shreve, H. M 433 Sickles, Lewis A 571 Sigler, John 611 Silveira. Joseph 563 Singleton. M. F 797 Slocum, Alvin H 342 Smith. A. Frank 542 Smith. Cecil H 819 Smith. Charles E...... 470 Smith. Clark M 709 Smith. Enoch A 865 Smith. Frank 711 Smith, Frank P 739 Smith, Henry C 862 Smith, John H 437 Smith, Lewis S 866 Smith, Thomas 819 Smith, W. J 474 Stayton. Charles F t)47 Steuben. William N 740 Steves, George H 683 Stokes, John W 2S1 Stokes, S. C 295 Storzback. Fred 514 Stubbelfield. William N 806 Sturgeon. Joseph W 71i» Swall. Arthur 380 Swall. William 849 X 1 V INDEX Swan, William 359 Sweeney, James 741 T Taylor, J. L 622 Teague, George H 825 Thayer, J. Carl 773 Thayer, William H 383 The Old Bank of Hanford 433 Thomas, F. A 488 Thomas, Isaac H 263 Thomas, Jesse A 742 Thomas, Louis L 774 Thomas. Martin V 499 Thomson, Peter 780 Tomer, George 341 Tompkins, Charles W 884 Townsend, Homer C 693 Tozer, Charles W 33? Tozer, Roy S 'J38 Traeger, Henry G 49T Traut, Mrs. Catherine L 659 Trewhitt, W. D 798 Tulare Home Telephone and Tele- graph Company 376 Turner, Jesse T 668 Turner, Lucius H 622 Tyler, John D 250 Twaddle, Thomas B 404 U Unger. William 576 V Vail Brothers 863 Vaughan, William T.'. 313 Vaughn, David A 471 Visalia Plumbing and Sheet Metal Company 309 w Waddell, George E 242 Walker, John E 681 Walker, John and Serepta . 686 Walker, William G 6.S4 Ward, Harvey L 826 Warner, Erastus F 023 Warren, Isaac H 889 Webb, Octavius H MV) Weddle, Ethelbert S G08 Weddle, M. E 762 Wegman. George J..... 442 Weigle, Martin L 579 Wells, James M 888 Wells, Morgan J 599 Wendling, G. X 375 West, Joshua E 889 West, William B 662 Wheeler, Alexander W 646 Whitaker, William 634 White, Capt. Harrison .'... 301 Whittington, William, M. D 712 Williams, Alpheus C 627 Williams, George W 450 Williams, Joel W 585 Williams, John W 743 Williams, William A 828 Wilson, Henry L 713 Wilson, John A 851 Wilson, Osborne L 612 Wirht, Martin 834 Wood, Daniel 751' Wood, George 477 Woodard, Homer D 577 Woods, A. J 526 Wookey, Sidney H 636 Work, Enoch 507 Wray, George U 563 Wright, Harland E 330 Wright, Isaac N 351 Wright, James W 500 Y Young, J. N 887 z Zumwalt, Daniel K 401 HISTORICAL CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY TO HISTORY OF TULARE COUNTY By Eiigejie L. Menefee. A preat'lier and a teaclicr, it apitears, curiously euou.uli wore the two first white leaders to enter what is now Tulare county. Each l)ore the name of Smith. Jedediah S. Smith, the preaclier, arrived in 1825 or '26, accompanied by about fifteen trappers, he being the first white man to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains. Entry to the valley was made via the Tejon pass. Thousands of naked Indians were seen. Tulare lake was observed and successful trai)i)ing for beaver was conducted along the upper reaches of the Kings, San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. In 1827 Smith made a return trij), entering through Walker's pass. It should be understood that Jed was not an ordained minister, but being a strong and aggressive Cliristian, he endeavored to con- vert to that faith the reckless and lawless men who joined his band. Bible readings, prayers, exhortations mingled with reproofs were features of each day, no matter how wearisome had been the march. It is said, however, that his efforts at reform were not entirely suc- cessful. "Pegleg" Smith, the teacher, visited our vicinity in 1S:5(1, and was eminently successful. "Pegleg" did not hold a degree nor even a certificate. He was a horse-thief by profession and he took u]) quarters among the Indians, establishing friendly relations with them and thus obtained a place of refuge and a rendezvous for the round-up of stolen stock when ready to proceed on the return journey to the Santa Fe country. In return for the hospitality extended him, Mr. Smith allowed some of the Indians to accompany him on raids to tlie ranchos of the coast and taught them all the elements of a])i)ro- priatiou. Due, no doul)t, to Mr. Smith's ability as an educator, these lessons were not forgotten and tlie practices inculcated by him were so i)ersistent]y folh:)wed that in the course of time the Indians gained the merited title of "the horse-thieves of the Tulare." Oiie of Pegleg's ])arty met a tragic fate. Missed from cami) on Kern river, near the site of the present Keyesville, he was found dead alongside the carcass of a huge grizzly, his body mutilated and his head crushed. '^I'liere had evidently been a deadly fight in which both contestants had succumbed. 'i'lie I'ude wooden cross whicli 1 6 TULAEE AND KIXGS COUNTIES marked bis lonely fi,rave still stood in 1H'A\ when the Kern river j^old rush took place. Closely following;- Jedediah Smith came Ewing Young and party, who started tra])])ing in the San Joafpiin valley in 1831, finding beaver plentiful. Young hunted in the vicinity of Tulare lake for a short time and theu took his way northward. During the next decade several other groups of trapjiers passed through the San Joaquin valley. Between the Tulare valley and the Calaveras river there was at that time an estimated Indian iwpulation of 20,000. For any accurate knowledge of the county as it existed then we must await the coming, in 1846, of John C. Fremont, an account of which will be given in a later chapter. History — human history — began to lie recorded in what is now Tulare county at a time long prior to the events just related. So remote is this date that we of the present day can scarcely hazard even a guess as to the number of centuries that have elapsed since this civilizatioji flourished. Probalily it existed co-eval with that of the mound builders of the Mississippi — with that of the cliff dwellers of Arizona. It is probable that at that time the waters of the Pacific filled the valley of the San Joacpiin so that the area of our county was once smaller thau it is now. These surmises are based on the fact that in numerous places throughout the Sierra Nevada mountains are found picture writings of the origin of which our latter day Indians have not even a tradition. They cannot interpret them, nor do they possess any knowledge of the art of making the indesti'uctible paints used. On a bluff near the railroad bridge across the Kaweah at Lemon Cove, at Rocky Hill, near Exeter, in Stokes valley, at "VVoodlake, at Dillon's point, at Hospital Rock on the middle fork of the Kaweah, some thirteen miles above Three Rivers and in many other jilaces these pictures are found. In several instances the arrangement of the figures is in columns. This would seem to indicate that they are tribal or genealogical rec- ords. Swords and spears, weapons absolutely unknown to present- day Indians, are among the objects represented. Others are bears, birds, pine trees, man, the sun, a fire, circles, crosses, etc. Up to the present time no key has been found to these hieroglyphics. A fac- simile of the paintings on Hospital Rock has been sent to the Smith- sonian Institution at Washington, but as yet the learned men there have been unable to decipher the record. As the fund of knowledge regarding the sign-writing of all tribes throughout the world is con- stantly increasing, as they are studied and com]>ared and grou]ied in systems, and certain meanings definitely established, it is not improb- able that at some future time the first chapters of Tulare county's history mav vet be translated into English. Even so, then would TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 7 elapse a period of thousands of years without a line. No tradition existed Iiere among tlie Indians as to any migration or se])aration from another tribe. They believed themselves to be al)origines. Yet there were trails known to them l)y which the Sierras could be crossed. No reports from the passing l)ands of trappers hastened the coming of settlers. With them a country was good or liad according as many valuable pelts could or could not be there obtained, and no note was taken of its adaptaliility for agriculture. Neither was it by the accounts set fortli by Fremont, wliich were meager and of a scientific nature. Tlie fact was that in the '4!l rush to tlie gold fields of Calif ornia many trains came l)y the southern route and passed through the Four Creeks country, as this section was tlien called. Out of a desert they came, and pursuing their way northward, Inick into what was then almost a desert they went. We can well imagine their delight at the sight of the vast, oak-forested delta covered with knee-high grasses. We can imagine, too, their chafing at the delay here occasioned by the necessity of getting their animals in condition to proceed farther. All were keenly anxious to reach the foot of the rainbow. And when, after toil and trouble, hardship, misfortune and ill-luck, they failed to find it, we can imagine them as keenly anxious to return to the delightful land they had left. The first to really settle there was a trader named Woods, who with a party of about fifteen men arrived in December of 1850. This party came from Mariposa and was well equipped with saddle and pack ani- mals, arms, implements of l)uilding, etc. They located on the south bank of the Kaweah river, about seven miles east of ^^isalia, where they built a. substantial log house. Of the fate of this ]iarty accounts vary somewhat. The accepted version is that in the spring of '51, an Indian l)earing the name of Francisco, speaking some Si^anish, and probably one of the renegades from the ranches of the coast, with a number of Kaweahs, of whom he apj^eared to be chief, ordered the settlers to leave that section of the country within ten days, with the alternative of death if they remained beyond the allotted time. The settlers agreed to go and made prejiarations for their departure, burying the provisions and such farming implements as they pos- sessed and proceeded to gather their stock. 'While thus engaged the tenth day passed, and the Indians returned to fulfill their threat. Ten of the settlers were killed while hunting their stock, two made their escape, one of whom was wounded. The savages then approached the house in which was Woods and another. They professed friendship, and thus removed the aii])re- hensions of their victims, who were unconscious of the fate of their fellows. One of the whites was asked to hold up a target that the 8 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES ludiaiis miylit exhiliit their skill with the bow aud arrow; he com- plied, whereupon the treacherous Kaweahs turued their aim uijon him aud f|uickly shot him to death. Woods fled to the cabin and fastened the door. This the savages attacked with great fury, but it was strong and resisted their assaults. Woods had a single rifle and a short sujiply of ammunition, aud with this he attempted to defend himself. Of all this we have the reports of Indians only, as from the time the two escaped none other was left to tell the story of the treachery and the tragedy. The entrapjjed man determined to sell his life as dearly as possible. As opportunity offered he fired through the apertures of the logs and with deadly effect, as during the contest seven of the Indians were killed. At last the scanty ammunition was exhausted, and the despairing condition of the helplessness overcame the l)rave Woods. The assailants, finding their prisoner no longer able to do them harm, renewed their efforts on the door, until it at last gave way and the enemy was in their ]iower. Woods had made a brave defense, had slayed and wounded many of their numlier and a revenge in consonance with the Indian spirit was determined upon. This was nothing less than flaying him alive. The doomed man was bound down and while defying his torturers, his skin was taken from his liody aud afterwards nailed to an oak tree. According to Stephen Barton the cause of the outbreak as given by the Indians was that Indians from the north sought the aid of the Kaweahs as allies, representing that the whites were seizing their country and driving them out. When the tribes of this valley declined to assist the visitors, these made war upon them and cap- tured many of their women. The majority of them fled to the hills. the few remaining slaughtering the Woods ]:)arty. Other accounts are that from seven hundred to one thousand Indians took part in the butchery. A party headed by a man named Lane arrived within a day or so after the massacre and rescued a wounded man, whose name was Boden, aud carried him back with them to Marii)osa, where he recovered. To C. R. Wingfield, Boden gave a detailed account of the fight at the Woods cabin. A report of the massacre was taken to Fort Miller, on the San Joaquin river, and a detachment of troops in command of General Patten inarched to the feceue. The log house stood intact and evi- dence of the In-ave defense, the massacre and the butchery remained. What was left of the bodies was buried and work was commenced on the construction of a fort about half a mile from the Woods cabin, but before its completion the troops were withdrawn. The above story is essentially as given by Stephen Barton in his early history of Tulare county, his data being obtained from several of the first settlers. In the issue of the Visalia Sun dated TFLABE AND KINGS COUNTIES D September 5, 1860, Ahriilwnn llillianl, who arrived in the sprini;' of '.'')4 and lived for three months in the Woods cabin, gives i)rac'tically the same version. i)la('insi' tlie date of tlie massacre, however, as Decem- ber 13, 1850. Gilbert M. L. Dean, who arrived in the Fonr Creeks conntry when a lad abont twelve years of age, states that his father's family came from Texas in a party conducted by Nat ^"ise. Both the Vise and Dean families remained for a time at Los Angeles, and Vise, taking young Dean with him, left for the northern country, traveling on horseback, and with a i)ack outfit. They remained a few days near the Kaweah. Vise decided to push onward to the mines and left the Dean boy with Loomis St. John (for whom the St. John river was afterwards named), who then had a cabin near the river. al)out a half mile from that afterwards constructed l)y the AVoods party. Thus the general belief that the latter structure was the first permanent lialiitation erected by white men within the present limits of Tulare county is disputed by Dean, who was living in St. John's caliin wlien the Woods party arrived to establish their settle- ment. St. John and his young companion, who were glad to have neigh- bors of their own race, went over one day where they had before seen Woods and his men felling trees and building their house. They were surprised to hear no wood-chopping or other noise when they approached, and when near the cabin, which was almost completed, they were horrified to see the body of a man lying on the groTind. The skin had been removed and was fastened to the bark of a large oak tree hard by on the bank of the stream. They were unable to find any other member of the ]>arty, alive or dead, and saw no Indians. S(ildiers and otliers arrived within a day or two, among tliem being some of the men wlio had been with Woods. They stated that Woods had gone to the cabin to ])repare dinner or had remained there after l)reakfast and was attacked by the Indians when alone at the cabin. The others heard the firing of Woods' gun and the shout- ing of the Indians, and lieing unarmed or poorly armed and unal)le to reach the cabin to assist AVoods, they hid their axes and mauls and saved themselves by flight. Dean says he never heard of any other person than Woods having l)een killed at tliat time, but does not remember to have heard whether an.\- of the survivors were wounded or molested by the Indians. The Woods cabin was used for a schoolhouse afterwards, and Dean and his l)rother attended school there later, when, after his return to Los Angeles, tlie Dean family came to tlie Kaweah settle- ment to reside permanently. Dean was therefore at this i)]ace as a pupil in the first school in Tulare county and he still has a vivid 10 TULARP] AXD KIXGS COUNTIES recollection of the locality. When visitin.o- the i)lace, with othei's. a few j'ears ago lie at once recognized the tree on wliich Woods' skin was hnng by the Indians and pointed out the location of the honse and about the spot where Woods' ))ody lay, and an involuntary shudder was noticed to pass through the old gentleman's frame as he stood there. Although the oldest resident of Tulare county, the l)ioneer of Tulare pioneers, he is still vigorous, retains all his faculties perfectly and remembers distinctly the [iriucipal events of that early time, many of which he participated in. Apparently uuterritied l)y the fate of the Woods i)arty, settlers and traders continued to straggle in. In the fall of 1851, C. B. Wing- field and A. A. Wingfield arrived from Mariposa. On the way the>' met two men named McKeuzie and Eidley, who had been trading with the Indians for several years and who were somewhere in the neighborhood when the Woods jiarty was slain. A bridge had been l)uilt across the Kaweah near the Woods cabin, but there was no settlement. The Wingfields settled near the cabin, laying claim to the land from the river southward. They found the Indians friendly and sociable, and although their outfit was within the reach of hun- di-eds of this people and contained a multiplicity of small articles, yet the.v never missed so much as a needle. In December of tlie same year, Xathauiel and Abner Vise came to what is now \'isalia and l)uilt a log cabin on the north bank of Mill ci'eek. ()n the site of the camps of these two pairs of brothers were afterwards built the two towns that contended for the honor of being the seat of justice of Tulare county. These two pairs of brothers, between whose camps were seven miles of almost unbroken jungle, appear to have been the only settlers in the country witli a fixed domicile. They were unknown to each other and ignorant of the other's whereabouts. The state legislature was in session. Many first-class politicians at Mariposa were either out of a job or i)ossessed of one the emolu- ments of which were not satisfactory. These events and conditions would not have interested either the l)rothers Vise or the Wingfields. Yet so interwoven are the strands of destiny tliat life or death to the Wingfields was later to dei)end on the activity of the Mari])osa schem- ers and their "pull" with the legislators. It was at the l)ehest of this horde of hungry office-seekers that the legislature passed an act and the same was approved A])ril 20, 1852, as follows: "The county of Mariposa is hereby subdivided as follows: Be- ginning at the summit of the coast range, at the corner of Monterey and San Luis Obisi)o covmties; thence running in a northeasterly direction to the ridge dividing the waters of the San Joaquin and Kings rivers; thence along the ridge to the summit of the Sierra; thence in the same direction to the state line: thence southeasterlv TULARK AND KlXfJS COUNTIES 11 along said line to the comity of Los Angeles; tlience sontliwesterly along the line of Los Angeles connty to Santa Barbara; thence along the summit of the coast range to the point of beginning. "The southern portion of Mariposa county so cut ofi, shall l)e called Tulare county. The seat of justice shall be at the log cabin on the south side of Kaweah creek, near the bridge built by Dr. Thomas Payne, and sliall l)e called Woodsville, until changed by the ijeople as l>rovided l)y law. "During the second week of July next there shall l)e chosen for Tulare county one county judge, one county attorney, one county clerk, one recorder, one sheriff, one county surveyor, one assessor, one coroner and one treasurer. "The county judge chosen under this act shall hold his office for two years from next October, and until his successor is elected and ciualified. The other officers elected shall hold their resi)eetive offices for one year, and until their successors are elected and qualiiied. The successors of the officers elected under this act shall be chosen at the general elections established by law, which take place next pre- ceding the expiration of their respective terms." James D. Savage, M. B. Lewis, John Boling and W. H. McMillen were appointed conunissioners to cari-y out the law and conduct the election. The i)rime mover in this scheme to form a new county was William H. Harvey. He and his associates knew of the nuissacre of the Woods party and, fully expecting to have to tight tlieir way to the P^our Creeks, ])laced the cx])editiou under the connnand of Major James D. Savage. Orlando Barton says: "Major Savage's party as it left Mari- posa was com]K)sed mostly of men on horseback. Many men with families ])re]iared to follow with teams. The first general rendezvous was on Grand Island. A settlement was already forming on Kings river. I have heard it stated that the office-seekers from Mariposa hired enough Whigs to come with them to outvote the Democrats on Arkansas Flat. On Grand Island, July 8th, the commissioners held their first meeting. They ordered an election to be held on July 10, 1852, and appointed William J. Campbell to act as the ins])ector at Poole's Perry and William Dill to act as inspector at Woodsville. These were the only ])recincts established. All the wagons with the women and children stayed on Grand Island, while Major Savage marshaled the fighting men for the advance on Four Creeks. "Including the board of commissioners they were fifty-two strong and on the morning of July !)tli they started from Poole's Ferry to cross the plains. It lacked about an hour and a half of sundown when they arrived in the outskirts of the timber at the foot of \'enice hills. Here they saw hostile ludiaus. Major Savage's party rode along the 12 TULARK AXD KTX(!S COFXTIKS southwest side of the A'enit-e hills, Hriiii;- riiilil and left at eveiv Indian they saw. RESCI'E OF THE WIXGFJELDS "On the mornino- of July 8, 1852, three lumdred armed Indians came to the Wiugfiekl hrothers' camp and took them and an Indian boy who was with them jirisoners, and marched tliem across tlie Kaweah and St. John rivers. Near the north banl< of tlie St. John, the Indians tied the Wingfield brothers and their companion liand and foot and laid them on the ground. Tlie Wiugtields were kept in this ])lace all one day and the succeeding night. The 9th of July was hot and sultry. The Indians were morose and sulky. They stayed at a distance from the Wingfields and talked only to themselves. Neither the AVingfields nor their companion could understand the cause of their imprison- ment. They knew nothing of the advance of Major Savage's ])arty. They did not know that tlieir captors constituted one of tlie forces sent to hold the fords of the St. John against the men from ^lariposa. "If I were a novelist I would novr tell what the AViugheld broth- ers thought at this crisis in their lives. I would tell how they were tormented by swarms of Hies, armies of ants, and cold lizards with poisonous fangs. But as I am only an historian I can tell only what I know. Charley Wingfield said that he did not know what was to become of them. The fate of Woods was fresh in their minds and we may reasonalily be permitted to guess that they expected to be skinned. "The sun was about au hour high in the west when an Indian came running around the southernmost of the Venice hills holding one of his arms straight u]) in the air. His arm, which was covered with blood, was shot through with a bullet. Some of the Indians who were guarding the Wingfields ran forward to meet him. A short palaver was held. Then three or four of them went to the place where the Wing-fields were tied down. They untied them and then all the In- dians suddenly disappeared. "The AVingtields went to the river and after swinuning it, were climbing up on its south bank, when they saw Major Savage's party coming around the point of the hill from the direction of Mount A'iew Park. The Wingiields re-crossed the river and joined the ])arty. THE ELECTION "As soon as Major Savage's party arrived, the commissioners commenced to prejiare for the election. For this purpose they selected the tree that stood farthest out on the open ground. This was done so that they could get the benefit of any breeze that might lie blowing. There has been recently a sign ])laced on this tree and any person can find it. It stands about half way l)etween the Tulare Irrigation com- pany's flume and the Southern Pacific railroad bridge across the St. John river. '^Die jiioneers occujiied the ground between the election TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 13 tree and the river, and utilized the shade of several oilier trees. IMes- sengers were sent hack to Poole's iVrry and night found the Mariposa adventurers in possession of the camp that the captors of the Wing- fields had so recently occupied." The poll list of the Woodsville i)recinct was as follows: Augustus John, S. D. F. Edwards, Early Tiyon, Martin Morris, J. B. Marsh, John A. Patterson, T. Hale, Richard Matthews, J. M. Snockters, R. P. Cardwell, S. P. Carter, C. Keener, Benj. Mettors, A. B. Gordon, J. M. Jackson, Henry Crowell, Wni. B. Hobbs, John Reefe, Clark Royster, S. M. Brown. J. G. Morris, P. F. HesJjerp, B. B. Harris. A. H. Corbitt, L. B. Lewis, William Pedersen, W. C. McDougal, George H. Rhodes, Joseph A. Tivy, W. H. Howard, Charles J. Jones, Isaac McDonald, Joshua Sledd, W. H. Erving, James D. Savage. Robert F. Parks, J. L. Avenill, William Dougle, W. W. McMillen, William Dill, Penny Douglas, George H. Rogers, L. St. John, James Wate, A. J. Lawrence, Thomas McCormick, B. B. Overton, James Davis, A. A. Wingfield, R. Schuffler, A. M. Cameron. C. R. AVingtield voted at Poole's ferry, as did Nathaniel Vise. In looking over this poll list the observer is at once struck with the infre(]ueucy of well-known names of early pioneers. This was because there were few bona lide settlers in the settlement. After the election the commissioners remained in camp, received the returns from Poole's ferry and canvassed the entire vote. The following officers were elected: for county judge, Walter II. Harvey; county attorney, F. H. Sanford; county clerk, E. D. F. Edwards; recorder, A. B. Gordon; sheriff, William Dill; surveyor, Joseph A. Tivy; assessor, James B. Davis; coroner, W. W. McMillen; treasurer, L. C. Fraukenlierger. On July 12th, the county otlicers took the oath of office and the county seat remained for some time under the election tree, although most of the county officers returned shortly to Mariposa. Edwards, the county clerk, was killed in a quarrel with a man named Bob Collins, shortly after his arrival in Marijiosa, and soon afterwards Major Savage was killed by Judge Harvey. Franken- berger. in a fit of delirium tremens, wandered off into the swamp and died. Later in the season. Dr. Everett was engaged in gambling at Woodsville with a man named Ball and a dis]mte arose about $5. Everett asked Ball if he was armed. P)all replied that he was not, whereujion ?]verett co/mnanded liim to go and arm himself. Ball said that he would and started for his camji. Everett said he would go with him and see that he did it, ]>ulliug out his pistol at the sanu' time. P>all then tf)ld him that the best way was to leave the matter till another day and it would pro1)ably be settled. "No," said Ever- ett, "one of us must die now." Ball stoojted over and carelessly rubbed his leg, saying, "If I must fight, I shall fight for Ijlood." and 14 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES at the same time suddenly lifting iiis jiantaloons and drawing a revolver from his boot, shot Everett dead without drawing the pistol from its scal)bard. Ball was examined before a justice of the peace and discharged. "W. J. Campbell and Loomis St. John were justices of the peace and they, acting as associate judges with the county judge, constituted the court of sessions liy which county affairs were administered. At the lirst meeting of the court of sessions held October 4, 1852. Judge Harvey ])residiug, a license for a ferry on Kings river and for a toll bridge at the Kaweah was granted. Thomas McCormick was appointed assessor to succeed Everett, and P. A. Eainholt was named to succeed J. C. Erankenberger. An election proclamation was issued for the general election to be held on the first Tuesday of November, 1852, for county and state officers and for presidential electors. Bona fide settlers had now commenced to arrive. Among the first were S. C. Brown. A. H. Murray and family, three Matthews families, three Glenn families. Colonel Baker and family. Bob Stev- enson and family, Abraham Ililliard and family, 0. K. Smith, Samuel Jennings, Tom Willis, Tom Baker, G. F. siiip. J. C. Reed, John Cutler, Nathan Dillon and Edgar Reynolds. Nat Vise induced most of these parties to accompany him to the neighborhood of his claim, where they could, he said, find lietter land. They were i)leased with this locality and got Vise to release his title to the claim he had first taken up, with a view to laying out a town and having it become the county seat. For protection against Indians a stockade was built large enough to hold the wagons and supplies and several log houses. This fort was situated on ground now bounded by School, Bridge, Oak and Garden streets, and was constructed by setting puncheons upright in a ditch about three feet deep. An extension of about four feet was made at each corner which permitted a raking fire on the side to be directed against an attacking party, should an attempt be made to climl) over. The naming of the new settlement ai)i)eared to be the occasion of some dispute. The majority of the citizens favored naming it after its founder, Nathaniel A'ise. l)ut Ihc lioard of supervisors desig- nated it Buena Vista. The word A'isalia lirst appears in the record of the court of sessions in August, 1853, when an order was entered dividing the county into townships. Woodsville and A'isalia town- ships were divided by a line running north and south from the cross- ing of Canoe creek. Its derivation is believed by some to be from Vise and Sally or Salia, the name of ^'ise's wife. Others believe it to be a combination of Vise with Sa-ha-la, the Indian name for sweat house, and still others think it merely the termination "alia," as in Vaudalia, Cen- tralia, etc., chosen on account of its ])leasing sound. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 15 lu October of 1853 was lield the tirst session of the board of supervisors. Town lots were parceled out and the record shows the entry, "Ordered that tlie seat of justice be Buena Vista." In the records of the court of sessions for February, 1851, the name Buena Vista api)eared for the last time, all suljseciuent jiroceedings being dated Visalia. On the 11th of March, 1854, the board of supervisors entered an order granting the prayer of certain ])etitioners that tlie name of tlie seat of justice be Visalia. So much concerns the dispute over the name. The election l)y which tlie transfer of the seat of justice from Woodsville was effected was held in '[SoA. Judge Cutler was tlie cham]>ion of Woodsville and Judge Thomas Baker of \'isalia. The vote was \ery close and bribery and corruption were alleged to have l)een used. The friends of Woodsville charged that the result in favor of ^^isalia was from the bribery of two or three voters and there was at least one uotable ease where one man obtained an eligi])le location a half mile south of the site of Visalia and that he thus seemed to desert his Woodsville friends. Although Baker carried the day in respect to his choice of county seat, he was defeated for judge, as Cutler proved far the more pop- ular. There was constructed a sort of courthouse of rough boards affording an enclosure and a shelter and records were kept on scraps of ])aper and deposited in a wooden box. Much of the ])roceedings and accounts were kei^t in memory. At the session of the l)oard of supervisors in March, 1854, many town lots were sold anil an order was entered for building a jail sixteen feet in the clear inside and ten feet between floors. The building to be two stories high, to be built of hewed logs eight indies square, dove-tailed and i)inned at the corners; the wall to be double with a space iietween six inches wide, to be filled with liroken rock. The floor was to be of logs of similar size, planked, and the planking to be held down by "double tens," one nail in every superficial inch. This order was to be pulilished in a Mariposa newsjiaper. Although this was the first jail and courthouse in the new county, it was not built in time to acconmiodate the first prisoners or to furnish a place in which to hold the first trial. The first arrest in the county was that of Judge Harvey for the killing of Major Savage, luit notliing came of it. As previously related, Ball was acquitted for the killing of F]verett. Tlie first case ti'ied in the county was before a justice of tlie ])eace. It was that of a young Indian charged with shooting an arrow into a work-ox whereby the animal was more or less disabled. At this time few i)ersons had allowed themselves to think of a lightei' jumishment for an Indian tliau that of summary execution. All concurred in the oiiiiiion tliat siicli mischief should not be toler- ated. The mass of the Indians were disposed to be friendly, but 16 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES were not disposed to lake the same view of the uecessity of adoptin.o' a more severe penalty for the Indians than was meted out to whites for similar offenses. The chief was anxious to preserve jieace and volunteered his services to aid in the arrest of the culi)rit. The officers de]iutized to make the arrest were C. R. "Wingfield and Jim Hale. They, in company with the chief, went to Cottonwood creek, near Elder Springs (AVoodlake). Here the old chief suggested the plan of having the officers remain under a tree while he should go and make the arrest. Among these Indians the jirdxince of a chief is to advise rather than command, and the old chief perhaps regarded it as .uncertain wliether the young men of the camp would acquiesce in the surrender until they knew what the character of the ])un- ishment would 1)e. The chief's pony was well jaded and "Wing- field suggested an exchange of horses. After the officers had remained under the trees until they ))egan to grow impatient, they saw two or three Indians on foot aiijiroaching from a dis- tance. They came up and sullenly seated themselves under the tree. Soon after three or four more appeared. They were hounti- fuUy supplied with bows and arrows and "Wingfield made tJie comment that they were going to be able to make an arrest quite beyond the scope of their original purpose. He saw no other plan, however, than that of awaiting the return of his horse. Soon the chief nuide liis appearance with the prisoner, followed by about forty Indians fully equipped for war. "When they came up, the officers, assuming a bold front in an uni^leasant emergency, took the pi'isoner in charge and started for cam]), a distance of about ten miles. Arriving there the jiro- cession halted in front of the office of the justice of the peace, i.e., mider the election tree. The Indians were resolved to allow no punishment which they did not sanction to be inflicted. The whites, of whom there were eighteen, were unaccustomed to brook anything like insolence from an Indian without shooting him down, and, having started in with the case, they saw no means of retreat without feeling a loss of dignity. Such an astounding capture, though unexpected, was fully comprehended and both parties were well assured that the first display of force on either side until the matter was arranged would lead to indiscriminate slaughter. For two days and two nights the matter was angrily discussed and finally the Indians submitted to having the case tried in the white man's way. 'i'lie evidence on both sides was heard, and a judgment rendered that the accuseed past. Many of these immigrants and many other adventurous spirits returned the following year in the hoi)e of wealth by captur- ing the wild horses of the Tulare i)lains. Large corrals of brush and fence and tule with branching wings were constructed, pits were excavated and other devices were essayed; fleet horses with skillful riders with lassos were emi)loyed, and all the efforts possible were made to capture the wild horses. Many were taken, a comparative few were tamed and subdued to use; great numbers were killed, and so vigorous was the onslaught that but a year or two elajised when the wild horse was a rarity in the valley. They were beautiful animals, and in numbers a grand sight in their wild state, but when captured difficult to tame, always dangerous to handle, skittish and nervous, retaining during life their wild and untamable spirit. At least, such is the experience the writer of this had with the wild horses from the Tulare in 1850." 20 TULARE AXD KlXfJS (OrXTIES CHAPTER II INDIAN WAR OF '56 In the growtlt of the settlement Indians materially aided. They were docile, frieudl\', willing to work and were employed in taking care of stock and in farm and household work. And yet in 1856 the settlers had trouble with them of so serious a nature as to develoj) into what has been called the "Indian War." For an account of this we are i)rineii>ally indebted to Stephen Barton, writing in 1874, when the principal actors in the drama were still alive and he had every opportunity to obtain an accurate version of the matter. Additional facts secured through the researches of George W. Stewart in 1884, are linked in with the narrative which we }iresent here. In the spring of this year there came a rumor that a large l)and of cattle on Tule river had been stolen by Indians and driven off. Without investigation hurried preparations for war were at once begun. Scores of young bloods were ready to spring to the service of their country at once. Now, the Indians were generally employed by the settlers in farm work of all kinds, in the care of stock and as household servants, and were proving themselves honest and trust- worthy. Therefore, a few of the settlers conceived the idea of hear- ing both sides of the story and inquired of the Indians what they knew of the stealing, and were soon astmiished to find that as a matter of fact, no cattle had been stolen. The Indians said a young man by the name of Packwood had married an Indian girl and that according to their custom her tribe had assembled for a feast. Pack- wood contributed a yearling calf taken from his father's herd. Thus dwindled to almost nothing the rumor that five hundred cattle had been stolen. Nathan Dillon, Wiley Watson, Mr. Kenney and several otliers, feeling that it was an outrage to drive the Indians to the wall on so slight a pretext, undertook to remonstrate. These men were among the most high-minded and substantial citizens of the county, but their arguments proved Avithout avail. The tribe camped a mile below Visalia were ordered to surrender their arrows and to move their camp up to the western edge of the town. A party of mounted men went to the camp of the Yokos, near Exeter, and with yells and shots dispersed the Indians there, who fled, terror-stricken, to the swamps. A band of ruffians met one Indian on the road near Outside Creek and killed him without provocation. A crowd of lawless men in Visalia conceived the idea of be- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 21 siej^iiig a caiiiii ol' aliout I'di'ty uiianiicd and frii'iidly Indians ol' all ages and sexes, ahout two miles east of town, and of i)nttin,enetrate. The position was defended by a force numbering in the neighborhood of seven hundred warriors. Demasters, confident of the superiority of his men, small as their numbers were, ordered an attack. To protect themselves against the arrows of the Indians while attempting a breach of this enclosure, a portion of the troops had uniformed themselves in a sort of jjetticoat made of duck, jiadded inside with cotton. The petticoat brigade inarched boldly to the fray, but their shields ]iroved more vulnerable than anticijiated and the whites made a precipitate retreat to a ])oint about a mile distant to await re-enforcements. The party of nine men previously spoken of, on the trail of the Tejon Indians, ke])t in their saddles all day and night, and about daylight on the following morning, near where the village of Ducor is now situated, came upon the Indian camp. The dogs began barking and one of the Indians, painted and decked with feathers, stepped forward to a little knoll that commanded a view in all direc- tions, to ascertain the cause of the disturliance. John \V. Williams, afterwards cily marshal of \'isalia for several veai's, directed the 22 TULARE AND KIXGR COUNTIES man nearest liini, who had a liHe, ti) slioot. The Indian dropped dead, and the Americans charged, firing- ra])idly at the Indians, who scattered preci]>itately, leaving five dead. Williams and party tlien rode l)ack to Tide river to join the force under Demasters. It was the supposition at the time that this i)arty of Tejon Indians had l)een im])Iicated in cattle stealing in Frazier valley, and had gone on a marauding expedition to White river to massacre the few whites living along the stream; liut nothing was heard of them afterwards, and as they had a few women with them, they were probably only returning home to their own tribe. When the party of whites rejoined tlie command under Demas- ters, it was decided to dispatch Williams to Keyesville for assist- ance. Williams set out inunediately, going by way of Lynn's valley, Poso Ulat and (xreenhorn mountain. At Lynn's valley he changed horses and William Lynn, after whom the valley was named, agreed to accompany him i)art of the way. During their ride, after dark, through a heavily timbered region, where bears were i)lentiful, an incident occurred that is worthy of note. After riding a short dis- tance into the forest they heard a noise behind, and turning, saw a large, black animal following them. Williams was mounted on a fractious mustang which became frightened and darted up the steep mountain side, but floundered back into the trail. Soon they reached a small opening and here they determined to try the eflfect of a shot at the briite, which followed them persistently. L^^Tin dis- charged a load of buckshot and the l)ear fell at the first fire, greatly to their relief. Sixty miners from Iveyesville armed themselves and accom- panied Williams back. On the return the '"bear" killed by Lynn was found to i)e a large black mule owned by a settler. It took $90 to square with the mule's owner, but that was the least of it. For a long time afterwards the mere mention of "bear oil" was sufficient to cause either Williams or Lyini to stand treat and before the joke wore out it had cost them in the neighborhood of $500. When the Keyesville party arrived the entire force, numbering one hundred and forty, was placed under the command of W. (!. Poindexter, sherifT of the county, and a second assault made. During this attack two young Americans, Danielson and St. John, were severely wounded and one other, Thomas Falbert, was shot in the th.igli. These were the only whites injured. The attack ])roved futile and Poindexter ordered his command to fall back. A ]iortion returned to A'isalia, the remainder remaining encamped nearby awaiting re-enforcements. Of the force which returned to Visalia Ste]ihen Darton says: "Now connnenced one of the most disgrace- ful scenes connected with the history of this valley. Having inglor- iously fled from the Held of battle, this force now sought a cheap TULARP: and kings counties 23 l)laii of rt'ti'ieviii.n' a rejuitation for lieroisiii hy tiu-niii,!j,' on those citizens who liad counseled moderation and fair dealins"'. The Msalia Indians liad heen conipelled to surrender their arms and cam]) at the edge of town. The same autliority which required this now required that tliose wlio o])j)osed the war should, at tlie peril of their own lives, as well as of the lives of the Indians involved, convey the Indians out of the settlement. Dillon, Watson, Keeney, Judge Baker, the Matthews and several others were the men who now found their lives imperiled hy the fury of a lawless mol), for no other reason than that of having used words of moderation during a moment of i)0])ular frenzy. * * * Dillon gave $10 and a thousand j^ounds of flour, the Matthews gave fiour, and the other l)arties named gave in iJrojiortion and Jim Bell was hired to take a heavy ox team and haul the i)oor outcasts to Kings river." The "soldiers" left in camj) occupied themselves in searching out and destroying the caches of jn-ovisions which the Indians had made at ditTerent ]ioints along the foothills. These were found without difficulty, as they were usually placed in the forks of oak trees and covered with thatch. In a few days a company from Millerton, under connnand of Ira Stroud, and one from Coarse (rold Gulch under connnand of John L. Hunt, arrived. From Fort Miller was sent a detachment of twenty-live soldiers under Captain Livingston, bringing with them a small howitzer; and from Fort Tejon half as many mounted cavalry under the command of Alonzo Ridley, an Indian sub-agent. Captain Livingston assumed the chief command of the force which now numbered about four hundred and comprised nearly all the able-bodied men of the valley. After all had reached camp a con- sultation was held and it was agreed to divide the command into four divisions and attack the Indians at daybreak the following morning, from the front, rear and both flanks. Parties were sent out to view the country so that the several divisions might be guided to their respective positions without confusion, and Ca))tain Livingston with his soldiers and about sixty volunteei-s ascended an eminence connuanding the Indian fortification in order to select the most advantageous position for mounting their howitzer. The Indians unexpectedly made a vigorous attack on this party, precipitating the engagement. Livingston ordered a charge and with his officers, led the men in. They forced their way througli the brush, at the same time firing upon the Indians, who liecame demoralized and fled from their strong position into the mountains where they had loft their women and children. The Americans con- tinued the jjursuit for several days but, failing to discover another caju]) or any large body of Indians, retired to the valley. Several dead bi'aves were found inside the fortilical ion and (here was evi- 24 TULARE AXl) KINGS COUNTIES deuce of many liaviui;' lieeii liunie oif through the )n•u^sh. This was the last real engagement and the loss to the Indians in killed and wounded from the first hreakiiig out of hostilities was estimated at about one hnudi-ed. Although the whites i^osted detachments to prevent the Indians from returning to the valley, several ]5arties of mounted Indians succeeded in reaching the plains at night and killed or drove off quite a number of cattle. They also burned a few houses in the foothills, and all l)ut one along the Tule river and Deer creek, thirteen in number, the owners having deserted them for the time being. These raids continued for several weeks, until William Camp- bell, the sub-agent at Kings river, sought the Indians out in tiie mountains and found them willing to come to terms. The war liad lasted six weeks, when the Indians returned to the valley and they have remained friendly from that time to the i)resent day, althougli a little more than a decade later, a few murders committed on Tule river caused the government to send troops from San Francisco and force the Indians of that section onto a reservation set apart for them. George Stewart says: "Thus ended the Tule river war of 1856; a war that might have been ju-eveuted had there been an honest desire on the part of the white settlers to do so, and one that brought little glory to those who participated therein. The responsibility cannot now be fixed where it properly belongs. Pos- sibly the Indians were to blame. Certainly the whites were not blame- less, and it is too seldom, indeed, that they have been in the many struggles with the aboriginal inhalutants of this continent." The period between 1854 and the beginning of the Ci\-il war was chiefly remarkable for the discovery of gold and the mining excitement and boom following, and for the Indian war of 1856. D. B. and Brigham James made the tirst discovery of the precious metal in 1853 at Kern river. A stampede followed in which several thousand miners ]iartici})ated. Nearly all returned disap- pointed. However, other discoveries at White river, Keyesville, Owens river, in the Slate range and in the Coso district caused other mining booms so that for some seven or eight years there was a large population of miners, and the supplying of their wants liecame an important feature of business. Two trails were cut across the Sierra Nevada mountains over which pack trains carrying supjjlies were sent. A wagon road was also constructed from Visalia through Keyesville to Lone Pine and Fort Independence. As early as 1858 there were three quartz mills in operation in the Kern river district. These, by the way, had a greater value according to the assessor's figures than all the taxable real estate TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 25 in the oounty. A few years later several other .stanip uiills were constructed to mill the ore of the Coso and Owens river districts and the freighting of supplies became a Imsiness of great magnitude. Unfortunately, while rich strikes were found in all these localities, it appeared that the gold generally was found either in pockets or in leads that "])inch('(l out," and no ])ermanent wealth ])roducing camps resulted. INDIAN TKOITBLES IN OWENS EIVEK DISTHICT The war of ISoG, with its final engagement at Battle mountain, settled completely all trouble with Indians in Tulare county i)roi)er, or that portion lying on this side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. For many years, however, sporadic trouble in the Owens river valley caused much uneasiness to our people. At times these as- sumed such magnitude that several troops of regular cavalry were employed to subject the lighting red men. Nearly every Visalian of prominence was at this time interested in either the Coso or Owens river mines. Valuable cargo trains were at all times on the road and the menace to these as well as to the lives of' smaller prospecting parties at times assumed serious proportions. These troubles culminated in 1862 and 1863. It is impossible to obtain sufficient data to give a connected account of the different uprisings, but the dangerous character of the warfare and the difficulties in the way of providing protection to settlei's and miners may be judged by the following: In the spring of 1862, ^'isalians sent a jiarty with stores of arms and ammunition to render assistance and gather information. Warren Wassen reported in part as follows: "Being unable on ray arrival at Amora to obtain provisions or transportation for the company organized there to receive the arms sent in my charge, I was compelled to leave them and proceed, accompanied by Lieu- tenant Nol)le and his command of fifty mounted men. AVe arrived at the upjier crossing of Owens river on the evening of A]u-il 6. On the next morning we met with Colonel G. P^vans witli Tiientenants French and Oliver; Captain Wynne of his connnaud having ))een left with seven men to garrison the stone fort forty miles below. These were under Colonel Mayfield of Visalia. "It appeared that during the past winter the Indians had been in the lial)it of killing cattle, which had led to the killing of some Indians, after wliich the Indians a\aih'd themselves of every ojiitoi'- tunity to kill wliite,s. "The whites finally collected their cattle at a jioiiit about tliii-fy miles above the lake, fortified themselves and sent messengers to Visalia and Carson for relief. They were reinforced by a jiarty of eighteen men who left Amora on March 28. About noon on the (itli there was a verv lnisk engagement in which C. J. Pleasants of ■26 TULAKE AND KINGS COUNTIES Amora. Mr. Morrison of Msalia and Slieriff Scott of Mono county were killed. The whites took refuge in an irrigating ditch, whenoe they fired, inflicting some damage. At night, after the moon went down, tlie Indians ceased firing and the whites retreated, leaving behind seventeen or eighteen of their horses and considerable am- munition and provisions. "Colonel Evans the next day met this i)arty and persuaded about forty-five of them to return to the pursuit. The remainder retreated to the fort. Our i)arty joined that of Colonel Evans and we camped that night on the battleground of the previous day. The next day, about noon, the Indians were re])orted located in a canyon. The command was divided into three columns, one under Colonel Evans, one under Lieutenant Noble and the other under Colonel Mayfield. "We proceeded up the mountain, facing a terrific snow- storm which prevented our seeing three yards ahead of ns. Failing to find Indians, we returned to camj). After dark the Indians were located by their campfires as being in a canyon about a mile north of the one we had ascended, and in the morning a reconnoitering party, under Sergeant Gillispie, was sent out. After advancing some three hundred yards they were fired upon. Gillisi)ie was instantly killed and Corporal Harris severely wounded. "Lieutenant Noble was sent to take possession of the moun- tain to the left of the canyon. This ))osition he gained with difficulty, facing a destructive fire and, unable to maintain it without severe loss, was forced to retreat. Colonel Mayfield, who accom])anied him, was killed. "The whole party under Colonel Evans were forced to retreat down the valley, the Indians following. . Colonel Evans, being with- out i)rovisions, was comjielled to return to his former post near Los Angeles. Lieutenant Noble accompanied him as far as the fort for the purpose of escorting the citizens in this direction out of the valley with their stock, which numbered about four thousand head of cattle and twenty-five hundred head of sheep. "There wei'e not over twenty-five Indians engaged in this fight Imt they wei'e well armed and from the nature of their iiosition could have held it against any odds." In the following year numerous other tiutbreaks occurred, ^'^isalia. again despatched a wagon-load of arms to i)rotect the Coso mines. In the skirmishes of this season, the whites were generally suc- cessful. In one battle the Indians jiosted themselves in a ravine near the lake, whence they were dislodged and utterly defeated after an engagement lasting over four hours. Only a small number made their esca]ie. Of these, "Joacpiin Jim," a noted chief, succeeded in reaching a rancheria near Msalia where he was killed while trv- TULARE, AND KINGS (^OUNTIES 27 ing' to escape capture l)y a detacliineiit of soldiers sent to l)riny bim in. In July, 1863, tlie Owens river Indians were as a body tbor- ougbly sul)dued. Practically the entire tribe, to the number of nine Imudred, were marched to the Tejon Indian reservation. They were escorted by one hundred cavalry men under connnand of C'a])- tains McLaughlin, Noble and Ropes. Minor outl)reaks and outrages continued to occur for a few years following, since which time a lasting peace has ensued. HOSPITAL ROCK About ten miles above Tliree Rivers, on the middle fork of the Kaweah river near the present extensive construction works of the Mt. Whitney Power company, stands an enormous rock, under- cut in sucji a way as to form a considerable shelter. It is covered with the painted sign writing of a prehistoric race and until recent years was the abiding i)Iace for a settlement of Indians. The name "H()si)ital" rock arose through an accident that befell A. Everton in 1873 or 1874. Mr. Everton, in company with George Cahoon, was hunting and trai)]>ing in the vicinity and had out several set guns for bear. One morning the finding of fresh blood on the trail indicated a wounded bear and Everton started to return to camp to get dogs. On the way he accidentally s]inmg one of the set guns, receiving the load in his leg, a nasty woimd from which he could scarcely have recovered bad it not been for tb.e Indians. These carried him to camp and the scpiaws nursed him back to health, applying such embrocations of herbs as were suited to the case. As Hospital Rock it has therefore since been known. 28 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES CPIAPTER ITT THE EFFECT OF THE CIVIL WAK ON TI'LAHE COI'NTY "When the Civil war broke out Tulare county was peopled lar.nely by southerners. In addition to the permanent settlers there were (piite a number of stockmen from Texas and Arkansas who had driven their cattle here for the piirpose of fattening them and of hiter drivino- them on to the Marii)osa mines to sell. Sympathy for tlie South was very strong and yet the peo]>le here did not feel called upon to take an active part in the rebel- lion. They were now citizens of the sovereign state of California, which had no cause for revolt. Their homes and property were here secure; personally they had no (|uarrel with the government. The counsel of the cooler heads was to be moderate in speech and quiet in demeanor, confining their activities to the passing of resolu- tions condemning the action of the Republican party, and objecting to the coercion of the South. This course of action naturally did not appeal to the younger hot-blooded element. They wanted action and the young bloods went around with chips on their shoulders and hurralied for Jeff Davis. There were not lacking among the supporters of the Union cause those also whose blood ran wai'm and who were quick to take offense and eager to resent insults. If auythiug more was needed to cause trouble to start it was whiskey, and there was whiskey galore. At every corner was a saloon — some Union, some Rebel. Courage and recklessness were purchased freely and street brawls l^ecame common. Following a request of the Union men for protection, a com- pany of troops was sent into Visalia to maintain order. The ar- rival of these by no means ])ut a stop to brawls, altercations and street disturbances. Many bullies were among the number and these, knowing tlie irresistible i)ower that lay behind their organization, became very insulting and overbearing in their conduct, esjiecially when under the influence of li(|uor. A ]iarticularly disgraceful e])isode occurred on the 4th of July. A crowd of drunken soldiers filled one of their wooden canteens with whiskey, draped around it the American flag, and marched up and down the street demanding of each person they met that he drink with them to Abraham Ijincoln and the Union. Those refusing, among whom were Wiley Watson, Doctor Riley and John Williams, prominent citizens, were arrested and taken to Camp Babliitt. TULARP] AND KINGS COUNTIES 29 UNION MEETING HELD On ]May 25, 18()1, in response to a call which was signed by more than one hnndreil names, the Union men of Visalia and vicin- ity met in mass meeting at the court Iiouse and exjiressed their adherence to the cause. The meeting was called to order by S. R. Dummer, who nominated AV. N. Steuben for president. This motion was carried and ^\r. Steulien took the chair. Messrs. D. R. Doug- lass. Joseph H. Thomas, D. G. Overall and Peter Dean were chosen vice-presidents and James 11. Lawrence and H. G. McLean secre- taries. Previous to the reguhir i)roceediugs of the meeting Miss Louisa Kellenberg, lieautifully attired as the Goddess of Liberty, came forward and presented on behalf of the ladies of Visalia a beautiful national flag made of silk. The banner was received by A. J. Atwel], who returned thanks in an eloquent speech. S. R. Duunner, J. M. Hayes, E. E. Hewitt, F. Bacon and B. B. Lawless were apjjointed a committee on resolutions and after a short speech by S. C. Brown, they presented a set which were adopted. Among the resolutions were these -. "That the constitution of the United States is not a league or confederacy of states in their sovereign capacity, but a government of the i)eople of our whole country founded on their adoption, and creating direct relations between itself and the peojile. "That no state authority has ])ower to dissolve these relations. "That we are opposed in the i)resent condition of affairs to the formation of a Pacific rejniblic, and will discourage any attempt to induce California to violate her allegiance to the Union." .SOUTHERN SYMPATHIZERS MEET In the following month, June, a nuiss meeting of those espous- ing the cause of the Confederacy, or at any rate believing in the doctrine of states' rights, was held. Tins meeting was held in a gi'ove near the courthouse, where seats and a rostrum had been provided, and was very largely attended. W. D. McDaniel had been chosen marshal of the day and the audience formed in jirocession in front of Warner's hotel and marched to the scene to the tune of Yankee Doodle. Thomas R. Davidson was elected president ami Messrs. Wiley Watson, William Coddington, Cai)t. E. Hunter, Robert Conghran, R. K. Nichols and R. P.. Lawless vice-jnesidents. R. P. Gill and R. C. Redd were chosen as secretaries. The committee on resolu- tions, consisting of Joseph II. Clark, E. E. Calluran, W. A. Russell, William B. Poer, Burd Lawless, L. T. Sheppard, James L. Wells and Wiley Coughran, ])resented the following, which were adopted. "Resolved, That as American citizens imbued with a spirit of fidelity to the constitution and the laws and seeking only tlic hajv ;^0 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES piuess, ijrosperity aud preseivatiou of our common t-ountry, vre deem it our duty in view of the declared hostility to the South aud her institutions by the Republican administration to oppose the same by all constitutional means; that we regard President Lincoln as the exponent of a sectional party whose avowed policy towards one section of our country, pursued through a series of many years, has been the fruitful source of all our national evils; that the war now being waged by the Republican administration is unjust, inhu- man and unconstitutional, having for its object the subjugation of states, the obliteration of state lines, the ])olitical degradation of their people and the deprivation of their jtroijerty, and shouhi meet and merit the just condemnation of all true friends of con- stitutional liberty; that we believe that the best interests of the country demand, and her iiolitical existence as a nation depends upon the speedy inauguration of a peace i>olicy characterized l)v a spirit of concession and an honorable compromise as the onlv proper basis for the satisfactory adjustment of the differences between the northern and southern states." On May 2:^. 18(U, a meeting was held at Music Hall in Visalia for the purpose of organizing a military company. G. A. Botsford presided. It was decided to call it the Msalia Mounted Rifles, and the following officers were elected: Oaptain, G. W. Warner; first lieutenant, J. H. Kennedy; second lieutenant, G. ^Y. Roberts; third lieutenant, Robert Baker; sergeants, William C. Hill, William Ely, E. Peppard, G. Francis and T. J. Preston; corporals, H. Cha]mian, H. E. McBride, William Baker, Orrin Barr; ]iermanent secretary. Horace Thomas. It will be noted that there was no lack of officers. In I860 a volunteer cavalry company called the Tulare Home Guards, was organized at Outside Oreek with sixty-one members. The following officers were chosen: Captain, W. S. Powell; first lieutenant, George W. Duncan; senior second lieutenant, J. T. Col- lins; junior second lieutenant. William C. Deputy. Company D, Second Cavalry, under command of Lieutenant- Colonel Evans, arrived in September, 1862, crossing the mountains from Indei)endence by trail. A wngon-load of melons was donated them. In ( )ctol)er they took ui) headquarters at Camp Babbitt, a mile north of "N'isalia, now known as the "Cain" tract. Com))any I, Second Cavalry, arrived from Placerville in Octo- l)er, and Comi)auy E, Second Cavalry, called the Tuolumne Rangers and supposed to be the ones who destroyed the office of the Etjual Rights Expositor, completed the brigade of regular troops. It would appear that three com])anies of federals and two of juilitia should have been am))le to preserve the peace, but it seemed that they rather served to provoke distu!bances and many ipiarrels icsult- TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 31 in.U' fatally were laid directly to their iireseuce. Ill accordance with the appeal of the sanitary commission for funds to aid the sick and wounded, W. N. Steuben took the matter in charge at ^''isalia, J. M. Harer at Tule River, J. M. Keyes at White Ri\er and J. F. Ewing at Kern River. About $300 was raised. On October 27, 18(52, Senator Baker, Tulare county's most prominent citizen, was arrested, charged with discouraging enlist- ments ill the United States army and of uttering treasonable senti- ments, and Ix'iiig denied a ])arole, was placed in the guardhouse. THE KILLING OF VOGLE On November 2i>, 1S()2, Eugene Vogle, a soldier of Company I, Second Cavalry, California ^^olunteers, was shot and killed by Frank Slawick, l)artender at the Fashion saloon. This ]ilace, kept by "Ki" O'Neal, was known as a "rebel" saloon and threats had been made by soldiers to do up its proprietor. About midnight, a crowd of drunken soldiers entered and ordered drinks for which they declined to pay. They then ordered cigars, which Slawick refused them, saying "I have no cigars for your kind." A row started and Slawick reached under the bar for his gun, which was accidentally discharged. A fusilade followed in which Vogle was killed. Slawick was shot in the arm and two soldiers were slightly wounded. O'Neal was struck in the forehead by a glancing shot and knocked senseless. Slawick made his escajie and was taken by "Uncle" Billy Cozzens to his place near Lime Kiln (now Lemon Cove) to be cared for. A meeting of citizens and officers was held in conseqiience of the affray to devise means of keeping the peace. Col. George S. Evans, in command of Camp Babbitt, said if the soldiers were the aggressors he would punish them, or give them over to the civil authorities, but he would punish none for resenting insults to them or the flag. He would expect them to protect themselves. KILLING OF STROBLE On August fi, 1863, Charles Strolile, sergeant of Com])aiiy I, Second Cavalry, California A'olunteers, was shot and killed by James L. Wells. It ap})ears that the trouble started near the corner of Main and Church streets. Tilden Reid, who afterwards became sheriff, had been drinking some and yelled "Hurrah for Downey" (the Democratic candidate for Governor). Jim Donahue, a soldier, told him that he would shoot him if he said that again. This trouble caused (juite an embrogiio in which Wells joined. Reid was ar- rested and taken to the guardhouse at Camp Babbitt, and Wells started home. 32 TULARE AND KINGS COFXTIKS He had beeu preceded by Doualme and Strohle, wiio. for tlie IJiirpose of picking a row, awaited him at the entrance to Knoble (S: Krafts restaurant (near Rouse & Sons' i)resent place of busi- ness). Donahue here kicked a chair at "Wells, which struck him in the leg, saying "I meant tliat for you." Wells declined to take up the ])roffered insult and walked on, Donahue and Stroble following, making insulting re)narks. Wells stepped inside the doorway of a tin shop at the corner of Main and Court streets, and, sheltering him- self behind a pillar, secured his revolver. Donahue saw this action and yelled, "Look out! he's got a gun!" Wells lired, killing Stroble and took repeated shots at Donahue, who escaped into the Union saloon across the street. A stray shot is said to have cut G. A. Botsford's necktie. Wells ran through the alley to the Overland stables (across the street from their present location) and secured a saddle horse which he rode to the edge of the swamp belt near the site of the sugar factory. AVhile this was going on. Bob Houston and Gordon Douglass, friends of AVells, drew their six-shooters and were taken in charge liy soldiers. Wells had narrow escapes from capture. At one time, when he was hiding under a log, several of tlie pursuing soldiers came up and sat on it. He wandered as far east as the Cottage postoffice, where his friend, Jesse Reynolds, secreted him and supplied him with provisions. He later disguised himself, got to San Francisco and from there went to Mexico. His relatives took up the matter and secured a change of venue to Merced county. whereu])on Wells returned, submitted to trial, and was acquitted. During the night following the affray. Wells' house in \'isalia was burned, a deed generally beliexed to have been committed by the soldier comrades of Stroble. THE BOWLEY AFFAIR Some time in '()3, a half-witted boy named Denny McKay, had secured a ])air of pants from a st)ldier, and was wearing them. Hugh McKay, a brother, happened along and said, "Hello, Denny, are you going to be a soldier.'" and made some contemi)tuous reference to the soldiery. Richard Rowley, a private of the Second Cavalry, took uj) the matter and chased McKay, who was unarmed, tiring as he ran. A volunteer, seeing the i^ursuit, also took a shot at McKay, but he escaped unharmed. On March 4, 1868, Rowley was assassinated in Portervillc while sitting at dusk before the fireplace in the hotel, the cause being at first attributed to the war-time incident. It develo])ed, however, that Rowley had an implacable enemy in one Smith Fine. Rowley, it was alleged, had gone to Fine's house in his absence and at the point of a revolver compelled Fine's wife to dance for his amuse- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 33 ment. Fine was accjuitted of the murder, liowe\-er, tlirougli lack of evidence. DESTRUCTION 01-' NEWSPAPER PLANT In 1862 L. P. Hall and S. J. Garrison establislied a iiai)er in Visalia called the Civil Rights Expositor, later changing the name to The Eqttal Rights Expositor. The office was located above the Visalia House. It was a red-hot secession newspaper, ably edited liut extremely radical in its utterances, and at once gained great favor with its readers and ac(]uired a large circulation. On account of his open advocacy of the southern cause Hall was arrested and taken to Camp Babbitt, where he was forced to take the oath of allegiance. After this incident tlic editorials in the Expositor were more bitter and inflammatory than ever liefore, angering lieyond measure the soldiers and volunteers. Among the choice utterances were : "We have said that Abraham Lincohi has perjured himself, and have proved it. We now tell those who participate in this detestable war, to the extent of their support, that they participate with Lincoln in the crime of perjury." "Let our states' rights friend look around them and note the passion slaves of the President, who ])rate al)out rel)els and traitors, while they hug their chains with the servility of a kicked and cuffed hound. ' ' Dr. Davenport, owner of the building in which the printing- office was located, fearing that Hall's vituperative utterances would incite a riot and damage be done to his property, ordered them to leave the premises. The office was removed to Court street adjoin- ing the lot on which the Times office now stands. On the night of March 5, 1863, a party of soldiers from Camp Babbitt, together with a number of townspeople, entered the office, tied Garrison up, threw the type into the street and destroyed the printing presses. Guards were posted at the street corners to l)revent interference with the diversion. So resentful of this act were Hall and Garrison's friends in Mariposa that a jiarty of seventy or eighty armed men came down for the ])uri)ose of "clean- ing up" Camp Babbitt. These hid themselves in the swamp, ex- pecting to be reinforced from A'isalia. Cooler counsel among the leaders of the southern sympathizers here prevailed, however, and they were induced to disband and return to Marijiosa. Hall and Garrison for several years tried to get a l)i!l through the legislature compensating them for the money loss incurred, and, in 1868. succeeded in doing so. Governor Ilaight, however, vetoed the bill on the ground that the pro])erty had been destroyed by soldiers under the authority and control of the United States, for which the state was not responsible. :U TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES CHAPTER IV VISALIA Necessarily tlie history of Tulare county was to all intents and purposes, in the early period, the history of Visalia, as the activities of the entire i)oi)ulatiou centered here. The early Iieginninss are familiar. It will be remembered how, in 1852, alone in the wilderness, Nathaniel and Abner Vise located for a future homestead the site of the city; how the first immigrants thought it necessary to build a stockade to defend themselves from Indians. Also will be remembered Nat Vise's generous offer to donate his claim to the people if they would locate the coimty.seat here; how the offer was accejited and liy the election of 1853, ratified. The first enterprises tending to making a town here have also been detailed in the general history; how Baker started a stoi-e and Matthews a mill ; how a school and church and a two-story log jail, planked and "pinned with double tens" followed. Nearly three score years have ])assed since these things were, and here is only space for the bare mention of the milestones of l)rogress Visalia has since passed. Many of these, too, marking as well the jirogress of the county as a whole, are treated under sep- arate headings. Thus the first two causes tending toward increased population were the discovery of gold as early as 1856. and the establishment of the Overland stage route through the town in 1859. For a number of years following the town showed a rapid, if what might be, perhaps, termed a hectic, growth. Those were the days of easy-going ways, the day of dollars easily acquired, easily s]ient. Between 1856 and 1860 it was esti- mated that from five and six thousand miners ]iassed through Visalia, en route to the gold fields. Outfitting and freighting and the accommodation and transportation of travelers develoj^ed into a business of magnitude. And the miners, whether going or com- ing, whether hopeful, successful, or discouraged, were always thirsty. and whether they had been lucky or unlucky, were still always ready to take another chance. And catering to these wants, saloons and gambling flourished; dance halls were enlarged, musicians imported. Faro, roulette, monte, poker and dice games all assisted in the general scheme of the retention of a goodly portion of the traveler's coin. And when the lull in mining began to make itself felt, the Civil war, with its pay days for soldiers and its grafting quartermasters, again made 'im^ 5 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 35 life of tliis kind pleasant and in'otitable. New mines in the Owens River district were discovered and business flourished anew. Dnrini!,' tliese years, of course, the ])0])ulation had been increased by the addition of all classes of men. There were now keen law- yers, shi'ewd merchants, skilled physicians. There were teachers and ]irearhers. Two newsi)a])ers had been estal)lished, the Delta, by John Shannon in 1859, and the Equal Rights Expositor, by S. J. Garrison, in 1])etite should be somewhat curlied, was early recognized. The \^isalia Dashaway Association, for the furtherance of temperance, was formed and many able citizens joined, and speeches of impassioned eloquence were made. As some slight stimulant was necessary to exalt the mind to a degree of inspiration in the i)rei)aration of such speeches, and as it was necessary in some measure to recuperate after the violent physical effort of delivery, report hath it that some of the officers of this association were often inclined to over- rate their capacity for the cu]) that "brightens and invigorates the consciousness. ' ' We pass on. Came the Civil war. Of the duel to the death in the campaign preceding it ; of the organization of home guards and the coming of troops ; of the street lirawls and nmi-ders and house burnings and newspajjer destroying during the jieriod, there are accounts elsewhere. After the war, the need for rail transportation facilities made itself severely felt and for a long period of years untiring efforts were made by Visalia's leading citizens to secure some such. The production of wool was becoming important, wheat farming offered prospects but excessive freights caused development to halt. AVhen it became known that the Soutliern Pacific company had definitely- left Visalia off the map by leaving it seven miles to the east, R. K. Hyde, the leading financier of the city, with assistance from many enterprising citizens, built the Visalia and Goshen railroad, com- pleting it in 1875. In the meantime the city had been incor]K)rated. This measure had been defeated by \-()te at an election held in ISfiO, Ijut it was not until February 27, 1874, that the approval of the legislative act gave tlie rank of city to the town. The first officers were: S. A. Shep- pard, M. Mooney, I. A. Samstag, W. B. Bishop and W. G. Owen, trustees; J. C. Hoy, marshal and tax collector; Julius Levy, assessor; J. A. Nowell, school suiK'i'iiitendent and city clerk;- S. C. Brown, S. H. Collins, J. C. Ward and AV. F. Thomas, school directors, and A. Elkins, recorder. 3 38 TULARE AND KlXaS COUNTIES Arthur auil Jaiiit's Crowley esstahlished a water works system in 1875, gas works soon followed and electric lighting came in 1891. Increased railway facilities were necessary for growth and tardily came. The Visalia-Tulare steam motor road was Imilt by local capital; the Santa Fe, originally the San Joaquin \'alley railroad, arrived in 1896; the Southern Pacitie made connections with the east side branch at Exeter in 1897, shortly afterward taking over the Goshen- Yisalia road; in 1907 the Visalia Electric road to Lemon Cove, and now on to Woodlake and Redlianks, was built, and in 191"2 was inaugurated the Big Four electric railroad, which will connect Tulare, Porterville, AVoodville and Visalia. Prior to 1890 municipal imi^rovements were of a very minor character, in fact, only within the past few years have they become such as betits a modern, rapidly growing city. The prevention of the flood waters of Mill creek from over- flowing the town had always constituted a problem, and in 1891 the channel was deepened and straightened and confined to a plank- covered flume, which answered with more or less success until the excessive high water of 190(5. During that season the town was repeatedly flooded and adequate piotective measures became neces- sary. For the purpose of securing immunity from this danger bonds in the sum of $70,000 were voted, and in 1910 was con- structed, according to the design of the city engineer, M. L. Weaver, a cement-lined concrete aqueduct over half a mile in length, the same covered for nearly all the distance with a re-enforced concrete construction. Prior to this, in 1902, a sewerage system extending throughout the city had been built at a cost of about $80,000, and a connnence- ment of street paving had been made in 1895, by the laying down of twelve blocks in the Inisiness section. In 1909 a very handsome and convenient city hall of mission design was built in re-enforced concrete, at a cost of $30,000. Among other recent municipal improvements we may cite the magnificent new high school, now building in the western part of town, to take the place of the $40,000 new building com]>leted in 1911, and burned to the ground in the same year. One of the serious passages in Visalia 's recent history has been the numerous agitations, controversies and elections over the liquor question. This matter first came before the voters in 1874, and the proposed no-license measure was defeated by a vote of 178 to 120. About twenty years elapsed before the sentiment against saloons reached in-oportions. This became especially pronounced in 190(1, when nearly all the precincts in the county outside of incor- porated towns voted "dry." After repeated efforts, the anti-saloon forces succeeded, in 1911, in inducing the city trustees to call an election for the purpose of TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 3!) securing by a test or "straw" vote, the sentiment of tlie people. Twelve Imndred votes were cast at this election, the "drys" win- nina,- l)y one hundred and forty-one. At the city election in April following, city trustees favoring no-liceuse were elected, the ma- jority in their favor being, howe\'ei', only about eighty. An ordi- nance closing saloons was immediately passed. The state legislature had in the meantime passed the Wyllie local option law, providing for a submission of the question to the people u]3on the filing of a petition signed by twenty-five per cent of the voters. The advocates of the saloon cause, confident that sentiment was changing in their fax'or, as shown by the recent vote, and that this would become more pronounced upon the falling off of business incident to the closing of saloons, determined to avail themselves of the provisions of the new law. A petition having three hundred and four signatures was filed and an election held July 17, 1911. The "wets" olitained a majority of six votes at this election, there Ijeing five hundred and sixteen votes for license, five hundred and ten against and nine thrown out on account of being blank or incorrectly marked. The city trustees decided that as the saloon advocates had not received a clear majority of all ballots placed in the box, the "drys'' had won, and refused to issue licenses. Intense bitterness was engendered by this action and the case carried into court on mandamus pro- ceedings. Judge "Wallace decided that the election was carried by the "wets," but that as the Wyllie law did not jirovide that the liquor traffic must be licensed following a majority vote, therefore the writ of mandamus would not lie. It was, in other words, oi)tional with the board to follow the expression of the will of the peoi)le. The trustees, standing on their legal rights, and justifying their action by the contention that illegal votes were cast, maintained their ])osition. The saloons therenjion gave up their fight for a time, but in the sjjring of 1912 a final effort was made to secure a lease of life. This took the form of initiative legislation. An ordinance providing for the licensing of saloons under regulations so strict that it was thought that they would meet with the apjjroval of the less radical opposi- tion element was prepared, and the requisite number of signatures was affixed to a petition asking the trustees to call an election to determine whether or not it was the will of the people that the ordinance go into effect. At this election, held in April, 1912, women for the first time participated in municipal affairs. The measure was defeated overwhelmingly, thus finally settling a con- troversy that had existed for years. The fact that Visalia, the oldest town in the San Joaquin val- ley, has allowed some to distance it in population and Tuany to out- strip it in rapid growth has l)een the cause of connnent. 40 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES Tliree principal factors there are wliicli have contributed to this state of affairs. First, may be placed tlie fact of its not being on the main line of railway, although at present the facilities for shipment and for travel are the same as if it were on three main lines. Second, is the fact that laud in the vicinity has been held in large tracts by owners who did not desire to sell. Not until re- cently have any tracts suitable for colonization been placed on the market. Third, is the fact that elsewhere the prospective settler has in the past been able to find cheaper land. In many other locali- ties, lands of low original value were rendered suitable for settle- ment by irrigation or other enterprises, and with the cost of this and promoters' profits added, could still be sold at a low figure. In the rich delta sub-irrigated district, trilnitary to Visalia, land values on undeveloped tracts have been maintained for the reason that their conversion into income property was at any time an easy matter. The pressure of a flood of homeseekers is now at the bar- riers, and an exceeding growth and an increased prosperity will undoubtedly result. Visalia today is a busy and growing modern city of fiOOO in- habitants. In addition to the municipal imi)rovements ])reviously spoken of, such as the new city hall, new high school building, recent extensive street paving, adequate sewer system, etc., there is a handsome public library building, a delightful city park, a building in which are housed the chamber of commerce displays and which affords a meeting place for all civic bodies. The city is peculiarly ]ileasing to the eye on account of the extent of shade tree bordered streets. Situated as it is in the center of the sub-irrigated lielt, natural perennial green grasses flourisii and the lawns and foliage never indicate by failing verdure the ])arcliing el^'ects of sununer heat. Many oaks, remnants of the solid groves that once were a feature of the landscaije, remain and add to the charm. Quite a lai-ge number of pretentious residences, with carefully kept lawns and gardens, grace the environs. Cement sidewalks have generally been well extended towards the outskirts, aud the streets, outside the jiaved district, are usually oiled and kept in good order. In a business way, modern requirements are fully met. There are three banks with deposits of nearly $2,500,000; two canning factories ; two dried fruit packinghouses ; two creameries ; two green fruit packing concerns and a l)eet sugar factory. The amount of money expended by these concerns in payrolls and payments for the products of orchard, dairy and farm reaches an enormous total, aud forms the fouudation for permanent pros- perity. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 41 CHAPTER V. TULARE COUNTY'S CITRUS FRUIT The eastern slo]ie of Tulare county is covered today witli al- most one continuous orange grove. In the amount of capital in- vested, the culture of citrus fruits is by far the most important industry in the county. In yearly revenue it equals or exceeds any other. Roughly speaking, thei'e are about twenty-seven thousand acres set to orauges and lemons, one-third of which is in bearing. The production last year was four thousand carloads, having a value of $2,500,000. A conservative valuation of these orchards with their equipment would be $13,500,000, and a fair estimate of the income when the jiresent acreage reaches bearing would be $7,500,000. This wonderful develo]nnent has been wholly accomplished within the past twenty years, but a few words relative to the very earliest efforts in this direction may prove of interest. The first orange tree planted in Tulare county was in 1860, when Mrs. H. M. White, in Erazier valley, planted the seed from an orange brought from the South Sea islands. As one passes now through miles of groves heavy T\atli golden fruit or laden with odorous blossoms, the symbolism of this act appeals to the imaginatiop It seems as if, endowed with the supernatural powers of one of the fates, she performed the ceremony of transferring to this inland vale some of the spicy fragrance and some of the easy opulence of those languorous isles. Returning to facts, Deming Gibben, in 1863, also ]ilanted a few orange trees in his yard at Piano. At dates not exactly known, Peter Goodhue set out a tree in Visalia and J. W. C. Pogue at Lemon Cove planted a few. To trace the extraordinary growth of the industry from those days until the present, when trainloads are shipped daily throughout the season, would fill a volume. And yet progress in the beginning was hampered in many ways. Pew of Tulare county residents believed in it. It was expensive, the cost even in the beginning reaching $300 per acre for bringing an orchard into bearing. The area of adaptable land was thought to be confined only to certain foothill slopes, or coves with certain kinds of exposure. Hog-wallow land was deemed unfit. Failure to obtain water on the first trial in some districts was considered evi- dence that none was there. But wlien numerous crops came into bearing and the fruit was lieing harvested some six weeks earlier than that from Southern California, when this fruit reached the eastern markets in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas markets 42 TULARE AXD KINGS COUNTIES and sold for exceediiioly high jirices, there came visitors from tlie southern orange districts vrho perceived at a glance the great pos- sibilities of the section. In 1870 W. J. p]llis, county assessor, in liis statistical report submitted to the surveyor general, listed one hundred orange trees in the county. In making u]i his hirge total, however, he had re- course to including al)out ninety young trees still in the nursery. At this period there was no thought in the minds of anyone that orange growing would develop as a commercial industry. This did not occur until 1890. In that year George Frost, a prominent orange grower and nurseryman of Riverside, took a look at the county. In Southern California there existed a firm conviction tliat orange growing north of Tehachapi was impossible. While Mr. Frost looked at the country with doubtful eyes, he was more unprejudiced than the majority. Besides this, he was anxious to find a market for nursery trees. At the time he had on hand a large stock, which he was unable to sell. In the San Joaquin valley for Mr. Frost's inspection there were at the time the following groves only: at Porterville, five acres; at the ranch of H. M. White, a few trees; at Piano, one acre; at Lemon Cove, one and one-half acres; at Centerville, six acres; and at the old General Beale's place, south of Bakersfield, a five-acre tract planted to a general assoi-tment of citrus fruits. The prospects for a new district apj^ealed so strongly to Mr. Frost that he engaged in a deal with the Pioneer Land company of Porterville wherel)y, on land owned liy the corporation, he was to set out one liundred acres of orange trees and care for them for two years. Then he was either to buy the ]>roperty for $100 per acre or the land conijiany were to repay him for the trees and labor expended. Immediately following the ex]n-ession of oinnion of Mr. Frost that the district was adapted to oranges, numbers i^repared to engage in it, and the next year witnessed a planting that would prove a commercial factor. Albert and Oliver Henry of Portei-- ville. who already had a few trees in bearing, ))ecanie the i)ioneer enterprising growers, and boosters for the Porterville district. In 1891 Cajit. A. J. Hutchinson, together with Messrs. Patten and Glassell, jnirchased the Jacobs' i)lace at Lindsay and in the following year set out three acres at Lindsay, which became known as the home jilace. In 1898 planting became general. So well pleased was Mr. Frost with his original venture at Porterville that he imrchased and iiroceeded to set out an additional tract of seventy-five acres. Captain Ilulcliiiison organized the Ijiudsay Land company, and proceeded to subdivide his tract into small holdings, agreeing to TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 43 care for the oroves of non-residents. No ditch water for irrigating was avaihilile at Lindsay. Wells were therefore sunk and steam pumping plants installed, the first in the county. Water in al)und- ance was found at a de]ith of ahont seventy feet, which rose to within twenty feet of tlu' surface. The experiment generally dis- believed in proved an unciualitied success. A high water level in the wells maintained itself in spite of the drain of constant pumping and the supply appeared tlien as inexhaustible. Thomas Johnson, Joe Curtis and other influential men of San Jose, became prominent in ])romoting the Lindsay district. About four hundred acres, mostly in ten acre tracts, were planted. Be- tween two hundred and fifty and three hundred acres, also in small blocks, were planted near Porterville. Exeter entered the held in 1904 through the oi)erations of George Frost. This gentleman, with Messrs. Merryman, Carney, Hamtlton. Davis and others, set out about four hundred acres east of Exeter, naming it the Bonnie Brae orchard. In passing, it nifiy be noted that Mr. Merryman later absorlied the interests of his associates and greatly increased his holdings by the inirchasing of adjoining iiroiterty. In addition to several hundred acres of imdeveloped land and a considerable acreage devoted to olives and deciduous fruits, there are seven hundred and lifty acres devoted to oranges. It is the largest grove in the county and this, together with the elegant residence, large, beautiful gardens and grounds, make it one of the "show yilaces" of the district. Development at Lemon Cove did not lag behind this move- ment, iiromotion work there being first accomplished by Messrs. Hammond. Berry, Levis, Overall and Jordan of Visalia, who or- ganized the Kaweah Lemon Company and set some two hundred acres to trees. The Ohio Lemon Company shortly thereafter set another similar tract to this fruit. By 1904 develoi)ment had been thoroughly launched in the Porterville, Lindsay, Kxeter and Lemon Cove districts. We turn now to the commercial disijosition of the product. In 1892 there were boosters a-plenty for the new industry. It was deemed desirable to show the world that a new citrus district, producing fruit unecpialed, had been discovered. The World's Fair at St. Louis was to open January 1, 1904. Above all things it be- hooved growers here to make a big showing. P. M. Baier was selected to ])repare such an exhibit. The hrst full carload to leave the county was the fruit foi' this display and it required prac- ticall\- all grown in the county lo lill it. The exhibit was first shown in the Mechanics Pavilion in San l-'rancisco, and then forwarded to St. Louis, and received creditable mention at both ])laces. In 1893 there were four carloads at the Frost orcliai-d, and in 44 TL'LARE AXD KIX(JS CorXTIKS the next season Itotli llie Kxcliange and tlie Earl Fruit Com- panies entered the field, getting out a i>ack of sixteen cars. This fruit reached the eastern market in time for the Thanksgiving and Christmas markets and sold for extra high prices. As this jieriod of ripening is several weeks in advance of Southern California a great deal of attention was attracted to this locality and many southern growers came, saw the results accomplished, and invested. Old residents of Tulare county, however, generally held aloof from venturing into this field. In fact, the whole business of the promo- tion of the sale of orange lands and their planting ap])eared to them as a rank swindle. The selling of foothill land at $2.") to $50 per acre, or with water developed at $75 to $100, seemed to them as merely a scheme to catch suckers. Only within the last few years, in fact, have numbers of our own citizens taken an active part in the enterprise, these now freely paying for lauds treble the price that they formerly believed extravagant. During the first years of the rapid extension of acreage devoted to citrus fruits investors were very chary of straying far from the original bearing orchards. Objections innumerable were in fact advanced toward all other lands. The Hutchinson tract at Lindsay was held to mark the extreme westerly lioundary of the thermal belt ; only slopes and coves in the hills with certain exposures were suitable; south of Piano there was no water; hog- wallow land was unfit; failure to obtain water in the first trial in a new district was considered evidence that none was there; and so on, endlessly, with able reasons why the only true citrus lands had been planted liy the first growers. Largely in conseciuence of this attitude, the bearing orchards today geuerally lie in the districts tributary to Porterville, Tjiudsay, Exe- ter and Lemon Cove. Couuuencing some seven or eight years ago, however, there has been a bold exploitation of new districts, led by promoters with capi- tal, energy and o])tiraism. These have by actual demonstration shown conclusively that the citrus belt is not bounded by such narrow limits. Water in (|uantities has been develojied almost exerywhere. Dinuba, Orosi, Stokes valley, Yettem, Orange Heights, Klink, Venice Cove, Redbanks, AVoodlake, Xaranjo, Frazier valley, Strathmore, Zante, Terra P>ella and the entire district from Piano south to the county line, including Terra Bella, Ducor and Richgrove, are each now capa- lile of demonstrating by showing hundreds of acres of thriving or- chards that they are adapted to this culture. With the exception of Dinuba, Orosi, Yettem and Redbanks, which have other sources of income, all of these new districts are solely dependent upon citrus fruit culture for support. In this con- nection the solid improvements at Woodlake, Strathmore and Terra Bella, ))articularly in the way of substantial business structures. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 45 hotels, liauks, news])ai)(M-s, imiiiiciital water snijply, cement sidowalks, etc., indicate the conlideiice of moneyed men in the potential prodnc- tive capacity of the community. All of this expenditure in the way of permanent nmnicipal im- provements, together with the outlay of capital incident to the installa- tion and maintenance throughout the entire district of electric power systems, necessarily forms a ])()rtion of the entire siun today invested in the citrus fruit industry of the county. The estimate of $i;'.,r)00,000, given at the commencement of this sketch, is shown, therefore, to be far too low. Twenty million would perhaps come nearer. Likewise, with reference to the pi-esent income. The estimate of $2,500,000 of present return was based on a production of four th.ousand carloads, four hundred boxes to the car, value $L50 per box. The cost of labor for handling and packing and the salaries and profits of the men en- gaged in this business were not included. Thus a fairer estimate of the present revenue from this source would be $.3,000,000. The first plantings were seedlings, but practically all have since been replaced by AVashington navels. The present pack of four thou- sand carloads consists of about two hundred and fifty cars of lemons, four hundred and fifty cars of Valencias and the remainder navels. There are thirty-five packing houses in the district, and double that numiier will be needed as soon as the present new acreage comes into bearing. Tulare county now ranks fifth in the state in the jiroduction of citrus fruits, but it appears certain that within four years it will take first place. TULARE COUXTY's DIMINISHED ARE.\ The present area of Tulare county is 4,86.3 square miles. It is still a large county and its diversified topography and pro- ductions cause it to seem a veritable empire. How vast the area once included in its bounds can be seen by the following slices that have l)een taken from its territory : In 1856, Fresno county, with 6,035 square miles; in 1866, Inyo county, with 10,224 square miles; in 18()6, Kern county, with 1,852 s(|uare miles; and in 1893, Kings county. with 1,375 square miles. 46 TULARE AXD KINGS COUNTIP^S CHAPTER VI THE GENERAL RODEO Three things were necessary in the early days of cattle raising in Tulare county to insure success. These were a branding iron, a range claim and a uunilter of active cowboys. There was a law at that time wliich had been jiassed l)y the legis- lature of '51, entitled "An act to regulate rodeos," which cau.sed this condition. This law provided for a general rodeo on every stock farm, and if a rancher failed to make it, it could be made by any of his neighbors at his expense; and provided further that no man should mark or lu-and his stock cattle except at one of these general rodeos. Of the law and its workings, Stephen Barton, writing in 187-i, says: "The cap sheaf of the enactment, however, was this section: 'All unmarked neat cattle, the mothers of which are unknown, shall be considered the jiroperty of the owner of the farm on which they may be found.' These provisions of law resulted in this county in the unoccupied {)ul)li(' domain being divided into range claims, and he that was unable to make a general rodeo soon found that he. had no business to keep cattle, while those who undertook it found that the business of the year simplified itself to the task of assembling on his rodeo ground as many unmarked neat cattle without mothers as it were possible to do. Can it be wondered at that, under such circum- stances, cattle stealing should rise to the dignity of a science, and finally to that of a fine art .' The business of manipulating a rodeo was at once more simple than that of stacking a deck of cards or that of picking the i)ockets of an unwary traveler. Further, it was more respectable and re' to put out orchards and lioi)e in a few years to have a ])rosi)erous town there. The soil is very rieli, and alfalfa fields ai'e liefoniing numerous and much attentioii is paid of late to dairying. STRATHMORE One of the late towns to spring up in Tulare county is Strath- more, and it has from the first shown a lusty growth. On the line of the railway between Lindsay and Porterville it is the depot for one of the tine orange districts of the county. At the citrns fair held in Visalia in 1910 Stratlimore nuule a remarkably fine exhibit of citrns and deciduous fruits, olives, jiomegranates and other jirodncts. ESHOM V.\LLEY A few miles east of Badger lies the mountain dale called Eshom Valley, one of the beauty spots of the county. The valley is several miles long and in ]>laces a mile wide. Though situated at a high elevation not far below the edge of the pines, the soil is warm and fertile and farm croj^s, vegetables, l)erries, apples, etc., produce exceedingly well. There i.s much good grazing land in the vicinity and the hills being thickly wooded with acorn-bearing oaks, hog raising has proven a profitable branch of the stock raising industry. The climate is so tempered liy the altitude that it has liecome a resort favored l)y tourists in snnnner. Esliom Valley is of historic interest as being once the home of a great tribe of Indians whose powerful chief, Wuk-sa-che, more than once led them to victory in battle with the Monaches. The Indian name of the valley was "Oha-ha-du," "a place where clover grows the year round." Or- lando Barton states that when he first visited the valley, in the '60 's, he saw droves of Indians eating clover there. The valley was visited as early as 1857 by James Fisher and Thomas Davis, and derived its name from Mr. Eshom, one of the first residents, who settled there and engaged in farming. In 1862 Jasper Harrell laid claim to the valley but did not succeed in holding it. His foi'cman, J. B. Breckeni-iv the Indians in 1863. ALPAUGH In early days Tulare lake covered a much greater area than at present. Near its southeastern end existed a large island owned by Judge Atwell of "N'isalia, and known at Atwell's Island. Long since the waters of the lake have subsided, the island no longer exists, but its location is marked by tlie growing town of Alpaugh. The whole section hereal)0uts was for many years used by Miller & Lux as a ])astnre for their immense hei'ds of cattle. The lands were deemed unlit I'oi' agi-iculturnl purjioses. 54 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES In 1!)()5 a syiulicatc of Los Au^eles caiiitalists obtained control of 88G1 acres, coniprisin.ii- ^Vtwell'.s Island, and ])la('ed it on tlie market in small tracts on easy terms. A large number of purchasers were found and tiiese, with their families — two hundred and twelve persons in all — came up to settle. So general was the idea among old residents of the county that this land was worthless that the enter- prise was "knocked" on all sides. Every Al|)augh colonist was told that he was an "easy mark." The '\"isalia Board of Trade seriously considered the passing of a resolution condemning the land sale as a swindle, but were dissuaded from liasty action by Ben M. Maddox. The colonists did have trouble. AVith most of them funds were scarce, and many had to leave temporarily. There was trouble in getting a supply of good water. Perseverance o\ercame these obstacles. A school district was organized in 1906, a church and school house erected and home building was recommenced. Suc- cessful experiments in raising alfalfa and vegetables were con- ducted, artesian wells were sunk and a sui)ply of water obtained, this not sufficient, however, for irrigation purposes. But the wells put down were found of double value. Besides water, they sup- ]ilied a natiiral gas that can be used for heating and lighting. The colonists have increased in niuubers and umcli activity is shown in raising vegetaliles. Quite a Inisiness has been established in the canning of tomatoes, ]3eas, etc. The raising of garden seeds for the market has ]iroved especially profitable and it has been found that the fine silt soil is peculiarly adajited to the production of asparagus, (uiions and other vegetables. The colonists have arranged to get a bountiful suppl.\- of water for irrigating purposes from the Smyrna wells, distant a few miles south. South and west from Alpaugh nmch work is being done in the reclamation of submerged lake lands by the construction of levees. Alpaugh is situated eight miles south and west from Angiola. The Santa Fe railroad contemplates tlie building of a spur to connect Alpaugh with the main line, and this, it is believed, will not be delayed, as shipments fully warrant it. TAGUS AVliile the name Tagus, a])plied to the switch on the Soiithern Pacific track about midway between Goshen and Tulare, is not worthy of mention, the neighlioring country, or Tagus district, is. The Tagus ranch of several thousand acres devoted to dairying, alfalfa and grain farming has ])roven exce])tionally in-ofitable, espe- cially since the experiment on it of raising sugar beets. Of neces- sity cultivation for this purpose was very deep and thorough and crops since have been extraordinarily large. The neighborhood is TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIPIS 55 almost exohisively devoted to alfalfa aud dairying. Probably no district in the county delivers more butter fat to the creameries in proportion to its area than the Tagus section. GOSHEN The town of Goshen, seven miles west of Visalia, dates its his- tory from the com])letion of the railroad to that point, in May, 1872 Here the contemplated branch of the Southern Pacific from San Francisco by way of Gilroy, Tres Pinos and Huron, was to join the line of the Central Pacific, proceeding from Stockton south. A passenger and a freight dejiot was built, large numbers of lots sold, and it was thouglit that l>efore many years Goshen would become an important city. The construction, in l!S7-i-, of the X'isalia-Goshen railway insjjired renewed hopes in the future of the town as a great railway center. In 1876 work was conunenced on the westerly branch, running through the Mussel Slough country, and supposed to make connec- tions at Tres Pinos. This road got as far as Alcalde only. However, Goshen did become the railroad center of the county and of the San Joaquin valley. Geographically, it is admirably situated, lying midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, within touching distance on the one hand of Visalia and Exeter and on the other with TTanford and Coalinga. Surrounding it lie extensive tracts, suitable for fruit, vines or alfalfa. Several produc- tive and lucrative orchards and vineyards in the vicinity attest the adaptability of the soil. Notwithstanding these apparent advantages, Goshen still re- mains a small village. The cause of this failure to grow lies no (loul)t in the fact that the soil surrounding the de])ot is alkaline in character and Tinfavora1)ly impresses home-seekers looking from the windows of a car. A few years ago Goshen was made a sub-station on the Asso- ciated Oil Company's ])ipe line. A numlier of neat cottages for the use of emi)loyes were erected and these, while situated in the cjuestion- able soil spoken of, are now surrounded by lawns and gardens creditable to any locality. Within the last few years the exceedingly fertile character of Goshen lands has become known to many investors. Orchards and vineyards have been planted on a considerable scale and it is be- lieved that rapid and at the same time .solid and substantial growth awaits the village kept so long dormant. PAIGE Paige is the name of a station on the Santa Fe, west from Tulare. It is the dei)ot for the large settlement that is growing 56 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES up oil and aroimd the great Paige & Morton ranch, which once claimed the largest vineyard in the world, besides having extensive orchards and grain lands. A considerable part of it has in the past few years been sold in small holdings. Thus an important settle- ment is being made there, and the surrounding country is rapidly becoming a great dairy section. AXGIOLA Angiola dates its history from the coming of the Santa Fe railroad. It is in the lake region on the main line of the railroad running south from Hanford to Bakersfield. It is an important place now for supplying the rapidly growing lake country. It is in the artesian belt, and the surrounding country is very fertile. The greater part of the soil is rich silt, capable of producing all kinds of crops. Grain and alfalfa predominate, although a considerable acre- age is being used for beet raising. The large sugar factory at Cor- coran is largely dependent upon the lake lands for the supply of beets. YETTEM Lying north of Visalia about sixteen miles is a rich farming district formerly known as Churchill. It is along the base of the low foothills and has an exceptionally ricli soil and comparative freedom from frosts. A few years ago a colony of Armenians bought property here and jjut out vineyards and orchards. From the fine gardens and rapid growth of tree and vine the Armenians named the settlement Yettem, "Garden of Eden." There is now a general store, a school and a fine church as the nucleus of a town, lying about a mile east of the line of the Santa Fe. The station now called Yettem was formerly called Lowell. PLANO The town of Piano might well be called South Porterville. as it lies south of that town and just across the Tule river. The name was suggested l)y its location in the great, beautiful plain sweeping down from the foothills of the Sierras and extending out westward! y. This ]ilain is one of the fairest, and the elegant homes that have been made here and that still are being established receive an additional charm from the grand view of the snow-capi>ed Sierras to the east. Being on the main stage road leading from Visalia to Los Angeles, and to the Kern river and Owens valley mining districts, it was in early times a stage station. William Thompson was its first pioneer merchant and postmaster. Dr. F. A. Johnson was its earliest physician. Here it was that the first oranges in Tulare county were raised. As noted elsewhere. D. Gibbons here planted TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 57 a few trees in his yai'd, and some of them are still bearing fruit. It is now yrown to he a great orange center, with pleasant homes, schools, churches, etc. As a suburlj of Porterville, the social ad- vantages incident to pojiulous conunnnities are shared, while by its separation from the bustling city the charm of suburban life remains unimpaired. THREE EIVEKS Twenty-eight miles east of Visalia at the junction of the forks of the Kaweah river in the foothills, lies the village of Three Rivers. The Three Rivers country may properly be considered to embrace the territory included in Three Rivers voting precinct, which extends southerly to Yokohl, westerly to Lemon Cove, northerly to Eshom and easterly to Inyo county, an area of twenty-one townships. The first known white man to enter this section was Hale D. Tharpe, a stockman, who came in the fall of 1858. The Works family, William Swauson and family, John Lovelace and family, Joseph Palmer, A. Everton, Ira Blossom and family, followed soon after and were the pioneers of the settlement. At the time of Mr. Tharpe 's arrival Indians in the vicinity were very numerous, the population being estimated at two thou- sand. These tribes are now practically extinct, and in this vicinity not one remains. The progress of the settlement was very slow, there being practically no immigration until 1878, when the gold excitement at Mineral King took place. The mining activities at Mineral King and the construction of a road to that ])lace caused a temporary influx of residents, but the mining excitement dying down, the population remained practically as before. In lS8r) the Kaweah Co-ojjcrative Colony made this their base of oi)erations, establishing a village on the north fork of the Kaweah. These colonists commenced the construction of a road to the (iiant Forest and completed about twenty miles of it. This project was abandoned in 18i)(), most of the colonists leaving the county. Quite a number, however, remained and have materially aided in the development of the district. Settlement has slowly but steadily increased until the present pojiulation numbers six hundred and fifteen. In 1878 a postoffice was established at Three Rivers; in 1892 at Kaweah, on the north fork; in 1905 at Hammond, on the main river, and in 1907 at Ranger (Giant Forest). Britten Brothers, in 1897, opened a general merchandise store and in 1910, the Rivei- Iim (*omi)any, in connection with a hotel situated at the junction of the north fork, installed anothei-. In 1899 the Mt. Whitney Power Company ]mt in a large ])ower plant, in 1905 a scM'ojid was installed and at the present writing a thii'd and a 58 TULAKE AXD KINGS COUNTIES fourth are in coui-jse of coustnictioii. There are two good scliools, a public liall, two blacksmith shops. Au extensive telephone system owned by tlie coiiiniiHiity unites the iiUMiil)c'rs of this widely scattered settlement. In early days the sole industry of the section was stock raisins,-, the footliill country furnishing an almndance of s])rino- feed and the mountain ranges contril)uting the summer supply. In the early '70s, Joe Palmer carried in on his back a few a])ph' trees and became the jiioneer of an industry that now adds a con- siderable (juota to the jirosperity of the region. Apples were found to do exceedingly well and numerous orchards now dot not only the river bottom lands of the lower sections, but are successfully grown as far up as the jiine belt at an elevation of forty-five hundred feet. The excellent fishing and hunting, the climatic advantages and the scenic wonders of the higher Sierras, bring through Three Rivers each year an increasing number of tourists and sjiortsnien and outfitting and catering to these has become an important branch of business here. A TALE OF INDIAX TROUBLE AT THREE RIVERS IN EARLY D.W'S. In May, 1857, the Works and Pemberton families had sold a herd of cattle and had considerable money. A few days after the sale transaction a band of some eighty or ninety Indians came over from the Owens Kiver valley and established camp just across the Kaweah river from the Works' house. Many of the Indians bore firearms, and amongst them was one man that had recently killed a white man on the Owens river without cause or provocation, and was wearing the dead man's clothes at the time. On the 25th of the month, when the men settlers were away looking after their stock, a portion of the Indians looted the premises of Pemberton and Works. When the men returned home and saw what had transiiired. Joseph Palmer, H. Works and Pemljerton immediately started out for the camp of the Indians to adjust matters. While enroute to the Indian camp they met six Indians and told them of the depredations they had committed. Immediately the Indian that had killed the man at Owens river made an attem])t to draw a ])istol. whereuijon Jose]>h Palmer struck the Indian u))on the head with his gun, instantly killing him. Following, several shots were fired at close range from both sides in which three or four Indians were killed, and the whites not injured. The Indians all left the c(uintry the same evening, after which the dead Indians were all l)urie(l by the whites. This was the first, last, and onlv trouble with the Indians. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 59 SPRINGVILLE Among the lianilets which of recent years liave attracted unusual attention among residents of the southern end of the county as well as among visiting prospective settlers is the town of Spring- ville, situated about sixteen miles eastward from Porterville at an elevation of 1072 feet. The village lies near the Tulc I'iver, below the junction of the north fork with the main channel, and takes its name from a sjilendid soda si)ring found there, the waters of which are noted for their agreeable taste and for their cui'ative properties. The town is frequently referred to as the "Gateway to the Sierras," as from it diverge roads and trails reaching many mountain jioints of interest. Its chief fame, however, rests u]5on the superb quality of apples grown in the neighborhood. These have taken i)rizes wh.erever exhibited and their jiroduction has become extensive. Oranges are also largely grown and with success, comparative freedom from fi'osts being enjoyed. Oi'iginally the town was named Daunt, from William G. Daunt, a ])ioneer settler who opened a store during tlie '6()s. The origin of the ])resent village, however, dates from 1889, when A. M. Ooburn, a lumberman operating a mill in the mountains, purchased a tract of land originally taken uj) l)y John Crabtree, and set aside eighteen acres as a townsite. The prospective value of the springs was one of the inducements for purchasers of the lots, and the town to be was given the name Soda Springs. A school house and a building intended to be used as a sanitarium were the only structures on the land. The vision of a famous "spa" did not materialize, but as Mr. Ooburn built a box factory and planing mill and sold lots and lumber on easy terms to his employees, a number of houses were built and a nucleus of a town started. The "sanitarium" was converted into a hotel and later torn down for the erection of the present Springville hotel. The postoffice was at Mr. Daunt 's place, nearly a mile down the river. Originally mail had been brought from Visalia twice a week, Charles Lawless being the carrier. Later it was sent from Tulai'e by way of AVoodvillc, Porterville and Piano. On the com- pletion of the railroad to Poilerville a daily mail by stage from that l)lace was established. In 1890 Mr. Cobuni bought out Mr. Daunt 's store and moved it and the postoffice to the present site. The name "Daunt" for the postottice was continued for several years by reason of the fad tliat there was a Springville postoffice in Ventura county. This latter having lapsed, the name "Springville" applies now to the postoffice as well as the town. 60 TULARIO AND KIXGS C()l'X'lMi:S ."\1INEKAL KING Sixty miles east of Visalia, reached via I^cinon Cove and Three Rivers, at the soiiree of the east fork of the ixaweah river, lies the mouutain valley, Mineral King. Here, at an altitude of eight thou- sand feet, the summer climate is cool and invigorating, and this, together with the numerous nearby scenic attractions, the abundant wild feed, the good fishing and its position as the furthermost moun- tain ])oiut accessible to wagons, has caused it to become a resort visited in summer by multitudes of people. Saw Tooth, a peak of thirteen thousand feet, towers directly above. J^'rom its summit a Avonderful view of towering peaks, divides, declivities and nestling lakes are obtained. Monarch lake and Eagle lake lie close to camp and are readily visited. Soda and other mineral s])rings abound. The valley heads at Farewell Gap, a pass of 10,600 feet elevation dividing the waters of the Kaweah from those of the Little Kern. Over it pass the trails leading to Trout Meadows, to Kern Lakes, to Mt. Whitney and to Inyo county. There are also trails leading from Mineral King to the Giant Forest over Timber Gap, to the Hockett Meadows over Tar Gap, as well as one leading directly to Kern Lakes. Many people from the valley have built cabins and have a per manent summer camp here. There is a stable summer population of aliout two hundred, and the total number of visitors, yearly increasing, is over one thousand. There is a store, postoffice and a telephone line to the valley. But time was when the activities here were of an entirely different nature. Gold was discovered here in the early '70s and hundreds of miners flocked to the scene. The Mineral King Mining District was formed and locations and transfers filed under the Federal laws. A town of about five hundred inhabitants sprung up and was named Beulah. Stamp and saw mills were erected. A road from Three Rivers, passing over a veiy difficult territory, was built at an exjienditure of about $100,000. At one time daily stages from Msalia made the entire distance in one day. A clear idea of the glory of Beulah in 1S7i). the year which marked its greatest prosperity, may be gained liy the following, from .the pen of Judge W. B. Wallace: "Ex-Senator Fowler had purchased the Empire mine and with characteristic energy was completing the road, erecting a (|uartz mill and tramway, and driving a long tunnel into the mountain. Things were moving that year. A sawmill was in operation and cabins were going u]) in all directions. An assay office was estab- lished and mines weie located bv the hundreds. TULAK1-: AXl)KlX(iS CUUXTIKS 61 "The X. K. Tunnel and Smelting Company was incorporated in 1875. anotlier was or,i;anized in 1876, and the White Chief (xold and Silver Mining C'ompany was called into being in 1880. But the year 1879 was the most fruitful in the production of these artificial persons for that camp. That year ten companies were organized with an aggregate capital stock which would put to shame that little kerosene side issue of the Standard Oil Company. « * * "At the general election held in 1879, the candidates for lieutenant governor and chief justice of the supreme court received one hundred thirt.v-seven votes for each office and the candidates for superior judge, assemblyman and district attorney received one hundred thirty-six votes in Mineral King. "There were ten and perhaps twelve places where intoxicating licjuors were sold, and events ]n-oved that the recorder, who received $5 for recording every location notice, and the saloon men worked the only paying mines. But there was very little riotousuess and disorder. There were no such essentially bad men there as are iisually found in new mining camps, with notched pistol handle.'^ and private burying grounds to which they could point with blood- curdling suggestions. There was but one shooting affray that I recall. It grew out of a dispute over the right to the possession of a small tract of land. One of the particiitants received a slight wound. * * * "There are but two graves in Mineral King. In the late '70s, early in the sjiring, one of the newcomers went to Redwood Meadow on foot, taking no provisions with him. A snow storm came on which fenced him in. In two or three days he started to return, crossed Timber (iaji and struggled through the snow until within a quarter of a mile of the camj). He called for help and was heard, but his voice was not recognized as that of a human being and the next morning his frozen body was found where he had evidently sat down, exhausted, and after vainly calling had given up the struggle. "When John Heinlen was prospecting the White Ch.ief mine, two of his miners were carried down the mountainside and buried in an ;ivalanche of snow. One was found and dug out alive, Imt the l)ii(Iy (if the other was not recovered until the spring thaw. "In the early days Orlando Barton was the X^estor of the camp, having the most extended and varied fund of knowledge. James Maukins and John (/i-abtree were ])erliaps the best prospectors. John Meadows was the most enthusiastic and conhdent of the early locators, rating his jiossessions worth a million dollars. lie was a farmer, a stockraisei-, a miner, a preacher, and a fighter, hut withal a l)i'a\'e. honest and conscientious man. "J. T. Trauger, who came in for the X^ew England Company as 62 TULARE AND KINGS C'UL'NTIES its superintendent, and the last recorder of the district, was known to all and was a favorite in the district. His wife was foi- yeais the jj:ood angel of the camp, wliose cheerful disposition, sterling (|ualiiies and strength of character won for her the respect and admiration of all the curiously assorted denizens of the district. The trail was never too rough, nor the night too dark to keejj her from the hedside of the suffering miner whose cry of distress was heard, whether stricken hy sickness, crushed in an a^•alanche of snow or mangled hy an untimely hlast. "Politicians early discovered the necessity of winning the Mineral King voters, and several political meetings were held there when local orators avowed in various forms their willingness to forego many personal i)leasures that they might serve the country. "Itinerant ministers also preached to the assemhled people, not from great cathedrals decorated with luiintings of the old masters, nor accompanied by the nmsic of grand organs, but in those groves whicli were God's first temples, where swaying pine and mountain streams made music, under a great dome ])ainted by the Master's hand, set with a thousand gems and softly lighted by the moon's pale beams, and where all nature joined in anthems of praise. "Mineral King was a silver camp and many of the old pros- pectors were actually silverized. In white, seamless rock they would point out wire silver and horn silver. They named the lakes and the ledges silver and saw and admired the silver lining to every cloud. The very word had such a fascination for them that they talked in soft, silvery tones. They pricked up their ears wlien silver gray foxes were alluded to and stood at attention when the old bear hiraters sj^ike of the silver-tipped grizzly, and as they lay down at night and gazed at the full orbed moon, they viewed it as the original of the silver dollar, having milled edges and a lettered flat surface, and wondered whether what they had looked at from infancy as the man in the moon might not after all be a mint im- pression of the American eagle." But the mines proved but the graveyard of many fortunes. Nothing came of them but disaster and the little town was a])on- doned. Many of the homes were left and for years were used by peoi)le who went u]) into the valley for a suunuer outing, !)ut the snows anil the rains have destroyed them all. T RAVER Traver was founded >\pril 8, 1884, or rather, that was the date when town lots were sold at auction. The town owes its origin entirely to the construction of the '76 canal and is tlie only place on the line of the Southern Pacific railroad not originally owned by that corporation. However, the Southern Pacilic ol)taine(l an TULARPJ AND KINGS COUNTIES 63 interest in the property lu^'ore they would consent to the establish- ment of a depot there. Traver is three miles south of Kings river. The bottom lands of the stream are exceedingly fertile and capable of producing every known product grown in California. It was named after Charles Traver, a capitalist of Sacramento, who was interested in the '76 canal enterprise. At the time of the sale of lots, excursions were run from San Francisco and from Los Angeles. The sales on April 8, 188-1-, aggregated $65,000. The only bouse then in Traver was a small structure that had been moved from Cross Creeks, and occu- pied l)y Kitchener & Co. as a store. Buildings were soon erected and a thriving town ensued. Traver has suffered greatly from fires, but is still a thriving place, and center of a valuable farming, fruit raising and dairying section. Fine schools, lodges and churches are supplied. HOCKETT MEADOWS The Ilockett meadows, containing about one hundred sixty acres of land lying on the plateau region near the head waters of the south fork of the Kaweah, are desirable camping ])laces. The elevation is about eighty-five hundred feet and in consequence the climate during the sunnner is cool and bracing. There is the greatest abundance of feed, botli here and in all the surrounding country. Lake Evelyn, one of the nuist beautiful of mountain lakes, is distant about three miles. There is excellent trout fishing in Hockett meadow creek, in Horse creek, one and one-half miles away, and in the waters of the south fork, two miles away. The park line is distant but a mile and a half, so that hunting for deer, which are here numerous, is within easy reach. There are trails to Mineral King and to Little Kern river, each distant aliout eight miles. REDBANKS Redlianks, the terminal station of the Visalia electric road, is situated about fifteen miles northwest of Msalia, and takes its name froin the i)roi)erties of the Redbanks Orchard Company, which adjoin. This orchard, one of the lai'gcst in the county and the only one devoted exclusively to the ])roduction of deciduous fruits for the eastern market, is located on the siiur of hill known as Colvin's Point. Pi'obably no part of Tulare county more vividly sets forth tlic rapid change from i)arched pasture lands to green gardens and prodndive orchards. This orchard venture of some thirteen hun- dred jiiid fifty acres had its inception in 190-!-, when P. ^l. Haier, Dr. W. W. S(|uires and Charles Joannes purchased a considerable acre- age, since adding to it. INfr. P>aier, formerly manager for the Earl 64 TULAKE AXD KINGS COUNTIES Fruit Company, and a man of the widest knowledge of deciduous finiit growing and marketing, liad become convinced by observation of vegetable growth in the \'iciuity, that here was a remarka1)!y early section, the products of wliicli sliould bring extremely high ]irices in the eastern market. No care or expense has been spared on the orchard and the result has exceeded expectations. Carloads of several varieties of fruits and table grapes are now shipped from here each season several days in advance of consignments forwarded from any other ])oint in the state. WHITE EIVER White Kiver, situated near the junction of the middle and south forks of "White river, about twenty-six miles southeast of Piano, arrived at early fame through the discovery here by D. B. James, of gold. This was followed by a wild stampede of miners and a typical early day mining town called "Tailholt," sprang up at once. Stores and shops, saloons, dance halls, gambling hoiTses, stage station, a quartz mill and a graveyard became necessary to supply the needs of the inhabitants and were provided. Seven men were soon "planted" in the last mentioned place, all dying with their boots on. It appears that each of these was named Dan, but history is silent in regard to why the bearing of that name was of peculiar hazard. In addition to the mining conducted in the vicinity, tlie town prospered by reason of being on the route to the Kern and Owens river mining districts. It became the source of supplies to thou- sands of miners, and the principal town in the southern jiortion of the county. In all these districts, however, while considerable gold was taken out, there ajipeared to be no large deposits of the precious metal. Pockets, while rich, soon petered out and the glory of the village lasted but a few years. A score or more miners remained to work claims at a small profit, a liusiness whidi continues to this day. At one time lumbering developed into quite an industry from the saw mills operated in the adjacent pineries. Of recent years stockraising has been the principal source of revenue to the inhabitants of the district, althougli the citrus belt is extending to the neighborhood and the possibilities of ai)ple culture afiford })rospective reasons for future development. THE GI.4NT FOREST This, the largest grove of giant sequoias in the ]nuk. and in the world, is situated at an altitude of from six to seven thousand five hundred feet, on a plateau lying between the middle and ^larble TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 65 forks of the Kaweah river, at a distance (by road) of about sixty miles from Visalia. Tliere are within it over iive thousand trees of a diameter of ten feet or more, together witli many monsters whose diameter ranges from twenty-five to thirty feet. The General Sherman tree, whose circumference six feet above the ground is one hundred nine feet, is considered to be the largest in the world. Its age is estimated at six thousand years. Other large groves are the Dorst, situated in the northwest corner of the park, and Gar- field, lying a short distance southeast of the Giant Forest, and the Muir, which stands on the south side of the south fork of the Kaweah, about twenty miles above Three Rivers. The Giant Forest was discovered by Hale Tharpe in the early '60s, and named by John Muir in 1890. Camp Sierra, as the site chosen for hotel and camp grounds is called, is delightfully situated alongside a little meadow, amidst groves of sequoias and firs. Among the nearby points of interest may be mentioned the Marble Falls, nine hundred sixty feet in height; Admiration Point, whence precipices of two thousand feet on three sides confront ; Sunset Rock, affording a beautiful open view of the valley, and Morro Rock, a monolith eighteen hundred feet in vertical heiglit, which overlooks the canyon of the middle fork of the Kaweah. From its summit is obtained a near view of many snow-covered peaks, ranging from ten to fourteen thousand feet in height, a clear view of the Kaweah, almost a mile below, of the San Joaquin valley beyond, and of the coast range of mountains, visible for jierhaps two hundred miles of their length. Then there are the beautiful Twin Lakes, situated at an altitude of nearly ten thousand feet, distant eleven miles. Flanked at oue side 1)>- banks of almost ]3erpetual snow, overlooked by precipitous bluffs of granite, the crystal clear waters mirroring i)erfectly the bordering rocks and tamarack groves, they form a picture that lives long in memory. Kasy to visit are Log, Crescent and Alta meadows, each having its peculiar charms; there is the "house tree," so called because in it Everton lived for five winters while engaged in trapping; Tharpe 's log cabin, a hollow tree fitted with doors and windows and furnishings, formerly the summer home of Hale Tliar]ie; "chimney trees," hollow from grtnind to crown, etc., etc. There are four caves in the ]>ark, as follows: Cloughs cave, situated about thirteen miles a1)o\e Three Rivers, on the south fork of the Kaweah river, was discovered by William O. Clough in 1885. Owing to its ease of access and its location on a main route of tourist travel, it is visited by greater numbers than 66 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES any of the otliers. Palmers cave, discovered by Joe Palmer, is situated uear Put- nam canyon on the south fork of the Kaweah. Owing to the almost inaccessible position of entrance, it has never been explored. Paradise cave is located on the south side of the ridge which separates the middle and the east forks of the Kaweah and was discovered in 1901 l)y H. R. Harmon. In 1906 it was ex]:)lored by "Walter Fry and C W. Blossom, park rangers, and officially named. OROSI Due west from Dinuba six miles and almost directly north of Msalia sixteen miles is situated the flourishing town and colony of Orosi. The foothills curve around the section immediately north of the townsite, a great deal of the colony lying in the cove thus formed. Prior to 1890 grain farming was ])ractically the only industry. There were few inhabitants. By reason of insufficient rainfall crops were not sure and there was no material iirogress. The extension of the Alta Irrigation district to this section and the subdivision of the lands into ten, twenty and forty acre tracts rapidly worked a marvelous change, and the district now is thickly settled and solidly planted to orchards and vineyards in small lioldings. The avenues which criss-cross the tracts are well-kept, many of these are bordered by fig, almond, or other fruit trees of a different kind from that to which the orchard is set, and as fences have generally been removed ])oth from the roadside and boundary lines, a very unique and pleasing effect is produced. In 1890 or 1891, at the same time as the heavy initial planting of grapes and ]>eaches, several small orange orchards were set. These duly came into bearing and demonstrated the adaptability of the Orosi country for oranges. (j)uite recently large acreages in the vicinity have been planted to this fruit and there have been heavy purchases of land lying in adjoining coves for this pur^iose. The town of Orosi maintains three general mei'chaudise stores, many shops, two banks, handsome school buildings for both grammar and high school grades, a hotel and branch library. It was quite a disappointment to the citizens of Orosi when the Santa Fe passed the town by leaving it a mile and a half from Cutler, the nearest station. The town and colony continued to grow, however, and it is now confidently believed by the residents that the "Tide Water and Southern" will be extended to pass through Orosi. NARAN.TO The name Xaranjo (Spanish for orange tree) is given to the citrus district lying along the foothills north of Lemon Cove and TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 67 across tlie Kaweali rive'r. It was tlie first section north of the river to be set to fruit and is now a lieavy producer of oranges and grape fruit. The orcliardists liave their own packing house and are served by tlie Visalia electric railroad. There is a store and ])Ost- office. "Westward, Naranjo merges into the newer Woodlake district. MONSON Situated on the Soutliern Pacific's east side line and lying north of \'isalia and southward from Diiiul)a is a sniall village with one general merchandise store, a few shops, etc. It is quite an important watermelon shipping point. Farming and dairying are the principal occupations of the neighborhood on the south, and raisin growing and deciduous fruit culture on the north. ORIOLE LODGE Some fourteen miles above Three Rivers on tlie northern flank of the east fork of the Kaweah, nestles beaneath the ])ines a lovely mountain tarn called Oriole lake. Its outlet forms a picturesque little stream which abounds in trout. Near the lake is quite a bit of comparatively level land origin- ally the homestead location of "Uncle Dan" Highton. The location possessed such natural advantages for a delightful summer resort that a number of local residents, under the leadership of A. G. Ogilvie, formed, in 1910, a stock com|:)any, purchased a site and are at present engaged in the erection thereon of artistic bungalows and other eipiipment. They have installed a sawmill and are cutting the material on the ground. The new road to Mineral King, soon to be comijleted, will render the place easy of access. VENICE The town of Woodville had, in 1S57, dwindled to almost nothing, when its revival was attenqjted by 1). B. James under the name of Venice. The new town was not to be on the site of the old, but further north near the southwestern corner of the Venice hills, and on the north side of the St. John river. At that time the St. Jolm river extended but a short distance further west, there sinking into a swamp. By reason of the fact that in hauling freight from Stockton to Visalia, in order to avoid bogs and swamps, it was preferable to travel by this route to Visalia, the new town grew and prospered. In addition to James' store and postoffice there came to be a saloon, boarding liouse, blacksmith shoji, chair factory, distillery, Imtcher shop and billiard hall. In the flood of IHG'2, however, almost the whole of the town was destroyed, and a continuous channel was opened from the sink of the St. John to Canoe creek and thence to Cross creek, thus forming 68 TULAEP] AND KINGS COUNTIES the St. ,I<)lm river of today. Just below tlio site of the town, wliere the cement rock formation in the bed of the river Ijeeame thinner, a fall eight feet in height was formed. During- the flood of '68 this fall was entirely channeled out, and the stream was so broadened as to occujiy much of the former townsite. No attempt was made to rebuild the town and the settlement in the neighborhood decreased until once again the region became almost abandoned, and remained so until very recent years, when the discovery of the thermal belt lying round these hills has placed growth on a substantial and ]iermanent basis, and Venice Cove, still further north, became the center of the district's population. KLINK Northwesterly from "^'enice Cove, on the Southern Pacific branch line, is the station of Klink, lying between Taurusa on the north and Kaweali on the south. For many years it was only a spur from which occasional shipments of wood and fruit were made. The suc- cess of the orange groves at Venice Cove has stimulated planting in the similar soil abutting the railroad near Klink, so that now quite a district is embraced by the new planting of the neighborhood. A general store has been established and it is exjiected that the railroad company will soon erect a suitable depot and install a regular agent. WAUKENA About ten miles southwestward from Tulare City was a noted stock grazing country known as the Crossmore ranch. Several years ago a syndicate of Los Angeles capitalists purchased this ranch of twelve thousand acres and arranged a great colony scheme. The lands lie in the artesian belt, and there are a number of flowing- wells. Besides dividing the lauds up so as to be sold in small hold- ings, a town was laid out with broad boulevards and parks. The place — this on-coming- city — the jiroprietors named Waukena, the beautiful. The tracts did not sell as readily as anticipated. On the comj^letion of the Santa Fe railroad from Tulare to (^orcoran, passing- through the tract, a depot was established, and a small village has grown u]) there. The soil in the vicinity is well adapted to alfalfa and the rapidly develo])ing dairy industry is- making- for the increased iirosperity of the neighboi-hood. WOODLAKE Woodlake, situated some fifteen miles northeasterly from ^^isalia, between Naraujo and Kedbanks and near the north shore of Bravo lake, is a to-wn whose growth during the three or four years of its existence has been so phenomenal as to merit especial mention. The town is now solidly and substantially built, having- a hand- some two-story hotel with pressed brick front; several shops, a large Tl^.ARE AND KINGS COUNTIES (59 concrete sai'ii."^'' «' ii'eiifi'Ml store, a new.spa])er, a l)aiik aud oilier features. During' the present year an auction sale of town lots was held and (piite lii.yli prices were realized. Cement sidewalks and graded avenues are in evidence here as in the sulturlis of a large city. Development of this district began in 1907, when Jason Barton, J. W. Fewell aud xVdolph Sweet ]>urchased a large tract on the east side of Cottonwood creek, in Elder and Townsend school districts, and situated about three miles north of Bravo lake. These men commenced extensive development work with the view to selling off tracts for colonists. Abundant water was foimd and cement pipe built and laid to carry it to the sul)divisions. A consideral)le acreage was planted. This colony was called Elderwood and a store and postoffice of that name was established. Now appeared on the scene Gilbert Stevenson of Los Angeles, a man of means and of great enterprise who, greatly' impressed with the showing the young trees had made in growth and the fact that they had remained untouched by frost, purchased a large tract to the southward, started a colony and founded a town, calling it Woodlake. The two districts, which merge into one are now called by this name, although South Woodlake and North AVoodlake are sometimes heard. The entire section has developed with magical rapidity and the brown hills that a few years ago were held worthless except for a scant spring ]iasturage are now set to groves and handsome residences are l)uilding in great number. CALIFORNI.'V HOT SPRINGS The California Hot Springs, formerly known as the Deer Creek Hot Springs, were long used by the Indians, and have for many years been a favorite cam]iing sjiot for people in quest of game or health. These springs are located about thirty miles southeast of Porter- ville, and twenty-two miles from Ducor. The springs are large streams of water, clear and sparkling and hot, gushing out of the rocks. Thousands of barrels run off daily into Deer creek. The daily flow is estimated at 190,()(){) gallons. The springs are in the edge of the ])ine forest, and are surrounded by groves of live oak and ])ine. The waters are highly charged with minerals. Tlu' lands surrounding the springs were originally taken up by the Witt fainilx-, early settlers in that section of the county. In 1898, it was owned l)y T^ J. and N. B. Witt. In that year the pro]i- erty was sold to L. S. Wingrove, G. K. Pike and .1. V. Eirebaugh. These men were fi'om Lindsay and Exeter. In Ajn-il, 1!)()1, Dr. C. E. Bernard of "N^isalia, bought out the I'irebaugh-Pike interests, and until 1904 condu<'1('(l the |)i-o])erty under the name of Bernard anil 70 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES ^Viugrove. i)r. Bernard liaviiig died, liis interest was in I'JOo pur- chased by S. Mitchell of Visalia, and J. 11. Williams of Poi'terville. In the following' June tlie owners incorporated under the name California Hot Springs, Inc. The present owners are Mrs. p]dith H. Williams, of San Diego; S. Mitchell, of Visalia; L. S. Wingrove and Joseph Mitchell of Hot S^Drings. The springs are far and widely known for their curative prop- erties, especially for relief from rheumatic troul)les, and a host of other complaints. Some of the springs have a temperature of one Imndred and thirty degrees, while others are cold. Tlie waters are used for drinking and bathing. The springs are reached by stages from Porter\ille or Ducor, or by automobile or any other vehicle. The roads are kept in good condition. Many from ^"isalia make the trip there by auto. Lying back in the mountains are tine streams for trout and ranges for deer. Not being in the National park, hunting is a luxury in which one may here indulge. TEERA BELLA Years ago, before the establishment of warehouses in various towns on the east side of Tulare county, Terra Bella was the largest wheat shipping point in the state of California. The country was farmed in immense tracts, whole sections being included in a single piece of grain. The homesteaders had found this virgin stretch of country, but, later, many had deserted it, having experienced a suc- cession of "dry" years, several in number, much to their disap])oiut- ment. Wheat raising continued ])rofitable in good years, but the possibilities of the fertile soil, extending for nuiny miles in every direction from the station at Terra Bella (beautiful earth), appealed to the keen insight of the ])romoter, who, fortified with results ob- tained in a small way Ity citrus ])lanters, apjireciated the fact that with the development of water at reasonable cost, the entire area could be transformed into profitable orange and lemon oi-chards. Accordingly, the subdivision of several sections of land in and about Terra Bella was taken up three years ago by the Terra Bella Development Company, which corporation later passed from the hands of P. J. S. Montgomery and associates to a coterie of wealthy Los Angeles men, including Marco H. llellman, G. A. Hart, W, H. Holliday, F. C. Ensign, W. A. Francis, and others. Since that time ra[)id strides have been made, both in the planting and imiirovement of orange groves and in the building of a town, modern in every respect, — the pride of its builders and the envy of many ambitious contemporaries. Several thousand acres of oranges have been jdanted in the Terra Bella district with very good results, and the jjlanting is being continued every year, willi many new residents coming in. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 71 Terra Bella as a town is, for its age, in a class l)y itself, having graded and oiled streets, cement walks and cnrbing, circulating water system, septic sewerage system, electric power and Hglits, telephone, a fine new $15,000 grammar school building, a $30,000 two-story brick hotel, a two-story brick business block erected at a cost of $45,000, a two-story brick structure housing the First National Bank of Terra Bella, a growing financial institution managed by T. M. (Ironen, cashier; a mission style passenger station on the Southern Pacific, perhaps the handsomest station on that line in the county; a weekly newspaper; Wells Fargo express, etc. The population is growing, and indications are favorable for a splendid town. Terra Bella is situated about eight miles southwest of Porterville and five miles north of Ducor, another growing town in the new citrus belt which is also being transformed from wheat fields to a prosperous little city. DUCOR AND RICHGEOVE The town of Ducor is on the line of the Southern Pacific, soi;th from Terra Bella about four miles. It is the jioint of departure for stages to the California Hot Springs. The principal improve- ment at Ducor at this time is the construction of a large two-story brick building, in whic-h will l^e housed the First National Bank of Ducor, financed by leading citizens of that community. A fine two- story hotel and a two-story school house have been l)nilt, street improvements made, two churches erected, a fine ])ark laid out and ]ilanted in trees and shrubbery. Numerous fine orange groves have lieen set out in the A'icinity of Ducor, with more planting this year, while several large tracts are now being subdivided for sale to citrus l)lanters. Both Terra Bella and Ducor are wideawake towns, with com- mercial organizations, and the planted area will demand shortly the construction of citrus packing houses in both i)laces. South of Ducor, in Tulare county, is another rich citrus section, Richgrove, where extensive improvements are being made by the same people who are promoting Terra Bella. Numerous tracts are being set in orange groves this spring. All of this territory has the benefit of reasonable water conditions for irrigation, thermal climate for the growing of citrus fruits, and olives, good transportation and power facilities. There is every reason to believe that the country from Terra Bella south to Richgrove will be one of the most productive and most prosperous sections in the early orange belt of Tulare county. FARMERSVILLE Farmer.sville, seven miles easterly from A'isalia, is next to Visalia the oldest settlement in the county. 72 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES The early settlers naturally made their homes in clearings along the creek bottoms, and near Outside creek and Deep creek farming operations commenced in the early '50s, and a larger number of farmers settled in this vicinity than in any other. The townsite was located in 18()0 by John W. Crowley, and a relative named Jasper established a general merchandise store. The overland stage passed through the liurg and a postoffice was located in the store. T. J. Brundage succeeded as manager of the store and as postmaster and has made this his home ever since, aiding by every means in his power all enter]irises tending to increase the welfare of the comnuinity. One of his sons still conducts the store and is lieavily interested in farm lands and active in the develop- ment of the surrounding territory. The first great factor in Parmersville's prosperity was the construction of the People's ditch. The Consolidated People's Ditch Company had olitained water rights dating from the '(iOs, and early in the '70s their canal throligh this section was completed. At the time the town was established, thousands of acres of land were under irrigation, and the vicinity soon became known as one of the choicest garden spots of the county. The name Farmersville somehow fits the place, not that here are more farmers than elsewhere, but that the tyiiical old-time ])rod- ucts of the farm, such as corn and jiumpkins and i)otatoes grow to a degree of size and ])erfection seldom obtained. Chinese gai'deners quickly selected the locality as best adapted to their ])urpose and as soon as the growth of the other communities warranted, established fine vegetable gardens here, distributing the product over a wide territory. The Briggs orchard, some three miles west of Farmersville, was the first extensive one in the county to come into bearing, and its first crops of 1888 and 1889 brought such a phenomenal return tliat a veritable boom in deciduous tree planting resulted. Pinkham & McKevitt, large fruit packers of Vacaville, with some associates, bought and set out the Giant Oak and California Prune Company orchards of several hundred acres each; scores of individuals planted smaller tracts and in '91 A. C. Kuhn, a San Jose dried fruit packer, purchased the Arcadia Eanch of about one thousand acres and set the same to fruit. This orchard has since passed into the hands of the California Fruit Canners Association, and has become one of the largest, best and most profitable in the state. Farmersville has lieconie a fruit center of no mean proportion, hundreds of carloads of fruit going forward annually as the product of its groves. The Farmersville prunes have come to be recognized TULARE AND KTX(3S C'()UNTIF]S 73 by dealers as of superior grade, second in size and quality to none produced in the San Joaquin valley. The Visalia electric road, which i)asses tlirough this section and makes stops at nearly every cross roads, as well as at Farmers- ville proper, is a great convenience to the residents. One section of the town clusters at the old site on tlie county road, where are the stores and sehoolhouse, but near the railroad station, altout a mile north, another village nucleus is forming which soon, no doubt, will recjuire trading facilities of its own. CAMP NELSON AI)ove Springville about seventeen miles, between the south and middle forks of the Tule river, at an elevation of aliout 4500 feet is the delightful summer resort known as Nelsons. At present the place is reached by a ti-ail about eight miles in length connect- ing with the wagon road at the forks of the river. While the retreat is surrounded by pines, there is nmch tillable land and berries, vegetables and fruits are raised to perfection. The meadow land grows timothy hay and there is quite a large apple orchai'd. At this elevation the summer climate is cool and pleasant Not alone for the outing pleasures in the immediate vicinity, however, has Nelsons become noteworthy. By reason of its location on the route to the Little Kern, Big Kern, Kern Lakes, Mt. Whitney and other points of interest in the higher Sierras it has grown to be an equipping station for tourists. A hundred pack and saddle animals are maintained for this service. CAMP BADGER Away uj) in the Sierras, east of the Dinuba country and near the Fresno county line, is Camp Badger. This is a stage station and a small village surrounded by a fine grazing country. It is on the road into the high Sierras and to some of the big lumber camps. It is an important place for summer campers to spend a time in the cool mountain air away from the heat of the valley. Some of the wildest and grandest scenery in the world lies in the high Sierras beyond, ])oints which are readily accessilile from Camp Badger. It lies ill the edge of the jiine belt and in tlic early days was a very imjiortant cam]) for teamsters and lumliermen. The lirst saw- mills in the county were set u)i in the pineries near Badger. At one time there were as many as two hundred and fifty teams hauling hmiber from the mills thiongli Ciiiiip Badger and down the Cotton- wood creek to Visalia. There is little of the former glory left to Badger, a store, ]iost- office and school lieing the only industries of today. The surround- ing countrv is laruclv dc\'ot('d to stockraising. 74 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES AI^CKLAND Ou tlie old Millwood road, going up Cottouwood creek, the first station was Auckland. As early as 1866 Mr. Harmon preempted the lands where the postoffice and store are. Soon afterward James Barton preempted the adjoining place. Stockraising was the princi- pal business of the early settlers and is likewise that of most of the l>resent settlers. General farming is carried on to a limited extent. A postoffice, general store and school make up the town. Several thrifty apple orchards producing fruit of an excellent quality are in the vicinity and this culture is engaging the attention of a number of new settlers. K.iWEAH STATION Kaweah is nt)f yet a town, merely a railroad station without an agent, but so rapidly is a thickly settled community clustering to the north of this station that a store has already been established and a little town will probably result. If so, it will be very close — within a stone's throw almost — of the site of Woodville, the historic village first foimded in the county. The school and voting jirecinct are called ^"enice and the district is well adai)ted to general farming, fruit and dairying. The reten- tion of several large tracts liy wealthy non-resident owners has here- tofore retarded development somewhat. The Jacob Bros, farm, orchard and nursery is located about a half-mile east of the station. This farm, comprising several hundred acres, has such a diverse number of products that a constant income throughout the vear is secured. TULARE AND KINCJS COUNTIES 75 CHAPTER VIII PORTERVILLE AND OTHER TOWNS In tlie southeastern part of Tulare county, situated on a branch of the Tule river and connected with the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco by a branch line, which joins the main Southern Pa- cific at Fresno and Famosa, lies the city of Porterville; conceded by those who have visited it to he one of the most progressive towns of its population in the state. AVhile Porterville is in close proximity to the mountains, the foothills do not tend to retard development, hut add to the pictnres<|ueness and iirosperity of this .tlniving com- munity of thirty-two hundred people. Porterville was, of necessity, on the olden immigrant road, and on the overland stage line, by reason of the fact that in those days it was necessary to kee]t to the high ground to avoid the marshes of the lowland. Along the l)ase of the spur of hills wliicli here projects into the valley lay the only natural route. Then, as now, passersby found the place attractive and many immigrant trains found along the banks of the Tule river pleasant cam])ing and resting places, the first encountered for da.\s. J. i>. Ilockett and jiarty camjjed here in 1849. Mr. Clapp settled here in 1856 or '57. In the late '50s a number of settlers had made locations and when the Overland Mail from San Francisco to St. Louis was established, in 1859, a stage station was located here. Royal Porter Putnam was placed in charge of this station at the princely salary of $30 ]ier month and board. Mr. Putnam easily took a ]irom- inent place, became familiarly known by his middle name and the stopping place was soon called Porter's station. When the stage route was abandoned, in 1861, Mr. Putnam established a hotel and store and then, as befitting the newly-acquired dignity of the jilace, it came to be entitled Porterville. Cattle raising constituted the chief occupation of the people in this district, in the days before the Civil war. The era of the cereal commenced in 1874, but floods, followed by drought, disheartened some of the settlers. Not until the coming of the railroad in 1888 did Porterville lift her head and allow prosperity to enter, the latter then coming to remain for all time. The orange now began to i)er- I'orm a very imiiortant function. The first grove, of sixty trees, was planted in 1871) by Demiiig (Jibbons on his ])roi)erty, where now stands Piano. These trees were seedlings and for twelve years oranges of (|uality or (juantity failed to mature. Added impetus, however, was given citi-us culture by A. R. Henry of Pasadena, who has long since passed to his reward, and in the year ]80"_' three hundred scattering acres had liccn brought uiidci' the reign of the citrus fi-uit. During 76 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES this year a bill proposiug' the segregation of the Porterville district from the rest of Tulare county was introduced in tlie state legislature, but was defeated in 1898. To demonstrate the j)Ossibilities of Porter- ville, orcliardists installed an exhibit of citrus fruit and a))ples at Sacramento. Orange experts and many men prominent in the fruit world pronounced tlie fruit ecjual to any grown south of tlie Teliach- api, and Porterville retains this distinction to this day. Porterville became a town of the sixth class in 1902. when a number of enterprising citizens appeared before the solons at Sacra- mento. After due legal red tape the charter was granted and Porter- ville entered upon a period of united development. Porterville now marched rapidly forward until 1908, when l)y a heavy majority. Por- terville citizens voted for the abolition of saloons within the incor- porated city of Porterville. Two years later voters again declared the saloon an outlaw. On April 15, 1912, a drastic ordinance against the selling of intoxicants received the unanimous sanction of the city council. Porterville ranks second to none of Tulare county cities in fine business blocks and residences. Itemized building figures would be useless, for in Porterville the i)rogress of today is history tomorrow. Within the past four years two three-story blocks, several two-story and numerous single business blocks have been constructed, all of fire-i)roof material and representing a total valuation of .$1.7r)i),000. The business district covers an area of six blocks, the business houses being of brick and reinforced concrete. More beautiful and substantial residences are seldom seen, $500,000 being represented in residences erected within the past three years. P^ew, if any, towns of the county can present a more imposing and practical school structure than has just been completed at a cost of $45,000, situated at the west end of Olive street, in the center of a district destined to become the residential section of Porterville. It is an eight-room school building of mission design, with the latest and most approved methods of heating, ventilating and fire-escapes. The structure is the most modern of four grammar school buildings, in which more than six hundred children receive instruction. Aside from adequate primary and elementary departments. Porterville is provided with a massive high school building of granite, with a total enrollment of over two hundred students and every probaliility of twice that number witliin the next two years. Practical courses are the si)ecialties of instruction. The cost of Poi'terville's schools aggre- gate a total of $120,000. Porterville 's municiiial water system is one of the best, $90,000 liaving been expended in obtaining the most im])roved service. In 1908. the plant was ]iurchased from the Pioneer "Water Comjjany for $50,000. incidentally reducing the water rate twenty-five per cent. Since the purchase of the system, $45,000 wortli of iiii))rovements have TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 77 been addetl. Located upon Scenic Heights, one hundred sixty-tln-ee feet above Main street, is a 300,000 gallon water tower, into which is innnped ]iure water from two modern plants, the maxinnim capa- city of the i)lants being 1,1250,000 gallons every twenty-four hours. Two auxilary tanks, one containing 75,000 gallons and a 100,000- gallon reservoir, add. amjile jtressure for fire protection. The domes- tic supply is furnished by four, six and eight-inch laterals, fed from a ten-inch main, the total length of which is eighteen miles. Tlie foot- hill lands near Porterville are abundantly supplied by the Pioneer Water Company, whose system is cai)able of irrigating seven thou- sand acres, the main canal being sixteen miles in length. Deep well ]mmps are fast disidacing the old irrigation methods, the ])ast year witnessing the installation of one hundred and fifty plants. Within the past year a $75,000 sewer system has been com- l^leted. Nineteen miles of sewer pipe, together with a thirty-acre sewer farm, are adecpiate accessories for years to come. Pacts and figures show two miles of asphalt streets and ten miles of sidewalks, the former having been constructed during the ])ast year at a cost of $90,000. Five of the principal thoroughfares, Main, Olive, Mill, Putnam and Roche, are the paved streets. AVitli tiie completion of street paving, the necessity for ellicient fire apparatus was i)re-eminent. A chemical engine and a hose cart, proiielled by gasoline, were purchased for $10,000. Porterville was the first city in Tulare county to adojit the modern fire-fighting device and therefore has a minimum insurance rate. In res]>onse to the demand for adequate shipping and packing facilities for the citrus industry, eight packing-houses in and near Porterville have been established. These employ a small army of ])eople during the fruit season. Aside from one thousand cars of oranges shij^ped annually, Porterville ships many peaches and i)runes. Apples rivaling those of the eastern states are grown in the moun- tain districts. The thriving condition of two creameries, one in Porterville and the other nearby, attests the statement that the dairy industry has })ossibilities as great as those of the orange. A Carnegie library, valued at $10,000, is another of Porterville 's acquisitions. The building is filled with the latest productions in science, art, general information and fiction. Eight religious denominations. Congregational, Methodist, Chris- tian, l:>a])tist. Christian Science, C*atholic, Episcojjal and (Jeriiian, are represented in Porterville, all these institutions being in a flourishing condition. Seven of the denominations possess buildings of more than ))assing attention. The Congregational church, erected at a cost of $25,000, is one of the most beautiful edifices of its kind in the valley. A total of $()0,00() is re])resented in these sanctuaries. The First National IWuik of I'orterville, one of the strongest bank- 78 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES ing institutions in Tulare county, was organized June !<, litOo, with a subscribed capital of $l25,000. At present the capitalization is $100,000, and it has the largest deposit of any bank in the county. The older institution, the Pioneer Bank, was organized A\n'il 10, 1889, with a subscribed cajntal of $70,000. At the present time this bank is ca])- italized for $105,000. Among the factors which tend to advance Porterville, of most importance is the Chamber of Commerce. Tliis is the largest organ- ization of its kind in the San Joaiiuin valley, its membership totaling two hundred and fifty. Aside from a continuous and jirogressive advertising campaign, a club room for the members is maintained, and also a large reading room, banquet hall and billiard ]iarlors. In co-ojieration with the Chamber of (^ommerce is the Ladies Imjirove- ment Club, a by no means small factor in the development, imjirove- ment and maintenance of a clean city. A public park of thirty acres is situated at the eastern limits of the city. The land for this park was donated by public-spirited citizens and $10,000 has been expended in its maintenance and improvement. A public lunch jiavilion, ]mblic play grounds for chil- dren and other attractive features have been installed. An im]iortant factor in Porterville's advancement is the char- acter of its newspapers. Two of the most consistent boosting journals in the county are represented in the Porterville Daily Eeeorder and the Porterville Daily Messenger. Both have weekly editions as suji- plementary ])ublications and their financial future is assured. Lodges of Porterville include all the leading orders, both bene- ficiary and insurance. Ancient Order United Workmen, Porterville Lodge No. 1999; Foresters of America, Court Porterville No. ISl ; Fraternal Order of Eagles, Porterville Aerie No. 1351; Indejiendent Order of Odd Fellows, Porterville Encampment No. 89, Porterville Lodge No. 359, Canton Porterville No. 6, Golden Rod Rebekah Lodge No. 200; Knights and Ladies of Security, Porterville Council No. 1917; Knights of Pythias, Porterville Lodge No. 93; Pythian Sisters, Callanmra Temple No. 66; Ladies of Maccabees; Masonic, F. & A.M., Porterville Lodge No. 303; Royal Arch Masons, Porterville Chapter No. 85; Order of Eastern Star, Palm Leaf Chapter No. 114; Modern Woodmen of America, Porterville Camp No. 906-t; Royal Neighbors, White Rose Cam]) No. 5333; Woodmen of the World, Orange Camp No. 333; Women of AVoodcraft, Pomelo Circle No. 292. Porterville never has been or never will be a boom town. It has grown consistently, and it will continue its advancement, as the neces- sary resources, now in their infancy, will always be behind it. To the east lie many hundred acres of foothill land yet to feel the orch- ardist's band. Farther east and up into the mountains are the famous redwood forests, unhindered by monopolists. These forests, together with the rich minei'al resources yet to be de\'el()i)ei:l, foi'iu a field of TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 71) inestimal)le wealth. Excellent niountain resorts, such as the Califor- nia Hot Springs, whose mineral waters equal those of tlie famous Arkansas Hot Springs, beckon the tourists from the hot summers of the valley. The feeding and fattening of beef cattle also forms an imi)ortant occupation of the hill districts. To the south are thou- sands of l)are acres unequaled in orange culture. Agricultural and dairy industries are assured in the broad plains to the west and to the north are produced the linest of navel oranges. — Claude il/. CJidpliii. DINUBA Dinnba is the largest city in northern Tulare county, situated along the foothills on the eastern side of the great San Joaquin val- le>-. It was nearly thirty years ago that the first settlers made their home here, at a time when Traver was a flourishing community and Dinuba was but a cross-roads corner. The country was one vast wheat field, and it was not thought then that in a generation the entire district would be revolutionized and made to Inid and lilossom with fruit and flower as it does today. The site wliere Dinuba now stands was originally owned by James Sil)ley and E. E. Giddings, and at the time the surveyors of the Pacific Improvement Company laid ofT the townsite was but a vast stubblelield. Later W. D. Tuxlniry bought out Mr. Sibley's interest and Mr. Giddings also sold his interests to Mr. Sibley. The first lot in the new town was sold liy the Improvement Com])any to Dr. Gebliardt, and this was later occupied by the doctor's office, (ipl»osite the depot and at the rear of what is now the Alta Garage. Homer Hall and H. C. Austin bought four lots on the cornei- where the Central Block is now located and on the corner where McCrack- en's drug store is situated, Mr. Hall built a $1500 frame Iniilding — the finest in the district at that time. The lots cost him $L'50 each and cannot be bouglit today for much more than that amount per front foot. Here Mr. Hall engaged in the real estate business in the fall of 1888. The building was so arranged that there was a room adjoining the realty office and this was occupied by I)a\-e and Charles Cohn with their general merchandise store. Later the (^'ohn Brotliers bought the corner where the United States National Bank now stands, and a year later the old "adobe" on the corner where the First National bank is now housed in its splendid $20,000 home. This adobe was a land mark in the community for years, and was occupied with general stores, saloons and other lines, until a little over a year ago, when it was taken down for the modern structure which lias re])laced it. As stated, the next building to be erected after the Hall i)uild- ing was the office of Dr. (rel)hardt. Then Frank Elam built a iilack- smith shojt on the corner whci'c the Akcrs sho]) and machiue works 80 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES ai'e now, hnt this Inter Imiiii'd down. As was usual witli a pioneer town, the saloon found a place in the irrowtli of the oommnnity, and remained here until five years ago. A building was moved from south of town by Mrs. Smith, who later became Mrs. Toler, and was located on the rear of the Hall and Austin lots, and this became the postoffice. Homer Hall was the postmaster, and Mrs. Toler was his deputy, later succeeding to the oSce of the growing little town. About this time the Dinuba Hotel was erected by Sibley and Tnxl)ury and ]\fr. and Mrs. Henry Kirkpatrick were the first lessees. They are still living south of town. Mine Host Kirkjjatrick was succeeded by Matthews and Wheeler as landlords. This same year the Southern Pacific depot was built and the ]niblic auction of town lots by the railroad took place in the latter part of January, 1889, the auction being "cried" by Mr. Shannon, the railroad auctioneer from Fresno. The railroad people gave the people gathered a big- dinner that day. and the new town of Dinuba was given its start. The "Seventy-Six" Land Company had already commenced the development of water for irrigation here, and later the Alta Irriga- tion District was formed, with loO,000 acres and absorbing the "76" system. From that time the district began to develo]i. until five years ago the city was incorporated and has grown until today there are 1800 peojile here and Dinuba is the largest city lietween Visalia and Fresno along the foothills. The city lias fine schools, both grammar and high, and seven churches: Baptist, Methodist E]iis('o|)al. Christian, IMethodist E)nsco])al South, Presbyterian, Ad- vent! st and Church of Christ, Scientist. There are eighteen teachers in the inililic schools and nearly six hundred pupils. The city has miles of cement sidewalks and paved streets and is reputed as one of the cleanest and most attractive cities in the entire west. TULAEE Tulare, the second city in size in the county, is situated on tlie main lines of both, the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe, at their inter- section, some ten miles south from Visalia. With a population of about 4000, rai)idly growing; with the modern facilities and conven- iences common to up-to-date cities of its size; surromided by a thickly- settled, fertile, well-watered and productive farming section. Tulare does not present in aspect sti^ikiug peculiarities. Historically, howevei-. Tulare possesses distinctive prominence. A checkered career, marked by a series of staggering misfortunes, has been her lot. The adage, "It never rains but it pours," seemed peculiarly apjilicable at one time. That " 'Tis always darkest just before dawn" ])roved true at last. The record of these events reads more like a story than tlie sober chronicle of history. The earliest settlers of the county ]iassed 1iy the section in the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 81 vicinity of Tulare, because it did nut lie iu the i)atli of water-courses. A few real pioneers there were, notably W. F. Cartniill, J. A. More- head, J. W. Hooper, 1. N. Wright, the Powell, McCoy, Hough and Wallace families, whose homesteads were triliutary to what is now Tulare, but no settlement existed in this neigjiborhood prior to the coming, in 1872, of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Unlike the other railroad towns of the county, however, an im- mediate growth followed the sale of lots. In fact, Tulare commenced with a l)oom. There was occasion for this, because, according to the railroad's plans, which were duly heralded, it was to be the end of a division, the site of great railway repair shops, and not least, the county seat of Tulare county. In the plats submitted to pros- pective investors, the many jjrojected enterprises, as factories, rail- road yards, and shops and the courthouse, were outlined. And there were many purchasers anxious to get in on the ground floor; the town started amidst a general whooji and hurrah. It came to ])ass that the railroad slioi)s were erected, i)erliai)s not on quite as exten- sive a scale as anticipated, but still there they were, and so, too, were several hundred em])loyees, all of whom had to be housed and clothed and fed. Consequently there was need for merchants of all kinds, and these came. To l)e sure, the courthouse did not materialize. This for the reason that Visalia influence secured the ])assage by the legislature of a bill permitting Tulai-e county to issue l)onds for the purpose of erecting a new courthouse at Visalia. Flourishing enough, however, were conditions to cause the town to grow a])ace. Among the i)ioneers of industry at this time may be mentioned J. O. Lovejoy. who built the first residence in the town, also a mill and a hotel, and I. H. Ham, who erected blocks of buildings, both in the business and residence sections. Many of the railroad employees were men of family and these in numbers purchased lots and erected dwellings thereon, to be paid for on the installment ])lan. Now were jjlanted gardens and lawns and on the sides of many of the principal streets shade trees, and all thrived. An ever-growing beauty and an ever-greater prosjiei-ity characterized the town. Monthly came the pay car with $.30,UUU to $40,000. In July, 188o, a disastrous fire swept tiie business section, entail- ing a loss of about $150,000 and destroying about twenty-five places of business. From the effects of this fire Tulare rapidly recovered. Better buildings almost immediately took the ])lace of those burned, and bustling progress was promptly resumed. Prosperity was uninterrupted for three years only. In 1880, on the night of August Kith, the business portion of the city was entirely destroyed by fire. The magnitude of this second disaster can scjircely now be realized. Nothing was left except, to quote from the Tulare Register of the time, "a fringe of residences around a lire-swept 82 TULAKE AND KINGS COUNTIES gap." In the published list of tlie business houses destroyed are enumerated seventy-seven — practically all. The loss occasioned by this fire was so great, so nearly did it take the accumulated savings of all the business men, and so closely did it follow the former conflagration, that it might seem that endeavor would be paralyzed. Knowledge of the town's resources, supposed to be permanent, inspired hope and courage, howev^-r. and the town was rebuilt in better and more substantial form than before. And now, indeed, in the latter part of the '80s, secure once more, enjoying renewed prosperity, the inhabitants may be pardoned for believing that their troul)les were over; that, having weathered safely the storms, they were to have for the remainder of the voyage fair weather and tine sailing. However, the Fates held the most crushing bolt yet in their hands. In 1891 it fell. In that year the railroad company removed its shops to Bakersfield, taking tenants and trade. Most dismal and discourag- ing was the situation for the villagers who remained. A score of merchants found their i)atronage insufficient to make them a living. Artisans and other craftsmen were without employment. Rents dropped to almost nothing; business houses suspended and closed; gardens were neglected and rioted in weeds; dwelling houses dis- played first the sign "For Rent," then "For Sale." A dreary stagnation ensued for several years, a retreat, as it were, before the overwhelming forces of adversity. Houses by the score were sold very cheaply and moved to different portions of the county. Tulare was looked upon as dead beyond hope of recovering. And yet to the sturdy resident who refused to be a quitter came the insistent query, Why ? He looked around at the vast expanse of fertile land surrounding the town and again asked. Why! The answer that farming tried on a big scale, wheat farming, had failed, because of insufficient rainfall or insufficient sul)-irrigation did not satisfy him. He said "If it is water that is lacking, why. we will get water. AVe will make this land produce the abundant crops Nature intended and we shall become a rich and prosperous com- munity, self-supporting, independent of railroad patronage." And from this resolve a great irrigation system was jilanned with wide canals and far-reaching laterals. To carry out this project the people in the territory to be embraced formed the Tulare Irriga- tion District and voted bonds in the sum of $500,000. AVith the bonds selling readily, the vast irrigation enterprise giving emploATuent to an army of men well imder way, the vast benefits that would accrue on its completion readily foreseen every- one again felt encouraged and hopeful. All trouble was now thought to be over. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIP]S 83 As a matter of fact, it had just begun. Litigatiuii oxer water rights involved the new district from the start. Finally, largely from this cause the money was all spent and there was no water, or at least, not sufficient water. Remember, all this occurred just as the general hard times and financial depression of '93 were being most severely felt. The result was that default was made on the interest on the bonds. Conditions became almost intoleralile. Lack of funds prevented proper u])keep of the canals. There was no water to speak of and yet there was an ever-increasing indebtedness that with the dragging weight of an incubus prevented any onward ]»rogress. Land depreciated in xalue until it practically became unsalable. Discouragement gave place to despondenc.v and despair. Joe Goldman and other progressive citizens of Tulare finally evolved a plan to try to coni])romise with the bondholders. They suc- ceeded in securing a concession whereby the bonds and accrued inter- est, aggregating $750,000, could be willed out for about $273,000. An assessment was levied in the fall of 19i)'2 upon the real estate of the bonded district sufficient to cover the amount, the bonds were placed in escrow and strenuous efforts, ultimately successful, were made to collect the money. October 17, 1903, was the day appointed for the exchange. A monster celeliration was held in honor of the event and the cancelled bonds were burnt in the presence of the assemblage amidst the great- est rejoicings. That day marked the turning point in Tulare's career. Progress since has been rapid and increasing. The irrigation system is now the property of tlie district and the only expense for water is the cost of maintenance. Pumping jilants, irrigating lands not reached by the ditches, have also been installed in great numbers, bringing into production thousands of additional acres. Having become the center of the dairy district of the county, possessing three of the largest creameries, Tulare city now enjoys a ]iermanently assured large and increasing income. Vineyards, de- ciduous fruits of all kinds and many other products contril)ute also, but the sum received from the sale of cream, now over $100,000 i)er month, is of first im])ortance, not only because of tlie amount. Init because it is paid in cash each month. Tulare merchants enjoy the benefits of a cash trade and their customers partake of the benefits by reason of lower iirevailing prices than in towns where a credit system is in greater vogue. The present ra[)id growth of Tulare is well indicated liy the build- ing ojjerations, which for the past two years have run about $250,000 per year. Tulare possesses a first-class sewer system, an abundant supply of absolutely pure water piped ever>-where, electric power and lights, 84 TULARK AND KINGS COUNTIES o-as for fuel and li.Klitiiiii'. Thei'e is a largo cannery, three creameries, a flour mill and a planing mill and furniture factory. A handsome free lil)rary liuilding- houses a six thousand volume collection of books. New school Iniildings witli the best modern equij^ment and with ex- tensive surrounding playgrounds and experimental plats are a feature. There are two banks, two daily newspapers and corresponding- business facilities of all kinds. Ten churches of as many denomina- tions minister to the reUgious needs of the people. Of the early improvements made in the days of the railroad shop and "before the fire" one only remains, and that is the shade trees planted along the streets. These, now about thirty years old, have grown to be of great girth and. wide-spreading, their tops almost meet above the broad streets. LEMON COVE Eighteen miles east of Visalia the foothill slopes to the north and south of the Kaweah river approach at an angle to form a sheltered vale, which with the village and postoffice there located, is called Lemon Cove. Originally the settlement and postoffice went by the name of Lime Kiln, from the early discovery of lime in the vicinity by Wil- liam Cozzens. J. W. C. Pogue, one of the earliest settlers, was the founder of the town and the father of the great development in citrus culture that has taken jjlace in recent years. The first orange orchard in Tulare county was planted by him. The successful growth of these first few orange and lemon trees and the entire freedom from frost noted during the years u]) to their coming into bearing, led him to ]ilant a second orchard and to become a whole-souled, energetic ]iro- moter for the section. In the early '9()s a considerable acreage was ])lanted to citrus fruits, mostly lemons. In addition to many small tracts, the large gi-oves of the Kaweah Lemon Company and the Ohio Lemon Com- pany were set. A little story must be told here, for at this time the learned Mc- Adie, our well-known weather jirophet, in company with a numlier of friends, ]:)aid a visit to the high Sierras, reached by way of Lemon Cove. On the return the large i)lantings of young lemon groves attracted attention and Mr. McAdie iiroceeded to comment thereon in the presence of Mr. Pogue and other residents. McAdie explained that citrus fruits would not mature in the locality and that it was a foolish waste of time and money to jilant them. Reasons scientific, technical and meteorological were given to prove it. Old Jim Pogue, boiling inwardly and scarcely able to contain himself, finally interru]ited and said, "Come here a minute; got something to show yon." Taking McAdie by the arm he led him TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 85 to tlie rear of liis residence, wiiere sti'etelied a i'ull-heariiin' orang-e and lemon grove, the brandies loaded with the yellowing frnit and said, "There, you dad l)lanie fool, there they he." About a thousand bearing aeres now add their testimony to that of Mr. Pogue. The lemon has a more delicate nature and more sus- ceptible to frost than the oran,s>e. Lemon Cove is one of the few ])laces in the state where sufficient frost ])rotection is obtained. Lemon Cove is the outer gateway to the Sierras of tlie Kaweah watershed and in consequence enjoys a consideral)ie tourist trade. Tlie town, tiioui^h sinall, is thrivin,"- and lirowini;-. Citrus fi-uit packing and shi])i)in.i;- causes much activity durin,^' tlie season. Tliree packing houses handle the cro]), which now amounts to al)()ut four hundred carloads annually. A two-story hotel, lar.ne .i^eueral store, livery stable, l)lacksmith shops, bakery and butcher shop make up the town. SULTANA Sultana, one of the new towns created by the construction of the Santa Fe Railroad in ISiXi, lies three miles due east from Dinuba and is just half-way between that city and Orosi. Sultana, situated as it is in the very midst of a solidly planted area of orchards and vineyards, has become an important shipi:)ing point, both for fresh and dried fruits and raisins and for water- melons. Being so near the larger city, which has the advantage of lying on lioth lines of railroad. Sultana will ])robably never grow to be a large city. On the other hand, its existence is amply justified by the large and rajiidly increasing rural ])0]iulation surrounding it. LINDSAV Lindsay is situated in tlie very center of the most extensively develo))ed section of Tulare county's orange belt, lying about twelve miles north of Porterville and eighteen miles southeast from Visalia, on the east side branch of the Southern Pacific. Orange groves in solid formation and stretchin.o- miles in all directions, approach to and extend into the city. Unlike any of the other towns of the county, diviersified products do not contribute to the enrichment of city and country here. Orano-es exclusively are now grown and this fact, in connection with the large area of land in the vicinity suited to this culture, has made Ijindsay the .greatest orange shipjiins' ])oint in the county and many believe that within a few yoai's it will be the most important in the state. 'i'hirteen large packing houses, equipped with the best modern facilities and machinery, and having a combined capacity of eighty carloads ])cr day, are required to handle the output, which now amounts to alK)ut two thousand carloads. 6 86 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Eiisiuess during the harvest season, -n-lieu the handling of the immense crop requires the labor of an army of pickers, packers, box-makers, etc., is, of course, especially brisk. The city now contains a population of about twenty-five hundi-ed and is growing rapidly. There are two daily newspapers, two banks, three machine shops, a foundry, a planing mill, two cement works and a talcum powder mill. Two electric companies give power foi lighting, heating and pumping. Gas mains will be laid in the near future. Lindsay was incorporated as a city of the sixth class February 28, 1910, the corporate limits containing an area of nine hundred and sixty acres. The government was placed in the hands of a city council, composed of W. B. Kiggens, president; Allen McGregor, P. T. Ostrander, Basil Pryor and Charles 0. Cowles, and Marshal William Gann; city clerk, AV. H. Mack; treasurer, G. V. Keed. In 1911, bonds in the sum of $130,000 were voted for the pur- pose of acquiring a municipal water plant and for the construction of a sewer system. Fifty-five thousand dollars was devoted to the purchase of the plant of the Lindsay Water and Gas Company and the better- ment and enlargement of the system. An additional pumping plant was installed, mains extended to cover the entire city, and other improvements effected. The sewer system, to which $75,000 was devoted, is of modern type and substantial construction, built by Haviland & Tibbetts of San Francisco. Provision for the disiDosal of sewage was made by the purchase by the city of a ninety-acre tract, situated some two and a half miles from the city. Preparations for farming this tract directly by the city is now being undertaken. Lindsay possesses school facilities considered superior to those of any city of similar size in the state. These consist of three grammar school and one high school Imildings, with extensive grounds, representing an investment of $70,000. The appearance of Lindsay is made attractive by the nearly uniform excellence of both business structures and residences. There are six miles of concrete sidewalks and the streets are generally well graded, firm and smooth. The growth of Lindsay, while never of a mushroom character, has been exceedingly rapid, about fifteen years only having been required for it to reach its present status as one of the most important cities of the county. Nowhere else in the county has a more complete, radical and rapid transformation in characteristics been effected than in the section around Lindsay. When the overland stage line to St. Louis was established in TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 87 '59, a station called the Eighteen-Mile House was erected a little south and west of the present town on the old Porterville road. Between Outside creek near Farmersville and Porterville this was the only house, and it remained so for many years. The country between was a dreary hog-wallow waste considered worthless except for spring feed. As stock raising became a more important industry ranches were located in the foothills where water from springs or creeks was to be found and in the spring-time the flocks were removed to the adjoining plains and temporary camps established there. This constituted all of the development until the early '80s, when the coming of the railroad through the valley gave an impetus to wheat growing. After a few good crops had demonstrated the profits to be made in this culture some enterprising men of the period jumped in and proceeded to raise wheat on a large scale. In the Lindsay district J. J. Cairns, G. S. and W. S. Berry, and others, as the Keeley's and William Mehrten (known as Dutch Bill) farmed ]iractically the entire territory from north of Exeter to Porterville, including a large area to the west of Lindsay. J. J. Cairns alone put in in one year 25,000 acres and was rejjuted to have cleared up $50,000 on the crop. The lands upon which these wheat kings operated were not owned liy them, but were leased, usually upon shares, and lay in separated tracts. Al- though most of the country thus came under cultivation, no material progress resulted. Plowing and seeding outfits with temporary camps moved from place to place during the winter season and temporary movable quarters also sufficed for the harvest time. Neither did any permanent profit inure to the few men engaged in this lordly farming, as seasons of drought wiped out the profits from years of plenty. In 1888 the east side branch of the Southern Pacific railroad was completed and Lindsay was made a station and given a siding. Capt. A. J. Hutchinson donated fifty-one per cent, of the townsite for this concession, but this was not considered sufficient inducement for the erection of a depot and it was not until two years later, when Mr. Hutchinson donated more land, that one was built. In 1889, however, the McNear comjiany ei'ecfed a large grain warehouse on the track and a few business liouses sprang up to care for the wants of the sparse and largely floating population. Charles Eankin opened a general store and Ed and George lianna- ford started a Jiotel and a few other shops followed. The new era began in 1891 when Captain Hutchinson began the active iiromotion of the section for orange culture, placing twenty- five hundred acres of land on the market for this purpose. Previously John Tuohy, on his Lewis creek ranch, had planted 88 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES a number of orange trees, the g-rowth of which had shown the a(hi])tahility of soil and climate. J. J. Cairns had set out a small orchard, and Captain Hutchinson himself had the previous year set out an experimental grove of five acres. Mr. Cairns also had put down a well, the first in the district for irrigating purposes, and had proven the existence of a great a\ailable water supply. To Mr. Hutchinson, however, projjerjy Itelongs the credit for being the founder of the community, as througli his enterprise de- velopment on a larger scale was undertaken and the district's merits exploited in a way to attract attention from many men of prominence who became identified with the section's development. Thomas E. Johnson of San Jose and C. J. Carle were among the first outsiders to whom the locality made a strong appeal and these, both by their own efforts and through their influence, became important factors in furthering the growth of the community. About four hundred acres were set out in 1891, more tlian double that in 1892, and considera]>ly more in the years following. Not until 189(i and 1897, however, when returns came in from the first orchards planted, did the boom, as it may be called, set in that has lasted until the iiresont day and gives no signs of al)ating. Southern California growers in general had not thought it possible that oranges could be grown commercially north of Tehachapi. When the Lindsay groves first began to produce oranges and get them east in time for the Thanksgiving market, the fact attracted wide attention in the south. Many growers visited this section, fore- saw its possibilities and invested. Lindsay has proven an exceptionally fine locality for hustlers of limited means. By reason of the rapid rise in land values and on account of the prevailing activity in all lines of business due to the rush in leveling, planting and installation of pumping jilants unusual opportunities have offered themselves. Lindsay boasts a large number of citizens who. entering the field without a dollar, now measure their wealth in five figures. CHAPTER IX. ANECDOTES ADVENTURES WITH INDIANS In the adventures of the early settlers with the Indians, there was frequently an element of humor, sometimes of tragedy. There are no other instances, however, that quite equal for the mixture of these two elements the two misadventures that befell Fred or "old TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 89 iiiau" Steiuiiuiu. lu 1854 or '55 Steinmaa, who lived southwesterly from Visalia a few miles, went on a huuting trip iieai- what is now Corcoran on the Maluiran sh)u,nh. He was looking for deer, and the timhered country near this slough looking good to him, he tied his teani and proceeded cautiously afoot. He had not traveled far when he espied five or six deer, whereupon he dodged into the slough, and stealthily made his way to a point which he judged to be directly ojiposite them. Raising cautiously up, he discovered one big buck within range, the rest being some distance beyond. He tired, and at the crack of his rifle what was his horror and dismay to hear an Indian scream with agony. It was a dying shriek. The Indian was himself stalking deer, clothed in deer skin and carrying antlers. There was no more hunting for Steinman that trip. Fearful of revenge, he hurried iiome and kept exceedingly close for some time. Either, however, the Indians failed to learn the slayer's identity or were satisfied that the shooting was jnirely accidental, for no reprisal was ever attempted. Eciually, or rather more, serious and at the same time more amusing, was his next trouble. Steinman was an old bachelor and had peculiar habits. His house, which was within half a mile of the Indian raucheria, was of clapboards split and smoothed. Above his li\ing-room was a loft reached by a ladder. It was Steinman 's custom on warm afternoons to rejiair to this loft, divest himself of all clothing, and spend a few tranquil hours in smoking, meditation or repose. For some time he had been missing articles from his cabin with- out a clew to the pilferer or his method. On one afternoon, however, while taking his ease in the loft in a state of nature he heard noises, and looking down through the hole in the floor saw two Indians enter. They had discovered some loose weather l)oards, and by removing the nails had made an opening which later could be closed and leave no sign. The table, on which was a variety of eatables, was directly below the hole in the ceiling, and Steinman 's anger rose as he watched tlie Indians make free with his gi-ub and then examine the cabin for things of use. He determined to scare them into fits, and jumped to the table, giving as he did so a wild yell. Instead of fleeing in constci-nation at this frightful apparition, as he had anticipated, the Indians grabbed knives from the table and attacked him fiercely. Steinman, though severely wounded, managed to reach the fireplace, where he got hold of a long-handled shovel, with which he kiUed one of his antagonists and drove off the other. This time Steinman knew that only by immediate flight could he secure his safety. To his neighbor Willis he therefore went. A nuiiiber of men were here employed making rails and these promised 90 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES him protection. After consultation it was deoided that the best method to pursue would be to endeavor to square the matter with the chief. All came to town and secured the s'ood offices of Horace Thomas, "Uncle Dan," to act as mediator. The result of the powwow was that in consideration of a beef, a horse and a number of trinkets it was agreed that there should be no harassment of Steinman. THE POIXDEXTER NUPTIALS John jjarker tells this story of W. L. Poindexter. sheriff of Tulare county in the late '50s. Poindexter was a 1)ig-, ,iolly, good-natured fellow, exceedingly popular, having hosts of friends not only in the county, but throughout the valley from Stockton to Bakersfield. A decided weakness for the fair sex was one of his characteristics and when a young lady school- teacher from San Jose, Miss Helen S , who was a most bewitching blonde, made her appearance in Visalia, Poindexter became deeply enamoured. U]ion her he lavished al)undant affection and pres- ents of a substantial nature. "When after a long but ardent courtship he finally secured her eon- sent and the day for the wedding was set, preparations on a grand scale went forward and from Stockton to Bakersfield friends were invited to attend. Barker says : "There was a jolly crowd and one of which any man might fee! justly proud to number as his friends on that occasion. The wedding was to take place Saturday and the bride and groom were to take passage for San Jose on the overland stage immediately thereafter. In the meantime, Poindexter had to make a tri]! to the Kern river mines. ' ' On his return Friday Barker brought his mail to him at his room. Of this he says: "I noticed a letter in a feminine hand that had been mailed him at Visalia. "When I handed hini his mail I felt a sort of premonition that all was not right. As lie read the letter I saw a change come over his features; he turned ]iale as death. I saw his hand quiver and thought he would faint. In a few moments, by a great effort, he called me and said, 'Jack, read this, liut never on your life breathe a word Of it to anyone else.' He added, 'That is from a woman that has ruined me financially and now she has completed the job.' " The letter was couched in cold blooded, deliberate language. It stated that she had made up her mind not to marry him, did not love him, never had and never could, advised him to get some one nearer his own age, etc., and suggested that bo make iio attempt to see her. "Poindexter told me that he had squandered $8,000 on her. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 91 We tried to keep tliiugs secret that night, but by the next morning everyone in town knew it. Of course, there was a general feeling of indignation among Poindexter's friends, and liV noon a Saturnalia had commenced. Nearly all of the guests had bought new suits of clothes, good ones, to honor the occasion, and they organized what they called a 'Lodge of Sorrow.' After installing officers, com- mittees went around among the guests and invited them to meet at the lodge. As fast as they arrived they were put into an ante-room and as their names were called, they were blindfolded and led by the aim ))y a man on each side. The victim was marched around the room and then led to the center facing the presiding officer. His attention was directed to the awful example of our friend Poindexter, and he was then cautioned never to allow liimself to succumb to the wiles of a siren. He was tlien requested to repeat after one of his guides the following formula: ' ' ' Then shall we stand such treatment ? No ! As soon seek roses in December, .ice in June, seek constancy in wind, or corn in chaff. " 'Believe a liar or an epitaph or any other thing that's false before " 'We let a woman play us such a score.' "At the command 'Restore him to the light' the bandage was removed from liis eyes, the skirts of his Prince Albert coat were seized on each side by his guides and the coat split up the back to the collar and the victim turned loose. Of course, his first impres- sion was that he wanted to punch the heads of the fellows who tore his coat, Imt when lie saw that everyone else in the room had been served the same way, his only alternative was to laugh with tliem and wait for the next victim. This Saturnalia was kept up until Sunday morning, when they all struck out for their homes." FIDDLING FROM DONKEY 's BACK. Many tales are told of the "devil may care" s]urit thai animated Visalia during the mining boom days. Gambling, boozing, fighting and frolicking were the occupations of the miners, especially, as hap- pened in the fall of '56 and '57, when their pockets were full of dust and tliey were off on their way to San Francisco to sjjcnd th(> winter. ^'isalia offered such attractions that they got no further. At one lime a))Out twenty-tive of these took i)ractical ])ossession of the town. Wide ojjen and in full Itlast the attractions were kejit going, night and day. This crowd had among them a tall and lanky Missourian named -Ben Biggs, who could play the fiddle, and that liis talents might be exercised in a manner calculated to attract the most attention they ]mrchased a jackass for him to ride and were accus- tomed to march around the town, halting in front of the different saloons, treating all bystanders while the liddlcr ])layed lustily. The sum of $60 pel- uKintli was ]iaid the musician by the ]iarty. 92 TUT.ARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Needless to say, (liu- celat was secured. .Judge Sayles, later of Fresno, who was tlie leader of this crowd, concluded that this sport had become somewliat stale and arran,s;ed t'oi- a glorious finale. At tlie crossing at Mill creek at Garden street was a ford, below which was a very deep pool. A halt was called here one day and Biggs, at the request of the audience, was sawing out a selection when a preconcerteil rush of the s))ectators duini)ed both him and his steed into the water. THE m'cEORY EI'ISODE Visalia in the '70s numbered among its inhabitants a genuine ''bad man." This was one James McCrory, who at the time of his death had the rcpntatiou of having killed oi- wounded thirteen men. McCrory, when solter, was pleasant and companionable and gained many friends. When drunk, he was cross-grained and surly and inclined to shoot on little or no provocation. His first serious trou- ble occurred here in October, 1870, when without apparent cause he shot and killed Manuel Barcla, a Mexican liarkeeper in the Fashion saloon. For this nmrder he was at his first trial, sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment. On the second trial he was acquitted on technicalities. As the murder was peculiarly cold-blooded and brutal this caused nmch unfavoralile comment. The culminating incident of his career, however, and the means by wliicli he gained a large amount of such fame as lay within his reach, occurred on the night of December 24, 1872. MeCrory had just returned from a ])rospecting trip to Arizona. He had met with no success and arrived broke, actually in rags, in fact. Charles Allen, a barkeejier in the Eldorado saloon, had been his good friend for years and to him McCrory appealed for assistance. Allen re- plenished his wardrolie, inirchasing at Sweet's store a $10 pair of trousers and other articles of good quality. After nuiking the neces- sary imrchases, the two chums proceeded to carouse around together all day. Allen went to bed in the saloon, ))ut McCrory continued to celebrate. He became so boisterous that the Mexican barkeeper became frightened and woke Allen. AVhen Allen suggested that he make less noise, McCrory pulled his pistol and, without a word, shot Allen just below the eye. There were numerous witnesses to the dastardl\' act and feeling against McCrory was intense. Allen died in about an hour. McCrory made his escape througli the rear of the saloon and had hid himself in an outhouse, whence he was coaxed to come out by "Picayune" Johnson, a citizen, who placed him under arrest. When being taken to the jail by deiiuty sheriff Jesse Reynolds, there were hnid and frequent cries from the crowd of "hang him! hang TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 93 Jiiin!" MeCrory yelled baek, "Yes, yoii , you dasseiit han.a,' me." It was Christmas eve. The church bells were rinftiuj>- their call to attend the Christmas trees festivities at the Methodist church on Court street, but there were few meu who answered this summons. They attended a graver and sterner meeting on Main street at p. m., and as a result marched en masse to the jail where sheriff A. U. Glasscock with armed deputies were found guarding the pinsoner. The sheriff asked the crowd not to act hastily and do things of which later they would be ashamed, and requested them to at least wait an hour before taking any action. This was agreed to and at the end of that time tlie>- returned with an eighteen foot piece of timber with which they broke o|)en the outside iron door of the jail. After reaching the hall they had to pass the sheriff's office where eight or ten armeil men were on guard. These were forced to give way and were sho\-ed into the office and held there. The keys were taken from Reynolds and the cell door opened. McCrory had heard them coming and, determined not to "die with his boots on," had removed them. When the leaders entered the cell they found him lying on his face. They caught him by the hair, raised his head up, placed a noose around his neck and half dragged, half carried him to the liall. A railing blocked the way here and in order to ])revent ])remature strangulation, he was lifted over this. Outside, he was taken to the Mill creek bridge on Court street, the rope tied to a post of the railing, and he was thrown over. A man made a motion that he l>e left there for one hour, which was duly seconded and carried. During the interim, a collection to defray funeral expenses was taken up, and arrangements made with the undertaker. At the end of the hour "Fatty Johnson," the under- taker, ap]ieared with a s])ring wagon. Six men pulled McCrory u]) and got him ])artially into the wagon. The incident was closed. Certainly there had been no delay or miscarriage of justice and not a cent of expense to the county. THE MOIUUS-SHANNON AFFEAY On November 15, 18G0, William Governeur Morris shot and killed .John Shannon, editor of the Delta. This affray grew out of the bitterness engendered in the political campaign which had just been bi-ouglit to a close, and for a correct understanding of the motives actuating the men, it is necessary to relate some of the verbal pass- ages between them. • The A'isalia Sun had been started during this campaign as an organ of the Ke|)ublican party, the Delta supporting ]*>reckenri(lge. Morris, it was stated, controlled the policy of the Sim and contributed to it editoi'iallv. 94 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES lu the first issue of the Delta after the election there appeared a statement fi'om Shannon as follows: "To the Public: In the last issue of the Suu I find a card signed by William Governeur Morris, in wliich is the folIowiuK lauftnage: 'I have endeavored to obtain satisfaction from Mr. Shannon for liis personal abuse of me in his paper, but have been unable to do so.' " After this follow copies of a portion of the correspondence. "On the 15th of September last I received a note from Mr. Morris by the hands of two men, who immediately left without stating the object of their visit or the purjiort of the note of which they were the bearers, thus aifording me no opportunity to give them a written answer or to refer them to my friend. Eegarding this conduct on the part of these messengers as a deliberate insult, and finding one of them on the streets, 1 com- menced, without any ceremony, to chastise liim for his impertinence. (This was A. J. Atwell.) In so doing I injured my right hand, an injury which has since proved to be more serious than was at the time supposed. Mr. Morris was informed of the fact through Mr. Beckham, and requested to wait until such time as I could have the full use of my hand." Shannon goes on to state that Morris agreed to this and was to await an answer from Mr. Beckham, which had not been given because Shannon's hand was not yet well, and also that both Morris and Tate knew that he had also met with an accident to his other hand. He accuses them of violating the rules of the code and concludes by saying, "Inasmuch as Mr. Morris has chosen to retire from his position, I have only to say that hereafter, should he or any of his kind feel aggrieved by any act or word of mine, they have only to call upon me, with the assurance that I will be prepared to arrange matters with them very summarily, and without the inter- positions of friends or a resort to the code." November 15, 1860, a card appeared from Morris denouncing Shannon as a liar, coward and blackguard and stating that he would pay him no further attention. The affair occurred the same day. The version given by both the .S'»/; and the Delta was: "On Thursday evening Shannon entered the office of AV. P. Gill, Esq., where Morris was sitting. Shannon held in his hand a cocked ]nstol, and on entering raised the pistol, at the same time saying. 'Morris, are you armed?' Morris sprang to his feet and gTa])pled with his opponent. Shannon being the taller of the two Mori-is was unable to disarm him and Shannon beat him severely upon the head with the pistol, inflicting nine severe scalp wounds. At the first or second blow Shannon's pistol was discharged accidentally. After receiving these blows, Morris fell to the floor, covered with blood, whereupon Shannon gazed upon him several seconds and turned and left the room. Morris, thereupon, sjirang to his feet and. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES ^5 drawing his revolver, rnslied out of the south door of the building so as to intercept Shannon before reaching his office. T!ie ])arties here exchanged shots ineffectually. Morris then left his position and proceeding to the north side of the building, climbed on the fence (Shannon retaining his position) and took deliberate aim and fired, the Itall striking Mr. Shannon in the abdomen. At this instant Shannon had raised his pistol, but lowered it without firing and put his hand to the wound and walked to his office, where he died in about an hour and eighteen minutes. Shannon was a man highly respected b}' a large circle of friends and sincerely mourned. He was one of the pioneer journalists of the state, having previously edited the Placer Democrat and the Calaveras CJuuiiicle. Morris later became United States marshal of California. STAPLEFOKD-DEPUTY AFFAIR One of the most bizarre and at the same time most outrageoiis crimes known in the annals of any county was committed in the sum- mer of 1858. The heavy villains were one J. D. Stapleford and William Governeur Morris, known as "bloody" Morris, the same gentleman who afterwards killed Shannon, the editor of the Delta, and later became United States marshal. It appears that Stai)leford, who hailed from Stockton, had there, in order to defraud his creditors, deeded his property, said to amount to $30,000 or $40,000, to his uncle, A\'illiam C. Deinity. Deputy had handled this property for some time, selling and reinvesting, and, as he claimed, repaying to Stapleford such sums from time to time as to cancel the indebtedness. Deputy, however, remained |)ossessed of nnich proi)erty and Stapleford demanded of his uncle that he deed all his i)roi)erty to him, claiming that the old score remained unsettled. Deputy refused and then Stapleford offered a reward of $1,000 to anyone who would compel him to sign an instrument to that effect. There being no takers for this offer, Stapleford caused De])uty's arrest on a charge of swindling, and he was confined in the old wooden jail and court house and chained to a ring-bolt, fastened in the floor. Apparently fearing that some attempt at the use of violence might be committed on the prisoner. Sheriff Poindexter ])laced two men, Ed Re\nolds and Frank "Warren, on guard to protect the old man. On the 28th of July, a mob headed by Morris, who was a lawyer and nofnry, broke into jail, took Deputy to the outskirts of towu, swung him u}) to a tree by a noose around his neck until he was nearly strangled, let him down, and then requested him to sign a deed that had been prepared. ITpon his refusal he was again swung U)) ;rii, when he was reported in Mexico. Sheritf Collins secured extradition papers and went after him. McKinney, however, escaped and went to Kingman. Arizona, in which vicinity he murdered two men. Fleeing from the scene of these crimes he again appeared in the Randsburg region, l)eing hotly pursued by Sheriff Lovin of Mojave county, Arizona, as well as by Sheriff Collins and ex-Sheritf Overall of this county and sheriff's possees from Kern county. McKinney, evading these, made his way successfully through the Sierras to Kernville and there narrowly esca])ed being killed by Rankin and McCraeken, who recog- nized him and in a I'Uiming iiglil, wounded him. On A])ril 1!), IDO,"}, McKinney was located in a Chinese joss house in Rakei'sfield. The house was surrounded by a cordon of officers, and Jeff Packard, city marshal, and Will E. Tibbett, si)ecial deputy sheriff, were killed in an attempt to enter it. McKinney ap- 1)8 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES peared at the doorway and was shot and instantly killed by deputy sheriff Bert M. Tibhetts. THE MAGANA BUTCHEEY The last of the long list of bloody crimes that has cursed the county that will be noted was that committed in Porterville, February 17, 1911. On that day, just before dark and as the stores were closing for the night, Juan Magana, a Mexican laborer who had been at work in the county, entered the Lambkin-Graham clothing store. It hap- ]Dened that J. B. Lambkin was still in the store and Magana asked to look at some shoes. While Lambkin was looking for the shoes the Mexican demanded money and on being refused, drew a butcher knife and stabbed the merchant to death. Soine one entered the store just then and gave the alarm. Ma- gana broke through a rear window and escaped in the darkness. In the tussle in the store he had cut his own hand and he left a trail of blood. He escaped to a small settlement of Mexicans near the out- skirts of town, and there gave away the knife, but escaped. Early the following morning the officers followed the trail to the Mexican camp, but there lost it and diiring the forenoon were beating the surrounding country for the criminal. He was soon found by Orral Kilroy of Porterville and turned over to the town marshal, E. B. Isham. Sheritf Collins had gone over in an automobile and innnediately took the marshal and the prisoner into the machine and started for Visalia. The people were greatly incensed over the crime, and a move was started to wrest the fellow from the officers and execute him on the spot. The driver of the machine speeded through the streets of Porterville at a sixty-mile clip, and distanced all pursuers. When a few miles from town there was a long bridge to be crossed. The driver kept uji speed, and striking some obstruction, one of the axles broke and the machine careened to one side and toppled off the bridge to the dry bed of the creek below. The parties in the machine jumped out before it landed and thus escaped any injury more than a severe jolting. The gasoline exploded and the machine was burned. The officers, with their prisoner, walked to a nearby house, telephoned for a new machine and tinally arrived, late in the afternoon, at the jail at Visalia. Magana made a full confession, was found guilty, and on June IG. expiated his crime in San Quentin. His is the only case in the history of the county when an execution was effected on the day first set by a judge. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS The Delta January 6, 1861, speaks of a sale of Visalia building lots held on the day previous by J. E. Wainwright & Co. The sale TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 99 was largely atteuded aud tlu; bidding spirited. One luuulreil aud fifteen lots were sold at prices ranging from $5 to $30. The lots were in Aughinbaugb's Addition to Visalia. As late as 1891, lands near Visalia were by no means held at high prices. J. H. Thomas advertised forty acres three-qnarters of a mile sonth of town for $60 per acre. The same year, Sontag & Evans, who afterwards became famous criminals, advertised thirteen lots, aud half a block in Aughinbaugh's Addition to Visalia, orchard and vineyard on the land, for $1,600. As a showing of the importance of sheep-raising in Tulare in early days it is noted that the fall clip of wool of 1872 was 1,474,500 pounds. The winter following was the most severe one ever ex- perienced by sheepmen and yet the s^Dring clip of 1873 was 947,375 pounds. J. P. Majors of Visalia was the first postmaster in Tulare county, being appointed in 1855 and serving three years. He was succeeded by Zane Steuben. In 1891 the lumber business was very active. Atwell's mills on the Mineral King road was operated by the Kaweah colonists; four saw mills were located on the Upper Yolo, two of which were run- ning; the Comstock mills, above Camp Badger; the Sequoia mills, jiist across the line in Fresno county. The total cut of these mills that year was over three million feet of lumber. CROSSING STREAMS IN THE FIFTIES The business of maintaining ferries across different streams in the county appears to have been a profitable one in early days, judg- ing from the number engaged in it. At one of the first meetings of the board of supervisors in 1853, A. B. Gordon was granted the privilege of maintaining a ferry across Kern river, free of taxation for a period of eight months. The fol- lowing rates were authorized : six-horse team or four yoke of oxen, $6; four-horse wagon, $4; two-horse wagon, $2; horse and man, $1; pack mules, fifty cents; loose horses and foot men, twenty-five cents each. In 1855 the court of sessions granted licenses to L. A. Whitman to conduct a ferry on Kings river, at a point two and one-half miles west of Crumley's ranch, and to I. S. George to run a ferry boat at the Poindexter crossing; granted to John Pool the right to continue his ferry and gave to Crumley and Smith the privilege of conducting another. COUNTY SCRIP AND GOLD DUST In August, 1855, at a meeting of the board of supervisors, it was "ordered that the treasurer pay to S. C. Brown the balance still 100 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES (hie on oriler tliirteen county sfi'lp, valuinir gold dust at $14 per ounce. ' ' AX IXniAX RUNNEK "Captain George, an Indian and a 'big Injun liea])' at tliat, lias commenced running as an expressman between this ]ilace and Coso. For his services he gets very well paid and would be better paid had he a tench of Yankee in his system, lie makes the tri]) now in about four days and packages of light weight of any description may be safely entrusted to iiis care." — Delta, 1861. In September, 1862, Mr. '\"an Water is credited with having a factory in operation in Visalia. making a tine article of sorghum syrup. In 1863 Nathan Baker put in a tield of about twelve acres, near Visalia, to tobacco. *'Si)lendid deer skins, dressed, were offered for sale in this ]ilace yesterday morning at $19 a dozen." — Delta, Oct. 20, 1861. "Boating — People who have not been here for a year or two will be surprised to hear that navigation is now open just north of town. The tirst boat arrived near S. Davenport's, on Saturday last, with four tons of freight on board. Since that some thirty tons have arrived by the same means, and regular trips will be made until the water subsides. "^Z>c//rt, May 15, 1867. "Two hunters, living in the foothills on the waters of the Tule river, have killed over one hundred and twenty deer during the present winter."— Dc//rt, 1866. VISALIA 's FIRST BUSINESS DIRECTORY The business directory of Visalia in 1861 was as follows: Saloons: Cosmopolitan, Gem, Fashion, St. Charles. Wholesale and retail dealers : II. Cohn, H. Green.- Hotels: Exchange, corner Court and Main streets; \'isalia House, corner Main and Church streets. General merchandise, etc., Sam Ellis, D. E. Douglass, Reinstein & Hockett, Sweet & Jacobs, "Weinshauk & Sinclair, M. Reinstein. Stage lines: Hice & Wilson. Mis- cellaneous: Bossier & Townsend, saddlers and harness makers; Knoble & Kraft, bakers and confectioners; G. AY. Rogers, jeweler; B. M. Bron- son, gunsmith; John H. Richardson, painter; Douglass & Magary, contractors and builders; Samuel Dinely, barber shop and bathhouse; Jose]ih H. Thomas, lumber yard; George AV. Sutherland, tailor slioj); Justices of the Peace: S. AY. Beckham, Robert C. Redd. Attornevs: AA". M. Stafford, A. J. Atwell, Morris & Brown. S. A. Sheppard. Phvsi- cians: Dr. M. Baker, Dr. J. D. P. Thomason. Dr. AV. A. Russell. Dr. James A. Roberts, Dr. T. O. Ehis, Sr. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 101 SECOND COUKTHOUSE Tulare county's second courthouse, built in 1859, was a brick struc- ture -10x60 feet in size, of two stories and a basement. In the base- ment was a jail, one half l)ein.o' divided into six cells, lined with lioilei' iron. In ISJ'A an additional jail as a separate building was consti'ucted. As to the building of the ])resent court house without the wings (which were added in 190()), there hangs a tale. The Southern Pacific had completed its line through the county in 187:2, leaving Visalia side- tracked and therefore destined to become a "deserted village." At the site of Tulare, the railroad luxd ])latted a town in which plat provision was made for a court liouse. and the general expectation, both among bu.vers of town lots in Tulare and citizens generally was that Tulare would become the county seat. But the legislature of 1875-1876 passed an act authorizing the county of Tulai'e to issue bonds in the sum of $75,000 for the pur))0se of building a court house in \'isalia. This naturally aroused intense opposition, not only from Tulare and the southern end of the county, Init even from Visalia. The Delta de- nounced it as a job, stating tliat the then existing court house was good enough and that the building of another would be burdensome on the taxpayers. A "People's Convention" was called to meet in Visalia, July 15, 1876, to take action in the matter. Resolutions were passed denouncing the methods used in the passage of the bill through the legislature, etc., and agreeing to use every legal means to prevent its o])eration. How- ever, the citizens of Visalia regarded it as vital to their welfare, if not to the very salvation of the town; the majority of the board of super- visors were favorable to Visalia and pushed the matter forward as rapidly as i)Ossil)le, issuing ))ouds, advertising for bids for the sale of the old structure and the construction of the new, etc. A. D. Glasscock ])ouglit the old courthouse for .$686, and R. E. Hyde the jail for $J05. Stephens and Childers of Santa Rosa were awarded the contract for construction for $59,700, and on October 28, 1871, under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of California, the cornerstone was laid. CEMETERIES Tulare county's first cemetery was started in Visalia in 1857, near where the Tipton Lindsey schoolhouse is now situated. The first occu- l)ant was a Dutchman who was drowned in Mill creek and whose only known name was Pete. On the rough i)ine box containing the remains was therefore duly inscribed "Pete in the box," the same inscription being placed on the headboard. Ajuong others whose l)odies were laid to rest here and later i-e- moved to the new cemetery were Jack Lorenz, Mrs. Thomas P>akei', Mrs. Nathan Raker, and a man called Salty. 7 102 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES VISALIA S TITLE There was for many years a elond upon the title to lots in Yisalia and at one time there was serious trouble feared. It appears that after Nat. "\'ise gave u]^ his preemption in favor of tlie on-coming city, noth- ing was done to comply with legal forms necessary to perfect a title. On August 9, 1857, the board of supervisors passed an order asking congress to grant the board the right to preem):)t the town site of Yisalia. and the clerk was ordered to file in the land office, then located in Sau Francisco, the necessary application. The application was not received, the land office claiming that there was no evidence that the supervisors were the agents of Tulare county. The matter was drop- ped till about 1867. The Alsalia Land District had been formed and one George Garish appointed receiver. Discovering the lack of title to the townsite, he made application for the lands. This aroused the people and steps were taken to iierfeet the title to the county for the lands. The matter had to be taken before the land commissioner at Washington, but it was finally settled to the benefit of the people. BEFORE VISALIA BEAUTIFUL CAME In the spring of 1860 a correspondent to the local pajser speaks thus of Visalia: "This region, including the town, is little more than a labyrinth of crooked creeks, ditches, fences, brush, weeds, etc. A quarter of a mile out of town one is in the wilderness to all intents and pur])Oses. Streets are straight and square as far as they go. but they don't go, and it takes a very uncommon owl to get to his regular roost in the burg after dark. Wonder what the 'Beau Brummel' of the Mariposa Gazette, who was here about two weeks ago, thinks about it, inquiring the way to Visalia at a house about a hundred yards from the Court street bridge." IN THE FIFTIES Jime 25, 1859 — "We hope to be able soon to give the latest tele- graphic news received at St. Louis, by the stages as thev pass through iov^n."~Delta. "A protest against the contemplated reduction of the overland mail service is now in circulation. * * * xhis is the only direct and speedy (sic) connection we have with the east and its promptness and regularity have made it an enterprise of the utmost importance to the people of California." — Delta, 1859. SOME AD^^CE COUPLED WITH A PREDICTION "I would advise the merchants and citizens of Visalia and Tulare county to encourage as much as possible men to go into the mountains east of this valley and prospect there thoroughly, as nothing Init the discovery of mines close to us that we can supply without fear of com- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 103 petition will save ns from inevitable Bahylonic rnin that will change most of our fine buildings into nothing Imt a shelter for a lot of lousy Indians in a few years." — (Newspaper correspondent in 1859.) POLITICS The following apjieared in the Delta in 1859. "We can safely pledge the county of Tulare to give seventy- tive Democratic votes to one Rejiublican or mixed. * * * In Fresno county there was never but one al)olitionist and he has now left for a more congenial clime. His portrait is to be seen at the Millerton hotel. Mr. McCray has had the portrait framed at a heavy expense that the passerby may look upon the Lone Republican of B"'resno. Whence he came or whitlier he went no one knoweth." THE BUSY BEE June 21, 1859. — "J. B. Stevens arrived in Visalia with ten hives of bees, the first ever brought to the county. J. H. and C. G. Hart had an apiary east of Visalia in 1860, and inserted the following advertisement in the Delta: 'Bee Advertisement — For sale on and after the tirst of September next a choice lot of honey bees in as good condition as any the county affords. Price $50 a swarm. A farm or grain will be taken as pay where it suits pur- chasers better than to pay money.' " ARRIVAL OF THE TELEGRAPH On June 18, 1860, the Atlantic and Pacific telegraph line entered Visalia and the occasion was celebrated in a fitting manner. Abe Rape- ly, agent of the Overland mail company, took the matter in charge. A procession consisting of e\'ery horse and vehicle in town, with all spare stage coaches, decorated with flags and bunting, set out to meet the linemen. A large banner on which was painted a representation of the earth surrounded by a chain of telegraph wires with the motto "I'll ]iut a girdle round al)0ut the earth in forty minutes," was carried by T. y. Crane who made the address of welcome and escorted back into town the superintendent, James Street. ELECTIONS HELD IN SALOONS "Pursuant to notice a primary election was held in the Visalia ]irecinct at the new saloon of A. O. Thoms, on Saturday last, and the following gentlemen chosen as delegates to attend the Union county convention of Saturday, August 2nd : Stephen Davenport, Henry Hartley, W. M. Johnson, G. A. Botsford, John Cutler, Hi Morrell, T. H. Thomas, S. Cady, T. Lindsey, William linker, S. G. George, Lytle Owen, John GiW— Delta, Julv, 1862. 104 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES A VIGOROUS PROTEST Dr. Wt4ib, tlie ocrentrie iiidividnal wlio ol)tainecl a deed to the np])er story of a building erected in Visalia, as related elsewhere, later became county jihysician and manager of the county hospital at a sal- ary of $500 }ier year. In 1871 the supervisors ousted Webb from liis l^osition and gave to his successor a salary of- $2000 per year. The following card appeared in the Times of November 11, 1871, which seems to indicate that the reverend doctor was somewhat peeved: "Rev. James A. Webb to the perjured sui)ervisors of Tulare county, California. "Perjured villains, rebel devils and fools; "Wliile unscruinilous and perjured rebel devils hold political sway in our demented rebel county no honest man or christian can expect any favors from their nefarious hands. "I would be glad to keep the county hospital for $500 a year, but because I am a Union man. and not a perjured rebel devil, you will rob me of my only means of support and give my hospital to rebel traitors of your own kind for four times the price for which I offer to keep it. "Therefore, I, the only true physician in Tulare county, Cali- fornia, and the only true Gospel minister in Tulare county, and the only Bible jioet in Tulare county, and the only Advent pro]ihet in Tulare county and tlie only Christian ])atriarch in Tulare; Therefore, in the name and service of the Great Jehovah, I offer my services to God and him only to continue my fifty years Bible task. "Where is your oath of office, Oh! ye perjured Democratic demons? Where is your conscience, you ungodly devils! Have you any reason why I should not damn you all together?" And follows more, signed "Alonzo, the Advent Prophet, Bible Poet and Christian Patriarch." A NOVEL ENGINE A correspondent, writing alwut Visalia in the '90s, thus s]ieaks of the engine that hauled the passengers from Visalia to Goshen: "The engine doing service on the Visalia railroad is one of the most novel arrangements we recollect to have seen in railroading. It has engine, tender and car all aggregated together, will carry ten or fif- teen passengers and baggage, and can doubtless be run at half the cost of an ordinary stage coach. We place no high estimate on its speed, but the engineer tells us that it has the power to move any train likely to be loaded at any point in the valley." THE FLOOD TIMES There are a great many people who never li\ed in Tulare county that have a fixed idea that this is a waterless county, where the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 105 unfortunate denizens are ever parched with thirst. But there have been many years when there was more water than was necessary for drinking purposes. That abused individual, tlie "oldest inhabitant," tells of wonder- ful times back in the early '50s. But the flood of 1867 is one in the memories of a great many people, and was surely bad enough. In the winter of that year all the streams in the county were on a rampage. Tnle river si)read all over the Poplar and Woodville sections. Deer creek and the White ri\er merged their waters in their lower course, and the Kaweah and St. Johns made a vast expanse of waters. Boats bearing su]iplies iiassed freel.N' from Visalia to places in Kings and Fresno counties. The herds of cattle and sheep looked sad. Many hair breadth adventures are recorded and there was great loss of property. An account of the experiences at two farm houses will serve to indicate ]irevailing conditions during this flood. Eastward from Vi- salia. near where Packwood creek crosses the Mineral King road, there resided but three families, tho.se of A. H. Broder, Ira Van Gordon and W. H. Mills. Broder suggested that all get together at his i)lace, that being situated on higher ground. This was done and the men in-oceeded to build an emliankment about three feet high, enclosing about half an acre of ground. The siding from the barn was ren'ioved and a raft built, their labors extending into the night. The women, likewise, were busily employed preparing supplies, cook- ing beans, etc. The i)lan was to move to a still higher sand knoll which lay to the south and west. By nine o'clock the following morn- ing, Broder, who had been keeping tal) on the water level by means of sticks, reported that it had receded half an inch and that it would not be necessary to move. About two hundred Indians took refuge on the same high mound, and made a gala festival of the predicament. Sfjuirrels and rabbits in great numbers were caught and hung on lines to dry, the flood affording both amusement and provender. At the residence of the Evans family, near Visalia, which was also located on high ground, there were exciting times this night. The water, after a previous raise, came suddenly, surrounding their house and almost enguiting some of their neighbors' homes. The Prothero family lived on the Bentley place and there the water ran through the windows. Mr. and Mrs. Prothero with three chihlrcn were assisted to move to the Evans house and then came a call for help from the home of Mrs. Williams, who lived adjoining. This was about one o'clock in the morning, |)itch dark and the swirling waters icy cold. Mrs. Williams had a baby but four or five days old and was unable to walk. Samuel and James Evans waded over, and plac- ing her in a rocking chair, carried her to safety. Tom Robinson, 106 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES with his wife aud family, also took refuge witli the Evanses, making a total of twenty-five gathered there. The barn, several hundred yards away, half full of hay, provided the only place for sleeping quarters for so many people. Between it and the house the water ran two or three feet deep. Luckily, a boat had previously been constructed in which to go to Visalia, aud so the half-dried refugees cuddled around the stove in the I] vans 's kitchen were enabled to get to bed without again getting wet. Jim Evans, acting as gondolier, conducted his guests to their hay mow lodgings. HARVESTING WHEAT In the days of the early '50s harvesting grain was anytliing but a rapid process. No reapers or combined harvester then. The labor of cutting was done mostly by Indians, with old-fashioned reap hooks. The grain was drawn to the threshing yard by rawhides, and the threshing done l)y tramping the straw with horses in the same old style that was in vogue in the days of Noah. THE LOST MINE Tulare county, like many other sections of the state, has had its Lost Mine legend. This particular one has had many variations in the narrative, and many were the people who gave time and means in searching for the lost mine. One of the legends was that a party of Spaniards had a mine somewhere in the mountains in the head- waters of the Kaweah river, that the mine was immensely rich, and that going out to Souora with a pack train all the miners were killed and the packs were all of gold. The Indians claimed to know of the location of the mine, and several expeditions were made to find it but with the usual success. Floods had washed away landmarks, or something was wrong, so the Indians never quite found the right sjaot. Andrew llarrell, familiarly known as "Barley" Harrell, did not owe his nickname to the great acreages of the cereal that he was accustomed to plant, but to the fact that in his courting days when visiting his sweetheart he told his parents that he had been to see Mr. Bacon about that barley. The excuse served well for one visit, but the use of it a second time caused much laughter aud he was ever after designated "Barley." SOME STATISTICS OF 1870 W. J. Ellis, county assessor of Tulare county in 1870, submitted, as was the custom in those days, a statistical report to the state surveyor-general showing the number of live stock of different kinds, areas devoted to different cultures, quantity of different productions, etc. On account of the small cultivated area in those days, and on ac- count of the conscientious care Mr. Ellis brought to the task, a degree TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 107 of iK-euracy was obtained greatly in excess of present day statistics. For example, there were one hundred and eight orange trees in the county, one liundred of which were in a nursery. Today there are in the neighl)orhood of 2,700,000. The area devoted to wheat was 2500 acres. In the '80s, when the production of this cereal reached its height, scores of ranches each contained a greater acreage than this. The butter i)roduction was 8,150 pounds; today over four mil- lion. While cattle raising was one of the great industries of that time, we find Ijut 28,604 head of stock cattle, a number almost equaled now by dairy cows. Of sheep, now almost extinct within this county, there were 158,- 631, and the annual production of wool was given as 872,670 j^ounds. This, l)y the way, was more than doubled in the next four succeeding years. In all, there were but 30,000 acres of enclosed land. 20.000 of which was cultivated. In a letter to the surveyor-general accompanying this report, Mr. Ellis qualified as a ])rophet by using the following language: "Stock raising has ever lieen and is yet the leading interest in Tulare county, but a change is taking place. We have to look but a short distance ahead to see the plains of Tulare county covered with beautiful farms, nice farm houses, waving fields of grain. The locomotive's whistle will then be heard." MANKINS' PARTY ARRIVAL The following is quoted from the description of the entry of a party of pioneers into Visalia in 1854, written by one of them — J. H. Mankins : "Late in April, 185-t, had one been standing on Main street, Vi- salia, he would have witnessed the entry of a unique cavalcade. There were ten riders tra\-eling in single file — your humble servant one of them. "That broad-shouldered man, weighing above two hundred and twenty pounds is 'dad.' lie is always in the lead and is dressed tliioughout in smoked buckskin with fringes up the legs, and a hunt- ing shirt, also fringed roundabout. Add to the costimie a very high plug hat, imagine him tlien with a mop of raven black hair falling ovci- his shoulders, with coal black, piercing eyes, seated on a large (l;i|)i)le gray horse. A hunting knife is at his girdle, a six-shooter on either side of the saddlehorn and he carries a 'sharp-shooter' rifle in front. Such was J. B. Mankins, forty-niner and pioneer of pioneers. "After Dad came next two boys, nearing numhood, one girl of eleven, a young Indian .boy, two Jews and then three boys aged 108 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES fourteen, eight ami six. We were all, exeept the Jews, dressed wholly ill buckskin, well fringed. For hats we wore bearskin caps. "We pitched ouj- camp just across Mill creek, north of Visalia. The tules then came very close to town and the mosquitoes were very numerous. The town consisted of one store, kei)t liy John Peraberton, a blacksmith shop and a tavern. O. K. Sinitii was sheriff and ,Jud.i>e Tjouis Van Tassell, under sheriff. "I reineiuber quite well Mrs. John Keener, Sr. She had gotten sight of us and perceived that we were sadly in need of repairs, for you see, we were half-orphans. So she had Dad get some cloth, and she made us up some clothes, for it liecame necessary for us to conform to the usages of civilization." In IS.-j!), llic following time schedule was ])ublished: Overland stage from San Francisco to St. Louis arrives Sunday and Wednes- day mornings, de]3arts on arrival. From Stockton to Visalia. arri\es Tuesday and Friday nights, departs Monday and Thursday mornings. From Visalia to Los Angeles, via Kingsbury, Petersburg and Keyes- ville, arrives eiglitli and twenty-fifth of month and departs first and fifteenth. Tri-weekly to Honitos— 120 miles, made one day, return next. Tri-weekly to Linns valley. In July, 1867, Messrs. Thorne and Davenport established a saddle and i)ack train over the Hockett trail to Lone Pine and Inde- pendence. In July, 1864, Messrs. Bellows, Lown and Badger, of Owens river, started a regular cargo train over the new trail from Visalia to Owens river. We are informed that the services at the camj) ground near town were disturbed on Sunday by some unregenerate heathen who persisted in singing John Brown, The Star Spangled Banner, Hail Columbia, and other airs, which were decidedly offensive to the majority of those present. This is very wrong." — Delta, Sept. 3, 1862. "Wild mustangs seem to be quite ])lenty in our vicinity. A com])any of young men went out on the plains near the head of Cross creek on Saturday last and succeeded in securing sixteen of the quadrupeds." — Delta, June 12, 1862. NO FENCE LAW It is ]irobal)l(' that no measure ever jiassed by the legislature of California had more beneficial effect on the agricultural interests of the state than the "no fence" law enacted in 1874. This law required cattle owners to ])revent their stock from trespassing on the land of others when same was in use. In Tulare county the agitation in favor of the passage of such a law was in- augurated by Stephen Barton, editor of the Delta, in 1870. As TULARE AND KIx\GS COUNTIES 109 stock raisin,i>' was the ])rin('ii)al iiidiistry Iiere at tliat time, and there were many men lieavily interested in it whose revennes wonld be injnriously atTected, tlie proposed measure was bitterly opposed. The election of 1878 for senator from the district comin-ised of Fresno, Kern and Tulare counties turned u])on the (piestion of "fence" or "no fence," Thomas Fowler, on the Democratic ticket, ojiposing the law, and Ti])ton Lindsey, running' as Independent, favorii}<>- it. The Times o])posed the law on the ground that no time was allowed the stockmen in which to make such changes in their methods as to permit them to sustain a mininuuii of loss. The Delta pointed out the rapid development of farming which would ensue and the eminent justice of the measure. The issue was presented in stirring S]ieeches to the voters of almost every precinct by the opposing candidates, the result in this county l)eing a majority of votes for Fowler. Lindsey was, how- ever, elected, as was a "no fence" assemblyman, and the enactment into law followed at the ne.xt session of the legislature. AS SKEN BY FREMONT Fremont, when homeward bound, in 1844, passed through the San Joa(|uin valley and Tulare county. He speaks frequently of the numerous bands of wild horses encountered enroute. Elk were frequently started near the San Joaquin river, and wolves were seen chasing the young antelope. On April 8th, the River of the Lake, elsewhere denominated the Rio de los Reyes, or Kings river, was reached. Here the Indians brought in otter skins to trade. His ford is located at latitude 36- 24-50, longitude 119-41-40. Of the trip from Kings river to the southern end of what is now Tulare county, Fremont says : "Ajnil Otli. — For several miles we had very bad traveling over what is called I'otten ground, in which the horses were frequently up to their knees. ^Making towai'd a line of timber, we found a small, fordable stream (Cottonwood creek), beyond which the coun- try inqiroved and the grass became e.xcellent. * * * "We traveled until late through o))en oak groves, and encam))ed among a collection of streams." Was this near the Kaweali and Canoe creek and Deep creek ? ."Api'il loth. — Today we made another long journey of about forty miles, thi-ougli a country uninteresting and fiat, with very little grass and a sandy soil, in which sex'ei'al branches we crossed had lost their wate)'. In the evening the face of the country became hilly, and, turning a few jniles up towards the mountains, we found a good encanq)nient on a pretty si ream bidden among the hills, and handsomely timbei'ed, principally with large cottonwoods." "April lltli. — A broad trail along the liver here takes us out 110 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES among: the hills. Bueu camino (good road) said one of the Indians, of whom we had inquired about tlie pass, and following it accord- ingly, it conducted us beautifully through a very broken country. * * * The country had now assumed a character of aridity, and the luxuriant green of the little streams wooded with willow, oak, or sycamore, looked very refreshing among the sandy hills." CHAPTER X THE MUSSEL SLOUGH WAR J. J. Doyle, one of the oldest settlers of the Mussel Slough country, in whose charge the settlers later placed all actions under- taken to protect their rights, gives this version of the controversy in which he took a prominent part. "In 1870 I was living on the west side of the San Joaquin river. In the Rural Press 1 saw a letter written by W. S. Chatman, a land lawyer of San Francisco who claimed a section of land near me which was also claimed by the railroad company as being included in their ten mile float. "In this letter Chatman stated that as a lawyer he had inves- tigated the matter and found that the railroad had no right to an acre of this land for he reason that it was a state corporation and was to receive similar lands granted to the Atlantic & Pacific rail- road company. Their charter provided that they should build a road from the bay of San Francisco running through the counties of Santa Clara, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Tulare, Los Angeles and San Diego, to the town of San Diego and thence east to the state line. "Chatman showed in his letter that according to the Grant act they were to file a map of the proposed route, which they had not done. "L'pon investigation I found that there were three hundred and fifty-four Spanish land grants between San Francisco and San Diego. Of course they would get none of this land. I also found that the west ten miles of lieu lands was nearly all in the Pacific ocean. Tliey knew, however, of the great San Joaquin valley, in which the Laguna de Tache was the only land grant, and therefore had changed their route near Tres Pinos so as to enter the center of the San Joaquin vallev and go over the Tehachapi pass, as the road now runs. "I came into the Mussel Slough countrv in 1871 and myself and brother located on lands bordering the Mussel Slough. As I be- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 111 lieved from Cliatmau's letter aud from my own iuvestisations that the railroad had no ri,a,lit to a title to these lands, I petitioned Con- gress in the fall of 1874, but gettin.a; no immediate relief, I offered a filing in the Visalia land office. This was rejected and I appealed my case with thirty others to the Department of the Interior. All told, I appealed nearly all of three hundred cases from the Visalia land office. "We were l)eaten in these and I then took a case through the state courts, the United States courts and to the supreme court. Twelve separate decisions were rendered, no two of whicli ;\greed. "After this, for the purjiose of acting nnitedly in our fight with the railroad, we settlers organized the Land League, which at one time attained a membership of six hundred. In 1875 I was sent to Washington, where I remained six months. I got a bill on the calendar, but through manipulation it was defeated. In 1879 I went to Washington again, but accomplished nothing. A decision against ns had been handed down by the Federal courts and the railroad was eager to dispossess us, but as we were so strong and well organized, they hesitated to do so. "I sent a resolution to Sacramento to Governor Stanford, who was then president of the road, and at his request we appointed a committee composed of Major McQuiddy, J. M. Patterson, and myself. We called on the governor and persuaded him to visit our country, which lie did in Ajiril, 1880. We started then a negotiation for a settlement of the matter with Governor Stanford, and had been engaged for about a month in a discussion of an equitable arrange- ment when suddenly, without a warning and without our knowledge, the United States marshal apjieared, coming for the avowed jmrpose of dispossessing some of our men. We were that day to have a big meeting at Hanford to listen to Judge Terry give an exposition of our rights in the premises. "The marshal was accom]:)anied by men named Hart, Clark and Crow, who were all loaded down with arms. The marshal, i)rior to serving any papers, desired to confer with ns, which was granted. In the meantime, a number of our men, more through curiosity than anything else, went over to the wagon where Crow and Hart were. Of these only two, viz., Harris and Henderson, were armed. "All at once during the conference shooting commenced witliout any sj^ecial ])rovocation and Harris was killed. According to the evidence it a])peared that he and Hart had fired almost at the same time. Harris hit Hart in the groin and he died within four days. Then Crow shot Harris with a numl)er ten shotgun loaded with twelve bullets. He hit him right in the breast. Then he shot Knutson, who was on horseback, shot him with twelve bullets and tlien turned his gim on Dan Kelly, whose horse, just as Crow lir-ed, had become unrnlv and whirled around so tliat the charge entered Kellv's side Ill' TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES and practically blew it ofif. Crow was out of the wa.aon at this time, the team having ])revioiisly run away as Hart was attempting to get out. Crow and Hart and Clark each had a couple of British bull- dog pistols, a number ten shotgun and a Winchester rifle of the largest size. "After Crow left the wagon he walked al)out forty steps for the purpose of killing McGregor, who was holding the marshal's horse. McGregor got behind the horse and Crow reached around in front of the horse and shot him with his pistol twice, the Inillets entering the breast and coming out at the back. "This put Henderson into it, who, seeing McGregor murdered in that way, rushed for Crow. They exchanged four shots and Plenderson fell dead. Then Crow left the grant and attempted to get to his home, which was distant about a mile and a half, but was shot dead on the way. "On account of this, seventeen of us, myself included, were indicted by the United States grand jury for resisting the United States marshal, and tried and convicted. I was not within three miles of it when it happened and yet we were convicted and served eight months in the San Jose jail for resisting the marshal, who as a matter of fact was resisted by no one. The marshal, indeed, had not attempted the exercise of any authority or the enforcement of any order. "^\. remarkable thing about the tight was that every man but one who fired a shot or was struck l)y a bullet was killed. "This troul)le was sim])Iy a legal fight on our jiart for our homes. I think and always shall think that the railroad had no legal right to the land, but that they acquired their title while we were fighting. "While we were serving our time, a petition of forty-seven thou- sand names was sent to the President ; the states of California and Nevada passed resolutions in our favor and there were numerous other petitions, etc. No one of them was listened to any more than if it had been a piece of blank In-own pai)er. "After we had served our time, the matter dragged on for about two years before it was finally settled. In my case, after being in the contest over nine years, I had to pay the railroad company $30.60 an acre for mv land." TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 113 CHAPTER XI THE KAWEAH COLONY Oue of tlie greatest eomiiiuuity enterjirises ever inaugurated in the United States had its inception in Tulare county in 1886. This was the Kaweah Co-operative Commonwealth, whicli in spite of certain failures in forethought and some incompetence and perhaps some dishonesty in management, flourished until 1891, when it met the same heart-breaking dissolution that had been tlie fate of all its predecessors. There is little doubt but that disrui)tion would have occurred sooner or later, on account of the impossibility of harmonizing the discordant elements of which it was composed. There is also a grave question as to whether even if successful for a time in the acquisition of lands and timber, mills and other property, the ])rod- ucts of the united labor of the colonists would not have been in large part alienated by some of its first olilicers. There seems, however, to be no doubt but that these colonists were treated by the United States government in a manner so outrageously unjust as to merit the severest condemnation. J. J. Martin and B. F. Haskell of Sau Francisco, and C. F. Keller of Traver, Tulare county, were the chief early promoters. Martin and Haskell were in 1885 prominent members and office holders in different unions or workingmen's societies. Haskell was attorney for several of these, and coupled with a pleasing address, possessed unusual gifts of language and persuasion. He was the advocate of many more or less impractical schemes for the better- ment of the workingman's condition and had assisted in organizing the California Land Purchase and Colonization association, and the Fish Rock Terra Cotta Co-operative company. Keller was a mem- ber of several socialistic societies in San Francisco and conducted a small store in Traver. In October of 1885, Martin informed members of the two asso- ciations referred to and also others that their agent had found a large body of splendid timber land in Tulare county, and that an association would l)e formed to accjuire it. The first plans were vague but seemed to be in the nature of a mutual company to get ])ossession of this tract and hold it for s])eculative i)uri)oses. Between forty and fifty applications were at once filed on lands lying along the north fork of the Kaweah river, eastward across the Marble Fork and including what is now known as the Giant Forest. The govern- ment price for these lands was $2.50 an acre, and as but few of the applicants were possessed of the reijuisite $400 to comjjlete the 114 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES pnrrliase of a quarter section, a plan was in view to raise part of the money by liypothecating lands to which title had been secured. This, of course, would be a violation or evasion of the law, but was considered justifiable. It was agreed by the applicants that one-half the proceeds of the first sales of timber be devoted to a fund for publicity and pro- paganda. The Tulare "\'alley and Giant Forest railroad company was also organized and its stockholders assessed $60 each for the cost of a preliminary survey. Many were unable to jiay this small sura, but the difficulty was met by some contributing more liberally. It will be seen that the undertaking, however profitable poteutially, bade fair to be wrecked at the launching by reason of lack of capital. Then another snag was struck. Land Commissioner Sparks became suspicious at the large number of entries made within three days for lands lying in one body, especially as seven of the appli- cants gave as their residence one San Francisco lodging house. He therefore suspended the lauds from entry pending an investigation. Upon this action each of the applicants tendered to the receiver of the Visalia land office the sum of $2.50 per acre, which was of course rejected. This money was secured by using the same sum over and over again. Undeterred by these difficulties, the enthusiastic colonists pro- ceeded. As to the action of the government, they believed that the report of the special agent sent to investigate would be favorable to them, that he would approve their claims and bear witness to their good faith so that they could soon claim title. As to finances, a co- operative plan was thought out by which sonje capital for immediate use could be obtained through membership fees of non-residents, and by the labor of those on the ground rapid results be secured in the way of getting salable goods to market. The Kaweah Co-operative Commonwealth Colony was organized. Plans in great detail were elaborated. There were to be three di- visions under the control of managers; these subdivided into thirteen departments under superintendents and these again into fifty-eight bureaus under chiefs and the last into sections under foremen. The grand divisions were those of production, distribution and commonweal, and in their ramifications these included almost every activity, whether mental or bodily, known to man. The purposes of the association, it was set forth, were to insure its members against want, to provide comfortable liomes, to educate and to maintain har- mony, iipon the i^rinciples of justice, fraternity and co-operation. It was the intention to place witliin the reach of all members "a cultured, a scientific, an artistic life." An idea of the high aspira- tions of the embryo colony can be obtained by the following extracts TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 115 from an article by Haskell, wliieli appeared iu tlie ol'iicial organ, "The Commonwealth." "We shall have schools there — not for the children alone, but for youths and maidens, for tlie babes and for the men and women. We sliall have songs and a band and the nuisic of tinkling guitars under summer stars bv tlie rushing waters of the white North Fork." * * * "It may well be that among us alone of all the people of the earth shall be taught courage as a creed, iidelity as a dogma, truth as a commandment, love as a law, and ]mrity as a truth." * * * "We sliall tell our children of the heroes of the world, not the butchers; of the moralists, not the priests." * * "The measured dances of Athenian days to teach them grace, the quaint ceremonials of the middle ages to teach them beauty, modern wonders of light and electricity to show them truth, the songs of old Sparta to move their hearts to valiant deeds ; the cruelly pitiable histories of the modern wage slave to stir their hearts to heroic ire and bind their wills to freedom's cause and creed alone." "We shall have painters and sculptors, I hope, in time, though it will be enough now for us all to be humble students." * * * "Upon one of the fiats by the river we shall build, out of the colored marble of Marble canyon, a temple and a theater for our- selves alone, and here also will we pursue the Beautiful, the True and the Good." The membership fee in the colony was $500, $100 payable in cash and the remainder, if desired, in labor or material. C. F. Keller was made general manager, J. J. Martin, secretary, J. Wright, purchasing agent, and B. F. Haskell, legal adviser.. Besides these, J. H. Redstone, P. N. Kuss and II. T. Taylor were among the first on the ground. About the last of 1886, work was commenced on a wagon road to the forest, and on March 1, 1887, articles of incorporation of the "Giant Forest Wagon and Toll Road" were filed. The plan was to pay the men in time checks at the rate of thirty cents per hour, or $2.40 i5er day, redeemable in such supplies or material as the asso- ciation had or in labor at the same rate. It was pointed out that while nominally working for a low wage, the workers, on account of sharing in the wealth created by the labor of all, would, in reality, be laying u)^ fortunes. For example, the material for a house, valued in the outside world at $1,000, could be secured for time checks equal to the hours that had been consumed in felling the trees and sawing and hauling the lumber, which would not amount at the thirty-cent rate to over $200. Plans of the ])ro])aganda were distributed throughout the country and many persons joined the colony. Some of these were workingmen socialists, others had wealth, culture, refinement. The beautiful pen 116 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES pictures of Haskell served to throw such a glamour over the i)ropo- sition, that statements as to lands owned were not investigated before the entrance fee was paid in. On the north fork of the Kaweah, about three and one-half miles above Three Rivers, a town was started which grew until it contained upwards of one hundred dwellings. There was the company store, a blacksmith shop, }3laning mill, box factory. ]iostoffice. newspaper, etc. "Work on the road was actively prosecuted, and a survey made foi- the projected railroad. There were brains and lirawn and energy a plenty and excellent work resulted. Homes, too, were made on the level land, by the river, crops were sown, pastures fenced, orchards planted and barns built. Troubles, however, soon commenced. The laborers were insufficiently supplied with food, their diet at times being confined to flour, beans and coffee. There was a deficiency of clothes and supplies of all kinds at the company's store. Dissensions arose, and there was gen- eral dissatisfaction with the management. The commonest necessities of life were secured from outsiders in return for time checks ridicu- lously discounted. A number of disaffected members demanded to see the books and especially the membership rolls, but were refused by the officials in charge. The disgruntled ones considered that this was because they feared exposure to the non-resident members of the arbitrary, incompetent and perhajis dishonest way in which the affairs of the colony were being conducted. Martin was an executive of ability, energetic to a degree and his sincerity and honesty of purpose were questioned by but few. Haskell, however, was generally regarded as a slick rascal whose aim was to sell all the bites possible from the rosy apple before a sign of its rottenness reached the surface. In spite of these troubles, the road had by 1890 been completed to a point about twenty miles from the townsite of Kaweah and at an elevation of 5,400 feet had entered the ])ine belt. Here a little saw mill was erected, and a small quantity of lumber cut. This road, passing through a difficult mountain region, had been solidly con- structed at a good grade and had cost approximately $100,000. Modern tools were not employed and powder was used sparingly. In places the grade traversed precipitous mountain sides, making long, high rock restraining walls necessary. No better evidence of the equal and good faith of the colonists is needed than the fact that most of these walls have stood without repair to this day. In the meantime, land patents were still withheld, although B. F. Allen, the special agent sent here, had reported favorably. As late as 1891 Land Commissioner Groff recommended that the colonists should not be deprived of their lands, stating that they had com- plied faithfully with the law under which they had made filings; that they had exiiended over $100,000 in roads and imi)rovemeuts and had for five vears guarded the giant trees, saving them from TULAKK AXI) KlXfiS COUNTIES 117 damage or destructiou hy fire, quoting details from Allen's report. However, the congress of 1890 had created the Sequoia National Park, which included these lands, and Secretary of the Interior Nohle denied all claims of the colony, but expressed the opinion that the settlers should be reimbursed for the improvements they had made. In addition to the internal dissensions mentioned, the officers quarreled among themselves and factious took sides in a row Ijetween Haskell and Martin. The former was accused of the misappropria- tion of colony funds and was in '!)1 arrested on a charge of em- bezzlement preferred by Thomas Kennedy, but the case was dis- missed. The greater portion of the colonists perceived that the end was at hand and disbandment began. Bitter hard it must have been, this giving up of home and friends and bright dreams of happy future after the sacrifice of former ties and after the giving of years of toil and devotion to a cause. How sickening the thoughts of what might have been! How bitter the thoughts of the false men who had betrayed their confidence and of the government that had unsci'upulously confiscated to its own purposes the magnificent road they had builded ! Early in 1891 a troop of cavalry under Captain Dorst was des- patched to guard the park and these ejected the colonists from gov- ernment laud. In April, Henry S. Hubbard, Henry T. Taylor, James J. Martin, B. F. Haskell and William Christie were tried in the United States district court at Los Angeles on a charge of cutting timber on government land, and found guilty. On appeal the case was dismissed. A few of the remaining colonists leased as a private enterprise a quarter section of land on the Mineral King road, from Isham Mullenix and started another sawmill. Work here was stopped by the soldiers, but when the Interior Department learned that it was on deeded land they were allowed to proceed. Quite a uumber of the colonists remained in the vicinity of Kaweah, many having secured other land locations or perfected entries made on lands outside the park. These have all proven worthy, industrious citizens and now possess comfortable homes and a fair share of worldlv goods. 118 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES CHAPTER XII THE ABORIGINES At the time of the entry of whites into the San Joaquin valley tlie territory comprising what later became Tulare county had a dense Indian population. These consisted of two distinct races, one called the Yokuts, more than twenty sub-tribes of which ranged the country between the Fresno river and the Tejon pass; the other a Piute branch of several sub-tribes living on Mill creek and in Eshom valley. Among the former were the Ta-chi (whence Laguna de Tache) in the Tulare lake district, the Ta-lum-ne, of Visalia, the Wik-tsum- ne, near Lemon Cove; other settlements were on Poso creek, Tule river. Deer creek, one near Porterville. one near the forks of the Tule river and one on the present Indian reservation, others at Three rivers, Dry creek, Woodlake, the Yokohl valley. Outside creek, etc. The Piute tribes were the Wuk-sa-chi, of Eshom valley, the Wo-po-noich and the En-dim-bits. An idea of their numbers may be gained from the fact that the Wik-tsum-ne chief alone could muster a thousand armed warriors from his own and other Yokut tribes of which he was the ruler. While the above roughly indicates the home locations of the larger Indian settlements, it must be under- stood that their residences were far from permanent. The hot sum- mer found them high in the Sierras stalking deer, eating straw- berries and enjoying the climate; in the fall, the harvest season for acorns, he was either in the foothills or in the oak belt of the plains, according to the crop; in the winter, duck hunting by the lake furnished good sport. The limits of this history prevent anything approaching a com- plete outline of their manners, customs, habits, etc., but the follow- ing bits were chosen as interesting sidelights on a mode of life that has passed away forever. TRADITIONS Among these Indians no traditions of migrations existed. Thev believed themselves aborigines— the tradition "as to their oridn was that man was created by the joint effort of the wolf and the eagle, and brought forth from the mountain peaks— different tribes from different peaks. The Wutchumnas point to Homer's Nose, on the south fork of the Kaweah, as the place of their oris>-in, while the Kaweahs point to the foothill i^eak near Redbauks, called Colvin's Point, as the cradle of their tribe. These Indians believed that the eagle makes it his especial care to guard the welfare of the human race, and the eagle on our coin is accepted as evidence that the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 119 whites reooguize the sacred character of the bird. The wolf is held to have repented the part he took in the production of man, and to be constantly seeking the destruction of the race. ANOTHER CREATION MYTH OF THE YOKUTS The following tradition was obtained by George W. Stewart in 1903, from Jim Herrington, an Indian then ill and now dead, of the Wukchamni or Wiktsumne tribe of the Yokuts. This tribe lived on the Kaweah river, in the vicinitv of the present town of Lemon Cove : "Long ago the whole world was rock and there was neither fire nor light. The coyote (kaiyu) sent his brother, the wolf (ewayet, iweyit), into the mountains, telling him: 'Go upward until you come to a large lake, where you will see fire. Then take some of it.' The wolf did as ordered by the coyote, and after some fighting, obtained a part of the fire. From this he made the moon and then the sun, and put them in the sky. Then it was light, and lias been so ever since. "The eagle (tsohit, djokhid) kept the coyote at work, and the latter made the panther (wuhuset, wohoshit) and the wolf help him. The coyote made the springs and streams. He worked very hard to do this. Then he and the eagle made people. They also made deer and elk and antelope and all game animals, and put fish into the water. They gave these animals to the people who went everywhere and killed the game for food. "The coyote, the wolf and the panther said: 'In time there will be too many people and they will kill us.' Now the coyote was sorry that be had helped the eagle make the people. The panther said: 'They will kill us if we do not go away.' 'Then go up,' the eagle told him. The panther answered: *I have no feathers, I cannot fly, I cannot go up.' 'Then go to the mountains,' said the eagle. To the wolf he said: 'Go to the bills,' and the coyote: 'Go to the plains.' The three went where they were told and have lived there ever since. ' ' DIET Acorns, of course, were the staple, but it is a mistake to suppose that the Indians' diet lacked variety. In addition to game of all kinds and fish, there were various kinds of seeds, nuts, berries, roots, and young shoots of the tule and clover. Acorns were stored in harvest time in cribs made of woven withes, usually placed on the top of a large stone and securely roofed over with a rain]>roof mat to protect them from the elements. In making bread, these, after being shelled, were ground in a mortar and placed in water in a shallow bed of sand near a stream. The action of water running in and out of this depression removed the bitterness. Placed then in their water-tight baskets this gruel was 120 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES cooked by means of hot rocks and Tormed a dish esteemed by whites as well as natives. One of the rarer delicacies of the Indian's tal)le was roast caterpillar. When the variety used — a kind of measuring worm — was not found near camp, long trips were made for the purpose of collecting them in quantities. A fire of fagots in a hole in the ground was allowed to burn down to coals. These removed and the hole nicely dusted of ashes, a few quarts of the juicy larvae were poured in, which, quickly crisping, were soon ready to serve. INDIAX WEA.POXS The bow and arrow was the only weapon. The how was made of ash or mahogany, strengthened by the la^'ing over it of the sinew taken from the backbone of the deer. Arrows were constructed in three dit¥ereut ways, according to the purpose for which they were to be used. For warfare and for large game they were flint-tipped. An intermediate weapon was made of button willow to which a hard- wood ]ioint was spliced. For birds and other small game, a peculiar construction was in use. These were about three feet long with a blunt point. About half an inch from the end four crossbars, each about an inch long, were fastened. Two of these were at right angles to the other two and four projecting points were thus formed, ren- dering accurate shooting less essential. THE MEDICIiS'E MAX As with other tribes, the medicine man was a person of great importance, I)ut woe unto him if he failed to effect a cure. A few instances of death following his treatment was cause for his summary execution. A sojourn in the sweathouse was usually prescribed, but bleeding was also common. An incision was made, either at the temples or the forehead, and he sucked the blood and spat it out. His dress was gorgeous. The foundation for the rohe was a kind of netting made from the inner bark of trees. Through the meshes of this was interwoven the brightest colored feathers of many species of birds, together with topknots, fox and coyote tails, rabbit ears, etc. At a death there were chants from dusk till dawn. The corpse was buried usually in a high, dry place in a round hole in a sitting posture, the ankles tied to the thighs. All personal belongings were placed with it. Members of the family of the dead smeared their faces black, in mourning. G.\THEKING SALT In order to gather salt, a unique method was followed. In the mornings, when the salt grass was wet with dew, a squaw would go forth armed with a long smooth stick. This she would ply back TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 121 and forth through the wet grass and wave in the air. The result was a deposit of salt a quarter of an inch thick on the stick, which was then scraped off. CAPTURING WILD PIGEONS Wild pigeons helped fill the Indian's larder and the methods which were employed in their ca])ture are of great interest. It seems that the jjigeons preferred mineral water, whether it be effervescent from soda, or salty, sulphurous or combining the tonic proj^erties of iron and arsenic, to the ordinary si)ring water of the mountains. At all mineral springs pigeons came in flocks. The crafty buck wlio held first place among those who lay snares, taking ad- vantage of this trait, made his preparations accordingly. In front of the spring a large smooth low mound was heaped. Next the mound, directl.v facing it, was dug a trench of the size and de})tli to accommodate a man lying down. The front end of this trench towards the mound was open, but screened with grasses; the top was covered. In this he lay in wait. An innocent brown willow stick, at its end a little noose of sinew, lay on the mound. When the pigeons congregated an unobserved motion of the wrist, a little raise of the stick sufficed to place this loop over the head of an unlucky bird. Silently the game was drawn to the trench, the head jerked off and shortly another and yet another fell victim until sufficient fresh pigeon meat for the band was secured. It is stated that, snared in this waj^ the pigeon does not flutter or raise a dis- turbance — he merely, like a stubborn mule, pulls back. To insure another flight and alighting at the same place for the following day, should occasion require, a few of the itirds are kept alive and picketed out as decoys. NOVEL FISHING In the capture of fish, the use of the hook and line was unknown to the Indians. Three effective methods were in use. In the narrow streams, which were numerous in the valley, weirs were made by driving a row of willow sticks diagonally across the stream and in- terlacing the fence thus formed with tules. On the upper side of this structure, near one bank a semi-circular trap of like construction was built. The fish going down sti'eam, finding their way Itlocked by this l)arrier, worked along it until they found their way into the trap through a small opening. A larger door which included this opening allowed the entrance of Mr. Indian to secure the spoil. In the pools or sloughs or other places where water was con- fined to holes without an outlet, balls of certain kind of weed were thrown, which exerted a stuiiefying effect on the fish. They sickened and would rise to the surface, gas))ing, when they were easily cap- tured. 122 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES lu the fall of the year when the water in the main Kaweali river was low, and long still pools were formed having shallow outlets, still another method was employed. After damming the outlet, muUen weed was thrown in until the water was so roiled tjiat the fish, unable to see, could be caught by hand. Scores of Indians, both bucks and squaws, would wade into these holes and grope for fish, attesting their success by loud shouts of laughter. HUNTING DEER The weapons of the Indian being to our modern eyes ])uerilely inefficient, needs be that he must make up in personal skill their shortcomings. One of our modern sportsmen, for example, could never get close enough to a deer to hit it with an arrow, and if liy chance he should do so the wound would be too slight to be effective. The Indian knew how. The method, as told by Jason Barton, who as a boy found his playmates and companions among the Indians, was this: Waiting ready, we will say at the edge of a mountain meadow, watched the huntsman, bow in hand. When the wary buck came for his morning browse, his keen-flashing vision included naught of danger, for nothing moved. A peculiarity of a grazing deer is that while at short intervals he throws up his head to see or smell any- thing that may warn of danger, he precedes this by a flick of his tail. As he grazes the Indian advances a step, perhaps two steps, without a sound ; the tail twitches and he is frozen into immobility. There is not a flicker of an eyelash. Assured of safety, the deer once more grazes and once more his enemy takes a step. An hour, per- haps two hours, go by and the hunter is within bow-shot. The arrow is loosed, and the aim is true, but the deer does not fall dead in its tracks. This is beyond the capacity of the weapon. Tlie shot is for the groin, where eventually, sickening trouble for the deer must ensiie and he be forced to lie down. That is enough for the Indian. At closer range next time, after an arduous pursuit lasting perhaps a day, the quarry is finally despatched. CHARMING A SQUIRREL In approaching to within bow-shot of a squirrel a similar caution was exercised. With bow bent, arrow set and aimed, the Indian would take his stand and without the slightest movement except that of a gradual advance, would a])parently so hold the squirrel's attention in a sort of trance that a distance near enough to speed the missile with surety was gained. CATCHING DUCKS Without a doulit, white men would find it quite impossible with- out a weaijon to secure a mess of wild ducks. Not so our Indian. Around the borders of Tulare lake existed labyrinths of water lanes bordered with tules. Covered entanglements of these tules were formed and the ducks herded into them bv Indians on tule rafts. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 127 rals for the proper liandlin.ii' of stock. Each district ranger has liis house, barn and otlier buildings at liis winter headquarters in the low country, as well as a cabin at his summer headquarters in the high mountains. Unlike the National Parks the National Forest imposes no unusual restrictions upon fishing and hunting within its borders. Only the just laws established by the state of California for the regu- lation of these sports obtain here. As every statutory ranger is a state deputy game and fish commissioner, it is his duty to enforce these laws, and he usually does his duty. — G. W. Purdy. MOUNTAIN TR.\ILS The first trail across the Sierra Nevada mountains within th^e limits of what now constitutes Tulare county was partially constructed in 1861 by John Jordan. It took its origin in the Yokohl valley, crossed the Blue ridge, wound arouud by Peck's canyon through Quinn's Horse Camp and following dowu Little Kern to Trout mead- ows, thence up Big Kern to a point below where Kern lakes now are, crossed the river and, i)roceeding eastward via Monache meadows, was to strike Owens river below the lake. The pressing need of a shorter and quicker route for the host of prospectors eager to reach the new mines warranted the project. Mr. Jordan secured a charter to maintain it as a toll road and com- pleted nearly all the work on this side of Kern river in 1861. In 1862, while attempting the passage of Kern river on a raft, he was drowned. There were four in the party, the others being his two sons, Allen and Tolbert, and a man named Gashweiler. Allen remained on shore ; Gashweiler, as the raft became unmanageable in the swift current, jumped onto a rock. Tolbert grabbed a limb of a tree which lay on the water and swung himself to safety on its trunk. Mr. Jordan was tipped off, and although a powerful swimmer, was sucked under by the strong current and drowned, the body never being recovered. In the following year the sum of $1,()00 was raised by subscrip- tion in Visalia to comjilete the trail. G. W. Warner undertook the work and finished it, liuilding a bridge across Kern river. The magni- tude of this latter undertaking will be better realized when it is understood that all chains, harness, stretchers and im])lements had to be ])acked from Visalia. In 1863 J. B. Ilockett built the trail which bears his name. This, commencing at Three Rivers, proceeded up the south fork of the Kaweah, jiassing the Ilockett lakes and meadows and joined the Jordan trail, continuing on its route to Big Kern. Instead of cross- ing the river at the saTue point, however, it continued up the stream to a point near the lower Fuiiston meadows, whence crossing and ascend- ing the wall of the Kern canyon, it made its way via the Whitney meadows to the crossing of Cottonwood creek, near the lakes, and 128 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES thence clown to Independeuoe. This trail, though altered to eliminate steep pitches and other dillicult sections, is followed today, practically as laid out fifty years ago. The trail from Eshom valley through to Owens river by way of Kings river canyon, was an old Indian trail, as in part the others were. COUNTY ROADS DURING THE LATE FIFTIES At this period roads were few in number, the principal being these: The stage road to Stockton, which proceeded westerly as far as the old white house, on the Goshen road and then turned in a northwesterly direction to Cross creek; the two immigrant roads to Los Angeles; the road to Woodville which passed what is now the ]\fiueral King orchard, crossed the Ship bridge and continued on to the Thomas mill in the mountains; a road through the Packwood district which proceeded in a westerly direction from near the south city limits of Visalia ; a road ]iroceeding west from the Ship, or Cutler bridge to the old Warren Matthews place on Elbow creek, and thence by the Bass Parker (now Rush) place to Smith's on Kings river and known as the upper Stockton road. Due north of town lay a swamp, the St. John's river not yet having been formed. The first road made to cross this proceeded by the Joe Roger's (now Pratt) place and connected with the Stockton road. The Pacheco Pass, or Gilroy road, proceeded west through "tin can alley," now "West Oak street, crossed Kings river at Mat Isely's point, then turned west four miles to Kingston, thence in a northwesterly direction by the head of Fresno slough, passing Fire- haugh, where the ferry was located, and on to the St. Louis ranch, at the mouth of Pacheco Pass. One of the roads to Los Angeles left town at the old Wiley Watson jilace, ran due south to Dry creek, thence east about what is now Tulare avenue to the Evans' place (now Evansdale orchard). After passing this it ran due east to the Pike Lawless place on Pack- wood creek, thence easterly to near the site of the former Deep Creek schoolhouse, thence southeasterly to Outside creek and on in the same direction to Porterville. The other road to Los Angeles crossed the old Kelly place just south of town, followed in a general way the route of the Tulare road and passed through the Buzzard's roost. The road from the western portion of Tulare county to the coast, crossing the coast range through the Lawless Gap, follows essentially the route taken by John Hawpe, Bert Lawless and W. H. Mills, who in 1856 traveled to the coast and thence to Los Angeles, with many yoke of oxen, which they there exchanged for stock cattle, securing eight head for each yoke. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 129 A road from Warren Matthews ]:)lace on Elbow creek through Visalia to Kern river was surveyed and ordered built in 1857. Five district overseers were ajipointed by the supervisors in charge of sections as follows: First district — north of Kaweah and Mill creek, "W. Matthews; Second district — Kaweah river to Elk bayou, Wiley Watson; Third district — Elk bayou to White river, I. S. Clapp; Fourth district — White river to North Fork of Posey creek; Fifth district — Posey creek to Calwell's ferry. In 1863 a franchise was granted by the legislature to John McFarlane, Peter Goodhue, William P. Poer, H. A. Bostwick, E. E. Calhoun and others, under the name of McFarlane & Co., to build a toll road to Owens valley. This road, via Keyesville and Walker's pass, was completed in 1864 and proved of great benefit to the pub- lic. About one million pounds of freight passed over it the tirst year, and it carried a heavy traffic for some time, but financially the venture was a failure. 130 TULARE AXD KINGS COUNTIES CHAPTER XIV DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIES ELECTRIC POWER One of the most jiotent factors in the development of Tulare county has been the electrical energy developed on the Kaweah and Tule rivers. Electricity has materially aided the orange and lemon industry and made more productive thousands of acres of valley land that was worth hut little prior to the introduction of pumping plants. About twenty-five per cent of the valley and foothill land in Tulare county may be irrigated by ditches leading out of the streams that flow from the Sierra Nevada mountains. As the water from these rivers is all appropriated the only way to make the rest of the land of any value is to pump the water from wells. The practicability of this method was first demonstrated at Lindsay in 1890, the motive power employed being steam or gasoline, which were found incon- venient and expensive. In 1891 the Tulare County Times began advocating the building of a power plant on the Kaweah river and persisted in setting forth the value to the county resulting from the completion of such a project. William H. Hannnond became interested in the matter and he, together with Ben M. Maddox, editor of the Times, sought to interest local capital in the enterprise, but got no encouragement. In 1897 A. 6. Wishon became associated with Mr. Hammond in the management of the Visalia Water company, and these two again took up the jiroposition. Filings were made on the water of the east fork of the Kaweah and surveys showing the head obtainable were made. Renewed efforts to enlist the support of capitalists were made, but without success. Mr. Hammond then went to London and explained the proposition to his brother, John Hays Hammond, the famous mining engineer. He at once agreed to put up one-half the money needed and on the strength of this, Leopold Hirsch agreed to supply the remainder. Mr. Hammond at once cabled the good news to Visalia and it was received here with mucli rejoicing. In the- fall of 1898 the work of building a flume for the No. 1 power house was begim and the ])lant was completed in June, 1899. The water was diverted from the east fork of the Kaweah river at a point 1)elow Cain's Flat, on the Mineral King road, carried by flume seven miles, whence a drop of nine hundred feet to the power house was secured, developing about two thousand horse power. In 1902 John Hays Hammond bought out the interest of Mr. Hirsch, the latter gentleman being dissatisfied on account of failure to pay dividends. Ben M. Maddox, in 1902, succeeded A. G. Wishon TULARE AND KlN(iS COUNTIES 131 as business manager, a ])Osition he holds at the present time. William H. Hammond remained jiresident of the company until he died, in 1908, when he was succeetk'd liv John CofTee Hays, the present chief executive. The company Jiow has suli-stations at Visalia, Tulare, Tipton, Delano, Ducor, PortcrNille, Lindsay, Exeter, Lemon Cove and Venice. The No. 2 power house on the Kaweah was completed in 1905, as was the auxiliary steam plant in A'isalia. The Tule river plant was finished in 1909, which made a combined installation of six thousand kilowatts. Nine hundred pumping plants are operated. An addition of one-thousand horse power is now being added to the steam })lant in Visalia and two more plants on the Kaweah river are in course of construction, whicli will add ten thousand horse power to the system. The conservation of water for the operation of these plants has necessitated extensive engineering works in the high Sierras. Eagle lake has been tapped and its stored supply is ready for use at seasons of low water. Wolverton creek has been dammed, creating an immense reservoir at Long Meadows. In addition to the pumping load, the com})any supi^lies light and power for all jnirposes in the cities of Visalia, Tulare, Porter- ville, Lindsay and Exeter, and in the towns of Tipton, Delano, Rich- grove, Ducor, Terra Bella, Strathmore, Lemon Cove, Woodlake and Klink. It also supplies the power to operate the Visalia electric road. The comjiany lias recently comyjleted a large, substantial and finely equipped ollice building on West Main street, in Visalia. The San Joaquin Power Company, a Fresno institution, sujiplies power at Dinuba and Orosi, in the northern end of the county, and also southeast of Tulare along the Santa Fe railroad. This company is building a water-power i)lant on the Tule river. The Pacific Light and Power company is building a tower liiie across the county to take current from Big creek in Fresno county to Los Angeles. The Tulare County Power Company is building a steam j^lant at. Tulare, the current to be used in the cities of Tulare, Exeter and Lindsay, and the surrounding neighborhoods. This company has a filing on the Tule river and work is being done on the conduit that is to take the water from the river to the power-house, which is to be located near Globe. This is a joint-stock company with co- operative features, financed locally. Messrs. Holley & HoUey, of Visalia, promoted the enterprise and its success seems assured. Stockholders were secured in large part among the users of power for pumping and to these is gi'anted a lower rate than that ac- corded to non-stockholders. MUUGATIOS Irrigation in Tulare county dates almost fiom the county's or- i;}2 TULARP] AND KINGS COUNTIES ganization. Tlie wjitcrs from a ramified network of ditches, from several Imiidied artesian wells, from thousands of electrically oper- ated pumping plants, is now distiilmted to almost every portion of the foothill and valley section. No estimates may be made of the increased productivity, in- creased value due to more profital)le kinds of crops, increased capa- city for supporting population and the other incalculable benefits accruing from the distribution of water and its intelligent use. Yet the hisory of irrigation development here and the causes thereof differ so materially from tliat of the reclaimed districts that a few words of explanation and comparison are necessary. In the first place, water did not here cause "the desert to blos- som as the rose," for the reason that no desert ever existed. True, there were originally vast semi-arid ]ilains. These in later years, without a drop of water artificially applied, produced banner wheat crops. In 1886 this yield amounted to fourteen thousand carloads, and for many seasons Tulare held first rank in wheat ]3roduction among California counties. But in the sections favored by the early settlers — the delta lauds of the P'our Creeks country, there was not even semi-aridity. Here was a vast, eye-delighting oasis. Here, beneath groves of oak ex- tending miles and miles in either direction, lush, rank meadow grass thrived. Here, as far as the eye could follow was a tract where verdure was perennial, where riotous growth almost unceasingly persisted. Both in the winter by reason of the rains, and in May and June by reason of the melting snow of the mountains, much land was subject to overflow. Swamps and sloughs were numerous, and a system of drainage would have been beneficial. The activity of the pioneers in taking out water was usually for the purpose of securing stock water on lands not bordering streams, and to irrigate lands for a second or fall crop of corn and pumpkins after hay had been cut. It was not until a much later day, when a general influx of new settlers desirous of farming and planting to vineyards and orchards, lands hitherto held suitable only for grain farming, that the value of the water rights secured by these early diversions was realized. The first effort to irrigate lands about Visalia was made in 185-I-, when Dr. Reuben Matthews, assisted by his neighbors, cut a ditch from Mill creek to his' mill near town. The ditch was intended to bring water not only to run the mill, but also to irrigate lands for gardens. In later years the Jennings' and one or two other ditches obtained their water from this sluiceway. The Persian ditch dates also from 1854, the Evans and Fleming from '58, the Watson from 1855 or 1856, and the Birch from the early '60s. In the period from 1865 to 1872, a number of irrigation projects were inaugurated. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 133 cliief ;iiii()ii,i>' wliifli were the Pioneer, tlie Peoi)le's Consolidated ;nul the Wutcliumma ditch companies. The pioneer, organized in 1866, took its water from the Tule river, well w]} into the hills, and cov- ered the territory adjacent to Porterville. The Peojjle's Consoli- dated Ditch Company built its big canal of about twenty feet in width in 1871, the head being taken from the Kaweah, a few miles west of Lemon Cove. While the first work of this system did not begin until this date, many of the water rights secured dated as far back as the '50s, and were obtained by a consolidation of the interests of the owners with the new oi-ganization. In 1872 the Wutclmmma company organized and commenced the construction of a system which now consists of about forty miles of main and branch ditches. The water is taken from the Kaweah near its intersection with the St. John about eighteen miles east of Visalia, and is carried to ])oints ten miles west of Visalia. Bravo Lake, situated near the intake of this canal, is used as a stor- age reservoir for flood waters so that a supply is maintained throughout the year. Numerous other diversions, including the Tulare District Com- ))any, under the Wright Act, have been made from tlie Kaweah an(l St. John rivers so that today twenty-nine corporations divide their waters. All Init two of these secure their flow below the point of divergence. The amount of water in the river at this point probably aver- ages during the three months of April, May and June in the neigh- borhood of twelve hundred cubic feet per second, rapidly dropping then until mid-summer, when it is negligible. Necessarily, the ap- portionment to each company of its jDroper share has been fraught with difficulties, and considerable expensive litigation has resulted. In order to best secure their rights by being able to act unitedly and harmoniously, the ditch companies taking water from these two streams have formed the Kaweah River Water Association and the St. John River Water Association. A spirit of com])romise has been fostered and in 1907 a threatened law suit of enormous pro- portions was settled in this way; one of the features of the agree- ment being that the water in the two streams is divided equally until such time as a low stage of eighty cubic feet is reached. The entire flow is then diverted into the Kaweah and runs there until the first day of October. Then, if the flow exceeds eighty cubic feet, or as soon thereafter as it does, the stream is again equally divided. Diversion dams at the confluence of these streams and some kind of a division of water there, date from 1H9'2. In 1011 a struc- ture of cement dams and confining walls was completed so that now perfect control and equitable division is made possible. The next great irrigating enterprises were the Alta and Tulare 134 TULAKE AXD IvIXGS COUXTIES irrigation districts, organized under the Wright law, which pro- vides for the issuance by a community of bonds which become a lien on the property in the district. ALTA DISTRICT In the early '80s, along Kings river and near Traver there lay some large tracts of land owned by Darwin & Ferguson, who were engaged in stockraising. Their brand was "76,'" and the country was called the 76 country. Considerable attention was also given to grain raising, and good crops could generally be had with the usual rainfall. In 1881 P. Y. Baker and D. K. Zumwalt conceived the idea of bringing water onto the land and organized the 76 Land and "Water company. A main canal one hundred feet wide on the bottom and deep enough to carry a stream of water five feet deep, together with several large laterals, was constructed, the point of diversion being on Kings river, about fourteen miles northeast of Eeedley. Now, in 1888, an irrigation district under the Wright law was projected in the northern part of the county and at an election bonds were voted in the sum of $675,000. Bonds were only issued to the amount of $410,000, that sum proving sufficient. This district was named Alta, and embraces one hundred and thirty thousand acres, four-fifths of which is now under irrigation. The property and water rights of the 76 company were purchased and various exten- sions have from time to time been made, so that now, including laterals of a width of ten feet or more, there are over three hundred miles of ditch system. A territory is covered lying within the fol- lowing described extremities: southeasterly to a point six miles east and four miles south of Monson; southwesterly to points three miles west and three miles south of Traver; easterly to a point one mile north of Orosi. Portions of Kings and Fresno, as well as Tulare, counties are included in this area. This district has been a success from the very beginning. In twenty years after its formation the number of land owners within its boundaries had increased about three hundred per cent. From early spring until the middle of summer there is water in the greatest abundance for the needs of its dense population of orchardists, vineyardists and alfalfa growers, which is secured at a cost of fifty cents per acre. TULAKE IRRIGATION DISTRICT This district was organized in 1889, and in 1890 bonds in the sum of $500,000 were voted and placed on sale. Work on the main canal, which had a width of sixty-four feet and a dejith of six feet, was commenced in 1891. This canal had a capacity of five hundred feet per second and took its water from the north side of the St. TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 135 Jolm river. It was to be about twelve miles long with seven laterals varying in width from ten to forty feet, carrying the water to all portions of the district. In one sense of the word, this district was a disheartening failure and for many years proved a heavy incubus to every landowner in the district embraced. The causes leading to this condition were many, chief among them being the depressed condition of business in Tulare resulting from the removal of the railroad shops, the panic of 1893, and the failure to get water. This latter difficulty was oc- casioned by litigation involving the water rights of the district; by the series of dry years immediately following the construction of the canal and perhaps also by reason of the lack of sufficient funds to complete fully the plant as originally projected. At any rate, the pa^Tuent of a heavy tax to meet the interest on and provide a sink- ing fund for the bonds, without receiving any benefits was universally resented. The validity of the bond issue was attacked and, acting under the advice of attorneys, farmers refused to pay the tax, a condition lasting about six years. An injunction preventing execu- tion on lands to satisfy judgment for default of taxes was obtained. Accrued interest by this time amounted to $150,000, making a total indebtedness of $650,000. In the meantime laud greatly depreciated in value became, in fact, unsalable by reason of this cloud on the title. It became ap- parent that some agreement between bondholders and landowners must be reached if general bankruptcy was to be avoided. Joe Gold- man, a large landowner in the district and also a heavy bondholder, took the initiative. He agitated the submission by the bondholders of an offer to surrender the bonds on payment of fifty per cent, of their face value, all interest to be remitted. It took months of hard work to secure the consent of each individual bondholder, but it was finally accomplished and the bonds placed in escrow in a Tulare bank. The plan then was to raise the $250,000 by one direct tax. Assessors were appointed and another long tug of war ensued, many property owners at first refusing to consent to the assessment or to pay the tax. Eventually all were, however, brought into the fold, the levy was made and the money collected. October 17, 1903, was set as the day for the transfer and a monster celebration was planned and carried out, to signifj' the universal rejoicing at the lifting of the load. Some six thousand people, including Governor Pardee, Mayor Snyder of Los Angeles, numerous bankers from San Francisco and Los Angeles and other notables were in attendance. Dramatically, the bonds were consigned to the flames of a big bonfire. Land values immediately doubled, trebled, quadrupled. A delayed prosperity 136 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES proved swift in action after its arrival. The ditch system of the company became the unencumbered property of the district. No tax is levied for its maintenance, running expenses being secured by water tolls. It will doubtless be a matter of great surjirise to manj' to learn that in all the foregoing in which is indicated the development of a very extensive system, no mention has been made of other sources of supply equal to or in excess of that obtained from the Kings, Kaweah, St. John and Tule rivers combined. This is the under- ground flow, belief in which seems to have existed in very early days. Not until 1890, however, when at Lindsay, in wells but seventy feet deep, water rose to within twenty feet of the surface and main- tained that level under constant pumjiing, did the people begin to realize the fortune that lay below ground. ARTESIAN AND OTHER WELLS The efforts to get water from artesian wells for general use in Tulare county were first made in 1859. At that date some of the citizens of Visalia and vicinity sank a well, al)0ut the ]iresent cross- ing of Main and Court streets in Visalia. But nothing came of it, for after boring two hundred and twelve feet and finding no stratum that would rise to the surface, the work was abandoned; but the well was long used by the fire department. The Southern Pacific, in 1875, bored a well near the track south of Tipton. At a depth of two hundred and ten feet a stratimi of water was found that flowed to the surface in a strong stream. Many other flowing wells have since been bored. But the water is tepid, with a slight smell of sulphur and rather insipid. In 1881 another well was bored on the Paige and Morton ranch, and at a depth of three hundred and thirty feet a grand flow of water was obtained. The comi^letion of this well was made the occasion of a great cele- bration. It established the theorj^ that there is an artesian belt in the county. There are at the present time about four hundred flow- ing wells used for watering stock and for irrigation. This belt of flowing wells seems to be mostly west of the main line of the rail- road, and to extend to the westerly line of Tulare lake. But the wells along the great plain sloping westerly from the eastern foothills, though none of them are flowing, might justly be termed artesian. The water is inexhaustible, of fine quality for domestic use and for irrigation, and has wrought that wonderful miracle of transforming those dry plains to gardens teeming with fruits and flowers. DAIRYING INDUSTRY Coincident with the arrival of the first family cow, tied behind a prairie schooner, the dairy industry started in Tulare county, but TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 137 it was not until the introduction of alfalfa and the realization of its adaptation to the eiimate and soil that there was any idea that dairy- in.e; could be conducted as a separate and ])rofitable business. Tlie Delta, in its issue of February 4, 1860, under the head of Alfalfa, thus speaks: "Those desirous of trying the adaptation of this clover to the soil of this valley can now have an opportunity of so doing by calling at McLane's drug store for the seed. There is no doubt in the minds of those who have seen this clover growing that it will be one of the most productive crops in the valley. When it becomes once rooted, the drought will never affect it in the least. In this light soil it will i-oot lifteen or twenty feet, at which depth water can always be found in a])undance in every i)lace in the valley in the dryest season. Farmers, try it." The farmers did tr.\- it and wonders have been accomplished. It early became ajjparent that dairying should pay and so a numlier of farmers about Visalia formed a joint stock company and built a creamery. This was a two-story wooden building, situated on the Visalia-Goshen railroad about a mile west of the city limits of Vi- salia, and was completed in 1890. W. H. Blain was ]iresident, and S. M. Gilliam secretary. Shortly afterwards D. K. Zumwalt erected a cheese factory and creamei'v on the Tulare-Goshen railroad about midway between the two towns. Strange as it seems now, both of these early enterprises were destined to failure. Several causes contributed to this result, chief among them being the ajiathy of farmers toward engaging in the business, owing to the publicity of the extraordinary prolits made by the early orchards, at this time just coming into bearing. Dairy- ing appeared much too slow. The one business ajipeared as a tedious, arduous method of extracting nickels; the other a leisurely, gentlemanly waiting for a shower of golden eagles. Then came the panic of 1893, and the great railroad strike. The latter, especially, proved disastrous. Mr. Zumwalt at this time had twenty thousand pounds of cheese on hand which he was unable to move. Much of this spoiled. The delay in getting the ])roduct converted into cash necessitated a stojjpage of payments to the farmers and caused them to become suspicious and uneasy and disinclined to continue deliver- ies. Then, markets were not good. Los Angeles produced nearly all it consumed. The result was that both enter] )rises were aban- doned. In 1898 W. B. Cart mill leased the Zumwalt and Visalia plants and ojjcrated them as skiimuing stations, and in 1901 Thompson and Futtrell connnenced in Tulare the o))eration of a creamery of small cajiacity. The skinuning stations were abandoned, but in li)0() Mr. Cartinill was instrumental in launching the Tulare Co-Operative 138 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Creamery, the cai^acity of this in its first years of existence being about one thousand pounds per day. The entire growth of the industry dates from that time, only five or six years ago. Today tlie industry ranks as one of the most important in the county. The county ranks, according to the state dairy board, as tliird in the state. According to figures given out by the creameries, it ranks second. At any rate, there is an annual production of four million pounds of butter fat. A conservative estimate of the value of dairy products, including skimmed milk, is two million dollars per year. An idea of existing conditions is ol)taiued by quoting the Tulare Register of May, 1912 : ' ' The creamery disbursements here today were $97,191.26. The fifteenth of the month in this city is much like the regular monthly pay days in factory districts. * * * Business jammed at the local banks all through the day and it was simply a question of waiting one's turn at the windows of paying and receiving- tellers. "Nearly every horse-drawn vehicle wliich comes to this city will have the cream cans somewhere about it. Even autos are used to convey the cream and milk." Dairying has centered particularly about Tulare, which includes Tag-US, Paige and Swall's station; about Porterville, Woodville, Tip- ton and Poplar, all of which may be coml>ined as constituting one immense connected district; about Yisalia, including Farmersville and Goshen; about Dinuba, westerly and southerly to Traver. There are now within the county one thousand dair>nnen "vvith herds aggregating l)etween twenty and twenty-five thousand animals. The Holstein is the favorite breed, and the grade is constantly im- proving by reason of the importation of numbers of registered bulls. A factor of importance bearing on the relation of this industry to general prosperity is the fact that there are few large herds. In fact, there are only two in the county numbering as many as three hundred. The remainder range from five to two hundred. The moutlily creamery pay check has become a factor in busi- ness circles. It pays bills of all kinds promptly; it contributes to savings bank balances ; it steadies and enhances land values. The one thing that has rendered this extraordinary development possible and one of the causes for the belief that the industry is at present only in its infancy, is the phenomenal growth of the city of Los Angeles. And as this metropolis bids fair to maintain a healthy growth and as the towns of the- citrus district and of the oil fields are also rapidly growing, it appears that a widening and increasing demand assures to the industry a stable future. There are now eight creameries in the county, each provided with the best modern facilities, machinery and equipment. These, TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 139 with their managers are: Tuhire Co-Operative, W. B. Cartmill; Dairj-men's Co-Operative, J. P. Murphy; Good Luck Creamery, J. W. brew, all of Tulare; the Visalia Creamery, W. B. Cartmill; Visalia Co-Operative Creamery, N. J. Beck; Sun Flower Dairy at Poplar, Eidgeway Bros.; Porterville Co-Operative Creamery, C. T. Brown; Tipton Co-Operative Creamery, J. H. Drew. DECIDUOUS FRUIT From its vineyards and orcliards of deciduous fruits Tulare county now annually receives about three million dollars. The de- veloiunent of this industry within the county presents peculiarities. Thus, at a time w^hen the vineyards of Sonoma and Napa counties, the orchards of Santa Clara, Vacaville, Suisuu and Ventura were in full bearing and producing profitable returns, here, one of the richest fields remained until comparatively recent years imknown and undeveloped. This neglect did not proceed so much from doubt as to the adajitability of the section for fruit growing as from the ignorance of the earlier inhabitants of the large profits in the business. Life- long farmers and stockmen did not readilv undertake a change. Then there was doubt of finding a market, in view of the exorbitant freight rates charged in early days. A]3]3areutly, the very first settlers, however, planted some fruit trees and vines. In 1859, the Delta speaks of having received some fine apricots from Mr. Goodale, also some apples of the Summer Queen variety that measured thirteen and one-half inches in cir- cumference. In another issue mention is made of a vineyard near town belonging to Dr. Matthews that was producing grapes "equal to those grown in Los Angeles." The doctor brought in a bunch weighing nine pounds. Horace Thomas also was bearer to the editor of a large cluster of grapes. Again, in the issue of August 7, 1867, the editor acknowledged the receipt from Rev. Mr. Edwards of some peaches of fine flavor that measured three inches in diameter and some lemon clings eleven and three-fourths inches in circumfei-ence. Mention, in the '60s, is also made of samples of wine made near Visalia, and on the assessment roll of 1860 there appeared one thou- sand gallons of wine on hand. Humble beginnings, truly, and containing no suggestion of the wonderful expansion that was to come. The first impetus to the growing of fruit commercially in Tuhire county was given by I. li. Thomas, since called the father of the industry. This gentleman, about 1880, i^lanted near Visalia a ten- acre orchard of peaches, pears, })lums, prunes, apricots and nectar- ines. Mr. Thomas was a "fruit man," a careful, intelligent observer, a member of the state board of horticulture, and very enthusiastic UO TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES about the adaptahilily of soil aud climate here for the growing of fruit. Mr. Tlionias exhibited specimens of his ])rodiicts at the meetings of tiie state Iward in San Francisco and they were regarded as phenomenal. The district was recognized as i)ossessing most favor- able qualifications. Mr. Thomas, however, met with difficulties in the disposition of his product. The fruit was sent to Los Angeles by express, the greatest care being exercised in ]iacking. Exorbitant charges absorbed the profits. However, Frank Briggs and Thomas Jacob, the latter an experienced fruit grower and nurseryman from San Jose, planted acreage orcliards which came into bearing in 1888. George A. and Charles F. Fleming, known as Fleming Bros., dried fruit packers and sjieculators of San Jose, noted the event of a new district's production, entered the field and in 1889 and 1890, purchased the output for di'ving. The phenomenal yield of the new orcliards in the latter year, coupled with the high prices prevailing, started a boom for the industry which resulted in an almost universal desire to enter the game. The year 1890 wit- nessed a general planting of fruit trees all over the county. The Orosi colony of forty or fifty ten aud twenty-acre tracts was launched; near Tulare the Oakland colony, the Bishop colony, the Chicago ranch, the Oakdale colony, the Emma orchard and numerous others were set out; near Porterville, Dr. W. A. Witlock, Jim Bursell and others made plantings. In the district tributary to Visalia and Farmersville the most remarkable showing was made. The Fleming Brothers and J. K. Armsby inirchased four hundred acres, planting about one-half the first year; Pinkham & McKevitt, ^"acaville fresh fruit packers, with associates from that section, set out the Giant Oak and California Prune Company orchards, each of several hundred acres, ^'isalians organized the Evansdale, the Encina and the Visalia Fruit and Land Co. San Joseans formed the Mineral King Fruit Co. ; J. P. Morton and William Swall began planting on what is now known as Swall's. This furore extended to 1891, when A. C. Kuhn, fruit packer of San Jose, purchased about eleven hundred acres near Farmersville. all to be set in fruit. Exclusive of these orchards, each of which con- sisted of hundreds of acres, scores of smaller plautings were made in these- two years, so that in the Visalia district alone the acreage now amounted to some seven thousand acres. The main cause of this extraordinary planting rush, resembling a "stampede" to a mining camp, was the yield and return from the Jacobs' aud Briggs' orchards in 1889. Mr. Jacobs, from one hun- dred aud thirty-five four-year-old prune trees, received about $800 net. the trees averaging four hundred pounds each and the fruit being sold for $35 per ton. At the Briggs orchard the old trees TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 141 averaged ei.^lit hundred pounds and one tree, wliiHi was ])ieked in the presence of witnesses, who made affidavit to the fact, jjrotluced eleven hundred and two pounds. Precedin,i>- this excitement a few years there had been a general though quiet movement of vineyard planting, jiarticularly about Tulare and in the Diiuiba-Orosi district. The limits of this article forbid a detailed history of the ex- periences of these thousands of fruit and vine growers. Suffice to . say that before tlie present stable basis was attained, many lessons were learned by hard experience. It was found that orchards gen- erally did not ])roduce such i)henomenal early yields as the Briggs' and Jacobs' places; that some soils were not at all adapted to the culture; that periods of depression in the market, if occurring co- incident with a season of heavy yield and of small grade, eliminated profit entirely. In the district tributary to Yisalia, came, in 1906, the misfortune of a flood which practically destroyed thousands of acres of trees, especially those on peach root. Other lessons, too, the years have brought. It has been learned that Malaga and other table grapes in the Alta or Dinuba-Sultana-Orosi district ripen very early, reach an un- usual degree of perfection and connnand higher prices in the eastern market than those grown elsewhere. It has been found that cling peaches of all. varieties do exceptionally well and are in great de- mand at advanced prices by canners throughout the state. This was forecasted in 1895, when peaches from "\lsalia orchards took the gold medal at the Atlanta World's Exposition. Of this exhibit it may be stated that one orchard contributed three hundred peaches, no one weighing less than a pound. Jars were tilled with peaches weighing twenty-two and one-half ounces each. It has been found that the earliest and therefore the most profit- able district in the state for the production of fresh fruits destined for the eastern market lies in our elevated foothill section. The Redbanks orchard of five hundred acres, situated fifteen miles north- east of Yisalia on the Yisalia electric railway, produces peaches, plums, Thompson's seedless and Tokay grapes coincident with or earlier than any other. It has l)een found that in tlie Yisalia and in the Farmersville districts, French and R<)i)e de Sergeant prunes are of a grade and quality sujierior to any others in the San Joatpiin valley and on account of the early maturily and heavy yield are to be depended U])on for large average annual returns. A word now as to the growth of facilities and the jiresent status of the industiy. The first need felt by the new fruit i)roducing dis- trict was for a cannery. Enterprising Yisalians, under the leader- shi)) of Martin Rouse, succeeded in inducing the Sacramento Can- 142 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES ning- and Drying Company to establish a plant here in 1895. This has since been taken over by the California Canners' Association, and made into one of the largest and best equipped jDlants in the state. A few years later, the Central California Canners' Company located in Visalia ; in 1910 local fruit growers built a cannery in Tulare, and in 1912 Hunt Brothers of HajTvards opened a factory in Exeter. Northern Tulare county growers found a ready market for canning fruits in Fresno. Similarly, in the handling of fresh and dried fruits and raisins. Located at Dinuba aud Visalia are now packing-houses for raisins and dried fruits second in facilities to uone; the leading greeu fruit shippers have receiving and forwarding accommodations at nearly every station on the railroad. For the Los Angeles market, which consumes about one hundred aud fifty carloads of Tulare county fruit, the Klein-Simpson com- pany have been especially active and make carload shipments from Dinuba, Sultana, Visalia, Exeter, Porterville and Tulare. The shipment of fresh fruit and grapes to the eastern markets may be roughly estimated at about eight hundred carloads, of which Visalia, Eedbanks aud Swall's contribute a little less than one-half and the northern or Alta district, including Dinuba, Sultana and Cutler, a little more than one-half. This large shipment from the Alta district has been entirely developed within the past eight years, as it was not until 1904 that carload lots were shipped from Dinuba. For several years prior to that time, N. W. Miller of Orosi. the pioneer in the industry, had been shipping small lots by local freight to Visalia, at which point cars were made up. In 1908 Frank Wilson and G. W. Wyllie, who were the only growers of table grapes near Dinuba, packed their Emperor grape.s at their ranches and forwarded the same to Fresno in quarter car lots. Until 1906 no grapes were shipped other than those produced on these two vineyards, although in 1905 a few Malagas were set out. In 1907 the Earl Fruit Company rented a house to be used for packiug purposes. Grapes were still the only fruit shipped, aud of these there were only a few cars of the early variety. The pack- iughouse was open for a period of four weeks only. It was not until 1908 that shipments of any voliune were made. Many new vineyards had then arrived at the bearing age. Prices for early Malagas were alluring, and many growers disposed of their frtxit in this way. Plums, peaches and Tokay grapes were added to the list. This, in outline, is the rapidly made early history of the deciduous fruit shipping industry in what is now its center in TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 143 Tulare county. From tliis district shipments as follows were made in 1910 : From Diuuba and Monson, two hundred and eleven car- loads ; Cutler, sixty-one carloads ; Sultana, one hundred and forty carloads ; North Dinuba, seventeen carloads ; making a total of four hundred and twenty-nine carloads, having a value to the grower of over a quarter of a million dollars. In dried fruits, raisins easily lead in volume and value of shipments. A conservative estimate of the annual value of . the product is $750,000. There are two separate portions of the county in which the production of raisins heavily increases bank balances. These are the district from Dinuba to Yettem, and the section lying around Tulare and Paige. Connecting somewhat these two are numerous vineyards located near ' Traver, Goshen and Tagus. The prune belt of the county lies almost exclusively in the Visalia-Farmersville district, although Tulare and Porterville each furnish a considerable quota. The annual ]5rodnction is about five thousand tons, carrying a growers' return of about $450,000. The actual value for shipment, which would include cost of boxes, labor and packers' profits, would be much more. The production of apples is confined to the foothill region centering about Three Rivers and Springville. As transportation facilities improve the profitable enlargement of the area devoted to this culture may be made. Wine grapes may be said to be grown commercially only in the Alta district, where are located two large wineries. Small plants near Tulare and Visalia assist in sujiplying the public demand for liquid refreshment. THE WATERMELON Though apparently of minor importance, the industry of rais- ing watermelons in Tulare county has exerted such an effect on the development of lands into thriving vineyards and orchards that it is deserving of especial mention. This by reason of the fact that, affording as it does, quick, jirofitable returns, the fruit grower is easily enabled to make a living while awaiting the coming into bearing of his orchard or vineyard. The industry has been confined, on a commercial scale exclu- sively, to northern Tulare county. The Alta district has now be- come the largest watermelon shipping center in the state. The earliest melons are grown there and the highest prices realized. It all started ten years ago. In 1901 Mrs. J. E. Driver, a very bright, energetic business woman, set out forty acres. The venture was successful, and by 1905 interest in the growing of melons be- came general and large ]ilantings were made from then on. In 1908 the Dinul)a Melon Growers' Association was formed for the purpose of securing higher pi-ices through co-operative 14-t TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES action iu marketing'. Tlie association was immediately successful and has remained so. The estimated acreage devoted to melons is twelve hundred, of which the association controls three-fifths. Shipments from the district commence the last week in Jime and continue well into August. CHAPTER XV THE RAILROAD DREA:\I In 1861 a mass meeting was held iu front of the courthouse for the purpose of considering the j^roject of building a road to San Simeon. The ])roposition was endorsed and William G. Morris, A. H. Mitchell, S. W. Beckham, Thomas Baker and E. Jacob were appointed a committee to view the route and solicit subscriptions. The board of supervisors also took up the matter aud appointed A. O. Thoms, H. Bostwick and A. J. Atwell to view the routes and estimate the probable cost. Altogether, eleven meu, including ex-Governor McDougal, went on this expedition. The Delta of the time saj's: "They will probably be gone from two to three weeks and have taken all the necessary provisions and refresh- ments for a trip of that sort." BitoiNG FOR THE RAILROAD A railroad meeting was held in Visalia on the 10th of Decem- ber for the )niri)ose of hearing the demands of the Central Pacific railroad. The meeting was addressed by J. Ross Brown and Wil- liam M. Stewart, senator from Nevada. Tulare county was asked to issue seven per cent twenty-year bonds as -a gift to the railroad company, at the ratio of $6,000 per mile, an aggregate of $.378,000. The road was to cross the county via Visalia, a distance of sixty- three miles, and it was agreed that the railroad should be taxed at the rate of $5,000 ])er mile. The average time in the receipt of merchandise from San Francisco was fifteen days and the rate $60 per ton. The railroad was to do it in eight hours and at the rate of $10 per ton. Tliere were about three thousand tons of fi-eight leaving ^"isalia for the north and about five hundred coming in annually. On account of the increase in taxation and the reduc- tion iu freight it was figured that the bonds would pay for them- selves in seven years. Resolutions were adopted approving the project and iiledging assistance in the construction of the road. The committee was TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 145 composed of Dr. W. A. Russell, A. J. Atwell, B. G. Parker, Hugh Hamilton, T. J. Sliackleford, F. W. Blake, Y. B. Stokes, A. H. Murray, Tipton Lindsey and J. B. Hockett. Popular sentiment was in favor of the issuance of houds, and the legislature passed a bill authorizing Tulare and other counties to issue bonds, but it was vetoed by Governor Haight. The people of Visalia were still confident that tlie road would pass through the town and speculation and prediction of the exceeding prosperity that would ensue were rife. Prices of property soared, and it was therefore a most crushing disappointment when the survey of 1870 was made, which passed through Tulare county at a ]ioint about eight miles west of Visalia. Sliortly after the road reached Merced, in February, 1872, an- other effort was made to induce the railroad to pass through Visalia. A meeting was held and a connnittee consisting of Tip- ton Lindsey, R. E. Hyde, P]lias Jacob and T. L. B. Goodman were appointed to obtain the right of way to the route through Visalia. The rights of way were quickly olitained and the committee visited Sacramento, where they were told to await the action of Engineer Montague. On a subsequent visit to Sacramento in April, at which conference they were prepared to offer a large bonus, the committee were informed by Governor Stanford that he could conceive of no inducement that lay in their power to grant sufficient to influence a change in the route. This was by reason of the fact that the railroad was entitled by act of Congress to the alternate sections of unoccupied land lying on each side of the right of way. Should the route be changed to pass through A^isalia, in which neighbor- hood nearly all the lands were deeded possession, the railroad would be forced to relinquish this immense domain. Hyde and Jacob, the members of the committee attending the latter conference, telegraphed to Visalia: "Ephesians, chapter two, verse twelve." Reference to this disclosed: "Cut off from the Commonwealth of Israel." It now being an established fact that they were to be cut off from the main line, the people of ^'^isalia called a mass meeting on May It, 1872, to take measures of last resort. At this meeting, Tii)ton Lindsey presiding, S. C. Brown introduced the following resolution, which was adopted: "Resolved, That it is for the best intei-ests of the peo])le of Visalia to take steps looking to the con- struction of a branch railroad leading from the town to the main trunk of the San Joaquin Valley railroad at its nearest ])oint to this town." This was the inception of the Visalia and Goshen railroad, arti- cles of incor]>oration for which were filed May ID, 1874. The direc- tors were R. E. Hyde, S. A. Sheppard, E. Jacob, S. C. Brown, Tip- 146 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES tou Liudsey, John Cutler aud Solomon Sweet. It was completed and put in operation in the following August, amidst great rejoic- ing. The first depot of this road was in the western part of the town, but subsequently moved to the present Southern Pacific depot. This road continued to operate, but upon the completion of the San Joaquin Valley railroad, now the Santa Fe, the company sold out to the Southern Pacific. The latter company then extended the road from Visalia to Exeter, making through traffic in 1898. THE VIS.\LIA AJfD TULAKE KAILEOAD The Yisalia and Tulare railroad was built by local capital in 1888. at a cost of $130,000, and proved a gTeat convenience to the inhabitants of the two cities. It never proved profitable, however, and after the coming of the Santa Fe in 1897 its usefulness was over. In 1898 the rolling stock and rails were sold and the enter- prise abandoned. EAST SIDE KAILEOAD On December 5, 1887, the Southern Pacific, the successor to the Central Pacific in the San Joaquin valley, commenced what is locally known as the East Side Line. This road runs east from Fresno to Sanger, then southeasterly through Dinuba, Lindsay, Porterville and connects with the main line at Famosa. Work on the road was pushed forward rapidly and completed in November, 1888. The road is about one hundred and four miles in length, of which sixty-eight are in Tulare county. It passes about eight miles eastwardly from Visalia and is the only road through the rich citrus country. THE COMIJTG OF THE SANTA FE In 1895, when the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley railroad was organized and the project of building a road from the northern metropolis to Bakersfield was set forth, Visalia residents determined at once to put forth every effort to get upon the route. A mass meeting was held in the old engine house and S. Mitchell, Harry Levinson and William H. Hammond were appointed a com- mittee on finances and depot sites and Ben M. Maddox a committee of one to secure rights of way. Tulare city also eagerly undertook to help and agreed to secure rights of way from a point midway between A^isalia and Tulare south to the county line. About $12,000 was raised in Visalia, and with this sum, after a strenuous labor of over a year, all rights of way of a present probable value of a quarter of a million dollars were secured. Construction work was commenced in 1896 and on Admission Day, September 9, 1897, the road was completed to Visalia and a monster celebration in honor of the event was held. Excursion TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 147 trains from Fresno, Hanford and other points, carrying upwards of two thousand people, came; residents from the most remote sec- tions of the county, as well as those from the near-by towns, crowded to see the first real railroad train enter Visalia. A significant coincidence of the occasion was that on that day the first Southern Pacific agent to set foot in Visalia also arrived. A short time previous the Visalia-Goshen railroad had been pur- chased by the Southern Pacific, and at once, upon the completion of the competing road, active efforts were made, through better- ments of service and equipment, to retain a share of the public's patronage, and in a very short time the Southern Pacific expressed itself as desirous of extending its road to Exeter to connect with its branch line. George W. Stewart and John F. Jordan were ap- pointed by the Visalia Board of Trade to assist in this matter. These gentlemen worked heartily, soon secured all rights of way and the road was built the following year. Soon after the Valley railroad passed into the hands of the Santa Fe. A singular fact in connection with the sale of the little railroad from Goshen to Visalia was that E. E. Hyde, its ]irincipal owner, believed that the coming of the Valley railroad would render his property practically valueless, and considered seriously otfering it for sale for $30,000, about one-fifth the sum he received from the Southern Pacific. There is no record, however, of the latter com- pany regretting the bargain. THE VISALIA ELECTRIC In 1906 the Visalia Electric railroad was commenced. A cor- poration with Mr. Crossett at the head was formed to build and operate an electric road from Visalia to Lemon Cove, by way of Exeter. The tracks of the Southern Pacific between Visalia and Exeter were used. From Exeter the line was extended along the foothills through some of the fine orange orchards, and in 1907 reached Lemon Cove. The road has since been extended np the river to the property of the Ohio Lemon Company, and it is expected that it will soon be extended up the river to Three Rivers. Leaving the main line a short distance northeast of Lemon Cove, a branch was constructed, crossing the Kaweah river near McKay Point, and thence extending westerly to Redbanks, with a spur running north to AVoodlake. THE PORTERVILLE NORTH EASTERN In 1909 a company was formed with the avowed purpose of con- structing a railroad from Tulare City to the town of Spring-\'ille, by way of Woodville and Porterville. F. U. Nofziger was president of the company and ITolley & liolley of Visalia the engineers. 148 TUr.AKE AND KINGS COUNTIES The peo]>l(' all along the way were anxious for such a road, and very little trouble was offered to the securing of the rights of way. Work was immediately connnenced on that jiortion of the project be- tween Porterville and S))ringville, called the Porterville North Eastern road, and it was puslied vigorously. On the 9th of September, 1911, the people of Springville celebrated the completion of the road. It was a great day for the little town. There were crowds of people from the otlier towns in the county, from Fresno and from Bakerstield. The road has been absorbed l)y the Southern Pacific, and is now run as a part of that system. CHAPTER XVI GREAT TRAIN ROBBERIES The first of a series of five train robberies occurred near Pixley, on the morning of February 22, 1889. As train No. 17 was leaving that place, two masked men climbed over the tender to the cab and ordered the engineer to stop the train at a point two miles distant from the station. There the engineer and fireman were compelled to dismount and were ]ilaced as shields, one in front of each robber, and marched to the express car. J. R. Kelly, the express messenger, was ordered to open the door, which he did, and one robber entered, the other keeping guard. Ed Bently, a deinity constable of Modesto, who was a passenger on the train, got off and proceeded forward out of curiosity and was shot and seriously wounded, the robbers firing between the fireman's legs. Another curious jiasseuger, Charles (iubert, was shot and killed. After securing their booty, the amount of which was never made public, the robbers returned the engineer and fireman to their jjosts and disapjieared. The railroad and express companies inunediatel.v offered rewards of $2000 each for the arrest and conviction of the robbers, and special trains with officers, men and horses, left Tulare and Bakers- field for the scene of the robbery. Trails were disclosed leading to the coast, but the robbers were not found. January 24, 1890, as the train was leaving Goshen about four a. m., the role of the Pixlev robbery was re-enacted. Five masked men again climbed to the engine from the tender, stopj^ed the train, marched engineer and fireman to the door of the exjiress car. The TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 149 messenger was told not to shoot, as tlie engineer iind fireman were being lield as shields. As these train officers also urged eomplianee the messenger opened the door and one of the robbers entered and filled a sack with valuables. Then disinoiinting, they eomiielled Love- jo}', the fireman, to extinguish the headlight and carry the sack before them a few hundred yards down the track. In the meantime, a Dane named Christenseu, who was riding under the ])aggage ear, thinking that the train had been stopped on his account, got off, and was fatally shot. The robbers were supposed to iiave secured in the neighborhood of $20,000 this time. As before, they were followed by officers toward tlie west, l)ut not captured. THE D.\LTON GANG In the third instance, which occurred at Alila, as train No. 17 was imlling out of that station at 7:50 a. m., on February 6, 1891, exactly similar tactics were pursued. The express messenger, a man named Jlaswell, was not so tract- able as the others had been. The engineer, J. P. Thoin, and the fireman, Q. S. Radcliffe, were marched to the express car door; the order to open was given, but not obeyed. Instead, Haswell extinguished his light and with a repeating rifle fired several shots through the door, one of which fatally wounded Radcliffe. The shots were returned by the robbers and a fusilade ensued. The contest frightened the bandits and they fled. Under-sheriff Bennett of Los Angeles, a passenger on the train, went forward to assist after the robliers had fled and was fired on by a thii'd man wlio was holding the horses. Sheriff Kay immediately i)roceeded from '\"isalia to the scene, and at daylight next morning found the trail of three horsemen, leading to the northwest, which, with a ])osse, he followed. No capture was then made, but in May following William and Grattan Dalton of San Luis Obispo county, were arrested and charged with the crime. In August, the trial of Grattan Dalton was held and he was found guilty, but in September, before receiving sentence, he, with two other prisoners. Beck and Smith, broke jail and escaped. William Dalton was tried in October and acquitted. In the meantime a fourth attempt at train robbery in the San Joaquin valley had been nuule. The Los Angeles express, on September .1, 1891, was stojiped by highwaymen wdien seven miles south of Modesto. Two masked men boarded the train at Ceres, compelled the engineer to ])ull out a mile and a half and stoj). Engineer Neff was forced to i)Ut out the headlight, get a jtick and attempt to open the express car door, which the messenger refused to do. 10 150 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES Two bombs were then exploded uuder the car, the first one making a hole in the door through which the fireman was compelled to crawl and light a lamp. Leu Harris, a detective who was on the train, sneaked up to the robbers and fired four shots without eflfeot. lie was shot in the neck and dangerously wounded. More shooting ensued and the robbers, becoming frightened, left in the direction of the coast range. After this robbery, it was re]iorted in Visalia that it was done with a view to diverting the attention of officers so that the escape of Grattan Dalton could be effected, and at Sheriff Kay's request. Captain Byrnes, N. G. C, placed details of men from Company E to guard the jail from 3 p. m. until the following morning. William Dalton and Riley Dean were arrested for this crime on the Sunday following, being found in a ranch house near Traver, but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. Before relating the particulars of the fifth and last robbery, which occurred at Collis in August of the following year, it will be well to finish the history of the Dalton brothers, who at this time were supposed to be the only participants in the whole series of robberies. The prisoner Beck, a month or so after his escape in company with Grattan Dalton, was trailed by Sheriff Kay to the state of Washington, and there captured. On his promising information leading to the capture of Dalton he was granted immunity, providing such information proved to be reliable. It was ascertained that Dalton had never left the vicinity; that he ranged on Kings river and that a number of people were protecting him and supplying him with food. On the 24th of December, Kay, with Deputy Sheriffs Wilty and Hockett, Fred Hall, Cal Burland," Ed McCardie, Sheriff Hensley of Fresno and his men, discovered the camp of Dalton and Dean on the upper reaches of Kings river. Dean was captured and shots were exchanged with Dalton, who escaped on a horse which he forced a farmer to furnish him. Grattan Dalton was never captured. THE COLLIS KOBBEEY The Southern Pacific train, due to arrive in Fresno at 12 :10 a. m., was held up by four robbers near Collis shortly before mid- night of August 3, 1892. The robbers mounted the tender of the engine and, covering the engineer and fireman with arms, compelled a stop. A stick of d\Tiamite was placed on the piston rod and exploded. The engineer jumped and ran, making his escape, but the fireman was held by the robbers, who marched back by the side of the train, firing to intimidate passengers. When the express car was reached, a stick TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 151 of giant powder was placed on the sill of the door, and in ex]ilodino:, wrecked the car, breaking three doors, blowing a hole in the roof, and scattering the contents in every direction. The messenger, George D. Roberts, was lying on the floor, rifle in hand. The shock of the explosion threw him across the car, dis- located his shoulder and rendered him senseless for a few moments. As soon as Roberts recovered his faculties he stuck his hands through the open door to announce that he gave up. The robbers went into the car and compelled him to open the safe. Three bags of coin con taining between $10,000 and $15,000 were taken. THE EVANS .\XD SONTAG TRAGEDIES On August 4th Chris Evans appeared in Visalia after a consider- able absence, stating that he had just returned from the mountains. George Sontag also reajspeared, stating that he had just returned from the east. These were suspected by the railroad detectives and George Sontag was placed under arrest, and Deputy Sheriff George Witty and Detective Will Smith went to the Evans house for Evans and John Sontag. Smith entered the door and faced a double barreled shotgun in the hands of Evans, another gun being handy for the use of Sontag. Unable to draw his revolver on account of his coat being- buttoned. Smith fled, as did Witty, Sontag giving chase to the one and Evans to the other. In their flight they were forced to leave the sheritf 's team and rig. Smith was slightly wounded in the back and hands, but managed to get to town unaided. Witty was more unfor- tunate, receiving some forty shot wounds and a pistol bullet which passed through his body, and almost proved fatal. Similar material to that of which the masks were made was found at the Evans home. Sontag and Evans drove off in the sheriff's vehicle, but returned early the next morning. The house was surrounded by a party con- sisting of former Sheriff D. G. Overall, Oscar Beaver, W. H. Fox, constable Charley Hall of Lucerne, detective Thatcher and sheriif Cunningham of San Joaquin county. About one o'clock, Evans and Sontag were seen in the barn harnessing the horses and were ordered to stop by Beaver, who fired two shots, one of which disabled a horse. The bandits returned the fire and Beaver fell, mortally wounded. In the excitement which ensued the robbers effected their escape on foot, walking twelve miles to the Hai'vey Ward place, where they procured a cart and team, and made their way to the mountains by way of Badger. The result of the posse's efforts were criticised and ridiculed by the press generally. Posses followed the trail and on September 14, 1892, the bandits were located at Sampson's flat in a log house. As the posse approached the house a volley was fired from the inside I'r2 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES which killed A'ictor C. Wilson of El Paso, aud Audy McGinuis of Modesto, and .slightly wounded A I Witty. Not until the following spring were the robbers and murderers again seen by oIKeers, although many attempts were made to track them down. On j\i)ril 19, 1893, Sheriff Kay received information that Evans and Sontag would pay a visit to Visalia that evening. A posse consisting of the sherifT, E. A. Gilliam, John Broder, Ed McVeagh, Morgan Haird, J. P. Carroll and E. J. trudge, sun-ounded the house early in the evening, and about eleven o'clock they heard the barn doors o])en and discerned the meu attempting to escape. Kay, Gilliam and l^roder fired, Imt without effect. The cordon around the house proved ineffectual and for some time the bandits were not again seen. On May 26, 1893, deputy United States Marshal Black, standing at the door of his cabin near Badger, was shot in the leg and hand, and identified his assailant as Evans. Not until June 11, 1893, were tlie outlaws again located. A posse composed of United States Marshal (reorge E. Gard, P. E. Jackson, Hi Eapelje and Tom Burns had. while hot on the trail, taken up quar- ters in a deserted cabin at Stone Corral. The robbers were seen approaching and the posse stationed themselves outside. In the battle that ensued both Sontag and Evans were shot, the former fatally. Evans again escaped, luit was soon after found at the home of E. H. Perkins, and placed under arrest. Sontag died within about three weeks after the Stone Corral fight, Evans' trial was held in Fresno in November and December. He was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment. Within two weeks, however, he escaped from the Fresno jail, being assisted by a man named Ed Morrell. After getting out of jail, the pair held up a boy with a horse and cart, took it, aud successfully eluding the guards, which were immediately stationed on the roads leading out of town, succeeded in again getting into the moimtain country. This esca])e was hailed with great glee in Visalia because the Visalia officers had been severely rated for inefficiency in the Fresno papers. A period of several months ensued, most of which was consumed by the officers in following false clues. Evans terrorized the flunie men in the hills, aud the sheej) herders, threatening them with death if they revealed his whereabouts. On Fe])ruary 13, 1894, Sheriff Scott of Fresno county, and ])osse, came upon Evans' and Morrell 's camp in Eshom valley. Three shots were tired ineffectually, the bandits escaping hurriedly, leaving much ammunition and camp equipment, Evans wrote several letters to friends in Visalia, and on March 7th, visited John March, who resided near Orosi, fourteen miles from Visalia. As far as the officers of the law were concerned, however, all TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 153 trace of the baudits was lost after the exchange of shots witli Sheriff Scott's posse, until the following year. The mountain settlers all denied seeing or hearing anything of the outlaws. After these exploits, wliicii constituted one of the most s))e('tacu- lar criminal careers in the history of the county, it seems strange that Evans should have submitted tamely at the last, but he did. On Saturday, May IS, 1894, the ])andits came to Visalia, and on Monday the olhcers learned of their presence, and a posse, including Sheriff Kay, United States Marshal Gard, deputy sheriffs Witty and Robert Broder, night watclunan Byrd and constable English, sur- rounded the house. The news brought crowds to the vicinity who watched behind houses and barns at as near range as they dared to get. A young man named Beeson offered to take a note to Evans for twenty-five cents. He was given $1 and sent in, but did not return. At 10 a. m., an eight-year-old son of Evans came out of the house with a note to Sheriff Kay, which read : "Sheriff Kay — Come to the house without guns and you will not be harmed. I want to talk with you. Chris Evans." Kay, replying, recpiested Evans to come out and give himself up, in answer to which he received the following: "Sheriff Kay — Send the crowd away and bring Will Hall with you to the gate and then we will talk. I will not harm you. You are the sheriff of the county, and I am willing to make terms with you, but with no one else. I will stej) out on the porch when you come to the gate. Chris Evans." The crowd had not shown any inclination towards violeiu-e, but apparently the bandits were more afraid of it than of the officers. Accordingly, the crowd was persuaded to move away and Kay and Hall met Evans and Morrell on the ]iorch and shook hands with them and then placed Iioth under arrest. Young Beeson related that when he knocked at the door he was covered with guns and told to come inside, where he was searched. No wea])()ns were found on him, luit he was regarded as a spy and told to sit down and keep his mouth shut. By the next evening, when Sheriff Scott took Evans back to Fresno, so many threats of lynching had been exjn'essed that it was decided not to take the risk of waiting until midnight for the train, but to ]iroceed l)v team. When news of the departure of the officers with the prisoner became known a crowd of determined men, con- tained in twelve or fifteen livery rigs, started in pursuit with the in- tention of lynching Evans. At (joshen they learned that the officers had taken another road and were jiractically beyond ]>ui'suit, so the chase was abandoned. Evans was sentenct'd to life imprisonment at Eolsom and served 154 TULARE AXD KIXGS COUNTIES seventeen years and two mouths, being released on parole, Mav 1, 1911. Morrell also received a life sentence Init was pardoned after serv- ing fifteen years. CHAPTER XVII. CHURCHES. SCHOOLS, POPULATIOX The early settlers in Tnlare county ever made the establish- ment of schools aud the organization of churches keep even pace with the forming of settlements. If a full history of the churches in Visalia could be written it would show a long line of suffering heroes; little comedy but much tragedy. There is a pathos about the lives of the pioneer preachers that is wanting in later times. The pastor of the city church, who devotes his week days to study in his library, with recreation in the garden, and social intercourse with his parishioners, can little appreciate the exalted self denial and often severe suffering that generally accompanied the circuit riders. Surely a person, to meet the exigencies of a pioneer IJreacher, with conditions as they were in Tulare county in the '50s or even '60s, must be ablaze with a Pauline passion for souls. It is with a feeling akin to reverence that one calls up the visions of pioneer days, and the keenest interest is aroused by the pioneer and his weal. This is especially true wlien considered along with the struggles and victories of the early churches. The days of the circuit rider, picturesque in his missionary zeal, have passed away, but they have left an afterglow that fills the heart with thankfulness and devotion. THE SOUTH METHODIST Tlie first church in the county was the Methodist Episcopal South. In 1852, when Visalia consisted of undignified shacks and magnificent distances, before it was even selected as a county seat. a congregation of this faith was organized here. Rev. O. P. Fisher, the presiding elder of the Pacific Congress, and the Rev. M. Christianson took charge of the congregation and held services as opportunity presented itself. The first house of worship, however, was not constructed until 1857. James Persian, a leading member and himself one of the largest donors, undertook the task and a snuill brick church was erected on Church street, near Acequia, about where the telephone exchange is now situated. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 155 At that time the Rev. E. B. Lockley was pastor in diarge and the membership was tifteen souls. Tlie present church building, on the corner of Court and School streets, was erected in 1872, and enlarged and improved in 1905- '06, and a new parsonage built in 1911. There have been twenty-four pastors in charge of the flock here since the organization. The present membershi]i is about one hundred and fifty. Rev. W. J. Fenton took charge in 1911, and under his care all l)i;ni('lies of the work are progressing. THE BAPTIST CHUECH The Baptist church has had a varied experience in Visalia. There was a small congregation in the '50s that held services in the oak-grove west of the schoolhouse, and later, .iointly with the South Methodists, occupied the first church building erected in Visalia. The Rev. James A. Webb, the "Bible Poet" as he called him- self, occupied the pulpit at the times when services were held. This eccentric individual was engaged in, and it is said, finished, the translation into verse of the entire Scriptures. Not until the early '70s was a building erected. This, located on Main street between Court and Locust, was later destroyed by fire and the congregation disbanded. In 1907 the Rev. E. M. Bliss came to Visalia as a missionary and in March of that year succeeded in organizing a congregation with twenty-one charter members. The congregation rented Good Templars Hall and there held services until the completion of the present commodious and attractive building. This is an impos- ing structure of concrete blocks, on the corner of Garden street and Mineral King avenue. The north transept has two stories. The cornerstone of this building was laid April 18, 1910, and the dedicatory services held February 1, 1911. Rev. J. M. Couley preached the sermon at the laying of the cornerstone and at the dedication. The Rev. Robert J. Burdette of the Temple Baptist church at Los Angeles assisted at the dedication. The membershiji has increased ra])idly and now numbers about ninety. SUNDAY SCHOOLS About the time of the founding of the first church in Visalia came the organization of a Sunday school. All the church people united in maintaining a Union Sunday school. In its issue of December 11, 18(5.3, the Delta said this school was in a flourishing condition with about one hundred children in attendance. There were at the time only eighty children in the day schools. A little later a school was maiutniiicd by each denomination s(>i)aiately. 156 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES THE PKESBYTERIAX CHURCH On Deceiuber 9, 18f)6, a liaml of fourteen men and women organized a Pres1)yterian olrarcli in Visalia. This was of tlie Old School order. Rev. William Edwards was in charge, and the con- gregation met in the small building on the corner of Church and Willow streets. Later this building was destroyed by fire and, tlie membership being small, the congregation disbanded. The Cumberland Presljyterian people had become so strong that, under the pastorate of the Rev. Mr. Smith, they organized a church in 1878. with a following of about sixty. They ])urchased the property of the Baptists, consisting of the lot on the corner of Main and Locust streets and the building thereon. An oppor- tunity presented and the property was sold and two lots on the corner of Oak and Locust streets purchased. The building was moved and is still used. This proi)erty was purchased by the Cum- berland Presbyterian Church, incorporated. But the decision of the churches at Decatur, 111., in May, 1906, announcing the union of the two branches of the Presbyterians, has caused trouble in the congregation. Some hold that the title should be in the Pres- byterian Church and others that it still remains in the Cumberland. The former have possession, and a few of the Cumberland brethren are meeting in a rented hall. The others have arranged to erect a tine new building of concrete blocks, and the congregation, under the leadership of Rev. C. H. Reyburn, is growing. THE LUTHER.^NS The Lutheran Cluuch organized a congregation in Visalia in 1907, under the care of "William Grunow, pastor. A commodious church building was erected on South Court street. About a year later a parochial school was opened with about forty pupils. THE EPISC()P.\L CHURCH The Episcopal church is one of recent date in Visalia. Previous to 1880 occasional services were held as circumstances ])ermitted. Revs. W. H. Hill, Powell, and D. O. Kelley, were the principal mis- sionaries that conducted these infrequent services. In May. 18S0, the Mission St. John was organized for the entire county, and comprised the towns of Visalia, Tulare City, Hanford and Lemoore. The Mission was imder the charge of Rev. D. 0. Kelley, with headquarters in Hanford. On Feliruary 9, 1887, the Mission of St. Pan! was organized in Visalia. During the same year, under the care of Rev. C. S. Lindsley, a building was erected on a lot donated by Mr. Jacobs, on North" Church street. In 1898 the Rev. C. M. Westlake, the jiastor in charge, secured tlie advantageous corner of Encina avenue and Center streets. The old buildimj- was nu)ved TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 157 to tlie new location. In ]!i()4, under tlie care of Rev. II. I'. Carroll, the rectory wa.s huilt and in IDOll and 1!)10 the church was enlarged and improved and tlie parish house built. The St. Paul's Mission, Visalia, and the St. John's Mission, Tulare, have been associated as one charge. To these was recently added St. John's Mission, Porter- ville. The church has a membership of about ninety. Nine priests have served the local church. THE CATHOIJC CHURCH The Catholic cliurcii existed for several years in Visalia before a building was erected. Rev. Father D. F. Dade was the priest who for many years cared for the flock. As early as 1860 he is rejiorted to have celebrated mass in the old courthouse. In the late summer of 1861 he obtained the use of an old barn and opened a parochial school. In memory of the birthplace of the Savior, he named his school the Academy of the Nativity. On October 18, 1868, at the corner of Church and Race streets, he laid the cornerstone of the brick church now standing there, and dedicated it. Church of the Nativity. March 28, 1909, the Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Conaty, of the diocese of Los Angeles, laid the foundation of the present imposing church building on the lot south of the old building. The erection of this fine structure of concrete blocks was due largely to the de\otion of the Rev. feather Foin. The church in Visalia has been ministered to by eleven priests. METHODIST EPISCOPAL The Methodist Episcopal church was among the tirst Protestant bodies to e.stablish themselves on the Pacific slope. August 15, 1851, eleven i)reachers met in San Francisco and held the first Methodist Conference on this coast. Their field of labor was froTO Canada to Mexico. But it was not until 1858 that an organization was made in Visalia. The class was organized by John McKelvey, in charge of this circuit. W. N. Steuben and wife and Mrs. Lucinda Kenne.v were the first members. The congregation had no settled jJace of worship until 1H67, wlien, under the pastorate of 'J\ P. Williams, there was a building erected on the corner of Court and Willow streets. A Sunday school was organized in 1869 by D. K. Zumwalt. In 1902 C. A. Bunker was pastor and work was commenced on a new church Imilding. The building was not finished until the pastorate of Mr. Livingston, Mr. Bunker's successoi-. In November. 1908, the church, with A. L. Baker as pastor, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, called the Golden Jubilee, in a week of special and approj)riate services, at which many of the previous pastors were present and assisted. 158 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES CHRISTIAN CHURCH The Disciples of Christ were represented at an early date in Visalia. Some previous efforts had been made by them to form an organization, but nothing was accomplished until in August, 1857, when fourteen men of this faith under tlie leadership of William Higgens, met and organized the First Christian Church in Yisalia. They met under a shelter of willow boughs in the lot between Court and Locust and Center and Oak streets, west of the present residence of Mrs. S. C. Brown. For lack of chairs, trunks of trees were vised for seats. Of the fourteen charter members, C. P. Majors of near Visalia, is the only one on this side of the Great Divide. At the organization, "William Higgins was chosen minister and elder, and John K. Morris, elder, and "W. B. Owen and C. P. Majors deacons. The congregation made the shelter of willows the place of meeting till late in the fall of that year, and then used the school- house. For lack of a church bell. Elder Higgins improvised a cow's horn and by the sonorous blasts from this unique instrument, called the humble worshipers together. The congregation later met in various places, among which were the courthouse. Centennial hall. Good Templars' hall, the South Methodist church, the Presbyterian church, and the City Hall. An unfortunate controversy arose among the members over the use of the organ in the services, and for some time the ill feeling engendered by this controversy greatly retarded the growth of the congregation. After several years of rather acrimonious feelings, by the efforts of E. B. Ware, then state evangelist, the members "forgot it," got together, bought the lot on the northwest corner of Court and School streets and in 1890, dedicated the present tine building. Among the early ministers were : T. N. T\ incaid, Alex. Johnson. A. W. DeWitt, H. Tandy, J. E. Denton. Since the building was erected some of the ablest ministers in the state have been stationed here. Among these ministers were W. H. Martin, now of Southern California, Peter Colvin, of Santa Rosa, T. A. Boyer of Oakland, and J. A. Brown, in the evangelistic field. Fredei'ic Grimes took charge of the church in 1911, and has been a strong man in the Bible school and all departments of church work. Tlie Bible school, numl)ering nearly three hundred, is an enthusiastic one. THE TRAINING OF THE YOUNG In tracing the history of Tulare county, it is found that the people have ever been prompt in the matter of providing educational facilities for the children. The school and the church have attended the early pioneers. We of today provide our children with the best modern educa- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 159 tional facilities by the simple exjiedient of readily votiii,s>' "yes" ou all projiositions for school l)onds. There was a time in Tulare county when, other problems of life far less involved than now, the solution of this question was one of "Teat difficulty. Within the hearts of the early iiioneers, howe\er, the determination was stroui^- to give to their offspring a greater measure of learning than they themselves had enjoyed, and it came al)out that in 1853 a school was established in Visalia. Remember that this was at the very time in which each settler, surging with ambition, was l)usy inaugurating his individual enterprise. One was building a sawmill, another a store, another a gristmill, others were sending afar to procure the seed for farming; some were guarding their stock; the first farrows were being turned. Remember, too, that in a county extending from Mariposa on the north to Los Angeles on the south and from Nevada on the east to the summit of the coast range in the west, there were but eigliteen children, between the ages of tive and seventeen. You can readily imagine how much these children were needed to help at home. But they started a school. There was no building yet, just a school, and thirteen pupils attended. In 185-1: the tirst school district, embracing the entire county, was organized, and the first sehoolhouse, made of rough boards set on end, was erected near the site of the present Tipton Lindsey grammar school in Visalia. The population of Tulare county increased by leaps in the next succeeding years, but it was largely transient, composed of the horde of miners flocking to the new gold fields of the Kern. The school census of 1860 exhibited a healthy, but of course, not a corresponding growth. By that year there had come to be five schools in the county, which cared for four hundred and sixty-five children, dis- tributed as follows: Visalia, two hundred and eighty; Klbow, one hundred and twenty-four; "WoodviJle, one hundred and fifty-two; Persian, eighty-five. The public school system was developing normally, keeping pace with the needs of the people, Imt it was deemed insufficient. The following notice about a projiosed seminary for Visalia a])i:)eared in the Delta of December .'>1, 1859, and shows that ])eoi)le then were thinking of higher education: "Seminary. A subscription is in circulation for the purpose of building a seminary near town on a lot donated for the purjiose by J. R. Keener. The subscrii)tion list we saw was liberally signed. Attached to about half a dozen names was the sum of $3,700. The proposition is to make it a joint stock company. Rev. R. W. Taylor, and a lady are to take chai'ge of the institution." In 1859 Rev. B. W. Taylor, of Los Angeles, arrived and broached 160 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES a project for opeiiiii.s>' a private scliool, in wliich the higher brandies of learning should be taught. His pUm met with immediate favor and a joint stock e()ni])auy was formed to finance it. Henry Keener donated a lot, and subscriptions in an amount sufficient to erect and equip a large two-story building were soon secured. The building was erected in tlie southwestern part of town at the corner of Watson avenue and the Tulare road and the institution named The Visalia Select Seminary. For a time the Reverend Taylor and his wife were the only instructors, but later M. S. Merrill, of Los Angeles, was added to take charge of the newly created primary de]iartment. In 1S()1 Rev. Father Dade opened a private school called Tlie Academy of the Nativity. The title was suggested by the fact that the building which it occupied, located about where Visalia 's Catholic church now stands, was originally designed as a stable. Father Dade's scholarly attainments were such as to well (jualifv him for his ])osition. Modern hmguages and Latin were among the l>ranches taught, and the elements of a classical education, so highly esteemed in those days, was imparted. This school, though taught by a ])riest, was strictly non-sectarian, and its i^atrons, sending their children there solely on account of the educational facilities afforded, became numerous. The boys and girls were instructed separately, the reverend father tutoring the former and Miss Hattie Deming the latter. The establishment of these two schools at so early a day amidst a ijopulation so sparse, clearly indicates the progressive spirit of the early pioneers and exhibits anew the cro})ping forth of the cherished longing to i)lace their children on a higher intellectual plane than it had been the lot of the fathers and mothers to ascend. And Visalia became the educational center of the valley. From as far south as Tejou and as far north as the Merced river, students came, for ever>'where the idea was strong to secure for their children the best. Tlie seminary and the academy flourished for a number of years — in fact, until their usefulness was over, which came to pass from the betterment of the ]iublic schools and the establishment near the big centers of ])o|mhition of colleges, universities and normal schools of high order. Tulare's schools are now among the best in the state. There were at the close of I'Jll one hundreil and fourteen primary and grammar schools in the county, emi)loying two hundred and twenty- six teachers. There are also seven high schools in the county and three joint high schools, employing sixty-one teachers. There were in 1910-1!)! L (v'^45 pupils in the grammar and primary grades and 892 in high schools. There were 523 graduates from the grammar grades and ninety-six fi'om the high schools. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 161 POPULATION For a imml)er of years tlie population of Tulare couHty did uot increase very rapianized, in 185"J, the total white population was estimated at one hundred. r>y the census of 1860 it was s'iven as three thousand ; in 1870, 4,533 ; 1880, 11,281 ; 18!)0, 24,574; Kings county was cut off in 1893, and still, the census for J910 gave old Tulare 35,543. The present population has lieen closely estimated at 47,500. The census figures for 1910 of some of the difPcreut cities and villages are given below. To arrive at their present population add from thirty to forty per cent: Angiola 44, Auckland 22, Badger 13, Dinulia 970, Exeter 660. I^razier 29. Hot Springs 22, Kaweah 28, Lindsay 1814, Urosi 590, Pixley 64, Por- terville 2696, Tulare 2758, Visalia 4550, White River 94, Woodville, 76, Farmersville 550. One thing was very noteworthy hy the last census, and tliat was the rapid increase of po))ulation of rural districts as compared with the incorporated towns. All showed a marked rate of increase, but the country's rate was much larger. It would seem that the' ci-y "back to the farm" is being heard. The whole county showed a rate of ninety-three ]ier cent, increase in ten years. PEOPEKTY VALUES The best index to the prosperity of a ])eople is the assessment roll. As that ebbs or flows, so will the prosperity of the citizens. The first assessment roll of Tulare county, in 1853, consisted of a single sheet of foolscap pai)er and there was not a single piece of real estate assessed. The property in the county consisted entirely of horses and cattle. That year, when the county treasurer went to Benicia to settle with the state, the state comptroller and the state treasurer had no knowledge that there was such a county as Tulare in exisence. However, the state officials accepted the small sum (al)()ut $75) that Tulare county tendered toward the support of the state government. The assessment roll of 1855 is a curious document. It contains three hundred and forty-two names, tliis including tliose to whom a ])oll tax only was assessed. It totals $437,225. Three parcels only of real estate were included. These were Jones & Robedee, 320 acres — .$640; San .\melia ranch, eleven leagues, $50,000; Iguacio Del Vallo, acreage not given, $100,000. S. C. Brown was rated at $550; .lolm Cutler at $960, and Ricliard Cliatten at $410. In the roll of 1858, Andrew G. Harrell's name appears; he possessed forty head of Spanish cattle and one horse, of a valuation of $1,040. The wealthiest residents of 1855, according to the assessment, outside of Mr. Del Vallo and the San Amelia ranch owners were: 162 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Elisha Packwood. $23,735; Pemberton Bros., $14,075; S. A. Bishop, $21,875; Eeuben Matthews & Co., $10,070; Patterson & Hazeltou were given as worth $1,210. The assessment roll of 1860 showed the following: Acres of improved land, 20,313; nnmber of horses and mules, -4,24:5; number of cattle, 42,373; number of sheep, 16,521; number of swine, 32,546; bushels of wheat, 40,268; bushels of corn, 6,355; bushels of Irish potatoes, 4,067; bushels of sweet potatoes, 1,656; pounds of wool, 16,900; pounds butter, 30,380; pounds cheese, 14,970; gallons of wine, 1000; tons hay, 980; schools, five. Real estate valued at $372,8.35; machinery, $32,763; livestock, $1,212,381. Total debt of the county, $33,262.46. In 1880 the values had increased somewhat and the total assess- ment roll showed property values to be $6,411,378. In the next ten years property had taken a double somersault. The assessment roll showed for 1890, $21,740,817. In 1893, Kings county, with the rich towns of Hanford and Lemoore, was cut off from Tulare, yet the assessment roll for 1910 showed the people of Tulare still possessed $37,475,140 worth of projjerty listed by the assessor. Surely the people are to be felicitated. Each year sees an advance in the rate of increase. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 163 CHAPTER XVIII TULARE'S OFFICERS For the nnniber of years since organization, Tulare lias had a long list of official servants. Yet there are few counties in any state that can point to a list with fewer unworthies and a larger number of honorable and devoted men. SUPERVISORS Under different statutes the board has consisted of five and again of three members, and sometimes the fully authorized number was not elected. The following have served, being either elected or appointed in the year set before their names. 1853 — Loomis St. John, A. J. Lawrence, John Poole, Henry Burroughs, AVarren S. Matthews. 1854— J. T. Pemberton, C. G. Sayles, Anson Hadley, W. S. Matthews, A. H. Murray. 1855 — Anson Hadley, J. C. Reid, D. L. De Spain. 1856 — James Persian, William Packard. 1857— P. Goodhue, R. W. Coughran, J. C. Reid. 1858— G. E. Long, A. A. Wingfield. 1859— E. Van Valkenberg, J. C. McPherson. I860— William Camiibell, R. K. Nichols, H. W. Niles. 1861— Pleasant Byrd. 1863— A. M. Donelson, R. K. Nichols, Tipton Lindsey. 1865— W. R. Jordan. 1869— C. R. W^ingfield, D. Stong, James Barton. 1871— W. E. Owen, C. R. Wingfield, James Barton. 1873 — E. N. Baker, James Barton, Samuel Huntling, Edwin Giddings. 1877 — J. H. Grimsley (succeeding Baker). 1879 — J. H. Shore (succeeding Barton). 1882— S..M. Gilliam, W. H. Hammond, J| W. C. Pogue, C. Tal- bot, S. E. Biddle. 1884— T. E. Henderson, M. Premo, J. W. C. Po,gue, D. V. Robin- son, G. E. Shore. 1886 — James Barton, J. W. Newport. 1888— J. H. Woody. 1890— James Barton, S. L. N. Ellis, J. H. Pox. 1892— T. E. Henderson, T. B. Twaddle, S. M. Gilliam. 1896— Robert Baker, T. B. Twaddle, J. W. Thomas. 1898— D. V. Robinson, R. N. Clack. 1900— R. W. McFarland, T. B. Twaddle, W. H. Moffett. 1902- W. E. Hawkins, J. M. Martin. 164 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 1904— R. ^y. IMfFailaiid, T. B. Twaddle. George Birkenliauer. 1906— E. Tout, J. M. Maitiu. 1908— A. C. Williams. 1910— Robert Ilorliacli. 1912— Fay Singletou. THE .JCUICIARY Under the old constitution the judicial system provided for dis- trict courts, the districts composed of a number of counties, and county courts. District Judges: In the organization of Tulare count}' it was attached to the fifth judicial district, which included all the San Joaquin and Tulare valleys and the Sierra Nevada south of Cala- veras county. Charles M. Cramer was district judge, holding court at Mariposa. In 1858 the thirteenth judicial district was created, which included Tulare, Fresno, Mariposa, Merced and Stanislaus counties. For this district the following were elected: Ethelbert Burke in 1859; A. M. Bondurant in 1863; Alexander During, appointed in 1865; A. C. Bradford in 1867, and re-elected; A. C. Campbell in 1875; AV. AV. Cross in 1877. County Judges : 1852, Walter H. Harvey ; 1853, John Cutler, 1858, Robert C. Redd; 1859, William Boring." E. E. Calhoun was appointed May 9, 1860. In 1860 C. G. Sayle was elected ; 1863, Nathan Baker; 1867, S. J. Garrison, who resigned, and S. A. Shepjiard was appointed; 1873, John Clark, wlio served until the adoption of the new constitution when the office was mei'ged in the superior court. Superior Judges : W. W. Cross, 1879. and re-elected. The legislature of 1891 authorized a second superior judge, and Wheaton A. Grav was appointed. This act was repealed by the next legislature. W. A. Gray, 1892; W. B. Wallace, 1898, 1904. 1910. The legislature of 1910- '11 created a second department and J. A. Allen was a])iiointed by the governor in 1911. THE LAWMAKERS State Senators : At first Tulare county joined with Fresno in electing senators, but later the senatorial district was confined to Tulare, Kings and Kern counties. The following have served the countv, the date following the name being the date of election : James H. Wade, 1852; J. A. McNeil, 1854; Samnel A. Merritt, 1856; Thomas Baker, 1861; J. W. Freeman, 1863; Thomas Fowler, 1869; Tipton Lindsev, 1873; Chester Rowell, 1879; Patrick Reddy, 1882; John Roth, 1886; George S. Berry, 1890; W. A. Sims. 1894; II. L. Pace, 1898; E. 0. Miller, 1906; E. O. Larkins, 1910. Assemblymen: In the assembly district Tulare and Inyo counties have for a long time l)een united. The following is a list of those elected to the assembly, the date being that of the election : John T. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 165 Tivy, 185.5 ; Thomas Baker, 1854; Kol)ert R. Swan, 1855; (). K. Smith, 1856; A. II. Mitchell, 1857; James M. Roane, 1858; Thomas M. Heston, 1859; 0. K. Smith, 1860; Jas. C. Pemberton, 1861; J. W. Freeman, 1862; Joseph C. Brown, 1863; E. W. Doss, 1869; John Bnrkhalter, 1871; W. Caiifield, 1873; J. A. Patterson, 1875; W. S. Adams, 1877; A. B. Du Brutz, 1879; Rufus E. Arrick, 1880; Allen J. Atwell, 1882; E. L. De Witt, 1884; A. B. Butler, 1886; George S. Berrv, 1888; W. S. Cunningham, 1890; W. H. Alford, 1892; D. V. Robinson, 189-4; W. P. Boone, 1896-98; H. Levinson, 1900; A. M. Lumlev, 1902-04; P. W. Forbes, 1906; (I. W. Wylie, 1908-1910. SHIiRIFF William Dill, 1852; 0. K. Smith, 1853; W. G. Poiudexter, 1855; J. C. Reid, 1859; J. C. Pemberton, 1860; W. C. Owen, 1861; John Meadows, elected but did not serve; John Gill, 1864; Tilden Reid, 1865; W. F. Thomas, 1867; A. H. Glasscock, 1869; Charles R. Wing- field, 1873; J. 1 1. Campbell, 1877; M. G. Wells, 1879; W. F. Martin, 1882; Alfred Baalam, 1884; George A. Parker, 1886; D. G. Overall. 1888; E. W. Kav, 1890; A. P. Merritt, 1894; B. B. Parker, 1898; W. W. Collins, 1902-06-10. DISTRICT ATTORNEY J. B. Hatch, 1852; D. W. C. French, 1853; S. C. Brown, 1856; Samuel W. Beckman, 1865; S. A. Sheppard, 1863; S. C. Brown, 1865; A. J. Atwell, 1867; R. C. Redd, 1869; A. J. Atwell, 1871; George S. Palmer. 1873; W. W. Cross, 1874; E. J. Edwards, 1877; Oregon Sanders, 1882; W. B. Wallace, 1884; C. G. Laml)erson, 1886; W. R. Jacobs, 1888; M. E. Power, 1890-92; F. B. Howard, 1894; J. A. Allen, 1898; Dan. McFadjean, 1902-06; Frank Lamberson, 1910. .ASSESSOR Dr. Everett, 1852; J. B. Hatch, 18.53; C. G. Sayle, 1855; T. C. Haj's, 1859; R. B. Sayles, 1861; E. H. Dumble, 1863; A. H. Glass- cock, 1865; T. H. Hawkins, 1867; F. G. Jefferds, 1871; Seth Smith, 1882; D. F. Coffee, 1890; J. F. Gibson, 1894; Arthur Crowlev, 1902; T. H. Blair, 1910. SURVEYOR J. T. Tivy, 1852; Early Lvons, 1853; George Dver, 1854; J. E. Scott, 1857. The election of surveyor was neglected at times, and the office temporarily filled by appointment by the supervisors, 0. K. Smith being appointed on several occasions. J. F. Lewis, 1865; J. M. Johnson, 1867; G. W. Smith, 1871; T. J. Vivian, 1875 ; J. M. Johnson, 1876 ; Seth Smith, 1877 ; Thomas Creigh- ton, 1882; John S. TTiion, 1886; A. T. Fowler, 1888; A. G. Patton, 1892; D. L. Wishon, 1894; Seth Smith, 1898; Byron Lovelace, 1910. T.\X COLLECTOR This oflHce, until 18!)2, was held ex-officio bv the sheriff witli 166 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES the exception of the term from 1877, wheu li. A. Keener was elected. Since then the following: J. S. Johnson, 1892; G. V. Eeed, 1898; J. W. Fewell. 1902. TEEASUEEK J. C. Frankenberger, 1852; Charles R. Wingfield, 1853; AV. G. Eiissell, 1854; Erwin Johnson, I860; John C. Eeid, 1861; T. T. Hath- away, 186.3; Paschal Bequette, 1865; J. E. Scott, 1867; Wiley Watson, 1869; Pleasant Bvrd, 1871; John W. Crowlev. 1873; Philip Wagy. 1877; H. A. Keener, 1879; W. W. Coughran, 1882; C. E. Wiugfield, 1886; D. S. Lipscomb, 1888; J. W. Crowley. 1894; J. E. Denny. 1898; H. Newman, 1902. EECOEDEE A. B. Gordon, 1852; County Clerk ex-officio, 1853; Louis L. Be- quette, 1861; T. J. Shackleford, 1863; W. F. Thomas, 1871; J. E. Dennv, 1875; C. S. O'Bannon, 1877; J. E. Denny, 1882; W. F. Thomas, 1884;" J. M. Johnson, 1888; C. E. Evans, 1890; J. E. Denny, 1892; Ira Chrisman. 1894; J. O. Thomas, 1898; Ira Chrisman, 1902. PUBLIC ADMINISTEATOE This office has usually been combined with that of coroner. In 1854 L. Meadows held the office independently, as did W. G. Daven- port in 1861 and H. A. Bostwick in 1862. AUDITOR The clerk and recorder held this office ex-officio until 1877, when the following served as noted: W. L. Kirkland, 1877; J. F. Jordan, 1879; Ben Parker, 1882; D. G. Overall, 1884; C. T. Buckman, 1886; W. W. Eea, 1892; E. M. Jetferds, 1894; T. H. Blair, 1898; Austin Foucht, 1910. SUPEEINTEXDENT OF SCHOOLS During several years the county clerk has been ex-officio super- intendent of schools. In 1855 W. G. Eussell was elected, after which the clerk tilled the office until 1861, when the following served: B. W. Tavlor, 1861; J. W. Williams, 1863; T. O. Ellis, 1865; M. S. Merril, 1871; S. G. Creio-hton, 1873; E. P. Merril, 1875; W. J. Ellis, 1879; C. H. Murphv, 1882; S. A. Crookshank. 1890; J. S. McPhaill, 1894; S. A. Crookshaiik. 1898; C. J. Walker, 1902; J. E.Buckmau, 1910. CORONEE W. H. McMillen, 1852; I. N. Bell, 1853; S. T. Corley, 1856; H. C. Townsend. 1859; M. Baker, I860; J. D. P. Thompson. I860; AV. A. Eussell, 1863; J. E. Hamilton, 1865; Joseph Lively, 186*; D. L. Pickett, 1871; E. P. Martin, 1873; W. A. Eussell, 1875; L. D. Murphy, 1877; L. M. Lovelace, 1879; T. W. Pendergrass, 1888; 0. S. Higgins, 1890; T. A. Sheppard, 1892; J. C. McCabe, 1894; T. C. Carruthers. 1898; E. E. Du Brutz, 1902, died in office; T. M. Dungan, 1904; filled vacancy; L. Locey, 1910. TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 167 CHAPTEE XIX TULARE COUNTY TODAY Just a trifle over fifty years ai;o tlie srhoolhoy who knew iiit; lesson said, "Tulare county is bounded on the north by Mariposa county, on the east liy the state of Nevada, on tlie south l)y Santa Barbara county and on the west by the summit of the coast range of mountains." The schoolboy's father, well informed for his day, would have replied in answer to a query as to the county's resources and productions: "It's a derned good cattle country and mebbe, if what I hear about the feed in them mountains is so, it might be a blame good sheep country; and they've found gold up there and the's lots of good farming country along the creek bottoms down here." True and simple answers, these — how much more difficult today to render such! Tor now, although a vastly smaller area is embraced within the county, the continued discovery of marvels of nature, the finding of unexpected stores of wealth, the effects of man's assaults upon the fastnesses of the Sierra and of his energy and toil applied to the fertile diversified plain have made of it a task difficult and com[)licated in the extreme. When the boy and his father, fifty years ago, described the county and told us to what it was adapted they did not mention that down from those mountains came streams of such volume that the waters, spread over hundreds of thousands of acres of plain, would increase fertility enormously and render ]iossil)Ie a diversified culture of fruits and grains and forage. This they could know but vaguely. They did not tell us that beneath the parched plains and worthless hog- wallow land below the foothill slopes ran subterranean streams of ceaseless exhaustless flow, which tapjied and their waters spread on the surface would succor and bring to glorious maturity groves of orange and leinon and lime. This they did not know at all. Now could they foresee that season and soil and water distribu- tion would combine to cause certain portions of the county to become famous for the production of the earliest fruits and grapes of the season, that here the French prune and the cling peach, reaching early nraturity and producing extraordinary cro])s, would become wealth producing factors. Nor could they imagine the thousands upon thousands of acres that were to become perennially green with alfalfa, today supporting great herds of sleek dairy cattle and causing the county to rank almost first in butter production. And oh, how little of the splendors and the beauties and the awe-compelling wonders that were hidden in that lofty eastern moun- tain range! They said no word of Mt. Whitney, towering above all 168 TULARE. AND KINGS COUNTIES other peaks witliiu the nation's boundaries; they did not tell of the immense groves, or rather forests, of giant sequoias, larger, older, than any other trees on earth. No tale was there of gem-like clusters of glacial lakes, of vast caverns from whose ceilings depended giisteuiug stalactites; naught was said of gorges and chasms, of tumbling cascades or of bright flower-strew meadows. Overlooked, too, as a factor of future wealth were the miles upon miles of unbroken forest of yellow pine, sugar pine and fir. And little thought was there of a day when the dashing, leaping, whirling waters of the Kaweah and the Tule would be led quietly through cemented conduits to points of vantage, whence they could be released in almost uncontrollable force to move the wheels of industry throughout the county. Yet these things have come to pass. And there was a day, that also just a little more than fifty years ago, when Indian George, or Captain George, "big Injun heap," ran as expressman, carrying letters and small packages from ^"isalia to Owens river, the trip occupying four days. It is a far cry from then to the daily visit of the mail carrier, a distant retrospect from then to the luxuriously appointed through trains that now whisk you to Los Angeles or San Francisco during a night. Some fifty years ago a freight team from Stockton came bringing twenty thousand pounds of goods. This enormous load aroused great interest. Today without comment train load lots of oranges leave the county daily throughout the season. And so we find that in every branch of endeavor giant strides have been made, and a partial record of the steps is found within these pages. A few of the events that have transpired within the county's boundaries within the past six decades are recorded here. It is well to take a rapid trip over the territory, view it as it exists today, and form a mental picture of its present condition. Tulare county, situated about midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, at the head of the San Joaquin valley, is one of the largest in the state, having an area of 4935 square miles, or 3,158,400 acres. It has for neighbors Fresno on the north, Kings on the west, Inyo on the east, and Kern on the south. Its topography, as may be seen by the outline map, is about one-half mountainous, the eastern boundary being the summit of the Sierras. Two large streams, the Kaweah and the Tule, each gathering its waters from an extensive watershed, debouch into the valley portion of the county and permit of a vast irrigating ditch system. As the sources of these streams lie at great elevations, the flow is high during the first of summer on account of the melting of the snow. The detritus from these streams has formed throughout the valley section a deep bed of alluvial soil varying somewhat in the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 169 admixture of sand lint always friable and productive. A lar.ne i)ortiou of this delta land is snhin-i.iiated to the extent that for the growth of alfalfa, gra^^e vines or fruit trees no surface irrigation is necessary. Back nearer the hills from this lowland belt the land is found less sandy; there is an admixture of clay, decomposed granite, in some places gravel. These soils range from a light red and very friable to a black dry bog, through red, black and yellowish clay formations. Lying in a strip near but not adjacent to the hills, a peculiar formation known as "hog wallow" hind exists. Hummocks, little hills of two or three feet in height, here cover the land. This latter soil, formerly held to be worthless, has been found highly fertile and is now being leveled and cultivated so that in a short time the sight of a "hog-wallow" Held will be a curiosity. Naturally, each type of soil has proven itself particularly adapted to certain cultures and the great variation in soils and elevations has produced a very great diversity of production. Before speaking further of these we will take a survey of towns, cities and railroads that have been built in consefjuence of them. Again referring to tlie map we find two almost parallel lines of railroad extending from north to south across the county. These are the main line of the Southern Pacific and the branch or loop line of the same company which extends from Fresno to Famosa. These two lines are connected by a cross line between Exeter and Goshen, which passes through Visalia and over which a number of the through trains run. The Santa Fe line enters the county near Dinuba and after paralleling the Southern Pacific a short distance cuts south across the county to Corcoran and thence southeasterly across the southwest corner of the county. Between Visalia and AVoodlake, passing through Lemon Cove, an electric line is in operation and between .Porterville and Spring- ville is a short Southern Pacific branch. The Big Four, an electric road to connect the towns of Visalia. Tulare, Woodville and Porter- ville, is in course of construction. Tlie present population is estimated to be about 47,500, this figure being based on the census of 1910, showing .■)5,440, taken in connection with the increase of election registrations since that time. A fact worthy of note in this connection is that in the decade 1900- 1910, the increase in ))oi)ulation of Tulare county was 93.4 per cent. Visalia, the county seat, with a population of about (iOOO, is situated at the intersection of the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe lines. Tulare, southward about ten miles on the main line of the South- ern Pacific, and Porterville thirty miles southeast cm the l)ranch line of the Southern Pacilic, each having a population of about 3500. Dinuba, Exeter and Lindsay, with populations respectivelv of. 170 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 1500, 1200 and 2500, are also situated on the east side brancli line. These are the six incorporated cities of the county. Dinuba, the most northerly, is the center of tlie raisin belt, which extends easterly throug-Ji Sultana and Orosi and southerly to Cutler and Yettem. This district also has demonstrated its peculiar adaptability to the growing of early and late grapes for the eastern markets, and for the ]iroduction of a general variety of deciduous fruits. Oranges also are jiroduced extensively, particularly near Orosi, and south and west of Dinuba one enters a section devoted to dairying. But as a whole, this entire district is a checkerboard of orchards and vineyards. These, all in small tracts, well-kept and generally well-provided with comfortable country homes, present a picture both beautiful and impressive of assured ])rosperity. This district is well and cheaply irrigated by the waters of Kings river, distributed through the canals of tbe Alta Irrigation District, which covers 130,000 acres. Proceeding southward one enters a belt of undeveloped land, contiguous to ]\rouson on the Southern Pacific branch line. A little dairying is practiced here, but in general this section has been neg- lected. Some leveling of "hog-wallow" land and deep cultivation and drainage would doubtless transform it. Passing on southward one comes into the rich diversified farming, fruit and dairying section tributary to Visalia. This, too, is the prune belt of the county. Ditches taken from the Kaweah and the St. Jolms rivers cover the entire district, which may be said in a general way to extend from Goshen on the west to a point some twelve or fifteen miles up the Kaweah river on the east and to include the territory within a radius of five to ten miles from the city. No oranges are grown in tliis district, no table grapes and very few raisins. All general farm products, such as hay, grain, corn, pumjikins, Egyjjtian corn and sugar beets, as well as peaches, pears and in-unes, thrive exceedingly and are grown in large cjuantities. This part of the former wooded belt of the county still retains numliers of fine sjieci- mens of natural oak trees and many groves, either in their original condition or merely thinned by the woodman's axe. In every direction the vista is bounded at a short distance by what appears to be an unbroken line of timber. On approach this merges into groups of oaks or single trees, perhaps far apart, or consists of the growth of Cottonwood and willows growing on the margin of stream or canal. Soft greens of many shades relieve the landscape no matter what be the season. Not only alfalfa, but natural grasses continuously ]5resent the colors of springtime. And in midsummer gayer hues, for every- where, by roadside, by fence line or ditch bank or in unplowed fields sunflowers flaunt their yellow blossoms. And the summer's heat ■ striking this fallow moisture-soaked loam causes sucli a riotous growth TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 171 of all kinds that a general uukenipt appearance is presented. Orchard alternates with wood lot and salt grass pasture with coi'n field and dairy farm. Many tracts of fertile land remain undeveloped. Yet this section contributes heavily in yearly revenue. Two creameries in ^"isalia handle about one-fourth of the cream output of the county; nearly all the jirunes, having an annual value of about half a million dollars, are produced ; there are canning peaches for two large factories, large (juantities of fresh and dried fruits are shipped; the beet sugar factory is located here and ex])orts of hay and live stock are constantly made. Pursuing our way still further south we enter the territory tributary to Tulare without perceiving any change in general charac- teristics of scene, soil and productions. The oak groves, the alter- nate farm and orchard continue. A change, however, has taken l^laee as we soon discover. We encounter fewer orchai-ds, alfalfa fields adjoin, making vast meadows. We find that we are in the center of one of the great dairy sections. Fruit growing, frequently in colony tracts, remains a feature, however, and vineyards of con- siderable acreage are noted. The dairy region here, besides taking in the territory contiguoiis to Tulare, Tagus and Swall's, joins with the Dinuba country by a narrow strip, passing through Goshen and widening at Traver. This on the north. Southerly and westerly it merges also with the Woodville and Poplar sections. These latter districts possess some of the richest alluvial soil •as yet undeveloped in the county, but so far, dairying, general farming and grain raising have been the only industries. Fruit growing, with every facility of the most favored sections available, has not lieen engaged in because of the lack of railroad accommodations. The advent of the Big Four will doubtless change this. From Tipton, on passing through Pixley and Earlimart to the county line, we find vast grain and hay fields, little alfalfa, few fruit trees, much land api)arently fertile, unplowed. Also we find lai'ge tracts being sul>divided, settlers in numbers building homes, water being pumped and alfalfa and orchards being planted. Only in recent years has it been discovered that very cheaply could the fertile lands in these vicinities be made to produce abundantly liy ])umi) irrigation. A very rapid increase in population seems assured. Westward now, towards the lake in the neighborhood of Cor- coran, Angiola and Alpaugh, entirely new characteristics confront us. We enter again a great alfalfa belt, not only supjilying its dairies with feed, but furnishing enormous quantities of hay for shipment. Great grain fields there are, producing extraordinary yields. Some natural swamjiy meadow land lies here. In ])laces, instead of irrigation, leveling and diainage are practiced. Artesian wells in many localities supplx water for irrigation and for stock. 172 TULARE AND KINGS C( )1\\T1ES But we must tuni now and look at the country lying along tlic east side brancli railroad. Surprises most extraordinary here await us. So great a difference exists that we can scarcely believe that we are in the same county. Merged indeed the two separate regions are at Orosi, but as one proceeds southward through Exeter, or if he choose, first through Woodlake, Naranjo or Lemon Cove and then on and stojjs off at either Exeter, Lindsay, Strathmore or Porterville, a scene wholly strange greets the eye. Orange groves and yet again orange groves, one practically continuous stretch. Not even a fence divides them. The chain of foothills is their background, but it is a ramjjart u]) which they climb and into whose recesses all along the way they cluster. No canals or ditches here, no alfalfa, no green mats of salt grass pasture, no oaks nor cottonwoods. Parched and dry, hard and barren looking is the soil in the places unset to orchards. And yet, within them everywhere trickling in little furrows between the rows run streamlets of water, the moisture from them soaking and permeating the soil. The system of irrigation here is almost wholly that of pumps operated by electric motors, and while this belt lacks the natural beauty of the wooded lowland, it is fast coming to be the most pleas- ing and attractive to the eye. Avenues lined with palm or other ornamental trees lead to country homes surrounded by handsome lawns and exciuisite flower ])lots. From Porterville the district extends south through Terra Bella, Ducor and Richgrove to the county line. This portion, however, is of newer develo])ment and the i^rocess of converting grain ranches into orange groves is but now beginning. Thousands of acres of young orchards are set and thousands more have been imrchased for the purpose of planting to citrus fruits, but here and almost only here within the county remains enough land sown to grain to keep harvesters busy and fill warehouses with wheat. Eastward back of the orange belt extend thousands of acres of foothill grazing range, supporting vast herds. This region is wooded and springs furnishing stock water are numerous. Two gateways there are to the higher Sierras, viz: Three Rivers for the l\aweah watershed and Springville for the Tule river. In both of these communities apples of line quality are grown and orange groves reach to their gates. Beyond and between them the grazing belt extends for many miles, and still beyond, throughout the range of mountains are found extensive meadows and other feeding grounds which furnish pasture for many cattle during the summer months. At an elevation of about .3000 feet one enters a belt of pine timber. This, mixed with the Sequoia gigantea, and, as one reaches the higher altitudes, with fir and tamai-ack. extends throughout the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 173 county almost unbrokenly. Several sawmills are in operation with an annual cut of about tlu-ee million feet, but on acooiint of the lack of roads, most of this timber is inaccessible and will ])robabIy remain so for many years. On the way to the higher mountain regions one passes on both the rivers extensive works of electrical power companies. Dams, reservoirs, long high-j)erched flumes, lines of steel pipe down the mountain side, and the whir of immense dynamos are evidences of the enterprises l\v which the mountain torrent is harnessed and the river converted into a la1)oi('r of the tield. For these utilitarian ])urposes of ])roducing milling timber and electric energy, for furnishing feed for droves of cattle and for storing the snowfall of winter and returning it to the valley in time for need, the Sierra Nevada nu)untains are an incalculably valuable asset of Tulare county. The mountains also constitute a cool summer retreat and are frecjuented by throngs of health and pleasure seekers each year. Trout tishing in the mountain streams generally is excellent, the Kern lakes and the ui)per Kern rivers and their tributaries being especially famous in this respect. Hunting for deer and bear is good and the s|)ort has many devotees. The mountain scenery is of so marvelous a character as to give it a wide-spreading and rapidly increasing fame. For beauty and grandeur the canyon or gorge of the Kern river is comjiaraljle only to the Yosemite or to Kings river canyon. Throughout the higher Sierras the effects of volcanic and glacial action, of erosion, disin- tegration and other forces have caused formations strangely beautiful, impressively awesome, wierdly fantastic. Combining to charm and please are ferns and flowers, silent forests, lawn-like meadows, ]ilaeid lakes. Streams dro}) in roaring cascades or fall in. sheets of misty vapor. Th('y tinkle, or murnuir. or rhythmically roar. Snowy ]ieaks of .lagged outline mark the skyline. Many groves of the giant secpioia are foruid throughout the range at an elevation of between 5500 and 7500 feet, the largest being known as the (liant Foi'est. About 5000 of the trees are here located, among them being what so far as known is the largest tree in the world. Hot si)rings, caves, mineral springs, are other features of attraction. Wholly within the county lies the Sequoia National Park, containing seven townshii)s. The Tule river Indian reservation is located in the southerly mountain section. There are many peaks of thirteen thousand feet and over, several exceeding fourteen thou- sand feet, and crowning all, Mt. "Whitney, 14,502 feet above sea level. 174 TULAEE AXD KINGS COUNTIES CHAPTER XX THE ORCxANIZATION OF KINGS (OrXTY Bij F. A. Dodge The creation and organization of KinQ,s county as a political division of the state was the accomplishment of the spirit of develop- ment and iiro.inrcss which lias evei- concjnered the wilderness and caused the deserts to vanish. Until the s]iring- of 1893 the territory which we are to consider was a i^art of Tulare county, and therefore the early history of settlement and development is a part of the history of that county and the reader will find in this volume an inleresting- and instructive accounting of those early days when men and women of small means but determined will, laid the foundation of what today is one of the most prosperous and enlightened agricultural divisions of beloved California. People who build an imiDerishable state have always com- menced at the foundation, and all enduring foundations ever yet constructed have been begun by a community bound together by that greatest common tie — Necessity. Those who today behold with admiring eye the broad vineyards, prolific orchards and expanding meadows of this central valley of California should have preserved in some historical form the story of the past that they and their children may appreciate the hardy, brave and self-sacrificing ones who grappled with the problems which confronted them in an isolated desert at a time when even Tulare county was no longer a child among the counties of the state; and along with that history it is right and proper that mention of those people, with some of their personal history, should be written, and this volume is intended to accomplish that end. In the department lican, and the county was a Democratic stronghold. Bui Dr. Butler was also an astute politician and that portion of the county in which he lived was the Repulilican stronghold of the county. That his successful election to the Assembly of California at Sacramento meant the lieginning of a plan to form a new county either did not ai)pear on the surface, or if it did it was viewed with complacency by those who considered such a possibility unworthy of the least attention. Butler was elected, and there began the story of how Kings county came to be on the map of California. 1 76 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Diniiiii- the session of the California lesiislatnre in February. 1887, Asseniblynian Butler introduced a bill to cut off a portion of western Tiilare county and add to it a portion of Fresno county south of the fourth standard parallel line. The movement immediately met with opposition and a strong lobby was set to work by Visalia and Tulare interests, and the county division measure failed. It was, however, the beginning- of a long campaign, and the editorial prophecy made by the Hanford Sentinel of February 17, 1887, that "The seed of county division has been planted which will in the course of events sprout a new county," came true. In the legislative campaign of 1888, W. S. Cunningham, a well- known citizen of Lemoore, and a Democrat, was elected assemblyman. On the strength of a desire for a new county the candidate received much hearty sii]>port from Republicans during his campaign. ^Nlr. Cunningham introduced a county division bill at the twenty-ninth session, but, it too, met with strong opposition from the mother county, and failed. The next legislative campaign saw the question of creating a new county thrust to the fore. Population had greatly increased, and the demand for facilities for the transaction of public Imsiness nearer the center of that population had received new impetus, and a Hanford citizen was agreed upon for assembhmian. Frank A. Blakeley, a Republican, and a man well known and po])ular, was the chosen candidate. He won the election, and immediately preparation was begun for the final fight. A strong committee composed of business men of all political faiths was formed in Hanford, and included citizens from Lemoore and Grangeville, and farmers. A bill was drafted by Dixon L. Phillips, an attorney of Hanford, and a conmiittee headed by such men as George X. Wendling, E. E. Bush, Richard Mills, Justin Jacobs, Frank L. Dodge, R. AV. Musgrave and others established tlie committee headquarters in Sacramento, and assisted Assembh^uan Blakeley in his fight. In the early struggles the name proiiosed for the new county was Lorrain, but that name was abandoned and Kings was ado])ted in its stead, as being more significant. The name Kings was well received and the county was thus christened after Kings river, the princijial source of the irrigation for the district, which stream was discovered in 1805 liy an exploring ex])edition and named Rio de TiOS Santos Reyes (The River of the Holy Kings). The Kings county division fight was regarded as the great struggle of the session of 1892-93. William H. Alford, a brilliant young attorney from Tulare county, and a Democrat, was assembly- man from the eastern part of Tulare county, while Stockton Berry, an influential landowner, was senator from the district, and both stood solidly opposed to division. At this session Fresno county had a similar contest on, and the effort to create the county of Madera TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 177 from Fresno was made simultaueously, and succeeded. Riverside county was another of the new county movements at tliis identical session. Of course, the leaders who were interested in all of these fights sought to combine their forces, and succeeded in doing so. The contest was long-drawn, and mucli bitterness was engendered, but all the wounds have been long since healed with the salve of time and the admitted wisdom of jiermitting comnuinities possessing suf- ficient wealth and population to enjoy those measures of home rule wliich by right belongs to them. The Blakeley bill, after a turbulent, and at times almost lio])eless history, finally passed both houses. The vote in the assembly was forty-five ayes to twenty-seven noes, and in the senate it received twenty-four ayes to fifteen noes. The senate's action was taken on March 11, 1893. As originally created the county had an area of 1257 square miles and when organized in 1893 had an estimated population of 7325. The assessable acreage at that time was 427,281 acres. Ten years after organization the county had a bonded debt of only $32,000, and ten years later, or now, it has no bonded debt. The United States census of 1900 gave the population as 9871, and the thir- teenth census, 1910, gave it 16,230, and an assessed valuation of $14,283,622. By the addition of a strip of territory from Fresno county through the operation of the Webber bill passed by the legislature in 1908-9, the county today has a total area of 1375 square miles or 118 square miles more than it originally possessed. 178 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES CHAPTER XXI LUCERNE VALLEY In the year 1886 Frank L. Dodge, a newspaper man from Iowa, arrived with his family in Hanford, ostensibly on a visit to brothers and sisters who had located near that town in the pioneer days. Mr. Dodge became enamoured of the country and there being at that time no newspaper published in Hanford, with his oldest brother, the late David Dodge, he founded the Hanford Weekly Se)ifiiiel. Like many other people from the East he had a distaste for the term "slough" as applied to a country, the name suggesting mire and miasma to one unacquainted with the term as applied to Mussel Slough which, it is known, is the name given to the natural channels which in early days were open and in flood times were flowing streams. Mr. Dodge sought for a more attractive name for this district and in his paper of April 21, 1887, gave Mussel Slough a new christening and called it Lucerne Valley, a name which stuck to it until the formation of Kings county. We quote from the article naming the district the following: "Nestled among the heights of the storied Alps, fanned by the breezes of Switzerland, is a favored spot, the name of which adorns the page of story and gladdens the minstrel's song. 'The Sweet Vale of Lucerne' is a canton containing 474 square miles, a beautiful country noted for its great production of fruit, stock, grain, and lucerne, or alfalfa clover. It has the Eiver Reuss, the placid Lucerne Lake and the never-fading Alps for prominent geographical features. In 1870, 'The Sweet Vale of Lucerne,' Switzerland, contained 132,338 people. "This beautiful country of ours about Hanford witli its Kings river, its Sierra Nevada and Coast Range mountains, and its glit- tering Tulare Lake, with its superior fruits, stock, grain, alfalfa and climatic advantages is eminently worthy to be a namesake of that old, rich and venerable Lucerne of Europe. This has about the same area and the elements of greater possibilities. Had this, our district, the population of the Lucerne of Europe the spindles of manvifacture and the wheels of commerce would thrill the land with active life; the thorough cultivation which would be put upon the land would make it a lovely garden of vegetable luxury; homes would bloom amid floral bowers and fruited branches. "The Lucerne of California has all the possibilities that fancy may picture for an earthly dwelling place. Let our people awaken and hasten on the march of improvements — work to reach that grand development which should enrich, endear and exalt a country TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 179 which kind Nature has so richly endowed with the elements of greatness. ' ' The suggestion made by the editor fell on fruitful soil and took root and grew into a sentiment which finally changed the name of the judicial township from Mussel Slough to Lucerne; and under a euphoneous and attractive name the glories of this produc- tive western country were heralded abroad, doing a share of the good work of development. CHAPTER XXII EARLY COUNTY POLITICS As a political organization Kings county dates from May 23, 1893. The bill creating the county was signed by Governor H. H. Markham March 23, 1893, and the governor appointed a commis- sion for the purpose of carrying out the act. TMs commission was composed of the following named citizens of the now county: Samuel E. Biddle, E. E. Bush, William J. Newport, William Ogdeu and John H. Malone. Both Mr. Biddle and Mr. Newport had been members of the board of supervisors of Tulare county. This commission appeared before Dixon L. Phillips, a notary l)ublic. on April 3, 1893, and were sworn into office. They inmie- diately organized by electing S. E. Biddle chairman and by select- ing George X. Wendling secretary, then adjourned till the following day, Tuesday, Ajiril 4, when the commission met and accepted an offer from the Farmers and Merchants Bank for an office room free of rental in which to hold the meetings of the board. On April 5 another meeting was held and the county was formed into five supervisoral districts, as follows: District No. 1, embracing the southwestern portion of the county with three voting precincts, viz: West End, Kings River and Lemoore; District No. 2, embracing the southern portion of the county with three voting precincts, viz.: Paddock, Lakeside and Dallas; District No. 3, embracing the north- eastern and eastern portion of the county, with three precincts, viz: Lucerne, Excelsior and Cross Creek; District No. 4, omliracing the northern and northwestern portion of the county with three precincts, viz: Armona, Grangeville and Lucerne; and District No. 5, embracing the city of Hanford. THE FIEST ELECTION CALLED On the 18th day of April the county commission issued the first call for an election. This call embraced, besides the election of a 180 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES full set of county officers, the vote upon the question of ratifying" the act of the legislature in creating the county, said measure re- quiring that the vote necessary to ratification must be two-thirds of the electors of the county voting in the affirmative. The call fixed the date of the election on May 23, 1893. PARTIES GOT INTO ACTION As there had been unity of action between the members of all political parties within the boundaries of the new proposed county in the effort to secure the county there was much harmonious spirit prevailing among the parties when it came to placing tickets before the people. The one great eft'ort to l)e made was to secure the county and toward that end the politicians worked in harmony yet with much zeal for their respective candidates. The first political conventions were held in Hanford on Wednes- day, April 19, 1893, the Republicans holding their gathering at Pythian llall, a framed structure on East Fifth street, which was subsequently burned and never rebuilt, and the Democrats convened in Baker's Hall, at that time the most popular lodge and society hall in the county, but long since abandoned for public meetings. The People's Party also held a convention and placed in nomination a few candidates. So enthusiastic were all jaarties in their desire to ratify the legislative act and secure the county, that committees were appointed by each convention for the purpose of conferring and securing the nomination of candidates that would lend the most strength to the cause of county formation. The results of the convention day were that the following nominations were made to be placed on the Australian form of ballot : For Sujierior Judge — Justin Jacobs, Republican; Dixon L. Phillips, Democrat. For Dis- trict Attorney — Cosmer B. Clark, People's Party; C. W. Talbot, Republican. For County Clerk — Francis Cunningham, Democrat ; Fl-ed R. McFee, Republican. For Sheriff— W. V.Buckner, Repub- lican; E. E. McKeuna, Democrat. For Tax Collector — Jesse Brown, Democrat; Frank J. Peacock, Republican. For Treasurer — Stiles McLaughlin, Republican; W. H. Slavin, Democrat. For Recorder — Louis Decker, Re])nblican. For Auditor — C. C. Farns^\*orth. Demo- crat. For Assessor — John Rourke, Democrat ; John Worswick, Re- publican. For Superintendent of Schools^ — A. P. Keran, Republican; C. A. McCourt, Democrat. For Surveyor — E. P. Irwin, Republican; Joseph Williams, Democrat. For Coroner — B. R. Clow, Democrat ; Charles W. Sullivan, Republican. These were the convention nominations, but the ticket was not entirely filled, leaving the way open for independent candidates and these were supplied as follows: For district attorney, M. L. Short and B. C. Miekle went on the ballot as independents, as did TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 181 V. M. Frazer for recorder, C. "W. Clark for auditor, George W. Murray for auditor and A. S. Bryan for coroner. Supervisors were nominated from four districts. J. II. Fox, who was a member of the Tulare county board of supervisors at the time held over, and his residence being at Lemoore, which was in District No. 1, no nominations for supervisor were made in that district. The party nominations in the four remaining districts were: District No. 2 — For supervisor, Robert Doherty, Democrat; R. G. White, Republican, and Frank McClellan, People's Party. District No. 3 — For supervisor, George A. Dodge, Republican; J. G. Mackey, Democrat. District No. 4 — For supervisor, Horace Johnson, People's Party; W. A. Long, Republican. District No. 5— S. E. Biddle, Democrat; Frank J. Walker, Republican. The election resulted in the choice of a mixed set of county officers, politically, and the carrying of the cause of county creation by an overwhelming nuijority, the vote on the formation of the countv being 1824, of which 1412 were recorded as "Yes" and 412 as "No." The first set of county officials elected in the county was as follows : Superior judge, Justin Jacobs ; county clerk, Francis Cun- ningham; sheriff, W. Y. Buckuer; tax collector, Frank J. Peacock; W. H. Slavin, treasurer; recorder, Frank M. Frazer; auditor, C. C. Farnsworth ; district attorney, M. L. Short ; assessor, John Rourke ; superintendent of schools, C. H. McCourt; coroner, B. R. Clow; public administrator, Mace Allen; surveyor, E. P. Irwin; supervisor, 1st dis- trict, J. H. Fox; supervisor, 2nd district, Fi'ank McClellan; supervisor, 3rd district, J. G. Mackey; supervisor, 4tli district, W. x\. Long; super- visor, 5th district, S. E. Biddle. SETTING UP HOUSEKEEPING On Monday morning, May 9, 1893, tlie commissioners met and canvassed the returns of the election and declared the results. The official count gave the total number of votes as 1919, thus showing that there were 55 who failed to vote either for or against countj' division. Superior Judge Jacobs received liis conunission from the gov- ernor on May 31, and filed the same with the clerk of the county commission, Mr. Wendling. The supervisors-elect were given cer- tificates of election and were sworn into office, each member giving a bond of $5000. On June 1 the board of supervisors organized by electing J. IT. Fox, of Lemoore, chairman. The several county officers-elect appeared before the board and were sworn in on that day, and the machinery of government for the new county was in working order. 182 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES XO COUNTY BUILDINGS Having- finally formed a new county and installed the officers, the next step was to secure office rooms for the transaction of business, until sucli time as county grounds could be purchased and buildings erected. The supervisors immediately set to work and in a short time had the several officials housed, although the limited number of vacant office Imildings in the county seat necessi- tated the scattering of the offices all al)0ut the city. The Hanford opera house block which had recently been completed at the corner of Irwin and Seventh streets, afforded room for several officials and their records, and on the second floor of that building the re- corder, auditor, surveyor, district attorney, county clerk, sujierior judge and supervisors were temporarily located. The Farmers and Merchants Bank gave accommodations for the tax collector and the treasurer; the assessor and superintendent of schools were located in a one-story brick structure on "West Seventh street. Later the sheriff's office and county jail were located on "West Sixth street to the west of the corner of Irwin, and the superior court and county clerk were given quarters on the second floor over the jail. "While the arrangements were far from convenient, the county business was carried on economically and well. A steel cage was purchased which answered for a jail for a number of years, and while some des])erate criminals were at times confined there, there was never a jail delivery even from that temporary structure. COUNTY WITHOUT FUNDS At the final meeting of the board of county commissioners just prior to turning over the affairs to the board of supervisors. Com- missioner J. H. Malone offered a resolution which was adopted and made of record, that the new county possessed a population of 5900 souls, and that Kings county be declared a county of the Forty-third class, and when the su])ervisors took up their work they found themselves with that much of a county to legislate for, but there was not a cent in the treasury. The first matter, there- fore, to attend to was to provide the means for carrying on the county business, and the first act of the board of supervisors was to apply to Tulare county for that portion of the road and school funds belonging to the territory within the boundary of the new county, and it was resolved to demand from the old mother county such funds due Kings county on the 1st day of June, 1893, the amount being $14,655.58, and accejit that amount from Tulare, provided that the latter would stipulate an agreement that no suit to contest the legality of the Kings county election would be brought. This demand was met by Tulare county to the extent of $13,289.26, TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 183 of whioh $l(),!»l!).l(i was from tlie road fund, and $2,370.10 from the school fund. With this small amoimt of ready money, Kings county began its own official career, and faced the ])romise made during the division cam]iaign to so conduct the affairs of the county that tlie tax rate under the new order of things would not exceed the tax rate which ha2 cast for H. A. Greene (D), 89 cast for R. Kirk (S), and 41 cast for H. E. Burbank (P). The countv cast 1056 for James N. Gillett (R) for governor; 967 for T. A. Beli (D), and 49 for J. H. Blanchard (Pro.) and 94 for W. IT. Langdon, Tndcjx-ndent and Tiabor Union. 190 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES ELECTION OF 1908 This connty strnggie had one feature which was similar to the campaign of 1906, in that count}' expansion was again to the front. The McGuire plan to annex the southwestern portion of Fresno county to Kings two years ago failed after a severe struggle, and in 1907-8 plans were laid for another attempt to annex some of Fresno territory, but not to such an extent as in 190<). This annexation struggle did not develop, however, until after the election in Novem- ber. 1908, after which, W. J. Webber, Democratic member of the assembly who was elected over Harry P. Brown, Eepul)lican, took his seat in the legislature and introduced a bill known as the Webber bill, which was finally enacted, and added :208 square miles of Fresno territory to the northwestern portion of the original county of Kings. This was not accomplished, however, without much litigation between the counties of Fresno and Kings, but the courts finally settled by decision the validity of the procedures, and Kings county went upon the map in new form with a vast area of very fertile land watered by Kings river added to it. The county contest this year was confined to the election of an assemblyman, Mr. Brown receiving 1042 votes, while Mr. Webber received 1072. J. M. Foster, Socialist, received 95. In the vote for congressman, J. C. Needham (R), received 1180 votes; F. P. Fellz (D) 883; W. M. Pattison (S), 103, and J. W. Webb( Pro.) 55. The Republican electoral ticket received 1198 votes ; the Democrat ticket 859; Independent League 12; Socialist 112, and Prohibi- tion 71. ELECTION OF 1910 The increased vote cast at this election illustrated tlie growth of the county in poi)ulation and annexation, for the total vote cast for the candidates for governor was 2997. Hiram Johnson as the Republican nominee, carried the county by 351 iilurality over Theo- dore A. Bell, whose vote was 1149. Stit Wilson, Socialist, received 305, and Meade, Prohibitionist, 43. The contest over the assemblvman was between W. J. Webber (D), Frank J. Walker (R), and W. R. McQuiddy (Pro.). Mr. Walker won on a narrow plurality of six votes. For the first time since the county was organized the Repub- licans put forth a new candidate for sheriff in the person of L>"man D. Farmer, a young man who was the deputy of Sheriff Buckner at the time of the convention. Mr. Farmer was pitted against George E. Goodi'ich (D). Fanner won the election with a majority of 247. F. Cunningham (D) for clerk was re-elected to the office, defeating A. F. Florey (R); J. L. C. Irwin (D) defeated Frank E. Kilpatrick TULARP] AND KINGS COUNTIES 191 (R), for district attorney; D. Buun Rea (R) was elected auditor over James Manning (D); L- C. Dunham (R) was elected treasurer, de- feating H. L. C'onklin (D) ; George W. Murray (R) had no opposi- tion for the office of assessor; M. B. Washburn (D) was elected tax- collector, defeating J. "Worswick (R); J. M. Bowman (D) defeated Perry Griswold (R) for recorder; Mrs. N. E. Davidson (D) was elected superintendent of schools, defeating W. J. M. Cox (R) ; J. Clarence Rice (R) defeated .1. D. Hefton (D) for coroner and ]mblie administrator; A. J. Neilsen (R) was elected county survevor, de- feating J. M. Thomas (D). The supervisors elected were: T. E. Cochrane and A. F. Smith, Republicans, and J. L. Hall, Frank Blakeley and William Vaughan, Democrats. The defeated candidates were: W. S. Burr and James Butts, Democrats; J. M. Dean, Socialist, and Styles McLaughlin and 11. D. Barton, Republicans. Justices of the peace elected were: J. W. Ferguson, G. L. Meadows and H. J. Light, Democrats, and C. M. Smith and Jesse Harris, Republicans. Constaliles chosen were: H. M. Bernstein, John Bartlet and C. C. A. Henden, Republicans, and Perry Gard and S. Blank, Democrats. 192 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES CHAPTER XXIII IRRIGATION The history of irrigatiou iu Kings couuty dates hack to 1872, when its present territory constituted a part of Tulare county. The lesser benefits of irrigation had been demonstrated by private parties in dit¥erent iiarts of Tulare county, who made efforts to get water from the rivers out to their orchards and gardens on a very limited scale. But these primary efforts were all sufficient to prove the magic effect of irrigation on the rich desert soil which had lain dorm- ant through the embalming summer sunshine of past centuries. Eager settlers were rushing into the country and when they saw what water put to the soil would do ; when they saw the prolific streams of Kings river, Kaweah river and Cross creek sweeping down to the basin of Tulare lake; and when they east their eyes eastward and upward to the illimitable fields of snow and ice cradled among the stupend- ous heights of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the object lesson was easy. Nature's mighty resources lay plainly before them, offer- ing the first grand inspiration for organized effort to harness these resources for the reclamation of the desert. The first successful attempt to irrigate on practical and extended lines was made in 1872, by M. D. Bush, V. F. Geiseler, R. B. Huey and a number of other citizens, who projected the Lower Kings River ditch, covering territory north and east of the town of Lemoore. This ditch company was incorporated in 1873 by the enterprising pioneers of Lemoore and vicinity and its success was an object lesson that inspired the settlers of adjoining districts. When the people saw what water applied to the soil would do, there was a firm resolve to get it at all hazards. The first crops raised on lands irrigated by tliis ditch furnished labor for many hard-up settlers and the straw from the grain fields was largely used as fodder for the stock of the country which proved a God-send to many a "Sandlapper." Soon after the above company had demonstrated probable suc- cess an enterprising citizen named Daniel Spangler planned to build an irrigating canal from Kings river to what was known as the Lone Oak district, which was designated by a single oak tree standing out on the plains aljout four miles southwest of the present city of Han- ford. From this "Lone Oak" to the point where Mr. Spangler in- tended to tap Kings river to supply liis canal with water was a dis- tance of about twenty miles. Later the People's Ditch Company of Kings river was formed by an association of farmer settlers which took over by mutual transfer the Spangler projects. The People's Ditch Company was incorporated in February, 1873, by Jesse Brown, TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 193 W. W. Boyd, George W. Camp, C. Hyatt, Peter Kanawyer, aud a score or more of other settlers all eager to be identified with the great work of transforming their desert acres into homes of future productiveness and wealth. The actual work of making the ditch was commenced that year aud proceeded as rapidly as possible consider- ing the limited means of its incorporators. P. J. Sibley was the engineer who located and surveyed the course of the ditch nearly on its present permanent line. It was first intended to build one branch of the ditch into Township 21 south range 20 east, but said branch was never comijleted beyond the south boundary line of township 18 South, range 21 east, a short distance from Armona. The season of 1874 found between three and four miles of the ditch constructed and this was from the point of intake on the river to a point below the structure known as the "Burris check." Very little irrigating was done that season. During the months of May and June of that year the water from Kings river ran through the old channel known as the Burris slough, southeasterly into Cross creek. During the fall and winter of 1874-5 work was prosecuted quite rapidly, so that in the spring of 1875 the company was able to con- trol and distribute systematically considerable water to its stock- liolders for the irrigation of crops. When the water was turned into the lower ]iortion of the ditch, considerable difficulty was experi- enced in getting it through on account of the porous nature of the soil. It frequently happened that forty to fifty cubic feet ]ier second would flow for days into subterranean cavities. This would so soften the ground, sometimes for a half mile, that it was dangerous to drive a team over the field near the ditch. At the end of the irri- gating season of 1875 it was found that the ditch was far from lieing completed according to the plans and specifications of the engineer. In places it was not down to grade and in other places not u]i to grade and in very few places of the width originally ]:)roposed. The company was first incorporated for $10,000, but this amount was soon found to be inadequate to complete the great undertaking. Under existing laws assessments on the stockholders could not be collected in sums large enough to complete the work in a reasonable time. So the capital stock was increased to $30,000 in 1875 ; this latter sum not being equal to the demands, the same was increased to $100,000. After the struggles, privations and great self-denials of these sturdy pioneers the ditch was finally completed as it now exists, about the year 1878 or 1879. During the early years of the work assessments were called for so frequently that many of the stock- holders were unable to meet them and their stock had to be sold for the assessments. The whole number of shares of capital stock issued was subscribed for and the assessments kept up for a while, but prior to 1881 more than one-third of the stock issued was sold for assess- V.U TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES meiits and bought in for the company, because no one living- in the country on land covered liy the ditch at that time had money to buy the stock. In 1912 the total number of shares outstanding and which have not varied for twenty-five years, is sixty-three and thir- teeu-sixteenths shares. These shares are now held by more than two hundred persons. The largest number of shares now owned by one person is not over five, except that the Settlers Ditch C'ompany now owns sixteen and one-half shares. About 1890, shortly after the passage through the state legislature of what was known as the Wright Irrigation Bill providing for the creation of irrigation dis- tricts throughout the state, the Tulare Irrigation District was formed and its i)romotors bought from the Settlers Ditch Company its right to take water from the Cross creek and floated its point of diversion to a point on Kaweali river about ten miles northeast of Visalia. Thus having sold its water right, the Settlers Ditch Company pur- chased from the Peoples Ditch Company the sixteen and one-tweTfth shares of stock to resupply its ditch. The advantage resulting from the change was that the stockholders of the Settlers Ditch Company were able to have water for irrigation for a longer season each year. In the early '90s the Riverside Ditch Company was incorporated for the purpose of ajJiiropriating water from Kings river and for taking it from a point just above the lower headgate in the Peoples ditch. This ditch extends westerly along the south bank of Kings river for a distance of about ten miles and supplies water for irri- gation to several thousand acres of rich land lying south of Kings river. It operates as an auxiliary factor to the Peoples ditch, many of the latter 's stockholders owning stock in the Riverside ditch and many land owners along the Riverside ditch renting water from stockholders of Peoples ditch. SETTLERS DITCH In June, 1874, an association of farmers organized the Settlers Ditch Company, with the intention of supjjlying mostly a tract of land in township 18 south, range 22 east, being east and northeast of Hanford. Major Thomas J. McQuiddy, George W. Cotton, C. 0. Butler, George Slight, J. M. Cary, Jeremiah Lambert, Orrin Jef- fords, J. W. Brown, Alex Taylor, John Urton, Joe Perrin, Ely Bock, C. H. Robinson, Jack Wickham, were the leading men in })romoting the interests of this enterprise and incorporating it under the state laws of California. William R. McQuiddy was the first secretary. Attorney W. W. Cross wrote the articles of incorporation. The new company bought instruments for surveying and William R. McQuiddy acted as surveyor for the i)reliminary work of locating the ditch head at the mouth of Cross creek, after which John S. Urton took charge of the engineering and made definite location of the ditch lines and staked TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 195 them out ready for the coustruetion gangs, composed ol' the stock- holders who worked on different sections of the ditcli as ai)portioned by tlie nianagemeut. Actual woik in excavating was begun in the fall of 187-i and proceeded under dil'liculties through the winter and spring of 1875. Hard pan was found at the upper end of the works, which uecessitated a raise in the grade, this calling for a dam or weir in Cross creek to elevate the water supply to the new grade of the ditch. It was also found necessary to make a cut two miles above from this channel across to Main stream so as to insure water at all times wlien there was water therein. This cut was 16UU feet long and in places had to be cut down through havdpan. On De- cember 1, 1875, the ditch was practically completed as far south as the county road running east from the nortli line of the city of JIanford. The water was turned into the ditch about December 1, and the stockholders began to use it on their lands with great rejoicing- over their deliverance from the arid conditions of the past. To celeljrate this iminntant event a meeting was called at the Eureka schoolbouse. Nearly every person in the community was present, and the good cheer and enthusiasm of all told the story of their triumph over the adverse conditions through which they had passed. One of the principal actors in this celebration was Lyman B. Ruggies, who had bought out George W. Cotten a few months i)revious. The speechmaking, the songs composed for the occasion, and the banquet of the best eatables that the country then afforded, made this cele- bration a very enjoyable one for all. Memory turns back from these days of plenty to those days of salt grass, bacon and beans, with so little money, and such a scarcity of credit, and wonders how in the world they ever accomplished such herculean tasks. It was surely a journey through the wilderness, without grain or hay for horse- feed, simply salt grass, and very meager food for men. AVhat was true of the brave men who builded the Settlers' ditch was true of all the other pioneers who from 1872 and later built the other ditches which now carry the living water to their luxuriant homesteads. The Lower Kings river, the Peoples' Ditch, the Last Chance, and the Lakeside Companies were all manned by men of sjilendid courage, great endurance and a sublime faith that sustained them and led them on in the face of all kinds of hardsliips and privations to ulti- mate success. This history may not give every name entitled to credit for the early development of Kings county soil, because they may not all be recalled to memory, but those not named are no less deserving a place in the record of a righteous service to mankind. THE LAST CH.A.NCE In 1873 the Last Chance Ditch Company was formed to take water from Kings river to supply the rich lands in the vicinity of Grange- ville. The system was about completed in one season and proved 196 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES very successful to tlie territory for which it was intended. The tirst board of directors of the Last Chance consisted of William L. Morton (chairman), William Ingram, C. W. Hackett, 0. H. Bliss, J. R. Hein- len, Justin Esrey, L. Gilroy (secretary), J. G. Moore. George Smith, (surveyor), G. H. Hackett, L. Waggner, G. S. Foster, G. T. Thornton, M. S. Babcock, W. A. Caruthers, 0. L. Wilson, W. R. SuUenger, John Kurts, E. Erlanger, L. Lowery, John Martin, W. H. Whitesides, William Sutherland, Lewis Haas, Jonathan Esrey, James Sibley, Perry Phillips, George W. Cody, E. Giddings, J. H. Shore, A. S. Avers, C. Eailsback, E. M. Cleveland, Jesse Brown, W. W. Parlin, C. M. Blowers, John Chambers were among the sturdy pioneers and stockholders of the Last Chance enterprise who plowed and scraped on beans and bacon that the desert might bloom as a blessed heritage for future generations. In the year 1874 the Lakeside Ditch Company was organized, but did not get to doing much until 1875, when it built a canal thirty feet wide and three feet deep to cover the unirrigated lands southeast and south of Hauford. The company appropriated three hundred and one cubic feet per second from Cross creek, a branch of Kaweah river. The first board of directors consisted of Robert Doherty Samuel F. Deardorff, C. W. Clark. George A. Dodge, Perry C. Phillips. J. Wliiting, Jacob Marsh. Other members and stockholders of the company who were identified in the promotion and actual construction of the Lakeside were : Claude Giddings, George W. Clute, William Kerr, William Covert, John Rourke, Thomas McCarty, Pat- rick McCarty, John McCarty, E. J. Dibble, E. McNamee, S. D. Brewer, Joseph Peacock, Andrew Blend, W. H. Winnie, A. M. Stone, Simon Stone, John Sigler, R. S. Wait, Oscar Clapp, J. C. Rice, E. P. Irwin, J. G. Herriford. David Dodge, Caryl Church, Henry Hildebrand. George McCann. M. A. Hill, George Doherty, William Doherty, John Smith, James McClellan, Frank McClellan, J. T. Gurnsey, E. Twinning, C. B. Dodge, L. C. Hawley, William H. Dodds, J. V. Dodds. The Lakeside ditch serves a large district, which is largely devoted to dairy and stock interests. Some years later Carr and Chamberlain built a canal to cover a fine tract of land formerly lake bottom on the north side of Tulare lake. This canal is served by water from the Peoples' ditch and hence is not a primary factor, but simply an extension of the irriga- tion system. LAKELAJTD CATC^AL, AND lEETGATION COMPAXY In the year 1903 the above named company was formed with the intention of appropriating water from Kings river a few hundred yards above the Peoples' Ditch Comi^any's point of intake. The leading men in its organization were Dr. N. P. Duncan. J. Frank TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 197 Pryor, Dr. R. E. Dixon, J. D. MeCord. The project fontemjilated the irrigation of hinds al)ovit the present city of Corcoran and those hike bottom lauds then and thereafter to be reclaimed. Tlie opera- tions of the company have been held in abeyance on acconnt of litigation so that its prospective good results have not yet been realized. R. D. Hunter, E. E. Bush, F. C. Paulin, Stoddard Jess, C. W. Gates, A. H. Brawley are the more recent promoters and custodians of the comjiany's interests. The final success of the undertaking means much to a large area of very fertile land south and east of Tulare lake. BL.\KELEY DITCH In the spring of 1899 F. Blakeley, Hi Clausen, Max Lovelace, R. E. McKenna, Jack Rhodes and Stiles McLaughlin associated themselves together for the promotion of what is commonly called the Blakeley ditch, contemjilating the irrigation of a ti'act of fine land west and northwest of Tulare lake. The company approjiriated 100,000 inches of water from Kings river at a point about one-half mile below the lower bridge. After three miles of canal had been constructed, Mr. Blakeley on his own account extended the system so that its ditches measured thirty-eight miles. The Empire Water Com]iany was created to distribute watei- over the lands of the rich district known as the Empire ranch. Also the Mercedes Pum])iug Company was formed prospectively to water land west of Kings river. THE KIXGS CANAL AXD IRRIGATION COMPANY This <'om])any was promoted by Henry Cousins, Hi Clauson, Frank Blakeley, Max Lovelace, Stiles McLaughlin, a Mr. Ogle and others about the year 1900 and contemplated the irrigation of lands east of Kings river and north of Tulare lake as well as future lands reclaimed by the receding of the lake. It is supplied by the same appropriation of the waters from Kings river and served by the same dam as the Blakeley ditch and in fact is twin to the latter named ditch. It is about one hundred feet wide in places and the system embraces about twenty-eight miles of ditch. RAINFALL FOR TWENTY-ONE YEARS The history of a locality would not 1)e com])lete without containing a record of those "heavenly blessings" furnished by the weather god. Herewith is presented an authentic rain table kept since 189L showing the measurement of rain by the month, as gauged at Hanford : Year 1891-92— June, 0.00; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September, .52; 198 TULAEE AXD KINGS COUNTIES October, 0.00; Noveml)er, .40; December, 1.92; January, .41; Febru- ary, .99; March, 2.27; April, .19; May, 1.26; total annual, 7.96. Year 1892-93— June, 0.00; July. 0.00; August, 0.00; September, 0.00; October, .26; November, .;>8; December, 1.46; January, 2.8.3; Feb- ruary, 1.22 ; March, 2.53 ; April, .13 ; May, 0.00 ; total annual, 8.81. Year 1893-94— June, 0.00; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September, 0.00; October, .02; November, .20; December, 1.34; January, .87; Feb- ruary, .40; March, .33; April, .09; May, .20; total annual, 3.45. Year 1894.95— June, .72; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September, .53; October, .25; November, 0.00; December, 3.00; January, 2.79; Felv ruary, .97; March, .96; April, .50; May, .38; total annual, 10.10. Year 1895-96— Jime, 0.00; July, 6.00; August, 0.00; September, 0.00; October, 1.05; November, 0.00; December, .35; January, 1.70; February, 0.00; March, .55; April, .76; May, .15; total annual, 4.56. Year— 1896-97— June, .0.00; July, .11; August, .02; September, 0.00; October, .61; November, .72; December, .68; January, 1.56; February, 1.86; March, .11; April, .95; May, 0.00; total annual, 6.62. Year— 1897-98— June, 0.00; July, 0.00; xVugust, 0.00; September, 0.00; October, 1.80; November, .21; December, .48; January, .38; Feb- ruary, .89 ; March, .03 ; April, .91 ; May, .41 ; total annual, 5.11. Year— 1898-99— June, 0.00 ; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September, 1.44; October, .11; November, .08; December, .75; January, 1.04; Feb- ruary, .17 ; March, .30 ; April, 2.66 ; May, .26 ; total annual, 6.81. Year— 1899-00— June, .26; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September, 0.00; October, .96; November, 1.18; December, 1.23; January, 1.61; Februarv, 0.00; March, 1.26; April, 1.33; May, 2.27; total annual, 10.10. Year— 1900-01— June, 0.00; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September, 0.00; October, .25; November, 2.21; December, .22; January, 3.30; Feb- ruarv, 2.82 ; March, .67 ; April, .27 ; May, 1.39 ; total annual, 11.13. Year— 1901-02— June, 0.00; July, 0.00; August. 0.00; September. .57 ; October, .51 ; November, .80 ; December, .24 ; January, .40 ; February, 2.17; March, 1.43; April, .50; May, .08; total annual, 6.70. Year— 1902-03— June, 0.00; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September. 0.00; October, .32; November, 1.52; December, .63; January, 1.28; Feb- ruarv, .57; March, 1.76; April, .80; May, 0.00; total annual, 6.88. Year— 1903-04— June, 0.00; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September, 0.00; October, .05; November, .32; December, .13; January, .56; Feb- ruarv, 2.15 ; March, 3.07 ; April, .36 ; May, 0.00 ; total annual, 6.64. Year— 1904-05— June, 0.00; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September, 2.00; October, .74; November, 0.00; December, 1.24; January, 1.45; Februarv, 1.16; March, 2.20; April, .48; May, 1.05; total annual, 10.32. Year— 1905-06— June. 0.00; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September. 0.00 ; October, 0.00 ; November, 1.37 ; December, .41 ; January, 1.81 ; Februarv, 1.54; March, 4.77; April, .76; May, 1.76; total annual, 12.42. Year— 1906-07— June, 0.00; July. 0.00; August, 0.00; September, TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 199 0.00; October, 0.00; November, ..39; December, 3.49; Jamiary, 3.51; February, .67 ; March, 2.39 ; April, .32 ; May, 0.00 ; total ammal, 10.77. Year— 1907-08— June, 0.00; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; Septem- ber. 0.00; October, .68; November, 0.00; December, 1.74; Jan- uary, 1.92; February, 3.03; March, 0.00; April, 0.00; May, .56; total annual, 7.93. Year— lf)08-09— June. 0.00; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; Sej^tember, .91 ; October, 0.00 ; November, .66 ; December, .31 ; January, 4.35 ; Feb- ruary, 3.21; March, 1.66; April, 0.00; May, .15; total annual, 11.25 Year— 1909-10— Jime, 0.00; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September, 0.00; October, .19; November, 1.57; December, 2.56; January, 1.87; Feb- ruary, .08; March, 1.47; April, .05; May, .24; total annual, 8.03. Year— 1910-11— Jime, 0.00; July," 0.00; August, 0.00; September, 1.51 ; October, .30 ; November, .23 ; December, .72 ; January, 3.37 ; Feb- ruary, 1.46; March, 2.94; April, 0.00; Mav, .50; total annual, 11.03. Year— 1911-12— Jiiue, 0.00; July, 0.00; August, 0.00; September, .04; October, .09; November, .23; December, .55; January, .51; Feb- ruary, .02; March, 3.15; April, .27; May, 1.52; total annual, 6.38. 20(1 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES CHAPTER XXIV EXIT AND RETURN OF TULARE LAKE The most iuleresting natural plienomeuon that has transpired in Kings county since its organization is the vanishing and reappearance of Tulare lake, a body of fresh water, for years the largest in area of any lake west of the Rocky Mountains. This lake at one time within the memory of some pioneers yet li\dng covered one thousand square miles of territory, extending from Kern county northwesterly to near Lemoore. From 1854 to 1872, a period of sixteen years, the area of this lake changed but little. But along in the '70s, irrigation from the streams that |)oured into this basin which forms the depression in the great Tulare valley, the borders of the lake gradually receded. It is the opinion of Dr. Gustav Eisen, who knew the lake in 1875 and who made a study of it again in 1898, that the use of the waters from the streams by the farmers caused the gradual recession. In a well-written article on the subject Dr. Eisen relates that recession was rajud at the end of the first three years of irrigation farming. The tapping of Kings and Tule rivers, and Cross creek which is fed by the Kaweah river, and the siireading of the water out upon the plains through great systems of canals and laterals caused the southern end of the lake to shrink materially. The shore line in 1854 represented the diagram of an oyster, but by 1875 the southern end had shrunk until it was about a mile in width. At that time the lake was a great hunt- ing and fishing ground. Sail boats and a steamboat plied its waters. At certain points a man could wade out for miles and not reach beyond his depth. From 1875 to 1880 the lake grew smaller and smaller and in 1882 the border had left Kern county entirely. In 1888 it had become almost circular in shape. From a body of water almost eighty miles in lengih in 1858, by the time Kings county was formed it had shrunken to about two hundred and twenty square miles. The process of evaporation assisted in aiding the irrigatiouists to uncover the bottom and as that appeared it baked and cracked under the influence of the summer sun until, checked and fissured, it invited the attention of the land seeker, for by i)lacing solid wooden shoes sawed out of plank on the feet of horses, teams could be gotten upon the land and levees could be built and crops put in. "Wherever planting was done in this uncovered lake bottom it was discovered that the soil was rich, especially at the deltas of Kings and Tule rivers and Deer and Cross creeks. The uncovered lands belonged to the state under what was known as the Arkansas act jiassed by Congress in Septeml)er, 1850. This act provided that swamp and overflow lands such as were of no value in extending waterwavs and TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 201 oonlfl not be settled upon under conditions governing' the Xntioual Homestead Act, should revert to the states in which such lands lay. The California legislature in 1872 passed a swamp and overflow land act which was subsequently amended, enabling settlers to locate on these lands belonging to the state, the uniform price to be $1 per acre. The law also provided for a reclamation system, which when the requirements were met, the state would pay back to the settler the $1 )ier acre advanced. Under this act nuich swamp and overflowed land was acquired l)y large corporations through their allied interests. In 1880 the state adopted a new constitution and an important change was made in the matter of handling the swamp land, and Article XVII provided that lands lielonging to the state which are suitable for cultivation shall lie granted only to actual settlers and in quantities not to exceed three hundred and twenty acres to each settler. As the waters of Tulare lake continued to vanish and the im- mense area was laid bare settlers and speculators believing that the lake had disappeared for all time, stampeded to Kings county and "Lakelanders" were as numerous and as enthusiastic as pros- pectors attracted to a great mining field where a lode has been struck. Eeclamation districts of large and small area were organized and levees were erected out of the silt marking the boundaries of such districts. As fast as the water could be fenced in to smaller area by the excited land-seekers the work went on and the claimants plowed and ]ilanted and harvested. Some enormous yields of wheat and barley were recorded. Finally, in 1895, there was no lake. Standing in the center of the vast expanse one May day the writer of this gazed out upon a vast sea of about 50,000 acres of waving grain. The millions of ducks and geese, pelicans, swan and other wild birds that once made the old lake their abiding place had vanished. A stray band of pelicans came in, looked down for the water, but finding none, vanished in the distance. Farmers banked upon a bounteous harvest. But during the winter months that had just passed the canyons of the mighty Sierras had been filled with snow and with the spring rains and warm con- ditions in the hills the torrents which had in other years formed and kept replenished the old lake came down the rivers. Some of the reclaimers who had particularly good levees managed through great exertion to get their grain out, while others less fortunate saw their thousand of acres go under water; saw their levees melt away like sugar, their houses, barns and haystacks float away, and in a few weeks the theory that irrigation and the nudtii^lied population of the country using the waters of the Sierras in growing \-ineyards and orchards had roblied the county of its lake, had vanished, and Tulare lake was again on the map covering about the same relative area as it did in 189:5. 202 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES At present a great levee lias been built on the east side of the lake and many thousands of rich acres have thus been reclaimed and the further extension of the levee will expand the reclaimed territory to a large extent. CHAPTER XXV RAILROADS The T)uilding of railroads in Kings county since its birth. May 23, 1893. is a matter of much historical im])ort because of the fact that the first competing line for the great San Joaquin Valley originated and took root through the action of Kings county citizens on July 5, 1894:. On that date a group of men while gathered at the Hanford Sentinel office lamenting the lack of railroad facilities and the burdens from excessive transportation rates from the plug road already in operation, raised a somewhat plaintive cry, "Let's have an inde- pendent line," and on Thursday, July 12. 1894, "An Independent Line" constituted the headline under which the first rejiort of an organized effort was published and from which incipient effort resulted what was first called the San Joaquin Valley Railroad Com- pany. From the Hanford Sentinel of the above date we quote: "W. H. Worswick is the man who first sounded the key. ' ' The first committee on promotion was appointed at a meeting held in the office of D. R. Cam- eron, July •(, 1891, and consisted of the following representative men : "\V. W. Parlin, W. H. Worswick, D. R. Cameron, W. S. Porter, W. A. Long, A. V. Taylor, Archibald Yell. On the following day this committee met at the office of Archibald Yell "to consider the preliminaries of getting a start." By invitation E. Jacobs of Visalia was present and gave valuable suggestions. The discussions resulted in adding to the above committee the names of B. L. Barney, E. Jacobs, S. E. Biddle, W. P. McCord, Frank L. Dodge, W. J. Newport, the whole to constitute* a hoard of directors for a temporary organization; Archibald Yell being made president and D. R. Cameron, secretary. A committee named to map out a route through Kings county included the following gentlemen : E. P. Irwin, F. J. Walker. TT. il. Worswick, George A. Dodge, Joshua Worswick, W. P. McCord, W. W. Parlin. Numerous offers were made by farmers to give right of way and grade the road through their premises and general discussion and liberal offers of assistance were indulged in by the community at large. When the above reports had been circulated other counties took up the cry for "An Independent Line" and the next issue of the Sentinel carried the cheering headlines, "Now is the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 203 time to strike, for the iron is hot and the people know their needs. The action of Kings county meets with a hearty response from Contra Costa county." The Hauford organization was highly encouraged by letters from Antioch and San Francisco. Assurances of help by uniting with the Kings county people gave added impetus to the cause and the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern soon fell into line by holding public meetings and apitoiuting committees to confer with the Kings county organization. J. S. Leeds, manager of the San Fran- cisco Traffic Association, in an interview said: "It is a good time for San Francisco to go tn work. If one county can do what these people of Kings county are doing the other counties can be relied upon to do something of the same kind. Let us join hands with them." At Antioch a mass meeting was held and C. M. Belshaw introduced a strong resolution stating that the people of Antioch "are in hearty accord and sympathy with the scheme promulgated by the citizens of Kings county." C. G. Lamberson of Visalia who had interests in Kings county enlisted as a helper. Supervisors Letcher and Foster of Fresno county came out emphatically in favor of the Kings county movement and advocated a plan to bond Fresno county in the simi of $fi()O,000 to aid the project. Tulare county people began to awaken and Kern county also felt an impulse to join in a scheme to reduce a transportation rate, the excess of which over a fair and just rate would soon pay for a competing road. At this juncture the political camiiaign of 1894 came on and also a question of the government ownership of the Southern Pacific lines which had a tendency to damjjen the ardor of the jieople toward the newly proposed railroad in the various interior counties of the San Joafpiin Valley; Init the Ti'aftic Association of San Francisco about the middle of October, 1894, began an effort to raise $350,000 to start "The Valley Railroad" as it was then called. Then a comi)any known as the "United Rail- road Com])any, " managed liy a man named ITartzell at Stockton. launched a scheme to build a road from Stockton to Bakersfield. This was in November, 1894. It sought to unite with the San Fran- cisco Traffic Association and was encouraged by P. McRae of Ilanford. The original movement by Kings county people seemed for a while held U)) by the efforts of the above combines and the seeming reluct- ance of capitalists in the northern metropolis to justly aid the interests of the San Joaquin A'alley people. Late in November, 1894, D. R. Cameron, secretary of the Kings county railroad jiromotion committee, threw a bombshell into the camp of the San Francisco business men l)y writing a letter to the Los Angeles Chamber of Conmierce, setting forth a proposition wlu'rel)y Los Angeles might unite in building a competing railroad into the San Joacpiin Valley, thus securing a substantial interchange of trade which their ])resent trans- portation rates prohibited. This valley had ])reviously looked north to 204 TULAK1-: AND KINGS COUNTIES San Franoisco for aid. 'I'lie lethargy of that city was ])henonipnal. The proposition was well received by Los Angeles people and again enthusiasm went to an upper mark. A meeting was called by the Los Angeles Chamlier of Commerce for January 12, 1895. Delegations were sent to this meeting appointed by the Boards of Svipervisors of the res})ective counties as follows: Kings county, S. E. Biddle, F. L. Dodge, D. R. Cameron; Fresno county, T. C. White, Fulton G. Berry, J. II. Kelley. O. J. Woodward; Kern county, W. H. Holaliird; Tulare county, E. Barris. The delegates were well received by the Los Angeles Chaml)er of Commerce and two enthusiastic sessions were held at which resolutions endorsing the Matthews bill which was then pending before the State Legislature, empowering counties to issue bonds for constructing railroads within their boundaries. A commit- tee on Ways and Means was appointed. Said committee elected W. H. Holabird chairman, Charles Forman secretary, and J. M. Elliott of the First National Bank of Los Angeles, treasurer. The sense of the meeting was strong that a line of railway be built from Los An- geles into the San Joaquin Valley and recommended the means pro- vided by the Matthews Bill as an incentive for the various counties to act. The result of the Los Angeles meeting was the bomb that awak- ened San Francisco capitalists, for no sooner than reports reached them that Los Angeles was interested in getting the trade of this great valley did the Bay City see its danger and her prominent business men began to bestir themselves to enlist ca]ntal to come to the rescue. Word was quickly sent to the Kings county organization that a com- mittee of twelve had been selected in San Francisco with Claus Spreckels at the head, with a subscription of $700,000; that a company was forming to be capitalized in the sum of $2,000,000 which would all be subscribed in that city in a few days to guarantee the building of the new road from San Francisco to Bakersfield. The San Fran- cisco committee consisted of Claus Spreckels, Alexander Bovd, James D. Phelan, James F. Flood, O. D. Baldwin, David Meyer, w". F. Whit- tier, Albert Miller. Charles Holbrook, Thomas Magee, John T. Doyle, and E. F. Preston. This action electrified the whole city and set every- body talking about the new railroad, while the San Joaquin Valley rang with the hallelujahs of promised deliverance. Even Los Angeles took u)) the strain and advocated a continued line of road to that city. On January 2nd, 1895, a mass meeting was held in the Hanford Opera House. After discussion of the outlook by prominent citizens a com- mittee was appointed to confer with the San Francisco committee, consisting of E. p]. Manheim, D. R. Cameron, S. E. Biddle, P. McRae, F. L. Dodge. Louis F. Montagle. F. W. Van Sicklin, S. C. Lillis, A. Kutner, J. E. Rawlins. The San Francisco Chronicle encouraged the enterprise by giving a whole page write-up of the great resources of TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 205 the various counties throu<>"li whieh the new road would pass. In its write-uji it said of Kings County : "Kini;s County is known as tlie l)aby county of the state, from tlie fact tliat it was tlie last one to be created. It was taken from Tulare County, and includes all of Tulare Lake, a shallow basin of about 100 square miles in area. This new county of Kings is in the direct line of all railroad enterprises that expect to traverse the San Joaquin Valley. It has an assessed acreage of 427,281 acres and an assessed wealth of, in 1892, about $7,000,000. The territory of this county is irrigated by ditches having their sujiply from Kings and Kaweah rivers and Cross Creek, furnishing what is claimed to be the best, cheapest and most thorough irrigation system." At this time $2,100,000 had been subscribed and articles of incor- poration filed in which San Francisco and Bakersfield were named as terminal points. The ca|)ital stock of the company was placed at $6,000,000, the length of the road to be 350 miles. But all great enterjirises meet with difficulties and now came the one great question, how to get into San Francisco? Clans Spreckels found the way l)locked against right of way for terminal facilities and had to go to the State Legislature to get a Bill enacted so as to be able to lease mud flats for terminal grounds. Trouble also came to the people of Hanford and Kings county in the way of different routing of the line through the valley. Down the west side or the east side, which? While Kings county as the pioneers in the work had brought it to a probable success, her people were called u]iou to "put up" or lose the goose. As it was proclaimed by C. F. Preston, one of the San Francisco boosters, to be "a people's road, built with the jieople's money and owned by the people," the TIanford committee reported, after a canvass of the county, that 1068 days' work by men and teams, making over three years' work, had been offered, several hundred tons of hay, an amount of liarley and some money; besides this three different men had promised to grade enough to make one-half the distance across the county. The city of Hanford would fui'nish depot grounds and i-ight of way. At this time 390 names were on the San Francisco subscrijition list, aggregating $2,388,300. Claus Spreckels said he wanted it called the "people's road" and not Spreckels' road. The San Fi-ancisco Ex- aminer said in its |)raise: "The valley road will save the trade and industry of the city from the strangling grip of the Southern Pacific's policy that is now directed to give the trade of the interior to Chicago and New York." April 29, 1895, Clans Spreckels, Robert Watt and Cajit. H. 11. Payson, directors of the new valley road, visited Hanford on a tour of inspection as to jjrobable routes and to view the resources from which the new road might expect pati'onage. The TIanf(U-d conunittee gave them a ride througli the surrounding couiiti\v and a ban(|uet. I'OG TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES The "Sau Fraucisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad" had now be- come a certainty; rails had lieeu purchased for a beginning and con- tracts for construction were being negotiated. Committees in the va- rious counties were working for rights of way, it being about settled that the road from Fresno would branch to both sides of the valley. May 7th a Hanford committee, consisting of E. E. Bush, D. R. Cameron, L. S. Chittenden and Frank L. Dodge, were sent on a trip to look out the most direct route down the west side to Bakerstield. A committee of the directors of the road again visited Hanford on a final tour of inspection on May 7th, and it was then admitted that Hanford would be on the main line. On Friday, the 22nd day of January, 1897, was transacted the very important business of signing contracts with the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad Company by which Kings County was to get the main line, and on Monday night, January 25th, the Hanford City Council granted a fran- chise through the city for the building and operating of the new road. On Tuesday, January 26th, duly authorized committee, consisting of E. E. Bush, D. R. Cameron and P. McRea, as custodians of the money raised and deeds collected for rights of way, signed the contract with the railroad company which secured the prize for which Kings county had been struggling for during the past three years. There was little left to be done by the people but to await the building of the road south from Fresno to Bakerstield, via Hanford. While Hanford people took the initiative and with commendable zeal pushed the enterprise from the start, the financial requirements were so far beyond them that the actual construction and equipment must necessarily pass to the hands of a comi^any of capitalists, which it did and thus the matter of control by the people was wholly lost and the question of its being and remaining a competing railroad when finished was a mere guess. However, it was an improvement much needed and desired by the people and all were pleased, and encouraged to greater activity in all lines of industry that belong to this, the greatest inland empire of the Pacific Coast. The actual coming of the iron horse over the new road was celebrated in Hanford on May 23rd, 1897, just two years, eleven months and eighteen days from the date of the first meet- ing in Hanford to start it. The celebration of its coming was combined with the fifth anni- versary celebration of Kings county. On that date the first passenger train over the new road sounded its whistle to the largest crowd that had ever gathered at Hanford. There were parades with bands of nmsic; floats representing horticultural and agricultui-al interests, as well as the city business houses, the educational and civic institutions of Kings county and many delegations of visitors from surrounding counties and towns. One thousand people came in on the first passenger train, including the directors and other officers of the new road. After the grand parade had been reviewed by the visitors and the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 207 happy thousands of home people, exercises were held at a grand stand where eloquent speeches were made by E. E. Manheim, president Han- ford Chamber of Commerce; Judge Justin Jacobs of Kings county, Vice-President Robert Watt of the road. Col. E. E. Preston, counsel for the road. It was a gala day for Kings county, then the baby county of tlie state, because the new road had reduced freights and farjes to San Francisco about one-third and had brought such im- proved accommodations as to merit the praise of all. CHAPTER XXVI DAIRY INDUSTRY No history of Kings county would be complete without mention of the dairy industry, and it was only four years prior to the organiza- tion of the county that the dairy industry was foimded, in the year 1889, by a few progressive ranchers. It was due to their foresight and persistent efforts that a co-operative company for the manufacture of cheese was formed and incorporated. At that time it was generally believed that climatic conditions in this part of the valley were such as to preclude the successful manufacture of dairy products commer- cially, but the new company erected a factory at Hanford and sub- sequently another factory was built in the Lakeside district, eight miles south. The Lakeside institution operated for several years, but was finally acquired by the Hanford company. The establishment of these factories inspired the ranchers to improve their stock, and the mongrel cows of the old home dairy days gave way to imported short- horn Durham, Plolstein, Jersey, Ayrshire and other breeds, so we can mark the beginning of the i^resent extensive dairy business here to the advent of factory cheese-making. As it was soon learned that alfalfa was the great forage for the dairy, cheese making prospered, and in 1889 the two cheese factories passed into the ownership of A. B. Crowell, one of the coimty's first interested dair^^nen. In that year he made up into cheese 1700 pounds of milk per day. During the six years which followed, the patronage of the factories grew to 10,000 pounds of milk ]ier day, and in the year 1902 the Hanford fac- tory, which had then swallowed up the Lakeside plant, turned out 150,000 pounds of cheese. But in 1897, F. J. Peacock established a butter factory in the Dallas district, near where the town of Corcoran now stands. He subsequently established other butter-making plants, 208 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES and so rapidly did the butter indiistry grow that in 1902 there were 4500 cows in the county, supplying cream to the factories, the Kings County Creamery alone paying out that year to the dairymen $120,000 for milk and cream. Finally the Hanford cheese factory was destroyed by tire, and the butter industry having grown more popular, absorbed the attention of the dairymen, and cheese making in the county has been since confined to small private plants, but an article of excellent grade is made for local consumption. In 1903 a company was organized in Hanford for the condensation of milk. A' factory was erected and equipped, hut through some fault in the management the project was a failure. The creamery business, however, has flourished until in 1911 the output of dairy products from the dairies of the county amounted to $1,574,250. There are five incorporated creameries in the county now, and others in prospect. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 209 CHAPTER XXVII THE CITY OF HANPORD Hanford, the chief city and county seat of Kings county, is situated midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and the townsite was laid out by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in March, 1877. The town was named after James Hanford, who was auditor of the railroad company at the time the railroad was built to this point. As an unincorporated town it soon became an important trading point, and in July, 1891, after a series of annual conflagrations, the peoj^le determined to incorjjorate the town and make it a city of the sixth class. Accordingly a petition was presented to the board of super- visors of Tulare county on July 10, 1891, praying for an election to be called for the purpose of deciding upon the subject of incorporating. The petition contained the description of the boundaries of the proposed city, and they were as follows, to wit : Beginning at a point thirty feet north and thirty feet west of the southeast corner of section 36, township 18 south, range 21 east, M. D. B. and M., thence run- ning due north to a point thirty feet south and thirty feet west of the northeast corner of section 25, township 18 south, range 21 east, M. D. B. and M., thence due west to a point thirty feet south and thii'ty feet east of the northwest corner of said section 2.5, thence due south to a point thirty feet north and thirty feet east of the south- west corner of aforesaid section 36, thence due east to point of beginning. Those who petitioned for this movement were : Frank J. Walker, T. Gebhardt. J. H. Malone, J. Manasse, F. A. Blakeley, 0. B. Phelps, Dixon L. Phillips, R. G. White, S. E. Biddle, S. Rehoefer,' R. Mills, E. E. Manheim, F. L. Dodge, J. D. Biddle, C. R. Brown, J. J. Harlow, George Slight, J. T. Baker, E. E. Rusli, R. W. Musgrave, Z. D. Johns, X. P. Duncan, D. Gamble, J. H. Sharp. A. J. Huff, A. E. Chittenden, F. A. Dodge, J. D. Spencer, B. C. Bestman, W. R. Mc- Quiddv, B. C. Mickle, A. P. Gomes, D. L. Healy, E. Axtell, T. J. McQuiddv, E. P. Irwin, P. A. Hov, N. Weisbaum, K. Simon, C. B. Rourke, J. P. Ames. J. G. Mickle. J. G. Clanton, J. Hanley, Wm. Roughton, J. Weisbaum, J. R. Beekwith, P]. J. Benedict, C. R. Hawley, Wra. Corey, E. Weisbaum, John S. Thompson, H. G. Lacey, S. M. Rosenberger, R. L. Roughton, H. C. Fallin, W. H. Nyswonger, W. A. Ai-nold, S. M. Joiner, Charles F. Cunning, George W. King, C. J. Hall, C. W. Cooper, Charles King, R. Starkweather, A. H. Martin, R. Irwin. F. V. Dewey, H. Buck, Charles Vosburg, A. E. Gribi. M. C. LaFortune, J. C. Davis, E. M. Friant, Wm. McVey. Sanmel J. Bee, A. G. Dollenmayer, J. F. Garwood, E. Lord, H. C. Tandy. 210 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES The election was held on Anaust 8, 1891. and resulted in the fol- lowing vote: For incorporation, 127; against incorporation, 47. ELECTIVE OFFICEKS OF THE CITY OF HANFORD FROM 1891 TO 1913 From 1891 to 1892— Trustees : E. Axtell, B. A. Fassett, James 0. Hickman, James Manasse and George Slight. President of the Board. B. A. Fassett; City Clerk. W. R. McQuiddy; Treasurer, N. Weisliaum ; Marshal, Wm. A. Bush. From 1892 to 1894 — Trustees : E. Axtell, B. A. Fassett, E. Lord, Richard Mills and George Slight. President of the Board, B. A. Fassett ; City Clerk, Edward Weisbaum ; Treasurer, Jas. 0. Hickman ; Marshal, Wm. A. Bush. From 1894 to 1896— Trustees: S. B. Hicks, J. H. Malone, R. E. Starkweather, E. Lord and George Slight. President of the Board, George Slight ; City Clerk, Frank Pryor ; Treasurer, J. 0. Hickman ; Marshal, H. McGinnis. From 1896 to 1898— Trustees : D. R. Cameron, John Ross, S. B. Hicks, J. H. Malone and R. E. Starkweather. President of the Board. S. B. Hicks; City Clerk, Frank Pryor; Treasurer. Arthur D. King; Marshal, H. McGinnis. From 1898 to 1900— Trustees : S. E. Biddle, J. G. Burgess, J. H. Farley, D. R. Cameron and John Ross. President of the Board, D. R. Cameron; City Clerk, Frank Pryor; Treasurer, A. D. King; Marshal, H. McGinnis. From 1900 to 1902— Trustees : Wm. Abbott, W. H. Camp, S. E. Biddle. J. G. Burgess and J. H. Farley. President of the Board, J. H. Burgess; City Clerk, B. W. Moore; Treasurer, A. D. King; Marshal, Ed. Reuck. From 1902 to 1904— Trustees : Wm. Abbott, Wm. Camp, J. W. Rhoads, Harrv Widmer and J. E. Viney. President of the Board, Harry Widmer; City Clerk, Jas. A. Hill; Treasurer, F. R. Hight; Marshal, A. M. Frederick. From 1904 to 1906— Trustees : W. H. Camp, E. H. Walker, J. E. Vinev, J. W. Rhoads and H. Widmer. President of the Board, Harry Widmer; City Clerk, Jas. A. Hill; Treasurer, F. R. Hight; Marshal, A. M. Frederick. From 1906 to 1908— Trustees : H. A. Beekhuis, W. H. Cam]i, E. H. AValker, Grant Starkweather and J. M. Dean. President of the Board, H. A. Beekhuis ; City Clerk, Jas. A. Hill ; Treasurer, F. R. Hight; Marshal, A. M. Frederick. From 1908 to 1910— Trustees : H. A. Beekhuis, B. L. Barney, David Gamble, J. M. Dean, Grant Starkweather. President of the Board. H. A. Beekhuis, who resigned and B. L. Barney was chosen president ; City Clerk, James A. Hill ; Treasurer, F. E. Hight ; Marshal, A. M. Frederick. From 1910 to 1912— Trustees : B. L. Barney, F. M. Parish, Grant TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 211 Starkweatlier, David Gamble, A. W. Bass. President of the Board, B. L. Baruey; City Clerk, D. C. Williams; Treasurer, F. R. Higbt; Marshal, A. M. Frederick. From 1912 to 19 IJ— Trustees: Charles H. Coe, J. H. Dawson, A. W. Bass, F. M. Parish, Grant Starkweather. President of the Board, Charles H. Coe; City Clerk, D. C. Williams; Treasurer, F. R. Hight; Marshal (now appointive), Samuel Humphreys. The latter resigned in January, 1913, and Clarence Seaman was appointed to succeed him. The City of Hanford at this time, twenty-two years after it was incorporated, enjoys fifteen blocks of business streets paved with asphaltum concrete and curbed with granite. The city owns its own Holly water system for protection against fire, having one of the best duplicated systems of steam pumping through a system of under- ground water mains extending throughout the city that can be found in any city of its size. A volunteer fire department of thirty-five men is etjuijiped with auto chemical and hose truck, hand chemicals, etc., which were purchased in 1912 and succeeded horse-drawn ap- paratus. In October, 1912, the city voted bonds in the sum of $35,000 to extend the then existing fire system, which was built in the early '90s and subsequently extended. At this election bonds of $80,000 were also voted to rehabilitate a city sewer system constructed orig- inally in 1900 by a bond issue. In the latter year a bond election was held, November 20, and bonds in the sum of $50,000 were voted, the vote being 324 for and 109 against the bonds. A sewer farm of one hundred and sixty acres was purchased, the same being the north- west quarter of section 12, 19-21. A septic tank was there built, and a system of sewers, the largest size of pipe used being twelve inch for the outfall, was constructed. At that time, with the population of the city being about 2,900, the system was fairly adequate, but the rapid increase of population and the fact that the first sewer constructed was in many resi)ects improperly done, permitting of deterioration, in the summer of 1908 the city reconstructed the outfall and extended the service within the city. This proved also only a tem- porary relief, and the growth of population having reached the 6,000 mark in 1912, the sewer question became a pressing one, hence the bonds called for and votecl in November last, as above stated. The contract for this sewer extension, the building of the Imhoff disposal plant, etc., was awarded January 28, 1913. Through a technicality the courts declared the bond issue invalid. Hanford is supplied with a city hall which is the headquarters of the fire department, as well as the seat of municipal government, where the city recorder and the city clerk have their offices in connection with the chamber of the board of trustees. 212 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES VAXISHING OF THE SALOONS From the time -wheu the Southern Pacitio railroad had reached this poiut aud Hauford was staked out, the tratfio in intoxicating liquors flourished as in all western towns until 1912. While the license policy that i^revailed in the town was perhaps as well managed as in any average city, there gradually grew up a sentiment that the liquor business was detrimental to the social welfare of the com- munity, although the revenue derived from the licensing of the traffic was considerable and helped in a large degree to defray the expenses of the municipal government. The religious element, as- sisted by others not within the churches, gradually encroached against the legal barriers thrown about the liquor traffic by ordinances for police protection, although the prime object was revenue, and in the winter of 1909 under the leadership of tlie ministerial association of the city a campaign was started and was fought out at the municipal election in April of 1910. One set of candidates pledged to oppose the saloons was nominated aud contested for the offices of trustee against a "business men's" ticket, not pledged, but generally supposed to be pro-saloon. The campaign was bitterly fought, and the election on April 11 resulted in the election of F. M. Parish, A. W. Bass and J. H. Dawson, "Good Government" or "Citizens' " candidates, over G. Starkweather, J. Hedgeland and C. F. F lemming, of the opposition. The vote was close, the average majority of the winning candi- dates being but thirty-five votes. The election of these men gave the temperance forces a majority of the board, the holdover members being B. L. Barney and David Gamble. Between the total vote for Dawson aud the total vote for Starkweather there was, however, a ditf erence of only seven votes in favor of Dawson. This led to a con- test, which resulted in favor of Starkweather in a recount before the superior court. Judge Mahon, of Kern county, presiding. The case was appealed to the supreme court aud the judgment of Mahon seat- ing Starkweather was affirmed, and he replaced Mr. Dawson on the board, thus insuring another term of the license system in the city. The anti-saloon forces, however, would not quit. The campaign was taken up again by the Anti-Saloon League of California, and the state legislature of 1910-11 enacted the Wyllie local option law, which gave the anti-saloon people a chance for another round with the saloons in Hauford. Petitious were circulated for an election under that act, aud to decide the "wet" and "dry" question in conjunction with the municijial election to be held on Ajiril 7, 1912. John Dawson, who liad been ousted by the Starkweather contest of two years previ- ous, and Charles II. Coe were candidates for the anti-saloon ticket, and S. B. Hicks and "W. R. Newport were the candidates of the oppo- sition ticket for trustees, although both sides were pledged to enforce the law on the liquor question in accordance with the expression of the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 213 voters. A lively and at times bitter campaign was fought out. At the election the total vote cast on the liquor question was 1,740 (the women voting under the new franchise act), and there were 753 votes cast for license and 987 votes cast against it. The large majority for the "dry" element successfully elected Messrs. Ooe and Dawson, and when they took their seats on the board of trustees the board inunedi- ately proceeded to eliminate the saloon traffic from the city. The ques- tion of gi'anting salaries to the members of the board of trustees was also endorsed liy the electors, and for the first time in the history of the city the trustees became salaried officials. The new board met and organized on April 15. Under the new law the city marshal became an appointed officer, and Samuel Humph- reys was chosen. F. E. Kilpatrick was chosen city attorney. D. C. Williams was elected clerk by the people, and the board appointed A. M. Ashley city recorder. Thus organized the first city government under the "dry" regime began operation. Under the provisions of the state law the saloons automatically went out of business ninety days after the people had by a majority vote so decreed, and in Han- ford, on the night of July 6, 1912, after existing for thirty-five years with a legalized saloon system, the bars were closed and the traffic was abandoned by the edict of the people. CHURCHES OF HAN FORD As early as 1874 a Christian Church organization was formed by Major T. J. McQuiddy, W. E. McQuiddy, Elder Craigie Sharp, Court- ney Talbot, J. M. Patterson, Sally Cotton, Welcome Fowler and others. This organization held meetings in Eureka schoolhouse. Later the place of meeting was in the Grangeville schoolhouse. In 1878 Hanford was chosen l)y the society as a permanent location and a church was built at the corner of Eighth and Brown streets. Later this church was rebuilt in its present convenient and commodious proportions. In November, 1880, the Presbyterian Church society, which had been organized, was given a new imjietus by Rev. N. W. Motheral, who was given its leadershij). He put his native al)ility and force into immediate action by Imilding a new church building. In this enterprise he was obliged to haul lumber fifty miles from the mills, then in operation about Tollhouse in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Accordingly he engaged Julius Coe, Wesley Underwood, Ben Scrivner and a man named Barker, wlio formed a wagon train of five big teams to make the trij) to the mills for juiiiber. In Mai'cli, 188], the rliurch was completed and the first service held in it by the Presbyterian so- ciety was the funeral of Joseph Motheral, the sixteen-year-old son of N. W. Mothei-al, the founder of the church. Mr. Motlieral hold the pastorate of the church for many years, when he resigned to serve an appointment on the State Horticultural Commission. Rev. E. Lisle then served a term as pastor, at the end of which Mr. Motheral ayain l'14 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIPJS took up tlie pastorate and sei-ved uutil liis licaltli failed. The Presby- terian church has grown and prospered witli tliecity and count}' under the pastorate of the Eev. Sanders, I. B. Self, George B. Gregg, J. AV. Mount and John Steel. In 1912 the lot at the corner of Eighth and Douty streets on which the church was located was sold to the county for the sum of $1G,000. The church society moved the old building to a new location on the southwest corner of Irwin and Dewey streets. In the year 1880 the Methodist Church society organized, and 1)ought an old schoolhouse, which they moved on to a lot at the south- east corner of Douty and Eighth streets. Here the congregation worshi])ed through the struggling vicissitudes of its pioneer days, which, as is common to all church societies, seemed at times to baffle all efforts to sustain it. In 1886 a new pastor came from Tennessee in the person of Andrew G. Parks. He was a young, energetic man, who took conunaud with ability and vigor. It was not without great self- denial and a persevei-ance at times sublime that he kept the lights Inuning until the dawn of lietter times and a growth in the whole counuunity that brought a prosperous era. About the year 1891 the Methodist society sold their property and relocated on the corner of Irwin and Park avenue, where a new and commodious church building was erected under the pastorshi]) of Rev. G. E. Morrison. He was considered a specially qualified man to plan, build and collect funds foi- clmi'ch building, and as such did a good job for the church here, but later he became a resident of Texas, where he was convicted of poisoning his wife and was himg. The church has since prospered and is supported by a substantial congregation. In 1880 an Ei)iscopal church was organized, the first service being held under Rector D. O. Kelley in the uncompleted Presbyterian church building. Rev. Nixon followed in the work until in 1884 Rev. C. S. Linsley took charge and built a comfortable church on South Douty street, where the society flourished under various rectors until the year 1911, when under Rector G. R. E. MacDonald a new brick church was built on the corner of North Douty and Eleventh streets. Mr. MacDonald was a justly popular leader and under him the church grew to be a leading factor among religious interests of the city of Hanford. His predecessor, J. S. Mayuard, was also a popular rector, whose work left a favorable impress on the community. In the year 1882 the Catholics built a mission church here on the corner of Seventh and Reddington streets. Services were held once a month for a while by Father Guerrio, a Spanish priest, located at Visalia. Following him were Fathers Caraspo, Smith, Murphy, Brady and Scher. Father Smith was the first resident priest. In 1912 Father Scher made plans to move the churcli ]iroperty and enlarge its accom- modations. Ground was secured at the corner of Douty and Florinda streets. The new jjrojierty will include five large buildings, a school, a convent, a rectory, a church and an assembly hall. The property as TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 215 a whole will occupy sixteen lots. The Catholic church has a large and increasin.g following among the Portuguese and other foreign blood citizenship. The Seventh Day Advent church was first established at Lemoore about 1887. The second church of that denomination was formed at Grangeville a few years later, but about 1900, to make it more cen- tral for the increasing membership, it was moved to Armona. In the early '90s the Adventists built another church at Hanford on the cor- ner of Ninth and Harris streets, and in 1906 also built a church on the island northwest of Lemoore. The sect has about 400 members in the county and maintains schools in connection with their churches at Hanford, Armona and on the island. Elder J. W. Bagby has had leading charge of the work for about twelve years. The Church of God, at No. 315 East Eleventh street, was estab- lished locally about 1904 and later acquired the church property be- longing to the United Brethren. The society maintains services, but has no regular pastor. The First Baptist church, at No. 521 North Irwin street, was es- tablished on July 17, 1892. Its first pastor was I. T. Wood, and Thomas A. Dodge its first clerk; Moses P. Troxler, deacon. First Church of Christ, Scientist, was established as a society in 1898 and as a church in 1902, with thirty-two members. W. E. Mc- Quiddy and Mrs. Isabella Lloyd were the first and second readers, re- spectively, for the first term. First Church of Christ was established in a new building built for that purpose at the corner of Irwin and Myrtle streets in 1908 with Major T. J. McQuiddy, S. J. AVhite and David Utterback its princi])al promoters, J. A. Craig being its first pastor. The Free Methodist church at No. 621 North Plarris street was established in the year 1891. Its first pastor was B. L. Knoll. It has a membership of forty-three and maintains regular services, class meetings and a Sunday school. The Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at the corner of Brown and Ninth streets, was established about 1895, first holding its meetings in a cottage in the westei'n part of Hanford. Later the society built and moved into the property where they now worship. Their first pastor was Rev. W. E. Phillii)S. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion church, now located at South Douty and Second streets, was established about 1890 by Rev. Sydney Knox. The society had several years of uphill work, but conditions im])roved and the society maintains its work in the com- iHunity. The Second Baptist (colored) church, at South Irwin and Second streets, was stai'ted in 1898, its first officers being Henry Wyatt, Jolni Wclcher, StcpJien Sliaw. The first pastor was Rev. E. E. Bickers. 216 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES SCHOOLS OF KINGS COUNTY The educational affairs of Kings county are among its proudest assets. When the county was organized in 1893 there was but one high school, and the formation of the county was in itself an inspira- tion for better educational advantages. At the birth of the county there were twenty-nine school districts employing forty-three teachers. There were only two thousand census children, and there were only five schools emplopng more than one teacher. Of the sixteen him- dred pupils then enrolled in schools of the county, the one high school, that located at Hanford, enrolled fifty-four pupils. The school prop- erty of the county was estimated at less than $90,000. The growth of territory by annexation, and the extending of the cultivated area, together with the rapid settlement of the farming districts and the towns, has brought the school attendance up to three thousand two hundred in 1912. There are now three high schools, one at Hanford, employing ten teachers; one at Lemoore, emplo>-ing five teachers, and one at Cor- coran, employing two. The enrollment in all high schools, including two joint high school districts, was two hundred and twenty-four. The Hanford Union High School was established in 1892, the Lemoore High School in 1900, and the Corcoran High School in 1912. There were at the beginning of 1913 forty grammar school districts in the county, employing eighty-five teachers. The enrollment in the gram- mar schools was two thousand eight hundred and fifteen, with an aver- age daily attendance of two thousand three hundred and eighty-two. There were graduated from the grammar schools in 1912 one hundred and forty jnipils, and from the high schools thirty-seven. The school property of the county is now valued at $299,050. As the educational affairs of the state at large advance the general effect is noted in the building of modern school buildings, and the coimty has today very excellent country school buildings and the city schools are also modern in design and facilities for carrying on the work. Since the county was formed there have been three different county superintendents in office, viz. : James A. Graham, Cliarles McCourt and Mrs. N. E. Davidson, the latter being the i)resent iucumbeiit. HANFOED FREE PUBLIC LIBBAEY The city of Hanford possesses a free ])ublic library which today is the central library of a county library system, the latter being established in 1912. Tlie history of the movement which finally developed a free city library and afterwards extending its benefits and influences county-wide, began back in 1890, when a meeting of citizens of the then unincorporated town was held December 27 and a reading room association was formed. This association opened a reading room on May 26, 1891, in a wooden building on TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 217 Seventli street between Douty and Irwin streets. Mrs. M. A. Harlow was chosen president of tlie association and presided at the meeting. Mrs. Nellie Henderson (now Mrs. Malone) was the first librarian. At the meeting refreshments were served, and interested citizens broniiht books and formed the nuclens of a library. After that throngh the means of donations, socials and concerts sufficient funds were raised to maintain the reading room, pay rentals and a little something to the librarian. In May, 1892, after Ilanford had been incorporated, the reading room control was transferred to the city authorities and a library board was selected by the city trustees, the selection being as follows : Mesdames D. L. Phillips, R. G. White, N. Abrams, J. W. Barbour, and W. V. Buckner. Miss Laura Lemon was employed as librarian. In a rented building the library was conducted by this board, and in Septeml)er, 1902, aiiiilication was made to Andrew Carnegie for a gift of money with which to establish a liltrary. The application was for $15,000. and Carnegie ottered $10,000. This was not considered sufficient by the ladies. A second request was forwarded to Mr. Carnegie, and he raised his donation to $12,500. This was accepted by the library trustees, and they set about securing a site. After considerable discussion, which brought out no little contention, the Kutner-Goldstein Company offered to the city a site on East Eighth street where the present library is situated, and the same was pur- chased. In connection with the disposal of the lots the Kutner- Goldstein Company pledged the city $500 worth of books as a gift as soon as the new Carnegie building was finished. Following the decision of the city authorities to purchase the site referred to, members of the library board dissatisfied with the selection of the site, and backed by other citizens, sued out an injunc- tion in the courts to jirevent the acceptance of the site by the city. The case was heard in the sujierior court. Judge Austin, of Fresno, presiding, and the injimction was denied. An appeal was taken and on January 31, 1905, the ai)pellate court affirmed the decision of the lower court, sustaining the action of the city board. This led to the resignation of the ladies, who comprised the library board. They hale ceremony, consisting of a brief address In- City Clerk James A. Hill. AVithin the cornerstone were placed copies of the Hanford Daily Sentinel, copies of the Hanford Senii-Wcrkli/ Journal, a complete set of the then existing- pity ordinances, a card l)earing the names of tlie first board of city trnstees, viz.: B. A. Fassett, E. Axtell, J. 0. Hickman, George Slight and J. Manasse, and the first city clerk, AV. R. McQniddy, and many otlier relics of the early history of the town. The construction of the new building progressed, and on February 6, 1906, the library board met and set February 22 as tlie date for the dedication of the new building. The arrangements were carried out, and at the connnodious and well-furnished Carnegie library building with a number of fairly well-filled book stacks, on the night of February 22, the peojjle assembled for a brief program. Fred A. Dodge, chairman of the library board, called the assemblage to order and introduced Prof. E. H. Walker, principal of the Hanford TTnion High School, who made an address on "The Function of a Public Library." Miss Margaret E. Dold, the librarian, also gave an address on "The Library and its Wants." Chairman Dodge then on behalf of the board of library trustees presented the completed building to the city of Hanford. Secretary P. M. Norboe made an address in which he presented the financial statement of the construction showing tliat the building had been erected and made ready for pulilic use for the sum of $12,-t72.99, leaving a balance from the Carnegie gift in the treasury amounting to $27.01. In his remarks Secretary Norboe gave credit to library trustee, Z. D. Johns, who had freely given his time in supei'intending the construction, for assisting in enabling the board to complete the building within the amount appropriated. The new building was accepted on behalf of the city by Han-y Widmer, chairman of the board of city trustees, in which he compli- mented the library lioard on tlie excellent work done. Since th.e dedication of the library it has grown and become a most serviceable and prized institution in the city. Miss Dold served a number of years as librarian. She was succeeded by Miss Norma Burrell, who served until in the fall of 1911, when she was succeeded by Miss Bessie Hermann. In 1912 Miss Hermann successfully undertook to extend the sco]3e of the Hanford library and make it the center of a county library system. She brought the matter before the city trustees and the library board, and those bodies acting with the county board of supervisors, carried out the plan under the existing state laws, and now the institution is county-wide, having branch libraries at Cor- coran, Armona, Guernsey, Grangeville, Lemoore and Hardwick. Tlie library is suppoi-lcd from the ]iublic treasury. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 219 CHAPTER XXVIII LEMOORE Lemoore, located on tlie Soutlicni Pacific Railroad, nine miles west of Hanford, tlie county seat, is the second city in size in tlie connty, liavin,<>' an estimated i)Oitnlation of 2500. It was founded by Dr. Lavern Lee Moore, who located with his family on land where the city now stands in April, 1871. The following August Dr. Moore surveyed a few acres, and ten of them were staked out as town lots, where business soon was set up by the pioneers of the town. Dr. Moore christened the young town Latache. The settlers then had neither railroad or mail facilities and the postoffice at Grangeville was the nearest point from which postal accommodations were enjoyed. Soon Dr. Moore petitioned the department at Washington for the establishment of a postoffice, and a new name was selected for the place by abbreviating the middle name and combining it with the last name of the founder and calling the new ]iostoffice Lemoore. Mr. Moore died Se])tember 11, 1898, at the town he founded. The early l)usiness men of Lemoore were: J. II. Fox, B. K. Sweetland, Max Lovelace, A. Mooney, D. Brownstone, John Heinlen, R. Scally, Justin Jacobs, G. W. FoUett, John Hayes, Benjamin Hamlin, C. W. Barrett, Amos M. Ayers, Dr. L. M. Lovelace, A. 8. Mapes, E. Erlanger, George W. Randall, Dr. N. P. Duncan, H. Larish, R. E. McKenna, the latter serving as postmaster, receiving his appointment in 1886. F. M. Powell, now postmaster, is another one of the early men identified with the city. The Southern Pacific Railroad entered the town in 1S77 and the growth of the town has been steady, the greatest strides lia\ing been made, however, since the creation of Kings county. Lemoore was incorporated as n city of the sixth class in June, 1900. and has a nmnicipal water and sewer system. The lirst grammar school was organized in Latache (now Ijemoore) in 187;!, and a chea]) school building was erected on two acres of land donated to the district (then called Lake) by a Mr. Armstrong. The building was eighteen by thirty feet and was dedicated with a "couutiy dance" on one December night in 187.'!. Tlu^ iii'st teacher was a Mr. Siiiipson, and the forty to fifty iiu|)ils who attended this first school came from the surrounding country, some l)eing residents of the Kingston country on Kings river to the northeast. The citizens of Lemoore evidenced a commendable pride in their ])ublic schools when in 1887 a new $10,000 school building was erected. In 1885 the name of the district was changed from Ijake to Lemoore, which name it now 220 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES bears. In the year 1912 there was erected a magnificent new grammar school building at a cost of $40,000. A very substantial high scliool building was erected in 1910. The city is well supplied with churches, i)ulilic halls, etc. There are two banking institutions, and two weekly newspapers, Tlie Repub- lican and The Leader. The rich soil and the diversified farming interests with amjile irrigating facilities surrounding Lemoore insure continued substan- tial growth. The leading industries uj^on which the city relies are dairying, fruit raising, raisins, wine and general agriculture. CHAPTER XXIX EVOLUTION OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY (An address by John G. Covert, Su]ierior Judge of Kings County, Before Members of the Supervisors' Convention.) In speaking today of the evolution of the San Joacjuin Valley I shall mean the industrial and social development, and I shall not ilse the word evolution in a technical sense, nor as a geologist would use it. I shall direct my remarks towards the unfolding of the potentialities of the valley and its development during the last half century. I shall further ]i]'emise my remarks by briefly defining and outlining the territory which in my o])inion it comprises : Beginning at a ])oint a few miles south of the city of Bakersfield, where the Tehachajn Mountains, a spur of the Sierra Nevada, join the Tejon Mountains, a s])ur of the Coast Range, and thence extending in a northwesterly direction a distance of about three hundred miles to a point just north of the city of Stockton, varying in width from forty to sixty-five miles, and containing approximately 7,500,000 acres, lies one of the most fertile and pros])erous valleys in the world, and it constitutes and is known as the San Joaquin Valley. So far as I am familiar with history, the San Joaquin Valley was first seen by the eyes of white men about March 30, 1772. A few days before that date an expeditiou had set out from the Mission Monterey headed by Pedro Fages and Father Crespi on a tour of exploration. Padre Juuipero, the famous Franciscan missionary, was at that time in charge of the Mission Monterey, and it was at his instigation the ex]iedition was undertaken. The small i^arty headed by Pedro Fages and leather Cresjii found their way without adventure to the waters of Suisun Bay, and then eastward along its southern TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 221 border, until they reached a point near Mount Diablo, where tlie niagnihcent river and valley that was afterwards known as the San Joaquin was presented to their admiring view. At that time, doubtless in honor of the patron saint of the Franciscans, the river was called San Francisco, and it was not until several years later, probably sometime between 1796 and 1813, that the name of San Joaquin was given to this magnificent stream. The honor of bestowing this name upon the river, from which the valley subsequently took its name, is credited to Gabriel Moraga, a doughty Spanish soldier, who lead some troops into the northern end of this valley about that time in i)ursuit of hostile Indians. Just when the name San Joaquin was bestowed upon this river and valley and by whom is involved in uncertainty, Init it is a fact that for over a hundred vears this great valley and river have l)een known by that name. Mount Diablo, by some supposed to be an extinct volcano, a peak in the Coast Range Mountains, stands sentinel like just off the southwestern extremity of the valley, and from its top, a height of about four thousand feet, may be obtained a most excellent view of the valley and river. This mountain has been adopted by the United States as a datum point for the purpose of sectionalization of the lands of the central part of the state, and there is hardly a deed or other written instrument affecting land in the San Joaquin Valley which does not bear the familiar legend "Mount Diablo Base and Meridian." The expedition sent out by Padre Junipero in 1772 seems to have been the last effort ujion the part of the Franciscans to explore this territory, and so far as I know, no attempt was ever made to foi;nd a mission, although there were some Indians in the valley and in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the east. The San Joaquin Valley first began to attract the attention of the American peoj^le in the days of '49. The discovery of gold by .John Marshall was a signal for a rush to the Pacific Coast by a class of energetic and daring men, whose efficiency as pioneers has never been excelled, if ever equalled. The lure of gold, stories of wonderful opportunities, and the appeal of a new country brought men to California by the thousands. Whatever may have been their intention aliout permanently residing here, when they set out ujion their journey westwaj-d, once here, the charm of climate and scenery claimed them forever after. The men who came here in those days came to dig gold. They turned their faces towards the mines. A plodding agricultural jmrsuit would not satisfy them. Many of them had abandoned good farms and the occupations of their fathers for the fascination of gold digging, and nothing could divert them from this occupation. On their way to the mines many passed over the fertile lands of the valley, and its possibilities attracted their attention and ai)pealed to them, even in their feverish rush to the gold diggings. 222 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Years later wlieu disappointment came, as it comes to so many who hunt fortune in mines, their thoughts turned back to the valley with its opportunities, and hundreds of the miners became farmers; some of their youth and strength was expended to be sure, but still full of energy and hope they determined to wrest from the bosom of the valley with the plow the fortune they could not dig from the bowels of the mountains with the spade. There was some farming done about Stockton in the early '50s. Farm produce commanded a big price and found a ready market among the miners. The first great business or industry of the valley, however, was the cattle business, interspersed to some extent by sheep raising. The mild short winters, the abundance of grass that grew upon the plains, and the many streams of water made the San Joaquin Valley an ideal grazing country, and the plains at one time were covered from Stockton to Bakerstield with cattle. These were the days of cattle kings. Their herds roamed and grazed at will, save the occasional round-u}t or rodeo, when the calves were marked and bra-nded and the cattle tit for beef were cut out and driven to the nearest sliipping point or market. During the period when the cattle business was supreme in the San Joaquin Valley, Major Domo and his crew of vaqueros played a i>rominent part of the drama of life. Here in this valley were developed the most skillful and daring riders in the world; also the most expert men with the lasso or riata. Tliese were still days of picturesque and romantic life in California. The vaquero with his beautifully decorated Mexican saddle, with its famous Visalia tree, that is now known in every cow country west of the Mississippi, his 'silver-mounted bridle and spurs, riding easily and gracefully, was an object of admiration and emulation. There were few boys in those days who did not intend to become vaqueros when they grew u]i. The horse and saddle called to them like the ship calls to the boy bred beside the sea. Before passing the vaquero I will say a word or two for his noble mount — the California mustang. There have been horses that could run faster but never a horse that could run further; never a horse that could live on less forage and pick it himself, often from ]iasture already closely cropped; never a horse with a nobler heart, nor that would respond more quickly to rein and s]iur than the tough, nervv little mustang that did the work on the cattle ranges and now has passed away in the process of evolution like his companion, the vaquero. Sheep grazing was an industry at about the same time, or a little later than when the cattle business was at its height. The same climatic conditions and fertile plains that attracted cattle men were equally inviting to sheep men. This was prosiac and far less attractive business than the cattle industry. Shee|) licnling was done on foot and attending conditions were TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 223 such that it generally was the last resort of the wage earner. However, as a business it probably paid as well or even better than the more attractive business of cattle raising. There was always some antipathy between cattle men and sheep men, which seems to be found in every place where those two industries come in contact upon the range, for it is a well-recoguized fact among stock men that cattle will not graze upon a range over which sheep have been driven if they can avoid it. It appears that some odor from the wool or body of the sheep attaches to the grass which causes it to be offensive to the nostrils and palates of the bovine. Wheat farming was the next great industry that appeared in the San Joaquin Valley. This business was the thin edge of the entering wedge that displaced the stock men and drove them back step by step until the only refuge left them was the remote and less desirable land for cultivation, also the Spanish grants, vast tracts of land which had during the time of Spanish sovereignty in this state been granted to certain Spanish settlers, and had been in turn recognized by Mexico and by the United States when California was finally ceded to our government. The humble yet ])owerful fence began to appear. It was no longer possible to travel in the direction which fancy or business suggested. Roads and trails began to turn at right angles, and fences marked a line over which one may no longer freely pass. Stock grazing, the first great industry of the valley, now had in a measure passed and in its place came wheat farming. In the earlier days in California it seemed everytiiing took its size and character from the lofty mountains, great trees and valleys. The wheat farms were no exceptions. They were of great size and were operated upon a gigantic scale. Farms consisting of several thousand acres of land were not infrequent, and as might be supposed it required hundreds of horses and mules and scores of men to ])erform the necessary work in carrying on the business of those ranches. The plains with an average annual rainfall would ])roduce great crojis of grain yielding from fifteen to as high as seventy bushels per acre, the crojts varying from year to year in accordance with the rainfall and climatic conditions. Some localities too were more productive of certain crops than others. Wheat raised in the San Joarpiin Valley was generally of an excellent (piality, and was considered to be among the best milling wheat in the world. The extensive fields, llic level lands, the character of the soil and dry climate made possible cultivation and harvesting by methoils more rapid and economical than thus far had evei" been used in any (iflici- jilace. The cradle and the reaper and the single i)low were too slow for farming in the San J(ia(|uin Valley. Imjilements and machinery adapted to the necessity of the time were rapidly invented or introduced from other places and these were improved upon and ■224 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES perfected until a hisyh degree of efficiency -was reached; as evidenced by the great gang pk)ws and combined harvesters and other machines of like nature now familiar to all farmers of this great valley. For about thirty years wheat or grain farming held sway. Then the unceasing repetition of crops, together with indifferent cultivation, began to tell and grain raising no longer paid as it did in the earlier days. Summer fallowing and irrigation were resorted to. This was found to be of great aid in the production of crops; but even then the land would not yield as it had in former years, and the profits from wheat raising, as a general thing, steadily grew less. During all this time immigration had continued and the population of California, and incidentally the San Joaquin Valley, was rapidly growing. New men with new ideas api^eared upon the scene. The depreciation of ])rofits in grain raising caused farmers to consider other crops. Fruit and wine began to attract more attention. Bees and poultry were found to yield large profits on small investments and with little care. Alfalfa was introduced and that forage was found well adapted to the valley. The large farm no longer paid. The owners, with a few notable exceptions, began to divide and sub- divide their holdings. The ]irofits from trees and vines were found to be immense. Fruit orchards, vineyards and alfalfa pastures began rapidly to surplant grain fields. There followed a rapid development in the wine, raisin and cui-ed fruit industry. The alfalfa pasture stimulated dairying and the live stock business. Experience, the best of all teachers, soon taught the farmers the variety of crops and fruit that was best adapted to his soil; the breed of cows best suited for the dairy; the kind of horses, hogs and poultry that made the best returns ; and having learned, as rapidly as circumstances would permit, they began to weed out the less desirable and le'ss profitable, and to replace them with the kind best suited to the valley. Now we had reached what we might call the third epoch or lap in the development of the industries of the San Joaquin Valley. Blossoming trees and budding vines in the spring, followed by a bounteous crop in the summer, appeared where once wheat and barley had grown. The green fields of spring and the brown stubble fields of fall had given way to fragrant and gorgeous blooms, golden fruit and pleasing autumn tints. Along the foothills of the Sierras was found a warm jirotected region, generally referred to as the thermal belt, upon which oranges, lemons and kindred fruit grew luxuriantly and ripened early. The population was still increasing rapidly. Thousands of pretty and comfortable cottages and bunga- lows, with now and then large and commodious houses that might properly in many instances be called mansions, began to apjiear everjTvhere, affording happy and comfortal)le homes to the people of the vallev. The cattle men and the wheat farmers, in manv TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 225 instances, had looked upon the San Joaquin ^'alley as a place for extensive business operations in their particular lines; but gave little attention to it as a home for their families. The farmer now began to build with the intention of spending and ending his days upon the farm, and with a i^roud hope that when he jiassed away that his property would atford a home for his posterity. Accordingly he built with the design of procuring to his family all the advantages and comforts that his prosperous condition afforded. As I stated before, the San Joaquin Valley comprises approx- imately 7,500,000 acres. Of this about 500,000 acres are planted to fruit trees, vines and alfalfa. This leaves over 7,000,000 acres of the valley yet devoted to wheat raising and grazing; and among this latter portion are found thousands of acres of the very best land of the valley. Lack of irrigation water from natural streams is the chief cause of the lack of development. This condition is now being rapidly overcome by means of pumping plants, of which I shall say a word later. Horses and mules, beef, pork, mutton, wool, honey and poultry are also industries that pay exceedingly well. Wine of recent years has grown to be one of the principal industries of the San Joaquin Valley, the annual yield or produce of this commodity ))eing about 225,000 tons, and is worth ap])roximately $2,250,000'. These respective industries not only \deld magnificent incomes upon the investments and repays well the efforts and labor of the farmer, but they atford remunerative and congenial em])loyment to thousands of men, women and children. The children of the valley are afforded unusual opportunities for finding light and paying occupation by reason of tlie fruit harvest coming in the summer during the school vacations. In order to take care of the annual fruit crojis it has been necessary to establish in the different cities and towns and convenient shii^ping points great packing houses and canneries, which, when installed with machinery and facilities for properly curing and packing the fruit, afford one of the principal industries of the urbane life of the valley. All tliese years on the very edge of the San Joaquin Valley had been hidden away a treasure we little dreamed we had — petroleum oil. Though some hint of its presence had been given by seepage that appeared on the surface as tar springs or like manifestations, we never expected to find this ideal fuel in the great and paying quantities that we now have it. We were mostly farmers and we did not look deeper than the fertile surface for our opportunities. Again new men and new ideas made themselves known. Prospect wells were drilled and oil was struck. Almost like magic a forest of towers sprang upon the several disti-icts where oil had been discovered. A fever of excitement almost as great as that caused by the discovery of gold now took hold of 226 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES the peojile, and the development of the oil industry of this valley was so rapid that those who took an active part conld scarcely realize the rapidity with which this business grew. The discovery of oil came at an opportune time. The po])ulation was growing, capital was accumulating, and there was need of some outlet for surplus energy. The fuel of the valley was growing scarce. Industries were gi'owing rapidly. The steam and gas engine was coming more and more into use, and a chea]) and plentiful fuel was the most necessary factor in the industrial situation, and its discovery solved what might liave been a serious ]>roblem. If the oil fields of the San Joaquin Valley should in the course of time become exhausted the jieople have learned a great lesson, and the lack of fuel will be provided against by planting forests of trees adapted to this purpose. Tliis precaution, together with the great source of electric power in the Sierras will forever settle the question of fuel and power so far as we are concerned. The oil wells yield so abundantly that if the consumption was restricted to this valley we could not consume it in ages. But great pipe lines reaching from the oil fields of the valley across the Coast Range Mountains leading to Point Richmond, Monterey and Port Harford carry the oil night and day from the fields to those deep water i")orts, and huge steamers docked beside the wliarf will load as conveniently and readily as the locomotive tender takes on water at a siding. In addition to the pipe lines great trains of cars carry oil daily to the many points that are eager to i^rocure this most excellent fuel. Tlie oil industry has added vastly to the wealth of the valley and ])rovided employment for thousands, and has made many an enterjjrising man wealthy beyond the most amliitious dreams of his youth. From that day in 1772 when the little expedition headed by Pedro Fages and Father Crespi set out from the Mission Monterey u]i to the present time, transportation has been an important factor in the develoi^ment of the valley. All our progress and evolution especially in the lieginning was not accomplished without hardships and exertion. All the cattle men and most of the miners found their way across the valley on horse-back and their camp equiimients were- carried u])on the backs of horses or nuiles. This means of trans- portation ser\'ed for awhile, but increased ])opulation and developmeni called for gi-eater facilities. This was supplied by the stage and freight teams; augmented greatly by the navigation of the San Joaquin river and its tributaries. The stage lines at one time fairly well covered the \-ailey, and one could reach by their means all the principal towns and mining districts south of Stockton. Along the same roads upon which the stages plied their traffic also traveled the great freight teams, that carried supplies and provisions to the mines and interior towns. These teams sometimes consisted of as TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES .227 many as tweuty-fonr horses or mules, and as high as four or five w;iii,-ons coupled in train. The staj^es and freighters found all tliey could do to handle the business of the day. The fiat-bottomed stern- wheel river boats with huge liarges in tow plied up and down the San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers as far as they were navigable, and these crafts, too, found occupation for all their tonnage and passenger accommodations. Railroad companies were not slow in appreciating ,the opportunities of the Pacific coast, and they built and extended their lines into this state. With the appear- ance of railroads in the San Joaquin Valley trans])ortation under- went a rapid evolution. The stage witli its galloping horses and marvelously skilled drivers, together with the freight teams, were relegated to the raountaift districts and less accessible regions. River navigation was gradually aliandoned. The railroads covered their territory and competition i;nder the attending conditions rendered the steamboat lousiness unprofitable, consequently steamboat com- panies practically withdrew from all points of operation south of Stockton. The first railroad in the valley was down its center on the eastern side of the San Joaquin river. This line was built by the Central Pacific Railroad Company ,but was afterward taken up by the Southern Pacific Company, which has owned and ojjerated it ever since, and after it entered into the valley it was rapidly pushed on over the Tehachapi Mountains, with inany tunnels and its cele- brated loop, until it readied Los Angeles, and thence turned east- ward, connecting the San Joaquin with the northern and southern part of the state and with the eastern states. From this pioneer line down the valley several short lines of feeders were constructed, which have proved highly valuable in the progress and development of the territory which they covered. Later a line was laid down the valley on the western side of the San Joaquin river, beginning at Tracy and connecting with the original line at Goshen Junction, and later on again at Fresno. About 1893 there was constructed from San Francisco to Bakers- field what was known as the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley railroad. This was later on taken by the Santa Fe and has become a part of its great system. Of recent years the oil industr\' and the rapid development among the foothill regions have demanded greatly increased railroad and transportation facilities, and this in a measure has been met by spurs from the Southern Pacific and certain inde])endent companies that have organized and built short accommodation railroads in different ])laces in the valley, it is evident that the rapid growth and i)0])ulation and development of the San Joaquin Valley will not only afTord, but will demand, greativ increased transportation facilities. Probably there is no jilace in the world wlicic railioads can l)e built and operated as cheaply as 228 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES here. Tracks may be laid iu any district and to any point within this valley by practically following the contour of the earth. The general level of the plains is such as to require but very little grading, and few cuts and the constructing of the roadbed may be done by plows and scrapers operated by horses, and at a cost per mile that is as cheap and probably less than the same work can be done for at any other place in the United States, or the world for that matter. I venture to say that iu building a railroad from Bakerstield to Stockton along any line within the confines of the Sau Joaquin Valley it will not be necessary to resort to drilling or blasting and it is a certainty that no tunneling would be required. The Sierra Nevada Mountains on the east contain potentially millions of horsepower that may be converted into electricity, and by means of a slender wire suspended from poles or towers placed at intervals of eighty to two hundred yards apart conducted to all points where it may be desired to apply the power. I believe that for the purpose of operating railroad trains, electric power, if not too costly in the generation thereof, is considerably cheaper than steam or other motors. Beyond a question it is the most economical and best adapted power to railroading. Thus we have united two very important factors in railroad transportation that will be an estimable advantage; cheap fuel and cheap construction. As a result, in time the valley will be laced by electric lines, upon which will be operated highly efficient and rapidly moving trains. People living in the most remote parts will be put in easy reach of business centers and the coast, and San Francisco will be only about one-half day's journey away. Perishable produce, such as sweet cream and table fruits of a delicate nature, can readily be shipped to the markets of the cities and points on the coast. Transportation by rail again can be augmented by transporta- tion upon the rivers, if the state or the federal government should see fit to dredge the natural streams of the valley and remove the snags and other obstructions therefrom. More than that it would be an easy engineering feat to build a canal from Bakersfield, connecting with the navigable waters of the San Joaquin, and by a system of locks and reservoirs navigation could be had from the southern end of the valley to the waters of San Francisco bay. There would be some question as to the advisability of establishing navigation to this extent for this reason: The electric power that may be so readily developed and the facility with which railroads may be constructed in the valley will proliably cause railroads to be so numerous and competition so sharp that the public would never resort to the necessarily slow and tedious transpoi-tation by water that would attend canal and river navigation. A very cursory mention of the San Joaquin Valley requires some TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 229 consideration of the mountains on either side and in the course of my remarks I have referred to them. But I desire to say a word or two more concerniu«' the mountains, which are so closely related to this valley. Our warm, dry climate is a most important factor in this valley. Doubtless this condition is brought about largely by the Coast Range Mountains that stand on our west as a wind break and a barrier to the fogs and cold atmosphere of the coast. If it were not for this range probably our rainfall would be heavier, but the cold fogs and chilling winds of the Pacific would reach us and if they did several of our principal industries would be seriously affected if not entirely destroyed. The raisin and cured fruit industry could not successfully be carried on if it were not for the warm dry climate peculiar to the San Joaquin Valley and it is highly probable that alfalfa would not grow as luxuriantly as it does now. Again the climate is peculiarly adapted to stock-raising. These Coast Range Mountains bej'ond question were a wise provision of Providence, and have added special advantages in the way of climatic conditions, notwithstanding they increase the summer heat and lessen the winter rainfall. On the east lies what probably are the grandest mountains in the world, at least a Californian may lie pardoned for so designating them. There we find the wonderland of California. Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the United States, surrounded with neighboring peaks, scarcely less in height, the Yosemite Valley with its unrivaled falls, the mag-nificent Kings River canyon, the great forests of pines and the celebrated giant redwoods or sequoias find their abode in the Sierras that skirt the eastern border of the valley, and are so closely related to it that without indulging in iwetic license we may consider them, if not a part, an inseparable complement of the San Joaquin. These mountains constitute a gigantic and beautiful reservoir erected by a beneficent Providence for the purjiose of moistening and fertilizing the plains of the valley. Great towering peaks and abysmal canyons covered with gigantic trees and thickly-matted brush and undergrowth gather and conserve the snows of winter. In the sjiring and summer comes the sun and beats alike upon the valley and the mountains and as the plains become parched and dried and as the growing trees and grass suck up the moisture from the soil and from the air the frozen snows of winter are released upon the mountainside and begin their journey through scenery the grandest and most lieautiful imaginable, through forests of pines and redwoods, by flowers and delicate ferns, over rocks and through rills, uniting and ever uniting in rivulets and creeks, and in each union growing stronger until finally they rush in a mighty river upon the arid plains, carrying life and drink to thousands of thirsty acres. These streams, deep and with precipitous banks, at first gradually 1.1 230 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTlP:s approaoli tlie surface of the land so that it is freciuently possible to divert water from them and spread it upon the laud within two or three miles from the point of diversion. The loose loamy nature of the soil and comi)aratively level surface render ditch-buildiu,!>- in this valley an easy task, and particularly well adapted to irrigation. Many of the pioneer irrigation ditches were built without the assistance of an engineer or even the use of a transit. Many of the farmers had had experience in hydraulic mining, which rendered them peculiarly qualified in the art of constructing dams and ditches, and often the only capital used was the daily labor of the farmers and their livestock, generously assisted by the business men of the valley towns who extended them credit for the necessities of life while engaged in this development. When the settlers of the valley began to go back from the streams to find homes, water was the first problem for them to solve, and like Jacob they dug wells. The first wells were almost entirely dug with the pick and shovel. They ranged in depth from twelve to as much as two hundred feet, depending on the location, and were surface wells, that it to say, the wells were only deepened to the first water. Near the streams and particularly on the east side of the San Joaquin river and the southern part of the valley siirface water can generally be reached at a depth of twenty-five to thirty feet, while on the west side and especially near the foothills the depth of water was greatly increased, sometimes requiring a well of over a hundred feet in depth. There wells were dug with a shovel, and the earth excavated was hoisted to the surface by means of a barrel sawed in the middle, to which a bale was affixed. To this was tied a rope of sufficient length, and the power used was either a windlass turned by a man on the surface or sometimes by hitching a horse to the end of the rope. When the water was reached it was hoisted by the same crude methods. The half barrel that served the purpose of hoisting the earth and rocks was converted into a bucket for drawing water. Since those days when wells were dug with spades there have been great im])rovements made. They are no longer dug, but are bored or drilled with efficient machinery operated by steam or gasoline ))ower, and are driven to a depth averaging from fifty to eighty feet, which results in a jilentiful flow of pure water. Artesian wells in most parts of the valley are readily develo]ied and the natural flow from them furnishes an abundance of water for livestock and domestic ]nir|)oses, and frequently will irrigate as many as from eiglity to three hundred acres of land yearly. Electric power and gasoline engines have made irrigation liy ])umping feasible, and it has been discovered that subterranean streams are found in nearly all parts of the valley carrying water sufficient for the purpose of irrigating the surface of the lands under which they lie, and now TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 231 hundreds of wells are being develoi:)ed and pumping plants installed, which are an immense aid to the present system of irrigation and will cover tliousands of acres that cannot be reached by water from the natural streams. Stej) by step and hand in hand with cooperation and harmony, the urbane and rural evolution of tliis valley has progressed. The valley is dotted with many prosperous cities and towns, not so exten- sive in population, but energetic and in-ogressive in the extreme. Paved streets, electric lights, gas jilants, excellent water systems, magnificent i)ublic Iniildings and sanitary drainage are to be found in all of them. The amount of business transacted is startling as compared witli cities of the same ]io])ulation of other places. A town of five thousand inliabitants will transact more business and the banks will represent more capital than in other places having a population of twenty-five thousand. While speaking upon tlie subject of towns and public improvements I desire to congratulate the entire people of the San Joaquin Valley upon the magnificent courthouse that has just been conijileted in the county of Kern. Its beautiful architectural lines, extensive proportions, light and airy rooms and great corridors are certainly a source of pride and pleasure to the people of this valley. I particularly congratulate the peoi)le of this county upon their magnificent building, which is a noble tribute to their energy and progressiveness and faith in their county, and a monument to the efiliciency and ability of the board of supervisors, who served the jieople so well in its construction. I have said something of the evolution of the valley, made brief mention of the progress and development of the different industries, and in a poor way directed your attention to the wonderful op]ior- tunities and advantages that may be found here; and now I want to say a word for the actors, for the men and women who so well and faithfully ])layed their ])art in this drama of evolution, and whose efforts brought about this great development and progress. Back in the days of "Forty-nine" and for a number of years there- after there were two ways of reaching California, one was by water around Cape Horn, or by a shorter but equally as perilous way across the Isthmus and then u]) the coast to San Francisco, or the other was across the i)lains by means of the slow moving emigrant trains. Either of those routes was fraught with grave danger and many hardships and deprivations. The perils of a voyage in the old-time sailing vessels in their tedious ways around Caiie Horn and then u\> the Pacific Coast to San Francisco were such as to cause the stoutest heart to pause. The shorter route by the Isthmus, while re(|uiring less time, was ahnost ecjually as dangerous. What was missed in the perils and hardships of the sea by taking the Isthmian way was counterbalanced Ijy the dangers entailed in crossing 232 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES this tropical neck of land laden witli the germs of many diseases to which the emigrant so readily fell a prey. The fever and dissentery of the Isthmus and the unwholesome quarters of the emigrant ships claimed many an ambitious and deserving man who had set out to find his fortune in the Golden West. The overland route, crossing the Rocky Mountains, over the vast plains inhabited bj' hostile Indians, across the Platte with its treacherous sands, requiring from three to six months with the slow moving ox teams of the emigrant trains, that finally crossed the Sierras through Truckee Pass makes a story familiar to everyone. Like the tragedy that ended the glorious career of Julius Caesar, it is acted and re-enacted upon the stage and told and retold in stories even to this day. Therefore it is no wonder that only the young and active thought of venturing upon this perilous western journey. Of the young and active only those of ambitious and daring spirits would risk life and all that was most dear to them in order to reach the alluring shores of California. We of today who sail in floating palaces with every luxury and convenience of the hour at hand, or who cross the vast plains and lofty mountains in comfortable, rapidly inoving cars can hardly realize the dangers and hardships endured by the men and women who first came to California. These pioneers were a race of ambitious and courageous men and women that assembled in California on new grounds, far removed from the hampering conventionalities of society. Not many from anj^ place — a few from every place — they rapidly adjusted themselves to conditions and necessities of the time. All classes, states and nationalities were represented, and from this cosmopolitan people was developed that noble, brave and hos- pitable race, the Pioneers of California, whose praises have been so often sung by the poet and told by the historian. They were all young and strong. When a boy my father came to the west with an emigrant train, driving an ox-team all of the way, and I have heard him say that a gray head was so rare that it excited attention and comment when found among the men of ])ioneer days. Emigration after the gold rush was comparatively slow. The cost and inconvenience of transportation deterred travel westward. Those who foud their way here were rapidly absorbed. They were eager to become Californians and quickly fell into our ways and customs. Later the railway service was greatly improved, cost of passage came more within the reach of the average person. The newspapers, magazines and histories constantly told of the glories and opportunities of this coast, and in consequence emigration grew by leaps and bounds. The population increased so rapidly now that we began to undergo a change of character. Entire colonies were often made up from the people of some particular state, and they TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 233 looked towards their former homes for customs and precedent. In the near future witliont a doubt our emigration will increase far more rapidly than ever before. The great opj^ortunities offered by increased irrigation facilities, more careful and diversified farming, the stimulus given to the manufacturing by the development of electric power and discovery of oil, the immense benefits that will follow the completion of the Panama Canal, and the attraction of the World's Fair will bring thousands here. The melting pot of which Zangwill speaks will be brought into play and on this coast from a cosmopolitan people will be recast a race as peculiar to California as the flowers and trees that adorn her valleys and mountains. Short winters, generous sunshine and fertile soil will develop a race of splendid men and women, hospitable and fun-loving, the happiest people in the world, and this will be the greatest achievement in the evolution of the San Joaquin Valley. KINGS COUNTY S S Si 03 (S ® W 33 1? 1? % I 'Ufa^ (f . ^aj/3^ .^, X ^J^C^^t^^c^f BIOGRAPHICAL COLUMBUS P. MAJORS A California pioneer who recalls with interest early days in Tulare county when he took a prominent part in local ai¥airs, is Columbus P. Majors, of Visalia. Mr. Majors was born in Morgan county, 111., March 22, 1830, and in 1853 crossed the plains to Cali- fornia with an ox-team, starting April 14 and arriving at Sacramento September 13 following. The party, which came with a train of nineteen ox-wagons, was made up of Iowa and Illinois people and was under command of Captain L. M. Owen, who had made one trip to the Pacific coast in 1849. The overland emigrants were several times compelled to corral their wagons, fearing attacks by Indians, but made the journey without any very lamentable mishaps. For two years after his arrival in California, Mr. Majors worked in the Sherlock Flat mine on the Merced river, but it was not as a miner that he wae destined to make his success in this state. He came to Visalia in 1855 and found the people all living in the old fort as a ineans of protection against the redskins, who were at that time menac- ing the settlers in this vicinity. He took up eighty acres of government land on the Cutler road and for many years raised cattle and sheep, and it was not until 1884 that he bought his present home ranch on Mineral King avenue. Here he has twenty acres of tine orchard, having planted all the trees with his own hands, and his peaches include Phillips cling-stones, Tuscan cling-stones, Fosters and Albertas. He has developed a fine farm on which he has met with well deserved success. In 1861, after the Civil war had begun and while rioting was in progress at Visalia, Mr. Majors was captain of the Home Guard Cavalry, which was organized to keep order. His brother, John P. Majors, also came to California and was the first postmaster at Visalia, which was the first postoffice established in Tulare county. In April, 1852, Columbus P. Majors married Miss Mary C. Owen, a native of Lee county, Iowa, who bore him a son and four daugh- ters: Amador PL; Mrs. Anna L. Arkle, who has passed away; Celestia J., who is Mrs. L. E. McCabe ; Mrs. Caroline Arkle, and Mrs. Eva Sadler, deceased. During his active years Mr. Majors was identified largely with the public interests of the connnunity and there was no call upon him in behalf of the general good to which he did not respond promptly and liberally. 242 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES GEORGE E. WADDELL Numbered among the well-known and respected citizens of Exeter who have distinguished themselves in the advancement of that jilace is George E. Waddell, who has been identified with the civil affairs of Exeter from its earliest history, having tilled the office of its mayor as its first incumbent, and so fulfilling the duties of that office as to win the confidence of all his fellow citizens, and he has since been sought to fill many other public positions to which the people have called him. In industrial circles he has also figured })rom- inently, having been merchant there and he is now giving most of his attention to his real estate interests which are large and varied. Mr. Waddell is a native son of California, having been born in Lancha Plana, Amador county, September 9, 1862, the son of Isaac and Mercy B. Waddell, the former a native of Baltimore, Md., who crossed the plains to California in 1852 and began his career in the mines of Amador county. The mother came of a pioneer family wlio made the overland journey with ox-teams. The family made their home at Lancha Plana until 187l2, when they moved to lone, where the father died in 189.3, and the widowed mother after a while removed to San Francisco, where after a residence of several years she re-established their home at lone, and three years later, in 190o, occurred her death. Reared to industrial habits and inheriting a taste for mercantile pursuits, at tlie age of nineteen George K. Waddell went to work for John Marchant, who was in the meat business at lone and for twelve years he remained steadily in his employ. He then leased the premises from the latter and conducted the Jmsiness for about ten years, when he sold out and came to Visalia, buying a half interest in the Pioneer market business, wJiich' after conducting for about ten months, he sold. It was at this time that he came to Exeter and bought out the Exeter and Lindsay markets, which at the time were very rudimentary business places. With his son, George H., Mr. Waddell set to work with a will to build up these establishments into modern markets, remodeling and rebuilding them and introducing new and up-to-date equipments and installing a refrigerating system which made them among the best markets in the county. Since then the Exeter market has been sold, but they retain the Lindsay place of business which the son, George H., is 7nanaging with marked ability, while Mr. Waddell gives his attention to the jmrchase of stock. They first had built a structure at Lindsay 25x75 feet in dimension for their business, Init this soon became too small and they Iniilt a new two- story brick block, 4-0xL')0 feet, in 1910 with new refrigerating and cold storage equijimcnt, and its appointments are all modern and first-class. The marble countcis and excellent tool e(|uii)mcnt give the place an air of TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 243 cleanliness and wholesomeness which bespeaks the good taste of the owner, and their product and the handling of their goods l)ear the most gratifying repntation in the community, it having been credited by the press at one time as being one of the tinest places of its kind in the state. In connection with this business Mr. Waddell gives attention to real estate, in which he has l)een most successful. lie has ))lanted and owns a very fine thirty-acre orange grove within eighty rods of the city limits, and also owns tracts in different parts of Tulare county aggregating tlirec hundred and fifty acres in all, and l)eside this he owns a well-improved farm of four hundred and eighty acres about seven miles east of Stockton. With all of these interests, Mr. "Waddell finds time to be most active in the affairs of his city and is a constant worker for its best interest, being president of the city board as well as treasurer of the same. In August, 1911, the city voted bonds in the amount of $42,000 for the purjiose of providing an adequate water system, which was fully completed in the summer of 1912, consisting of two twelve-inch bored wells, one hundred feet deep, with mains six, eight and ten inches respectively, while the laterals are four and two inches in size. At the present time six blocks of street in the business part of Exeter are being paved, and these large movements toward improving the town have had the active interest and co-operation of Mr. Waddell in his official ca])acity on the city board. In fraternal relations he affiliates with tlip Exeter lodge, F. & A. M., and the Exeter division of the Knights of Pythias. In 1885 George E. Waddell married Susan Vogan, a native of California and a daughter of John Vogan, who died while he was filling the ofSce of sheriff of Amador county, where he had come as a pioneer. The widow of Mr. Vogan now makes her home in lone. Mr. and Mrs. Waddell are the parents of two children, Edwin II., born November 23, 1886, who after finishing his education at the Affiliated College at San Francisco, took up the study of dentistry and is well established in his profession at Visalia; and George Harold, born March 28, 1888, who was educated in the schools of Visalia, and is now his father's ])artner in the meat business. Both sons were born at lone, Amador county, and reflect credit on their training ami the honored name they bear. SANFOKD P.OOKER A native of Gardiner,. Me., Sanford Booker was born October 12, 1833. and there reared to manhood, educated and given a knowledge of the ship carpenter's trade, and later learned house building. When he was twenty years old he moved to Medford, Mass., where 244 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES he worked as a carpenter about fifteen years. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in the Lawrence Light Guards of Medford, a militia company, which, as Company E, Fifth Eegiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, was mustered into the government service after President Lincoln issued his first call for volunteers, April 15, 1861. Next day the company was ordered to be in readiness, and on the eighteenth an order to march was issued by Col. Samuel C. Lawrence, this order being taken to the members of the organization by the Colonel's brother, Daniel W. Lawrence, who on the night of the eighteenth rode from town to town for that purpose. Among those soldiers of 18(11 there was a strong conviction that Lawrence rode over the same route that Paul Revere had followed on a similar errand eighty-six years before. The regiment was quartered at Faneuil Hall, Boston, until the morning of April 21, when it left for New York. When Lawrence brought the order to Mr. Booker the latter was running a mill. Going home immediately, he rejDorted that he was ordered out and would have to go to Washington, and he went to Boston and slept that night in Faneuil Hall with his comrades; on that same night the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment was mobbed in the streets of Baltimore. At Washington the Fifth was mustered into service for three months from May 1, and it participated in the fight at Bull Run, where Colonel Lawrence was wounded and the regimental color-bearer was shot down. Ten days later the Fifth Massachusetts was mustered out of the service and soon afterwards Corporal Booker's company was mustered out at Medford. His corporal's commission is dated February 12, 1861. About 1868 Mr. Booker moved to De Kalb county. Mo., and engaged in building until 1874, when he came to California. He stopped at Los Angeles, but soon settled at San Bernardino, where he lived seven years operating extensively as a contractor and builder and he erected there the county court house, the Congregational and Baptist churches, some school houses and several fine residences. He was the builder of the first house at Redlands, the latter the property of Frank Brown, civil engineer, wlio constructed the reser- voir through which Redlands is supplied with water. Mr. Booker had to grub out sage brush before he could lay the foundation of the building, and he and his men boarded themselves, for there was no one li-^-ing in the vicinity. In 1887 he sold his property at San Bernardino and removed to Hanford, buying a one hundred and sixty- acre ranch northeast of the town, where he farmed imtil 1892, and then sold his land and built himself a residence in town. He was very active in securing county division of Tulare county and the partition of Kings county in that year, and assisted with his own means to finance the movement. Indeed there was no other man at Hanford who was more influential to these ends than was he. He personally ^'^^^ c^i-C^yt^ ^Tlpf^ ^'^'/^^ TULAEE AXD KINGS COUNTIES 249 canvassed every home in the county to ascertain if a two-thirds vote for the new county would be possible if a favorable bill should be passed by the legislature. After this matter was settled he visited the World's Fair at Chicago. Since then he has lived in Hanford. which when he first saw it in 1887 was a mere hamlet containing but one store and in the prosperity of which he has been a potent factor. In 1893 he bought twelve acres of fruit land and. having suffered a stroke of paralysis which incapacitated him for work, retired from active business. When the -'Old Bank" at Hanford was estabUshed he was its fii-st depositor, having until then done his banking at VisaUa. ° On November 27, 1854, Mr. Booker married IMiss Sarah E. Carr, at Medford, Mass. Mrs. Booker, who was a native of Massachusetts' bore her husband two children, Everett S., of Hanford, and Sarah Elizabeth, who has passed away. Everett S. Booker married Edith O'Brien and they have a daughter, Marv Florence. Mr Booker is identified with McPhersou Post, G. A. R.. of Hanford. and is a Blue Lodge and Eoyal Arch Mason, and he and Mrs. Booker were charter members of the Eastern Star, Mrs. Booker being past worthv matron EMANUEL T. RAGLE A true t>-pe of the self-made man is ex-idenced in tlie career of Emanuel T. Eagle, who now lives one mile east of Naranio in Tulare county. Cal. He was born May 8. 18.33, back in Tennessee in Hawkins county, and there attended public schools after he was old enough until he was eighteen years old. when he went to In- diana. After remaining there but a short time, he went to Iowa where his residence was likewise brief. He returned to Indiana and from there started for California in 18.54 and drove an ox-team across the plains for $10 a month and his board. He located near Redding. Shasta county. Cal.. but soon went into the mines in Men- docino county. Meeting with but indifferent success there, he made his way to Sonoma county, where he farmed until 1863. Returning to Mendocino county, he remained there a year and in 1865 came to Tulare county, and after a couple of years spent on Outside creek near the dam, he came to his present location, where he bought eighty acres of land. Soon afterward he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres, and by subsequent purchases he has increased his holdings to seven hundred and seventy-five acres, notwithstandin? he has in the meantime sold two hundred and thirty-five acres. "^ He has devoted his land to gi-ain. and raises cattle, "horses and boss, and in each one of these several fields of endeavor he has done well' 250 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Wlien lie came to tlie eounty, nearly all the farming was in grain, settlement had not far advanced and improvements were few and widely scattered. He had his initial experience with grain and has followed the development of agriculture, sometimes keeping in ad- vance of it, thus ])rofiting by every new development and liaving advantage of every innovation. Beginning life with $1.50 capital, Mr. Ragle has worked and persevered, trinm))]iing over difficulties as he has met them until he is now one of the prosperous men in his community. It is probable that two causes above all others have contributed to this achievement. He has at all times been what we are pleased to call a hustler, aggres- sive, active and u]vto-date, and he has at the same time been always a Christian gentleman, devoted to the honorable dealings and the uplift of his community. He is widely known throughout the sur- rounding country for the high grade of his stock and he keeps usually aliout one hundred head of cattle and forty to fifty head of horses. The schools of his community liave lieen his constant care, and lie has done much to advance them. Mr. Ragle uuuried, Seiitember 2.S, 1858, Miss Eliza Ann Moft'ett, a native of Tennessee, who was brought early in life to Califor- nia, and she has borne him thirteen children, nine daughters and four sons, all of whom are living, and all of whom are native sons and daughters of California. Mrs. Ragle's father was Hamilton Motfett, of Scotch-Irish blood, who died in Missouri when Mrs. Ragle was four years old. Her mother was Charlotte Bunn, born in \'ir- ginia, who died in Tulare coimty. Mr. and Mrs. Ragle are the proud grandparents of half a hundred urandchildren, and twelve great- grandchildren. The father of Emanuel T. was George H. Ragle, born in \'irginia and died in Tennessee. His grandfather was born in Germany ami settled in Virginia, where he was accidentally drowned. JOHN DAVIS TYLER J. D. Tyler was the oldest living representative of the original settlers on fule river, Tulare county, Cal., and had been engaged in agricultural pursuits and the stock business here since 1859 and as a pioneer is entitled to a more than passing mention in the history of the county. Mr. Tyler was born in Marcellus, Onondaga county, N. Y., in 1827, the son of Job Tyler, a farmer and a minister of the Seventh Day Baptist denomination. His early life was rather migratory, his father going to Ohio in 1834 and to St. Joseph county, Mich., in 1836. Educational advantages in those days were limited TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 251 and yonnfj; Tyler's schooling was confined to the three months winter term, not iufreciuently being detained at home to accomplish some work on the farm and not attending school at all after his fourteenth year. In 1851, with his father and brother James, Mr. Tyler started for California via New York and the Isthmus of Panama. Their steamer was the first to land emigrants at Aspinwall. At Panama they embarked on the English brig Tryphenia, with one hundred and thirty passengers, the vessel being much overloaded and having only a meager supply of water and stores. The sufferings on that terrible journey of sixty-five days from Panama to San Diego were intense. The last thirty days they had no bread and only one-half pint of water per day to the man. Their small allowance of jieas or l)eans nuist be soaked in salt water or the greasy slush that came from the cook room. For twenty days they nearly starved and Mr. Tyler's father contracted disease to which he succumbed while in port at San Diego and was there laid to rest. J. D. Tyler and his brother then reshipped for San P'rancisco, arriving there February 29, 1852, just four months after leaving New York. They went to the mines at Nevada City and followed life in the mining camps either in boarding house work or in actual mine workings of their own until 1859, when, hearing that cattle were selling in Tulare county, they started for Tule river with a view to purchas- ing and driving to the mines. Upon their arrival they found the statement to be without foundation, and, in partnershi}) with Len Redfield, they settled on Tule river and engaged in the stock busi- ness. This association continued until 1865, when Mr. Redfield withdrew and tiie Tyler brothers continued in partnership until 1871, when they separated, J. D. Tyler remaining on the river. His home place of one hundred and sixty acres was homesteaded under the first homestead act or law in 1864. He later added to his orig- inal holdings, and owned two hundred acres, much of which he farmed to grain and fruit. He was also largely interested in horses and cattle and rented two sections of land for stock range. Mr. Tyler was married at Visalia in 1864 to Miss Mary J. Mc- Kelvey, a native of Pennsylvania and the daughter of George Mc- Kelvey, who came to California in 1852 by wav of Cape Horn. They "had five children, Clyde D., Carl R.", Chris W., Corda F. (daughter) and Clair H. Mr. Tyler was a charter member of the Farmers' Alliance, belonging to the Porterville branch, of which he was the first president. He never sought the emoluments of office and always avoided every suggested nomination. He was the first Republican on Tule river, and in 1859 his was the only Re- publican vote cast out of the thirty-one cast at that time. When the county was filled with Southern sympathizers in 1861 he stood 252 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES firm in his convictions and was only the more respected for loyalty to his country. At his home, two miles east of Porterville, Tulare county, J. D. Tyler passed away November 18, 1895, at the age of sixty- seven years and eleven months. Eeligiously he was not bound by any creed, but he believed and followed implicitly the Golden Rule': "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Politically he was a stanch Repub- lican, ever ready to battle for the cause. Too much a lover of home to care for the emoluments of office, yet he was ever read}' to work and aid the ones whom he believed were the best fitted to hold the reins of government, and if they were defeated he always bowed to the iue\-itable and gave the victors all honor and support. Moral- ly, he was an earnest, conscientious citizen. As every nation must have soldiers to defend its honor and maintain its rights, so every town or precinct must have its citizens to uphold its integrity. Citi- zens who realize that the moral atmosphere of the country permeates the homes and adds or detracts from their hajopiness and glory recognized such a citizen was Mr. Tyler. His influence and work were ever in the cause of temperance, and he always by his own acts strove to influence the young to walk morally upright, and gave his aid and countenance to the uplift of humanity. His sickness was of long standing, dating really from the hardships endured in coming to California. His system never rallied from the strain then received. In 1893 he began to fail perceptibly and in 1894 he gave up work en- tirely and after going to the polls on November 6 he did not again leave his home. In his death his country has lost a loyal, zealous citizen, his town an earnest worker for its good, his neighbors a faithful, trvie-hearted friend, his children a noble-hearted father, his wife a faithful, loving, trusting companion, and each and all mourn his earthh' loss. On the afternoon of the 20th of November services were held at the homestead by Rev. J. G. Eckels, pastor of the CongTegational church, and, surrounded by his most intimate friends and loving relatives, he was laid to rest in the beautiful cemetery in which he took so much interest and of which he was president and superintendent for many years. SLEEP, OLD PIONEER! When the hill of life u-as steepest, When the forest froivn ivas deepest, Poor hut young, you hastened here, Came ivhen solid hope was cheapest; Came a pioneer. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 255 Toil had never cause to doubt you, Progress' path you helped to clear, And your ivonder works outlast you, Sleep, old pioneer! JOHN HOLMES HUNTLEY A pioneer of 1852, a busy and patriotically active citizen since 1865, John Holmes Hnntley, of Visalia, Tulare county, was ever a factor in the upbuilding- of his community whose influence has been potent all along. Born in Canajoharie, N. Y., September 7, 1829, a son of Oliver D. and Mary (Stark) Huntley, he was educated in the public schools of his native county and at Ames academy, and to a considerable extent in a bookstore in Albany, N. Y., where he was employed two years. His father was a native of Stonington, R. I., and his mother was born in Connecticut, a daughter of Joshua Stark, a farmer, who passed away in New York. John Holmes Huntley was but six years old when his mother died. His father was brought up to the mercantile business and sold goods many years; his second wife was a sister of his first. By each marriage he had six children. He died at the age of sixty-five years. John H. Huntley was the third child of his father by the first marriage and inherited industry and thrift from ancestors who had behind them unnumbered ancestors of Scotch blood. In 1852, when he was about twenty-three years old, he started for California by way of the Nicaragua route and arrived in November that year. In the Sonora mining district he kejit busy and made some money buying and selling stock till October, 1861, when he enlisted for Federal service in the Civil war in Company E, Second California Cavalry. He was mustered in at San Francisco, was on duty for a time against Indians on the northern border, was transferred to Tulare county, served at the time of the Owens River outbreak, acting as sergeant- major of a detail of his regiment, and was mustered out in 1864 after a continuous service of three years and four days. In the mines of Nevada he speculated a year after the war, then returned to Tulare county and engaged in loaning money in Tulare, Kern and Fresno counties. From time to time lie bought land till he owned eight hundred and forty acres in the San Joaquin valley, mostly devoted to stock-raising, and acquired a fine residence on the Mineral King- road, two miles east of Visalia. In politics a Republican, Mr. Huntley served his party in various offices of trust, having been internal revenue collector for Tulare, 16 256 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Kern, Inyo and Fresno counties for five years, until the office was abolished, and was also gauger of liquors and surveyor of stills until he resigned. He was a member of Gen. Wright Post, G. A. E., of Visalia. On August 3, 1879, Mr. Huntley married, at San Rafael, Nina R. AMilfard, l)orn at Southam]iton, Eng., and they were the parents of two sons: Willfard H. and Chester S. In 1900 he moved his family temporarily to Berkeley, in order to afford his children good educa- tional advantages. In all matters that have advanced the social, political and educational welfare of Tulare county Mr. Himtley was always eagerly helpful, evidencing a public spii'it commensurate with his conspicuous integrity. He passed away at the home ranch near Visalia, February 24, 1912. When the old high school in Visalia was built, Mr. Huntley bought the entire issue of the bonds, amoimting to $40,000, and as they ran from one to forty years, some of them have twenty-five years yet in which to mature. He invested largely in ranch property in Tulare county, his first purchase of this kind being the Lewis Creek ranch of one lumdred and sixty acres, which he later sold. One of his holdings was the Cross ranch at Bakersfield, a hundred and sixty acres; another, a second ranch in the Bakersfield neighborhood, a hundred and sixty acres, and both of these he rented. He bought the Cameron Creek ranch of a hundred and sixty acres, stock and timber land, and gave it to his son Chester S. Three hundred acres of the old Dr. Halsted ranch he bought and transferred to his wife and son. Mrs. Huntley and her son have also large ranch holdings in Tulare and Kern counties and are extensively engaged in stock-raising. There is one feature of Mr. Huntley's biography of which he seldom talked in later days, yet which should be made a matter of record. Before the railroad came, he rode pony express three trijis a month between Visalia and Fort Tejon. GEORGE W. KNOX The well-known and ]Hi])ular proprietor of the general merchan- dise business in Orosi, Cal., which enjoys such a flourishing and grat- ifying trade there, is George W. Knox, whose influence in tlie commer- cial, industrial and political fields in this state as well as in the middle states has been most effectively exerted. Unusual executive ability, a most sagacious reasoning power, a clear mind and the forceful spirit to bring to a successful issue all that he set out to accomplish have been the means of Mr. Knox's brilliant achievements in the po- litical fiehl, and the state of Minnesota especially has reason to hold TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 257 him in higli esteem and to ever silently thank him for his activities toward the welfare of that vicinity. A native of Columbia county, Wis., the son of George and Julia A. (Jackson) Knox, George W. was born November 20, 1852. His parents were both natives of Essex county, N. Y., coming to Wisconsin at an early day and settling down to farming for a long period of years. Persevering, hard-working people, they here reared their family and became well-to-do farmers of their day, giving to their children the benefits of a good education and imparting to them that rare good training which has made of so many of our citizens the well-balanced men they are today. The latter years of their life was s))ent in California whence they had come in 1904, and in Grangeville the father passed away, at the age of ninety-three years, his widow dj^ng a short time later at Orosi at the same age. At the common and high schools of Kilbourn, Wis., George W. Knox received his educational training, working during the summers with his father on the home farm. Mercantile life early attracted him and upon graduation from school he became clerk in a drug store for a few years, later embarking in that business for himself at Elroy, Wis., which engaged his entire time for several years. In 1874 with his brother he drove across the plains to Boise City, Idaho, but remained here but a short time, returning east to locate in Aitkin. Minn., where his Ijrother D. J. Knox was then living. His career here covered the period between 1876 and 1908, during which time he became a central figure in industrial and political circles, and be- came most prominent through his efforts in the legislature to bring about the improvement of many conditions there. With his brother D. J. Knox he engaged in the wholesale and retail mercantile busi- ness, lumbering and logging, which they carried on until the former's death; he then continued alone until his removal to California, at that time selling out the business. A stanch Reiiublican in political senti- ment, he soon became prominent in local affairs in Minnesota, and held the office of county auditor, being later superintendent of schools in Aitkin county. THs exceptional ability soon attracted the attention of politicians, and he was elected to serve for two years on the State Board of Equalization, which office he tilled with such satisfaction to his constituents that he received the election to the State Legislature for the term of 1907-08, and served two years as member of the staff of Governor VanSant, with rank of colonel. He was chairman of Aitkin County Central Committee for years and during his incum- bency many long-felt wants of the county were fulfilled, the county being benefited in many directions by his presence on this committee. With all movements tending to the growtli and development of Min- nesota and the surrounding country Mr. Knox had a great interest, and was usually instrumental in aiding in their fuitherance. He had 258 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES man}" opportunities in liis business to find these deficiencies and his experience in the himbering business had taught him the value of cer- tain conditions which he sought to bring about. For many years the business of Mr. Knox in Aitkin was the lum- bermen's headquarters in this country, they being the most extensive outfitters in that section in their day. After relinquishing his interests here in 1908 he decided to come to California, whence his parents had preceded him, and accordingly came to Orosi, which has since been his place of residence. In Minnesota, Mr. Knox had married Ella H. Smith, a native of Illinois, who passed away in Minnesota, and one son was born to this union, Walter DeF. Upon arriving in Orosi, Cal., he investigated conditions there, finally deciding to establish himself in his own line of business, and on January 1, 1909, the busi- ness of Bump &: Knox was begun, dealing in lumber and builders' sup- ]ilies, and this has grown and increased to such an extent that a whole- sale and retail business is carried on, Mr. Knox now being sole pro- prietor. He has a general merchandise business in connection and enjoys a wide and profitable trade, gaining his patronage chiefly by his sagacious handling of his wares and his courteous yet business-like manner. In 1909 Mr. Knox married in Los Angeles, Christina (Thompson) Smith, and they make their home in Orosi, being well-known mem- bers of society there. Mr. Knox has been a prominent Mason in Minnesota as well as in California; he is a 32d degree Scottish Rite Mason and Knight Templar of York Rite, member of Osmau Temple of St. Paul, Minn., and past master of Blue lodge at Aitkin, Minn.; member of the Knights of Pythias of Orosi ; and is also a member of the Blue lodge of Masons of Orosi. He has one sister, Mrs. S. J. Knowlton. widow of E. G. Knowlton, who is residing in Orosi. It is of interest to add that Mr. Knox lias become very interested in drainage systems in Minnesota, and his entrance into the legislature was for the furtherance of the project to secure appropriations for that purpose. During his term of ser\ice $400,000 was secured under his bill, and the appropriation has been continued ever since under the same ratio, thus perpetuating the influence and accomplishments of its loval instigator and friend. Mr. Knox's career has spelled power and success from its inception, and he has earned the deepest grati- tude and admiration of all who have come to know him. WILLIAM E. GOBLE In Coles county, 111., November 18, 1872, William E. Goble, now a resident of Tulare county, two and one-half miles east of Orosi, was born. He is widely known as a pioneer in this section and as BENJAMIN HICKS TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 261 a successful uurseryman. When he was nineteen years old he went to Labette county, Kans., where he lived six years. From that state W. E. Goble came to Tulare county, where he bought sixty acres of an old place on whicli an orchard had been established about 1871. He now has four thousand small orange trees and ten thousand grape vines in tln-ee varieties, six thousand Malagas, three thousand Thompsons and one thousand Emperors, all of which he intends using on his own place. He has nine acres of Emperor grapes, six acres of Malagas and four acres of Muscats. He is gradually working out of the nursery business and caring for his own laud. Water is made available from wells from wJiicJi it is drawn by means of rotary pumps, and a continual flow of thirty inches assures him a sufficient quantity for the entire place. While he was living in Kansas, Mr. Goble married Miss Ida Stoddard, a native of Indiana, and they have two children, Gladys and Reva Goble. His parents were John and Catherine (Reynolds) Goble, the foriner now living in Kansas and the latter died in Illinois in 1890. Politically he is an industrial organizer and socially he affiliates with the Fraternal Brotherhood of America. He holds membership in tlie Baptist church. As a citizen he is progressive and public- spirited, willing at all times to contribute liberally to the support of any measure which in his opinion pi-omises to benefit the community at large. BENJAMIN HICKS A descendant from old Canadian families, Benjamin Hicks was born in Toronto, Canada, December 30, 1847, and grew to maturity and acquired his education in the city of his nativity. It was in 1869 that he set out to seek his fortune. Crossing the line into the United States he made his way through the heart of the West and located in Tulare county, Cal., and settled on a ranch a mile and a half north of Visalia. From there he moved in 1884 to an eight hundred-acre stock and grain ranch on the Smith road and on rural free delivery route No. "2 of the Visalia postal district. There he farmed nine years, saving considerable money, a portion of which he invested in an eighty-acre grain tract, and in another tract of one hundred acres two miles Northeast of Visalia. From the time of his settlement in Tulare county until his death, June 9, 1900, a period of about a quarter of a century, he was identified with the agricultural 262 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES development of central California. When he began here nothing had been done to irrigate the soil and the degree of its productiveness was unknown, but he and other pioneers proved that profitable grain cultivation and cattle-raising were not only possible but easy of attainment. He gained a position of influence in the county and was respected for his keen judgment, high honor and energy. In his dealings with his fellow men he exemplified the teachings of the Chris- tian Church, of which he was a devout and helpful member. Polit- ically he was Republican, and as a citizen he gave his support to all measures tending to the benefit of the connnunity. The free school system always had his generous |n-on'iotion and he long held the office of trustee of the Elbow Creek district, greatly to the benefit of the local school. Fraternally he affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In 1871 Mr. Hicks was married near Visalia to Miss Elizabeth A. March, who was born in Merced, Cal., a daughter of Robert and Mary Jane (Holloway) March, who were of Kentucky birth. Her parents settled early in Missouri and from there came overland to California in 18-19. They lived first in Mariposa county, next in Merced county, and then in Tulare county, where she died in 1881. in her fifty-seventh year, he passing away in 1903, in his seventy-ninth year. Until his removal to Tulare county Mr. March had devoted himself entirely to farming; here he gave some attention to mining interests. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks had seven children, four of whom survive: Albert E., Mary Pearl, Jewell and Ruby Louise. Albert E. Hicks has charge of the old Hicks homestead, which he has managed since 1876. After his father's death he planted eighty acres to orchard, and now he has one of the best producing orchards in the county. Thirty acres of his land is devoted to peaches and of that fruit he sold one hundred and fifteen tons in 1911, chiefly Phillips clingstones, Lovells and Muirs. The relative value of these peaches per acre was, in the order in which they have been named, $.300. $150 and $50 an acre. The entire average value of his peach crop is somewhat in excess of $4,000. His eight hundred and sixty prune trees produce one hundred and ninety tons of prunes valued at more than $6,000. Mr. Hicks married Miss Elizabeth Alles, and they have children named Gladys, Elwood and Allison. Mr. Hicks affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. His sisters Mary Pearl and Jewell live with their mother at No. 503 North Church street, Visalia, and his sister Ruby Louise became the wife of A. E. Blair and their home is near Visalia. By the will of Benjamin Hicks his wife was made administrator of Ms estate and her management of it has given her a re)nitation for uncommon business ability. The Hicks family is strong in its support of the Christian Church. TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 263 ISAAC H. THOMAS The name of Isaac ii. Thomas atands as a synonym for all that is highest and best in horticultural accomplishments in Tulare county, as is attested in the fact that he is proudly referred to by the citizens as the Luther Burbank of Tulare county. The earliest recollections of Mr. Thomas are of a home on a southern planta- tion, his birth having occurred in Grayson county, Ky., in 1838. He was a lad of twenty years when he turned his back on the scenes of his boyhood and came to California by way of Panama and Aspinwall, a voyage tilled with interest to the young traveler. It had been the intention of the party to visit Panama City, but on account of the riots then prevailing they were marched between lines of soldiers to lighters and taken aboard the steamer. This was overcrowded to the point of discomfort, the late arrivals having to content themselves with standing room. When the ship hove in sight of the Golden Gate the i)assengers became unruly in their eagerness to land and thus relieve the tension and discomfort which they had endured during the long voyage on the Pacific. The crowding of the passengers to one side of the ship nearly capsized it, and in order to right the ship and preserve order the captain was compelled to turn the hot water hose on the uninily crowd. At San Francisco Mr. Thomas boarded the overland stage for \'isalia, ari'iving No- vember 5, 1858. He had been attracted to Visalia from the fact that his brother, Joseph H. Thomas, was located here, having come to California in 1852 and to \'isalia in 1856. Here the latter was en- gaged in the himlier business on Mill creek, cutting and sawing ])ine lumber. The brothers formed an association in the himlter busi- ness that lasted eleven years, during which time they lost three mills by fire and flood. Tlie mill was located forty-five miles from Visalia and they paid $40 to $50 i)er thousand feet for hauling the lumlier to town, where it sold for $90 a thousand. The logs were blasted in order to get tliem intd tlic mill. After giving nji the lumber business Isaac H. Thomas turned his attention to the nui'sery and orchai'd industry and his interest in the same has continued to the jiresent time. To him is given the credit for taking orders for and selling the first fruit trees in Tulare county, obtaining- his initial stock from San Jose. Into his nursery, located one and a half miles east of Visalia, he introduced manv new varieties of fruit trees. A .subsequent undertaking was the planting and development of a ninetv acre orchard adjacent to town. Since 1904 he has ])een associated with the Red P>ank Orchard Company in the capacity of horticultui-ist. This oi-chaid was started willi the intention of fatei'inii- t<> tlic eastern ti-ade exclusivelv and 2(34 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES grows the earliest fruit in the state north of the Imperial valley. Some idea of the duties involved as manager of the Red Bank or- chard may be gathered from the fact that the ranch comprises twenty-two hundred acres, of which nine hundred and forty acres are in fruit, as follows: oranges, table grapes (fourteen varieties), seedless limes, tangarines, plums (fifteen varieties), as well as an early variety of peaches, in fact the very earliest produced in the United States. The orchard has an exceptional location ou the face of Colvin mountain. Electric power is used for irrigatiou, water being supplied from a system of wells seventy-seven feet deep and pumped one hundred and seventy-five feet up hill into cement flumes. Mr. Thomas has exhibited Yisalia grown fruits all over America, and abroad also, and has never taken any but first premiums. Be- sides sending exhibits from his own ranch, which he owned before he became associated with the Eed Bank Orchard Company, he also packed and shipped fruit that came from the George A. Flem- ing ranch, consisting of three hundred pounds of large peaches, to the fairs at Atlanta, Buffalo, and Paris, the peaches running from sixteen to twenty-one and a half ounces each. The marriage of Mr. Thomas in 1864 united him with Miss Caroline Owsley, a native of Missouri. The eldest of their three children, John O., now deceased, was elected recorder of Tulare county and served one term. Horace M. is a resident of Oakland. Annie, the only daughter, is the wife of P. M. Baier, of Yisalia. Mr. Thomaa is a member of Four Creek Lodge No. 94, I. O. 0. F., and a charter member of the old volunteer fire department. He served nine years on the state board of horticultiire and has taken an active part in combating the fruit pests, he having invented the composition of lime, sulphur and salt for killino- insects and the San Jose scale. In retrospect Mr. Thomas calls to mind his first impression of Visalia, which at the time he arrived here contained three stores, a hotel and a blacksmith shop. In the course of half a century he has seen wonderful changes in the country round about and no one more than he can be given credit for what has been accomplished. Few indeed are those now living who were residents here when' he settled here. He cast his first vote in Visalia in 1859, supportine; Bell and Everett. Mr. Thomas is the proud possessor of two old relics which he prizes very highly. One of these is an old drurn. which first saw service in the Revolutionary war and later fi2:ured in the battle of New Orleans. This relic is now on exhibition at Stanford ITniversitv. The other memento is an old hickory cane, cut in IR.'i.T at General Jackson's old home in Tennessee, The Herm- itage. MRS. A. J. SCOGGINS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B^^iiLu ^ r ^^^^^P ^^, ^^^ttjffA F <^ ^^^^^^^pP^I^^IH^^^^^HII^^^^ / ■ a 1 Otr^^.,^^ TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 269 ANDREW J. SCOGGINS Among the well-kuowu pioneers of Tulare county is numbered Andrew J. Scoggins, sou of David Green and Martha (Breedlove) Scoggins, who was born May 28, 1828, in Alabama. His parents were natives of North Carolina. The family moved at a comparatively early date to Tennessee and were among pioneers in Roane county ami later in another county in that state and the father prospered fairly as a farmer and as a tanner. When Andrew was twenty-two years old he settled in Arkansas, but finding the country unhealthy removed to southwest Missouri. In 1848, before leaving his old home in Tennessee, he married Miss Julia Buttram, a native of that state, who bore him a daughter, Martha Ann, who eventually married the Rev. L. C. Renfroe of the Methodist church and bore him children, Maud and Louis. Mrs. Scoggins died October 3, 1853. On October 3, 1856, he married Miss Rebecca Cleek, a native of Tennessee, whom he brought across the plains to the Far West. The journey was made in the warm part of the year 1857 and he started with two hundred head of cattle and lost a few by the way. The start was made from Fort Scott and the Platte river was reached at Fort Kearney. The latter part of the journey was made by the southern route and Mr. Scoggins settled in Yolo county, then a wild country in which he found wilM ml r^H K^i^^^S ^ ^^L^^^^K— Lii^^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B^ ^^^^^HL?^iiiH|B|H^^^B i2-<=>c/*^^. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 281 eipal of the Waiipnn public schools, he began the practice of his profession. He came to California in 1874 and until 1876 was con- nected with Tipton Lindsey of Visalia in professional work. In the year last mentioned he moved to Lemoore and built the first dwelling' house in the town on land which he bought from the railroad com- pany which was promoting development there. During the legal struggle between the settlers in what was once known as "the Mussel Slough Country" he was their attorney and ably defended them in the courts. In 1883 he sold his property at Lemoore and until 1885 was the law partner of L. H. Van Schaick, of San Francisco. Returning to Lemoore he was until 1891 the leading law^'er in Western Tulare eoimty, and in that year he took up his residence in Hanford, where for a year he had as his law partners M. L. Short and B. T. Mickle. When the western part of the county became settled and develojjed and a movement for the creation of a new county took form he was one of the advisors who supplied the legal knowledge upon which the work of separation and re-establishment was carried to success. This fact gives him standing in history as having been one of the founders of Kings county in 1893. He was elected superior judge of the new county and re-elected to succeed himself, and he won the reputation of being one of the ablest judges of the Superior Court of California. He was foremost in all the work of general develop- ment so long as he lived, instrumental in bringing about the bonding of the county for public school purposes and in establishing the Union high school and in securing good roads throughout the county. In the founding and building up of the First Unitarian church of Hanford he was a factor and of its congregation he was a member until he passed away. At Janesville, Wis., in 1872, Judge Jacobs married Miss Annie M. Lowber, a native of New York, and they had three children, Clara Belle, H. Scott and Louisa M. Fraternally he was an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and of the Grand Army of the Rejmhlic, and passed all the chairs in each of these orders. He died September 23, 1898. JOHN W. STOKES Not only by reason of identilication with California during its early formative period, but also by virtue of his long association with the stock and farm interests of Tulare county Mr. Stokes holds a leading position among the citizens of the community. When in the winter of 1855 he came to the vicinity of his present location in Visalia few attempts had as yet been made to place the surrounding 282 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES countrj' under cultivation, ^'isalia was a very small village, sur- rounded by a wilderness, and Mr. Stokes drove his cattle along the foothills east of Visalia, where now stand the thriving towns of Exeter and Lindsay. Game of all kinds abounded and it was not uncommon to see three hundred elks in one band. A native of Missouri, John W. Stokes was liorn in Daviess county, July 2, 1837, the son of Yancy B. Stokes, a native of Kentucky. Removing from Kentucky to Missouri iu an early day the latter engaged in farming and stock-raising, and became well known throughout the middle west through his large stock transactions. From 1840 until 1850 he made his home in Iowa, and on April 10 of the last mentioned year he took up the march across the plains for California. He was accompanied on the trip bj- his son John W,. then a lad of about thirteen years, and the incidents of the ox-team journey covering seven months proved a source of imfailing interest to the youth. The party arrived at Hangtown on October 12 and the first winter was passed in Stockton, the father suffering ill- health the greater part of that season. It thus devolved upon the son to take care of the stock that winter, and with the opening of the spring father and son went to the Curtis Creek mines. They were especially fortunate in their mining experiences during the three months they were there, but all to no purpose, as the entire accumulation was stolen from Mr. Stokes' trunk. From there he went to Mokelumne river, Calaveras county, remaining there until the spring of 1852, when he located in Marysville on the Yuba river. The following spring and summer were spent in prospecting in the mines, after which he returned to Stockton. In the fall of that year he returned to Iowa and in 1853 he brought his family to Cali- fornia across the plains. The journey was broken by a stoj) in Carson Valley, where the family spent the winter, and the following spring they located in Contra Costa county, near Martinez. One year later, December 25, 1855, they came to Tulare county, locating on government land which Mi-. Stokes took up six miles west of Visalia. Here he engaged in general farming and stock-raising until selling the property to his son, after which he bought another tract in the same section, his holdings at the time of his death amounting to .sixteen hundred acres. He ])assed away March 4, 1886. His wife, in maidenhood Elizabeth Moore and a native of Missouri, also died in California. A family of six sons and five daughters was born to this pioneer couple. Only three of the children, S. C, B. F. and J. "W., are living in Tulare county. Two daughters, Martha J. Sanders and Hattie Webb, are residents of the state, and Mrs. Rachel Brewer, the eldest of the children living, makes her home in Iowa. The school advantages that fell to the lot of John "W. Stokes were limited. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 283 for his entire boyhood was passed on the frontier, first in Iowa and later in California. In 1853, while his father returned to Iowa for the remainder of the family, he went to the mines at Hangtown with a brother, buying flour and other stuff which they sold to the emigrants, flour ))ringing $1 per pound. They raised water melons in Carson valley and sold them for $1 each. Coming to Tulare county with the family, J. W. Stokes was for some time associated in general farming and stock-raising on property which was later sold to the son, as previously stated. The latter afterward branched out along the same lines on a large scale and at one time owned as high as sixteen thousand acres of land. Considerable of this has since been disposed of, although he still owns valuable farm lands in the county. He can truly be numbered among the extensive and successful stockmen of Tulare county. It was in Tulare county that Mr. Stokes' first marriage occurred, uniting him with Rachel M. Gibson, a native of Missouri. She died in San Luis Obispo county, Cal., leaving the following children : Christina, the wife of S. N. Chase; John Thomas; Elta; Miles Andrew and Claud. Subsequently, in Visalia, Mr. Stokes was married to Nancy Liggett, a native of Tennessee. The two children born of this marriage are Henry J., a rancher near Goshen, and Roxanna, the wife of C'. B. Dorrity. Mr. Stokes espouses the prin- ci])les of the Republican ])arty, as did his father before him. JAMES HENRY CLAY McFARLAND As rancher, stockman and horticulturist James H. C. McFarland has become one of the most prominent citizens of his connnunity. His activities date from 1891, when he bought his pro]ierty south of Tulare. He was born in Si)ringfield, Greene county. Mo., August 19, 1849, son of William and Martha (Roberts) McFarland, the youngest of their family of three sons and five daughters, all of whom grew to maturity and five of whom are living. William Mc- Farland was taken to Coo]ier county, Mo., by Jacob McFarland, his father, who was a native of North Carolina, and there he grew uji, was educated and learned the work of the farmer and stockman. It was as such that he was engaged during the active years of his life five miles from Si)ringfield, where he ])assed away in 18fi.3. A Whig and a Union man, he organized the first Home Guards in Greene county. Each of his three sons was a volunteer in the Union ser- vice: George, now of Springfield, having borne arms in a Missouri regiment; John, also of Springfield, in the Eighth Missouri Cavalry; and James Henry Clay in Company F, Fourteenth Missouri Cavalrv, 284 TULARE AND KINGS COTJNTIES into which he was inustered at Springfield in March, 1865, when he was in his sixteenth year. "William McFarland married Martha Eoberts, a native of east Tennessee, whose father, John Roberts, took his family to Cooper county. Mo., and later to Greene county, where he died. Mrs. McFarland 's death occurred in 1880. On his father's farm in Missouri James H. C. McFarland was reared to manhood. lie attended the district school near his home until he was obliged to leave it in order to go to work. After his enlistment as a soldier his regiment was detailed for frontier duty against Indians in western Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. A battle with the Cheyennes and Comanches was fought at Salt River and the Indians were defeated, but the cavalry remained on the ground until the government effected a treaty with the Indians, where Wichita, Kans., now stands. Mr. McFarland was mustered out of service at Fort Leavenworth in November, 1865, and was later dis- charged at St. Louis. He was at that time a few months past his sixteenth birthday, and he went back to school, but left it soon after- ward to become a farmer and stockraiser on his own account. He successfully conducted an eighty-acre farm five miles from Spring- field until 1887, when he came to California and located in Tulare county. He rented three hundred acres of the Bishop Colony land, east of Tulare, for two years. Then he rented two hundred and forty acres of the Zumwalt ranch for a year and forty acres belonging to Mrs. Traverse. In the spring of 1891 he bought twenty acres of the Oakland Colony tract, which he put in alfalfa. He also rented two hundred and forty acres of the Gould ranch in the Waukena section, which he farmed to grain for three years. In the fall of 1894 he and his brother-in-law rented four thousand acres, east of Lindsay, which was a part of the Tuohy ranch, and farmed it one year. The following year they farmed the Gould ranch and in 1896 operated two hundred and forty acres of the Woods place in the Poplar section. He also bought three hundred and twenty acres on the bayou, three miles south of Tulare, where he raised stock. That place he sold in 1904 and bou^iit sixty acres adjoining his twenty acres in the Oakland Colony tract, which he put under alfalfa. There he lived until 1910, when he sold the property and boiight eighty acres of the John Shufflebean ranch, two miles west of town, all of which he operates himself and on which his residence is located. He has installed an electric power plant for pumping. In 1869 Mr. McFarland married, near Springfield, Mo., Miss Martha J. Wharton, a native of Greene county, that state, and a daughter of Emsley Wharton, born in North Carolina, who settled early in Missouri and died there some time after the Civil war, in which he saw' service in the Eighth Missouri Cavalry, U. S. A. To Mr. and Mrs. McFarland have been born two children. Their daugh- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 287 ter Clara married W. J. Abercrombie of Tulare. Their son Charles G. is a rancher near that city. Mrs. McFarland is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In i^olitics Mr. McFarland is Repub- lican. LITCHFIELD YOUNG MONTGOMERY Of those who are encased in ranchino' and stock-raisiuf? in the vicinity of Hanford, Kinj^s county, none stand higher in public favor than L. Y. Montgomery, who came to this county in January, 1881, and during the long time that has elapsed since has demonstrated the value of industry and fair dealing in the making of a career of usefulness and honor. Mr. Montgomery was born in East Ten- nessee on May 17, 1857, the son of William Glaspy and Mary Jane (Burton) Montgomery, natives respectively of Tennessee and Vir- ginia. Both passed away on the old homestead, the father when about seventy years old, and the mother also lived to pass her sev- entieth year. L. Y. Montgomery was educated in public schools near the family plantation and at Maryville College. He was early instructed in all of the details of successful farming as conducted in that part of the country at the time, and may be said to have been in the fields since he was a lad of ten years. After he left college he assumed charge of his father's business, managing it for a short time, and in January, 1879, he went to Louisiana, where he was much enthused over the fine opportunities which the farming- interests of that state offered to a young man, and in leaving there he felt that he was turning his back on fortune, besides leaving behind many appreciated friends whom he had made among the planters. However, falling a victim to malaria, he decided to seek a change of climate and came to California. Mr. Montgomery's first employment in the Golden State was in the redwood lumber camps controlled by San Francisco parties, and in June, 1881, he found work in the harvest fields for a time. In the latter part of that year he came to Grangeville, then Tulare county, and for the following two years was paid well-earned wages by G. H. Hackett for ranch work. After he had saved some money he leased land and for some time was successful as a farmer on his own account; still later on, as success smiled on his efforts, he became a land-owner and engaged in general farming and stock- raising. At this time he owns his home place of eighty aci'es. five miles north of Hanford, besides two hundred acres in Fresno county, all of which is well improved. lie has forty acres in fruit, to the 288 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES cultivation of which he gives considerable attention. He is interested in irrigation i^rojects and is a director of the People's Ditch com- pany and also of the Riverside Ditch company. For four years, from 1906 to 1910, he served as supervisor from the third district of Kings county and while a member of that body the new county hospital was erected and the courthouse park was enlarged. On November 30, 1891, occurred the marriage of L. Y. Mont- gomery and Miss Jennie G. Latham, who was a native of Sutter county, born on August 7, 1870. They have three sons, Cloyd Bur- ton, a student in Heald's Business College at Fresno; Russell Latham and Creed Litchfield. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery are mem- bers of the Kings River Methodist Episcopal church and both be- long to the order of Rebekahs, and he is a member of the Odd Fel- lows. In all matters pertaining to the well-being of the county or the people, Mr. Montgomery has always shown his public spirit and has advocated and supported measures to the best of his ability along those lines. To such men as he the county owes its development and standing among its sister counties of the state. EZRA LATHROP The wise counsel, good judgment and progressive spirit of Ezra Lathrop have been factors in the upbuilding and prosperity of Tulare, Cal. Mr. Lathrop came from his old Iowa home to Nevada, but soon afterward, in 1866, came to California, and since 1873 he has lived in Tulare. His family is of English descent and was early established in the state of New York. William and Perrin Lathrop, his grandfather and father respectively, were born there, but settled in Susquehanna county. Pa., where the former died. The latter became a ])ioneer at Cascade, Dubuque county, Iowa, but soon went to Center Point, near Cedar Falls, in Blackhawk county, where he improved a farm. Later he farmed in Louisa county, that state, but passed his declining years in Blackhawk county. Clementine Dowdney, who liecame his wife, was of Eastern birth, but passed away near Center Point, Iowa. She bore her husband two sons and a daughter: Ezra of Tulare; Gilead P., who died in the Civil war, a member of the Eighth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry; and Mrs. Mary Ellen Brown, who lives in Tulare county, north of Visalia. At Rush, near Montrose, Susquehanna, Pa., Ezra Lathro]i was born in 1839 and there he began attending district schools. He was ten years old when his family went to Iowa and sixteen when his mother died, and then he set out to make his own way in the world. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 289 Foi" a time he was employed on farms, but in 18(i4 sought fortune in the West as a member of an emii^rant party that crossed the plains. The Indians were unusually troublesome at that time, but the train went unmolested up the Platte and by way of Salt Lake City to Ne- vada, where Mr. Lathrop began farming on the East Walker river. In 1865 he was teaming at Dayton and in 1866 he was farming near Suisun, Cal., whence he removed three years later to Montezuma Hill. In 1873 he came to Tulare and built the residence which has since been his home and found employment as a driver of six-horse teams in mountain freighting. In 1874 he homesteaded eighty acres of gov- ernment land north of Tulare, which, with other lands, he began to cultivate six years later, and b\' adjoining purchases he came to own four hundred and tliirty acres. He formerly owned the Round Valley ranch of thirty-eight hundi-ed acres. At this time his holdings com- prise four hundred and forty acres in one body, all under ditch; five hundred and sixty acres, south of Tulare; and eighty acres southeast of that city. He was for a time a director in the Rockyford Irrigation Ditch Company. In 1882 Mr. Lathrop embarked in the lumber business and soon built up a valuable trade, but after eighteen months a concern that had been his most bitter comjietitor and which he had worsted sold out to Moore & Smith, a company financially very strong. Unable to hold his own against such opposition, he sold out in 1884 to the Puget Sound Lumber Company, which ap])ointed him its local agent. In 1886 the two concerns were merged as the San Joaquin Lumlier Com- pany and his agency was continued. When the new comi)any was incorporated he became its manager and had its atfairs in charge until Xoveml)er, 1898, when it retired from business. He was one of the ]iromoters of the Gas Company of Tulare, was financially inter- ested in it when it was incorporated, January, 1884, and has been its president since May, 1885. Its electric light plant dates from 1890 and since 1894 it has manufactured no gas. His patriotic work in bringing about the comiiromise with the bondholders of the Tulare Irrigation district resulted in a gi'aud jollification and bond burning which is a part of the history of Tulare. He has performed efficient service as fire commissioner and school trustee and has helped the people of the town by his wise and conservative judgment in financial affairs. In 1885 he assisted in the organization of the bank of Tulare, the oldest in the town, of which he was president from that day to the time of his death, November 17, 1908, and which has been an important aid to the welfare of the people. It is apparent that a record of the life of Mr. Lathrop is in a sense a record of the jirogress and develop- ment of Tulare, for he was inseparably identified with many of its leading interests. Politically he was a Democrat until 1896. Then, unable to su|)iioit tlie financial tlicories of Mr. Bryan, lie liccnme a Re- 290 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES publican. Fraternally he affiliates with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, which has a flourishing lodge at Tulare. In Iowa, Mr. Lathrop married Miss Virginia Blake, a native of Oakland, that state, who bore him twin daughters and died in 1898. One of the daughters. Martha Adeline, married G. W. Bauman, a l)io- graphical sketch of whom will be found in this volume, and the other, Matilda Eveline, married W. J. Sturgeon. On January 20, 1908, Mr. Lathrop married Mrs. Lena Ayer, whose maiden name was Lena De Vine, born in Nova Scotia. Mr. and Mrs. Ayer came to California from Boston. Mass., December. 1890. CHAELES TILDEN ROSSON, M. D. The profession of medicine and surgery is becoming more and more sijecialized as time passes, and its two principal branches are today more distinct and individual than they have ever been before. One of the medical profession in Kings county, Cal, who is becom- ing well known in central California through his successful devotion to surgery is Charles Tilden Rossou. M. D.. of Hanford, who was born in Vergennes, Jackson county. 111., in 1876, and was there edu- cated in the public schools. In 1894, when he was about eighteen years old, he came to Tulare county, Cal. It was in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of San Francisco that he finished his pro- fessional education and was graduated with the M. D. degree in, 1903, and in that and the following year he was house surgeon in the City and County Hospital at San Francisco. In 1904 he came to Hanford and for a time made the office of Dr. Holmes his head- quarters, but it was not long before he established an independent office, which is now located in the Em]3orium biiilding. It is to surgery that Dr. Rosson has given special attention and it is as a surgeon that he has developed an ability and won a suc- cess that have made him known throughout a wide territory sur- rounding Hanford. An idea of his progressiveness and of his ini- tiative in his chosen field may be conveyed by the statement that he was one of the first to perform laparotomy in Kings county. Lentil 1911 he was for some years surgeon in Central California for the Santa Fe Railway system and he is now Southern Pacific Railroad surgeon and physician. He is a member of the San Joaquin Medi- cal Society, the Fresno County Medical Society, the California State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and is presi- dent of the Hanford Sauitorium, Inc. Though he is in constant de- mand as a family physician, he is in still wider demand as a sur- a ^ Jii^iJ ' years been in the harness of a newspaper man, most of the time engaged at editorial woi-k. "While he has served many terms on boards of education, boards of library work, and on business and commercial committees, he has never sought political office. FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF LEMOORE That strong financial institution, the First National Bank of Lemoore, the policy of which from the first has been to extend to the business community all accommodations consistent with sound banking and which has been a potent factor in the upbuilding and develojjnient of Lemoore and its tributary territory, was organized June 9, 1905, and began business in July following. Its original capital stock was $25,000. all paid up. The first officers and direc- tors were : B. K. Sweetland, president ; Stiles McLaughlin, vice- president; F. J. P. Cockran, cashier; E. G. Sellers, C. H. Bailey, John Trimble and E. P. May. In February, 1912, its capital stock was increased to $50,000. The bjink has erected a fine two-story building, covering a ground space of seventy-five by one hundred feet, at Fox and D streets. It is a modern brick structure, contain- ing fine banking offices and the best facilities for the keeping of cash and valuable securities. It is the belief of the bank officials and of the general public that this banking establishment is as nearly fireproof and burglar-proof as it is possible to make it. The First National Bank of Lemoore has from the day of its opening steadily grown in the confidence of the business community of the city and surrounding country, and numbers among its de- positors many of the wealthiest and most important business men and citizens of that part of the county. The following are the names of its present officers and directors: C. H. Bailey, president; E. G. Sellers, vice-president; W. E. Dingley, cashier; G. B. Chinn, Stiles McLaughlin, L. S. Step, and J. K. Trimble. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 309 VISALIA PLUMBING AND SHEET METAL COMPANY To be successful in the field of mechanics a man must neces- sarily possess thorough training in the science which he attempts to represent. The world of today demands skill in every line of labor, and the man who is not prepared to compete with his expert neighbor is beaten ere the fight begins. Apropos of the above sulijeet, Visalia is godmother to a plumbing and heating company of which she is justly proud, and, having helped to maintain its popularity, feels that she has a share in its success and growth. The most difficult points in the work of installing heating and plumbing- apparatus, the erection of windmills, tanks and troughs, etc., are accomplished by the Visalia Plumbing and Sbeet Metal Company with the greatest skill and ease, as may be attested by the many citizens who have been fortunate enough to secure their services. Visitors to the showrooms of the Visalia Plumbing and Heating Company feel well repaid for their trip, for there are displayed many models of the most up-to-date appliances for toilets, bathrooms, furnaces, etc., and they are conceded to have the finest and most up-to-date showroom of that character in any town between Fresno and Bakersfield. This business was started about five years ago in the Odd Fellows and Masons Imilding on Church street opposite the court house. Their fine sheet metal work is not the least of their accomplishments, as countless illustrations may testify. The mechanics whom they employ are the best that can be secured, and as they guarantee every detail of their work they have given general satisfaction. The business has grown rapidly and now its annual output amounts to $50,000 worth of business and the plant is indicated as one of the successful enter]jrises of the growing and prosperous city of Visalia. Against the moderate charges for services, no com]ilaint has ever been received; on the contrary, the people of Visalia and locality are unanimous in their opinion that the terms are low in comparison with the standard of ]ierfection maintained in their work. The firm is owned and controlled l)y Isaac Clark and Frank A. Newman, long established citizens of the community. Isaac Clark was born in P'rankfort, Maine, January V2, 1870, and u)ion comj^letion of his education learned the stone-cutter's trade, which he conducted nine years in his home town, removing thence to Augusta, where he worked two years at his trade. He then served three years as an apjn-entice to Malcolm & Dyer, ])himbers, after which for five years he filled the position of custodian of the Augusta city hall. In 1905 he innnigrated to California, and choosing Visalia as his permanent location, accepted a position as sheet metal worker for the Cross Hardware Co. Upon the erection of the factory of the Pacific Sugar Co., Mr. Clark was engaged by said company 310 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES to do the sheet metal work, accomplishing the work most satisfac- torily. In 1907 he joined Frank A. Newman and C. B. Porter in establishing- a general plumbing business. Two years later Mr. Porter withdrew from the firm, leaving Mr. Clark and Mr. Newman sole proprietors. In 1897 Mr. Clark was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Beck, also a native of Maine. They have two charming children, Marjorie F. and Addison W. Mr. Clark is a valued member of the Knights of Pythias, Calantha Lodge, No. 52, and the Bethlehem Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 135, both of which he joined in Augusta, Maine. Frank A. Newman was born in Cooper county. Mo., January 31, 1869. His father, Jesse Newman, died before his son reached manhood, and in the fall of 1884 the mother, formerly Elizabeth Hill, brought her little family to California. Frank A. Newman ranched several years and also served as foreman of the Harrell stock and grain ranch. Later he conducted on his own account a three hundred and twenty-acre wheat farm in the Stone Corral district, Tulare county, and he then became an apprentice to the Cross Hardware Co., and iipon completion of this service engaged in the plumbing business with Isaac Clark. The partners started their venture in a small way, but their trade grew steadily and they now employ twelve able assistants. Following is a list of the buildings which this company have equipped with plumbing and heating fixtures : The Exeter high school building, the Lemoore high school building, the new hotel at Lemoore and the new high school building at Delano. They have also recently installed the heating apparatus in the Kingsbury grammar school; the sheet metal and heating work in the Reedley grammar school ; all the sheet metal woi'k on the First National Bank building at Porterville; also on the three-story Blue building on Main street, Visalia. They have replaced the old plumbing for new throughout the county jail, the three-story Harrell building, and put in all the new plumbing in the Merriman building and the Tipton and Lindsay grammar school. For years Mr. Clark has made a thorough study of the matter of proper heating for public as well as private build- ings and uses the gravity and mechanical systems in order to produce complete circulation, replenishing the air in a room from six to ten times during one hour. He has obtained the most satisfactory results both regarding even temperature and sanitation. Among the resi- dences thus equipped by him may be mentioned those of A. Lewis, H. F. Miller, R. E. Hyde and the M. E. Church of Visalia. The company has also installed plumbing and heating systems in the residences of R. F. Cross, Capt. H. White, Ralph Goldstein, Meyer E. Eiseman, two houses for J. F. Carter, Mrs. Oaks' home and ^^^^^-^'-'^--<^yrt-J^t-^^^^ i7. OL^C^ ^^/A <:='C.-n^ , TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 313 uiimeroiis other private resideuces in Visalia aud throughout Tulare county. Both Mr. CMark and Mr. Newman by their rigidly fair and honest dealings have won the trust aud favor of their many patrons. In every movement pertaining to the development of the locality they are always prompt to tender their practical assistance. WILLIAM T. VAUGHAN Among the prominent men of Tulare and Kings counties men- tion is made of the efficient supervisor of the third district, W. T. Yaughan, who was born at Visalia, Tulare county, June 21, 1865. In September of the same year he was taken by his parents to San Luis Obispo county, where he attended school and lived until 1877, when the family moved to Pima county, Ariz., and that territory re- mained his home until 1900. After his arrival in Arizona the young- lad begun work on cattle ranches. He had but little opportunity to attend school and until he was nineteen years of age his educa- tion was obtained by contact with the primitive conditions to be found on the frontier. He grew up on a cattle range and was con- nected with the stock interests of that part of the country until his removal back to California in 1900. At the age when most boys are in school he was superintending a large ranch and becoming an expert in the handling of stock, enduring privations, but dcvelov)- ing a strong and sturdy constitution and laying the foundation for his future success. When he was about fourteen he was conducting a meat market in Ramsey's canyon and going to the school at that place. He would sit so he could watch the door of his shop and when a customer would come he would have to leave the school- room and attend to his wants and then return to his books. He was also a member of the Territorial militia aud was compelled to keep his gun within reach at all times should a call come to defend the settlers against the Indians. After he was eighteen he attended the University of Southern California at Los Angeles for a time and says he got more education during that short time than in all his former years. His days for book-learning over, he returned to Arizona and as he succeeded he built up a cattle business of his own and carried it on very successfully until 1900, when, having sold his six thousand cattle and closed out his other interests in the territory, he returned to California and, with his father and brother, bought three hundred acres of land one mile north of Hanford, upon which were erected I)uildings suitable for their needs and began the development of the 314 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES land. He now has one liimdred and fifty-five acres in fruit and the remainder in alfalfa. In 1911 he sold eighty acres at a good profit. He is the owner of eighty acres a mile south of Hanford. which he put into alfalfa and leases to others, also has ten acres west of the city, which is in fruit and which he bought in 1901. . The father of W. T. Vaughan, James Upton' Vaughan, was born September 9, 184-1, in Mississip]ii, went to Texas and in 1852 crossed the plains to California. He passed away in Kings county Novem- ber 7, 1911. His widow makes her home with her children. A lirother, Andrew Henry "^'aughau, came to Kings county with "Wil- liam T., and they had interests together for several years. On September 25, 1892, Mr. Vaughan was united in marriage with Miss Elenora Sori'ells, a native of Phoenix, Ariz., born July 1.3, 1874, daughter of A. B. and Melvina (Parker) Sorrells, who were natives of Arkansas and California respectively. Mrs. Vaughan received her schooling in Arizona and was there married to Mr. Vaughan. They have four children. Merle E., Pearl E., William J., and Bertha L., all members of their parents' household; the two eldest are attend- ing the Hanford high school. Mr. Vaughan has invested in residence property in San Diego, Cal., is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Hanford. owns shares in the Lacy Oil company, operating in the Devil's Den country, and in the Castle Oil company of the Coalinga field ; is a member of the Hanford lodge of Elks, has passed all the chairs in the local lodge of the I. O. 0. P., and for one year served as District Deputy Grand Master; he also belongs to the K. of P. and with Mrs. Vaughan belongs to the Daughters of the Eebekahs. Always interested in politics he has taken an active part in local and state affairs. In the fall of 1910 he was elected to the board of super- visors, representing the third district of Kings county, and is serv- ing with fidelity those interests that placed him in office. He has had charge of the road building of his district in every detail and devotes his energies towards the faithful discharge of his duties. He represents Kings county in the matter of the erection of a counties building at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915 at San Francisco. It is safe to say that no man has become so closely allied with the people in all things tending towards public betterment than has AV. T. Vaughan. JOHN N. HAYS The president of the Hays Cattle Co., John N. Hays, a prominent business man of Kings county, Cal., has had a career the history of which thus far is both interesting and instructive, and it should be TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 815 an encouragement to yoiuig men who would sueoeed in spite of lack of capital and in the face of many obstacles. Mr. Hays was lioru in Missouri, Fe})ruary 3, 1854, and came to California in Sejitember, 1872, when lie was in his nineteenth year. The first eigliteen months of his life here were spent in Mariposa county, where he was emiiloyed by some relatives who had come on before him. Late in 1873 or early in 1874 he came to Lake Tulare (then in Tulare but now in Kings county), where his people took uj) land on the border of the lake. For two years they farmed on rented land in the Dingley Addition, now the site of Lemoore, Mr. Overstreet, his stepfather, having been in charge, and there Mr. Hays remained until 1886, when he disposed of his interests at the lake and moved to Cholame valley, Monterey county, where he lived and labored ten years. At the expiration of that time he came back to Lemoore and went into the stock business and in 1894 he bought three hundred and twenty acres of land, a mile and a half west of Guernsey, which he devoted to grazing. He operated independently until 1911, increasing his business from year to year till he took rank with the big cattle men of central California. He then organized and incorporated the Hays Cattle Comi)any, of which he is president; Eoy D. Hays, vice-presi- dent; and R. W. Forbes, secretary. The company expects to dispose of about six hundred to eight hundred cattle annually, its last year's business having amounted to six hundred, and is renting forty thousand acres of pasture for its stock. Oil develoinnent in the Devil's Den country has interested Mr. Hays, who has investments there, and he owns also an interest in oil lands in the Cholame valley district. He has from time to time had to do with business of other kinds and his interest in the com- munity makes him a citizen of much public spirit. Fraternally, he affiliates with the Circle and with the Woodmen of the World. He married Miss Lillie Mills in 1882 and she passed away in 1891, leaving three daughters and a son. Floy is the wife of R. W. Forbes, of Lemoore. Roy D. is vice-president of the Hays Cattle Com]3any. Pauline married Clarence Esrey of Lemoore. Alice is Mrs. William McAdam and her husl)and is operating in the oil field. In 1907 Mr. Hays united his life with that of Mrs. Jeanette Bryan, who has borne him children whom they have named Richard Ujiton, Doi-otln- and Ann. JOSEPH D. BIDDLE The forceful character of the citizenshij) of J. D. Biddlc during the past (|uarter of a century has given him for all time a place in the annals of the state as well as of Hanford, which li;is Ikmmi his 316 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES permanent home during this time and the scene of his activities to a large extent. A native of Tennessee, born in Bedford county, .April 30, 1852, he passed his boyhood, youth and young manhood in the vicinity of his birth and the home of liis parents, and at the age of twenty-seven, in 1879, made his first trip to tlie west. After a stay of two months he returned to the south, but in 1882 retraced his steps and this time remained six months. It was in 1887 that he made his third and last journey to California, his two prior trips of inspection thoroughly satisfying him that here as nowhere else were opportunities awaiting the young man of push and determination. Having disposed of his merchandise and milling business in Shelliy- ville, Teun., in 1887 he came that same year to California and located in Hanford, his first work here being as auctioneer of livestock. As an adjunct to this business he bought livestock and shee}), as well as wool, the latter being gathered from a large territory, extending from Mexico to the Oregon line. His shipments of this commodity are large, being made to all ]:iarts of this country, as well as to Canada. His first experience in the wool business was in his early days in the west, when he was a representative for the Thomas Dunnigan & Son Co., a well-known wool house of San Francisco. The live stock which Mr. Biddle handles he secures from all parts of the state, and he has had as high as twenty-five thousand shee]:) in his possession at one time. In financial circles throughout the San Joaquin valley few names are better known than that of Joseph D. Biddle, and to his splendid judgment and conservatism may be given much credit for the substantial character of the monetary institutions with which he has had to do. Among the latter may be mentioned the Sacramento Bank, German Savings & Loan Society of San Francisco, Savings Union Bank of San Francisco, Union Trust of San Francisco, and he has also made large loans of money through independent capitalists. He also represents several of the largest and best insurance com- panies of San Francisco, and is largely interested in the oil industry. His first venture in this field was the ])urchase of some of the best oil lands in the Coalinga district, and following this he organized several oil com])anies which are now organizations controlling great wealth, these and the banks through which the business is carried on representing a combined capital of over $150,000,000. Mr. Biddle made large expenditures in drilling on his oil fields, but owing to the low prices of oil at the time it was deemed advisable to suspend operations until it demanded a better price. The property is still owned by the various comjianies, in all of which Mr. Biddle is a director, as follows: Investment Oil Company and the Phoenix Oil Company. Other companies were also organized in the Bakersfield district, but these have since been disposed of. TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 317 Not only was Mr. Biddle a pioneer and moving spirit in the industries above mentioned, l)ut he has been equally forceful along- agricultural aud horticultural lines. During his early years here he bought and platted the Bonanza vineyard, embracing a tract of three hundred acres. Later acquisitions were the Silvia ranch of one hundred acres, the Griswold apricot orchard of eighty acres (at that time the largest orchard of the kind in that section, but which has since been sub-divided into small holdings), the Haywood vineyard of eighty acres, the Redwood vineyard and orchard of one hundred and twenty acres, the Savings Bank vineyard and orchard, consisting of eighty acres south of llanford, which has since been sold, the Happy Home vineyard of twenty acres and the A. P. Dickenson ranch of eighty acres. For five years he also leased and operated the Banner vineyard of three hundred and twenty acres and for a number of years also leased Mrs. M. S. Templeton's vineyard of one hundred and sixty acres northeast of Hanford. In connection with his large fruit interests Mr. Biddle erected a grading plant on the Bonanza ranch, where he was prepared to dry, cure and bleach the fruits from his various ranches, all of which found a ready sale in eastern markets. Besides handling and shipping all of his own fruit, he also bought raisins and peaches all over this section, paying the local packers in the countrj- to pack his raisins and peaches under his own brand and ship them direct to the eastern markets. In order that none of the fruit should be wasted, he bought peaches and sacked them at the depots when the packing house was filled to its capacity. Mr. Biddle 's interests in another direction are apparent in a number of substantial structures in Hanford. One of his first ventures along this line was the rebuilding of the block formerly occupied by the city stables, the site now occupied by the Old Bank. He also owns the building occupied by the Hanford Mercantile Corporation. This organization is capitalized for $100,000 and Mr. Biddle is one of its largest stockholders and secretary, and a director also. He was also one of the prime movers in the organization of the Hotel Artesia, which was built by the corporation of which he was a member and subsequently sold to B. J. Turner. Through an exchange of property Mr. Biddle became the owner of the Axtell block at the corner of Seventh and Irwin streets, the name of which has since been changed to the Sharpless block. He also moved the postoffice from its old site and placed it on Irwin street; aud he moved both telegraph offices into the Hotel Artesia, their present locations. He at one time owned what is now the Vendome hotel, and he also bought and moved the first hotel erected in Hanford to the corner of Fifth and Douty streets, remodeling it and ultimately selling it to B. J. Turner. 318 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Reference has elsewhere been made to Mr. Biddle's interest and activities in the stock business. It was no uncommon thing for him to have on hand from ten to twenty tliousand hogs on the McJunkin ranch, one and a half miles north of Hanford. It was during his earliest experiences in the business that he attemjited to fatten his hogs on grain that had been saved as salvage from a large fire in Stockton. He ]nirchased the damaged grain to the extent of one hundred thousand sacks, or one hundred cars, and shipi)ed it to Hanford. It required all of the vehicles available to haul the grain to the Bonanza vineyard, where it was spread over eight acres of ground to dry in the sun. It was then resacked and stacked in the dry yard, the whole presenting the appearance of hay stacks in a field. He then bought steam engines and large tanks in whicli to steam the wheat, after which he fed the grain thus treated to the seven or eight thousand hogs which he had on the ranch at the time. The experiment proved a failure, it being demonstrated that charred grain was injurious to hogs, as they sickened and died under the diet. The ex]ierience was a costly one. but it did not deter Mr. Biddle from making further investigations as to the most desirable methods of feeding. Owing to his wide experience and versatile knowledge it is not surprising that Mr. Biddle has been called upon from time to time to act in the capacity of administrator and transact other business of a similar nature. On numerous occasions when a difference of opinion arose as to the proper settlement of legal matters he has been called into consultation with attorneys, not only in Hanford, but also in Fresno, Visalia, Sacramento and even to San Francisco. At one time he was called to Portland, Ore., to settle a law suit involving $30,000, and he was also called to Nevada in the adjustment of a suit with Carmen & Richey involving $1,000,000, and this also was equably adjusted. At the present time Mr. Biddle is interested in the live stock, wool, oil, insurance, real estate and merchandise business, being in close touch with all of the details of eacli, and he is also actively interested in all of the organizations of his home city which have for their objects the uplifting of the citizens and the general welfare of town and county. He is a valued member of the Chamber of Commerce and he was also a member of the committee appointed to attend the convention held in Los Angeles for the purpose of discussing matters relative to the Panama canal. He has also been an active member of a connnittee appointed by the supervisors of Kings county for the purpose of preparing a ]ietition for bringing the main highway through Hanford, the county seat, through Visalia to Bakersfield. He has also been appointed a memljer of the highwav commission to meet in Sacramento in January. 1913, TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 319 wheu the above matter will oome before the commission for discus- sion and settlement. In the early days when Hanford did not boast a railroad Mr. Biddle started a donation to get the Santa Fe to run its road through Hanford and the valley. The completion of the road was celebrated in royal style, and in this too Mr. Biddle took the lead. In the disi)la>' was one wagon to which were attached twenty-four large white horses, followed 1)\' three large wagons loaded with one hundred bales of wool, another wagon showing the quality of sheep and hogs, and still another containing a large prune tree which Mr. Biddle dug from his orchard, full of growing prunes. Mr. Biddle had the honor of sliii)ping the tirst three carloads of wool from Hanford over the road, the cars bearing large banners on which was printed in large letters, "Hanford the first city to patronize the Santa Fe railroad out of the Valley." On May 1, 1878, Mr. Biddle was united in marriage with Miss Sallie M. Landis, a native of Tennessee. The success that has rewarded Mr. Biddle 's efforts is commensurate with his industry and persevei'ance. It is rare indeed that one is privileged to meet a man of such versatility, resolute character and determined will as Mr. Biddle possesses, and Hanford is proud to claim his citizenship. McADAM RANCHES In 1908 Robert McAdam, who is now a resident of Pasadena, Cal., bought sixteen hundred acres of land, formerly known as the Paige and Monteagle orchards, live miles west of Tulare. Of this tract he sold all but about nine hundred acres, and this he divided among members of his family, Annie McAdam receiving eighty-five acres, Robert, Jr., and Fred McAdam two hundred and five acres, William J. two hundred and twenty acres, Mrs. Isabelle McAlpine eighty acres, Frank S. McAdam one hundred and eighty acres, and Robert McAdam, Sr., one hundred and sixty acres. These ranches, all in one body, are irrigated with water developed on them, there being six wells with an aggregate flow of five hundred inches, besides numerous other wells for watering stock. The water developed by the nine large wells, which is used solel.v for irrigation, is pumped by five motors and three gasoline engines; two of the wells are artesian. The entire combination of ranches is supplied with cement irrigation jiipe and galvanized iron surface pipe. There is six miles of the cement ])ipe and the iron pipe is used instead of ditches. This notable irrigation system will be connected and com- pleted before the end of 191,'!. 320 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES The McAdams have put on the place all the improvements that now add to its utility and attractiveness, including a new $3500 con- crete residence on the Frank S. McAdam ranch, a new barn, occupying ground space of 40x45 feet, and a new tank and dairy house com- bined, with a power separator in the dairy house. On the William J. McAdam place there are two new 56x60 foot barns. Another improvement is eight miles of wire hog-tight fence between the different ranches. The farms of Mrs. McAlpine, Robert McAdam, Jr., and Fred McAdam are rented on a cash basis and that of Robert McAdam, Sr., is operated by a tenant on shares, and the combined annual cash rentals of the above ranches aggregate $11,800, and all has been developed in the last five years. H. J. LIGHT The prominent citizen of Lemoore whose name is above is widely known as a promoter of the oil industry. Judge Light, as he is familiarly called by his many friends, was born in Virginia, March 19, 1851, was reared in the western part of Floyd coimty and fin- ished his education at the Salem Academy in Roanoke county. Then he took up school teaching as a profession and was so employed many years. In 1866 he went to Kansas, and after teaching there a short time took up his residence in Springfield, Mo., where he taught until 1874. Then he came to California, and locating at Visalia pursued his vocation there and northeast of the city for five years. During the succeeding four years he was teaching again in Missouri, but he came back to California and settled at Lemoore, renting land on the lake of Elias Jacobs and establishing himself as a farmer. In 1886 he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land, pre-empted a hundred and sixty acres and took up a timber claim of one hundred and sixty acres in the same section. Later he bought the remainder of the section under the isolated land act. He ran a stock ranch until in 1909, when he leased his land to tenants and moved to Lemoore, where he has since lived. He has bought property here and expects to pass his declining years in the town. In the spring of 1910 Mr. Light was elected a member of the city council of Lemoore and in November of that year to the office of justice of the peace. For nine years he served as justice of the peace of West End judicial township and resignaed the office the better to attend to his private interests. He has been a trustee of the Union high school since the organization of the district. In 1907 Mr. Light married Ella (Hunt) Logan. He has six children by a former marriage : Tespan, of Kings county ; Swinton ; TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 323 Robert Denii}-, of Santa Barbara county; Theodore, of C'oaliuga; William Kings, of San Luis Obispo, and Mrs. W. P. Smith, of Lemoore. William Kings Light has the distinction of being one of the first four children born in Kings county, he having been born on the morning after the election for the petition of Tulare county and the formation of Kings county. Mr. Light has been an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since he was twenty-two years old. In his ]iolitical afiiliations he is Repub- lican and as such he has been influential in local affairs. A man of much public spirit he has done much toward the development and improvement of the city and of the country round about. His in- vestments in real estate at Lemoore include ten acres and several city lots and on one of the latter he erected his office building. While he lived on his ranch he gave ]:)articular attention to the breeding of cattle and horses. In 1890 he and Orlando Barton, of Visalia, located land in Lost Hills. They were the first there and he was one of the original incorporators of the Lost Hills Mining company, which was sold in 1911. Its property is located in what is now a great oil field. Mr. Light was and is interested in oil lands in Devil's Den and Kettleman's Hills and in the West End Oil company, the property of which he located in August, 1908. He was one of the incorporators of the Lake Oil company, which with the West End Oil company is leased to the Medallion company. With the Devil's Den Consolidated he was interested also, and he heljied to organize and owns stock in the Lauretta Oil company and is identified with the Dudley Oil com- pany, a San Francisco concern operating in the Devil's Den field. WILLIAM WASHINGTON BLOYD The life of the late William Washington Bloyd extended from July 18, 18.35, when he was born in Illinois, until in November, 1908, when he died at his home in Ilanford, Kings county, Cal. He grew to manhood on the farm in Hancock county. 111., and was married April 14, 18.55, to Miss Elizabeth Cowan, who was liorn in Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 18, 18.35, and had come to Illinois. After his marriage he lived four years in his native state, then sold out his interests there and moved to Appanoose county, Iowa, where he made his home until 1861, when he came with a train of eight wagons drawn by oxen over the southern overland route to California. For two years he lived at Red Bluff, Tehama county, and afterwards until 1874 in San Joaquin county, where he bought a ranch. Then because he could not do well in so dry a country he sold out and came to what is now Kings county, settling on railroad land in the GrnTige- ;124 TULAKE AND KING8 COUNTIES ville seetion four miles west of Ilanford, homesteading at the same time one hiuidred and sixty acres nearby. It was not until after the rioting at Mussel Slough that he finally paid out on his railroad land. He naturally sided with tlie settlers, and was at Hanford at the time of the historic tight. Mrs. Bloyd, hearing of it, hurried to the scene of action, but did not arrive until the conflict was over and one man lay dead and two wounded on the ground ; Mr. Blo>d arrived a few minutes afterward. It was not very cheerfully that the settlers later gave up so much good money for their land, but the courts compelled them to do it and they made the best of the situation. After a time Mr. Bloyd sold out here and lived for a year in Oregon. Eeturning then, he bought back his old ranch and lived on it until 1907, when he sold it to move to Hanford, where he had bought a residence at 115 West Elm street. As an investment he owned several other houses in the city. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bloyd, viz: Rosalie Adeline, deceased; Winfield Scott, mentioned elsewhere in this work; Charles S., who lives at Hanford ; Clara Ellen, who is the wife of K. L. Wilcox, of Los Angeles ; Ida Belle, who married Ed Parsons, of Hanford; Elizabeth Jane, deceased; Levi, who is also mentioned fully in this pultlieatiou; and Willie Wilford, who lives in Kings county. Of these children Adeline and Winfield were born in Illinois, the others being natives of California. The fraternal affiliations of Mr. Bloyd were with the Masons and the Ancient Order of United Workmen and his religious convictions drew him to the Christian church. His early experiences in California included some in the mines in Placer county. He superintended the construction of the People's Ditch in Kings county. When he came to that county it was an open i>lain on which wild horses and cattle roamed at will and in all of the tlevelopment down to a comparatively recent time he manfully did his part, for he was public spirited to a degree that made him a most useful citizen. ROBERT W. MILLER In Jasper county. 111., Robert W. Miller was born September 5, 1847. Orphaned when very young, he grew up in Crawford county, that state, under the care of a guardian who allowed him ]iractically no educational advantages. When he was nineteen years old he became a student in a public school in Sangamon county, 111., from which he was graduated when twenty-one and given a teacher's cer- tificate. While teaching school during the next two years, he prepared himself by special courses of study to enter the University TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 325 of Illinois, and in 1871 he took the law course of that institution; in 1874 he was admitted to the hnv to practice as a lawyer in the Su])renie Court of Illinois. He soon afterward went to Minnesota, where he taught school two years, also procuring admission to practice in the Supreme Court of that state, and he was in profes- sional woi-k there until the fall of 1879, when he located in Humboldt county, Cal. For two years thereafter he practiced at Eureka and then gave up the law temporarily in favor of mining, but in two years he was glad to return to his law office, and on June 17, 1885. he became a member of the l)ar, admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of California. After laboring professionally for a short time at Eureka and Del Norte, he located at Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, and was in legal practice there until 1904, when he came to Hanford, where he at once opened offices and has since been professionally successful. Shortly after his arrival in Kings county he was appointed Court Commissioner, and in 1906 he was a candidate on the Repub- lican ticket for the office of judge of the Superior Court but was defeated by a very small majority. After the Santa Cruz Republican State convention in 1906, he became most active in furthering progressive government principles to which he had been a convert for many years. In 1907 he was appointed state organizer for Kings county and he gave his best eiTorts to the organization of the Lincoln- Roosevelt League of California which culminated in the election of Hiram Johnson for Governor and later in the birth of the Progressive party in 1912. Fraternally he affiliates with the Masonic order. His social pojmlarit.v is wide, and his fellow citizens admire him as a man of ability and of honesty who has the interests of the community at heart and does in a public-spirited way all that he is able to do for their promotion. In 1880 Mr. Miller married Miss Mattie Morrison, a native of Wisconsin, who has borne him a daughter and four sons. Maud PI is the wife of Dr. Edward Dunbar of Fallon, Nev. R. Justin is a student in the University of Montana, a graduate of Stanford Uni- versity of the class of 1911, and was recently admitted to practice law in the Montana Supreme Court. J. Arthur is studying engineer- ing at Stanford University. He is a graduate of the Palo Alto high school, where his brothers, W. Leslie and Lowell Miller, are now students. FRANK S. McADAM The farm of Frank S. McAdam, one of the McAdan) ranches, consists of one hundred and eiglity acres, ninety acres of which is rented for dairy purposes and seventy-five acres of the ninety is 326 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES under alfalfa. The dairyman renter milks forty cows and raises some hogs. Thirty acres of the remainder of the place is devoted to alfalfa, and the last acre of it will be given to that crop as soon as possible. At this time Mr. McAdam milks eight cows and farms forty acres to grain. Mr. McAdani was born June 3, 1885, in Pembina county, Dakota Territory. In 1907 he married Miss Schukenecht, of Hobart, Ind., and their son Lawrence McAdam was born October 25, 1908. Mr. McAdam 's management of his portion of the big McAdani ranch has been evidence of his capability for the liandliug of big business. A man of enterprise and of public spirit who has the welfare of the community at heart, he is one of the most helpful citizens of his ])art of the county. He is at present interested with his brother William J. in the Castle Dome silver and lead mines of their father, Robert McAdam. The mines are located in Yuma county, Arizona. SAMUEL EDWARD BIDDLE The death of Hanford's most prominent banker, who had l)een identified with its financial, commercial and political circles for many years, proved a great shock to the people here and was deeply felt throughout the entire county, whose welfare had been of so much importance to him. Samuel Edward Biddle had more to do with things pertaining to the business life here and in this county than any other citizen of the city. His death, which occurred May 7, 1908, at the St. Helena Sanitarium at Hanford, removed from their midst one of the people's best friends. Mr. Biddle was a native of Normandie, Bedford county, Tenn., born there September 15, 1845, the son of J. V. and Eliza Biddle. He received his educational training in the schools there and in 1874 came to California to ever afterward make it his home. When but fifteen years of age he had enlisted in the Confederate army, seeing active service, but he was finally incapacitated by a wound and received his discharge, returning to Tennessee. Here in his native town he was married on January 6, 1870, to Miss Achsah A. McQuiddy, daughter of Major T. J. McQuiddy, who is a well known pioneer of Tulare county, and is still living in Hanford. Major McQuiddy made his first trip to California in the early '70s and selected lands for himself and other members of the party of emigrants who came overland with him in 1874 and settled at Tulare county. Tliis said party consisted of eighteen people, including Samuel E. Biddle and his family, M. P. Troxler and family and Major Cartner and wife. Major McQuiddy also bringing his family. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 329 After his marriage and before coming to California, Mr. Biddle took his bride to live in Gibson county, Tenn., where they stayed for some time, later liein,i>' at Bi'azil, Trenton and Huml)oldt. lie had learned the milling business and ran a flouring mill at Trenton, later at Hum- boldt, and this experience i)roved most helpful to him upon coming to the new country. When he came to California his family consisted of his wife and two children, a son and daughter, and they settled upon a railroad quarter-section of land a mile and a half north and three miles east of the present site of Hanford, which Mrs. Biddle 's father. Major McQuiddy, had selected for them. They here built a board and batten house, Mr. Biddle immediately seeing the necessity for many improvements which he started to make. Irrigation ditches were erected and the land was prepared for cultivation, and in the year 1876 he harvested his first crop, which was of wheat. In the meantime Mr. Biddle found that all this had taken nuich of his resources, and he accordingly went to work for I. H. Ham, the pioneer miller of Tulare county, taking charge of the mill at Tulare, and as the agriculturists in the surrounding country were meeting with good success in the cultivation of grain, he found much work and demand for his milling. At this time his means were practically ex- hausted, he having only $3.75 in Ms pocket. Accepting the first job that offered, he began as a roustabout at the Tulare mill. Leaving his family at home, he walked six miles and worked all day on Cross Creek bridge, and then proceeded to Tulare, where he took his position as roustabout. Mr. Ham soon recognized his ability, for in less than a week he was made miller, and from this time a very close intimacy grew up between Mr. Ham and himself. It was in 1877 that he, in partnership with Mr. Ham, built the Lemoore mill, of which he took charge and built up a prosperous business, in 1880 selling it at a hand- some [irofit. He then came to Hanford and built a grain warehouse which he operated, himself. This warehouse was so much in demand that it became filled to its capacity, and finally, under the stress of too heavy a weight of grain, it collajDsed and Mr. Biddle was greatly in- convenienced financially by the disaster. He turned to R. E. Hyde, the lianker of Visalia, for assistance, and the latter proved his true friendship for Mr. Biddle when he came forward and supplied the means to rebuild the warehouse, which was immediately done. From this time on is chronicled for Mr. Biddle one success after another. In 1883 he built a large brick building on the corner of Sixth and Irwin streets in Hanford, where in association with his brother he conducted a profitable farm implement business until 1887, at which time his banking interests became his most vital business. On Ai)ril 11, 1887, was launched the Bank of Hanford, iu whose incorporation Mr. Biddle was most actively interested. It was the first bank established in Hanford and he was installed as its cashier and 330 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES manager, serving in this capacity for a long period, and wlieu this was succeeded by the First National Bank of Hanford, Mr. Biddle severed his connection therewith and organized in November, 1901, what is now the Old Bank, and of this establishment he was president and manager up to the time of his death, being also a heavy stock- holder. His wide reputation for strict integrity of character and hon- esty in all his dealings made him sought out by many for advice and the handling of their capital, and he had always proved himself to be a clever and shrewd business man in making investments and in tlie execution of his duties in general. Along with these heavy business cares, Mr. Biddle had found time to give himself to public ser\dce, having served as supervisor for this part of Tulare county for one term, and at the time the fight was made for the independence of Kings county he was one of the earnest workers, was one of the commissioners, and afterward served as a member of the first board of supervisors of Kings county. Asso- ciated with him in the organization of the new county government were J. H. Malone, W. H. Newport, William Ogden, E. E. Bush and G. X. AYendling. Later he was president of the Hanford Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade, and in all these offices he had ever held the advance and development of his town and county foremost in mind. His exceptional activity as a public-spirited citizen and a charitable and well-wishing friend to all with whom he came in contact caused his death to cast a shadow over the entire public of this city and county. Samuel E. Biddle and his wife were the parents of three sous and four daughter, viz. : Tolbert Vance, who resides in Coalinga, Cal. ; Eliza Jane, wife of I. C. Taylor, of Berkeley; Samuel Edward, Jr., cashier and manager of the Citizens' Bank of Alameda; Beta H., wife of Robert Crawford, of Hanford; Wallace J., a plasterer, with resi- dence at Oakland ; Kate J., wife of Dallas H. Gray, of Armona, Kings county; and Annie Dale, Mrs. "William S. Andrews, of Berkeley. HAELAND E. WRIGHT One of the organizers and present casliier and manager of the Hanford National Bank, conspicuous in various pul)lic enterprises, Harland E. Wright, of Hanford, Cal., is a leader among the younger business men of Kings county. Now an out-and-out Westerner, he is by birth a Yankee, having first seen the light of day in Wiscasset, Lincoln county. Me., May 22, 1863. a sou of Sullivan Wright and Maria L. (Bailey) Wright, both of whom were natives of the Pine Tree state and members of old New England families. The father TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 331 was a jeweler and was working at liis trade when the Civil war began. Inspired by the patriotic blood of Revolutionary ancestors, he tried to enlist as a soldier in the federal army, but was disquali- fied by physical disability. He passed away at the comparatively early age of fifty-five years, his widow now living in Maine. When his father died Harland E. Wright was nine years old. He was brought up in the parental home and educated so far as was possible in the local public schools. He stepped out into the world and began to take care of himself when he was thirteen years old, becoming a telegrapher, in which capacity he was employed by the W^esteru Union Telegraph Company in Boston and in different cities of Maine until the fall of 1882, a year known in telegraphic historj" as "the year of the great strike." Then he came to Cali- fornia, and vmtil the fall of 1892 was bookkeeper for George P. McNear, banker and grain dealer at Petaluma. Taking up his resi- dence in Hanford at that time, he became assistant cashier of the Farmers and Merchants bank, and eighteen months later he was made cashier, which position he retained until March, 1903. He had become the largest stockholder in the bank, but he now sold his interest in it and in May organized the Hanford National Bank, an historical sketch of which is given in these pages. Besides his interest in the bank Mr. Wright owns, with S.~E. Railsback, one thousand acres of land thirteen miles south of Han- ford, which is rented for dairy purposes. He is interested in or- chards witli Mr. Eailsback and Charles King, and they own a fine fruit farm north of Grangeville, where they have ninety acres de- voted to prunes, lie was one of the organizers of the Lake Land Canal Company and one of the builders of its improvements. November 15, 1888, Mr. Wright married Etta Ranard, who was l)()rn in Sonoma county, Cal., and they have a daughter, Fae, who is a student in the high school. Politically he is a Republican, influen- tial in the work of his party, but has no personal amlntion for an official career. Fraternally he affiliates with the Indejiendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. He has won his success l)y liis own unaided efforts, through the forcefulness of a character the distinguishing characteristics of which are integrity, earnestness, independence and self-reliance. JOHN F. JORDAN The proniiiu'ut citizen of Tuhire county whose name is al)ove and whose residence is at No. 108 West Center street, Visalia, is a son of Frank and Alabama (McMicken) Jordan, natives respectively 332 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES of Illinois and Alabama, and he was born in eastern Texas December 10, 1850. His father had settled there early and had been for a time manager of a plantation near Shreveport, La. In 1854 he came to California as a captain of a train which included seventy- four families, whom he brought through safely, overcoming many difficulties by the way. Locating within the present borders of San Benito county, he became a stock-dealer and hotel keeper, and in 1858 he made his headquarters in Tulare county, where he brought his family in 1860. He prospered as a stockman, traveling extensively in the prosecution of his business, and died at Visalia in 1878,' in his sixtieth year, his wife having passed away while the family was in San Benito county. He won the credit to which every self-made man is entitled of having begun with almost nothing and achieved good financial success. He was a citizen of much public spirit, influential in the councils of the Democratic party. Of tlie four sous and three daughters of Frank and Alabama (McMicken) Jordan, John F. Jordan was the fifth in order of birth and he was four years old when he accompanied his parents on their memorable overland journey to California. After having completed his studies in the Visalia public schools, he became a student at Heald's Business College, San Francisco, from which institution he was duly graduated in February, 1875. Soon after his return to Visalia, in that year, lie was appointed deputy postmaster of that city, and in 1876 was appointed deputy sheriff. He was elected in 1879 county auditor of Tulare county, in which office he served with great credit for five years. Later, in 1884, he engaged in the abstract business, in 1892 incorporating the Visalia Abstract Company, in which he is now a director, being formerly its secretary and general manager. The knowledge he has acquired of land titles in Tulare county is the result of years of study and experience and it makes his advice along these lines of the greatest practical value. At the same time it should be noticed that his work as secretary and manager of this enterprise is no indication of the extent of his activities. In June, 1912, he became president of the Citizens' Bank of Visalia, at which time he retired from the management of the abstract business. He assisted in organizing the Kaweah Lemon Company (Inc) of which he is secretary and which owns three hundred and seventy acres in the foothills east of Visalia. He is a director in the Encina Fruit Company and has had much to do with the development of its lands, which include four hundred and forty acres, two miles north of Visalia. In the organization of the Visalia Fruit & Land Company he was prominently active and he is secretary of the Lemon Cove Ditch Company. The lady who became the wife of Mr. Jordan was Alice L. Neill, a native daughter of California, and they have three children : Ethel j» /^, ^>4^.^^^X^ TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 335 v., wife of William B. Rowland; Ray F., and Neill J. Mr. Jordan affiliates fraternally with Lodge No. 128, F. & A. M., of Visalia; Chapter No. 44, R. A. M. ; Conniiandery No. 26. K. T., of which he is recorder; Scottish Rite No. 9, of which he is treasurer; and Islam Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of San Francisco. He has been a local leader of the Democracy, was a delegate to the state convention of his jiarty in 1!H)4 and at one time served on the county central committee. He also served on the city council of Visalia for eight years. It goes without saying that in every emergencj' his fellow citizens have found his public spirit equal to any demand upon it. DR. BENJAMIN HAMLIN A factor and a landmark in the history of Kings county is Dr. Benjamin Hamlin, of Lemoore, who was born Janiuiry 20, 1824, and came to the present site of Lemoore in 1874, when he was about fifty years old. But at that time there was no town there ; on the ground Lemoore now occupies were a few scattered houses of primitive construction and a few settlers had come to the country round about. The doctor has witnessed the transformation of the county from wild land to a vast wheat-field and has watched the gradual supplanting of grain by fruit and vine. There are few peo- ple who have ever lived at Lemoore with whom he was not at one time or another personally acquainted, and many who have known him have had just reason to recognize in him the proverbial friend in need who is a friend indeed. When he was seven years old the future physician, dentist and druggist was taken by his parents to Lorain county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood. After leaving the public schools, he entered upon his professional studies under the preceptorship of Dr. Hubbard, teaching school in the meantime to pro\'ide for cui-rent expenses. In 1847 he received his degree of M.D. at Angola, the county seat of Steuben county, Ind., where he practiced medicine during the decade that immediately followed. The next ten years he spent in ])ractice in St. Joseph county, Mich., and while practicing here he volunteered his services in the Civil wai-, and engaged as a hospital surgeon at Chattanooga during the time of Hood's raid, being in that service for seven months. From St. Joseph county he went to Florida, where he practiced dentistry five years. In 1872 he came to Santa Cruz, Cal., where he practiced medicine and dentistry until 1874, when he came to a little settlement on the site of Lemoore and opened a small drug store on the front of which he hung his professional sign. In 1875 he 336 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES was appointed postmaster there and for ten years he combined the practice of medicine with tlie sale of drugs, then abandoned the former the better to give attention to the latter. For many years his drug store was the only establishment of its kind in the vicinity. He retired from the drug trade in 1899, since when he has done little business beyond giving attention to his fruit and vine ranch, north of Lemoore, which is now operated by a tenant. In 1847 Dr. Hamlin married Miss Margaret Fowls, who bore him three daughters and a son. Of these children only one of the daugh- ters is living, her home being in Santa Cruz. Mrs. Hamlin died in 1886 and on the 16th of September, 1889, he married Maria L. Wells, a native of Buffalo, N. Y., but at that time living in San Francisco. Together they are spending their declining years in the companionship of many old friends, and in all the country roundal:)put Lemoore the doctor is held in loving regard as a pioneer. Mrs. Maria L. (Wells) Hamlin is a member of a patriotic family of soldiers, her brother, the late Brig.-Gen. A. B. Wells, having had a military record of over forty years' actual military service. Her father. Captain William U. Wells, was one of the pioneer miners at Virginia city, Nev., and he had four sons and one daughter in his family. All four of her brothers were enlisted soldiers in the war of the Rebellion, and the three surviving have given their entire lives to their country's military service. Of these, Capt. Charles H. now resides at St. Louis, Mo. ; he served through the entire Civil war, was at Libby and Andersonville prisons and was one of the brave men who dug his way out of Libby by means of an oyster-shell as their sole tool, and he has recently puV)lished a book which fully describes this incident. The second brother was the late Brig.-Gen. A. B. Wells. Another is Capt. William Wells, of Chicago, and the fourth brother, Aimer H. Wells, of Chicago, enlisted as a drummer boy when he was thirteen years old. Mrs. Hamlin has had the misfortune of losing her eyesight, but notwithstanding her life has been one of i)hilanthropy and kindness, and hundreds of needy and unfortunate people at San Francisco as well as Lemoore will ever bless her for her gentle and generous aid. P. A. McLEAN Of Scotch highland stock and born in Canada, P. A. McLean, of Tulare has demonstrated the potency of the influences that were back of him in the production of good American citizenship. He has also shown what a man of the right kind may hope to accomplish in California, if he makes it his business to succeed. It was at TULARP] AND KINGS COUNTIES 337 Milton, across our nortliern liorder, that he tirst saw the light of day, November 22, 1842. His parents were natives of Scotland, and his mother was of the clan of the Camerons. She was a descendant of Lord John Cameron, and her brother, ('apt. John Cameron, came to California as early as 1832, later saw service in the West under Fremont, and eventually was killed in the battle of Monterey, in our war with Mexico. So passed an old Indian tighter whose history is a ]>art of the history of California. P. A. McLean has had many interesting and not a few thrilling- experiences. Seven years he sailed on the oceans, visiting about every important port in the world. Off the coast of Africa he was shipwrecked and for four days and nights was afloat on a spar. He was a comrade of "Buffalo Bill" Cody, shooting buffaloes with him on the plains and fighting Indians shoulder to shoulder with that picturesque American hero. It all happened in the period in which the LTnion Pacific railroad was being constructed across the continent. Several times he was wounded, and to his grave he will carry a bullet in Jiis body. Through his participation in Indian wars, and otherwise, he became acquainted with most of the famous chiefs of his time. Many years in the saddle, he participated in some of the famous rides that add spice to western history. It is of record that he made the trip from Dayton to Lewiston, sixty miles, in six hours, and rode from Spokane to Walla Walla, one hundred and fifty miles, in eighteen hours. He helped to locate government posts in Washington, and was the first white man to pilot a raft down Lake Chelan. He tells how plentiful deer and bear were along the lake. At Cheney, Wash., he built the first bank and the first gristmill, and later had a blacksmith slio]i, and the earliest gristmill at Spokane was erected by him. In his native town, Mr. McLean learned the trades of blacksmith and carriage maker, though his apprenticeship was finished at St. Johnsbury, Vt. After a time he found employmemnt on the Vermont Central railroad, and in 18(i6 he went to Chicago, where, a few years later, he built the first cabin after the Great Fire on the site of the old ])ostoffice on Dearborn street. But meantime he was busy else- where, for in 1869 he rode into Los Angeles, Cal., and saw an old and not very promising cluster of adobe houses, relics of a former civilization, and that was about all. His tri]) on horseback from there took him to Idaho and Washingtcni. It was on the 7th of November, 1876, that he made his first apjiearance in Tulare county, riding astride a nnistang. lie has lived there most of the time since, always identified with the county's growth and develoi)meiit. For a long time he made his honu> in \'isalia, where he had a blacksmith shop, but did a good deal of carpentering. He it was who framed the first joist that went into the construction of Ihc old coui'thouse. 338 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES and iuto that same historic strneture he put the doors and huilt the bench for the judge. For six years he blacksmithed in Exeter, and from there he moved back to Visalia. He later rented a shop in Cochrane. He drifted to Visalia and was in the liquor business there four years, and in 1907 he ran a hotel in Cochrane, and came back to Tulare, August, 1909, where he now runs a shop. It was in the year 1888 that he bought the old Lyle ranch, two miles east of Visalia. He is now the owner of a house in Visalia and of the Eosenthal ranch, north of the town, which is stocked and rented. He has one hundred and sixty acres in Fresno county and town property in Fresno, and property in Kings and Riverside and Sonoma counties, besides his old blacksmith shop at Cochrane. At present he busies himself with his blacksmith and carriage sho]j at Tulare and with the supervision of his jn'operty. Public office has been thrust upon him from time to time. He was a dei:)uty sheriff in Vermont, a justice of the peace at Cheney, Wash., and a school trustee at Cochrane, Cal. He heljjed to organize the Odd Fellows lodge at Cochrane and the Knights of Pythias lodge at Visalia, also helped organize the K. of P. and I. 0. 0.' F. in Exeter, and holds membership in both with due honor. He was a charter mem- ber also of the Odd Fellows lodge at Exeter. August 22, 1878, he married Miss Sarah M. Thomas, and thev have a daughter, Sarah F. CHARLES W. TOZER A California pioneer of 1851, a miner, a fruit grower, a man of many interesting exi)eriences in all parts of the world, thus, briefly, might be summed up the biograi)hy of Charles AV. Tozer ; but there is very much more to tell, and no old Californian would regard this book as complete if in some measure it did not tell it. Mr. Tozer was l)orn in New York, February 10, 1830, and died in California in 1905. He came to the state by way of the Isthmus of Panama and in tlie early days thereafter mined in Amador, Cala- veras and Trinity counties. He was, in fact, interested in raining during most of the years of his busy and adventurous life. At dif- ferent times he dug for precious metal in California, Nevada, Ari- zona, Alaska, Siberia, China and Japan. After his experience in Nome, where he was associated with Charles D. Lane, he went to the state of AVasliingtou, where he installed a large stamp mill. To the mining fraternity of the entire covmtry he was known as an expert mining engineer. In tlie prosecution of his work in new and wild districts he frequently i^articipated in scenes peculiar to TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 339 gold diggings at the times under consideration. During his stay in Arizona Indian wars were in progress and at one time he was a member of a party sent against the savages in defense of some people whose lives were in danger because of a threatend attack. He was sheriff of Siskiyou county, Cal., and represented his district in Nevada in the territorial Legislature. In 1891) Mr. Tozer came to Tulare county and bought part of the old Page & Morton ranch, west of Tulare. There he grew fruit for a decade, meeting with good success, and sold out in 1900, his ranch now being a dairy plant. He married Miss Mary Seaton, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, whose father, Daniel Seaton, was a pioneer lawyer in Amador county, where he practiced his' profes- sion many years. There were born to him children as follows : Roy S., of Tulare; Charles M., of old Mexico; Mrs. R. Q. Cople, of San Francisco. Roy S. Tozer, a native of California, was educated in the public schools of Tulare and San Francisco and at the University of California, at Berkeley. He began his business career in connection with the dried fruit trade in San Francisco, and after a five years' residence there came to Tulare and took over the man- agement of the Fair Oaks Creamery. He is now manager of the E. M. Cox Lumber Company, which in 1910 succeeded the Tulare Lumber Company, which had had an existence of many years and was one of the old and substantial business enterprises of the town. Mr. Tozer is one of the most progressive of Tulare's younger set of business men, interested in all that pertains to the city's growth and development and ready at any time to assist to the extent of his ability any measure inaugurated for the public welfare. FRANCIS C. SCOTT As a, soldier no less than as a citizen Francis C. Scott is deserving of attention by writer and reader. He was born in Martin county, Ind., May 19, 1841. When he was nineteen years old he enlisted in Company E, Twenty-fifth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. His first fighting was at Fort Donelson. He saw plenty more at Shiloh, Corinth, Hatchers Run, Grand Junction, Holly Springs, .Mud Creek, Pearl River, Marion Station, Memphis, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, Kenesaw Mountain, Buzzard's Roost, Atlanta, Chat- tanooga, Kingston, Goldsboro and at other points in the South. He has vivid recollections of the men of his command drinking the polluted water of Mud creek. After that fight his comj^any was so small because so many of its members had been killed that 340 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES it was assigTied to provost duty in Tennessee. From there it went to Vicksburg and later it went with Sherman to Mississippi. A sixty days' furlough came soon afterward, and Mr. Scott rejoined his conmiand at Chattanooga. The march from Atlanta to the sea under Sherman he will never forget. A provisional division, of which his regiment was a part, was sent back to Chattanooga. From that point a march was made to Paducah, Ky., thence to Cincinnati and thence to Baltimore, where the regiment joined its old command. A coast voj-age followed and Mr. Scott was shipwrecked in Cuban waters, but was finally lauded in North Carolina and marched to Newberne, where fighting was resumed. After the fight at Golds- boro, the regiment was marched to Kaleigh, N. C. Several skirm- ishes followed, then came the Confederate surrender, the Grand Review at Washington, D. C., the discharge and the muster out. Returning to Indiana, Mr. Scott located in Perry county, set- tled down to farming and married Louisa Goble, a native of that state, who bore him children as follows : Harrison Y., John AV.. Hiram Curtis, Thaddeus M., Sidney F., Lee Esting, Flora C. All have died except Thaddeus M. and Sidney F. John AV. married Nancy Harmon, by whom lie had a son named Edmund L. By a second mar- riage two daughters were born. Sidney F. married Nellie Wilson and has had four children: Ray, Leslie, Maynard and Flora. Leslie has passed away. From Indiana Mr. Scott moved in 1866 to Montgomery county, Iowa, where he lived three years and then returned to Indiana. From there he went to Shelby county, 111., and after a year's resi- dence there moved to Sedgwick county, Kas., where he remained until he was forced to leave on account of his crops being destroyed by pests. From there he returned to Illinois, whence he went to Nebraska. There he remained four years, meantime preempting and improving land, after which he returned to Union Star, DeKalb county, and two years later took up his residence in Shannon county. Mo., where he conducted a hotel for four years. He again took up farming in Texas county for eight years. He came to Fresno county in 1904 and bought ten acres near Laton. Six months later he sold out and came to Tulare city, bought ten acres, then sold and purchased residence property and remained there until he came to Orosi. He bought ten acres half in vines and trees and the bal- ance in pasture. His profits from this investment are quite satis- factory. As a farmer Mr. Scott is successful along his chosen lines and as a citizen he is public spirited and helpful. In politics he is Republican. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and is a Mason. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 341 GEORGE TOMER The story of the life of a self-made man is always interesting and always carries its lesson of industry, integrity, perseverance and thrift. Of this class is George Tomer, a native of Iowa, born August 16, 1847, whose early life was one of work and study in an environ- ment that was not conducive to rapid progress either in earning money or acquiring knowledge. But he got a start in life, largely l)y reason of his coming to California. He made his appearance in this state in 1862, quite young to undertake much responsibility, but of a self-reliant nature and determined to make something of and for himself. For several years he lived in Yolo county, variously employed, as occasion offered, and in 1873 came to Hanford, Kings county, where he acquired one hundred and eighty acres of good farm land, on which he has lived continuously to the present time. "When he first came here he helped himself financially by working on the Peoples ditch until that work was finished. He is included among the pioneers in this vicinity, and is on the membership list of the Settlers' League. From the first he has taken an interest in public affairs, and as a Republican has been elected to several impor- tant local offices, which he has filled with ability and credit to him- self and to the community. He was trustee of the Eureka school fourteen years, trustee and chairman of the Hanford high school board seven years, and was elected constable in 1878 for two years. In 1898 he was elected supervisor from the third district, serving- four years. As a farmer Mr. Tomer has been successful even beyond his expectations. He has three acres in vineyards and twenty-five in alfalfa. While giving attention to general farming he breeds hogs and cattle and makes a specialty of dairying, having at this time about twenty fine cows. For twenty-nine seasons he has operated a header very successfully. He is thoroughly up-to-date in all his methods and his farm is fitted with good buildings and modern machinery and appliances. He has shown a faculty for planning and working out his plans, such as many farmers do not possess, and which doubtless has been a factor in his steady progress. In Woodland, Yolo county, on September 21, 1872, Mr. Tomer was united in marriage with Miss Carrie Kohler, who was born in St. Louis, Mo., in 1855, and who was brought to California by her mother in 1860. All of her life since that date has been passed in this state and she has been a resident of Kings county since 1873. The following children have been born to this worthy coui)le: William li. ; Leonard L. ; Nettie M., who married George Tilton ; Clarence E. ; Clara E., widow of Walter Kelly; Annie C, widow of George Ehle; George, deceased; Read A.; Rose lone; King F. ; Forest W. ; 342 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES and Isaac. All of the children were born, reared and educated in Tulare and Kings counties and are located in the vicinity of Hanford, with the exception of Clara E. and Annie C, who reside in Oakland. ALVIN H. SLOCUM It was in the beautiful Genesee valley, in the Empire state, that Alvin H. Slocum was born in 1837. His family went to Wisconsin when he was a year and a half old and remained there thirteen years, during whicli time he learned a good deal about farming, more about hunting, and in pulilic and private schools got a good start toward an ediication. From Wisconsin the family moved to Iowa, where Alvin remained until after he became of age. In 1859 he came across the plains to California and until the fall of 1861 he lived near the Feather river, in Butte county. At the first call of President Lincoln for volunteer soldiers for service in the Civil war he enlisted and was on dutj'' constantly until his discharge, taking part in many his- toric engagements and enduring many hardships and privations. A remarkable feature of his war record for which he is particularly thankful is that when the war came to an end he had never been captured by the enemy. He was mustered out at Las Cruces, N. Mex., and bought a team of horses and drove tlirough to Sacramento, Cal., near which place he worked in the mines two years. In 1866 he came to Tulare county witli no more definite imrpose than to hiuit awhile, but the country pleased him so well that he determined to remain. Improvements were few and there was game everywhere, liear and deer especially being ])lentiful. He had Bruce Wilcox as a companion until in 1869, when Wilcox stumbled onto a set gun and was shot to death. Mr. Slocum was only two feet behind him when the explosion came. In speaking of those earlier days, he tells of the killing of fourteen or fifteen bears in the autumn of one year and relates how in one hunt he shot twenty-one bucks; his largest bear he killed in 1867. Jacob Cramer, Marvin AVilcox and Frank Knowles were with him, and they have often testified that it weighed, dressed and with- out liide or head, fifteen hundred and fifty pounds. Mr. Slocum went on his first liear lumt when he was about tw6nty-one years old and killed three bears, the first wild bear he had ever seen. As soon as was practicable after he came to the county Mr. Slocum began to acquire land. He took up one himdred and sixty acres and a little later another one hundred and sixty acres, and began to raise hogs and fruit, in which business he has continued with success to the present time. He has for many years been a member of the local school board and has in other ways been gener- (x-> yh,^/^^ C^''t-'»->-*^ TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 345 oiisly active on behalf of the community. In 1880 he married Nancie Alma Hudson, a native of California, who has borne him six children, all of whom are living and all but two are married. His father, who was born in 1811, in New York state, died in 1904 in California, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. Mr. Slocum has mechanical genius of a high order, and has made a number of violins and guitars of an excellent quality. WILLIAM P. McCORD This higlily respected citizen of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., has duriug his long and busy career won distinction in many ways. He was born in Ohio February 6, 1831, and there received a limited education and practical instruction in different kinds of useful work. In 1852, when he was twenty-one years old, he came to California by way of New York and the Isthmus of Panama, going from New Y'ork to Panama on the steamer Brother Jonathan, crossing the isth- mus on foot and coming to San Francisco on the steamer Winfield Scott. He stopped on the Island of Toboga six weeks waiting for a steamer and retains a fond remembrance of the place and "people. From San Francisco he went to Sacramento and thence to Ringgold. After mining three months he located at Suisun, Solano county, with his brother, with the intention of going into the mercantile business. Going, down to put up some hay on the island, he learned that John Owens had already erected a store there, and he and his brother-in- law engaged in the butcher business, opening the first meat shop in Suisun, and traded there until 1856, when he went back east and brought his family out to California. Upon his return he engaged in teaming with his own teams, carrying supplies to Virginia Cit.v, Hangtown (now Placerville), and other mining centers and selling goods at the stores in all .the camps round about. Tims he was em- ployed three years, then for four years he ran a meat market in Vacaville. Disposing of that he returned east and farmed in Ohio and after four years went to Denver, Colo. From there he came on to Los Angeles, Cal., and soon engaged in buying cattle, whicla he drove to Bakersfield. He located in Bakersfield in 1872 and was a charter member of the first lodge of Masons organized there and is now the only survivor of the ori.ginal fourteen members. He estab- lished the McCord ranch, on the north side, a mile and a half from Bakersfield, constructed an irrigation ditch and for seven years fur- nished water free to everyone in the vicinity. Then, selling most of his stock, he located on government land, ])ut in alfalfa, built levees, extended the ditch, sold it and afterward managed it two years, under 346 TULAKE AND KINGS COUNTIES the (lirtH'tioii of W. B. Carr, making during tliat time $15 a day over and above the support of bis family. From there he came to Tulare county and in 1886-87 l)OUght land at the mouth of Cross creek, twelve miles south of Hanford. One section, which be bought of 0. E. Mil- ler, at $2.75 an acre, is still owned in bis family and is now worth over $150 an acre. Another section, which he bought of Bird & Smith and which is now valuable, cost him $7.50 an acre. He bought in all about two thousand acres. He and his sons engaged in stock- raising and he and his brother built a levee and reclaimed thousands of acres of land from the Cross creek overflow for settlers in that vicinity. Mr. McCord farmed there and raised horses and stock on a large scale, juitting in more than one thousand acres of alfalfa on bis own land, and maintained his home in Hanford while o])erating there. The family now owns eight hundred acres of that property. In 1874 Mr. McCord and his son Dallas opened a butcher shop at Bakerstield. The latter conducted it many years and at the age of twenty-nine was elected sheriff of Kern county, and was the young- est sheriff in the state at that time, 1887. After filling the office one term he joined his father on the ranch. The latter retired from farming in 1908 and sold all his remaining land. He made a specialty of selling Arizona horses in San Francisco and attained prominence as an auctioneer at Bakerstield and San Francisco. In bis younger years be was an athlete and won honors at Vacaville and Suisun and later at Bakerstield and was first president of the Bakerstield Ath- letic club. For a long period be was renowned as a boxer, and when he was sixty-five years old be won in a wrestling match with an o])ponent of twenty-eight. He drove bis own teams through Tulare county from Tipton to Bakerstield before the advent of the railroad and lie and George McCord and Bill "Woswick interested Claus Spreckels to construct the Santa Fe railroad through this section. Spreckels was later president of the Valley road, wliich was even- tually absorbed by the Santa Fe system. Mr. McCord early liecame expert in the handling of horses and was champion of all horse trainers round San Francisco and Bakerstield for some years. In February, 1850, Mr. McCord married Lois Sophia Crii)i)en, a native of Ohio, and they had five children, two of whom are living. Alice, deceased, was the wife of James McCaffery, of Hanford ; Dallas, who was successful in business with bis father, died in 1891 ; Douglas lives in San Francisco; Burnside is a citizen of San Jose; Margery died at the age of three years. The mother of these children iiassed away at Hanford in April, 1911, and was buried by the order of Eastern Star. Mr. McCord has long been widely known as a Mason. When county division was talked of he was a strong advocate and supporter of the movement, and for every other ujibuilding agency of the state and county. He has never asjiired to any office, TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 347 though solicited to become a candidate many times, and once was forced to accept the office of justice of the peace at Bakersfield, win- ning over Ills (tpi)onent five to one in a Democratic stronghold. ALFRED PETERSON A native of Sweden, Alfred Peterson is descended from old fami- lies of that country. He was born August 2.3, 1869, near Oskar- shamn, Smoland, a son of Peter and Christine (Johnson) Carlson. His father was a sexton, in charge of the local church and cemetery, and his grandfather, a Swedish cavalry soldier, did gallant service in the Napoleonic wars 1812-15. Alfred and his sister, Mrs. Selma Pospeshek, of Tulare county, are the only living children of the father's family. In 1884, when he was between fourteen and fifteen years old, Alfred Peterson came to America with his brother Oskar and foimd employment on a farm near Long Point, Livingston county, 111. From there he went to Marshall county in the same state, and in 1889 came to Los Angeles, near which city he worked two years in an orange grove for Abbott Kinney. Then he went to Antelope Valley, intending to locate land there, but did not like the prospect in that vicinity and proceeded to Formosa, where he and his team were emjiloyed for two months in construction work, and after that he teamed four months at Fresno. In 1891 he came to Tulare, where he was variously employed until the spring of 1893, when, with Wil- liam Kerr as a partner, he went into the threshing business, l)uying an engine of twenty-four horse power. At the exi)iration of two years he took over the business, which he continued until in the fall of 1901, when he retired in order to devote himself ahuost exclusively to stockraising. In 1893 he liad farmed at the Oaks, north of town, on one hundred and sixty acres of land leased for one season. In the si)ring of 1894 he rented twenty acres, three and one-fourth miles east of Tulare on the Lindsay road, where he now lives. In the following fall he bought that property and in the spring of 1895 he bought twenty acres more. In the fall of 1897 he bought forty acres adjoining on the east and in the spring of 1900 two hundred and sixty-five acres adjoining on the north. In the winter of 1905 he bought one hundred acres known as Bliss field, across tlie road, south of the other property. Pie has introduced many im])rovements and his land is all fenced in. He has about one hundred acres of alfalfa, twenty-five acres under orchard trees, farms two hundred acres to grain and devotes the remainder of his land to pasturage. The marriage of Mr. Peterson, in Chicago, in the spring of the year 1904, united him with Miss Hilda Anderson, who was born near 348 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Westervik, Smoland, Sweden, and they have children named Cai'l, George and Helen, the first of whom is in school. While maintaining a deep affection for the land of his birth, Mr. Peterson is loyal to America, especially to California. He has long been an advocate of irrigation, realizing that the lack of water here is the only drawback to the achievement of satisfactory results in agriculture. He was for a time a director in the Farmers' Ditch Company, from the im- provements of which his own land was irrigated, and he has in other ways promoted the irrigation facilities of his part of the county and has not been less helpful in a public spirited way to other movements for the benefit of the people among whom he has cast his lot. He is a stockholder in the Bank of Tulare and in the Rochdale store. During the entire period of his residence in Tulare county he has affiliated fraternally with the lodge, encampment and Rebekah organization of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. During recent years he has devoted much of his time to travel and in 1902 he journeyed thirty thousand miles by railroad and steamer. Nine times he has crossed our own continent and twice has he re- turned to his old home to renew the associations of his youth, the first time in 1902, when he enjoyed a \4sit with his father in Oskar- shamn and with other relatives and friends from whom he had long been separated. In the spring of 1908 he went back again for five months, accompanied by his family. Since the establishment of the reformation by Martin Luther, the successive generations of the fam- ily have been of the Lutheran faith and Alfred was reared in its doc- trine, but since he came to America he has affiliated with the Metho- dist Episcopal church, of which his wife is also a member. ALFRED C. FULMER The grandson of a gallant soldier, Alfred C. Fulmer, of Orosi, Tulare county, Cal., was born in Crete, Nebr., on Independence Day, 1890, son of William and Amelia (Wilkie) Fulmer. The former is deceased and the latter is now the wife of W. F. McCormick. He attended public schools and graduated from the grammar school when he was fourteen years old. In 1909 he came to Tulare county, where for a time he worked for wages during the summer months, attending winter terms of school. Following a post-graduate course at Orosi he began working at ranching and planned and strove for such successes as he might win by industrious application of the business ability which he certainly possessed. In the course of events he paid $3,500 for fifteen acres of land. He has three and a half acres of Thompson grapes, which brought him $1,100 in 1911, ten acres bearing vines of Muscat and Malaga grapes and two acres TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 351 of pasture land. Tlioui>Ii yoimft- in years he is succeeding along lines that mark him as a scientific cultivator in his chosen field, and there are those who predict for him great achievements in the years that are to come. As a citizen he is public spiritedly helpful to all wortliv local interests. ISAAC N. WRIGHT One of the oldest residents of Tulare county, reckoning from the days of his pioneering, was the venerable and respected Isaac N. Wright, a man of industry, thrift and sound judgment, who succeeded for himself and was active in every movement for the advancement of the industrial and agricultural advancement of the county, his death occurring at his home at Tulare, Cal., February 17, 1910. Of English stock, he was born near Mount Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, October 13, 1823, son of AVilliam Wright, who was born, reared and educated in England ; he was a ])ioneer in Knox county, and began his life there in a log cabin which he erected in a small opening in the forest, improving a farm and prospering there until he removed to Iowa, where he passed away. His mother, Elizabeth Newton, also a native of England, died in Omaha, Nebr. Mr. and Mrs. Wright had eleven children, four of whom survive. One of the children, George, who came to California in ISfjO, died in Tuolumne county; James came with Isaac N. in 1851 and died in San Diego; a daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, resides at Long Beach, Cal.; and another daughter, Mary, resides in Montana. Under the tutelage of his mother, a woman of refinement and education, Isaac N. Wright gained his elementary knowledge of the contents of school books. Brought up on a woodland farm he became an expert chopper, and when he was sixteen years old helped to build a log schoolhouse near his home and was chosen to cut the saddles and notches for one corner of the building, atid in that crude struc- ture he attended school five years. Soon after he was twenty-one years old he entered upon an apprenticeship to the miller's trade and later he was the lessee and operator of a grist and sawmill on Owl creek, at Mount Vernon, for two years. In November, 1851, he sailed from New York on the steamer Georgia for Aspinwall, and from there he went by rail to Gorgona, whence he was taken by steamer to the head of navigation. The remainder of the trip across the isthmus of Panama, about twenty-five miles, he made on 'foot. From Panama he came to San Francisco on the steamer Northerner, arriving in December, 1851, and for two years he and his brothers did placer mining at Jamestown, Tuolumne county, and met with .S52 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES some success. In 1854 he and his brother George leased a sawmill which was operated four years. Then he went back to Ohio for his family, arriving- at his old home February, 1856, and in April that year he left for California with his wife and child, by the Isthmus route, and was in Panama April 15, the date of the historic riots there. His wife and child were safe in the American hotel, near the Plaza, but he armed himself with an old American flint-lock musket and participated in the affair. They made a good passage to San Francisco on the steamer John L. Stevens and he located at Sonora and was successful several years as a quartz miner and as a miller. In 1869 he moved his family to San Jose and prospected through the coast counties into the San Joaquin valley and might have embarked in stock-raising if the season had not been too dry. In 1870 he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land now within the municipal limits of Tulare which in 1872 he traded to the railroad comjiauy for his present home- stead on which he located that year. He set about improving his prop- erty and placing it under irrigation, and almost immediately he was achieving success as a farmer and stockman ; much of his land was in alfalfa. He has raised many high-grade cattle and hogs and has a large dairy. His public spirit prompted him in actively promoting the growth and development of the city of Tulare; he was one of the promoters of the Kaweah Canal & Irrigating Co., was one of its direc- tors from the first and later was elected its president. During his ten years' service as school trustee, he had charge of the erection of the brick sclioolhouse in Tulare. A Repulilican in national politics, in local affairs he always advocated the election of the best man for the place without regard to party affiliations. At Mount Vernon, Ohio, January 14, 1851, Mr. Wright married Charlotte A. Phillips and they had four children, as follows : Victoria is Mrs. A. D. Nefif of Oakland, Cal. ; George W., born in Tuolumne county and now living at Tuolumne, is a locomotive engineer, and in that capacity ran the first passenger train into Sonora ; Alice L. ; Hattie M. is Mrs. W. J. Higdon of Tulare. The mother was born November 28, 1830, fourth of the six children of Charles and Addie (Foster) Phillips, her mother having been a native of England. She is the only survivor of the family and is still living on the Wright home at Tulare, California. SAMUEL EDWARD COURTNEY This well-known nurseryman, who is agent for the Capital Cit> Nursery and whose residence is in Emma Lee Colony, northwest of the limits of Hanford, is a native of County Antrim, Ireland, and TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 853 was born in 1862. The Courtney progenitors came from Holland with Prince William and fought in the religious wars. On the maternal line Mr. Courtney is of Scotch and Danish extraction. He was about eighteen years old when he came across the ocean to Ontario, Canada, and he lived at Oshawa for some time thereafter. In 1885 he volunteered for service in the suppression of the insur- rection known as the Northwest rebellion. After his discharge he lived for two years at Fort William, with his brother, and they were employed in the construction of a large elevator, quartering opposite the historic battleground at Quaminisque; and they endured many hardships in that new country, the temperature often registering as low as sixty degrees below zero. They bought property in that vicinity, but eventually went to Halifax, N. S., where Mr. Courtney married and was engaged in farming and as a builder until 1892. Then he sold out and went to Boston, where he worked six months as a carpenter. During his stay in Boston he heard nmch of Cali- fornia and the wonderful opportunities it held out to the horticulturist, and coming out in 1893 and locating at Hanford, he found employ- ment at his trade, and later as a contractor, built many residences there and throughout the country round about. In 1902 he became a salesman for the Capital City Nursery Co., of Salem, Ore., and during his second year of work in that capacity sold $16,000 worth of peach and apricot trees (most of the peach trees being Albertas), all of which were planted in Kings county. He has handled the line ever since, adding to it local and home grown stock, and his yearly sales during the last few years have averaged $6,000. In 1903 he bought five acres of land for a home at the northwest corner of the city, pacing $100 an acre for it; it is now worth $1,000 an acre. He has built on it a fine house and other necessary buildings and has set it out to fruit trees. He is also the owner of twenty-two and a half acres in the Crowell addition, a good portion of which he has set out to fruit. Another tract which he owns is one of sixty acres, three and a half miles east of Hanford, which he intends to ]iut in vines and trees, and he intends to improve this property still further. Having a liking for horses and cattle, he has devoted some attention to raising both and intends to go into the business more extensively. In 1911-12 he bought out four small nurseries and has disposed of their stock, his nursery business being one of the most comprehensive in this part of the state. Its numerous offerings include twelve varieties of peaches, seven of plums, ten of such apples as do well in the San Joaquin valley country, three of prunes, three of apiicots, seven of tal)le grapes, Francjuette walnuts, olives, plums, eucalyptus trees, shade trees, palms and roses. The place on which Mr. Courtney lives was formerly owned by one Knudson, who was shot at tlie time of the Mussel Slough trouble; 354 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES brought home, he died under an old walnut tree which is still standing in the nursery yard. In 1887 Mr. Courtney married at Halifax, N. S., Miss Annie Eoper, a native of Nova Scotia, and they have had children as follows : James ; Hugh, deceased ; Millicent M. ; Blanche M. ; and Samuel Ernest. Three of these are living. Millicent M. is the wife of Charles Fellows of Modesto, who is also in the nursery business. Mr. Courtney was converted in the Presbyterian church in the north of Ireland, when a boy. His father, James Courtney, of French Huguenot stock, was an evangelist in his home locality. He was connected with the Salvation Army of Hanford from the start and has always been in the fight for the right and advocates and supports all worthy movements. He is a National Prohibitionist, secretary and treasurer of the Kings county delegation, and took a leading part in the fight to eliminate the liquor traffic from his home city. E. G. MELIDONIAN It was on the second day of July, 1867, that the well-known citi- zen of California whose name is above was born at Zetoon, Armenia. He was duly graduated from a missionary school in 1886, with a competent knowledge of the English language and many who knew him and appreciated his fine abilities urged him to become a minister of the gos]iel. He was twenty years old in 1887 when he came to the United States, and for two years he lived in Paterson, N. J., and for twenty-one years he was actively employed as a weaver of silk ribbon. It was in New Jersey that he married Miss Mary Kahacharian, also a native of Armenia and a graduate of a missionary school at Marash, where she received a diploma in 1885. She taught school for two years and her husband was likewise employed for one year. She has borne him six children, whom they named as follows in the order of their nativity: Mary, Anna, Victoria, Elizabeth, Dove and Martha. Mary married James Erganian, who was graduated from the same missionary school in Armenia in which his father-in-law was edu- cated. After coming to the United States he took up work as a but- ler in Boston and Charlestown, Mass. Four years later he came to California and bought twenty acres of land, which he has improved with vineyards and orchards. Anna married Peter Besoyan and they have a son named Sergius and live at Yettem. Victoria graduated from the grammar school and is the wife of Fred Sahroian. Elizabeth has finished the grammar school and Dove and Martha are in school. On coming to California in 1908 the subject of this notice bought fifty acres of land at $50 an acre at Yettem. He has thirty acres of J>(u^cli ^/oAjuL^ TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 357 viues, a small orchard, and ten acres of pasture, aud intends to take up tlie cultivation of oranges and peaclies on the other ten acres. Although he purchased tlie land Itnt four years ago, it is now worth about $300 an acre. He has built a good house on the proijerty and keeps enough stock and horses for his own use. Mr. Melidouian is a Rei)ublican, a Presbytei-iau, a member of the Royal Arcanum and a ]n-ogressive citizen of much public spirit. SANDS BAKER It was in the lovely country along the Hudson river, in the state of New York, that Sands Baker, of Dunlap, Fresno county, Cal., was born December 19, 1837. His parents were George and Martha N. (Bentley) Baker, of English ancestry, who had emigrated to New York state from Massachusetts. His father died when the boy was yet very young, and at fifteen years old Sands Baker was taken to Oconto county, Wis., by an uncle who was in the lumber business there. He early olitained a good knowledge of that industry, for which, however, he had no liking, his inclinations being for the acquisition of an education. He managed to attend a public school and then entered a seminary near Albany, N. Y., where one thousand students were being ])rei)ared for professional careers. From there he went to Madison, Wis., where he entered the high school, giving particular attention to the English course until, because of failing eye- sight, he was obliged for a time to give up study. liowever, he soon found a field of usefulness at Green Bay, Wis., where he taught three years in the jiublic school, and he was the author of several innovations the wisdom of which was soon evident to the school offi- cials and the public generally. One of these was the closing of the doors of the school house at nine a.m., thus enforcing punctuality or absence. Then came a period of travel for health and recreation. He wandered through Minnesota and Iowa and down to St. Joseph, Mo., where he met men who so vividly pictured the beauties and opportunities of California that he quickly decided to seek fortune here, and accordingly he left St. Joseph in the sjn-ing of 1860 with a party which made the journey with American horses and Califor- nia mustangs, by way of Salt Lake. Finding feed scarce they aban- doned their original course and came through Salt Lake valley. Indians were menacing but wrought them no barm and tliey arrived in Los Angeles in Seplcmltci-. From Los Angeles Mr. Baker came on to Visalia. At Rockyfoi-d, while he was heljjing to bale one hundred tons of hay, he met a county superintendent of schools who wanted to employ a teacher. There were at that time only two iiub- 358 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES lie schools in the county and Mr. Baker established a private school which he tau^^:ht two years. After this he went north to investigate the mines of eastern California and was soon employed as principal of the pviblic school at Downieville, Sierra county. He closed the schools daily at one p.m., and spent the afternoons in the mines, but careful study of conditions and results convinced him that there was nothing- in mining for gold without the investment of considerable capital. So successful was he there as a teacher tliat he was given an increase of salary of $40 a month to continue his work. Return- ing to Visalia, he taught a private school for about six months. For some time he filled the offices of revenue assessor, ganger of liquors and inspector of tobacco with increasing responsibility and emolu- ment, meanwhile serving four years on the board of education of Visalia. lie acted one year as deputy county assessor and soon be- came known as an expert mathematician and was often called on to figure interest on notes and accounts and to straighten out tangled bookkeeping, for which services he was well i^aid. This work he con- tinued until his health began to fail. In October, 1872, Mr. Baker married Sarah Josephine Drake, a native of Ohio, whose j^arents came to California in 1870, settling near Tulare lake and later at Squaw valley. On her mother's side she was descended from Virginian ancestry. Seven children were born to them: Martha A., Royal R., Chauncey M., Lulu M., Blanche C, Pearl A., and Elsie F. ; and Mrs. Baker and her husband adopted a boy, who became known as William M. Baker. Martha A. married L. B. King and bore him four children. Royal R. married Nellie J. Hodges and they live at Farmersville, and have a son and a daughter. Chauncey M. married Olive E. Hargraves of Mendocino county, who taught school at Dunlap. Lulu M. married J. A. Mitchell, postmaster at Dunlap, and they have a son and a daughter. Blanche C. mar- ried Charles F. Hubbard, of Stockton. Elsie F. married James R. Hinds. Pearl A. is teaching in the Merriman school at Exeter. Wil- liam M. is ranching near Exeter. Most of Mr. Baker's children have attended the high school at Visalia. Blanche C. was graduated from a lousiness college at Stockton in 1902 and is a competent stenographer and bookkeeper. From A'isalia Mr. Baker removed to Shipes valley, now j^o))- ularly known as the Foot of Baker mountain. He took up a squat- ter's claim and pre-emiited and homesteaded land and has added to his holdings from time to time imtil he has a fine stock ranch of two thousand acres, much of it well improved, some of it under valuable timber. He has one hundred and twenty acres of valley land de- voted to fruit and alfalfa. He could very easily farm five hundred acres, but he gives attention principally to stock. He has on his proj)- ertv fullv five thousand cords of wood and indiA'idual oak trees which TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 359 would cut fifty cords eacli. He keeps about two liuudi'cd liead of stock and twenty horses. He has sold many cattle at Hume Mills, about twenty miles away. His ho,s>s have brought him ten to twelve and a half cents a pound on the hoof at times. He has a stallion, thoroughbred and Percheron, and has raised fine stock for market, always finding ready sale, and Mr. Baker has maintained a high reputation for grade and quality. In ])olitics, Mr. Baker is a Repulilican wlio is i)roud of tlie fact that he cast his first Presidential vote for Aln-aham Lincoln, and he has for many years filled the oflices of school trustee and clerk of the local school board. Formerly he was an active member of the Ma- sonic order. FRANK OSBORN In Fountain county on the Wabash river in Indiana I' rank Usboru, a musician and singer of note and now superintendent of the Tulare County Hospital at Visalia, was born May 2, 1851, a son of Oliver and Margaret (Dyer) Osborn, natives respectively of Ohio and of New Jersey. Oliver OsI)orn brought his family to California in 1875 and settled in Tulare county on the Upper Tule river near Globe, where he bought land and achieved success as a stockraiser. His wife, who was a singer of exceptional ability even when she was more than seventy years old, died there in 1898 and he in August, 1909. Mr. Osborn was a man of influence in the connnunity and during all his active life gave much attention to educational mat- ters. He and his wife were devout members of the Christian church. Of their thirteen children four survive: Oliver P., a rancher near Porterville; Frank, of this review; Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, of Indiana, and Mrs. Mary E. Clark, of Missouri. From liis boyhood Frank Osborn has been familiar with all the details of stockraising and until 1897 was identified with his father in that industry. As long as he can remember he has been a singer, he having inherited mai'ked musical ability from his talented mothei-. As such he liecame known throughout all the country round about Visalia, and he was long in great demand as a teacher of \'ocal classes during the wintei' tiiDiiths, for many years leading the choir of the Chi'istian chui-ch at N'isalia. In 1897 he was appointed super- intendent of the Tulai'e County Hospital at Visalia, which position he has since filled with a degree of ability and integrity which lias commended him to all the jjcople of the county. He has in all his relations with his fellowmen i>i-oven himself ]mblie spirited in an eminent degree. Fraternally he affiliates with the Knights of Pythias. 360 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES In 1870 Mr. Osboru married Miss Ellen Marksbury, a native of Kentucky, who was so situated during the Civil war that she was an eye-witness of many engagements between the Federal and Confeder- ate troops. A detailed account of her experiences and the conditions which made them possible could not but make a most interesting volume. To Frank and Ellen (Marksbury) Osboru have been born chil- dren as follows: Mrs. Edna Hannaford, who has children named Lura, Duke and Laura ; Charles H.. who married Miss Minta Berry, daughter of Senator G. S. Berry of Lindsay, and has children named Audra and Irma; Earl, who married Maud Carter, who has borne him a child whom they have named Rolla ; and Gladys, wife of E. L. Cary, of Stockton, who has a daughter, Ellen L. Cary. WILLIAM R. MILLER It was in England that "William R. Miller, who now lives eight miles southwest of Hanford, was born October 26, 1843. When he was about eighteen months old his parents brought him to Troy, N. Y., and he lived there and at Saratoga, in the same state, until he was nineteen years old. Then he enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment, New York "\"olunteer Infantry, with which he served until June, 1865, when he was honoralily discharged at Alexandria, Va. As a member of Company C of that organization he was included in the second army corps of the army of the Potomac, participating in many engagements, including the fight in the Wilder- ness, the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, where he was wounded ; the fighting in front of Petersburg, where he cast his first Presiden- tial vote for Lincoln, and other encounters no less important. His wound caused him to be in the hospital three months. After the war he farmed in New York state until April, 1870, when he located sixteen miles north of Webster City, Iowa, and there farmed and raised stock until 1887, when he came to California. After stoi)i)ing a short time at Tulare he went to the west side, near Dudley, accom- panied by his immediate family, his father and his wife's mother. He and his father and his brother took up land there which soon proved so uni)romising for farming purposes that his father and brother abandoned their claims, but he retained his, which after he had sold part of it proved to be valuable oil land, but this holding is not the least of his possessions. Returning to Tulare county, he soon went to Delano, where he jnit in two crops, and in June, 1899, came to Kings county and worked a year near Armona. In his second year there he liought twenty-two and a half acres, eight miles south of Armona, on which he built a house and put all other im- TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 361 provenients, setting six acres to a vineyard and a family orchard and giving the remainder over to alfalfa, and this is his present home jihiee. He began here as a stockraiser and was snccessful for some 3'ears. His son, Fred C. Miller, now also operates a dairy on the place. In 1911 Mr. Miller bought forty acres of the Jacobs tract, south of his ranch, on which there are improvements. In 1867 Mr. Miller took for his wife Caroline A. Chesterman, of English birth, who was brovight to the United States when three months old and grew to womanhood in New York state. They have five living children: The Eev. Charles N. Miller, who is blind, is an ordained minister of the gospel and resides at Bakersfield; Carrie M. married John C. Goodale, of Denair, Cal. ; Jessie L. is the wife of Clarence E. McMillen, of Bakersfield, Cal; May M. married E. W. Houston, of Visalia; Fred C, the youngest son of the family, mar- ried Anna J. Erni and is ranching and dairying on his father's land. William E., Jr., was accidentally killed by a boiler explosion, aged twenty-five years, and Mina M. was married to E. E. Houston and died aged about twenty. Mr. Miller keeps alive memories of the days of the Civil war by association with his comrades of McPherson Post, G. A. E. He is a genial man, given to pleasant reminiscence, and is welcomed as a friend wherever he may go. His interest in the welfare of the com- munity makes him a citizen of much public spirit. OLIVEE P. MAEDIS One of the Kentuckians who is making a record for himself in Tulare county, Cal., is Oliver P. Mardis, who is farming on the Exe- ter road, out of Visalia. He was born in Laurel county, Ky., Sep- tember 5, 1855, and when lie was nine years old was taken by his parents from Kentucky to Johnson county, Kans., where he finished his education in the public school and gained a practical knowledge of farming. In 1875, when he was twenty years old, he came to Colusa county, Cal., and worked there a year for wages. In 1876 he "hired out" to a farmer in the Deer Creek district, in Tulare county, where he later bought eighty acres of land, mostly under alfalfa. When wheat began to be gathered on the farms round about to the extent of ten sacks to the acre he sold his eighty acres of alfalfa land and bought a half section near by, which he farmed until Deceml)er 1, 1908, when he came to his present ranch of fifty-two and one-half acres near Visalia. He keeps an average of two hundred and twenty- five hogs, which yield him a good annual profit. Twenty-three acres of Egyptian corn has given Iiim fifty tons, and his land has returned 362 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES him seventy bushels of ludiau corn to the acre. He has ten acres of alfalfa yielding him several crops each year. Many melons are grown on his place, he has raised wheat seven feet tall and has five thousand eucal\-]")tus trees. In 1883 Mr. Mardis married Miss Josephine Collins, a nati\e of California, whose father was a pioneer in the Deer Creek section. She ])assed away, leaving two children, Oliver and Alice. By his marriage with Miss Lucy Bunton, a native of Missouri, Mr. Mardis has two daughters, Anna and Claudine. As a farmer he is thor- oughly up to date in every dejiartment of his work, and his pair of finely matched black colts for which he has been offered $600 is in- dicative of the quality of his stock. As a citizen he is helpful in a public-spirited way to all worthy local interests. BEN M. MADDOX The descendant of southern ancestors and himself a native of the south, Ben M. Maddox was born in Summerville, Chattanooga county, Ga., October 18, 1859. the son of George B. T. and Sarah (Dickson) Maddox, they too being natives of that state. In 1877, when he was seventeen years old, Ben M. Maddox started out in the world on his own res]ionsibility. at that time going to Texas, where he hunted buffalo on the plains. From there he went to Arizona and followed mining from the sjiring of 1878 until P^ebruary of the following year. In the meantime he and some friends had determined to come to California, and in February, 1879, the party of three left Prescott. Ariz., having one pack horse and one saddle horse between them for the overland trail. The journey being safely accomplished, Mr. Maddox went to the mining camp of Bodie, Mono county, where he secured work on a newspaper, and subsequently he found work of a similar character in Mammoth City, same county. Xews])a])er work then gave place to mining, following this for a time in Mammoth City, and later, in 1880, in Fresno Flats. Madera county, where he was employed in the Enterprise mine, and in the latter place he also clerked in a hotel for a time. In September, 1881, Mr. Maddox went to Mariposa, where he found work at the printer's trade on the Gazette, and the following year, in San Francisco, he worked on the Chronicle. Giving \\\i work on the latter paper in October, 1882, he returned to Mariposa and was employed on the Herald until he purchased the paper later in the same year. After continuing the publication of the Herald for four years he sold it in 1886 and the same year came to Tulare county, with the intention of purchasing the Tulare Register. Being TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 363 unable to carry out this plan at that time he returned to San Francisco and resumed work at the printer's trade. This was for a short time only, however, for on October 18, 1886, he was appointed deputy clerk (if the superior court and thereafter gave his whole time and attention to the duties and obligations which thus devolved upon him. A hope which Mr. Maddox had long cherished was realized when, on Thanksgiving Day, 1890, he became the ownei- and proi)rietor of the Visalia Times. For two years he ran the paper as a weekly, but on February ,22, 1892, the paper became a daily, and as the Visalia Daily Times it has ever since been published under his al)le management. The management of his newspaper has not absorbed all of his thought and attention, as the following will show: When the Mount Whitney Power Company was organized in 1899 he was elected a director, in 1901 was made secretary of the corporation, and on September 9, 1902, he became business manager of the company, and he still holds this responsible office, having in the meantime relinquished to some extent the active management of his newspaper in order to devote his time to the interests of the power company. In 1894 he was nominated for secretarj' of state on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated in the election. As secretary of the Democratic state central committee he served two terms, and several times was chairman of the Demo- cratic county central committee. He also served as president of the Visalia board of trade for four years and for some time was a director of that body. At the present time he is chairman of the county state highway commission, a director of the Visalia electric railroad, president of the Encina Fruit Co., president of the Evansdale Fruit Co., and a director of the Producers' Savings Bank. Some years ago Mr. Maddox in company with William H. Hammond opened up and put on the market the Lindsay Heights and Nob Hill Orange colonies, orange land which is now fully developed. At Mariposa, Cal., March 15, 1883, Mr. Maddox was married to Miss Evalina J. Farnsworth, a native of California. They have five children, Morley M., Hazel C, Euth E., Dickson F. and Ben M., Jr. Fraternally Mr. Maddox is a Knight Templar and a thirty- second degree Mason; also Itelonging to the Shrine, the Knights of Pvthias and the Woodmen of the World. WILLIAM J. McADAM The ranch of this enterprising Tulare county farmer is one of the well-known McAdani ranches. It is located five miles west of Tulare and consists of three liundix'd and twenty acres. Mr. McAdam has one hundred and twenty acres rent('(l out for dniiy imiposes. The 364 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES remainder of the ranch is oradnally being devoted to alfalfa and all of it but five acres will be under that grass in a short time. The principal business of Mr. McAdam has been stock-raising, though he is planning a dairy for the fraction of the ranch which will not be under alfalfa when his scheme is worked out. He now owns forty-five head of dairy cows and twenty-five head of young stock. Formerly he conducted the dairy which he now leases out, and in the days of his management of it he milked forty cows. He kept six hundred hogs, and rented on the outside three hundred acres which he gave over to grain raising and which produced in 1909 and 1910 an average of eighteen sacks to the acre, and in 1911 an average of sixteen sacks to the acre. He is one of the progressive up-to-date farmers, stockraisers and dair^inen of Tulare county, and those who know him and the quality of his land look for developments in the future which will be well worth studying. William J. McAdam was born August 27, 1887, in Pembina county (then in Dakota Territory). Along with his agricultural inter- ests he is now actively interested in the Castle Dome Silver and Lead mines of his father, Eobert McAdam, they being located in Yuma countv, Arizona. JAMES M. AKIN The Akin family is an old English one and the American branch of it was established before 1700. Still other Akins have come over from England since, and it was from pilgrims and pioneers that James M. Akin, who lives near Springville, Cal., was brought down through successive generations to his own. He was born in the state of New York in 1850, his mother dying at his birth, and in 1852 his father came overland to California. The boy was reared as a member of the family of an uncle in his native state, attended school there and did chores on the farm until he was eighteen years old. Then he came to California, where his father had preceded him l)y al)out sixteen years. Locating in Sacramento, he remained there about one year, then came to Tulare county. His life here began in 1870 and for two years thereafter his home was in the vicinity of A'isalia. In 1880 he settled on his ranch of three hundred and twenty acres three miles from Siiringville. Early in his career here he engaged in stock-raising, in which he made so much success that he is considered one of the substantial men of his neighborhood. The confidence reposed by his fellow townsmen in his ability and intelligence is shown in the fact that they have conferred upon him for twenty years the honor of the office of school trustee. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 367 Farming and stock-raising have not commanded all of Mr. Akin's attention. He and his son Claude have twelve mining claims, which will be developed soon, and the latter has copper and zinc mines near Spriugville. In 1911 Mr. Akin started a nurserj- known as Akin's nurserj', which is devoted to the raising of oranges. He makes a specialty of Wasliington navels, of which he has twenty thousand two-year-old budded trees. In 1913 thirty thousand more will be planted, the new industry promising to become very im- portant in this section. It was in 1880 that Mr. Akin married Sarah Hudson, who was born in California and who bore him five children, all of whom, except the youngest, are married. Their names are Claude, Lola, Lerta, Leeta and Melva. They are native children of California. All of them were born in Tulare county, and four of them were educated at Springville, and the fifth is being educated there. Their mother died February 2, 1911, and was buried near Springville. It will be interesting to note that Mr. Akin was in- duced to come to California in quest of health. In order to be in the open air as much as possible he spent his first six j^ears in the state hunting in the woods and on the plains. He relates that within a comparatively short time he and his l)rother-in-law killed seven bears. He has literally grown up with the country, and being a man of public spirit, has done much for the general welfare. Fra- ternallv he is a member of the Court of Honor. W. C. GALLAHER One of the successful and highly esteemed of the younger business men of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., is W. C. Gallaher, wholesale and retail dealer in meats. Born in Missouri, February 11, 1874, Mr. Gallaher came to the vicinity of Hanford when lie was about eleven years old and grew to manhood in Kings county. !iis first business engagement was as an assistant in the meat market of E. Selbah, at Lemoore, where he rejnained for two ;ind a lialf years, during which time Mr. Selbah passed away. Mr. Gallaher in partnershiji with I. Burlington then leased the market from Mrs. Selbah and for a year and a half ran the business, but at the end of that time Mr. Gallaher sold out his interest in the market. During the succeeding three years he owned and operated the old Hanford Stables, one of the oldest livery and feed stables in the town, which was destroyed by fire shortly after he sold it. On September 10, 1900, Mr. Gallaher opened a nu'at market on the site of the ^^ogel store on Seventh street, but this establislmient was destroyed by fire January 3, li)03, and ho later occupied a little shack which ])roved 368 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES most inadequate to his needs. On tlie tirst of February, 19U5, be moved into his present building on North Irwin street, and here he has since done a general business in meat and kindred merchandise, both retail and wholesale. Mr. Gallaher took into partnership on January 1, 1912, G. T. Lundh, who assumed the duties of inside manager of the retail department, and in connection with this business Mr. Gallaher owns and leases on shares a three hundred and twenty-acre stock ranch five miles south of Hanford. He buys and feeds stock, and thus supplies his own market with the best of beef, also being a heavy shipper to the San Francisco market. All in all, his business is one of the largest of its kind in the countj% and he is entitled to much credit for the fact that he started it on a very small scale and has gradually but steadily built it up to its present fine and promising proportions. In 1897 Mr. Gallaher married Miss Laura Hess of Tulare. Socially he affiliates with Hanford organizations of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Woodmen of the World, and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to all local bodies of the last men- tioned order, and he is also a member of the Portuguese Orders of I. D. E. S. and U. P. E. C. The same enterprise which he has exhibited in his private business he manifests in all that he does for the general welfare, for he has an abiding faith in the future of Han- ford and is ready at all times to do anything within his ability to further its development and prosperity. U. G. KNIGHT The editor of the Exeter Swi, published at Exeter, Tulare county, Cal., was born in Constantine, Mich., in the late '60s, a son of Captain G. W. Knight, of Company E, Third Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, who served nearly five years including all of the period of the Civil war, and won praise for his bravery, especially at the time of the Indian uprising in Minnesota and Dakota in 1863, in the supjiression of which he took part with his regiment. Captain Knight i)assed away in Nebraska in 1898. His ■nddow is living in Los xVngeles county, Cal. The future editor of the Snn accompanied his parents to Webster county, Neb., when he was but a few years old, and there grew to manhood and acquired an education, be.ginning his active career as a school teacher. In 1886 he journeyed to California and spent a year in looking over the state, but went back to the Grasshopper State, where he was married in 1895 to Miss Daisy M. Garner, of TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 3fi9 Invale, Neb., who has borne him a son now a student in the Exeter high school. In his early days, Mr. Knight turned his attention to newspaper work, almost entirely editorial and reportorial, and was from time to time employed on the Omaha Bee, the Omaha World-Herald, the Lincoln Journal, the Kansas City Star and several papers in Nebraska. Eventually he came to the conclusion that, to be a competent all-round newspaper man in business for himself, he should understand the types and presses. So, dro])ping work at far better pay, he took emploTOient in the press rooms of the Hebron (Neb.) Journal, and later he held cases on the Denver Daily News and other large papers, also working in and out of editorial offices as occasion offered. Soon after his marriage, Mr. Knight turned to the soil as a farmer in Nebraska. A certain amount of success rewarded him for several years, but two or three "lean" years drove liim out of the business. In 1900 he passed a civil service examination and was given a responsible position in the semi-secret service of tlie United States, in which his duties consisted in part in obtaining data and official figures recjuired by the Government. In this work ho traveled over most of the Middle and Mountain states, encountering many dangers, but turning in such satisfactory information that he was urged to retain the place. He resigned, however, and went to Alberta, Canada, stayed a year, then came back to California. Here he again engaged in newspaper work, at first as editor and part owner of the Oxnard Siin. Later that paper was merged with the O.rnard Courier and he continued as editor, but in 1905 he sold out his interests at Oxnard and became editor and part owner of the San Pedro News, a daily. After six months he sold out and was given editorial employment on the Los Angeles Herald, which he gave up a few months later to go on the Los Angeles Examiner. In Jan- uary, 1908, he resigned and moved to Exeter to take an interest in the Sun, of which he later became sole proprietor and editor. The Sun is a sprightly paper, more newsy than most pa]iers pul}- lished in small towns, well liked and well patronized. It lias prac- tically grown up with the town, is now twelve years old, and as a booster of Exeter and vicinity it has been a factor in tlie uplift of the city. To considerable extent Mr. Knight is interested in real estate, having sold many of the choicest tracts in the vicinity. He is considered one of the best authorities and judges of land in the county. He is also interested in banking, having a large number of shares in the new Citrus Bank, which was established in Exeter in May, 1912, and was offered a directorship in this institution but did not care to accept. Fraternally, he affiliates with the Masons, Red Men, Modern Woodmen and other secret and beneficial organiza- tions, including the Masonic auxiliary oi'der of the Eastern Star. 370 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES He has one of the finest homes in Exeter, a large house and an orange grove inside the city Kmits. He is a member of the Exeter Board of Trade and in many ways has demonstrated a pnlilic spirit that makes him a most helpful citizen with his pen and otherwise. DR. GEORGE GORDON The profession of veterinary jnedieine and surgery has within the last half-century taken a recognized place among the learned pro- fessions and in its membership are included many practitioners who have given to its study and research as much time and thought as the average physician. The veterinary colleges are well equipped and their courses of study are very thorough, enabling their students to become most efficient in their branch of treatment. One of the most proficient and popular veterinarians in central California is Dr. George Gordon, whose establishment at the end of South Douty street, Han- ford, is one of the places of interest of that town. Dr. Gordon was born in Scotland, January 4, 1870, and was there reared to manhood. His earlier education was obtained in public schools in Banffshire and in Dundee, and later he took a course at the London Polytechnic, wliere he gave two years to the pre])aration for his professional education, which was finished in the Veterinary College of San Francisco, except for six months of experience at the Chicago stockyards, where he did post mortem work. His diploma, given him in San Francisco, bears date 1904. The first fifteen months of his professional experience were spent at Lemoore, whence he came to Hanford to establish his veterinary hospital, which has stalls for the accommodation of twenty horses. The hospital and grounds are located at the south end of South Douty street and occupy five acres. It is fully equipjjed with chemical and microscopical labora- tories. There is also a dental department in connection, with a com- plement of dental and surgical instruments, and he is thus enabled to give every branch of the veterinary profession the best possible service. In San Francisco, before he entered the veterinary college, he conducted a dog hospital and became well known as a canine ex- pert, and he also makes the treatment of diseases of the dog a feature of his practice here. In February, 1910, he was appointed livestock inspector for Kings county and in April following was made a state dairy inspector. He finds time from his professional duties to affiliate with various fraternal bodies, including the Royal Order of Scottish Clans, Lemoore lodge and Hanford chapter, No. 74, R.A.M., the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. The able assistant of Dr. George Gordon is W. D. Gordon, who TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 373 has been identified with his enterprise since 1906 and is now taking the course at the San Francisco Veterinary College. Pie will grad- uate with the class of 1!)1.'), after which he will enter actively upon the practice of \'eterinary medicine and surger>'. Dr. George Gordon left Scotland in 1888, when he was eighteen years old, and has since returned to his native land four times. His travels in South America haxe been extensive and he passed two years in the West Indies as a representative of the International Phosphate company, and was for a time located on Connitable island, off the northeast coast of Fi'ench Guiana, near the city of Cayenne. While in South America he became assistant superintendent of the aforesaid International Phosphate company, and thus had a most valuable and interesting experience in a line only indirectly connected with his profession, but one of great importance in furthering pro- duction and commerce. J. W. B. RICE As farmer, cattleman and orange grower, J. W. B. Rice, whose activities center in the vicinity of Lemon Cove, has become well known tliroughout Tulare county. He is a native of Iowa, born December 30, 18(J0, who lived in his native state until he was eigiiteen years of age. At that time he set out to make his own way in the world, and Nebraska was the scene of his earlier independent labors. He had already had some experience as game collector for Central Park in New York Citj'. After reaching Nebraska he found employ- ment until in the fall of 1882, when he went to Minnesota and thence back to Iowa. There he was employed three years collecting game for said Central Park, among them the Whooping Crane or American Ostrich which were worth al)out $30 apiece. In capturing tliese birds he had many enjoyable and interesting experiences and some that were more unpleasant at the time than they are as reminiscences of the ]iast. In April, 1886, he came to California, and in 1889 he married Miss Cora Marks, a native of Iowa, who bore him several children: Charles James and Mary Clementine (twins); Pearl, aged nineteen; Roy M., aged seventeen; Villa Praukie, Elmo D., Inez, Emma, Alice, Fern and Robert. Villa passed away, having been drowned when eighteen months old. Those of the younger cliildi'en who are of the school age are acquiring education. Mr. Rice's father, James Nicholas Rice, a native of Indiana, and his good wife are still living in Cherokee county, Iowa. Mrs. Rice's parents descended from German ancestors; her father is dead, Taut her mother survives. A year after he came to California, Mr. Rice, who had alreadv 374 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES begun in the cattle business, bought forty acres of land. He soon hoiuesteaded one hundred and sixty acres and acquired another one hundred and sixty acres by purchase. Securing other tracts subse- quently, he came in time to own six hundred acres. He has about twenty acres of oranges but devotes much of his attention to cattle. When he came to the county, a little more than a quarter of a century ago, there was no business but cattle raising and the inhabitants were all cattle men or cattlemen's wives and children. In the development that has intervened he has had his full part, for lie-is public-spiritedly devoted to all affairs of the community. Politically he is a Socialist. Mr. Rice is the pioneer orange grower of Tulare county. He took the first prize at the Citrus Fair at Fresno before the orange business of Tulare county had started, and in 1894 exhibited some beautiful oranges at the Palace Hotel at Visalia, which were the first oranges grown from budded trees to secure a premium in Tulare county. Mr. Rice is the manager of the Marx and Rice Co., growers and shi]ipers of oranges, pomelos, limes and lemons; also nursery stock. T\^AX C. BURKE, D. D. S. The profession of dentistry approaches nearer and nearer to the realm of exact science with each passing decade and only those of its devotees who keep informed of the details of its progress win permanent success. One of the up-to-date doctors of dental surgery of central California is Ivan C. Burke, of Hanford, Kings county. Dr. Burke is a progressive son of a progressive state, having been born in Crawford county, Kans., September 21, 1885. When he was about five years old he was taken to "Walla Walla, Wash., in the public schools of which city he received his ]iractical English educa- tion. Desiring to follow a professional career, in 1904, when about nineteen years old, he entered the dental department of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of San Francisco, from which he was duly graduated with the D. D. S. degree in June, 1907. immediately after which Dr. Burke began the practice of his profession in Seattle. Wash. In 1908 he came to Hanford and opened an office in tlie First National Bank building where he has since devoted himself with much success to the general practice of his profession, keeping abreast of the times, employing the best facilities in the way of instruments and appliances, and his work is of a class well calculated to give permanent satisfaction. As he has prospered in his profession Dr. Burke has from time TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 375 to time made judicious investments in real estate. Besides some good town property, his holdings include one hundred and sixty acres near Walla Walla, Wash., which under the superintendency of a hired farmer is producing good alfalfa in paying quantities. At Hanford Dr. Burke is popular in all circles, political, professional, social and fraternal, and his puhlie spirit has brought him high esteem as a citizen. He is a member of the Independent Order of Red Men and is devoted heart and soul to all of the interests of that beneficent order. His marriage in 1909 united him with Miss Vera A. Donald- son, of Kansas, a charming woman of many accomplislnnents, who is bravely aiding him in his struggle for professional and social advancement. G. X. WENDLING A native of New York, G. X. AVendling came to California in January, 1888, and was in the employ of the Valley Lumber Company of Fresno until November 3, 1889, when he located at Hanford. Probably no man did more than he to promote the establishment of Kings county in 1893. To that end he labored indefatigably and with great efficiency for months, appearing so often at Sacramento as sponsor for the proposed organization that he came to be known as the "Father of Kings County." When he came to the town he engaged in the lumber business on his own account and he was one of Hanford 's foremost citizens until February 21, 1897, when he removed to San Francisco, where he has large and varied interests. He organized in that city the California Pine Box and Lumber Co., which turns out one hundred and sixty million feet of box material annually. He organized also the Weed Lumber Company, of Weed, Cal., the productiveness of which he has seen increased from eight million feet of lumber in its first year to seventy-five million feet at the present time. An idea of the extent of his activities may be gleaned from the following list, showing his connection with various enterprises. He is a director in the Anglo & London-Paris National Bank of San Francisco and president of the Napa Lumber Company, the Stanislaus Lumber Company, the Big Basin Lumber Company, \'ice-president of the Klamath Development Company of Klamatli Falls, Ore., and president of the Weudling-Johnson Lumber Com- pany, the California Pine liox Lumber Company, tlie Weiidling Lumber Company, the Wendling-Nathan Lumber Company, tlie Weed Lumber Company and the First National Bank of Weed. 376 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES TULARE HOME TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY Those admirable jinblie utilities of Tulare, its telephone and telegraph service, are controlled in part by the corporation named above, which is officered as follows: G. C. Harris, president; Dr. T. D. Blodgett, vice-president; Sol A. Rosenthal, secretary and treasurer; G. C. Harris, S. B. Anderson, N. G. Cottle, Dr. T."d. Blodgett and Sol A. Rosenthal, directors. This company took over the plant of the Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company, and transformed its Tulare business into that of a local corporation. Nearly all the stockholders are men of Tulare and vicinity, and the people of the town take much interest in the company's success and advancement. The Home company has put in two miles of cable and practically rebuilt the line, discarding everything antiquated in the operating system for something up to date and thoroughly efficient. This has been done regardless of cost and with a view single to the very best service, a fact which the business community fully appreciates. The present system, known as the common battery system, is so satisfac- tory that the number of the company's patrons has been increased three hundred in the last three years. The president of the new com- pany was its founder and the chief promoter of the project along local lines. A second company known as the Ijindsay Home Tele- phone and Telegraph company, was subsequently organized, which company was incorporated with aims and conditions similar to those of the Tulare City company, and the ])lant was bought from ])rivate parties in Lindsay. Plans are now being perfected to im- prove it and jnit the system on a plane with that of the Tulare City company. Both comi)anies make connections with the long distance lines of the Pacific States Telephone and Telegrajih company. The president of this company, Gurdon C. Harris, a man of long and informing ex])erience in the telejihone business, was long con- nected with the business of the Bell Telephone company in Minnesota, where he was born and passed the earlier years of his life. He came to California in March, 1905, still in the service of the Bell company, for a time as division wire chief, the duties of which position took him to practically every part of the state, and for two years his head(iuarters were at Sacramento. There he became a member of the Sacramento lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and since he came to Tulare he has been made a Mason in Tu- lare City Lodge No. 326, F. & A. M. In a iiosition in which he is in con- stant touch with the people of his community, in a social as well as in a business way, he is commending himself to all with whom he has communication as a courteous and obliging senii-jiublic official who has the interest of the patrons of his company and of the people at large close to his heart and desires to render to everyone every due consideration or concession. ^ TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 379 ORLANDO MOORE Visalia has uo more prominent citizen along industrial and agri- cultural lines than Orlando Moore. The son of Henry C. and Amelia (Renalds) Moore, he was born at Venice Hill, Tulare county, Cal., March 80, 1869. His father and mother were natives respectively of Missouri and Iowa. Henry C. Moore came to California in the early '60s, taught school in Tulare county and raised sheep, and later he operated one of the pioneer sawmills in the mountains which was one of the first in this vicinity, hut at length he returned to Missouri. Eight years later he came hack to California with a carload of cattle and went into the cattle business on a section in the swamp lands of Tulare county with R. E. Hyde as a partner. Eventually, however, he sold out his interest to Mr. Hyde and went to Puget Sound, where he farmed and operated a saw and shingle mill seven years. He came again to Tulare county in 1900 and has since lived there. In some of the ventures mentioned above, Orlando Moore was his father's helper and after a time he engaged extensively in the cultivation of watermelons, in one season he receiving $2700 from the sale of melons; at the Fourth of July celebration at Visalia in 190.3 he had seventeen horses and five wagons selling melons through the town, he and his brother Edward making a fine disjilay of his product with five four-horse teams. Mr. Moore was the pioneer orange grower at Venice Cove. Buying twenty acres there, he raised the trees from seeds, brought fourteen acres of the fruit to bearing and sold out for $14,500. The nursery business also commanded the attention of Mr. Moore and his brother for a while. In 1910 he sold out his ^'enice Cove property and bought twenty acres near the west city limits of Visalia, which he has improved and put on the market in half-acre and quarter-acre lots. He owns also a mountain ranch of one hundred and sixty acres and one hundred and sixty acres near Spa on the Santa Fe, five miles northeast of Alpaugh. One of his possessions is a fine auto-truck with a capacity of fifty people, and with which he made an experimental run to San Fran- cisco with fruit that he took through without bruising or otherwise injuring it. He contemplates a like trip with his auto-truck to Port- land, Ore., with fi'uit from Tulare county, and it will doubtless at- tract much attention to this part of the state. The raising of toma- toes has been another experiment of Mr. Moore's which has proved noteworthy. He set half an acre to fifteen hundred vines, and sold his product as high as ten cents a pound ; for tomatoes grown on five acres in a single season he received $1750. Mr. Moore's latest venture has been in the field of invention. In the year 1912 he took out a ])atent upon a detachable tread for 380 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES any sized (loul)le-tired autotruck. This invention enables the truck to be changed into a tractor for field and farm purposes, and it bids fair to become an extremely useful and ]iopular devise. Its advan- tages may be listed as follows: Protection to the rubber tire; in- crease of tractile power so that it can be used in a field for the purposes of plowing or discing and seeding summer fallowed or loose sandy land; ]irevention of slipping upon a muddy or sandy road; great strength and duralnlity; inexpensive and capable of lasting a lifetime; and easily and quickly adjusted. Socially Mr. Moore is identified with the Fraternal Brotherhood. He and Mrs. Moore are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Visalia. He married, in 1903, Muriel Witherell, a native of Knox- ville. 111., and they have three children, Ramon, Ralph Spencer and Kathrvn Moore. GEORGE W. BAUMANN In Iowa George W. Baumann lived until he was five years old, and after that he lived in Kansas until 1878, when he came to Visalia, Cal. He was born in the Hawkeye State March 10, 1859. February 9, 1890, he married Miss Martha A. Lathrop, daughter of Ezra Lathro]x a California ]iioneer, and she bore him two sons, Grover Cleveland and Ezra Gottfried Baumann. A separate biograpliieal sketch of Ezra Lathrop appears elsewhere in these pages. Soon after Mr. Baumann located at Visalia he began farming, but three years later returned to the East, to come back a few months later bringing his i)arents. The family located near Farmersville, where he operated rented land. Soon after his marriage he home- steaded one hundred and sixty acres near Lindsay, where Mr. and Mrs. Baumann settled, and at the same time engaged in the stock- raising Imsiness in the mountains. Later on he bought three hun- dred and twenty acres at Poplar, where they engaged in running a good-sized dairy in connection with the farming and stock business. In 1906 he rented his farm and moved to Lindsay, whence in the following year he moved to Tulare, which was his home as long as he lived. His death occurred January 16, 1909. A man of much public spirit, he was a helpful friend to every good movement for the benefit of the community. Fraternally he affiliated with the Mod- ern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen through their local organizations in Tulare. Mrs. Baumann is identified with the order of Royal Neighbors, is a stockholder in the Tulare National Bank and is extensively en- gaged in stockraising on twenty-two hundred acres of land, carrying TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 381 an average of three Imudred to four hundred head of stock. She was one of the pioneers of Tuhu'e City, coming here with her parents before eitlier a schoolhouse or a church had been erected here, and later for eleven years she taught iu the public schools of Tulare county and city. She has a distinct recollection of the digging of the first grave, so far as the white i)opulation is concerned, at Tulare, when her schoolteacher's wife, Mrs. Haslip, was buried, she being the first white person who was laid to rest in the city of Tulare. She remembers when religious meetings were held in the waiting room of the depot and has a vivid recollection of a Christmas tree, gifts from which were distributed in that same room. A woman of forceful character and of winning personality, she does much good and has many friends. ROBERT C. CLARKE A native Canadian, Robert C. Clarke, of Tulare, Tulare county, Cal., was born in New Brunswick, in quaint old St. John, December 29, 1829, and when this is written is in his eighty-fourth year. He was educated in his native town and there learned the carpenter's trade. In 1852 he boarded the shi]) Java, an old whaler, bound for San Francisco by way of Cape Horn, imder an arrangement permit- ting him to earn his passage. Richly he earned the money he might have saved in that way — if he had had it. At Valparaiso he went ashore when the cargo, consisting of building materials, was sold, to be delivered at Caldera. Finding employment at his trade in this latter Chilian port, he earned enough money to pay his fare from there to his objective point, but it took him about half a year to do it under labor conditions prevailing there at the time; he ar- rived at San Francisco in the fall of that year and went almost im- mediately to the mines. In the diggings at Sonora, Tuolumne county, he labored a short time with such indifferent success that when he was offered eight dollars a day to work at his trade at Stockton he fairly jum]ied at a chance to better his condition. Two years he was employed at Stock- ton, then went to Knight's Ferry, Stanislaus county, and resumed mining and, not altogether expectedly, met with some little success. He constructed an irrigation conduit for running water into his claim, and his crude and primitive ditch was the beginning of the ex- tensive irrigation system now being completed in that section, down through the San Joaquin country. That his |)art in this great work may have a historical record it should be said that his work on his ditch was begun in the earlv 'oOs. Mining some of the time in .\nui- 382 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES dor county, as well as at Kuight's Ferry, he made the latter j)lace his headquarters for ten years. For a time he was in the mercantile business, with James Allen as a partner. Sheep raising on the ranges along the' Tuolumne river also commanded his attention tem- porarily. It was in 1875 that he came to Tulare county and bought one hundred and sixty acres, three miles north of Tipton, where he ranched successfully till 1909, when he retired from active life and came to Tulare City to pass the years of rest that were before him. In the earlier period of his farming he grew grain and alfalfa. Later he ran a dairy and had an annual average of tifty acres of alfalfa. Alfalfa seed also he made a source of revenue. He bred some tine horses, ranging in weight from fourteen hundred to eighteen hun- dred pounds. Tulare City Lodge No. 32fi includes Mr. Clarke in its memlier- ship. He married, in 1887, Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson, a native of Pennsylvania, and they liave children named Nettie A. and Eoberta C. Samuel Sampson, Mrs. Clarke's father, was born in Ireland and eventually made the United States his adopted country. Twice he came to California by way of the Istlimus of Panama, first in 1851. He mined for gold in Tuolumne county and went back to Pennsyl- vania, whence he had come, in the late '50s. There he spent the declining years of his life and passed to his reward. His wife was, before her marriage, Miss McKewon. In 1859 she and Mrs. Clarke, her only child, came to California by way of the isthmus and estab- lished a home in Stanislaus county, where Mrs. Clarke grew to wom- anhood and was married. WINFIELD SCOTT BLOYD In Colchester, McDonough county. 111., Winfield Scott Bloyd. now a prominent business man of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., was born November 18, 1858, son of W. Washington Bloyd, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this publication. In 1861 his parents bi'ought him across the plains to California and settled in Tehama county, removing from there to the San Joacpiin valley, and in 1871 located in Kings county. Here they made their home until after the Mussel Slough fight, when they turned their faces toward the Northwest and for a year and a half resided in Oregon. Then they returned to Cali- fornia and bought a ranch at Summit Lake, in Fresno county, which they operated two years and sold out, in 1892 coming to Grangeville, Kings county, where they began raising fruit. In 1905 Mr. Bloyd came from the ranch to Hanford, and he has since made his home in tliat citv. For three vears he bought and sold TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 383 hay and lie and liis brother Levi are now contractors of cement work, doing an increasing volume of business, which requires the investment of considerable capital and the enij)loyment from time to time of a number of skilled workmen. In different parts of the city are to be seen evidences of their handicraft and enterprise. Mr. Bloyd affiliates with the Fraternal Aid and the Woodmen of the World. As a citizen he is public-spirited and helpful to all the interests of the community and in political principle is Eepublican. In 1881 he married Miss Louisa Samuels, a native of California, wlio died in 1900. In 1902 he married Mrs. E. P]dd.y. He has two daughters, Mrs. John Bassett and Miss Ruby Bloyd. WILLIAM HENRY THAYER That old and reliable dairyman, William Henry Thayer, of Cor- coran, Kings county, Cal., is a native of Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, N. Y., and was born November 15, 1834. He was brought up to farm- ing and to country work of various kinds and educated in such public schools as were available to him in his childhood and boyhood. He came to California in 1863, and engaged in farming and the breeding of horses, cattle and hogs, a business which he has since made his life work. From time to time as his means has permitted he has bought tracts of land, his first venture in the acquirement of land in Kings conuty I)eing in 1881, when he took up three hundred and twenty acres in the Dallas district, as swamp and overflow lands, and this he has successfully reclaimed. In the dyking of this land Mr. Thayer found the skeletons of several human beings, evidently the i-emains of de- ceased warriors who had engaged the Mexicans. On Mill creek, in Tu- lare county, he also acquired a hundred and sixty acres, which he has deeded to his children, and later in 1900 he bought the hundred and sixty acre tract on which he now lives, situated one mile east of Cor- coran. He operates three hundred and twenty acres which is included in his dairy plant. His homestead is a fine large property, with good buildings of all kinds, including a residence which has many modern inqn-ovements. His cattle are of good breeds, as tine specimens as can l)e produced, and he has become known in his market for the excellence and purity of his products, which find ready sale wherever they have been introduced. By his marriage, which was celebrated April 18, 1877, Mr. Thayer identified his fortunes with those of Miss Sarah M. Austin, who was born at Sacramento. Cal., March 27, 1863. Mrs. Thayer has Iiorne her husband the following children, who will be found mentioned here in the order of their nativity: Arthur Y., Enos E., Lillie, Henry, Jennie, Cora, Clarence, Mabel and Lester. 384 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES Of progressive ideas and i^atriotic impulses, Mr. Thayer is a model citizen, who performs his whole duty as such in society and at the polls. While he is not an active ))olitician in the ordinary sense of the phrase, he takes a lively and helpful interest in all questions of public policy and has never been known to withhold his encouragement from any measure which in his opinion has promised to bring better things to the lives of any considerable number of his fellow citizens. CHARLES W. TOMPKINS As secretary and treasurer of the Tulare County Beekeepers' Association, Charles W. Tompkins is most prominent in that industry. He is the son of Caleb and Lavonia (Saxby) Tompkins. His father was born in Canada, his mother in Wisconsin; the former died Sep- tember 11, 1908, the latter August 19, 1879. Caleb Tomi^kins came to California and settled at Tulare in 1882 and found work at his trade, which was that of the carpenter, and was elected constable and served for some eight years as a night watchman. He was a man of great decision of character, brave to a fault, and was very efficient as a peace officer. Following are the names of his children who survive at this time: Charles W., who is mentioned below; Benjamin W., who married Gussie Woodard and has four children living at Corte Madera, Marin county, Cal. ; Ida, who married Jesse Halla and has two children; and Fred, who married Margaret Frary and has two children. Charles W. Tompkins was born at Iowa Falls, Hardin county, la., February 14, 1868. A quarter part of his boyhood was S]ient at Atchison, Kan., and he acquired a practical knowledge of the car- penter's trade in Tulare and was for seven years a railroad carpenter in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, in charge of a crew of men who worked wherever their services were required along the road from Mendota to Los Angeles, also on the Santa Bar- bara branch from Saugus to Santa Barbara. He assisted in the con- struction of many residences at and near Tulare, among them those of B. A. Fanner, A. E. Miot, ^h: Wheeler, William Muller, Mrs. Thomas Thompson, James Halanau and C. S. Nicewonger. He helped also to build the Crow block and other business buildings. His spe- cialty in all this work was in putting in fine interior finish, in which he is recognized as an expert. In 1894 Mr. Tompkins engaged in the bee business and soon be- came an expert apiarist. Pie took swarms of bees from trees and in one instance cut down thirty trees to obtain one swarm. All his spare time he devoted to the study of books and journals giving instruction in different phases of bee culture. In time he had acquired three TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 385 hundred and fifty swarms of bees and he is the owner of many at the present time. His apiaries, each consisting of sixty hives, are distributed in different favorable sections of the county and are moved from place to place, according to season. He is at present secretary and treasurer of tlie Tulare County Beekeepers' Association. In the spring of the year he places his bees over near the mountains, in the orange section, in order tliat they may gather honey from the orange blossoms, the honey thus produced being sweet, clear and pure and of an extra quality. In this section of Tulare county the bee busi- ness is rapidly growing; eleven carloads of honey were shijiped from Tulare in 1911 and six carloads in 1912, which was a rather unfavor- able season on account of the prevailing drought. In this industry Mr. Tompkins is one of the leaders. He possesses jtublic spirit to such a degree that he is a most useful citizen, always to be depended upon in emergencies calling for activity in behalf of the general good. He is identified with Tulare City lodge. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with the local organization of the Independent Order of Foresters. In 1899 Mr. Tompkins married Nina L. Reams, a native of Tennessee, and she has borne him sons named Charles A. and Win- fred W. FRANK POWELL The people of Lemoore have many times been congratulated on having such a genial and efficient postmaster as Frank Powell, who has held the office continuously since his first appointment by President Harrison. Mr. Powell is a native of Sacramento, Cal., born March 22, 1867, a son of P. M. Powell. He was brought u]i at P>righton, near Sacramento, and came to the vicinity of Lemoore with his parents in 1873, when he was about six years old. The elder Powell turned his attention to farming and the boy became a student in the Tjcmoore public school and later was graduated from the liigh school at Tulare. The first postal work done by Mr. Powell was in the Tulare jiostoffice, where he was for two years a dejnity under Postmaster M. D. Witt. Usually postmasters are appointed chiefly for political reasons, but Mr. Powell was called to the postmastership of Lemoore because he was experienced in the work that the postoffice demanded and could adapt himself to the situation more easily and become an efficient postmaster with gi-eater facility than any other man in town. He was first apiiointed under the Harrison administrntion and he has since been five times reappointed. His management of the office has put it on a l)usiness plane considerably higher than that usually occupied by postoffices of towns of about the jxipulation 386 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES of Lemoore. So far as he has l)een able he has brought the estab- lishment to a systein resembliug in some ways tliat which obtains ill cities of eimsiderable importance. Eight miles from Lemoore, in the midst of the Empire district, is a fine rancli owned by Mr. Powell, which he devote.s to the cultiva- tion of alfalfa and the raising of tine hogs. Politically he is a Re-. publican and socially he is a Woodman of the World. As a citizen his public spirit is equal to all demands which tend toward municipal welfare. lie married, in 1898, Miss Belle Adams of Kings county, and thev have a daughter whom thev have named Ella. ARTHUR SWALL A prominent citizen of Tulare coimty, genial and whole-souled, who has since 1910 been manager of the Newman ranch, which is located eleven miles south of the city mentioned, is Arthur Swall. This property, which consists of thirty-four hundred acres, was bought in 1909 by J. B. Newman of Santa Monica, Cal. The principal busi- ness of the ranch is dairying and stock-raising; one hundred and twenty cows are milked, and about two hundred and fifty hogs are fed. One hundred and fifty acres of the ranch are devoted to alfalfa and before the expiration of two years seven hundred acres will be given over to that crop. Three hundred acres are farmed to grain and five hundred head of cattle are kept. There are on the ranch two thirty-horse power motors to provide water, one two-horse power and one one-horse power motor to o]>erate cream separators, and other small motors for |)umi)ing water for domestic use and for the cold storage plant, ice being manufactured on the place. The ranch is irrigated from Tule river by an eight-mile ditch, a motor being used to raise water thirty-five feet from wells. The buildings on the property are modern, including two barns for sixtj'-two cows and one large horse stable. The bunk-house for the men cost $3000 and the concrete cream house $1800, and the buildings to house machinery and the sheds to protect vehicles are ample and up-to- date. One of the most notable of the buildings is the manager's residence, which is outfitted with all modern improvements. The entire place is lighted by electricity. Twelve to fifteen men and thirty-two horses are kept busy on the ranch the year round. The cream from the dairy is sent to a creamery. The nucleus of this ranch was one hundred and sixty acres of land homesteaded by William Swall, father of Arthur. The latter was born on the place and grew to manhood on his father's liome- stead north of Tulare. From his liovhood he had been familiar TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIP^S .m» with all the details of ranch life and enterprise, his first venture being in partnership with his father in the rental for a year of orchard land near Visalia. Then he bought forty acres four miles southwest of that city, on which he began farming and set out twenty acres of peach trees and devoted ten acres to alfalfa, giving the rest of the place over to pasturage. He made many improvements on the ranch and in 1!)K) leased it to his brother-in-law on shares, in order to accept his present position with Mr. Newman. He is a stockholder in the Rochdale store at Tulare and Mr. Newman is a stockholder in the Dairyiimn's Co-operative creamery, the headquar- ters of which is in that city. Tn 1809 Mr. Swall married Miss Maud Gum, of Ilanford, Cal., and they have three cliildren: Victor, at this time (1913), eleven years old; Harold, five years old; and Richard, an infant. Frater- nally Mr. Swall affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Tulare, being identified with lodge, encampment and the auxiliary organization of Rebekahs, and he also holds membership in a local division of the Fraternal Brotherhood. As a citizen he is public- spirited to a degree that makes him helpful to all local interests. HUGH L. HAMILTON One of the sturdy characters in the business life of Exeter is Hugh L. Hamilton, a blacksmith there. Born in 1861, in Mississippi county. Ark., he was a son of Andrew Hamilton, a native of Ireland. His mother died when he was three years old and he was only in his eighth year when his father passed away. About a year after his second bereavement, he went with his grandfather and the latter 's family to Missouri, where he remained three years. In 1872 he was brought to Tulare county, Cal., and his education, begun in Missouri, was continued in the ])ublic schools here. He was taken into the family of his uncle, Hugh Hamilton, for whom he was named. In his early life he worked at stock-i-aisi)ig and later for a considerable time gave his attention to both that and grain farming, meanwhile learning the blacksmith's trade and devoting himself to it as occasion offered. Eventually he turned his attention entirely to blacksmithing, and his shop in p]xeter is one of the leading concerns of its kind in that part of the county. When Mr. Hamilton came to Tulare county there were few settlers in the vicinity of Exeter and the whole country round about was new and undeveloi)ed. Stock-raising and grain-growing were the princi))al interests for many years. His uncle had one of the big stock ranches of the time and locality, and he gave his nephew a fail- start in life. 390 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES At one time Mr. Hamilton owned five hundred and ninety acres of land and did well as a farmer, but his inclination made him a follower of his chosen trade. In 1884 Mr. Hamilton united his fortunes with those of Miss Mildred Ferril, a native of Missouri, who bore him six children, five of whom are living. She died in 1895, and in 1897 he married Ida May Butts, a native of California. By his second marriage he has had two children, one of whom is deceased. The other, Harvey W. Hamilton, is a student in the Exeter high school. In his political affiliations Mr. Hamilton is a Democrat. He is identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World and is a loyal citizen, for no worthy interest of the conmiunity is without his en- couragement. LIONEL W. MARSHALL Another lowan who is succeeding in Tulare county, Cal., is Lionel W. Marshall, of Tulare. Mr. Marshall was born in Marshall county, in the central part of Iowa, January 10, 1857. When he was fifteen years old he was taken to Yankton, S. Dak., by his parents, who maintained the family home there two years, then, in 1874, came to California, locating in Los Angeles. The elder Marshall was a builder, and the son gained a practical knowledge of the carpenter's trade under his instruction. He, in an earlier day, had acquired similar experience in England, where he first saw the light of day. From Los Angeles father and son went to Pomona, where they erected the first Iniilding in the town, which, as it happened, was a hotel. They were kept busy there, contracting and building, three years, then went back to Los Angeles. Soon Lionel W. Marshall ijuilt homes in Tulare for Thomas H. Thompson and Banker Lathro]). He remained in the town during the period 1907-08 and moved to Lindsay, where he built himself a fine home and fine residences for James Reynolds, Edward Halleck, John Walker and Messrs. Metcalf and Evans. He also remodeled the building of the National Bank of Lindsay, and while he was operating there went over to Visalia and built residences for A. W. Wing and James Richardson. He took up his residence in Tulare in September, 1911, and soon after- ward erected the H. A. Charters home in that city. Even the most fleeting inspection of the structures he has erected conveys an idea of their artistic design, workmanlike construction and solid per- manency. They are ornaments to the towns in which they stand and the best possible advertisement of liis skill and ability. Some of his recent architectural achievements are in evidence and he has in band TULARE AND KINGS CbUNTIES 391 contracts for execution in the near future which cannot but add to his laurels. In 1906 Mr. Marshall married Miss Elizabeth Parker, a daughter of Andrew Parker, a pioneer at Monrovia. He is a member of the Visalia body of the ordei- of Moose. In the affairs of the community he is interested and helpful. GIDEON LORENDO In the province of Quebec, Canada, forty-nine miles west of the city of the same name, Gideon Lorendo was born, September 17, 1846, a son of Cyril and Locadie (Deleours) Lorendo, natives of Canada. His father, who was a farmer, held the office of sheriff more than forty years. When Gideon left his native province he went to Lowell, Mass., and found employment in a cotton mill. Later he worked in .i sawmill, then for five years he traveled throughout New England, then went west by way of the Great Lakes and in 1869 stopped at Duhith, Minn. There were at that time only five cabins in the place and they were occupied by half-breed Indians. He found there employment con- nected with lumbering, but soon went back to the province of Quebec where he married Jane L. Bounty, a native of Vermont, who became the mother of his eight childi'en: Minnie, Napoleon, Ellen, Philip, Louisa, Alfred, Albert and Josephine. His second marriage was to Elizabeth Euch, a native of Oregon. Their children are named Wil- liam, Peter and Agnes. Agnes is attending school at Orosi. Napoleon married Jessie Woods, and resides in Oakland, Cal., and has two children. Ellen married John Fisher of Mariposa county, Cal., and has five daughters. Philip married Lulu Beggs ; their home is in Mono covmty and they have two children. Alfred married Ethel Griggs and they live at San Francisco. Albert, who is an engineer on the rail- road belonging to the mill company at Sugarpine, Cal., married Pearl Uslis and they have a son and a daughter. Josephine married Ira Thomas; they live at llanford and have two children. Mr. Lorendo has thirteen grandchildren. From Windsor, Canada, across the river from Detroit, Mr. Lorendo came to Califoi'nia in 1877. In 1881, liecause of the dry sea- son, he sold one hundred and sixty acres of land for $500. Soon after, he bought another one hundred and sixty acres at Sand Creek Gaj) for $L'..")0 an acre and in 1888 sold it for $24 an acre and went to Oregon and lived in Josephine county, tliat state, for six years, farming for a time, then mining for gold. As he was spending more money than lie was netting out of the grcnind, he disposed of his holdings in Oregon and sold a place near Chamberlain, S. Dak., which he had owned for 392 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES some time, for $25, and went to British Columbia and kept a tavern on the Caribou road until he had taken in from lodgers enough to give him another start. Then he came back to Orosi and sent for his wife. He then had but $2.50 to his name and faced the certainty of having to ])ay out the first $200 that he could earn over and above a bare living. But he struggled manfully for a foothold, and in 1901 bought twenty acres of land at $25 an acre. This lie has improved with a house, a barn and other buildings. He has nine and a half acres in Malaga grapes, eight acres in jieaches and two acres in alfalfa. He has paid for his land and improvements, has ]jleuty of stock for home use, and is prospering in the regular California way. Politically he is a Socialist and he and the other members of his family are members of the Catholic church, in which they were all born and brought up. Before settling down in Tulare county Mr. Lorendo travelled through twenty-seven states, trying to find the best location possible, and is very much pleased with California. He was twenty-six mile> from their postoffice at Visalia when he first settled here. T. W. KYLE To California, Indiana has given many citizens who have be- come prominent in one relation or another. The ranks of the builders of different classes include many of them. Of the builders of Tulare county few are more deservedly po]iular than the sou of the Hoosier State whose name is above. It was in Jennings county that Mr. Kyle was born, 1853. He came to California first in 1879, remained a year and went to Texas, where he worked as a brick mason. In 1889 he came back, and settling in Tulare, began there a successful career as a brick contractor and builder. In nearly all parts of the county may be seen fine brick structures which are monuments to his skill and en- terprise, and among them the following are conspicuous: At Tulare — the I. H. Ham block, the W. Clough block, the new high school building, the Carnegie Library building, the city hall ; at Visalia — the George Ballon block, the county jail, the HerroU block, the Delta build- ing, the Lncier block, the Baptist church; at Porterville — the Sartou block, the flour mill, the Henry Traga building, the remodeled First National Bank building; at lianford — the Biddle Bank building; at Tipton — a hotel; at Traver — a hotel; at Dinuba — the Hayden & Boone block; and many other lesser buildings for different purposes. He has built also some fine blocks in Bakersfield, Kern county. As he becomes better and more widely known his business in- creases rapidly. It is already one of the most considerable of its class in this part of the state and bids fair within the next few years :^^ ^ . /^ c=.^..ayins- $800 for twenty acres and $:^5 an acre for the other twenty. He has tive acres planted to a peach orchard, fourteen acres under alfalfa and a good acreage of corn. He keeps seven head of stock and a few hogs, and has gradually imj^roved his ranch from a wheat field until it is one of the best in the neighbor- hood. By bringing it to a high state of cultivation he is securing crops which do not suffer by comparison with any others of their respective kinds raised in the vicinity of Sultana. As a progressive farmer and citizen he enjoys a higii reimtation. His public spirit impels him to lielp all movements for the benefit of his community to the extent of his ability. In politics he is a Republican but has never sought office. While living in Oregon he was road supervisor for two years in Crawfordsville, and deputy constable in the Sultana district. Fraternally he atliliates with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Beavers. In Indiana, March 24, 1883, Mr. Chance married Miss Martha Carson, who was born sixty miles north of Indianapolis, and they have four children living, Percy E., Lester Carl, Eddie Frank, and Bruce Allen. Pearl, the only daughter, is deceased. Percy married Mollie Ramsey; later he married Sadie Carter and they have a child and are living in Benton county, Oregon. DANIEL KINDLE ZUMWALT A descendant of an old Mrginia family, Daniel Kindle Zumwalt was born near Joliet, 111., January 24, 1845, of German extraction, his first American ancestor, George (or Adam) Zumwalt, having emi- grated from the Fatherland in the eighteenth century, to become a settler in Virginia and later a pioneer in Ohio, which was then on the fringe of ciA'ilization. Jacob Zumwalt, son of the emigrant, went, in January, 1880, from Adams county, 0., to Hancock county, Ind., where he died December, 1883, Jacob, his son, was 1)orn in Ohio, September 15, 1807. He married, June 24, 1830, Susanna Kindle Smith, born in Ohio, June 12, 1811. With his father, his three brothers and his five sisters, he went to Hancock county, Ind., in 1830, and four years later he went to Will county. III., aliout ten miles from Joliet. There he remained twenty years, until March, 1854, when he started with ox- teams overland for California. He farmed in the Sacramento valley until 1872, when he came to his farm near Visalia, Tulare county, where he died May 31, 1878. His wife died in Sacramento November 20, 1896, and they are both buried there. He was a Methodist and in many ways evinced great jniblic spirit. His wife bore him children as fol- lows: Nancy (Mrs. Rockwell Hunt), who died in Sacramento in 1!)04; 402 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIP]S Sarah M. (Mrs. James Shoemaker), of Santa Clara; Joseph, l)oru April 30, 1836, who died in Kern county, August 1, 1878; John H., of San Jose, Cal.; Elizabeth (Mrs. Hawk), of Sacramento; Daniel Kindle, of this review. When his father came to California, Daniel Kindle Zumwalt and other members of their family came along, and Daniel rode horseback and helped to drive the oxen. He was only nine and his youth ex- empted him from guard duty, but every other duty that fell to the lot of his elders was performed by him at one time or another. He attended the jiublic and high schools of Sacramento, and was graduated in 1865, later taking the degrees of A.M. and A.B. at the University of the Pacific. Having been awarded a first-grade teacher's certificate, he taught school a year at Yolo, then came, in 18(59, to Tulare county, where he lived out his allotted days. For twenty-three years he was land agent and attorney for the Southern Pacific Railroad company, his territory including Tulare. Kern and Fresno and what is now Kings county. He was one of the originators and organizers of the 76 Land and Water company, most of the capital for which he per- sonally secured. Preparatory to the formation of the company Mr. Zumwalt bought the water rights of Risley & Cameron and others and secured options on large tracts of land. As secretary of the company he promoted its interests until its principal office was moved from Visalia to Traver. He was a prime factor and a stockholder of the Kaweah Canal and Irrigation Co. and was influential in the pre- vention of'the diversion of the water from the settlers. In the course of his busy life he improved and developed lands of his own, and his estate owns a fine farm Ijetween Visalia and Tulare, which is devoted to dairying and the raising of Shorthorn cattle; in the improvement and equipment of this property he established a creamery. He was instrumental, also, in tlie setting up of another at Visalia. In the construction of other canals than those mentioned above Mr. Zumwalt was active. With others, he was indefatigable in pre- senting proofs to tlie Interior Department, at Washington. D. C, of the necessity for the preservation of the redwood forests for future generations. It was lie who enlisted the co-operation of Congressman Vandever of California, who secured the passage of an authorization of the setting aside of General Grant Park, which insures the preser- vation of the giant redwoods, there more numerous than in any other part of the Sierras. At Tulare, May 20, 1890, Mr. Zumwalt married Emma F. Black- wedel, a native of Taycheedah, Wis. J. Henry Blackwedel, her father, born in Hemsliiig, Hanover, Germany, was a son of -John Blackwedel. who brought his family to the United States in 1847 and settled on a farm in Wisconsin, whence they moved later to Jo Daviess county. TU. John Henrv Blackwedel was a farmer in Wisconsin and later a mer- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 40;5 chant in Sauk City, Wis., and Galena, III., and later l)ecanie a resident of Dubuque, Iowa, in which city he passed away November 29, 1863. Of literary tastes and education, he entertained writers and lecturers who visited him wherever he lived. He deserves a place in history as one of the sponsors of the Republican party. His wife, formerly Anna Meta Holterman, was born in Germany, a daughter of H. C. Holter- man, who jived out his days there. She died in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1872. Two of their children lived to maturity, Mrs. Zumwalt and Mrs. Minnie Pillsbury. Of a former marriage two sons, Henry Herman and John Frederick, died in service, while members of Company I, Seven- teenth Missouri Volunteer Infantry. Mrs. Zumwalt, next to the young- est, was reared and educated in Dubuque, came to Riverside in 1886 with her sister, Mrs. Pillsbury, and in 1887 came to Tulare county. She is a helpful member of the Methodist church and does nun-h for Visalia Lodge No. 48, Independent Order of Good Templars, with which she has lieeu identified since its organization by her late hus- band November 18, 1870. He was foremost in incorporating the Good Templars' Hall Association and in l)uilding the Good Templars Hall at Visalia and in so safeguarding it that it cannot be diverted from its intended use or pass from the control of the society. He was Grand Councilor of the order and for many years one of its most devoted and liberal supjiorters. He was a member and a trustee of the Methodist church of Visalia and in 1869-70 organized its Sunday school, of which he was long superintendent. Politically, he was in early life a Repub- lican, in later years a Prohibitionist. His opinions on the liquor ques- tion are shared by Mrs. Zumwalt, who, as an ardent woman suffragist, has seen nuich in which to rejoice in these later days of awakening and of regeneration in matters political. She was a valued assistant to Mr. Zumwalt, standing l)eside him in all trials and enc'ouraging him with her devoted wifely love. Their union was a very happy one, and at home, in church work or in lodge work their interests were mutual Mr. Zumwalt 's death occurred November 2, 1904. The town of Traver, Tulare county, was laid out through Mr. Zumwalt 's instrumentality. So versatile was he that he carried on an a])stract and land business, gave attention to stock-raising and dairy- ing, patented a process for ])hotographing and preserving record?, and did many other odd and interesting things not directly connected with his chief pursuits. "With tiie instincts of a true business woman, Mrs. Zumwalt personally attends to business connected with her sev- eral ranches. She has a dairy ranch of twelve hundi'cd acres near Tulare City. On her Deer Creek ranch of thirty-three iiundred acies she raises many fine beef cattle. She has a quarter-section of ];\\u\ on the Tule river, of which eight acres are planted to oranges just com- ing into bearing, and she has other ranches which she rents out 404 TULAKE AND KINGS COUNTIES DK. E. H. BYEON The birth of Dr. E. H. Byron occurred at Lemoore, September 17, 1877, the son of H. AV. Byron, lie was educated iu the common school and in the Union high school at Santa Paula, Ventura county, graduating in 1896, when he entered the California Medical College at San Francisco, where he was graduated in medicine in lyUU. Then he took the pharmaceutical course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the same city, and was graduated as a pharmacist from that institution iu 1907. After leaving college Dr. Byron was in charge of McLean hos- pital, San Francisco, for a year, and during the ensuing two years lie was iu the practice of his profession, with offices in that citj'. Then, going to Guerneville, he opened an office and was in practice there two years and during the next two years he was in profes- sional work at Wheatland, Yuba county. He then opened a drug store in Oakland which he conducted iu connection with professional practice until in 1909. In Novemlier of that year, he entered into professional partnership with his brother at Lemoore, and in the month of November, 1912, opened up his jjresent office in the Bolt- man block in the city, of Lemoore. He is a member of the San Joaquin Valley Health Association, the California State Medical Society and the American Society of Medicine and is the health officer and a member of the city board of health. He affiliates so- cially with most of the fraternal orders represented at Lemoore. To a general practice Dr. E. H. Byron has consistently devoted himself with sucli success that his services are in demand not only in the town but also in its tributary country and as a citizen lie lias demonstrated much ])ubUc spirit. Tu 1902 he married Miss Har- riet Freeman of San Jose. Tlieir son, Herbert Freeman Byron, celebrated his seventh liirthday May, 1912. THOMAS B. TWADDLE The present cluiirman of the Board of Supervisors of Tulare county is Thomas B. Twaddle, who has long been prominent in the aifairs of this part of the state. Born in Utah, in 1857. he was taken as a cliild liy his familv on their removal to Nevada, and it was in the last named state that ho grew to manhood and obtained an education and a practical knowledge of elemental business. He came to California in 1879, when he was about twentv-two years of age, and settling three miles east of Tulare, he rented land, raised TULAKE AND KINGS COUNTIES 405 grain aud did general farming in the vicinity of Tulare until 19U4, since when he has given his attention to other interests. In 1892 Mr. Twaddle was first elected to the office of supervisor, aud he has served iu that capacity by repeated re-election continu- ously to the present time. It is said that he holds the record in California for unbroken service as supervisor for nineteen years, ami during the long period of fourteen years he has been chairman of the board. In every measure for the advancement and improve- ment of Tulare county that has been put forth during the last two decades he has taken a helpful interest and some of the more im- portant ones he has been instrumental in putting through by sheer force of will, determined that Tulare county should have the very best in any line that was available to it regardless of reactionary opposition. He has proven himself a model official and has come to be known as one of the men of California who accomplish things. In 1883 Mr. Twaddle married Miss Emma Garisou, daughter of a pioneer in Stanislaus county, Cal., where she was born, aud thej' have children as follows: Alice M., who is the wife of W. J. Fisher of Tulare; Forrest J.; Frank C. ; William, and Thomas B., Jr. Socially he is a member of the order of Woodmen of the World and has for several years been council commander of his local di- vision and is a supporter of the auxiliary order of Women of Wood- craft. He is a Red Man, also, and affiliates with the order of Fra- ternal Aid. H. SCOTT JACOBS The talented aud successful lawyer of Hanford, who has at- tained a high position at the hnv of Kings county, Cal., and by n:any public-spirited acts has won reputation as one of the leading- citizens of Hanford, is H. Scott Jacobs who was born at Visalia November 2, 1875. He obtained his English education in i)ul)lic schools at Lemoore and in the San Jose high school from wliicli lie was graduated in 1894. His professional studies were begun in 1895 under comjjetent direction, and after mastering the law course at tlie University of California he was graduated in 1899 and was admitted to the bar of California May 19th that year. Tt was at Hanford that Mr. Jacobs entered upon the jiractice of his profession, opening an office in the First National Bank liuild- ing. From the outset he succeeded even beyond his expectations. Not much time was required for his ability and attainments to 406 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES become known to the business public and his general attitude as a lawyer and as a citizen commended him to the people. It became evident that his public spirit was equal to any reasonable demand upon it and that he was willing at all times to encourage to the extent of Ms ability any proposition put forth for the benefit and development of the town and county. In November, 1902, he was elected district attorney for Kings count}", in which office he served faithfully and efficiently four years. In 1906 he was appointed by the board of trustees of the city of Hanford to the office of city attorney, and in that relation to the general public he has still more markedly won the good opinion of all. In his political affiliations he is a Republican, and fraternally he is identified with Hanford Parlor No. 37 Native Sons of the Golden West, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. Mr. Jacobs married, April 30, 1901, Mary Elizabeth Manning, a daughter of T. A. Manning, of Lemoore, and they have three chil- dren, Elizabeth Belle, Justin Manning and John H. LEE GILL A son of L. L. Gill, a pioneer of Tulare county, by many tlioiight to have Ijeen the owner of the first orange trees in Tulare county, Lee Gill was liorn in Yokohl valley, Cal.. August 16, 1884. When he was a child, his father moved to Frazier valley, to the property on which Lee now lives. The old place was purchased from H. M. White and was the scene of the primitive venture in orange-growing referred to above. In the public schools near his home, Mr. Gill was educated and on his father's rancli he obtained the intimate knowledge of stock- raising which has made him an adept in tliat line. His oi^erations in association with his brothers mark him as one of the leading stockmen of California. They own about forty-eight thousand acres of range land and keep on Lee's ranch about six hundred cattle, two hundred hogs and many fine horses, bu^-ing and selling for the city market, in which Mr. Gill is as well known and as highly es- teemed as any stockman in the state. In 1908 Mr. Gill married Miss Maud Porter, a native of Cali- fornia, a lady of many accomplishments who shares with him much social popularity. They have one son, Austin. Mr. Gill is a youns" man of nmch public spirit, who is found always readv to assist to the extent of his ability any movement for the benefit of the oommunitv. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 407 HON. WILLIAM M. DE WITT This old established, reliable and suecessfnl lawyer of Tiilarc Cal., was boru in Monroe comity and grew to manhood in Warren county, Ky. The time of his birth was May 17, 1839, and his parents were the Rev. Allan W. and Hannah (Tooley) De Witt, his father • having been a native of Kentucky and his mother having been l)orn in Virginia. Eventually the family moved to Illinois. From there, in 1859, they crossed the plains with ox-teams to California, starting in April and arriving September 18. Allan W. De Witt, who was a minister of the Christian church, died at Tulare May iil, LS97, Ms wife having passed away in 1896. Their son Samuel lives in Los Angeles; Eleazar, their second son, is a rancher living west of Tulare; their daughter, Lydia A., is Mrs. Zumwalt of Tulare; William M. is the immediate subject of this sketch. It was as a school teacher that William M. De Witt began his life in California in 1861, in charge of a country school at Red Bluff, Tehama county. With Job F. Dye he drove a band of cattle and horses from Red Bluff to eastern Oregon in 1862. They intended to drive their, cattle np to the mining camps of British Columbia, where there was a great number of miners at work and where they intended to butcher their cattle, freeze the meat by burying it in the snow, and sell it out during the winter as it would lie needed. While cam])- ing on John Day's river near Canon City, De Witt suggested that they try a pan of the gravel at that place. Mr. Dye improvised a pan. with whicli they succeeded in finding considerable gold in the very first pan. The news of their find spread and in an inconceivably short time some six hundred miners had located claims and were busily and profitably engaged at placer-mining. It is needless to say that it became imneeessary for them to take their cattle to the J3ritish Columbia market. Thus was gold first discovered at Canon City on the John Day's river by William M. De Witt and Job F. Dye. Returning to California, Mr. De Witt read law, in 1866 was admitted to the bar and began the practice of his ]5rofession at Woodland, Yolo county. There he succeeded very satisfactorily and attained so much person.il popularity that he was elected to represent Yolo county in the State Legislature at the session of 1877-78 and was appointed a memlier of the judiciary committee and of other important committees. Meanwhile he conducted a successful practice at Santa Cruz for about six years. He came to Tulare from Woodland in the spring of 1878 and has been in active practice there ever since. For ten years he has held the office of .justice of the peace in Tulare and during that long period no decision of his has been reversed. He has traveled extensively throughout the state, having visited nearly every county within its borders. 408 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES A lover of country life, Mr. De Witt lias given some attention to ranching near Tulare. He was married in Santa Cruz, January, 1872, to Miss Agnes McDonald, a native of Vermont, who has borne him nine children: Florence C. (Mrs. Brown), has children named Earl and Maud. Alice W. is Mrs. Barnaby of Spokane, Wash. William H. married Miss Shedler and they have children named Camille and Earl. The others are W^alter, John (of Coalinga),- Edward and Edna (twins), Iram and Earl. In every relation of life Mr. De Witt has shown himself a man to be depended upon. Where- ever he has lived he has taken an interest in all matters affecting the public good. Since coming to Tulare he has in many ways demon- strated his solicitude for the advancement and prosperity of the city and its people. SAMUEL W. KELLY From Arkansas, which has long been a distributing ground for settlement througliout the south and west, Samuel W. Kelly emi- grated to California in 1857, coming liy way of the overland trail with ox-teams and consuming seven months in making the journey. He was then twenty-nine years old, having been born February 11, 1828, in Alabama, and had been taken as a small boy by his parents on their removal from his native state. It was in Arkansas that he was educated, grew to manhood and acquired a working knowledge of agriculture. On his arrival in California, Mr. Kelly settled in Tulare county and engaged in teaming between Stockton and Visalia. Settling on Elbow creek, he put up a rail pen with but a dirt floor and this was the home of the family for three years. In 1867 he went back east, but soon made a second overland journey to the Pacific coast, this time using mule teams, whidi brouglit him through in three mouths. From the time of his return until the completion of the railroad, which put him out of business, he teamed between Fresno slougji and Visalia. Then he bought ten acres within the city limits, on which he farmed for a time and which has been cut ti]i into lots and dotted with dwellings. For about twelve years he oi>erated siiccessfully as a cattleman in the Three Rivers section. Politically he affiliated with the Democratic ]iarty, and as a citizen he showed his public spirit in many practical ways. In 1853 Mr. Kelly married Miss Celetha Hudson, who was born and reared in Arkansas and accompanied him to California. She bore him tliree children, Samuel A., Mrs. Lulu E. Reeves and Mrs. ■^^ ^ p TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 411 Mary J. Sparks, who with the widow survive him. 'J'iie lioine of Mrs. Kelly is No. 500 Gosheu avenue, Visalia. Mr. Kelly passed away April 15, 1911, deeply regretted l)y all who had kuown him. HON. J. W. GUIBEESON Conspicuous among California's self-made men, is the prom- inent financier and member of the state Legislature, whose name heads this article. He is a native of the state, having been born in Lake county, November 26, 1865. When four years of age he was taken to Ventura county, where he grew up, attending the pub- lic schools, and later became a student at the University of Southern California, supplementing this with a commercial course at Wood- bury Business College. Full of ambition and eager to succeed, J. W. Guiberson started his active business career without a dollar to aid him. At the age of nineteen he rented a six hundred and forty acre stock ranch in ^^eutura county, his good reputation and credit enabling him to obtain a five-year lease of this ranch. He devoted himself most assiduously to the operating of this place, reaping such a measure of success, that when he was dispossessed of it at the end of fifteen months, because of the sale of said ranch, he was reimbursed for his labors there to the amount of $1,500. He then rented mountain land for a cattle range and increased his herd. Meanwhile he had bought out a drug store and made some good investments in real estate at Santa Paula, the results of which at the end of that year netted him a capital of $;)250 cash. His career, however, had not been an easy one. His health broke because of his close confinement in the drug store, and he was compelled to seek an outdoor life For a short time he engaged in the mercantile business, but met with heavy financial losses, and with such discouragements at hand he again was obliged to l)egin at the bottom to retrieve his losses. He obtained a lease for one-half share in the renting of the same ranch on which he had started out when nineteen years old, at the end of the first year lieing able to make a payment on (Mghty acres in Ventura county which he immediately began to improve and farm. Some years later he purchased a second ranch of forty acres in the same county, improving aud farming it for some time, and finally having a fine farm, good buildings and most productive or- chards on both places. His orchards were planted to apricots, lemons and prunes, and he soon had them in condition to be good income ])roperty. 412 TULARE AND KINGvS COUNTIES Continuiug to operate the two ranches, Mr. Guiberson bought out a livery business at Piru with the proceeds, and engaged in the livery and team contracting business, sending his teams into the oil fields near Piru, and he soon was the proprietor of an extensive teaming business. He prospered well and by 1905 found himself the owner of considerable money for which he sought good* invest- ment. In company with about twenty-five others, many of whom were from Los Angeles, as members of the Security Land and Loan Company, he bought thirty thousand acres of land in Kings county, and in that year came to Corcoran as the superintendent of said comi)any, whose affairs he managed very successfully. During this time he made large individual purchases of land in that vicinity, his ideas of purchase proving most ingenious, as for instance Ms pur- chase of a thousand acres at $13 per acre, which he sold a few months later at $30. He has explicit faith in the fertility of the lands of this locality and it has never been shaken, and it is due to him more than to any other person that the value of the lands about Corcoran has been demonstrated. Mr. Guiberson 's principal aim has been to develop and improve these lands and place them on an income-paying basis. He has no hesitancy in saying that for the growing of alfalfa these lands have few equals and no superiors in the entire state of California. Among his first purchases were eighty acres of land adjacent to the town- site of Corcoran, forty acres of which he retains as his home place. and this he has beautified and imjiroved until it is a model suburban home. To him belongs the distinction of having erected the first building on the townsite of Corcoran. At a later date Mr. Guiberson organized the J. W. Guiberson Company, a dairy and stockraising concern with a capital of $500,000 based on bona fide land values. In this he is associated with J. C. Sperry, of Berkeley; Nathan W. Blanchard, of Santa Paula, and the company's holdings aggregate twenty-six hundred acres in all, two thousand acres of which is planted to alfalfa and irrigated by means of artesian wells. On one section of this property are two dairies which produce cream to the amount of $2075 per month. There are six hundred head of cattle on this property, and about nine hundred hogs, all of which are very well kept. Besides these great landed interests Mr. Guiberson has otln>rs. different in character but almost as important. He is vice president of the Bank of Corcoran, vice president of the company operating the Corcoran Department Store, president of the Kings County Dairyman's Association, vice president of the Board of Trade of Corcoran, vice president of the Kings County Chamber of Com- merce and president of the California State Dairy Association. TULAKE AND KINGS COUNTIES 413 The lady who became the wife of Mr. Guiberson was before lier marriage Miss Nellie F. Throckmorton, who was born in Illinois, October 8, 1866. They have four daughters, viz. : Hazel, Claire, Helen and Edythe. Mr. Guiberson is a Mason, a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and the Fraternal Order of Elks. Of v;nusual public spirit, he is ready whenever occasion demands to aid any measure which in his judgment involves the public good, and he is confidently relied upon to be the friend and helper of all public enterprises. With the privilege of the pioneer to take pride in the town, he is zealous for the promotion of every interest, and in church and educational circles he is particularly active. He is president of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian church at Corcoran, and the commodious edifice recently erected by the con- gregation at once testifies to his munificence in gift of money as well as able and untiring effort as a member of the building commit- tee. He is president of the high school board and Corcoran will before the commencement of another school year have a fifty thou- sand dollar high school building. Relying upon his ability and good judgment Mr. Guiberson was, by the Board, of County Supervisors of Kings county, made vice president of the Kings County Panama Pacific Exhibit Commission, a position for which he is peculiarly qualified. No better testimo- nial of his real worth can be adduced than to mention the fact that in the campaign of 1912 he was elected as a Deiiiocrat by the people of his county, which is normally Republican, by more than thirteen hundred majority. For years he has been interested in the subject of good roads, and takes an active part in everything else pertain- ing to the public welfare and human upliftment. As a natural con- sequence he at the last election received a very flattering vote in his home and all other precincts in that county, where he was best known, and in his election to the assemlily his fellow-citizens have made no mistake. This fact is recognized by the oi)position as well as his Democratic friends, and became vei-y evident from such expressions as the following editorial from the ])en of L. P. Mitchell, editor and proprietor of the Corcoran Journal of November 14, 1912: AssembhTnan-elect J. W. (fuiberson is well (lualilied for th.e l)osition to which he lias been elected. He is a sell-made man who has achieved success in his own affairs, and Corcoran people feel sure he will represent his district in a most satisfactory manner. Mr. Guiberson is an enthusiast on good roads and advocates the abolition of the present unsatisfactory system of handling county road matters, favoring the employment of an expert road man and placing the entire county road system in his charge. We consider this a very logical solution of the vexatious road problem. 414 TULARE AXD KINGS COUXTIES IRVING L. JAMESON Born near Dixon, Solano eoiinty, Cal, in 1862, Mr. Jameson is a true son of California, proud of its history and traditions, and devoted heart and soul to its Ix'st interests. His parents were John B. and Catherine (Watts) Jameson, natives of Illinois. His father crossed the plains with mule teams in 1854, and at the end of hi-s long and tiresome, but never to be forgotten, overland journey settled in Napa county. Later he moved to a ])lace near Dixon, Solano county, where he acquired government land and engaged in farming and stock-raising, his chief product being grain, with which he was quite successful. Mrs. Jameson bore her husband children as follows : Henry, of Glenn county; Edwin, of the state of Washington; Mrs. John Bond; Mrs. Robert Board; and Irving L. The father died in 1902, the mother in 1874. Mr. Jameson was enterprising and pro- gressive, honest, industrious and public spirited, in every sense of the term a good and useful citizen. It was in the ]iublic school near his childhood home in Solano county that Irving L. Jameson laid the foundation for the practical education which has helped him to make a success of his life. His primitive venture into business was made as a rancher on the Jame- son homestead, near Dixon. Afterward he became owner of the place by purchase from his father. In 1888 he moved from Solauo county to Tulare county and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land on Deer creek, where he raised grain. From there he eventually moved to Porterville. He came to his present ranch of about eighty acres, four miles north of Tulare, in 1898, and has greatly improved the yilace, making of it a high grade dairy ranch of thirty-five cows, sixty-five acres being devoted to alfalfa. His new dairy barn, recently built after bis own plans, is one of the most practical for its purposes in the county. The cow stalls have cement floors, and there are individual stalls, which were designed by Mr. Jameson with a view to giving each animal comfort. The feed alley also is cemented, and the jn-ovisions for convenient grain storage are excellent, while tlie plant for pump- ing water is up-to-date and thoroughly efficient. Mr. Jameson's finely bred Holsteins attract the attention of all visitors to the vicinity of Ms dairy. He is practically and enthusiastically interested in horses, and owns the well-known imported French Percheron stallion, Mar- dochet, registered; five brood mares and colts and an imported jack for breeding mules. Absolutely as his home interests command his attention, Mr. Jameson has others. He is a director of the Tulare Rochdale store, a member of the Dairymen's Co-operative Association of Tulare, and is identified with local bodies of the Woodmen of the World and tht» Fraternal Brotherhood. He married, in 1898, Miss Ida Roberts, a ^ TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 417 native of Solauo county, and they have children: Mada, Lawrence, Doris and Lowell. The interest in jiublic affairs so characteristic of the elder Jameson has been passed down to the son, and there is no other man in this part of the county more willing to assist, according to means and ojiportunity, any measure that may be pro- posed for the general good. ALMER B. COMFORT Conspicuous among the prominent citizens and officials of Guernsey, Kings county, Cal., who has evidenced the jiower of staunch loyalty to his early training, which has materially acquired for him the success he has reached today, is Aimer B. Comfort, the well- known proprietor of tlie flourishing and active general store business of Guernsey, which he also serves as postmaster. Inheriting the splendid traits of his father, Byron G. Comfort, a pioneer of Kings county, who is a prosperous fai'uier near Hanford, he early evidenced the ability and perseverance which led him to mercantile interests, and his entire career has been indicative of thrift, energy and integrity. Born in Kings county, Cal., the son of Byron G. and Carrie H. (Drullard) Comfort, Mr. Comfort was there reared to manhood, acquiring his elementary education in the common schools, and becom- ing thorouiihly familiar with farm work and steady, honorable and clean habits. Upon reaching manhood's estate he rented a large dairy farm in the vicinity of Corcoran, which he operated with signal success, following tliat line of business for a long period until in 1912 he found himself able to purchase a business of his own. Being attracted l)y a chance to purchase a general merchandise business at Guernsey lie went there to make investigation witli the result that he bouglit and has since conducted it with tlie most gratifying results. Being naturally of a genial, optimistic dis])o- sition, he attracts many friends to him, and in his position as ])ost- iiuister of Guernsey, whicli aiipoinlment he received in Deceml)er of 1912, he finds himself the recipient of many good wislies and the good will of file entire coiinnunity. In addition to these duties lie has taken over the managoiuent of the lumber yard at Guernsey, which bids fair to become an important business in the near future. Mr. Comfort belongs to that circle of young men of California who have the future of the country in their hands, and wiio give every prophecy of taking the burden of business and jjolitical life on their shoulders with capa)>ility and splendid executive ability. Ever alert for the welfare of their interests and those of their town 418 TULAKE AND KINGS COUNTIES and county, tliey are public-spirited and quick to move in the direction they deem best for all concerned. Mr. Comfort is not a holder of any public office. In politics he votes the Republican ticket, and his interest in the affairs and issues of his party is ever active, he being well-informed on all cuncut topics pertaining to the advancement of his country. THOMAS H. BLAIR The character of any peoiile is usually well indicated by that of its public uflicials. Throughout its history Tulare county has quite generally commanded the confidence of the y>ublie through the repre- sentative men who have been called to fill its offices. Judged by capacity and by zealous devotion to the interests in his charge, none has gained higher place in popular regard than Thomas H. Blair, eountv assessor. In qualifications essential to the proper discharge of his difficult duties he is adequate to all demands upon hiiu, and by keeping in close touch with increase of property values and familiar- izing himself with all current improxements he is able to judge accurately as to the proper assesstnent to place upon a given piece of property. Looking solely to the interests of the county, he eom])lies with the law in the perfor7nance of his duties, manifesting always a conscientious regard for the rights of the taxpayer. In Randolph county. Mo.. Thomas H. Blair was born in 1864, a sou of Calvin H. and Mary E. (Moflfett) Blair, natives respectively of Arkansas and of Tennessee, and was brought to California by his parents, who settled in Sonoma county iu 1865 and in Tulare county about a year later. Calvin H. Blair crossed the plains first in 1850 and after mining two years in California went back to Missouri in 1852. There he married in 1856 and about ten years later he moved to Iowa, where he remained about three months, losing all his worldly possessions except an ox-team and a saddle horse, which he sold for just enough money to take liim to California liy way of New York and the Isthmus of Panama. He moved from Sonoma county to Tulare county, bringing his family and be- longings in wagons, and settled on Dry Creek. From there he moved to near Exeter, in the Yokohl valley, where he farmed for some years. In 1875 he went to Orosi, in the northern part of the county, and bought land there which he farmed until 1896, when his death occurred. Following are the names of the children of this pioneer and his wife, IMary E. (Moffett) Blair, who died January 14, 1912: William M., Thomas H., Mattie, wife of H. Mevers of Fresno TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 419 county, Cal., Laura, Caledonia, Sarah, wife of George Hedgepeth, Frank L. , James I., Finis E., and Clarence Holmes. On his father's stock ranch, Thomas H. Blair was reared, actiuir ing a good knowledge of cattle raising, meanwhile attending public schools as opportunity afforded. After the death of his father he associated himself with his lirothers in the management of the home ranch. F}-om his early manhood he has been active as a Democrat in local political affairs, and in 1902 was elected county auditor of Tulare county. He was re-elected to that office in 1906, and in 1910 was elected county assessor. The work of the county assessor is of such a character that his duties are not to be compared with those of any other officer. His success depends largely upon the accuracy of his judgment ; he comes in direct contact with all classes of i)eople and in designating jaroperty valuations he must treat all with impartial fairness. That such is the spirit of Mr. Blair's official conduct is well known to all, and he is personally acquainted with nearly every old citizen of the county and no man or official is held in higher esteem. Socially he affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. CHARLES C. BEQUETTE The name Bequette has long been honored not only in Tulare county, but in the state at large. In these pages appears a biograph- ical sketch of Paschal Bequette, Jr., in which is given some of the history of Col. Paschal Bequette, Sr., a native of Missouri who rose to eminence on the Pacific coast. Charles C. Bequette was born at Saint Genevieve, Mo., in 1834. His parents dying while he was yet but an infant, when he was five years old he was taken to Wis- consin, where he liecame a member of the family of his uncle. In 1850, when he was about sixteen years old, he and his brother crossed the ]ilains to California and located at Hangtown. Later, in 1852, they went to Sierra county, where they mined until 1S.")7. In 1859 Mr. Bequette drove a l)and of cattle from Yolo county to Tulare county and settled on land at Outside Creek, where he ])rosj)ere(l as a stockman until 1S()7. Then selling out his interests there, he home- steaded a tract of land near Lemon Cove, where he was successful in the breeding of cattle and horses for fifteen years, until he took up his residence at Visalia, where he has since lived, continuing an active interest in the jiolitical affairs of the county. His public spirit and his caiiacity for public business have been recognized by his appointment to various responsible offices, he having served two 420 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES terms as deputy recorder aud auditor of Tulare county, of which he has also served as deputy county treasurer and deputy county assessor. JOHN CUTLER, M. D. AND A. R. CUTLER A native of Indiana, Judge Cutler was born in 1819, in the town of Newport, Vermilion county. A predilection for the medical pro- fession led him to take up studies with that object in view at an early age, and he completed his studies and received his diploma in Iowa. In the last mentioned state he followed his profession until the mem- orable year of 18-t9, when he crossed the plains to California and made settlement in Eldorado county. While a resident of that county he served as a representative to the state legislature. Judge Cutler's residence in Tulare county began with the year 1852, at which time he engaged in agriculture on a large scale, farm- ing one thousand acres five miles northeast of Visalia, on the St. John's river. Here, as in his former place of residence, his fellow- citizens recognized his unusual ability and fitness for public office aud for two terms he served them efficiently as judge of Tulare county. The marriage of Judge Cutler united him with Mrs. Nancy (Rice) Reynolds, a widow with two daughters, Amelia and Celeste. Seven children were born of her marriage with Judge Cutler, three sons and four daughters, as follows : Mrs. V. D. Knupp of Porter- ville; A. R. ; Jolm; Mary; Loyal 0.; Ida, and Mrs. Edna Hartley. Judge Cutler passed away on the family homestead near Visalia July 12, 1902, and his wife died in Santa Cruz several years prior to his demise. The second child born to Judge and Nancy (Rice) Cutler was A. R. Cutler, a native of Tulare county, born in 1860. When his school days were over he assisted his father in the care and manage- ment of the home ranch, and later undertook ranching on his own account. At the present time he is ranching on a large scale in Tulare county, having under his immediate supervision the Venice Cove, Monson and Hills Valley ranches. His stock now numbers four hundred head. Fruit is raised on one hundred acres — raisin grapes, peaches, apricots and oranges predominating — besides which he has twenty acres in prunes, and the remainder of the land is in alfalfa. Following a service of four years as deputy county clerk, Mr. (3^^^^!^ /- SJ^^ yP^^ Q^a^ ^ ^j^^ TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 423 Cutler received still greater honors in April, 1911, when he was elected mayor of Visalia, an office which lie is well qualified to fill. His mar- riage in 1888 united him with Miss Nimmie Pringle, and they have two sons, John F. and Albert R. CHARLES JOHN EKLOF. Numliered conspicuously among the thrifty and prosperous or- chardists of Tulare county is CUiarles John Eklof, born October 10, 3869, in Sweden. In April, 1889, when he was about twenty years old, he landed in New York, equipjied with a good education obtained in the public schools of his native land. His early training had laid a splendid foundation on which to enter the struggle for success in America, to which he dedicated himself, his ambitions and his energies. Mr. Eklof had been born and brought up on a farm, and it was as a farm hand in Nebraska that he passed the first year of his life in America. In 1890 he went to the Northwest, into Washington, where he remained three years and four months, and in 1894 he embarked for San Francisco, whence he soon made his way to Fresno, being here employed in a vineyard till 1897. In the year last mentioned he located near Lindsay and engaged in the nursery business, which commanded his efforts for twelve years and brought him fairly good financial recompense. Then he began to buy land, securing forty acres and then twenty, forty of which were put into an orange orchard. The estimated value of his cro^a in 1912 is $10,000 and he is one of the most successful men in his line in his vicinity, with promising plans for the future. In 1911 Mr. Eklof married Ml's. Mary B. Fran?;, a native of Ohio. As a citizen he is loyal and patriotic, taking an active interest in the welfare of his community. His success has been great, for he started with nothing and could now turn his interests into $50,000 cash, but it has been the success of a self-made man, well deserved. WILLIAM J. ADAMS The life of the late William J. Adams of Visalia, Tulare county, spanned the period from April 4, 1837, to June 8, 1909. He was liorn in Graves county, Ky., and died at his California home. Reared and educated in his native state he left there with a herd of cattle which he drove to Texas and from there across the plains to California, arriving in 18.')9. Settling near Tuhire I^ake in Tulare count v, he 424 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES ranged cattle lor many years aud later removed them to tiie mouu- tains on Adams Flat, where he expanded his enterprise l)y raising both cattle and horses. In 1871 Mr. Adams disposed of his cattle and horse interests and gave his attention to sheep herding. For two years he operated in Oregon, then came back to California and settled near Madera on the Fresno river, in Madera county, but after two years spent there, he returned to Tulare county and for twelve years farmed the old Murray ranch, near Visalia. In January, 1865, Mr. Adams married Miss Mary Fannie Murray, a native of Missouri, a daughter of Abram H. Murray, who crossed the plains in 1852 and settled his family in the Visalia neighborhood. There their children have since become known and respected. They are Sarah, Mrs. E. Hilton, of Porterville; Abram P.; Frank C, a biographical sketch of whom is elsewhere in these pages, and Russell, who has passed away. A man of strong character, upright in his dealing with all, read\' at all times to do all in his power for the uplift or development of the community, Mr. Adams was a helpful citizen and the county and its people are benefited by his influence among them. FRANK C. ADAMS The well-known and successful Imilder whose name is above is a native of Msalia, Tulare county, Cal., born February 28, 1873, son of William J. Adams. He gained his education in the excellent schools of that town and began his business career as an employee of the Seeded Raisin Packing Company of Fresno, Cal. From Fresno he went to Stockton, where he learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for three years. Later he was for a time located in Angels' Camp, Calaveras county, whence he returned to Visalia, and in the fall of 1908 entered the contracting and building business on his own account. Among the structures which serve to call attention to the skill and enterprise of Mr. Adams are the Charles Berry residence, the A. D. Wilson home, the addition to the E. 0. Miller residence, the Simon Levy l)rick l)lock, the Dr. W. W. Squires residence, the Meyer Iseman residence, the Howard Parish residence, and numerous others of differ- ent classes and of equal importance at and near Visalia. On January 17, 1911, Mr. Adams foi-med a partnership with J. H. Johnson in oi'der to give attention particularly to the architectural department of his enter- prises, but the firm was dissolved October 2G following, and since that time Mr. Adams has been in sole control of the busill(^■^s wliicli TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 425 he has built up. Of the huihlings erected bj- Adams «& Johnson, the following mentioned, jierhaps as conspicuous as any others, are the residences of Tug Wilson. .John C. Hayes, Harry Hayes, D. E. Perkins and Ealph Goldstein. May 1, 1912, marks a very important epoch in Mr. Adams' career. He then became the Imilder for the Mt. Whitney Power & Electric Co., of Visalia. Ills lirst work was the building of a large brick and iron addition to the steam ])lant at Visalia, and on June 25, li)12, he began the constrnction of the Mt. Whitney lN)wer Plant and cottages at No. o on the Kaweah river. In the National Association of American Engineers Mr. Adams hohls membership and he aftiliates fraternally with Four Creek lodge. No. 1)4, I. O. O. F. He married October 7, 18!')4, Miss Mary A. Nichols, a native of Missouri, who has borne him three children, Willard, Merle and Russell. As a citizen Mr. Adams has commended himself to all who know him as a man of public spirit who has the welfare of the community at heart and is ready at all times to resjiond promptly and liberally to any call on behalf of the general good. WILLIAM W. COLLINS The present sheriff of Tulare county is William W. Collins, now serving his third term in that important office. Mr. Collins is a son of Albert 0. and Sarah J. (Cochran) Collins, natives of Ohio. In 1862, Albert 0. Collins enlisted in Company C, Eighty-lifth Regi- ment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which he served continuously from April that year until the end of the Civil war, rising to the rank of cai)taiu. Returning to Ohio he taught school there until the spring of 1866, when he moved to Putnam county. Mo., where he lived until May, 1873, at which time he came to California and located in Bakersfield, Kern county. There he was for a time in the meat trade and later conducted a large ranch until 1887, when he took up his residence in Inyo county and engaged in stock-raising- near Bishop. Mrs. Collins ]>assed away in San Francisco in 1910, aged sixty-eight years. To Albert O. and Sarah J. (Cochran) Collins were born three sons and two daughters: Chai-les A., sheriff of Inyo county; Wil- liam W. Collins; John L. ; Minnie, widow of W. L. Blythe of Palo Alto, Cal.; and Leoi-a, who is the wife of Bertrand Rhine of P>isho|). Cal. William W. Collins was born on the old Collins homestead, neai- Coshocton, Ohio, June 23, 1865, and was eight years old when his father removed to California. He was educated in the ))ul>lic schools 426 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES of Kern coimty, at the Visalia Normal sohool and at the California State Normal school at Los Angeles. After his graduation he assisted his father for a time in the latter 's cattle business. In 1889 he entered business life for himself as a wheat grower and as the proprietor of a livery stable at Tulare, and in 1895 began buying wheat in Tulare and Kern counties for the Farmers' Union Milling Co. of Stockton. The next year he accepted a position with J. Gold- man & Co. of Tulare as foreman, in charge of their lands, orchards and stock. He has recently set out, at Lemon Cove, a forty-acre orange grove. In Republican politics Mr. Collins has long been locally jiromi- nent, and in 1902 he was elected sheriff of Tulare county. He has been twice re-elected, and now, in his third term, is one of the most popular sheriffs the people of the county have ever known. A man of much public spirit, he has been helpfully identitied with many im]iortant home interests, and has in all things devoted himself, heart and soul, to the welfare of the community. Fraternally he affiliates witli the Woodmen of the World, the Ancient Order of United Work- men and the local lodge and encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in the last mentioned order he has been elected to ditferent offices of importance. Sharing with him in the esteem of the people of Visalia is Mrs. Collins, a native daughter of Inyo county, who was formerly Miss Louise Clarke. She has borne him three daughters — Hazel, Vera and Blanche. DR. WILLIAM P. BYRON That able and jiojmlar medical man of Kings county, Cal., Dr. William P. Byron of Lemoore, was born in that town, October 22, 1878, and was there reared and educated in the public schools. He is the son of H. W. Byron, one of the first pioneers of this part of the state. In 1900 Dr. Byron liecame a student at the California Medical College, San Francisco, and in 1904 was graduated from that institution with the degree of M. D. He began the practice of his profession at Ridgefield, Wash., and continued it there with con- siderable success until 1906, when he returned to Lemoore and opened an office there. He was successful from the outset and soon became one of the most popular physicians in that part of the county. In November, 1909, Dr. E. H. Byron, his brother, became his profes- sional partner, and this partnership continued until November, 1912. He has always devoted himself to general practice and is in much favor as a family physician. He was made district surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. in 1907. and is still holding that respon- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES • 427 sible position. He is the city health officer of Lemoore; county physician for Western Kings county, and a member of the San Joaquin Valley Health Association, the California State Medical Society and the American Society of Medicine. Socially he affili- ates with the Masons, Odd Eellows, Red Men, Knights of Pythias, Foresters, Woodmen and the Fraternal Brotherhood; also the orders of I. D. E. S. and U. P. E. C., ComiJanions, Rebekahs and the Oi'der of the Eastern Star, and with all women's auxiliary lodges in the city of which specific mention lias not been made. In 1910 Dr. Byron married Miss Ruby E. Fassett of Iowa and they live on Heinlin street, opposite the park. Exacting as are tlie demands that are made upon him professionally he gives much time to the promotion of the general interests of Lemoore, and has proven himself a public-spirited citizen, to be confidently depended upon in any emergency. F. D. CAMPBELL It was in that old southern town, Yazoo City, Miss., that F. D. Campbell was born in 1861. But a child when his parents moved to Texas, it was in that state that he was reared and went to school, and there he became a cowboy, and he lived the wild life of the plains and ranges in Texas, New Mexico, Missouri and Montana. He was for tliree years a Texas ranger, a sworn member of the long-famous organization so potent in the preservation of order in the country along the border. Then it comprised six companies, of twenty-one men each, all under command of General King, each company having a captain, a lieutenant and a sergeant. The members were men of proven In-avery, picked from among the boldest and truest spirits on the frontier. Much of their work was against smugglers along the Mexican border, and some interesting experiences were had in jmrsuit of cattle rustlers. One band of smugglers was pursued relentlessly by the rangers five years, and was captured at length by Mr. Campbell's company at Persimmons Gap, Tex. The head- quarters of the rangers was at Austin, Tex., and companies were stationed at Sunset Water, Aberdeen, Colorado City and Port Davis, all points of strategic importance on the frontier. Mr. Campbell, who was twice wounded in tliis arduous and exciting service, received his lionorable discharge November, 1883. (roing to Kansas City, Mo., after leaving the frontier service in Texas, Mi-. Cam])bell shijiijcd all kinds of livestock from that point, till in 1910, when he came to Tulare, to engage in the buying and selling of livestock. His business at once assumed important pro- 428 • TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES portions and he was shipping $30,000 worth of cattle and hogs each month, as the months averaged. In no department has there been a falling off, and in some departments a wondei'ful growth has been recorded. He is also part owner of and a director in the Kern Street Market of Tulare, one of the conspicuous concerns of its kind in this part of the state. In 1896 Mr. Campbell married Miss Alice Landers, a native of Mississippi, and they have the following children, mentioned in the order of their birth : Ethel, Gladys, Argyle, Blanche and Theo- dora. Since taking up his residence in Tulare he has in many ways demonstrated that he is a helpful and dependable citizen, patriotically devoted to the general interests of the community and ready and able at all times to respond to demands in behalf of measures under promotion, with a view to the advancement of the public welfare. DANIEL G. OVERALL The Texan is as cosmopolitan as any citizen of the Ignited States. Wherever his lot may be cast, he immediately becomes one of the people and is ready with heart and hand and money to do his part toward the advancement of the public weal. Texas, too, has been a station in the travels of families bound for California, but who have been leisurely in their travels; the stop in Texas has some- times been premeditated, sometimes it has been incidental and some- times accidental. These stops in Texas have been signalized by the addition, by marriage or by birth of members to families from further east or north. It was in Texas, in 1857, that Daniel G. Overall first saw the light of day. His father, Daniel G., Sr., was a native of Missouri; his mother. Charity (Mason), was a native of Illinois. The father sailed around Cape Horn to California in 1849. Later he went back to Missouri, and from there went to Texas. While tarrying in the Lone Star State, he busied himself by getting to- gether a large band of cattle, which he drove through from there to Tulare county in 1859. Selling his cattle, he was enabled to buy ranch property here. He prospered as a farmer, and here he and his wife botli died. They had two children — Mrs. Mary K. Farrow of Visalia and Daniel G. Overall, Jr. The latter was reared and educated in Tulare county and went into the real estate business at Visalia, in association with John F. Jordan and W. H. Ham- mond. A man of public spirit, and influential politically, he was elected auditor and sheriff of Tulare coi;uty and served in the former capacity during 1887-1888 and in the latter during 1889-1890. Ranching and stock-raising have commanded Mr. Overall's atten- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 429 tion during most of his business career, but in late years be has been much interested in orange-growing in the citrus fruit belt of Tulare county, and is now president of the Central California Citrus Fruit Exchange. He is manager and principal owner of the Kaweah Lemon Companj', director in the First National Bank of Visalia and the president of the ^'isalia Abstract Company. For thirteen years he was proprietor of the Palace Hotel, Visalia, and he has extensive oil interests in Kern county and mining interests in Cala- veras county. He is a Scottish Eite Mason, Knight Templar and a Shriner, active and widely known in the order, and affiliates with the Fresno lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He has married twice. His first wife was Miss Hawpe, who bore him a son, Orvie Overall, who has attained much fame as a base- ball pitcher in some of the great games of the past decade. His present wife was Miss Van Loan. ROBERT ANDERSON MOORE As president of the Lemoore Chamber of Commerce and chair- man of the Kings county Republican central committee Robert Ander- son Moore has become well known throughout central California, and he has other claims to distinction than these. Born in Grant county. Wis., in 1861, he lived there until he was fifteen years old, when his family moved to Minnesota and later to Oregon. He came, event- ually, to California, and after stopping for a time in Los Angeles came to Kings county and ))ecame a salesman in the McKenna Broth- ers' hardware store. He mastered the business and acquired great popularity with its ]iatrons and in 1890 bought the establishment, which he conducted with success until 1911, when he sold it to the Lemoore Hardware Company. Since disposing of his hardware interests Mr. Moore has inter- ested himself in real estate operations. He owns two ranches, one of forty acres, three miles nortli of town, and one of one hundred and sixty acres, ten miles south and near the lake; the former is in vine- yard, the latter in barley and alfalfa. He has invested to some extent in oil property and is a director in the Mount Vernon Oil Company, which is operating in the Devil's Don field. He was one of tlie organ- izers and is in his second year as president of the Lemoore Chaml)er of Commerce. As chairman of the Kings county Republican central committee and in other capacities he has long been active in political work, and he was three times elected a member of the Board of Trus- 430 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES tees of the city of Lemoore, serving two terms as chairman of tliat body. Socially he affiliates with the Odd Fellows and the Foresters. In 1886 Mr. Moore married Miss Clara H. Peck, a native of Hol- lister, Cal. Their son, B. C. Moore, is the successful manager of an automobile garage. During all of the years of his residence at Le- moore, Mr. Moore has manifested a lively interest in the development and prosperity of the town, and as a man of public spirit he has cheerfully and generously done nuieh for the betterment of local condi tions as occasion has presented itself. JOHN WESLEY GAER When John Wesley Garr, who lives half a mile north of Monson, came to Tulare county there were but three houses between his resi- dence and Hanford, roads were few and unimproved, the towns Dinuba and Sawyer liad not come into existence, and irrigation ditches had not been constructed. Mr. Garr was born in Indiana, September 10, 1837, and his father was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was reared and educated there and passed his active years there until he was forty years old, and then went to Texas, where he lived three years. His next place of residence was in southern Iowa, in which state his brother died aged ninety-six years, their father living to be eighty-six years old. In Indiana Mr. Garr married Mary J. English, a native of that state, whose parents came there from Pennsylvania. She was the mother of children as follows : Alice J., Charles N., William F., James F., Martha and George. Alice J. married Light Frazier and lives near Dinuba; they have had two children (one has passed away), and Dora is married, her husband being employed in the oil fields of California. William F., whose wife died thirty years ago while he was a citizen of Texas, is living with his father. John W. Garr has lived in Tulare county since 1881. Pre-empting an eighty-acre homestead, he paid for it ]iartially by chopping wood and has im- proved it and prospered on it as a farmer. He has given some attention to figs and has on his place the largest fig tree in Tulare county, which he planted twenty years ago, and which in 1911 pro- duced $75 worth of fruit. From twelve trees his crop altogether made more than a ton. In his political affiliation Mr. Garr is a Democrat. He takes a deep and alnding interest in every question pertaining to the welfare of the community and co-operates i)ublic-spiritedly in every move- ment for the general good. ^ a ^^^rUL---^ TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 433 . THE OLD BANK The history of "The Old Bank," at Hanford, Kings county, Cal., would be interesting, even were it not inseparably interwoven with that of the development of the city and its tributary territory. It is a state bank, established under the laws of the State of Cali- fornia, December 1, 1901. It was founded by S. E. Biddle, the pio- neer banker of Hanford, who founded the Bank of Hanford, the latter being the first bank in the town. The original officers of The Old Bank were S. E. Biddle, Sr., president; P. McRae, vice-pi-esi- dent; S. E. Biddle, Jr., cashier; Frank E. Hight, assistant cashier. In 1903 S. E. Biddle, Jr., resigned and Frank R. Hight was made cashier and J. J. Hight, assistant cashier. In 1908 S. E. Biddle, Sr., died, and Daniel Finn was elected president, Frank R. Hight becom- ing cashier and manager. The present officers of the institution are: Prank R. Hight, president and manager; P. McRae, vice-president; J. J. Hight, cashier. Its directors are: Mrs. A. A. Biddle, P. McRae, Frank R. Hight, Charles Kreyenhagen, Joseph Schnereger, N. Weisbaum and J. J. Hight. The bank's growth has been steady and strong and it is regarded as one of the staunch and most dependable financial institutions of central California. Its depos- itors are among the leading business men of Hanford and vicinity. It pays interest on term deposits, and its present capital is $50,000 ; its deposits aggregate $600,000. H. M. SHREVE A prominent financier and business man of central California, H. M. Shreve is filling the responsible positions of vice-president and manager of the First National Bank of Tulare. A native of Borden- town, N. J., born February 17, 18(54, he acquired his education in ))ublic schools and in higher institutions of learning in New Jersey and in Phil- adelphia. In 1880 he came to (California, and for six years thereafter was employed in connection with mining interests in Mariposa county. Later he came to Tulare and was employed for several years as a bookkeeper in the office of the Reardon & Piper Planing Mill, until he opened an office to handle insurance and conveyancing, and this he operated until the beginning of his connection with the First National Bank. (A historical sketch of that institution will be found in this work.) In 1887 Mr. Shreve married Alida E. Beals of San Francisco. He affiliates with Olive Branch lodge No. 2(59, F. & A. M., of Tulare and with the Visalia Masonic chapter and commandery. He 434 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES was for several years clerk of the city of Tulare, his interest in the city and county making Mm a citizen of much public helpfulness, and there are few demands for assistance toward the uplift and devel- opment of the community to which he does not respond promptly and liberally. Socially he is president of the Tulare Club, and as such has had much to do with projects for the general benefit. Among his interests outside the city should be mentioned the National Bank of Visalia, of the board of directors of which he is an active member. JOSEPH LA MAECHE The American family of LaMarche was estalilished in Canada early in the last century and John LaMarche, son of the original emi- grant, was born in Ontario and in 1837 enlisted under the banner of MacKenzie in the so-called Canadian rebellion. His son Josepli, born near Montreal in 1823, was graduated from a Canadian college, farmed early in life at LaClinte Mills and was later a merchant and a magis- trate. He married Julia LaMare, whose grandfather in the jiaternal line founded the Canadian family of LaMare. Joseph LaMarche died in 1900, aged seventy-seven years ; his wife died when she was seventy. They had thirteen cliildren, ten of whom lived to maturity and still survive, the second of these being Joseph LaMarche, Jr.. of Tulare county, who is the sole representative of the family in California. Mr. LaMarche was born on a farm forty miles from Montreal March 1, 1853, and when he had time to do so in the years of his boy- hood walked five miles to a French school if the weather was not too inclement. When he was thirteen years old he went to Upper Canada to log and lumber on the Ottawa river for $36 a year, and at the end of a year he came down to Quebec on a raft and signed a contract to work a year in a logging camp not far away. "Wlien he was fifteen years old he went to the Lake Su]ierior region and teamed two years among the charcoal furnaces around Mari|nette, Mich.; from there he came west to Nevada and teamed at Carson and Virginia City and assisted in the construction of a flume. In 1875 he came to California and for three years thereafter was employed on a rancli near Prince- ton, Colusa county. His first venture as an independent farmer was as a grain grower on rented land, whicli he operated four years. Coming to Tulare coimty in 1883, he began farming as a renter, but soon bought two hundred and eighty acres of bayou and railroad land, four miles south of Tulare, whicli he farmed to grain a year and sold in 1885. In 1886 he married and located on a ranch of fourteen hun- dred and twenty acres, eight miles southwest of Tulare which was the property of his wife; a part of it was farmed to grain, the remainder TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 435 was in pasture. Later he owned four thousand acres on the Tule and Elk Bayou rivers, where he raised hay and bred cattle, but this he sold in 1908. He now has twenty-one hundred and sixty acres, of which six hundred acres are devoted to alfalfa, the remainder to grain and pasturage. Since his retirement from active farming he lias rented most of his acreage and now has four tenants. The activities of Mr. LaMarche are by no means coulined to the management of his land. He was prominent in organizing the Dairy- men's Co-operative Creamery Co., was elected one of its directors three months after it began business, and has acted in that capacity to the present time. In 1906 he was a director in the Co-operative Creamery Co. of Tulare. He was one of the organizers also of the Rochdale Co., and is a stockholder in the Tulare Canning Co. and the Tulare Milling Co. He was also a director in the Fair Association of Tulare county, which constructed a race track and held fairs for two years, and he is now owner of the track. Through his membership of the Tulare Board of Trade he has had to do with numerous enter- prises which have tended to the commercial growth of the city; in 1908 he was elected president of the Bank of Tulare, of which he had for many years been a director. In politics he is a Democrat and he was at one time a member of the county central committee of his party. He was made an Odd Fellow in Colusa county and since he came to Tulare has been active in the work of the local lodge and en- campment, his afliliation witli this order covering the long period of thirty years. At Tipton, Tulare county, Mr. IjaMarche married August 7, 1886, Mrs. Mary (LeClert) Creighton, widow of John M. Creighton. Mrs. LaMarche was born at Portsmouth, England, a daughter of Theodore and Mary (Sims) LeClert, natives respectively of France and of Eng- land, and member of families long established. When Mr. LeClert settled in England he found employment for a time as a brick mason at Portsmouth. Coming later to the United States, he worked at his trade a while at .Vlliion, N. Y., and from there he came to California in 1856 liy way of Cape Horn. After mining at Kniglit's Ferry and at Copperopolis he turned his attention to farming and eventually passed away at Oakdale, Stanislaus county, where his wife also died. Of their three daughters and two sons, all of whom are living, Mrs. LaMarche was the second born. In 1861 she, with other members of the family, joined her father at Knights' Ferry, where she married Melvin Howard, a native of New York state, who became an orchard- ist at Sonora, Cal., and died there. Later she married John N. Creighton and in 1876 they settled on the Creighton ranch in Tulare county, and a few years later Mr. Creighton died at Byron Hot Springs, Contra Costa county. She is a woman of fine aliilities and has been prominent in the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance 436 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Union and in movements for the emancipation of women and for the uplift of the human race. Both Mr. and Mrs. LaMarche are noted for their public spirit and for their ready and unostentatious charity. They have two children, Joseph F., who is in the United States navy, and Miss Bernie LaMarche, who was a student at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles and in 1911' married Charles Phillip of Los Angeles. FRANK E. FITZSIMONS The son of George and Agnes (Ward) Fitzsimons, Frank E. Fitz- simons was born March 30, 1886, in Thomas county, Kans., where he lived until he was eight years old. His parents built the tirst sod house and the first frame house in that part of the county. Wlien they located there they were eighteen miles from the nearest neighboi', twenty-sis miles from the nearest considerable settlement and fifty miles from Winslow, which was their market place, and they were often menaced but never really injured by Indians. In 1894 they sought a more congenial clime in California ; and after living a year at San Jose they came on to Visalia and for three years the elder Fitz- simons was foreman of the Geo. A. Fleming Fruit Company's ranch. In 1897 they settled near Orosi, where Mr. Fitzsimons has been suc- cessful with fruit. Following are the names of the children of George and Agnes (Ward) Fitzsimons: Frank E.. Orriu, Ray, Walter, Lulu and Vera. Lulu married F. A. Listmau and lives near Orosi. Orrin married May Vance. Frank E. Fitzsimons was educated in the common school and at Occidental College, Los Angeles, 1906-07. He married Edna Furtney and has a son named Richard, who is attending high school. They formerly lived near Orosi and had thirty acres in peaches, which he sold for $400 an acre. The remainder of his ranch broiaght a satis- factory ]irice. He had owned the place t-liree years and had imjiroved it in many ways. He next bought one hundred and forty acres, eighty of which he has sold. He now lives in Orosi. The balance of his ranch he is going to set to Thoni]ison and Malaga grapes and figs. He is a close student of everything that pertains to his business and is advanc- ing along scientific lines, and his methods are certain to bring him even greater success than that which he has already attained. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzsimons are Republicans and members of the Methodist church. He affiliates socially with the Woodmen of the World and is public-spiritedly devoted to the community's highest and best interests. X 5 o m H O •z < a 2 a; o TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 439 FRANK GRIFFITH, V. S. This well-known veterinarian of Ilanford, Kings oounty, Cal., was born October i, 1850, twelve miles northeast of the site of Merced and nine miles from Snelling, Cal., a son of Dr. Joshua Griffith, at which time the place described was in Mariposa county. Dr. Joshua Griffith was liorn June 28, 1800, seven miles below the site of Brownsville, Washing-ton county, Pa., which was then known as Red Stone Fort. In 1810 he was taken by his family to Ohio, to a sparsely settled section in which the nearest schoolhouse was twenty-tive miles distant. In 1820 he went to Missouri, and there he met John Hawkins, and in 1822 he was a member of the Ashley expedition, consisting of sixty men, to explore the Missouri river to the mouth of the Yellowstone. The party made the trip in a large keel-boat, returning in 1823. In 1824 he opened a gunshop at Santa Fe, N. M., where he made con- siderable money, and in 1830 he went to Sonora, Mexico, and had many interesting adventures. In 1831 he established a variety store at Hermosillo, Mexico, and from that time until 1848 he prospered variously. In the last named year he came to Los Angeles, Cal., and soon after he was mining at Amador with old man Amador. Later he mined at Volcano and Mokelumne Hill and on the fifth of Novem- ber, 1848, he discovered Jackson creek in Amador county. July 25, 1844, Dr. Griffith married Miss Fanna Arreas, a native of Sonora, Mexico. He brought his wife with him to California in 1848 and theirs was a slow journey across the lilains and througli mountain passes. Some of his recollections of mining at that time included experiences at Aqua Frea. From Amador county he went back to Los Angeles and from there he moved to near Snelling in July, 1849. Thus began his exi)eriences in Merced county. He was the first to sow wheat on the bottom lands and plains there and he garnered his first crop in 1851. Going to Santa Cruz he brought back with him a }5ack-train, some seed corn, some chickens, three dogs and several cats. When he settled on the Merced river the only other settlers along the stream were Samuel Scott, James Waters and J. M. Montgomery. Before he ))nilt his house and while it was under construction he camped undei' a big oak tree in the open and there his wife gave bii-tl: to tiieir son Frank. It was necessary for the doctor to go to Santa Cruz and Stockton for the necessaries of life. He packed in house- hold goods and trees and once brought from Santa Cruz a sack of wheat for which he ]iai(l $150, and from which he raised his first crop. In 1853 he built a small Hour mill i)rincipally for his own use, which was operated by water which he brought from the Merced river through a ditch two miles long, and was the first water-power grist mill in the San Joaquin valley south of Sutter's Fort. It stood until 1861-62, wlicn it was washed away by flood. 2i 440 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 111 liis yoimg iiiauliood Dr. Griffith studied medicine, and he prac- ticed almost continuously as occasion offered from the time he was twenty-four years old until 1874, during a period of fifty years. As a pioneer and in his later business enterprises he was a potent factor in the development of the country, and as a citizen he was widely known and respected. He died June 11, 1896, his wife in June, 1897. They had four children of whom two, Frank and Frederick, are living-. The old Griffith homestead was later sold to Henry Cowell of Santa Cruz. Frank Griffith was reared on his father's home farm, educated in the public schools and assisted his father until 1875, when he came to the site of Grangeville in what is now Kings county, Cal., which was nearer to Kingston than to any other town. Having gained a good knowledge of medicine under his father's tuition he took up veterinary practice in connection with farming. He had been to this locality in 1870 on a trip of exploration and at that time had rowed a boat over Tulare lake, which then covered much land which was bare in 1875. He had rowed to within ninety yards of the school house at Lemoore, in company with Judge and Mrs. R. B. Huey, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Skaggs and Mrs. Grillith, and their boat had floated over the land later included in the Cochran, Strattou and Jacobs tracts. He remained at Grangeville practicing veterinary surgery until 1877. As a citizen he attained to considerable {n-ominence and eventually became a constable, a deputy sheriff and a deputy United States mar- shal, and in 1884 he was made under sheriff of Tulare county and took up his residence at Visalia. In 188(5 he removed to Santa Cruz for the benefit of his wife's health, and there opened a veterinary office and built a home. In 1890 he came to Hanford, and in 1891 his wife, who had greatly improved, joined him. He had in the mean- time bought seven acres of land on Seventh street, where he has since lived. He established his office on the site of the present Emporium building, but several years later moved it out to his ranch, where he constructed and fitted up a hospital, and until 1907 he maintained bis office and infirmary on Green street not far from his present location. In 1907 he built his present quarters, consisting of an office, a hospital and an infivmary for the accommodation of twenty-four animals in the main building with fifteen outside stalls under a separate roof. While carrying on a general veterinary practice, he makes a specialty of the treatment of dogs and is the owner of a fine kennel. His ac- quaintanceship and his professional reputation have been extended through his incumbency of the office of county livestock inspector and county veterinarian of Tulare county for fourteen years, he being aji- jiointed to these positions by the supervisors of the county after the division. He has for many years raised thoroughbred Berkshire hogs. Dark Brahinah chickens and Muscovy ducks. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES . 441 September 19, 186S), Dr. Griffith married Harriett A. Moore, a daughter of Joseph Moore, who brought his family to Kings county from Oregon in 1864. Fraternally the doctor affiliates with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, being a member of lodge, encampment and canton, and with the Native Sons of the Golden West, a charter member of Visalia pai'loi' No. 1!), in which he has passed all chairs. JOHN C. DANNER The man who practically owns and operates the commercial inter- ests and general industries of White River, Tulare county, Cal., is John C. Danner, a native of Missouri born in 1857. Nathan Danner, his father, was a native of North Carolina, and it was in Tennessee that his mother was born, but they are now both deceased, the latter having passed away in 1911. His parents came to California in 1858, when John C. Danner was scarcely more than six months old, and landed at San Francisco, and from there they went to Tuolumne county. In 1864, when he was about seven years old, they moved to Merced county, where the boy was educated in the public schools. Later the family lived in Kern county till 1887, and there John C. was superintendent of the Kern County Land Co. In the year last men- tioned he bought a farm nine miles east of White River, where he lived until 1907, and in the meantime bought ten hundred and forty acres of range land and went into the cattle business. He continued at this until he moved to AVhite River, where he bought the land in- cluding the townsite, most of which he owns at this time. He event- ually sold his cattle and range land, but is still the owner of four hun- dred and eighty acres of valuable California soil. He is the pro- prietor of a hotel, a livery and feed establishment, a general store and other business interests at White River and he and his son own a tele- phone system of about one hundred miles of wire which centers there. He has been a school trustee since he was old enough to hold office, was a deputy county clerk, and in Kern county served as dej^uty county assessor during two years of the administration of Tom Hard- ing. The development of Tulare county has had in Mr. Danner not only a witness but a factor, his public spirit having im]ielled him to assist all local interests to the extent of his alnlity. In 1884 he mar- ried Alice Barbeau, a native of Illinois, and they have six children: Lea S. was born in Kern county, is married and is associated witJi his father in business; Luciau Carl, who also was born in Kern county, assists his father in the management of his mercantile interests ; Fred- erick Earl and Violet ]\I. are members of their jiarents' household, and 442 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Violet is an accomplished musician ; Edgar and Royal complete the family. One of the prominent business men of the county, recognized by all who know him as a man of great ability and of the best judgment, Mr. Danner generously and patriotically ascribes a fair share of Ms suc- cess to the splendid opportunities which Tulare county has afforded him, and while laboring to build up his own fortunes he has paused from time to time to render good olKces for the benefit of the com- munity. GEORGE JOHN WEGMAN Of German birth and ancestry, George John Weginan opened his eyes to the world iu Hesse-Darmstadt, where Michael Wegman, his father, owned a vineyard and winery. He was educated in the good schools kept near his home, and after he became old enough helped his father, hj whom he was trained to be industrious, self-reliant and persevering. He was yet a comparatively young man when he mar- ried Caroline Wennerholdt. born in Kur-Hessen, daughter of Jacob Wennerholdt, an officer in the German army, who, during his nineteen years' service participated in the wars forced on Europe by Napoleon, fighting at Waterloo, running inany risks and receiving numerous wounds, and wlio when his service was ended was a hotel-keeper until his death. In 1849 Mr. Wegman and his good wife sailed for the United States, their cash capital small, but they had youth, health and hope. For a time after their arrival, Mr. Wegman worked as a cooper at Lancaster, Pa., but about 1855 he went west to Warsaw, Hancock county. 111., and established himself as a cooper, then as a farmer. Some ten years later he moved to Wisconsin and took up a farm in Jefferson county, where he remained ten years, till in 1875, when he came out to the Pacific coast and settled in Tulare county, on Elbow creek, three miles northeast of Visalia, where he liought land and en- gaged in farming and stock-raising. His success was very satisfactory and he prospered until his death, whicli occurred December 29, 1896, when he was about seventy-five years old. His wife died June 24, 1903, aged eighty-two years, five montlis and twenty-three days. She was a devout member of the German Reformed Church, all through her long life exemplifying in character the doctrines she professed. Mr. and Mrs, Weg-man had four children: Caroline, wife of Andrew Belz; Theodore, who died in Wisconsin, aged fourteen years; Eliza Otelia, who cared for her parents until they ]3assed away and has since lived on the old Wegman homestead, with her sister and her THOMAS LEWIS TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 445 brother-in-law; and Matliilda, who died in California when she was eighteen years old. From the time of liis arrival in California until his death, more than two decades afterward, Mr. "Wegman was a citi zen of Tnlare county, and lield an honorable position among its good and thriftv farmers. THOMAS UEAYIS The late Thomas Lewis, whose widow lives in Tulare, two blocks west of A street and Kern avenue, was born in Michigan, A])ril 3, 1838, and was reared to matTirity at Toledo, Ohio. In 1859, when he was about twenty-one years old, he came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama and took up laud on the Mokelumne river, about twenty miles from Stockton. There he lived until 1865, when he sold out and went to Sacramento, and here he bought farm land and operated a dairy until 1870, when he located at Tulare on a home- stead of eighty acres and pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres more and a timber culture tract of the same area. Later he bought four hundred and thirty acres on the Tule river, in the vicinity of Woodville and about twenty miles from Tulare, and for a time raised cattle and horses and kept a dairy, but later he gave some attention to farming and devoted two hundred acres of land to alfalfa, and in following out his plans herein indicated he spent the remainder of his life. He died November 28, 1887, and his widow conducted the ranch until April, 1891 ,when she sold part of the land and removed to AVoodville. There she made her home until in 1907, when she dis- posed of her property in that town and took up her residence in Tulare, renting her farm property to tenants. Before her marriage Mrs. Lewis was Miss Martha A. Johnson and was l)orn in Missouri, a daughter of James T. and Elizabeth (Bond) Johnson. She came to California in 1864 and lived in Wood- bi-idge, San Joaquin county, until in 1866, and she was married May 15 of that year. Of the live children she bore her husl)and, four survive, namely: Chloe E. married Edwin Hamlin; Rosa is the wife of A. Wann; George S., of Fairbanks, Alaska, is an engineer; and Ruby is Mrs. William Beare of Tulare. Charles is dead. Mrs. Lewis is a member of the Baptist church and with her husband she was formerly connected with the Grange. WILLARD ERNEST DINGLEY No work devoted even in part to the prominent men and lead- ing interests of Kings county, Cal., would be complete without some 446 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES detailed reference to tlie well-known farmer, financier and man of affairs whose name is above. It was at San Francisco, Cal., that Willard Ernest Dingley was born, December 4, 1874. He was reared in that city and in Oakland, and it was in the public schools of Oakland that he gained his edu- cational training. In 1898, when he was about twenty-four years old, he came to Kings county and engaged in farming just outside of Lemoore. From the outset of his career here he liked the town and its people and had faith in its future. He achieved success as a farmer and gave very close attention to his ranch interests until he became cashier of the First National Bank of Lemoore, which posi- tion of trust and responsibility he accepted in April, 1907, and since that time he has devoted all his ability and energy to the upbuilding of all the interests of the staunch financial institution which is the pride of the business community of Lemoore. Meanwhile he has superintended the farming of four hundred acres, one hundred and thirty of which is in vineyard, the remainder being under alfalfa. To stockraising he has given considerable attention, with very satis- factory results. Taking an interest in all the affairs of Lemoore and of Kings county, he has been helpful in the promotion of many move- ments for the general good, and has won an enviable reputation as a citizen of enterprise, initiative and public spirit. W. F. CARTMILL, M. D. In 1861, when Dr. W. F. Cartmill bought property in Tulare county, the city of Tulare had not been founded and the county was for the most part unimproved. He saw here promising conditions which had escaped the attention of many others, and soon bought a quarter section of land ten miles southwest of Visalia, to which he added from time to time till he owned twelve hundred acres, all under irrigation. He raised cattle as long as cattle raising was profitable, then turned his attention to sheep. His flock at one time numbered six thousand, but he sold it aliout 1894 and for the succeeding ten years conducted an apiary. In 1904 he sold his bees and retired from active life. He had lived at Tulare since 1872, about the time of the coming of the rail road to the town. The residence that he had built at the time was one of the first imposing ones in the place, and it soon l)ecame a land- mark on West Tulare street. It was in Franklin county, Ohio, that Dr. Cartmill was born. Jan- uarv 5, 1822, the sixth in order of nativity of the seven children of TULARK AND KINUS COUNTIES 447 William and Isabelle (Ferguson) Cartmill, natives, respectively, of Virginia and of Old Virginia. To Kentucky Mr. Cartmill emigrated and there he met and married Miss Ferguson. Soon after their mar- riage they moved to Franklin county, Ohio, and later they went to Madison county, in the same state, and on Darby creek in tliat county Mr. Cartmill cleared and impioved a farm. There the couple lived out their days, Mr. Cartmill living to be ninety-seven years old. As a boy, Dr. Cartmill attended a subscription school in a little log building that was little better than a hut. He read medicine under the precep- torship of Dr. Thomas, of London, Ohio, and practiced his profession there 1846-48. In the latter year he set out for California, but was persuaded to stop in Columbia, Mo., where he practiced alxiut two years. In 1850 he crossed the plains with horses, following the over- land trail up the Platte, on to Salt Lake (where he staid a fortnight), thence down the Humboldt and by the Carson route. One hundred days passed after he crossed the Missouri state line before he arrived in California. Locating at Rancheria, near Volcano, Amador county, he divided his time between mining and practicing medicine and surg- ery. In 1854 he returned by way of the Isthmus of Panama to Ohio, and from there went to Missouri. Near Columbia, March 27, 1855, he married Miss Sophia P>arnes, who was born in that neighborhood, a daughter of the Rev. James and Elizaljeth (Burkhart) Barnes, na- tives, respectively, of Kentuck\' and Missouri. Mr. Barnes, after set- tling in Randolph county. Mo., became a pioneer farmer and P>a]itist preacher. He was a hero of early Indian wars. He and his wife, parents of fifteen children, both died in Missouri. All but two of their sons and daughters grew to maturity and four of them lived to old age. Mrs. Cartmill was the only one of them who came to the Pacific coast. Dr. and Mrs. Cartmill came to California by the Nicaragua route and he resumed his work in Amador county, where they settled. From there they came to Tulare county in 1861. Some account of his activi- ties has been given above. He belie\-ed in Reiniblican j^rinciples and voted for the nominees of his party, but was never a practical poli- tician. He long maintained a warm interest in the San Joaquin Val- ley Pioneers' Society. Duiing his long residence in the county he supported movements for the benelit of the people and in e\ery jiossi- ble way lat)ored for the good of the conununity. He passed away March 26, 1906; his wife, July 5, 1007. The deeiiest liereavement lliaf came to them was the dcatli, liy diplitlieria, within ten days, of tlieir three daughters, Floi-a, F>va and Mary. Their youngest son. Walter Selmon, died, aged two years. There appears in this work a l)iograi)ii- ical sketch of their son, Wooster B. Cartmill. They reai'ed to woman- hood a girl named Amelia Jessie, who married R. F. (iueriu, a dairy- man, living near Tulare. 448 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES FRANK R. HIGHT The president and manager of tlie Old Bank of llanford. Kings coimty, Cal., is Frank R. Higlit, one of the most trustworthy finan ciers in central California. Mr. Hight was born in Wyoming county. Pa., January 15, 1862, and after having l)een graduated from the State Normal school at Bloomsburg, Columbia county. Pa., taught school in his native state. In 1889 he came to California and resumed teaching in Merced county. He located in Hanford in 189.3 and after teaching two years in the public school bought an interest in the Han- ford Abstract Com])any, which he retained until in 1901, when upon the organization of the Old Bank he liecame its assistant cashier, a position from which he has advanced to that of president and mana- ger. He has been city treasurer of Hanford since 1902, in which posi- tion he has handled big responsibilities with nmch conservatism and discretion. In 1894 Mr. Hight married Miss Mary Williams, a native of Colo- rado, and they have four children, Harriet I., Roliert R., F. Raymond, and Helen I. Hight. ABRAM HUNTER MURRAY, Se. Of Scotch-German blood Abram Hunter Murray, Sr., was in everything that the term can imjily a typical patriotic American. From liis father he inherited the rugged constitution and intellectual characteristics of a long line of ancestors who lived their lives and died in Scotland, and through his mother many qualities which have made for good citizenship on this side of the Atlantic since Germans first set foot on American soil. His ancestor, Thomas Murray, born in Tennessee, removed to Missouri with his family, one member of which was Thomas, who was born in Campbell county, Tenn., Jan- uary 28, 1797, and who in his early' manhood had plenty of experience of war. He went to the front in 1812. took part in the Black Hawk war and was in command of troops in the Mormon war. From his old home at Boones Lick, Cooper county. Mo., he moved to the mouth of the Moniteau river, in that state, where he was a farmer and a fei-ry- man until 184o, and then settled near AVest Point, Cass county. Mo., and resumed farming. Responding to the call of gold in California, his sons came to the Pacific coast as ])ioneers, and in 185.3 he and his wife and their three daughters joined them at Petaluma, where he died in his eighty-fifth year. In Missouri he was county judge four- teen years and there and in California he long held the office of jus- tice of the peace. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 449 The womau who became Mrs. Thomas Mnrray, Jr., was Miss Bar- bara Hunter, who was liorn in Powell's Valley, Tenn., July 7, 1797, and died at C'loverdale, Cal., in her eighty-fifth year. Her family came over from Germany to A'irginia and moved from there to Ten- nessee, where her father was a farmer. She bore her husband twelve children. Mary M. (Polly) became Mrs. Walker and died at Santa Rosa. Margaret (Mrs. Hensley) died in Madera county. Jane C. married Enoch Enloe and died in Cole coimty. Emily M., of Inyo county is Mrs. Hugh Enloe. Abram H., Sr., is the immediate subject of this notice. Urith (Mrs. Orr) died in California. Barbara Ann. of San Diego county, is Mrs. Williams. Joshua H. came to California in 1850, was a farmer and died at Yisalia. Josephine died when slie was ten years old. Rachael, of Santa Rosa, is Mrs. Clark. Sarah E., of Humboldt county, is Mrs. Stanley. Hannah Retta, of Cloverdale, Cal., is Mrs. Cooper. Abram Hunter Murray, Sr., was born January 17, 1827, ten miles west of Jefferson C-ity, Mo. At sixteen lie moved to Cass county, where lie lived until April 19, 1852, when, accompanied bj^ his wife and three children, he started over the plains toward California with ox-teams, driving a herd of cattle. The journey was made by way of the Missouri, the Platte and the Humboldt river trails into California by way of the Carson river route. They stopped a few weeks in Stockton, then came into what is now Tulare county. The country was then a wilderness, and with the exception of S. C. Brown, who had arrived a few days earlier, Mr. Murray was the first settler here. The ill-fated attempt of a Mr. Woods to establish a settlement near the present town of AVoodville in 1850 is a matter of history, which relates how he and seventeen of his men were killed by Indians, only one man escai)ing to tell the story of the slaughter. In what is now the western part of Visalia, Mr. Murray began to farm on an extensive scale. From California and the general gov- ernment he bought eighteen thousand acres of land which he after- wards lost through the vicissitudes of business, and in dry years he lost many sheep. In 1879 he engaged in steam-boating and in the wood trade, with lieadquarters at The Dalles, Oregon, but the climate there drove him back to California and he acquired a tract of two hundred acres in the ricli San Joaquin valley. Much of this projierty was sold, hut at the time of his death he owned forty acres in vineyard and alfalfa. On April 25, 1844, Mr. Murray married Miss Sarah T. Hensley, who was born in (Vile county. Mo., July 4, 1824. It was traditional in her family that her father, the Hon. John Hensley, a native of Ten- nessee and a pioneer in Missouri, passed through St. Louis when that old city was yet under the flag of Spain. For a time he lived in Gas- conade county, that state, but later was a pioneer in Cole county, and 450 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES was three times elected to represent his district in tlie senate of Mis- souri, where lie made a record as a man of honor and of pro,2:ressive ideas. Mrs. Murray died July 8, 1902. and her place at the old home- stead has been tilled by her eldest child, Mary Fannie, wife of William J. Adams, who came to California in 1859, and is mentioned elsewhere in this publication. The other children are: Thomas H., a ranchman near the Toll Gate, in Fresno county; Commodore P., a retired rancher, of Humboldt county; Jackson C, who is farming- in Fresno county; and A. H., Jr., court reporter of Visalia. Barbara E., who become Mrs. Taylor, died at her home on the White River, in Tulare county. Fraternally Mr. Murray affiliated with Visalia lodge No. 128, F. & A. M., of which he was twice elected master, and he was a de- mitted Chapter Mason. Politically he allied himself with Democrats. In his religious ideas he was liberal, but he was generous to all local denominations, especially to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of which Mrs. Murray was a member. . He passed away at his home in Tulare county, January 18, 1911. GEORGE WASHINGTON WILLIAMS In Polk county, Mo., George Washington Williams, who lives near the Santa Fe depot at Tulare, Tulare county, Cal., was born January 17, 1868. There he was reared and educated and there he lived, farming after he was old enough, until he was twenty years old. Then he turned his back on the parental homestead and set out alone in quest of the fortune which he was destined to find in far away Cali- fornia. Arriving in Tulare county in 1898 he worked there for a time on wages and then went to Butte county, where he was likewise employed a year and a half. Later he returned to Tulare county, within which he has since made his home. He continued working and saving his money four years and at the end of that time began farm- ing for himself on three hundred and twenty acres of land on White river, where he made a cro^i of grain, and in the following- year with a partner he seeded fourteen hundred acres, but the yeai" was a dry one and the crop did not materialize. The next season he garnered a very good crop from ti\e hundred acres south of Tulare, where he remained five years altogether, and then for one year farmed on rented land northwest of Tulare. In 190-J- he Ijbught eighty acres adjoining the city limits, on which he farmed and conducted a dairy four years, but which he now rents for dairying purposes. In 1907 Iw bought four hundred and eighty acres nine miles southwest- of Tulare, which lie sold in 1909, soon afterward buying four hundred acres six miles northwest of the city, and here he has farmed with niucli success TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 451 and has at this time one hundred acres in alfalfa, the remaindei- of hi.s land being devoted to the production of barley, wheat and corn. As a stockholder in the First National Banlv of Tulare and other- wise, Mr. AVilliaiiis has had from time to time to do with business interests not directly connected with the land, and in different ways he has, as occasion has offered, manifested a public spirit which has given him liigh place as a citizen. In 1898 he married Miss Emma Moody of Tulare. FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF TULARE A financial institution wliich was in its time |)owerfully influential in promotion of the advancement and prosperity of Tulare, Cal., was the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank, organized under the laws of California, with a capital of $25,000, in which Turner Nelson, John Goble, A. L. Wilson and H. M. Shreve were the principal stockliolders and active factors. In 1907 the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank was converted into a national bank, under the title of the First National Bank, Tulare, Cal. Its original capital of $25,000 was in 1910 in- creased to $100,000, all paid in. An idea of its progress is afforded in these figures, showing comparative deposits : October 6, 1908, $277,- 545.17; October 6, 1909, $358,237.89; October 6, 1910, $4.39,357.88; Octo- ber 6, 1911, $506,796.43; January 1, 1913, $530,900.59. At the date last given the resources of the liank were as follows : cash, and due from banks. $172,097.35; loans and discounts, $458,552.03; U. S. l)onds at par, $80,000.00; banking house and safe deposit vaults, $31,000.00; total resources, $743,283.37. Liabilities: deposits, $530,900.59; na- tional bank notes, $75,000.00; cai)ital stock, $100,000.00; surplus and profits, $32,385.28; total liabilities, $743,283.37. The bank is under government supervision and is a United States postal savings deposi- tory. Statement showing increase of accounts for the year l!n2: Loans — Total at December :!!, 1912 .$458,552.03 Total at December 31, 1911 406,949.40 Increase for the year $ 51,602.63 Deposits — Total Deceml)er 31, 1912 ,..$530,900.59 Total December 31, 1911 462,516.09 Increase $ 68,384.50 452 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Assets : December 31, 1912 $743,283.37 December 31, 1911 662,365.01 Increase $ 80,918.36 Open Checking Accounts — Commercial accounts December 31, 1912 1453 Savings accounts December 31, 1912 175 Total accounts for 1912 1628 Total accounts December 31, 1911 - 1379 Increase in number of accounts for year 1912 249 Its officers and directors are T. Nelson, president; H. M. Shreve, vice-president and manager; "W. E. Dunlap. cashier; J. J. Mitchell, first assistant cashier; A. T. Warden, second assistant cashier. The directors are: Turner Nelson, H. M. Shreve, Clarence M. Smith, M. (i. Cottle and C. R. Scott. Mr. Sniitl: is ])rpsident of the National Rank of Visalia. JAMES ADDISON MOOREHEAD It was within the borders of West Virginia of today, then a part of the Old Dominion, that James Addison Moorehead was born in 1830, and there he remained until he was seventeen years old, attend- ing school and learning something about farm labor and other work. In 1850 he went to Louisa county, Iowa, where he farmed until 1862, and in that year, in company with De AVitt Maxwell and the latter 's family, he came overland to California, the slow and wearisome journey consuming six months' time. They stopped at Salt Lake, Utah, three weeks, then came to Placerville by way of Carson, and from Placerville they pushed forward to Stockton, where the train was divided according to the respective destinations of the different members of the party. Mr. Moorehead worked a few days in a lumber yard in Stockton, and then found emplo^anent on the i-anch of William Bailey, with whom he remained two years, when, with two men of the name of Neuel, he went to the mines in Eldorado county, remaining there until in 1869, when he came to A'isalia. Hav- ing decided to take up land, he was advised to file a pre-emption claim on one hundred and sixty acres of public land six miles northwest of Tulare. Upon following this advice he lived there until he legally perfected his title to it and then he took up eighty acres adjoining his original claim. This land he im])roved and developed and farmed ^. ■? TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 455 with success until 1906, when he began to rent it out, its tenant at this time being Fred Billings. Mr. Moorehead was the first in this section to fence in a ranch and lirst to file on land liei'e under the advertising law, his claim having been entered in the fall of 1869. On his place is one of the largest oak trees in the world. The original Grange at Tulare numbered Mr. Moorehead among its members, but when its charter lapsed, he did not join the new grange which suc- ceeded it. For many years a feature of his business was threshing and one of his interesting reminiscences is of farming five hundred acres in Stokes valley in the period 1870-73, which were truly pioneer davs in that section. KENNEDY & ROBINSON Among the prominent business men of Hauford. Kings coimty, Cal., the members of the firm mentioned above are in high repute. Their establishment is one of the leading business institutions of the city and in its own field is ])erhaiis a leader in the county. It was opened July 1, 1910, though its proi)rietors had previously associated in business at Lemoore, where Mr. Robinson bought a half interest in the undertaking enterjirise of Bryans & Kennedy, Mr. Bryans retiring from the firm. J. L. Robinson was born in Delaware county, Iowa, April 19, 1872, and when he was seven years old was brought to Sutter county, Cal., by his parents, who lived there but a year. Going back to Iowa, they came again to California at the end of another twelve months. Once more they lived in California a year, and this time they removed to Nebraska, where they remained until 1888, when they came to Redding, Shasta county, Cal. Not long there- after they made their way back to Nebraska, whence they came to Hanford, arriving November 13, 1898. In the meantime Mr. Roliinson had gathered a good knowledge of ranching by actual ex]ierience in the west and of the grain and elevator business by conne(>tion with that interest in Cedar Rapids, Neb. During the first five years which elapsed after his coming, he raised wheat along the lake, about twenty miles south of Hanford; then he bought a ranch half a mile north of that city wliicli he traded after two years for another li\-e and one-half miles to the northwest, which he ojierated tlu'cc years and then sold out. Before this, however, he had bought into his present business, and in July, 1910, it was installed in a building built especially for it in Hanford. Since then the firm has conducted a branch establishment in Lemoore and its business in both towns has been very successful. Their equipment is as complete and as exjien- sive as that of anv of its kind in Central California and thcv opciatc 456 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES the only ainbulanoe in Kings county. Mr. Robinson has the Hanford end of the enterprise in charge, wliile Mr. Kennedy superintends the branch at Lemoore. Since he became a member of the business circle of Hanford, Mr. Robinson has in many ways demonstrated his public spirit. He is solicitously and helpfully interested in everything that tends to promote the city's growth and prosperity. Socially he affiliates with the Hanford organizations of the Order of Fraternal Aid and Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, having membership in the lodge, the encampment and the Rebekah auxiliary of the latter. PASCHAL BEQUETTE, Jr. In Iowa county. AA'is., Paschal Bequette was born in December, 1845, a son of Col. Paschal Bequette, Sr. In 1852 Col. Bequette brought his family across the plains with ox-teams to California and was for a short time in general merchandise trade in Sacra- mento, but being a man of unusual ability he was soon called to a more imi)ortant field of action. In 1853 he went to San Francisco to enter iipon his duties as receiver of public money and pension agent under appointment by President Franklin Pierce, and these offices he filled through the administration of President Buchanan. In 1859 moving with his family to Visalia, Tulare county, he there became the owner of land and established himself as a breeder of cattle and horses. He served the county as its treasurer and as deputy recorder and passed away in December, 1879. His wife was Elizabeth P. Dodge, a native of Wisconsin, and a daughter of ex-Governor Dodge of "Wisconsin, afterward the first United States senator from that state and a sister of Hon. A. C. Dodge, United States senator from Iowa, the father and son serving in the United States senate at the same time. Col. Bequette was a native of Missouri. Following are the names of the children of Paschal and Pllizabeth P. (Dodge) Bequette: Lewis L., Mary L., Christiana A., Philip, Mrs. N. (). Bradley, Mrs. S. G. Patrick, Frank R., and Paschal, Jr. The latter passed his childhood days in AVisconsin and was in lus seventh year when his family moved to California. His education was begun in San Francisco and continued at A^isalia, and it was in the office of the Visalia Delta that he served a five years' apprentice- ship at the printer's trade. AVhen he had perfected himself in his knowledge of "the art preservative of all arts" he went to Ilavilah. Kern county, and became half owner of the Courier, a newspaper published in that town. In 1869 he disposed of his interests at TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 457 HaviLah aud becaine a student at a business college at San Francisco, and in 1871 and 1872 lie was connected with the Los Angeles Netvs for a year. Returning to "\'isalia in the year last mentioned, he bought a hall' interest in the Visalia Times, which he disposed of eventually in order to engage in sheep raising in Kern county. On his retui'n to Tulare county he took u]) general farming and interested himself more actively in local politics than he had ever done before. He has served eight years as deputy county assessor, four years in the United States land office, four years as under-sheriff, in the administration of B. B. Parker, and he is now deputy county recorder and deputy county treasurer. All of these various olhces he has filled with ability and integrity which have commended liiiu tu the guod opin- ion of his fellow citizens of all classes. In 1875 Mr. Bequette married Martha L. Clarke, who has borne him children as follows: Augustus D., Paschal, Mary C, Elizabeth T., and James C. Mrs. Bequette is a daughter of James T. Clarke, a Mexican war veteran, aud a California pioneer of 1849, who was a prominent early stock-raiser in this state. Her mother, who was Mary A. Graves, was a member of the famous Donner party, the awful experiences of which are a part of the histoiy of pioneer immigration to California. Led by a man named Donner, these pioneers were snow-bound at the ])oint now known as Donner Lake in Nevada county, Cal., and a great number of them starved to death. E. C. FOSTER, M. D. A native of California and a graduate of its leading medical college, Dr. E. C. Foster, whose office is in the Emporium building, Hanford, Kings county, Cal., has amply proven his ability and success as a |)liysician and surgeon in general practice. Born in San Francisco, Cal., in 1877, Dr. Foster was educated in the jjublic schools there and in Oakland. He was graduated from the Oakland high school in 1898 and in that same year entered the medical - raisino;. After his father's deatli, Mr. Hart bought the farm outfit and stock and continued the enterprise, renting from time to time one thousand to twenty-five hundred acres of land for the purposes of his busi- ness, and he now owns six thousand acres. He has a herd of six Imndred cattle of the Durham and the Aberdeen Polled Angus lireeds, five hundred Poland-China hogs, one hundred and fifty horses and mules and a dairy of ninety cows. The woman who became the wife of Mr. Hart was Miss Lila Conlee, who was boiii in Morro, San Luis Obispo county, Cal., a daughter of Frank Conlee, who was a native of Illinois and a set- tler in California in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Hart became parents of children as follows : Weston C, Helen, Hazel Irene, Ethel C, Forest F. and Verna. Her father ])ecame a lumlier manufacturer at Creston and in Tulare county, and he is now farming and growing fruit at Springville. Ella Robinson, who became his wife and the mother of Mrs. Hart, was born in Canada. Mrs. Hart is the third in their family of nine children, all of wliom were early instructed in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which both Mr. and Mrs. Hart are also members. In his political convictions Mr. Hart is both liberal and conservative, preferring to reserve the right always to east his ballot for the man whom he regards the best fitted for a specific office. GEORGE JASPER The well-known stockbuyer, George Jasper, of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., is a native son of the state, having first opened liis eyes on the world in San Francisco, which city was his home until after he liad entered active life on his own account. He was but thirteen years old when he began riding the ranges for the firm of Miller & Lux. Later he was in charge of their livestock in different parts of the San Joaquin valley until he became a buyer, in which capacity he traveled throughout the coast country in quest of cattle for that firm. For twenty-three years he continued in their em]>loy, and in 1907 severed his connections with them and located at Han- ford as an independent luiyer. He buys stock in practically all- counties in the valley, and ships aI)out two carloads of hogs each week througli the year, and about sixteen hundi'ed to two thousand cattle annually. He is the owner of three hundi-ed and eighty acres of pasture land located within six miles of Hanford. 35 462 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES In 18!(S Mr. Jas[)er married Freda \'ou Helms, who has borne him two children, Myrtle and Tillie. Fraternally he affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Fraternal Order of Eagles, Woodmen of the World and I. D. E. S. As a business man he is in high repute and is privileged to take pride in his success because it has been won with principles of honor and square dealing. He takes a helpful interest in everything that pertains to the growth and development of Hanford, his public spirit impelling him to aid to the extent of his ability all movements for the general good. His standing in the community is all the more noteworthy because he is one of the finest and most satisfactory examples of the self-made man to be found in Central California. ST. BRIDGET'S CATHOLIC CHURCH St. Bridget's Catholic Church, of Hanford, Cal., was originally a mission attached to the parish of Visalia. In 1881 a plain little frame chapel was built by the Rev. Aguilera, pastor of Visalia, on two lots donated by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. This chapel was named after St. Bridget of Ireland, as the early Catholic settlers of Flanford were mostly Irish. The lots adjoining the church ])roperty were then a shepherd's camp. From the church records it appears that in the fall of 1886 the Rev. P. J. Smith was appointed first resident pastor of St. Bridget's church. In July, 1891, he was succeeded by Rev. P. Murphy, who held the rectorship till 1894, when the Rev. J. Brady was appointed. Meanwhile the growth of the parish made it necessary to enlarge tlie modest little chapel and to give it a more imposing appearance. This work was ably planned and carried out by Father Brady, so that tlie present church has a seating capacity of three hundred. In 1907 Father Brady being called to other fields, the Rev. G. Ashe was temi)orarily appointed pastor of St. Bridget's. During the six months of his labors in the parish a debt of several thousand dollars was liquidated. He was followed by the Rev. P. F. McLaughlin in 1908, who further embellished the interior of the church. The present pastor. Rev. P. G. Scher, was appointed in August 1911. In February, 1912, an assistant was given him in the person of Rev. M. Salvador from Portugal. Immediately additional Sunday services were arranged for in order to accommodate the ever increasing attendance and new fields were opened as missions of St. Bridget's. TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 4():; The Reverend Fathers now iu charge master the English, Ger- man, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French languages. All of Kings coimt}' and a good i)ortion of Fresno county is the extensive field of their labors. Owing to the growth of the city the church in recent years found itself in the best business section, hence the parish, after having successfully purchased a splendid site of nineteen lots in the heart of the residential district of the city, in Jime, 1912, moved the old church to the new site, disposed of the old parish rectory and erected in its stead another more spacious and better adapted to the needs of the parish. It is confidently hoped by the present pastor that ground will be broken in the fall, 1913, for a large public hall and parochial school, large enough to accommodate from three hundred to four hundred children. A Sunday-school of two hundred children, a marriage record of o^•er sixty and a l)aptismal record of nearly two hundred and seventy in the year 1912 give sufficient guarantee for a good school. A convent for a teaching order of nuns is also being con- templated at a later date. Among the three missions of St. Bridget's that of Lemoore is the most important. On January 6, 1911, the cornerstone was laid by Rt. Rev. Mgr. J. McCarthy, V. F., of Fresno for the new St. Peter's church, which was erected at the cost of $5,000. Instead of one monthly mass with an attendance of tifty, there are now three monthh' masses with an attendance of one hundred and fifty to two hundred. The church was dedicated with great solemnity by Rt. Rev. Bishop Thomas Conaty, D. D., of Los Angeles, November 24, 1912. Twelve miles from Hanford is the Indian Mission of Santa Rosa of Lima. The entire tribe of Taches, about sixty in number, is Cath- olic. Their ])resent chapel, now in a deplorable condition, was built by them about forty years ago, under the direction of Father William, a zealous Indian missionary of the Dominican Order. A new chapel will probably be built in the near future. Riverdale, nineteen miles northwest of Hanford. is the latest mission of St. l>ridget's. Mass is said there once a month iu a public hall. Catholics in that district have increased so rapidly during the past few months that the erection of a chapel iu Riverdale or the near town of Lanare is at present receiving considerable thought. Catholics in Stratford, about twenty-one miles southwest of Hanford, are also endeavoring to secure several lots, on which to build a chai)el. Thus St. Bridget's parish can boast of a rapid and wonderful growth, which no doubt in the near future will become e\-en more phenonaenal, as Providence has placed it in the midst of vast stretches of fertile lands rarelv found. 464 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES GEORGE A. BALLOU It is said "the prophet is not without honor except in his own country." The pioneer is a prophet who is honored in his own country as nowhere else; that is, after his prophecies have come true. His faith in the country where he elects to establish his home is a prophecy, and the development of the community' to numbers and to wealth is the fulfillment of his prophecy. Everj^where the pioneer is respected, and thoughtful men and women grieve be- cause, like the veterans of the Civil war, our pioneers are passing away. Soon they will be seen no more. But the good they have done will live after them. The making of the Tulare county of to- day came largely through the long-distance foresight and the humble trust and work of its pioneers. All such who could be reached have been given place in these pages. Indirectly many readers of this owe much to George A. Ballou, who has earned the rest from activity and from material cares which follows honest and patriotic endeavor. The Ballous of America are of French extraction. Bravely have they borne their part in the successive wars through which we have come to our national greatness. Many of the early Ballous were weavers, and it was but natural that in the infancy of our cotton in- dustry they became connected with it in one way or another. Ballou 's cottons, manufactured at Woonsocket, R. I., by Oliver Ballou, be- came known round the world. Harvey Ballou, Oliver's son, of Rhode Island birth and rearing, was a farmer and a bricklayer and jilasterer. He married Ruth Gould, born at Cape Cod, Mass., and they both died in Rhode Island, he in 1854. Of their three sons and three daugliters, George A. was next to the last born. September 26, 1832, was the time of his birth, and Cumberland, R. I., was the place. He gained a common school and academic education and received full instruction from his father in the secrets ol the plas- terer and bricklayer. In 1850 Mr. Ballou came to California, with other gold seekers, by way of Panama, and stopped eighteen months at San Diego, whence he went to Los Angeles. His mining was more remunerative than was that of others whom he remembers, and after a stay of eight months in Los Angeles, a shorter one at San Francisco and a period of working at his trade in Stockton, he resumed it for a time in Mari])()sa county. From there he went, eventually, back to Los Angeles, and in 1860 he became a jiioneer at Visalia. Here, after working as a plasterer and bricklayer several years, he began contracting in his line, and many of the early buildings of the town were erected under his superintendency. He continued his business actively till 1899, when he retired, the better to give attention to his property in town and his large lioldings, of more than a thousand acres, in Tulare and two other counties. His lands were bought C^ 1^,<:€^:^^ TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 4(;7 wlieu lie could Ituy tlieiii clieaply, and lie has wisely held them till they have participated in the rise in values which marks the differ- ence hetween the California of the last half of the last century and the California of today. When he invested in them he very practi- cally i)rophesied that they would be worth much more in his time than they were worth tlien, and he has been spared to know that his prophecy was not idly made. His sjTnpathies with humanity, of his'h and low and intermediate degrees, made him a Republican in the days when men of his intellectual type cast their influence for the elimination of slavery from the United States, and through all its history, through all its changing issues, he has acted with that ])arty ever since. All about him are evidences of his public spirit. Everywhere he goes he is greeted as a father and as a friend. He has been useful and in his declining years he is honored and happy and unfaltering in his faith in things to come. JOHN H. SMITPI A wide and diversified career has been that of John H. Smith, who was known as one of the oldest pioneers in the county. He was commonly called "Uncle John," his bright, cheerful and sunny dis- position making him a favorite of all who were fortunate enough to know him. Born at Grimstad, Norway, November 28, 1813, he was there reared, but lieing early imbued with a desire to follow the sea he followed this inclination and was but a boy when he shipped as a sailor, and for thirty-five years thereafter be endured the hards]ii]is as well as the joy of living on the water and visiting every port of interest in the world. His sea life took him often to the East In- dies, and he sailed around Cape Horn three times. It was in 1848 that he decided to give up seafaring life and at that time he landed in New York, where reports of gold found in the west immediately fired him with ambition to go there. He set sail for California, going around Cape Horn, and in 1850 reached San Francisco. He became a gold miner and followed this vocation for some years with varying success until 1866, his operations being chiefly in Tuolumne county. Turning his attention to more positive means of livelihood, Mr. Smith removed from that county to Summerville, Contra Costa county, and there engaged in coal mining in the employ of the Pittsburg Coal Mining company, remaining with them until 1875. During this ser- vice a fire broke out in the mines and Mr. Smith evinced the most courageous spiiit in bravely entering info a Imrning shaft and rescu- ing se\"en men. For his heroism he received from his employers as a memento a handsome gold watch costing $2UU. This watch, pre- 468 TULARE AXD KIXGS COUNTIES sented hhn by the ])resideiit of the mining company, is solid gold and engraved as i'oIk)ws: John II. Smitli, Pittsburg C. M. Co. For Noble Conduct iluring a fire at the Mine, Dec. 10th, 1871. Leaving the coal mines Mr. Smith came to the present homestead near Guernsey in 1875. Subseciuently he again engaged in coal min- ing at Coalinga, serving as superintendent of a coal mine for Messrs. Robinson & Rawlings, and it was while employed here that he lost his faithful wife and helpmate in 1889. The remainder of his life he spent engaged in farming and stockraising in company with his sons, Henry and AVilliam, at his home near Guernsey. Mr. Smith was well known for his honesty and kindly attitude toward everyone. Ener- getic and hardworking, when past eighty he performed his regular duties on the faiiii and he lived to attain a great age, his death occurring May li), 1;h)7, at which time he was probably tlie oldest man living in Kings county. On July 26, 1855, Mr. Smith was married at Sonora, Cal., to Anna Nilson, a native of Sweden. They became the parents of six sons and two daughters, as follows: George, born in 1856, died in in- fancy; William was born in 1858, and is a partner of Henry C, his brother; Albert, born in 1860, died in 1887; Emma, born in 1862, married Charles Freisch, of Traver, and died without issue in 1902; George (2), born in 1864, died in 1888; Henry C. is mentioned else- where in this publication; Matilda is the wife of Joseph Dalton, of Coalinga; she was born in 1867 and is the mother of seven children; Lewis, born in 1870' still owns an interest in the home ranch. Mr. Smith was i)articularly well known by all the people in the Lakeside country and was highly respected. His noble and loving character has ever been a l)eautiful exami)le of true living, and his influence for good was wide and strong, his memory being held dear by many who have just reason to honor his name and revere his memory. ALBERT a COLLINS One of the up-to-date and prosperous farmers of Tulare county, whose career has been one of progressive success, is Albert H. Collins, whose home is on the Tulare road, rural free delivery route No. 1, near Tulare city. Mr. Collins was born in Scotland county, Mo., March 2, 1861, grew to manhood on his father's farm and was educated chiefly in the public school in his home district. In 1882, when he was twenty-one years old, he went to western Montana, where for a time he was a stock-raiser and afterward until 1892 a general mer- chant. Then he returned to his old home in Missouri, whence he came in 1894 to California. Renting land two miles west of Tulare, TULAKE AND KINGS COUNTIES 4()!i lie devoted himself to the production of wheat, alfalfa, vineyard and some miseellaneoiis crops nntil lie l)OU,itht his i)rescnt jilace, Wxc miles north of Tulare, where he has lived since 1I)()'_'. It is a fifty-acre ranch, which lie has ,i;i-eatly improved hy the planting of shade trees and otherwise. He has forty-live acres in alfalfa, maintains a dairy of twenty cows and keeps thirty-six head of beef cattle, the same number of hogs, five horses and four hundred white Leghorn hens. In 1889 Mr. Collins married Miss Emma Riley, a native of Missouri, and they iiave a son, Floyd W. Collins, who is now about ten years old. Mr. Collins was a charter member of the local lodge of the Woodmen of the World and of the local lodge of Women of Woodcraft, a sister order to the Woodmen of the World, and with which Mrs. Collins is also identified. He affiliates also in a fraternal way with Kaweah Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men, of Tulare. lie was one of the promoters of the Dairy- men's Co-operative Creamery and has been a stockholder in the company controlling it during its entii'e history. He is a director also in the Tulare Irrigation Ditch Company and has from time to time been identified with other iniportant interests. As a citizen he has met all demands on his patriotism with a ready liberality that has added not a little to .his popularity. JAMES MILTON SETLIFF On North F] street in Tulare lives James Milton Setliff, who is well and favorably known throughout Tulare county as a progres- sive and successful farmer and stockraiser. Mr. Setliff was born in Tennessee March 8, 18()4, and was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools there. When he was twenty-one years old he came to California, locating in Tulare, where he was employed for three years at carjaentering and doing farm work. He then began farming on rented land, taking a tract of two hundred acres a mile out of town and one hundred and sixty acres six miles southwest. On both of these propei-ties he raised grain. In the following spring. in partnership with two others, he rented four hundred acres four miles west of Pixley and raised grain with good success. Next year he farmed that land and six hundred and forty acres a mile south of it, which proved a splendid undertaking. The following season was dry and he lost everything, and the next s]iring found him work- ing for wages in an effort to recover. The year after, with a pai't- ner, he farmed seven hundred acres west of Waukena, near the Ai'tesia school house, and was a])le to market nothing but ten tons of hav. Durinsi' the succeeding vear he devoted himself to teaming. 470 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES The following spring be seeded and planted forty acres near Paige, and in the fall he harvested fifteen tons of hay and four hundred and sixty-four sacks of grain. The subsequent year, with O. W. Grif- fith as a partner, he farmed seven hundred acres five miles south of Tulare and eighty acres of the Huff place near Paige. His next experience as a renter was on two hundred and forty acres of the Huff place and seven hundred and sixty acres in the section adjoin- ing it on the west, but he did not receive a great gain from this, and since 1906 he has farmed one hundred and ninety-five Huff acres and conducted a dairy on eighty acres of bis own land, milking thirty cows. Seventy acres of this tract, which he bought in 1896, are under alfalfa. In 1903 he bought sixty-four acres adjoining the Huff ranch, on which he keeps about two hundred and fifty hogs and breeds draft and driving horses. He has put eighty acres of the Huff land under alfalfa with a view to the establishment of a dairy- ing enterprise. He owns an interest in a thoroughbred Percherou stallion that cost $2,800 and has a good residence projierty in Tulare, to wliich city he moved in order to better educate his children. In 1891 Mr. Setliff married Miss Nannie Gully, a daughter of Bryant Gully, who lives eight miles south of Tulare, and she died in 1898, having borne him three children, Russel, Guy and Nannie. Russel has passed away. In 1901 he married Miss Lydia Garrett, a native of Mississippi, and to this union was born a son, Roland. Mr. Setliff was married a third time. On August 2, 1910, Mrs. Azaela Nicholson, of Tulare, liecame his wife. She is a daughter of Silas R. Gully, of Tulare. As a citizen Mr. Setliff takes a public- spirited interest in the community and in a fraternal way he affiliates with the Odd Fellows, the Elks and the Woodmen of the World. CHARLES EDWARD SMITH A native of the Prairie State who has made good in California is Charles Edward Smith, of Porterville, Tulare county. It was in Madison county. III., that he was born December 20, 1854. There he was educated and in the intervals of study acquired a i^ractical knowledge of farming. In young manhood, with his parents he went to Missouri, where he lived on a farm for about five years. After that he came to California, in the fall of 1886, locating in Tulare county and stojjped for a short time at Lemoore. Later he made his home in Tulare City and from there went to Kern county and pre-empted land on which he lived until he located his home at Porter- ville in 1891. There he acquired land which he eventually sold in order to engage in the grocery business. Thus he was employed TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 471 for ten years, then he sold his interests at Porterville and moved to San Jose, the better to educate his children, and remained there tiiree years. When he first came to Porterville it was a mere hamlet of a few houses, with only some small business beginnin.sj,s of different kinds. P)y tlie time he removed to San Jose it had acquired considerable importance, and when he moved back in lOOG it was to a town something like the Inistling and ])r()si)erous Porterville of today. In April, 1S8:>, in (iirard, Kan., Mr. Smith married Miss Livonia Leach, a native of Clinton county, 111., born April 18, 1862, who has borne him four cliildien, three of whom are living. May jnarried James Large and is living in Ventura county. Bessie is a student at the Normal school at Fresno, and Eda is in tlie grammar school at Porterville. Henry Allen died when he was twenty months old. Mrs. Smith's parents, William A. and Letty (Smith) Leach, immi- grated to C'alifornia in 1892. Her father died here in 1!)07; her mother survives, aged eighty-six years. Mr. Smith's father, Edwin Smith, is living at the age of eighty-six, but his mother, Elizabeth (Robinson) Smith, has passed away. Fraternally Mr. Smith affiliates with the Odd Fellows' lodge and encampment. As a citizen he is liberally ])ublic-spirited, never failing to respond to any appeal in the interest of the public good. DAVID ANTHONY VAUGHN Few men in the vicinity of Porterville are in higher repute than David Anthony Vaughn, a brief account of whose career to this time is here given. He was born at East Greenwich, Kent county, R. I., October 7, 1846, a son of Caleb and Lydia (Hathaway) Vaughn, natives of the same town. Caleb Vaughn, who was born in 1816, and now ninety-seven years old, is still living there; his wife died in 1881. They had two sons and four daughters: David A., William, Pheby, Susan, Lydia and Addie. Pheby, Addie and William are living at East Greenwich. In May, 1868, Mr. Vaughn started for California by way of Panama, and arrived at San Francisco June 13, following. That same year in San Joaquin county, he leased a five hundred and ten- acre ranch and for three years engaged in stock-raising and wheat growing. In 1871 he moved to Porterville, Tulare county, where for twenty years he giivc his attention almost exclusively to sheep raising. During that period lie jiurchased about six thousand acres of land from individuals and from the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. He has sold three hundred and twenty acres of orange 472 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES land, which is now being improved, and now owns fifty-three hundred and sixty acres, sixteen hundred acres of which is number one orange land. For the last thirty years he has grown wheat and raised cattle. In 1904, njion tlie organization of the First National Bank of Porter- ville, he was one of its original stockholders and he has since owned a considerable interest in the institution. In 1!)()7 he moved his family from his ranch to tlie city of Porterville, where he had bought a family residence at the intersection of Morton and D streets. He was elected mayor of Porterville in 1910 for a two-year term, after which he refused to again become a candidate. During his term of office he made a record as an able, honest and up-to-date executive. During all the years of his manhood he has been a Republican and he is still proiid to support the policies of that party. In 1880, at East Greenwich, R. I., Mr. Vaughn married Amanda M. Shippee, a daughter of Manser and Harriet Shippee. natives of that town. Mrs. Vaughn was educated in the public schools of East Greenwich, and came to California immediately after her marriage. L. U. Shippee, her uncle, had come to Stockton in 1853. Mrs. Vaughn's parents are both dead. She has two brothers and two sisters living in East Greenwich, R. I. Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn have two daughters, Minnie and Bessie. Minnie married J. S. Mc(iraliey, of Porterville. in 1903, and thev have a son named Earl. ROBERT M. SHOEMAKER New Jersey has been tlie mother state of many men who have achieved success in the West and on the Pacific coast. One such who has attained to high rank among the farmers of Tulare county is Robert M. Shoemaker, who is located four miles south of Lindsay. His parents were natives of New Jersey, descendants of old families in the East. Born in 1847, Mr. Shoemaker remained in his native state until 1905. There he was educated, farmed successfully and took a leading part in local political affairs, filling the offices of township conmiitteeman and supervisor for many years, until he came to California. There too, he married, in 1S75, Miss Sue Llewellyn, a native of that state, who bore him four children, three of whom are living. Two are married and settled for life in New Jersey, the other, E. O. Shoemaker, is a member of his parents' household. On coming to California, Mr. Shoemaker bought forty acres of raw land without any improvements. He has imjiroNed the place in many ways, adding to its productiveness and to its attractiveness as well. When Mr. Shoemaker came here in 1906 there was nothing TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 473 to be seen but wild oats and hog wallows, and not a nelglihor within .a mile, except Mrs. Allen Ilunsicker, fi'om whom he liought. lie has now a l)eautifnl cottage 40x24, a liani, .■')()x40, pumping ])lant, pipe lines for irrigation ])urposes. His land is now planted as follows: Thirteen acres in Valencia oranges ; eight acres in navel oranges ; five acres in pomelos ; three acres in pomegranates; one aci'e in building spot, alfalfa, garden, etc. Mr. Shoemaker has sold off ten acres. He has, from the beginning of his residence here, taken a deep interest in the affairs of the county and state and was one of the promoters and organizers of the Chamber of Commerce of Strathmore, Cal. Politically he has always been allied with the Democracy, believing that through the policies of the Democratic party greater good can be brought to greater numbers of the people than in any other way. Fraternally he affiliates with the Knights of the Golden Eagle, being a member of the Pitman Grove, N. J., organization of that order, and is a charter member of the Junior Order of American Mechanics at Pitman Grove, New Jersey. SCHIMMEL BROTHERS There are not in the vicinity of Tulare two men better or more favorably known than the brothers F. C. and A. R. Sehimmel, who live eight miles west of the city on the Paige Switch road. F. C. Sehimmel is a native of Yamhill county, Ore., while A. R. Sehimmel was born in Portland in the same state. Their parents farmed for a time near Portland, then engaged in milling and the lumber busi- ness in southern Oregon until 1901, when they disposed of their in- terests there and came to Kings county and farmed four years with W. H. Wilbur, of Alpaugh. In 1905 the brothers bought a tract of nine hundred and sixty aci-es of land six miles west and two miles south of Tulare, on which they have made all the improvements, including a residence, barns, ordinary fencing and hog-tight fence and two artesian wells. Their irrigation is largely su] (plied from the Packwood ditch, in wliicli they own four hundred and fifty-two shares. Four hundred acres of their land is in alfalfa and one hnu- dred is under irrigation. The feature of their business is the breed- ing of mules, for which they kee]) two jacks and one hundred mares for breeding purposes only, and lliey give special attention to the raising of hogs. T'esides the operation of the property just de- scribed they fai'iii six thousand acies near Angiola. devoting the en- tire tract to grain. They use a Holt machine and mules and also a harvester; at times they have harvested for others near by, but they have decided to confine their work of this kind to their own lands 474 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES in the future. They employ ten men in season and keep about forty head of work stock. In October, 1906, F. C. Schimmel married Fannie Garrison of Oregon. Both of the Schimmel brothers are members of Tulare lodge No. 1484, F. 0. E., and F. C. Schimmel affiliates with the Tulare organization of the Woodmen of the World. They are popular so- cially and are welcomed in business circles as men of enterprise and of tried and dependable pulilic spirit. W. J. SMITH In Montgomery county, Mo., W. J. Smith was born July 31, 1844, the son of M. II. and Rebecca (Eperson) Smith, natives respec- tively of Virginia and of Kentucky. His father passed away nearly thirty years ago and his mother, who married very young, died when she was but tliirty-three years old. W. J. Smith was early taken to Audrain county, Mo., where he lived until he was eighteen years old, obtaining an education in common schools and accustoming him- self to ijroductive labor. At the age above mentioned he came over- land to California with a wagon train of emigrants under the leader- ship of Captain Allen, taking his turn at standing guard whenever the party camped. His father and mother were of the party. The family halted at Marysville, then located at Knights Landing, where they lived from 1863 to 1872. In Modoc county Mr. Smith filed on public land on which he lived about fourteen years, and early in his residence there he and his wife were called upon to brave the terrors of the historic Modoc war. From Modoc county he came to Tulare county and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land near Red Banks. He is now the owner of forty acres, five acres of this being under orange trees, the balance devoted to peaches, apricots, miscellaneous fruits and grapes. His ranch is well supplied with buildings and all essentials to successful cultivation and he keeps six to eight horses. As a citizen he is influentially helpful, and in politics he is independent. He became a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows while a resident of Modoc county, and it was there too that he married. The lady who became his wife was Miss Florence Warren, a native of Oregon, and she has borne him ten children, Emma, James, Frank, Viola, Steward, Wilbert, Earl, Essie, Charles and Delma. Steward and Essie have passed away; James married Bertha Swan, and they and their son make their home at Red Banks; Emma became the wife of Elmer Brotherton of Visaiia and has borne him six children; Frank, of Wood Lake Valley, married Lena Ganes; Viola married August Woodward of Tulare. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 477 GEORGE WOOD Men of English birth who have won success in California are numerous, and among them one wliose career is properly within the scope of this work is George Wood, farmer and president of the Tulare Eucalj'ptus Company. Mr. Wood was born on the British isle, November 2, 1861. In 1884, when he was twenty-three years old, he came to Saskatchewan, Canada, and homesteaded land, which he improved until 1888. Then he disposed of liis interests there and during the succeeding seven years farmed and raised stock in Ward county, N. Dak. Subsequently until 1909 he lived in McKenzie county, N. Dak., where he took up one hundred and sixty acres of land and started in to raise sheep and cattle. In 1906, however, he sold off his stock, and after that he devoted himself to farming until he settled in California. In 1907 he visited Tulare county, Cal., and with a partner bouglit one bundled and thirty-two acres of land, of which he eventually retained sixty-nine acres. Since he located here he has made improvements on the property and has put forty acres under alfalfa and intends to handle the balance of the tract in the same way. His principal business is in growing hay, and he keeps little stock beyond what is necessary to ojierate his farm. In 1889 Mr. AYood married Miss Caroline E. Jones, an English woman, and they have four children, Arthur, Maggie, Frank and George. Maggie is the wife of Roy N. Johnson, of North Dakota. Mr. Wood knows farming as well as any man in his vicinity and his farm is sufficient evidence of that fact. He has achieved his success in life by wise planning and hard work. His interest in the com- munity with which he has cast his lot impels him to a course which marks him as a citizen of much public spirit. CHARLES F. BLASWICK A Californian born and bred, Charles F. Blaswick was born October 4, 1857, in Plumas countj', and he was taken l)y his parents to Colusa, then to Yuba county. From Yuba county he came to Tu- lare in 1886, and for the succeeding fourteen years he was em]>loyed continuously on the ranch of Joseph LaMarche. During tliat time he lived on the place, worked steadily and saved his money, and in 1900 lie bought one hundred and twenty acres on which was a small house and barn, and soon thereafter had built an addition to tlie residence, fenced the land and put in a dairy of thirty or forty cows and was breeding horses and hogs and making a specialty of ])ouItry. In these lines he has continued till the ])resent time. Much of his land is used for pasture. At the present time he is putting in eiglity 478 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES acres of alfalfa, and has installed electric lighting for his house and premises. He obtains water for domestic purposes by means of an artesian well with a six-inch pipe and for irrigation from two large wells, one a fifty-eight-footer, the other an eighty-footer, the jDumps in which are operated by one gasoline motor, one hundred inches of water being produced. Mr. Blaswick also raises stock on a small scale. His sons, William and Frederick, rent three hundred and twenty acres of the Gibson ranch, operate a dairy on the property and have one hundred and twenty acres in alfalfa and two hundred in grain. They rent also one hundred and sixty acres of the Birch Williams ranch, all of which is devoted to grain raising. The Dairpnen's Co-operative Creamery Company of Tulare numbers Mr. Blaswick among its stockholders. He affiliates with the Tulare lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a regular and social member of the Tulare organization of the Wood- men of the World. His sons are identified with the Woodmen of the World and the Fraternal Brotherhood, his daiighter Wilhelmina with the last mentioned order and Mrs. Blaswick with the order of Fraternal Aid. Mr. Blaswick married, Novemlier 27, 1884, Miss Anna Malile. a native of Yuba county, Cal., and they have four daughters and two sons. William and Frederick are ranchers, and the latter married Winifred Kessell. Wilhelmina married Elmer Berkerhoff and re- sides in Tulare county. Mary Ann, Allie and Leona are members of their parents' household. ROBERT 0. NEWMAN In North Carolina was liorn Jacob Newman, son of a ]iatriot of the war of 1812. He settled at Booneville, Mo., in 1821, and was a farmer and distiller, his distillery having stood a mile from the Missouri river. He went to Texas in 1854, and lived out his days at Port Sullivan. His son Jesse G. Newman was born at Booneville, Mo., grew up there, married and went to work as a farmer. In 1849 he turned his back on Booneville and, crossing the plaius with ox-team, mined on Feather river, Cal. In 1852 he went back to Boone- ville, where he died, aged fifty-two years. A man of ability, he was judge of Cooper county. Mo., eight years and was for a time cajitaiu of a company of Missouri Home Guards in the Federal service in the Ci^■il war. He was well known as an Odd Fellow. He married Elizabeth Plill, a native of Kentucky, daughter of James Hill, a Mississippian by birth, and an early settler and pioneer farmer at Booneville. Mr. Hill was sheriff of Cooper county and died there. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 479 after a life of activity aud usefulness. Mrs. Newmau survived her husband and eventually passed away in Tulare county. Of their twelve children, six are living: Robert Oscar, whose name is above; Jesse H. ; Harry Hill; Prank; Fannie, wife of George P. Robinson of Nevada; aud Maggie, widow of the late Marion Grove, of Visalia. The birtli of Robert Oscar Newman occurred July 4, 1848, in Booneville, Mo. There he was brought up to the life of a farmer's boy and educated in a district school, the Booneville school and Alli- son's Academy for Boys in that town. In the Civil War he served as a member of his father's company, which was called out during Shelby's raid in 1863 and Price's raid in 1864. Price came to Booneville with thirty thousand men, and as there were only a hun- dred and fifty men in the Home Guards, the latter was forced to sur- render, but its men were paroled three days later. After the war Mr. Newman farmed on the Newman place, near Booneville, till he was twenty-three years old. Then, in 1871, he went to Elko, Nev., where for two years he teamed in the mountains. After the death of his fathci' he retuiued to Missouri and conducted the home farm for his mother till in 1882, when he purchased an adjoining farm, which he sold two years later in order to come to Tulare county, Cal. Soon after his arrival he rented laud on the Cottonwood and went into wheat growing, having in charge four thousand acres of the Fielding Bacon holdings, running a big farming outfit which included seven eight-mule teams. By 1892 he had accumulated $25,000, but the financial stringency of 1893 and the reverses of several dry seasons made him as poor as he had been at the beginning of these extensive operations. In 1898 Mr. Newman settled on his pi-esent home property, then known as the old Morgan Beard ranch. His property now includes three hundred acres devoted to grain and alfalfa and six hundred and forty acres of the Fielding Bacon land. His specialty is the raising of fine trotting stock, and he is conspicuous as the dealer in Tulare county who invariably offers regular Standard bred horses. He has produced more record horses than any other man in the San Joaquin valley, among which have been the following: Robert Basler, 2.20, by Antebolo, 2.19, son of Electioneer, his dam being Elizabeth Basler; De Bernardi Basler, 2.I614, by Robert Basler; Ida Maj^ by Grosvenor, the dam of Homeward, 2.131^,, by Strathway, sired George G., 2.0514; Dr. W., 2.181/4, by Robert Basler; Jonesa "Basler, 2.05-%, by Robert Basler; Stoneway, 2.22, by Strathway, 2.19, whose dam was Elizabeth Basler; sired Myway, 2.151/4; Stoneletta, 2.151/4 at two years old. He owns at present Robert Direct, ten years old, by Direct, 2.05V:;, dam Daisy Basler, by Robert Basler, one of the finest bred horses in the United States; Dew Drop Basler, by Robert Basler; Ida May, by Grosvenor; Daisy Basler, by Robert Basler; 480 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES Wedding Bells, by Robert Easier ; all fine Standard bred luares. Mr. Newman is reputed to be one of the best judges of horses in America. For a time he dealt also in cattle and was the owner of a splendid herd of Jersey cows. At Booneville, Mo., Mr. Newman married Frances Ziegel, daugh- ter of Andrew Ziegel, an early settler, farmer and tanner in Missouri, and they have seven children : Grace, wife of Henry J. L^Tiuan, Hilo, Hawaii ; Walter, a graduate of the University of California ; Tracy, a merchant at Portland, Oregon; Elizabeth, a trained nurse, at Hono- lulu; Nellie, a graduate of the Visalia high school; Robert 0., Jr.. who was educated at the University of CaUfornia; Lola, a graduate of the Visalia high school. Mr. Newman is a Democrat and has been useful to his party in Tulare county by his long service as a member of the county central committee. He advocates all measures which, iu his opinion, promise to benefit any considerable number of his worthy fellow citizens, and, taken all in all, is one of the most i)rom- inent, substantial and useful citizens of his part of the state. LOWERY B. KING Among the progressive and prosperous Missourians who are making a record of success in Central California is L. B. King of Tulare county, whose ranch is on rural free delivery route No. 1, out of Visalia. Mr. King was born iu Buchanan county, in the state mentioned, March 5, 1865, a son of James W. and Elizabeth J. (Jones) King. He was reared and educated and taught farming in his native state as it was practiced there, and in 1886, when he was twenty-one years old, he came to California and settled near Visalia and for five years leased and operated a ranch belonging to Sands Baker. Later Mr. King farmed land iu the Kaweah Swamp district for several years, raising potatoes and other crops which yielded good returns. Then, responding to the call of the east, he went to Okla- homa and Missouri and tried to farm there, but was driven liack to California by destructive droughts; and here he has been content to remain ever since; here he firmly believes he will live out his allotted days on earth. For a time after his return he was foreman on the Kane ranch in Tulare county. Since January, 1007. he has farmed a one hundred and twenty acre ranch owned by Sands Baker, his father-in-law, which includes a profitable dairy of thirty-five cows. He gives attention to the breeding of horses and has several good brood mares which invariably raise fine colts. Hogs and chickens are a source of revenue to him; he has forty acres of alfalfa and a TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 481 S'ardeu. All in all, lie is one of the really successful farmers of his part of the county. As a citizen he is public-spiritedly heli^ful. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America. While lie has never been particularly active in political work, he is alert and patriotic in the performance of his duties as a voter and has ably tilled the office of clerk of the school board of the Union district and the office of school trustee. In 1892 Mr. King married Miss Mattie Baker, a native of Fresno county, and they have four children, Ethel F., Lauris M., Sands E. and Helen B. Lauris M. was graduated at fourteen from the ITnion High School, took a course at a boarding school in Los Angeles, and is now attending the Visalia high school. SAMUEL A. BREWER The prosperous rancher whose name is sufficient to direct the attention of the reader to this notice had lived in Kings county since 1873 and is one of the best known tillers of the soil and breeders of fine stock and poultry in all the country round about Hanford. Born at Coyote, Santa Clara county, Cal., March 8, 1867, he attended pub- lic schools until he was nineteen years old, then working on the ranch for his father until he was twenty-three, at which age he entered u]3on an independent career. It will be noted that he was only six years old when his family settled in Tulare county, in that ])art now known as Kings, and that he has lived here practically all his life. His first land purchase was one of twenty-one and one-quarter acres, but he rented and ran in connection with it the old Dillon place. This arrangement lasted but a year, however, for at the beginning of his second season he settled on his liome place and ))ranched out in the raising of cattle, hogs and chickens. Six years later he added to his holding by the purchase of another twenty-one acres, and b.y subsequent purchases has brought the area of his ranch up to eighty-five acres, well stocked, well provided with Imildings, machinery and apjjliances, and exceptionally well tilled. In recent years Mr. Brewer has devoted himself particularly to dairying and to hog-raising. In 1!K)8, as an experiment, Mr. Brewer i)ut in four acres of sugar beets and from that ])lanting secured sixty-two tons, which netted him $164, showing that, all things being equal, this is a profitable crop. He brought the first beet-drill to his ranch, the first cultivator, plowed the first beets and put the first beets in the car at Odessa. He was successful, following directions given to see what the ])ossibilities were. 4SL' TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Jamiiiiy 18, ISiUl, Mr. Brewer married Miss Elitie Webber, who was born in Newport, Pa., June 22, 1871, and they have three chil- dren living, whom they have named Harry A., Ethel M. and Clara L. One child died in infancy. While he is not very active politically, Mr. Brewer takes a broad view of all econouiic questions and loyally performs his duties as a citizen. He has never sought office, nor has he ever acce])ted it exce])t in one instance, when he consented to become a school trustee, in which capacity lie labored etfectively for local education during a period of six -years. His public spirit has been many times tried and never found wanting and his influence is always exerted for the amelioration of the conditions under which he and his neighbors must work ami li\e. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Fraternal Brother- hood. HENRY BERTCH An up-to-date and prominent dairyman of Tulare is Henry Bertch, who was born November 11, 1857, in Erie county, N. Y., twelve miles from Buffalo. There he followed the life of a farmer's general boy, gaining an education in the public schools, and he re- mained there until 1884, when he was twenty-seven years old. Com- ing then to Tulare county, Cal., he readily found farm work. He homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres and in 1885 bought one hundred and sixty acres more near Delano, in Kern county. These tracts he farmed six years without any adequate returns, suffering losses because of dry seasons. Later until 1895 he worked a rented farm in Tulare county, and then leased an adjoining farm and con- trolled an aggregate of three hundred and twenty acres, which he operated until 1898. In that year he bought one hundred and sixty acres eight miles west of Tulare, on which he made improvements, enclosing five fields with hog-tight fences. He planted three acres to orchard and gave fifty acres to alfalfa. He now has a dairy of twelve cows and devotes sixty-five acres of his land to grain and the balance to pasture. He has put down a well one hundred and seven feet deep for irrigation, which is fitted with a six-inch pump, the motor power of which is a fifteen horse-]K)wer gasoline engine, and a seventy-foot well for domestic uses. Dairying is perhaps his chief business aside from farming, and he is a stockholder in the Dairy- men's Co-operative Creamery at Tulare. In 1903 Mr. Bertch married Harriet Hoffman. Socially he affili- ates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a member TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 48?, bf the Tulare lodge. As a farmer he is well informed on all sub- jects pertaining to that vocation, being considered an authority. His public spirit is of a quality that makes him a most useful citizen. ORLANDO D. BARTON A great-grandson of a soldier of the Revolutionary war and a grandson of a soldier of the war of 1812, his progenitors in the pa- ternal line, Orlando D. Barton was born in La Salle county. 111., in 1847, a son of James and Susan (Davenport) Barton, natives of Mor- ris county, N. J., the former born November 2, 1819, and the latter on October 30, 1823. James Barton crossed the plains with his fam- ily in 1865, following the North Platte river route to Salt Lake and the Austin & Walker's lake route from there on. The Sioux Indians were then at war and caused the train of which the Bartons were members considerable trouble. However, the family arrived safely at Visalia October 6, that year, and camped near the present site of the Santa Fe depot. The father took up land at the site of Auckland and raised cattle there on four hundred and forty acres for fourteen years. In 1879 he moved to Three Rivers, where he lived until his death, September 2, 1912, except during the periods of his incum- bency of the office of supervisor of Tulare county, when his home was in . Visalia. The elder Mr. Barton was honored by election to the office in the county for fi\-e terms and was prominent in the management of county affairs. The court house was built under his supervision and he had charge of the erection of the old and the new county jails. He reached the advanced age of ninety-two years ' and ten months, his wife dying tTanuary 19, 1912, aged eighty-eight years and two months, and died on the sixty-ninth anniversary of their marriage. Both were honored as pioneers who braved the hardships of the overland trail to pave the way for the present civilization of California. Of their children we mention the following: Hudson D. married Sarah Harmon and they have six children — James, who married Nellie St. Clair and has two daughters; Frank, who mar- ried Miss Foucht, who has boi'ne him two children; Albertus, who married Miss Downing and has three children; and Royal V., Hugh and Orlena. Orlando D. is the immediate subject of this sketch. Enos D. was the next in order of ])irth. Jane married J. B. Weath- ers, of A^isalia, and they Jiave two children, Grover and Mrs. Carrie Sweet. Adelaide is the wife of J. H. Butts, of Hanford, and they have two children, Dell and Mrs. Ida Hamilton. Melissa married R. C. Hardin of Visalia and they have three children, Norman, Mrs. 484 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Blanche Young aud Beujamiu. James and Susan (Davenport) Bar- ton had, all counted, about fifty descendants. It is as a writer that Orlando D. Barton is perhaps ))est known, his articles about the Indians and other western subjects having been widely read. In the days of his youth he ranched with his father and brothers, helped to build sawmills and to get out lumber in the mountains, and taught three terms of school in the Cottonwood dis- trict. Later he settled on a ranch at Three Rivers, which is now the site of the River Iijn, and raised cattle and hogs there eight years. In the period since he has been interested in mining and oil, being a practical mineralogist of many years' study and experience. He is the owner of quite extensive oil interests in the Lost Hills and in the Devil's Den mining district of Kern and Kings counties. In 1880 Mr. Barton married Miss Maggie Allen, a native of California, who died in 1888, leaving two children. Their daughter Phoebe, wife of Alexander McLennan, of Visalia. has a son. Their son Cornelius is employed by the San Joaquin Light and Power Company. ASA T. GRIFFIN As soldier, farmer and citizen Asa T. Griffin has won the re- spect of all with whom he has from time to time been associated. He was born in Cooper county. Mo., August 8, 1842. and from there his family soon afterward moved to Benton county, where he grew up. In 1861, when lie was only nineteen years old, he enlisted in the Sixty-foTirth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the Civil war, when he was nmstered out at Louis- ^'i^e, Ky., in July, 1865. He took part in much historic fighting, including that at New Madrid, the siege and battle of Corinth, and later served under General Sherman in the South. Going back to his old home, he soon afterward located in St. Clair county. III., where he farmed successfully. In 1873 Mr. Griffin came to California and settled in Tulare county, and since that time he has lieen ranching near Visalia. Formerly he gave attention especially to cattle and to dairying, but now he owns twenty acres four miles southwest of AHsalia. ten acres of which is in Muir and Lovell peaches, another ten in alfalfa. Since 1906 he has been a rural mail carrier, delivering mail from Visalia over part of route No. 1. His service as a soldier makes him eligilile to membershi]) in the Grand Army of the Rejiublic, and in his post he is active and helpful. March 9, 1869, Mr. Griffin married Miss Ann Esther Preston, born Februarv 2, 1849, in St. Clair county. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 489 Mo. They have had six children : Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Collins, deceased ; James M. ; George P., also deceased ; and Benjamin, Thomas and Bernard. It will be seen tiiat the Griffins have been pioneers, generation after generation. Mr. Griffin's grandfather Griffin settled in How- ard county. Mo., in 1817, and his forefathers were pioneers further east. Mr. Griffin is a citizen of helpful impulses, who, in dit¥erent ways, has done much for the gonei'al good. The patriotic spirit that impelled him as a mere boy to risk his life for the preservation of the union of the states has directed him along the ways of public usefulness ever .since, wherever he has cast his lot. LINCOLN HENRY BYRON One of the progressive and up-to-date business men of Lemoore is Lincoln Henry Byron, who was born in 1866, in Contra Costa county, Cal. In 1868 he was brought by his ]iarents to Lemoore, Kings county, where he has since lived and which is now his head- quarters for the automobile agency, the success of which has made him well known throughout this ]>art of the state. He was educated in the public schools of Lemoore and in the University of the Pacific at San Jose, and then engaged in farming on the lake bottoms near the lake, where, in association with his father for seven years, he operated twenty-seven hundred acres. For two years thereafter he was in the livery business at Los Angeles, and the next two years he spent as proprietor and manager of the Germania hotel at .Ox- nard. Returning to Kings county he was for two years engaged in boring wells for water, and during the next four years he was a traveling agent for the Watkins Medicine compa7iy, with headquarters at Vancouver, Clark county. Wash. Then coming again to Lemoore, he bought, in 1906, the Joseiih Marriott homestead of eighty acres which he developed into a tine vineyard, meantime devoting part of his time to dealing in horses and selling tents and awnings. In 1911 he bought a half interest in the Lemoore garage. He is the agent for the Ford auto for the western half of Kings county, including Lemoore and Coalinga and their tributary territory, and so suc- cessful has he been in handling this car, which ranks among the best, that he sold twenty-oiu' machines lietween October ."Jl and Feb- luary 10 following, i^'icim time to time other interests have com- manded his attention and he has invested in oil land in the Devil's Den country and is ])romoting the oil development in that field. In 1887 Mr. Byron married Julia Bozeman and they have three children. Their daughter Bertha is the wife of Louis Buike of 486 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Coalinga, and their sons, Carl and Lawrence, are students in the liigh school at Lemoore. As a family the Byrons are popular wherever they are known. Their circle of acquaintance is wide and constantly extending and their influence in all their relations is exerted for the uplift of the commixnity. Mr. Byron is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. ARTHUR G. DALY This native son of the Golden State was born in Lake county May 20, 1858, a son of Patrick M. and Mary E. (O'Hara) Daly, natives, respectively, of Ireland and of New York. The elder Daly came to California, by way of Cape Horn, in 1848, and was the first bottler of porter in San Francisco. He was long in tlie cattle trade and in the pork packing business in the employ of Ruth, Brum & Company, and later bred cattle in Lake county until 1906, when he died. His wife had passed away December 20, 1881. Of their chil- dren the following survive : James P., of Exeter ; Dennis B., of Yokolil valley, Tulare county; Mrs. Maggie Clancy, of San Francisco; and Arthur G., of Visalia, who is the immediate subject of this notice. The father was one of the organizers of the Ancient Order of United "Workmen in Lake county, and was otherwise active and influential. It was in Lake county, Cal., that Arthur G. Daly was reared and educated, his book studies having been prosecuted in public scliools near his boyhood home. In 1882 he went to Ashland, Ore., and engaged in the sheep-raising industry. He came to the Yokohl val- ley in 1888, and for a number of years raised cattle on a ranch of seven hundred and fifty acres. In 1904 he bought one hundred and sixty acres near Farmersville at $25 an acre and im]iroved it and subsequently sold it at $90 an acre, a price that afforded him a fine profit. His present home farm of three hundred and twenty acres, three miles north of ^'isalia, he purchased December 1, 1907. Eighty acres of it is in alfalfa, and he raises many hogs, cattle and fine horses and has a dairy of thirty cows. Mr. Daly married Mrs. (Lee) Smith, a native of California. March 27, 1890. William Lee, her father, was an overland iiioneer in California in 1849, making the journey with ox-teams. He was born in Virginia and reared in Missouri, and had been a brave sol- dier in the Mexican war. For some years after he came to California he teamed in San Francisco, Fresno, Stockton and Sacramento. Then he came to Tulare county and got into the cattle business, in which he was active and successful around Visalia for many years. His death, April 24, 1892, was sincerely mourned by family, by friends, b>- all who had come within the influence of his personality. His TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 487 recollections of the west went back to the real pioneer days, the days of the miners, the outlaws and the vigilantes, of Indians and of the stern white men who risked their lives to defend their women and children against savage raids. He had done his part in Indian fighting- and had known many of those bold spirits who had made a profession of fighting the redskins. Of his children, the following named were living in 1912 : Joseph, Charles, Mrs. Mary Dnmout and Mrs. Arthur 6. Daly. With Exeter lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Mr. Daly is identified. He takes a helpful interest in all that pertains to the advancement of the people among whom he lives, is intelli- gently concerned in all i)ublic affairs and may be counted upon to be on the sane and patriotic side of any question of economic im- port. JOHN H. HAUSCHILDT New York has sent to California many men who have been an acquisition to its citizenship, efficient in the promotion of its impor- tant business interests and helpful in numerous directions. Among men of this class who are well known in the vicinity of Tulare, Tu- lare county, is John H. Hauschildt, a native of New York City, born August 20, 1869. As a youth he was taken to Kansas, where he lived until 1894, acquiring an education and farming and working in gen- eral merchandise stores. The Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma was opened September 16, 1893. He went down there from Kansas in 1894 and secured eighty acres, to the development of which he gave the ensuing three years and a half. Then he was in the Indian ser- vice six years and a half, until in 1904, when the state of his health impelled him to seek the climate of California. He came on here, and Ainil 18, 1906, inade his first land jiurchase in the state. It consisted of eighty acres of orchard, located six miles northwest of Tulare. In October, 1907, he bought twenty acres two miles west of Tulare, on the Hanfoi'd road, and here he has eighteen acres in alfalfa, a dairy of ten cows, many cattle and hogs and five hundred hens. As to his eighty acres, he disposed of the peach orchard and devoted twenty-five acres to prunes and fifteen acres to Muscat grapes and ])ut the remaining forty acres under alfalfa. This prop- erty he lets out for a cash rental. In 1896 Mr. Hauschildt married Miss Nora Hanson, of Kansas, and tliey have a son, Carl Hauscliiidt, who is a ' meinbei- of tlieir household. Tlie family are of the congregation of the Methodist Episcdjial cbiircli at Tiilaic and IVfr. Hauschildt is iJi-omiiient in the 488 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES affairs of the organization, filling the office of steward and acting as choirmaster. Believing in the idea that the human race should advance and that the place in which to begin all good work is at home, he gives generous aid to all efforts for the uplift of the com- munity. F. A. THOMAS A native son of Tulare county, one of the comparatively few elder ones who are leaders there now, F. A. Thomas was born Octo- ber 6, 1858, a son of William and Mary A. ( Jordan-Courtner) Thom- as. His father came across the ])lains from the east in 1852 and settled in San Bernardino county, whence he moved to Tulare county. His first marriage was to Eda Hall, who bore him a daughter named Adilla. Mary A. Jordan married William C'ourtner, and they came across the plains from Texas with ox-teams in 1847, John Jordan, father of Mary A. and grandfather of F. A. Thomas, having been captain of the train. After an eventful and wearisome journey of six months, they arrived in San Joaquin county, and there Mr. Jor- dan and Mr. Courtner passed away. The following are the names of the children of William and Mary A. (Jordan) Courtner: Eli, Jennie E., Lee C, James, Mary. Alice E., Ellis T., Preston B. and Melissa (who died in infancy). James is also deceased. All his life Mr. Thomas has farmed and raised stock. That he has prospered may be inferred from the fact that he owns one hun- dred and ten city lots in Tulare, eighty acres of timber land, twenty- eight acres of orange grove, an interest in the Courtner sawmills in the mountains, and he has recently sold twenty-two hundred acres of land in Drum valley. He freights lumber from his mill to Tulare, fifty-eight miles. His experiences in this part of the state compass the entire period of its modern development. He remembers well the killing by Digger Indians of Pioneer Woods and was well acquainted with Evans and Sontag and other celebrated characters whose names are identified with the earlier history of central California and has been on the spot where the two desperadoes mentioned were cap- tured, and had often hunted on the plains and in the woods and was one time treed l)y wild hogs. Among others whom he knew in earlier davs was Mr. Breckenridge, who was killed by Indians in Eshom valley, and it was since he came that the Dalton brothers had their short but eventful career in this part of the country. Politically he early affiliated with the Democratic party. He was a charter mem- ber of a local organization of the Woodmen of the World of Visalia. He has been very ])rominent in many movements for the benefit of the communitv, in which he is well known. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 489 RICHARD CHATTEN The Chatteii family, whieli for years was worthily represented in Visalia by the late Richard Chatten and now by his son Thomas A. Chatten, is prominent in Ontario, Canada, where Richard Chatten was born, December 11, 18l'(). Of English origin they have lived in Canada since the Colonial times, and here Mr. Chatten was reared to manhood, working in the lumber woods there and in the northern part of the United States. His educational training was ]5rocured in the common schools of Canada and New York, and in 1849 he returned to Canada for a short time. Anxious to see other parts of the world and find a more encouraging field for his labors he decided to seek the western country, and accordingly made his way to St. Louis, Mo., working as a river raftsman, rafting logs from the Wisconsin jiine woods, and at the age of twenty-seven years he was residing in that city. In the spring of 1850, in company with others, he outfitted seven ox-wagons and started overland for Cali- fornia, eager to try their fortunes with the rest of the gold-seekers. Taking a southern route they traveled through the state of Texas, and while there Mr. C-hatten met his future wife, who was Margaret Glenn, daughter of Alexander and Eleanor Glenn, who were also on their way to the coast, and tliey accordingly joined their trains and traveled the remaining distance together. On the way the Indians stole several head of tlieii' cattle, but the animals were so tired from their long trii> that they could not be driven fast enough and the party recovered them. They stopped at Salt Lake city for three weeks to rest and two weeks of this time Mr. Chatten was employed by Brigham Young, for which he was amply paid. The i)arty finally arrived in Los Angeles in the fall of the year, and Mr. Chatten and the four Glenn boys pushed on to what was then Sonora county, where they engaged in placer-mining near Mariposa, where he met with some success and after working there for a year and a half returned to Los Angeles, where he purchased about two hundred head of cattle, and this was the start of his extensive stock busi- ness. Driving his cattle about nine miles west of Visalia he settled there for a time, and was married there in the home of John C. Reed (in January 12, 1854, to Margaret Glenn, above mentioned. They siiffereil many hardshijis thi-ough the troublesome Indians and as busi- ness often took Mr. Chatten to Stockton and Los Angeles he was comi)elled to bring his wife to Visalia foi- protection during liis ab- sence. He came to ^^isalia in 1886 and that city had in him a wide- awake, industrious citizen until his death, which occurred there Aug- ust 12, 1896. He pros]>ered in his stock business by his clevei- management and untiring perseverance, and added to his projterty 490 TUJ.ARE AND KINGS COUXTIES from time to time imtil he became one of the largest hindholders in the vicinity. He owned the Mineral King fruit ranch of six hmidred and sixty acres, which lies east of Visalia and disposed of it at a gratifying profit. He also owned one of the first apple or chards in the county and at the time of his death his property hold- ings covered an area of about four thousand acres. Mr. Chatten laid out the Chatten ditch, now called the Fleming ditch and a part of the Mineral King Fruit company's holdings. Mrs. Chatten passed away in 1890, leaving one son and three daughters, namely: Thomas A., a prominent stockman and dairy- man of Visalia; Frances, of San Francisco; Celesta; and Eliza, wife of Louis Whitendale, near Visalia. For a second wife Mr. Chatten married, in 1S!)2, Mrs. Leah (Miller) Davis, widow of the late Thomas H. Davis, a pioneer of Antelope valley. Mrs. Chatten was born in Arkansas and crossed the plains to California in 1856, and since 1857 has been a resident of Tulare county. Mr. Chatten was a well- known Mason, and was always a prominent factor in movements that had for their object the benefit of his community, and his memory will ever be held sacred by his many friends and associates in Visalia and the' surrounding country, where he was best known. FRED C. HOWE It was in Santa Clara county that this native son of California was born in 1858. Henry X. and Rebecca J. Howe, his parents, came out here in 1852 from Maine, his father coming around Cape Horn, his mother by way of the Isthmus of Panama. For some time his father mined in Mariposa county and ran a sawmill near Felton in Santa Cruz county. Then the family went to British Columbia and lived there several years, while the father mined with little suc- cess near Caribou. Returning to California, they located at San Jose, Santa Clara county. When Fred C. Howe was sixteen years old he went to Solano, whence in 1875 he and his brother Frank came to what is now Kings county and located near the site of Han- ford. They acquired I'ailroad laud and remained in that vicinity until 1905, devoting themselves principally to the raising of grain. Then Fred C. Howe settled in Tulare county on eighty acres, eight and a half miles southwest from Tulare, which he bought of J. W. Stiff. There was on the place an artesian well, a house and some fencing, and eighty acres of it was given over to orchard. Mr. Howe has built a barn on the property, eliminated the orchard and en- closed the entire eighty acres in hog-tight fence. Irrigation is ob- tained from an artesian well and from the Tulare irrigating canal. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 491 With fifteen acres iu alfalfa, Mr. Plowe is doing general farming and raising blooded horses, cattle and hogs. Besides the operation of his home farm, he rents three hundred and twenty acres adjoining, on which he raises grain. For the past thirty j-ears or longer he has run a thresher in season in Tulare and Kings counties. He is a stockholder in the Dairymen's Co-operative Creamery Company. In 1890 Mr. Howe entered into a marriage ])y which he had two children, one of whom, Edith, is living at Oakland. In 1909 he married (second) Miss Elizabeth Stitt. HENRY GODFREY TRAEGER As proprietor of one of the leading furniture stores of Porter- ville, Tulare county, and as a high-class business man and man of affairs, the subject of this brief notice is well known in the central part of the state. He was born in Kenton, Hardin county, Ohio, April 10, 1859, a son of Augaistus and Margareta (Schope) Traeger. His parents were born in Germany, his father at Halle-ou-der-Saale January 23, 1824, his mother at Reichenburg, Bairon, November 6. 1831. Their marriage was celebrated April 15, 1852, at Kenton, Ohio. The son attended the public schools of Kenton until he was twelve years old, then took up the active duties of life as a clerk in a dry goods store in that town. Mr. Traeger came to Porterville in 1884, arriving November 26, and, failing to secure work in a store, began chopping wood by the cord. Soon, however, he fell a \ictim to fever and went to the moun- tains and found work as a herder of hogs. Forty-eight days later he returned to the valley iu good health. He worked ten acres of vineyard on shares, making from five thousand to six thousand gal- lons of wine each year for three years. He then went to work for Wilko Mentz in his store, as he supposed for only a week, luit re- mained for fourteen years, and gave it up only because of ill health in order to go to the mountains. For a time he took care of a lum- lier yard for A. M. Coburn; then he mined iu the White River dis- trict. Next we find him in Alaska, increased in weiglit from one hundred and thirty-five ]iounds to two hundred and eight jtounds and greatly improved in health. There he remained one season, and after his return he liecame a grain buyer for Eppenger & Comi)any. Later he was in the furniture business for five years, then traded his store for a grocery business, sold that and became interested in the electrical business, and then traded that for orange land, but soon discovered that he was not likely to succeed as a farmer and took advantage of a good opportunity to dis]3ose of his holding. For three years Mr. Traeger was deputy assessor undci- J. F. 492 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Gibsou ami assessed the taxpayers of the city of Poi'terville in the first and second years of its corporate existence. As a Republican he was elected a member of the board of trnstees of Porterville, in which capacity he served faithfully and efficiently three years, when he resigned. Socially he is a member of the Tule River Fishing and Shooting Association. Fraternally he associates with the Ma- sons, being a member of Porterville Lodge, F. & A. M., and the Royal Arch Chapter. At Porterville, September 5, 1891, Mr. Traeger married Mary Schmidt, a daughter of Joseph Schmidt, who was the leader of the Second Regiment Band at Black Point and the Presidio. They have children named Henry A., a trap-drummer, and Wilko J., the latter attending high school at Porterville. As a citizen Mr. Traeger has always been helpful to every movement for the advancement of Porterville and the country round about. CARYL CHURCH In 1878 Caryl Church moved to Tulare county and became a settler in the San Joaquin valley. He was born in Erie county, Ohio, June 6, 1846, and was eleven years old when his family innui- grated to Iowa and twenty-three when he came to California. His early life was spent in school and at work on his father's farm. For a time after he came to this state he worked for wages, mostly on ranches, and the knowledge of farming that he acquired in that way was a fitting complement to that which he had acquired under his father's instruction. Now he was a California farmer, fully com- petent to go into business for himself. Coming to Kings county, he located on what is now his home place, a fine ranch not far from Hanford. By successive purchases he has become the owner of four hundred acres of as productive land as is to be found in his vicinity. He began as a wheat raiser, and as such he was successful until stock raising promised him better returns. He raises hogs, horses and cattle, and his stock of whatever kind is as good as is oflFered in the market, always sells well and sometimes brings top-notch prices. In 1871 Mr. Church married Miss Annie E. Rowland, who was born in the state of New York. They became the parents of six children, Charles, Elery, Beecher, Birch. Carrie (the wife of Frank Sanborn), and one daughter who died in early childhood. The sons are living on adjoining ranches, all prospering by their devotion to the interests that have brought their father so much success. A recent specialty of Mr. Church is grapes, to which he has given five TULARE AND KING8 COUNTIES -i:i3 acres of suitable land. In the atifairs of his township, county, state and nation he takes a sincere and most intelligent interest, and he has many times manifested a commendable public spirit. THE FENWICK SANITARIUM In this era of ad\'anced surgery and scientific treatment of dis- ease, the sanitarium proiierly equipped and conducted is an absolute necessity in any cit.v. Visalia possesses in the Penwick Sanitarium, conducted and owned by Miss D. V. Fenwick, an institution afford- ing every facility in emergency and surgical cases and a <|uiet re- treat for persons desiring a restful environment in which to regain health. Miss Fenwick, who was graduated from the Los Angeles county and city hospitals in 1902, and from the ('hildren's hospital in San Francisco, is experienced in her chosen line. Patients in her care are allowed choice of physicians, and leading ]ihysicians and surgeons practice in and recommend the institution. This sani- tarium is ideally located on Mineral King avenue, far enough from the city to insure quiet and pure atmosphere. Fresh fruit from or- chards surrounding the building, vegetables from the sanitarium gar- den, butter and milk and cream from Miss P'enwick's own dairy and eggs from her ])oultry yard add much to the efficiency of the institution. The place has ]-ecently been remodeled and improved, and the building is one of the best appointed of its kind in central California. A new operating room, completely equipped, has been added and every modern aid to surgery is suiiplied; two ti'ained nurses are regularly employed and others as they are required, and the sanitarium is equal to the accommodation of fourteen patients. The various railroads of this section patronize it, which is in itself a sjilendid recommendation. The history of this institution dates from 1902, when it was establislied, in a small way, on South Court street, by its present owner and manager, who deserves great credit for the enterprise and perseverance which she has enq^loyed in maintaining and build- ing it u]). Miss Fenwick is a native daughter of Tulare county. ITer i)arents, P. L. and Sarah (Jones) Fenwick, wlio were born in Illinois, came overland to California in the earl}' '50s. For a time they stopped in Fresno county, then came to Tulare county, wJiere her father became a farmei- and cattle-raiser and o])ei-ated exten- sively near Orosi and in Antelope valley until Jaimai'y 15, 1911, when he died, aged eighty-one years. Following are the names of his children: Jasper, who died February 15, 1911; Alonzo L., Edward and Miss D. V. Thi' latter left home at the age of si.xteen to be- 494 TULABE AND KTXOS COUNTIES come a gTaduated trained nurse. How successful she lias been is known to all who are conversant with the splendid work done by the institution of which she is the head. Miss Fenwick is constantly improving her institution; within the past year she has remodeled the basement, installed electricity for heating and cooking, and has added restrooms, thus increasing the comfort of her patients, and is always looking out for the sanitation of the place and the health of its patrons. EAEL BAGBY In Clay county, Kans., January 8, 1887, Earl Bagby was born, and when he was a year old his family moved to California, locating at Visalia, where his parents, E. J. and Elizabeth (Hughes) Bagby, are still living. After his graduation from the grammar and high schools of that city, he entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, from which institution he was duly graduated with the LL. D. degree with the class of 1908, and soon afterwards was admitted to practice in the courts of Michigan. In November, 1908, he was ad- mitted to practice in all the courts in the state of California and opened a law office in Visalia. In November, 1910, he was elected to the office of justice of the peace, upon the duties of which he entered in January, 1911, and in the latter year he was elected judge of the recorders' court of Visalia. Before his election to these offices he had been for some time attorney for and assistant secretary of the California Humane Society. Fraternally Mr. Bagby affiliates with the Woodmen of the "World, in which he holds the office of Coimcil Commander ; with the F. 0. E., in which he is president; with the Loyal Order of Moose, of which he is treasurer, and the Independent Order of Foresters. He is ^^ee iiresideut of the Tennis club, a member of the Kaweah club, secretary of the board of trade of Visalia and secretary of the Demo- cratic County Central Committee. In 1911 he married Miss Celissa B. Wing, a native of Maine, being a daughter of F. H. and Sadie Wing. Mr. Bagby practices in all the federal courts of the state, ex- ce]it the court over which he presides. He was admitted to the United States District Court in the month of May, 1909, and to the United States Circuit Court in the same month. He has gained the respect of the entire community and has built up a large and lucra- tive practice in the superior courts. As an office attorney his coun- sel is sought by a large clientage. A great part of his work consists of conveyancing, in which line he has had a very extensive experi- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 495 ence. A large part of his legal work deals with the law of real prop- erty and contracts. In 1912 Mr. Bagliy bel]»ed to organize the Teal Gnn Club. This club has built two club houses aud made large duck ponds from the waters of an artesian well in section 28, township 24, range 25, upon six hundred and forty acres of land held under lease by said club. He is one of three directors; it is limited to twenty, and its member- ship extends to Kings as well as Tulare county. THOMAS E. HOWES The Middle West, constantly drawing on the East to fill up its quota of citizens, is as constantly sending some of its best blood to the Pacific coast, and its men arrive in California imbued with the spirit not only of the land immediately beyond the Rockies but of the whole broad country to the Atlantic. It is probalile that Illinois has sent as many good citizens to California as any otlier state in the favored region under consideration. One of them who is located near Hanford, Kings county, and is making for himself an enviable record is Thomas E. Howes, who was born in Dekalb countj^, in the Prairie State, February 11, 1863, the same year in which his father, Philip Howes, was killed in the Civil war. A few years later the boy came with his mother to California and was a student in the public school at Eucalyptus, Tulare (now Kings) county. At an early age be began to work on ranches round aliout and in a few years he gained a practical knowledge of farming as it was then conducted in this part of California. In 1882 Mr. Howes began farming on his own account on rented hind, and so successful was he that by 1886 he was able to buy eighty acres of good land, which is now included in his homestead. As he has accumulated money he has invested it in land from time to time until he is now the owner of over five hundred acres devoted to gen- eral farming and to dairying. He has improved his ranch in many \vays, and it now presents a view in which a good home aud aju]i]e barns and outbuildings are jileasing features. His methods of culti- vation are up to date, and he works only with machines and appli- ances of modern construction and efficiency. Since 1873 Mr. Howes lias been a resident of the vicinity where he is now living. At that time no trees were to be seen between Cross creek and Mussel slough on the plains. As a citizen he is known for his liberality of thought and for liis generous co-operation in the promotion of measures for the ])iihli(' weal. Fraternally he affiliates with the Independent Order of Foresters and with the Woodmen of the World. He married 496 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Cora Yuel November 15, 1885. Mrs. Howes, who is a native daughter jf California, was born June 20, 1868, and they have five children, Ralph, Everett, Marion, Forest and Ora. CHAUNCEY M. BAKER It was in Mill Creek valley that Chauncey M. Baker, one of the well-to-do farmers in the vicinity of Dunlap, was born July 3, 1877, and there he has spent his life to the present time. He attended the Mill Creek school and was initiated into the mysteries of fann- ing under his father's instruction. At San Rafael in 1905, Mr. Baker married Olive Hargrave, a native of Mendocino county, whose father, Charles M. Hargrave, crossed the plains in the pioneer days and was an early settler on Cache creek, Yolo county, whence he moved to Mendocino county. For several years prior to her marriage, Mrs. Baker taught school in Mendocino and Fresno counties. Mr. Baker homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land and January 10, 1908, received his patent from the government. That same year he bought four hundred and eighty acres, known as the old Turner place; in 1910 he added two hundred and forty acres known as the Wilson place and one hundred and sixty acres of rail- road land, and he is now the owner of one thousand and forty acres. He cultivates two hundred and fifty acres, and on fifty-five acres he raised one Inmdred and eighty tons of hay in 1910, and from some of his valley land he cleared $10 an acre in 1909. He has about three thousand cords of marketable wood on his place. He has given some attention to breeding fine stock and has on hand an average of forty to fifty head. He has lived here long enough to have witnessed the development of the district from a mountain country to produc- tive ranches and remembers when there were but half a dozen houses between the hills and Visalia, a section now dotted with mod- ern California farms. As a citizen he is generously ]m])lic spirited. Politically he is a Republican and fraternally he affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America. MRS. IDA MARGARET KAEHLER The highly esteemed woman whose name is above lives at No. 107 Hockett street, Porter\'ille, Tulare county, Cal., and is a repre- sentative of an old German family. Ferdinand Rodler, her father, a native of the Fatherland, was born May 24, 1823, married in 1857 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 497 aud came to the United States and devoted himself to the blacksmith trade. He was a fine mechanic, and, being also a good business man, he prospered. He died at his home in Davenport, Iowa, March 10, 1904, and his widow, formerly Johanna Louisa Pasclike, is living there at the age of eighty-five years, having been born in March. 1828. Their daughter, Ida Margaret, was born in Davenport June 20, 1860, and when she became of school age entered the public schools of that city, in which she was a pupil imtil she was thirteen years old, when she was sent to Berlin, Germany, to finish her educa- tion. Eeturning to Iowa when she was sixteen years old, in 1878 she married N. M. Kaehler, and they had three children. Walter, the eldest, died young. Alfred, the second son, is living at Hobart, Ind., with his wife and two children. Ferdinand is a machinist at Porter- ville. In 1884 Mr. and Mrs. Kaehler came to California aud settled on White river, in Tulare county, where she lived six years. In 1890 she moved to Piano and in 1902 from Piano to Porterville, which at that time was not a very promising village, having no railway facili- ties and few stores, its scanty population trading for the most part at Visalia. She now has a valuable and very attractive property, having built the hoiise she occupies, and is concentrating her hold- ings in Porterville and vicinity, having recently sold her real estate at Piano. What she owns she has earned herself, owning unimproved property and an interest in the gas plant. Brought up in the Chris- tian faith of her fathers, Mrs. Kaehler is devoutly religious, with faith in God and in her fellow men. She is firm in the belief that all people may become much better if they will learn the right and trv to do it. MANUEL I. MACHADO It was on one of the Azores that Manuel I. Maehado was liorn March 19, 1869, and he was reared and educated there and came to the United States in 1884. After remaining fifteen months in the East, most of the time in Massachusetts, he came to California and located at Fresno. Herding sheep in the vicinity for wages for a short time, he bouglit sheep and was in the business for himself six years. Then he bought one hundred and sixty acres of laud a mile and a half from the Cross creek school, where he raised alfalfa three years and lost his holdings because of crop failures. He then came to near Woodville, in Tulare county, and worked six hundred acres of land one year with good success. Using the money he made to pay his debts, he then began again at the bottom of the ladder, working 27 498 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES for wages, and after two years lie was able to rent forty acres of fruit and vinej^ard land eight miles southwest of Tulare. He re- placed eighteen acres of the trees with alfalfa and set out sis hun- dred trees of new varieties in place of others that had ceased to be profitable. Renting forty acres adjoining this land, he set out on it six acres of young orchard and devoted the remainder to vines. The first of these tracts he operated five years, the latter only one year, and then he bought one hundred and sixty acres three miles north of Waukena, which he has improved with good buildings, hog- tight fences and other api^liances essential to successful operation. Eighty-five acres of the land is under alfalfa. He has put down four wells, with depths of thirty feet, fifty feet, ninety-six feet and one hundred and twenty-five feet, respectively, for stock and domestic use. For irrigation he gets water from the Packwood ditch, in the companj- controlling which he owns one hundred and twenty shares of stock. A feature of his ranch is a fruit orchard for home use. He makes a specialty of horses, cattle and hogs and conducts a dairy of seventy cows. As a means to success in the latter venture he holds a membership in the Dairymen's Association of Tulare. He rents three hundred and ninety acres adjoining his home place and devotes one hundred and fifty acres of it to alfalfa, the remainder to grain and ])astura'ge. On this place he has a partner in stock- raising. In 1910 he bought forty- two acres at Paige's Switch, on which he built a fine residence, fences and other improvements. Twenty-five acres of this property are devoted to alfalfa. Here he lives, conducting a dairy of seven cows and raising a few horses, cattle and hogs. He has long been one of the foremost in all that pertains to agricultural advancement in the county, and besides be- longing to the Dairymen's Association he is a stockholder in the Co-operative Creamery and in the Rochdale store at Tulare. In August, 1893, Mr. Machado married Rosa M. Sauza and has seven children. Joseph is a member of their household. Mary is the wife of M. T. Barrerio of Tulare. The others, who are com- paratively young, are named Vivian, Louisa, Ida, Rosa and Sarah. Mr. Machado is a member of the I. D. E. S. organization of Tulare. He is helpful to religious and educational enterprises and is actively interested in everything pertaining to the welfare of the community. ALVIN B. SHIPPEY In and around Visalia stand many monuments to the enterprise and good taste of Alvin B. Shippey, architect, contractor and builder. Mr. Shippey is a native of the capital city of Tulare county and was TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 499 born March 28, 1874, a son of Daniel P. and Martha A. M. (Hurt) Shippey, both of Missouri birth, who came to Visalia in 1872. A carpenter by trade, Daniel P. Shippey operated a planing mill and worked at his trade in Visalia and has long been well known in connection with contracting and building interests in this city. Here some of his children were born and all of them grew up and were educated. The eldest is Mrs. Eva Sanders. The others are Mrs. Lela White, Walter of Porterville, Wilbur of Utah, Albert of Los An- geles, and Alvin B. of Visalia. After his graduation from the public schools of Visalia, Alvin B. Shippey learned the carpenter's trade under his father's instruc- tion; in fact, he began to learn it long before he left school, for he has driven nails since he was thirteen years old. He began his busi- ness career as a partner with his father and brother in the Shippey planing mill at Visalia, and in 1902 branched out for himself as a contractor and builder, making a specialty of doing architectural work and drawing plans for. his buildings. The following products of his artistic handicraft should be mentioned here as a part of the record of his busy life to date: The James Crowley home, a house for John Frans, the Co-operative Creamery building, the homes of L. Scott, J. B. Simpson, John Daly, 0. P. Swanson and L. Lucier, the North Methodist church, the new cannery building, the Palace stables and the residence of J. T. Akers; also twelve fine residences in Lindsay, the ranch house and barns of E. O. Miller, the Fred Hamilton residence, the Prairie Center school house and the resi- dence of Louis Felder. In 1902 Mr. Shippey married Miss Ethel Hamilton, a native daughter of California, whose father, J. Hamilton, was an early set tier in the state, and they have two children, Chester and Mervvn. MARTIN V. THOMAS In the state of Mississippi, one of the proud old Southern com- monwealths, Martin V. Thomas, who lives on the road two miles nortJi of the Hanford road, northwest of Tulare, and is one of the well-known citizens, of Tulare county, was born May 28, 1846. He was taken to Arkansas in childhood, and later went to Texas. He was reared to farm lal)or and educated in public schools, and in 1869 became a member of a j^arty that consumed a year in making the overland journey across the plains to California. In April, 1870, he arrived at Visalia, where he had friends and relatives, and, liking the place, decided to stay there. For ten years he worked in and around Visalia for wages, then farmed in the Visalia and Porterville neigh- borhoods until 1885, when he homesteaded one hundred and sixty 500 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES acres at White River, which he improved and farmed seven years. Selling that property, he bought four hundred and eighty acres east of Porterville, where he raised cattle and other stock two years. He disposed of that holding in order to buy sixty-six and one-half acres near Woodville, where he conducted a dairy two years. Finding a purchaser for the property, he bought one hundred and sixty acres at Tipton, where for two j'ears he raised stock and ran a dair^^ Sell- ing out there in 1911, he bought forty acres four miles west and two miles north of Tulare, on which he is successfully operating a dairy, milking ten cows and giving considerable attention to poultry. He has twenty-iave acres in alfalfa and four hundred fruit trees. His land is irrigated by electric power. In 1866, while he was a citizen of Arkansas, Mr. Thomas mar- ried Miss Lydia L. Dillard, a native of Alabama. She came across the plains with him from Texas and they became the parents of eleven children, ten of whom are living: Sam, of Tulare; Mrs. Ella Kirby, of Lindsay; Mrs. Ozie Orton, of Lindsay; Mrs. Frank Creech, of Tulare ; Mrs. Chidester, of Tulare ; Mrs. John Klindera, of Tipton ; Jefferson Thomas, of Tulare; Elmer, of Tulare; Ivan and Roy, mem- bers of their parents' household; and Edwin, who is deceased. Mr. Thomas is a genial, whole-souled man, wliose friends admire him for the active interest which makes him helpful to all local issues. JAMES W. WRIGHT The birthplace of James W. Wright was Newton county. Mo. He was born October 29, 1855, a son of John Wesley and Margaret (Lindsey) Wright, natives of Kentucky. The family moved to Texas in 1857 and remained there until 1879, Mr. Wright starting the first blacksmith shop in Decatur, Wise county. The elder Wright came out from Missouri to California in 1852 and stopped in Hangtown. His party started in the spring, with ox-teams, and was six mouths in mak- ing the journey. Indians stampeded their stock, most of which they uever recovered, and were troublesome otherwise. A young man of the party fell ill of fever and was left in a tent near pure running water, of which he drank copiously, with the result that his fever was subdued and he recovered and eventually made his fortune in Califor- nia gold mines. Crude law was established in the mining camp and swift justice, and sometimes injustice, was inflicted by self-constituted hangmen. Mr. Wright spent two years at Hangtown and at George- town, then returned to Newton county. Mo. From there he went eventually to Chico, Texas, where he engaged in the livery business. He had made some money in California, with which he got a good TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 501 start iu his new home, where he prospered satisfactorily and where he spent his last days. James W. Wright first located, in 1879, in Pomona, Los Angeles county, remaining there until 1891, when he located in Inyo county and farmed, raised stock and mined for eighteen years. In 1909 he went to Dunlap, Fresno county. He married. May 29, 1883, in Los Angeles county, Joan Hickox, who was born on November 8, 1860, in Nueces county, Texas. They have nine children: Alfred W., Gilbert W., Walter L., Winfield, Florence C, Katie, Warren, Felix and Lois. Alfred W. married Mary Remkes, and they have three children, Viola, Gladys and Arthur. Gilbert W. married Alice P. Remkes, and they have two daughters, lola and Grace. Walter L. and Winfield served in the United States navy. The others are at home. Ranching and stockraising were long Mr. Wright's principal busi- ness. He is now the proprietor of a hotel and feed barns in Dunlap and is materially adding to the capacity of his hotel by the construc- tion of additional rooms. As a business man he is highly respected in his town, where he is prominent in the local Democracy and affiliates with the Masonic order. He has in his possession a rocking chair in which he was rocked when he was an infant and a gold nugget from a Placerville mine, taken out in 1852 by his father-in-law, and other valuable relics of pioneer days. Mrs. Wright's father, Alfred Hickox, a native of Illinois, went to Texas in young manhood and from there came to California in 1852. After mining for a time he returned to Texas and engaged in stockraising. He again came overland to Cali- fornia in 1869, bringing with him his wife and four children and a step-daughter. Mr. Hickox was captain of the train, which suffered considerably at the hands of the Indians. He told afterward of a young man of the party who killed a squaw and was given up to the Indians, who took him away and he was never seen again. Another of his reminiscences concerned an event in Arizona. Some emigrants dropped a wagon wheel in a spring to tighten its tire ; it dropped out of sight, and the prairie schooner to which it belonged was abandoned bv the trail side. ALEXANDER CLARKE ECCLES Educated at Balmoral Agiicultural College, Belfast, Ireland, an institution established undci' the jiatvonage of Prince Albert, consort of the late Queen Victoria, Alexander Clarke Eccles, of Kings county, Cal., who was for a time horticultural commissioner for that county, was exceptionally well-fitted for the duties of that office and he is widelv known as one of the scientific farmers of Central California. 502 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES It was at Belfast, Ireland, that Mr. Eccles was born March 21, 1854. He remained there until he was thirty years old, for a time devoting himself to practical farming. He came to the United States in 1884 and after tarrying briefly in Kansas and Oregon, came to Redding, Shasta county, Cal., where he became a naturalized Ameri- can citizen. From Redding he went to Chico, Cal., aud for three years was foreman on the fruit farm of General John Bidwell. Then he came to Kings county and set out thirty acres of vineyard, north- east of Hanford, one-third of which he received for his work. After that he was made superintendent of the Del Norte Vineyard & Fruit Company and was in charge of its one hundred and sixty acres of fruits and vines for twelve consecutive years. After the termination of that service he bought forty acres of land two miles aud a quarter east of Lemoore and ])ut liis brain and hands to the work of its improvement. He now has thirteen acres in vineyard and ten acres in orchard. On this place he built a fine house and estaljlished his home. Later he bought eighty-five acres at Hardwick, which is under alfalfa and devoted to dairy purposes. In 1909 Mr. Eccles was appointed horticultural commissioner of Kings county, an office which he filled with much ability and for the duties of which he had a distant liking, but which he was compelled in 1911 to resign because of impaired eyesight. Personally he is popular throughout the county, being a stockholder in the Kings County Fruit and Raisin Company, a member of the Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World and Foresters of America. He is a member of the Armona Baptist church. His career here has been one of success, as will be readily understood when the comparatively late date of his coming is considered in connection with the fact that when he arrived he had but one dollar and is now worth $40,000. In 1901 he married Miss Maggie May Chamberlain, who was born in the state of Washington but was then a resident of Kings county. They have three children — Alexander Clarke, Ruth May and William Sloan. JOHN BROTHERS As favorably known through his connection with the Italian Svriss Company as through his identification with the Lemoore Chamber of Commerce and various fraternal organizations, John Brothers has won repute iu Kings county, Cal.. as a man of ability and efficiency, who may be depended u]ion to assist to the extent of his aliility any movement which in his opinion promises to benefit any considerable number of his fellow citizens. He was born in Illinois, TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES .jO;3 April 16, 1879, and was brought to California l)y his parents in 1883, when he was abont foni- years old. He is a son of (ieorij,e A. Brothers, a veteran school teacher, who won success also as a farmer. His mother, Mary E. Brothers, also a teacher, became known as a woman of mnch ability. The ehh'r ]\fr. Brothers first caine to tliis state in 1876 and innnediately engaged in teaching. He went back to Illinois and in 1877 retnrued, bringing liis family, and I'cinaincd until 1880, though his wife returned before that time to their old home in the East. In 1883 they came to Lemoore and were lioth employed as teachers in the public schools of that city. Mr. Brothei's had previously taught in (irangeville and in the Eoades School district. He died January 19, 1911. The last eighteen yeai's of his life he was engaged in the Government service and a large part of tliis time worked in the revenue service from the San Francisco Dei)artment of Internal Reveni;e. It was in Lemoore that Mr. Brothers grew up and began his education in the public schools. Ijater he continued his studies at Fresno, where he was duly graduated from the high school. During his youth he worked in grocery stores in Fresno and Lemoore and gave considerable time to the aquisition of a practical knowledge of blacksmithing and of the butcher business. From time to time he worked on farms in the vicinity of Fresno and later was associated with his father in some agricultural enterprises. He obtained a com- plete knowledge of ranching, fruit-growing and stock-raising and by 1902 was well fitted to enter the employ of the Italian Swiss Colony as sujierintendent and local nuinager. In this connection he has had charge of the colony's fifteen hundred acres of land, six hundred and fifty acres of which is in vineyard, the remainder being devoted to the cultivation of barley and alfalfa. Mr. Brothers personally Owns forty acres, two miles and a half northwest of Lemoore, which he has put under alfalfa and is farming with good results. His solicitude for the advancement of Lemoore impelled Mr. Brothers to consent to become a member of the board of trustees of that town, in which office he lias served eight years, four years of the time as president of the Ixiard. lie is one of the leading sjtirits in the local (liamber of Commerce and is secretary of that body. In the fire department of Lemoore he has always taken a helpful interest, and he is tlie very efficient secretary of that organization also. Socially he affiliates with the Independent Order of Red Men and with the Woodmen of the World and he is secretary of the local division of the first mentioned society. In 1903 he married Miss Iffie T. Foley, daughter of Dr. R. E. Foley, and they have two children. Geoi-ge E. and Carolvn E. Brothers. 504 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES JAMES H. MAY Natives of the South have always been warmly welcomed to Califoruia and none more so than sons of Alabama. James H. May was born in the state just mentioned and went early in life to Mont- gomery county, Ark., where he was in office fourteen years either as tax collector or sheriff. When the Civil war began he issued a call for volunteers and quickly recruited a company of three hundred and thirteen men, only nine of whom returned to Arkansas alive. He rose to be a major and later served as lieutenant-colonel of his regiment. Three of his sons were lost in the war, one being instantly killed in a charge within ten feet of the Union breastworks. In 1865 he became a cattleman in Texas, accumulated two thousand head of cattle, and prospered well until his business was ruined by dry seasons. He came to Califoruia in 1869 as captain of a train of ox- teams and later found in Tulare county some cattle that he had owned in Texas and marked with his l)raud "MAY," which had been driven overland by another man. Mr. May left Texas with one hundred and ten families in his train. In Arizona all but seven of these families were killed by Indians or died from sickness. His account of these events was very interesting. Until 1874 he teamed at and near Porterville. Then he raised sheep and cattle until he was driven out of business by the dry season of 1877, when his stock died. He was for a number of years road master of his district and in 1879-80 built the road across the Blue Ridge in the mountains. He served also as constable in the Tule River district. Miss Caroline Hockett, a sister of the famous John Hockett, who came to California before the discovery of gold, became the wife of Mr. May, and their children who survive are: James J.; Mrs. R. T. Hogancamp, of Bakersfield, Cal. ; and Mrs. Victoria M. Clarke. There were other children who are now dead. The father passed away in 1888, the mother seven years earlier. The only surviving son of James H. and Caroline (Hockett) May is James J. May, who lives a half a mile south of East Mineral King avenue, near Visalia. He was born in Montgomery county. Ark., and assisted his father in the latter 's farming operations until the elder May died in 1888. Then for a time he teamed in Kern county and afterward farmed ten years near Tipton and from there moved to Exeter, where for six years he operated the farming land on the Las Palomas ranch. He came to his present homestead in 1899. Here he owns forty acres which he has developed from wild, rough land to a productive ranch with an adequate irrigation system. He gives his attention principally to fruit and has planted six acres to prunes, twenty to Bartlett i)ears and two to peaches. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 505 Fraternally Mr. May afifiliates with the Masonic lodge at Visalia, Tulare City lodge No. 30(), I. O. O. P., and the local organization of the Woodmen of the World. As a citizen he is popular and he has in a public-spirited way done much for the benefit of the community. In 1885 he married Miss May E. Boas, a native of California, whose father settled at Lemon Cove in the early '50s. She has borne him four children: Loyal A.; Frank H. ; Lena, who is the wife of Arthur T. Dowse of Oakland, and Ruby. ALEXANDER WELLINGTON BASS In Dallas county. Mo., Alexander Wellington Bass was born, October 30, 1861. It was in that county that he was reared and gained much of his education in the jiublic school. When he was eighteen years old he accompanied his father to Boise City, Idaho, where he attended school two years longer. He early gained a knowledge of farming and at Boise City learned the carpenters' trade. Eventually he returned to Missouri and started back to Idaho by way of the coast in order to see California. He stopped off at Hanford March 9, 1888, and liking the town and the country round al^out obtained employ- ment on a farm, where he worked several months. Then, locating in Hanford. he took up carpentering and after three years became a contractor and builder. Three years later he added house-moving to his business and that part of his work became so important that it gradually commanded all his time and attention. As a contractor he had for a partner J. D. Ellis, and they confined their opera- tions mostly to building residences, of which they built as many in their period of activity as any concern in this part of the state. As a house-mover his operations have extended throughout the San Joaquin valley from Bakersfield to Stockton and he was once awarded a four-month contract as far away as Santa Rosa. As a Democrat Mr. Bass has been active in local and state politics for ten years. In 1909 he was elected to serve four years as a member of the board of trustees of Hanford. Fraternally he affiliates with Tent No. 40, K. 0. T. M., the Foresters of America, and the Woodmen of the World. He was long a member of the old Chamber of Com- merce and has for twenty-one years been identified with the volunteer fire department of Hanford. For twelve years he has served without pay as a trustee of the Hanford Cemetery Association. When he was elected there was no fund even to pay the sexton, but because of his good management the association now has a surplus of $11,000 to $12,000 at interest, a fund for the up-keep of the cemetery. September 6, 1888, Mr. Bass married Alice Howard, daughter of 506 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES John A. and Maiy Howard and a native of Clarke county, Mo. They have had six children: Earnest, born May 20, 1891; Ethel, July 9. 1897; Edna, August 16, 1900; Anita, April 12, 1902; Clarence, who died in 1906, aged seventeen years; Avis, who died at the age of ten months. Earnest is at home, and Ethel, Edna and Anita are attending school. DANIEL M. HERRIN Incidental to our economic development of the last half century has been the evolution of the modern creamery, a corporate agency which has come to do the work of a large number of individuals, and to do it better and to give results of a more uniform quality than was possible under the old order of things. Creameries are located here and there throughout the county, none of them are very large or conspicuous, and none of them attracts attention by such loud and discordant noises as emanate from industrial plants of various other kinds. But the products of creameries are used ever^Tvhere by every- body, in such an inmiense volume that the statistics of the industry are almost staggering. However, it was not to comment at length on this subject that this article was begun, and what little has been said con- cerning it has been set down by way of showing how important a work has engaged the talents of Daniel M. Herrin for some time past. Mr. Ilerrin was born in Marion county, Ind., July 2, 1862, and attended the public schools until he was nineteen years old. In 1891 he engaged in stock-raising and farming and gradually concerned himself in the creamery business. His interests in that way, small at lirst, increased until he was called to the management of the Tulare Creamery Company of Corcoran. He continued as the manager of the Corcoran i^lant of the Tulare Co-operative Creamery Company until March, 1912, when he resigned his position. He then organized the Lake View Creamery Company June 1, 1912, and began running regularly November 1 of that year. This is a stock company incorporated under the laws of the State of California with a capital stock of $50,000.00 of which Mr. Niss Hanson is president, F. A. Cleveland of Corcoran, secretary and treasurer, and Daniel M. Herrin is manager. They have installed a car lot service and are now shipping and selling direct to the wholesale trade of Los Angeles their choice milk and cream products. A three-ton ;!utomobile truck transports their products from the plant, which is substantially constructed and built of concrete and equipped with the best of machinery and located six miles southwest of Cor- coran, to the Santa Fe railway station. Thus expeditiously handled TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 507 the said products net their patrons about four cents per pound of butter fat more than can be realized if sold to the creameries. Mr. Herrin has been a citizen of Kings county since December, 1910, and since that time has never failed to respond liberally to any demand upon his public spirit. He is a Mason and socially he is a favorite with all who know him. His business methods are such as to appeal strongly to the farming community, and the institution of which he is the head is one of the most jDopular in this part of the state and is patronized more and more liberally with each passing year. ENOCH WORK It was on Cache Creek, Yolo county, that Enoch Work was born November 8, 1851, a son of Hopkins and Martha (Parker) Work, natives respectively of Tennessee and Kentucky. They came across the plains with ox-teams from the latter state in 1849, stopping at Hangtown and later at Georgetown and eventually moved to Yolo county, whence they came in 1859 to Tulare county and settled near Kaweah. The elder Work engaged in farming and stock-raising in that neighliorhood and ]5rospered there until 187.3, when he home- steaded land on Mill Creek, Fresno county, but soon relincjuished the title which was taken and perfected by his son Enoch. He bought an additional one hundred and sixty acres, increasing his holding to three hundred and twenty acres. This property they improved and it has l)een the family home to this time. When they came, only the Baker and Turnei- families lived in the neighborhood and there was no settlement at Dunlap. Cattle and horses roamed everywhere at will, there was an abundance of wild game and bear were so plentiful that Mr. Work lassoed one in the road and led him home, a feat which his cousin soon duplicated. ■ These animals were made food for hogs. The early settlers killed many deer. One hundred acres of Mr. Work's land is devoted to farming, nine acres to orchard, peaches, pears and apples being the priuci]:)al fruit, the remainder being under timber and pasture grass. He keeps thirty head of horses and cattle and one hundred and fifty hogs. In politics Mr. Work is non-partisan. As a citizen he is public- spirited and helpful and he was for some time school trustee in the Mill Creek district. He mari'ied, in Drum valley. Miss Alma Fen- wick, a native of Illinois. They have ten children: Angeline, Polly, Sarah Nettie, Thomas, Nicholas, Leora, Alma, Daisy, Orville and June. Angeline married Frank Hutchinson and bore him a son and a daughter; J. W. Howell is her present husband. Polly married 508 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES W. L. McElroy and has two ehildren. Sarah Nettie is the wife of C. H. McElroy and has one son. Thomas married Alma B. Howell and they have one child. Leora is the wife of Frank McHaley. Two of the younger ehildren of Mr. Work are attending school. STEPHEN E. HENLEY Born in Scott county, Iowa, in 1858, Stephen E. Henley of Porter- ville, Tulare county, Cal., attended the public schools near his home during the years of his boyhood and wlien quite young engaged in the stock business, raising and selling cattle. He continued in that line in his native state until 1901, when he came to California. Locating at Porterville, he bought three tracts of land, one of twenty acres set to oranges, one of eighty and one of forty acres. In 1907 he sold this ]iroperty, retaining only mining rights on eighty acres. His mining claim consists of a twelve-foot ledge of high grade china clay, an outcropping of spar, suitable for the making of porcelain and dishes. When he came to the county and had looked around a little he concluded that there was more ore here than more experienced miners would have believed, but he prospected for six years before he found what he was looking for, then opened the ledge known as the "Lost Squaw." He has been oifered $12,000 for the claim, but says that with $20,000 exposed to sight he could not sell at such a iigure. While Mr. Henley had the direction of the matter, his son, 0. F. Henley, and Budd Creeks actually discovered the ledge. He originated the Tulare County Power Company and was the first man of this company to file on the water rights of the Tule river, by which power has been developed and is being transmitted three hundred miles and used for pumping plants and other purposes. He sold out his interest in the company in 1911. Mr. Henley's wife was Laura M. Hartley, a native of Johnson county, Iowa, and their marriage was solemnized in that state in 1880. They have five children, all of wliom live in California. O. Floyd married Edith Bursell and has two children, Alta and Alberta ; his home is in Tulai-e county. Ada married Charles Roberts, and has two children, Ray and Alice May. May is Mrs. Bert Hoover, of Tulare county, and has one daughter, Aysha. Minnie is the wife of Ash Crabtree and has three children, Ramona, Clair and Emory. Maud is Mrs. Floy Wyer of Modesto, who has one son, Cecil. Mrs. Henley's parents were natives of Iowa. The story of the event that was instrumental in bringing Mr. Henley to California is not the least interesting feature of his bio- graphy. In 1889, while he was living in Northwest Iowa, he was TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 509 o caught bj' a terrific storm that carried damage to a wide and long stretch of country and fell under a nearly fatal lightning stroke. After that he was long in the hospital, and when, at length, he was dis- charged he had lost the use of his limbs, partly from paralysis caused by his accident, and partly from disuse, and was so impaired in health and vitality that his physicians advised him to seek the recuperative influence of a milder climate. CHARLES R. BLAMQUIST This well-known contractor, builder and farmer of Tulare, Cal., was born in Sweden, January 8, ISGG, and was there educated and fully instructed in the trade of the wagon maker. In 1884, when he was about twenty-two years old, he came to the United States and locating in St. Paul, Minn., found emplo>Tiient at his trade. In the fall of 1890 he went to Montana and there began his career as a contractor and builder. From 1891 to 1893 he devoted his energies to that business in Seattle, Wash., then came to Los Angeles, Cal., and acquired a half interest in the Los Angeles Fertilizer Company, which he retained until 1897. Then, disposing of his interests in Los Angeles, he went up to Lincoln and Yakima counties, Wash., where during the ensuing fourteen years he devoted himself to grain and stock-raising on eight hundred acres of land, occasionally doing a little Iniilding in order that his hand might not lose its cunning. We find him next at Klamath Falls, Ore., where he lived nine months and thence came to Tulare in July, 1909. Here he has devoted his attention principally to building, though in December, 1911. he bought forty acres of land two miles southeast of Tulare which he planted to alfalfa and is developing for dairy purjioses. At Tulare Mr. Blamquist has built twelve houses and he has built two others in the country nearby. Among these are the resi- dences of N. E. Stanley, Mrs. X. Anderson, E. S. Higdoii, Mrs. West and Mr. Martin, and also two for Charles Henley; the house which he erected for Alfred Crawford also deserves mention. Bv doing work in every way satisfactory he is gaining the confidence of the public, and his continued success is by no means in doubt. He affiliates with the Order of Fraternal Aid and in other ways manifests an interest in the social and business affairs of his community. At Pasadena in 1897 he married Miss Margaret V. Smith and they have the following children: Georgia, Miller and Newland. The success which Mr. Blamquist has achieved is purely that of the self-made man who is alert for opportunities and quick to grasp them, honest and straightforward in his dealings with his 510 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES fellow citizens, and he commands respect by showing respect for the rights and opinions of others. He has in many ways shown an admirable public spirit. GUSTAVUS A. RICHARDSON In San Jose. Santa Clara coimty, Cal., Gustavus A. Richardson was born January 12, 1856, a son of Roswell and Louisa (Rodgers) Richardson. His father was a native of PhTnouth, N. H., born June 24, 1797, a grandson of Samuel Richardson, who with his brothers, Ezekiel and Thomas, founded the town of Woburn, Mass., in 1641. Louisa Rodgers became his wife in 1849, in Clark county, Mo. In 1855 they came to California across the plains. After living in Santa Clara county three years, they moved to Tulare county, where Mr. Richardson died, July 4, 1877. His widow married George W. Hayden and died June 4, 1881, and was buried in the North Tule cemetery. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Richardson four children: Martha Matilda, born September 15, 1850, died in 1863; Georgiana, born August 8, 1862, died July 5, 1888; Benjamin Franklin, born October 30, 1854, died November 2, 1880; and Gustavus A. is the immediate subject of this article. A common school education was all that was afforded Gustavus A. Richardson in the days of his youth and he was only a small lad when he began to assist his father in the work of the ranch. When he was sixteen years old he took a bunch of horses to Salt Lake City and sold them and came back to Tulare county, being the only one to make the entire trip of the eight who started. In 1875 he went to Arizona and remained there until 1881, when he returned to Tulare county, where he controlled ranches until 1884. Then he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land on the North Tule river, where he farmed about twenty years, during which period he added to his acreage by various purchases. At this time his ranch is one of the best and most productive in its vicinity. The family home has been in Porterville since 1911. October 1. 1888, Mr. Richardson was appointed postmaster at Milo, Cal., and held the office until January 1, 1908, when he was succeeded by F. M. Ainsworth, in whose interest he had resigned, October 1, 1907. Politically he is Republican. Fraternally he affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, and is a charter member of Porterville lodge, No. 93, of that order. He married at Visalia, June 2, 1884, Mary Agnes (Braden) Ainsworth, daughter of John Braden, and widow of Andrew E. Ainsworth. Mrs. Ainsworth, who was a native of Kansas, had a son (A. E. Ainsworth) by her tirst marriage. He TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 511 was born January 16, 1877, was graduated at tlie Stockton Business College and wlien he was only eighteen years old was awarded a teachers' diploma. He taught successfully in public schools until his death, which occurred December 9, 1899. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Eicliardson, all natives of Tulare county: Eoswell Guy, born at Milo February 22, 1886, was educated in the public schools and at the Oakland Polytechnic. Gustavus Alvah, born at Milo, February 5, 1888, was graduated from public schools at fourteen, and from the Porterville high school at nineteen and was a student at the Potts Business College in 1909-10, and has since been employed by the Pasadena Ice Company. Eunice Marguerite, born at Milo, June 21, 1890, was graduated from public schools at thirteen and from the Porterville high school in her eighteenth year. She married Wilko Cutler Knupp at Porterville, September 22, 1908. Her child, Benora Knupp, was born May 31, 1909 ; Mrs. Knupp later entered the State Normal school at Los Angeles and was graduated there- from June 23, 1911, and is now teaching in Tulare county. Eoscoe Vinton Richardson, born at Milo, April 11, 1896, had two terms in the high school at Pasadena and is now attending the Porterville high school. AVhile the children were attending schools in Southern California, Mr. Richardson purchased and maintained a home in Pasadena, which he still owns. JAMES B. MAYER From a land of long, frigid winters to a land of winters short and sununery came the subject of this notice about the first of October, 1907. How well he has prospered here and how much he has done for the i)rosperity of his community is well known to business circles throughout Kings county, Cal. James B. Mayer, president of the First National Bank of Corcoran, was born in Su])erior, Wis., March 21, 1863. When he was about ten years old his father moved onto a timbered farm in northern Minnesota and he soon became well-known there, riot only as a farmer, but as lumberman, merchant and banker. Here young Mayer grew up to young manhood. He had begun his studies at the public schools of Superior, continued them in Minnesota and took a special course at the Curtis Business College of Minneapolis. At the age of twenty-four he became the deputy eountj' recorder of Carlton county, Minn., in which position his pleasing personality made him a favorite of the general public. His next venture was in the general merchandise business and it was while thus engaged he married Miss Nettie E. Hayes of Thomson, Minn., November 512 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 4, 1879. The felicitj' of this union was broken, liowever, by the death of his wife, which occurred at Floodwood, Minn., February 24, 1905, leaving him a son and daughter, Mildred, aged nineteen, and Jay, aged seventeen years. Other interests than banking engage Mr. Mayer's attention. He is secretary of the Corcoran Gas & Water Company, which he helped to organize in 1908, when it took over the Security Land & Loan Company, and has since provided an ample supply of good water for the needs of the growing town of Corcoran. He is also associated as stockholder in the Corcoran Land Company, also in the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company. Fraternally he affiliates with the Masons and Odd Fellows. Socially he is in favor with all who know him and politically he is active in the promotion of all that he deems best for the general good. THOMAS McCAETHY Ireland has given to the United States an element of fellowship that, by itself and by admixture with others, has been potent for progress since immigration began to come to these shores. Thomas McCarthy, born in County Kerry, on the Emerald Isle. April 22. 1855. sailed over to New York in 1872 and made his way with all possible speed to California, which was his real objective point. He stopped in Stanislaus county until 1874, then came to Kings county, where he has since lived and jDrospered. He became a laud owner here in 1875, when he bought eighty acres. In 1877 he bought another eighty-acre tract on which he has since established his home, and in 1887 bought forty acres southeast of Armona. He acquired two hundred and forty acres more in 1902, and is now owner of four hundred and forty acres of as good land as is to be found in the country round Hanford. He gives his attention to general farming and to hog-raising. His products always bring good prices and he has raised some of the best hogs that have been grown in his part of the county in recent years. His ranch is well equipped with everything essential to its successful operation and is provided with a good residence and plenty of up-to-date outbuildings of all kinds. As a citizen Mr. McCarthy is practical and progressive, having a firm faith in the fundamental principles underl^dng the government of his adopted country and having at heart always a deep solicitude for the happiness and prosperity of his fellow citizens of all classes. He was one of the builders of the Lakeside ditch and is serving as a director. TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 513 JOHN E. HALL One of the Tennesseans who have found fortune in the golden fields of California is John E. Hall, prominent citizen and farmer, who lives a mile west of Hanford in Kings county. Mr. Hall was born in Tennessee June 13, 18G8, and was reared there and educated in the common schools and worked at farming there until he was twenty- one years old, when he went to Wichita county, Texas. There he remained imtil lie came, in August, 1893, to Hanford, where he rented three hundred and twenty acres of land just northwest of the city limits and raised grain, grapes and fruit for five years. Then he bought the nucleus of his ijresent ranch, consisting of forty acres. A year after- ward he bought auotiier forty acres and later he bought eighty acres, then another forty acres a mile northwest of Hanford. Of the land in these several ])nrchases he has set forty acres in vines and sixty acres in orchard. The remainder of his land is in alfalfa and pasture. In 1911 he erected a large residence suited to his needs. Politically Mr. Hall is a Democrat who takes a really helpful interest in the affairs of his town and county. In 1905 and again in 1909 he was elected to represent the fourth district as a member of the Kings count}' l^oard of supervisors. During the time he has served on the board the county purchased the fifty-six acres for the site of the present county hospital and the building was erected thereon; also the courthouse park was enlarged at a cost of .$23,000. Besides he has built roads in his district and been identified with all the progressive movements for the upbuilding of the county. Fra- ternally he affiliates with the Masons, holding membership in lodge, chapter and commandery at Hanford. In December, 1891, Mr. Hall married Miss Addie Templeton, a native of Tennessee. Their seven children are: Ethel. Edna, Leslie, Vesta, Lois, Florence and George. RICHARD H. ARNETT As a farmer, as a friend to education and as a genial companion, Richard H. Arnett was known to many people in the vicinity of Visalia, Tulare countj-, Cal. He was born in West Virginia in September, 1850, and died at his home near Visalia, October 27, 1902. He left West Virginia for Missouri when he was eighteen years old, and later came to California. Arriving in Tulare county in 1875, Mr. Arnett began ranching north of Visalia before many mouths passed, and two years later he moved to the citj'. In 1882 he became owner of a ranch on East ril4 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Mineral King avenue which he began to improve in many ways and cultivated with success, though he had not been able down to the time of his death to clear it of all incumbrance. In 1877 Mr. Arnett luarried Miss Mary E. Shippey, a native of Missouri, whose father was an early settler in this part of Cali- fornia, and they had ten children: Dora, May, Frank, Richard H., Thomas. Fred, Blanche, Earl, an infant not named, and Walter. Dora is the wife of Clarence Cxoble. May married Andrew Groble. Frank married Etta Beede. Richard H. married Stella Swanson. Fred has passed away. Blanche is Mrs. J. R. Thompson. After her husband's death, the burden of managing the ranch fell on Mrs. Arnett 's shoulders. She had never had much to do with business, but had learned a good deal about it by observation. Rising to her respon- sibilities, she accepted the situation, and how well she has discharged all the obligations of her position is known to the community with which she and her husband cast their lot. Not only has she made a success of her farming and stock-raising, but she has cleared her property of all debt and now owns sixty acres of land in three sections of twenty acres each, all close to Visalia and valuable from every point of view. She raises cattle, hogs, chickens and turkeys which find a ready sale at good prices. All who know her rejoice in her prosperity, declaring that she is one of the best business women in Central California. WILLIAM E. FURMAN In Portage county, Ohio, September 4, 1841, William E. Furman was born, a son of Eli and Diantha (Hall) Furman, and when he was about four years old was taken by his parents to Marion county, Iowa. He attended school until he was about fifteen years old, and for thirty years afterward was employed by his father on the latter 's farm, sometimes in one state and sometimes in another, for the elder Furman tilled the soil in different places. The family came from Iowa to California in 1859, when William was about eighteen years old, and settled in Santa Clara county, where they lived thirteen or fourteen years. In 1873 they moved to Merced county, where the mother passed away at the age of sixty-one. It was not until his marriage, which was celebrated in 1882, that Mr. Furman took up the battle of life independently. Coming to Kings county in 1883 he settled on an eighty-acre ranch on which his home is now located. In 1887 he bought a second eighty-acre tract, forty acres of which he sub- sequently sold, and eight years later he bought one hundred and sixty acres. He gives his attention principally to stock-raising. His ranch TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 515 has been improved bj' himself with the exception of the house, which was built at the time of purchase. Those who know what Mr. Furman has accomplished know full well that he is a scientific farmer of varied attainments. September 25, 1882, Mr. Furman married Miss Mary Stothers, who was born in Pennsylvania, April 2, 1856, and came to this state in 1881. Of their seven children, Eli W. and Joseph M. are deceased. Those living are: Jesse I., Fred A., Florence A., wife of Duncan Hanker, Ella I., and Elmer L. As a citizen Mr. Furman is patriotic and public-spirited, interested in everything that pertains to the advancement of the general welfare. His father came to Kings county and made his home with his son, dying at the age of eighty years. OSCAR SAMUEL DEARDORFF That well-known young farmer, Oscar Samuel Deardortf, whose success near Hanford, Kings county, Cal., is being commented on in farming circles in all the country round about, is not only a native of California, but the son of a native of California, a fact which gives him a double claim to notice in a work of this character. He was born February 29, 1880, not far from his present home, a son of John H. Deardortf, who was born in Amador coimty, Cal., in 1852, came to Kings county in 1873 and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, winning much success, until he retired from active business. In the Cross Creek school, Oscar S. Deardorff was a student until he was seventeen years old. Thereafter he assisted his father until he attained his majority, and then he went into business for himself as a farmer and hog raiser. His success has been more than noteworthy and he is now the owner of a ranch of one hundred and twenty acres, highly iiuj^roved, which is equipped with good buildings of all kinds essential to its operation and with machinery and appliances of the most modern construction. Mr. Deardortf's knowledge of farming is both accurate and diversified and he is probably as good a judge of all that affects the production of good crops as any rancher in his neighborhood. September 9, 1903, Mr. Deardorff married Irene M. Dodge, a native of Kings county, born August 11, 1881. Socially he affiliates with the Fraternal Brotherhood and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Beyond doing his full duty as a citizen, at the polls and elsewhere, he is not particularly active in politics, but his under- standing of public questions is definite and his knowedge of all affairs 516 TULARE AND KINGS (.^OUNTIES of state is exact and comprehensive. He has in many ways demon- strated that he possesses public spirit adequate to all reasonable demands upon it. A. LEROY DIBBLE Many a native of Iowa has brought success to or found it in California, to which lowans have immigrated in large numbers for many years. It is a notable fact that not a few of the men at the head* of affairs in this state were born there or born of parents who came from there. A. L. Dibble, whose successes will be mentioned in this notice was born in Allamakee county, Iowa, January 9, 1861. He received a good public school education, and during the year before he attained his majority was employed by his father. The family had come to California about 1864 and to Tulare county in 1873, and the young man was thoroughly at home on the soil and practically acquainted with the most approved methods of husbandry which farmers were applying to their problems here on the coast. In 1882 Mr. Dibble began farming for himself on rented land, and in due time he bought an eighty-acre ranch and engaged in stock-raising and dairying. This place, which he has greatly improved, has been his home continuously from that time till the present, and as a home ranch it is one of the cosiest and best equipped in his vicinity. On May 7, 1882, he married Miss Mary A. Lewellyn, who was born in Nevada county, Cal., August 16, 1864. Their five children are: Grace Arvilla, widow of M. J. Devine; Effie E., Lawrence Leroy, Leonard A., and William Oscar. Mr. Dibble is identified with the Fraternal Brotherhood. Politic- ally he is not active beyond the requirements of his duties as a citizen, but his positive convictions concerning all questions of public policy make him a party man who yields staunch allegiance to the principles he feels called upon to espouse. He has never sought office and has steadfastly declined such official preferment as has been tendered him ; but he yielded to the solicitations of his friends that he become a school trustee in the Eraser district, and that office he filled with singular fidelity and efficiency. JAMES A. CRABTREE Born in Jefferson county. 111., November 13, 1829, James A. Crab- tree, now of Porterville, Tulare county, Cal., was taken to Arkansas by his ]iarents, John B. and Rebecca (Wilkerson) Crabtree, when about a TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 517 year old. The father was with Gen. Jackson at the Battle of Orleans and was one of the general 's body guards. He lived there three years, in Missouri three years and after that in Texas until in 1852. There James A. was educated in the coinnion seliools and learned to farm and handle cattle. In the year last mentioned the family started to California with ox-teams but on the way sold tlieir oxen and bought mules. They came to the coast tlirough Mexico, and then made their way from Mazatlan to San P''rancisco by boat. Enroute they were four days and nights without food, even without a drop of water, and it was with great ditliculty that Mr. Crabtree's father prevented some of the other passengers from throwing the cai)tain overboard. They were rescued by another lioat, but did not reach their destination until more than two montlis after their emliarkation. On August 26, 1852, they went to Santa Cruz, where they remained three years. After that they lived at San Juan six years, and then at Windsor, on Russian river, in Sonoma coimty, and again at San Juan for various periods until 1859, when they came to Tulare county, arriving in March. The elder Crabtree brought considerable stock to the county. He bought land of a squatter but never proved up on it. In 1857 James A. came to Tulare county from Pacheco rancho to look over the county, returning to the rest of the family later on and then coming with them in 1859. In 1857-58 he engaged in the hog business, driving them to the mines, where they found ready sale. After that he engaged in the sheep business and after moving onto his present ranch in 1873 has farmed, prospected and been in the fruit business. James A. bought land in 1868, when he bought the projierty on which he now lives. He owns in all one hundred and sixty acres, fourteen acres of which is in oranges, and the balance devoted to general farming, and every improvement he has put here himself. When the family came to this county white settlers were few, and Indians had killed several who had come before them. Deer, anteloj^e, bear and other game was i^lentiful. In one memorable bear hunt Mr. Crabtree came near losing liis life, Init the bear was killed and ])r()ved to be the largest grizzly ever seen in these parts. There being no fences in the mountains, the settlers had to watch their growing crops. Mr. Crabtree has vivid recollec- tions of strenuous occurrences at the time of certain big floods which are historic. In 1860 Mr. Crabtree married Miss Paulina Moreland, a native of Missouri; she passed away January 12, 1903. Two of their five children are living. Their son, William Crabtree, born in Tulare county in 1861, lives near his father. Their son Thomas was born in Santa Clara county in 1863, and looks after his father's interests. One daughter, Rebecca Maria, died aged about twenty-three, the other two children in earlv childhood. 518 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES As a public-spirited citizen, Mr. Crabtree has always had the high regard of all who have known Mm. Deeply concerned for the public welfare, he has never failed to respond promptly and gener- ously to any demand on behalf of the general good. He is honored as a pioneer, as a self-made man and as one who has achieved success honestlv and richlv deserves it. ELBERT R. MONTGOMERY It was in Blount county, Tenn., that Elbert R. Montgomery was born, October 10, 1869. He was educated in the public and high schools, and early began working with his father, being so employed until he reached the age of twenty-one years. He then took up farming and stock-raising, which has commanded his attention to the present time. In 1892 Mr. Montgomery moved from his old home in Tennessee to Texas, where he bought land and farmed imtil in 1894, when he came to California. Settling in Fresno county, he engaged in ranching there, remaining four years. In 1897 he removed to Kings county and settled at his present location near Hanford, where with his brother John he rented six hundred and forty acres of land for three years, at which time they purchased it. Later they sold a quarter section of this tract and divided the remainder. At the present time Mr. Montgomery owns two hundred and fifteen acres, which he devotes very siiccessfully to stock-raising. His ranch is one of the best of its class in its vicinity and he gives attention to fine stock, which he handles with a success born of long experience and with an intimate knowledge of breeding conditions and of the market. Fraternally Mr. Montgomery affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, to the various interests of which he is helpfully devoted, and as a citizen he has shown himself to be possessed of a public spirit equal to any reasonable demand on behalf of the community. He married Laura E. Barnett, December 3, 1905. She was born in Kings county, June 25, 1880, a daughter of Z. T. Barnett of Hanford. They have one child, Elbert Montgomery, who was born October 13, 1906. WILBUR COOLIDGE A comparatively late comer to California who achieved success here was Wilbur Coolidge, who lives on rural free delivery route number three, Porterville, Tulare county. Mr. Coolidge was a native TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 519 of the state of Pennsylvania, born December 24, 1849. He was reared and educated in the Keystone state and lived near Wellsboro, until the fall of 1908, wlien he came to California and located in Tulare county. Most of his years of manhood were passed in the work of a skillful joiner. In 1873 Mr. Coolidge married Miss Lucy Kimball, of Pennsyl- vania, who has borne him six children: Jennie married S. F. Bellinger and lives in Philadelphia, Pa.; Leon is married and lives in Kent, Ohio ; Purley V. is married and a resident of Tulare county, Cal. ; Milton, who is married, is associated with his brother Purley in conducting the ranch; Morton, next in order of birth, is in San Francisco; Gordon is in school. Mrs. Coolidge's parents, Hiram and Katharine Kimball, have passed away. Mr. Coolidge bought twenty-six acres of raw land which he set to the best grade of oranges. He was interested in everything that pertained to the uplift of his community, in schools, in churches, and in politics. Especiall.y did the economic questions which have so much to do with the general prosjoerity invite his thought, and as a voter he considered all things involved very carefully before casting his ballot for specific men or measures. Mr. Coolidge passed away September 10, 1912, aged sixty-three years. FRANK E. HOWE Perhaps a man who was liorn at Silverville, San Mateo county, Cal., January 31, 1853, could not with entire propriety be called a pioneer, but that he was the offspring of pioneers cannot lie doul)ted. The place of his birth does not now appear in the Postoffice Guide, but in those days it was a mining camp and very much alive. When Frank Howe was two years old he was taken by his parents to Mariposa county, when he was seven years old they took him to Santa C'lara county, and when he was sixteen years of age he had at least temporarily shaken off the shadow of the parental roof and was working for wages in a sawmill, a hopeful young citizen of a great country, with not so very much behind him Init with tiie whole world before him. In October, 1875, he came to Kings county and in the following year, when he was twenty-three, he was settkvl on what is now a portion of his home farm and had made a good start with gi-ain-raising and dairying. He has added to his original acreage from time to time until lie now owns five hundred and sixty acres, most of it given over to pasture and to alfalfa. He is making a success with stock, raising a goodly number of horses and cattle and many hogs. 520 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES In his political affiliations Mr. Howe has been for many years a Republican, devoted heart and soul to the work that has been done by his party and supporting' its men and measures in all cam]iai,2;ns and elections. Such political work as he has done has been in the public interest, not to secure official preferment for himself. He has accepted only one office, that of school trustee, which he filled with much ability and credit, using all his influence to improve the school in his vicinity. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, generously helpful to all its interests. May 22, 1877, he married Annie Dibble, who was born in Iowa in 1859 and has a vivid recollection of having crossed the plains in a' wagon in 1862 with a train of fourteen wagons drawn by oxen and mules. She is a daughter of Edwin J. and Hannah (Blend) Dibble, pioneers of Califor- nia. They have children named Pxlwin H., Albert P., and Chester M. Two died in earlv childhood. Ernest and Frank both died in 1886. ROLAND L. KINCAID The father of R. L. Kincaid was James A. Kincaid, who came across the plains to California in 1850. took up land in Tulare county, about the present site of Tulare City, moved to Springville, and is now living at Porterville, Cal.. his wife, Mary Bibbins, having passed away in 1904. Their son was l)orn in Mountain View, Santa Clara county, on October 2, 1871, and in 1879 was taken by his parents to Tulare county, to a home on the ranch on which he now lives. It embraces four hundred and eighty acres and is devoted ])rincipally to grain-growing. In the public school in Frazier valley Mr. Kincaid received his primary education and it was by three years' study in Los Angeles that he attained his graduation. On October 2, 1892, he married Miss Alice Weddle, a native of AVashington county, Ind.. born in 1873. .She has borne him seven children: Gertrude A.. Ava L.. Harold R., Mary B.. Bessie I., and Erma A. Edith died in infancy. The four eldest have finished their grammar school studies. Mrs. Kincaid 's father, Arne L. Weddle, a native of Virginia, has passed away; her mother, Lucinda Motsinger Weddle, is living in Dinuba. As a farmer, Mr. Kincaid is up-to-date in his methods and his success is such as is achieved only by close attention to the work of the farm and by the application of an intimate knowledge of its requirements. He is not active in a political way but has the interests of the commimity at heart and, officially and otherwise, has done much for the school in the Frazier valley district. It is probable TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 521 that no other important question appeals to him so strongly as does that of public education, hut there is no demand on his public spirit that does not receive prompt and generous response. MICHAEL M. LYNCH In the county of Limerick, Ireland, Michael M. Lynch was born in 1849. There he was reared to manhood and educated and when he was twenty years old, he and a cousin came with his brother, who had been in New York a year, to California via Panama. In his native land he had worked on farms and in order to get a start in America, had made up his mind to come west. California had been his objective point, and in his journey to the other side of the continent he was destined to encovinter discouraging vicissitudes. The vessel on which he started was disabled and wrecked and put back into New York harbor twice. Then he made a successful departure and came to San Francisco, arriving in June, 1869. After a short stay in the Bay City, he went to Santa Cruz county, where he remained from late in 1869 until in April, 1873. Then, locating in Tulare county, he pre-empted and homesteaded land and engaged in farming and raising horses, sheep, hogs and cattle and was so suc- cessful that he was enabled to buy land from time to time until he owned more than two thousand acres. At this time, Mr. Lynch, though he has sold off a considerable acreage, retains a large holding. In the days when he farmed and ran cattle he had many exciting encounters with cattle thieves. He sold the last of his cattle about a year ago and at his ranch, seven miles and a half northeast of Porterville, is living in retirement from active enterprise, or as he expressed it is "taking life easy." He has been too busy to take any active part in political work, but he has always been deeply interested in economic questions and has been ready at all times to do his utmost for the welfare of the community. In 1885 Mr. Lynch married Miss Fannie Grant, a native of Ire- land, who has been a resident of California since 1880. W. H. McCRACKEN In Hickory county, Mo., W. H. McCracken, the successful orchardist of the Woodlake district of Tulare county, was bora February 8, 186L There he made his home until he was twenty 522 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES years old. Then, after spending some time in West Texas, a year and a half on a range in the Panhandle district, he returned to railroading, in which he had had some experience in his native state. In 1887 he came to San Bernardino, Cal., and after twelve years' residence there began planting orchards. Some of his early work was for F. E. Harding and the J. H. Pattee Land Company, for whom he planted two hundred and fifty acres, the first one hundred and fifty acres thirteen years ago, mostly with his own hands. Having completed this work, he spent a year and a half at Lindsay in orange culture, then came to Woodlake valley for the Woodlake Orchard Company, the first purchase of whose large holdings was a tract of eight thousand acres. It has since made other purchases and has sold off fifteen hundred acres to the Citrus Land Company. Now it has about twenty-five hundred acres in one tract, six hundred acres of which was planted before 1913, when the company planned to plant quite extensively in the near future. Its trees range in age from one year to four or five years. During recent years Mr. McCracken has ably filled the position of superintendent. His prominent connection with the business of Captain Thomas of Liudsay is well known. Mrs. McCracken died some years ago, and he and his son, C. P. McCracken, live on the Woodlake ranch, which has electric railway conuection with Visalia. They are promoting the development of an orange and lemon orchard of thirty-three acres, twelve of which is devoted to lemons, the balance to oranges. As a citizen Mr. McCracken is helpful in a truly public- spirited way and is independent in politics and a staunch protectoi- of home industrv. MICHAEL F. EOURKE A native son of the Emerald Isle, descended from families famous in history and tradition, Michael F. Eourke was born January 22, 1860. He was brought to the United States by his parents in 186.3 and lived in the city of New York until 1876, when he came to California and located in the Lakeside district in Kings county. In 1889 he went to Coalinga, Fresno county, where he was engaged in general farming, devoting some of his time to teamiui;-. It is a matter of local history that he hauled the first oil rig set up in that district, and hauled the first oil that was shipped from the oil fields. He owned three hundred and twenty acres of land where the Empire Oil Company and the Castle Oil Company are now operating. There he remained until 1904, prospering fairly and winning honors as a citizen, then came back to Kings county and TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 523 resumed farming here. lu 1910 he settled on the land which is now his home place. He owns in all one hundred and sixty acres which he devotes to general farming. The place is improved, has adequate buildings and modern machinery and is operated in a scientific way that insures the success of its proprietor. In the Civil war Mr. Rourke's father, William Rourke, won honors as a Federal soldier in the Eighteenth New York Cavalry, Volunteers, and as the son of a veteran he holds membership in the local body of the Sons of Veterans. He affiliates also with the Woodmen of the World and with the Foresters of America. As a citizen he is progressive and public-spirited, ready at all times to do his full share in promotion of the general welfare. He married Miss Ruth E. Garner, November 21, 1885. She was born near Reno, Nev., April 11, 1864. To this worthy couple have been born four daughters : Anna S., wife of W. J. McDade of Los Angeles ; Irene, Ruth E., and Mildred Frances. Irene died in 1889. Mr. and Mrs. Rourke have an ever-widening circle of acquaintances in which they are always welcomed, by reason of their friendly interest in all forward movements and they retain the friendship of all with whom thev come in contact. JOHN MONTGOMERY In that picturesque and productive state, Tennessee, in the county of Blount, John Montgomery, a resident of the Hanford district of Kings county, Cal., and one of the well-known stockmen of the central part of the state, was born in February, 1861. He attended public school and State Normal school until he was eighteen years old and applied himself with diligence to his studies. Then until he attained his majority he helped his father on the home farm, and his independent career in business was begun as a farmer in his native state, remaining there until 1884, when he came to California. The first two years in this state he passed in the Mussel Slough district, where he and his brother leased a section of land. Subse- quently he lived six years in Fresno county, but returned to the vicinity of Hanford, where he now owns two hundred and sixty-five acres, which he devotes to the raising of cattle, hogs and horses, and in this he has been very successful. He has gradually improved his homestead until it is one of the most valuable and attractive in the district, outfitted with good buildings and all of the accessories requisite to its profitable operation. As a citizen he has proven himself public-spirited and helpful to the best interests of the eommunitv. 524 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES A. FRED DODGE A native son of Kings county, Cal., who is winning a commendahle success on the home soil, is A. Fred Dodge, who is descended from old American families and whose family name has been prominent in all periods of the history of the United States. He was born July 22. 1877, and attended the pxiblic schools until he was fifteen years old and after that he gave his services to his father until he was twenty-one. at which time he was deeded a tract of land. He was liis father's partner, and they gave their attention to dry farming, hog-raising and dairying, in which they were very successful. In 1907 Mr. Dodge moved on his eighty-acre tract, which he has develojjed into a fine ranch and home, with a good residence and barns and ample outbuildings of all kinds. His methods of cultiva- tion are thoroughly scientific and he is probably as successful as a breeder of hogs as any rancher in his vicinity. On October 3, 1901, Mr. Dodge married Miss Nellie E. Van"\near, a native of Michigan, born December 14, 1879, who was brought to California by her parents when she was about three years old. ]\Irs. Dodge has had three children who are here mentioned in the order of their birth: Richard V., Doris and Dortha. Doris died in 1904-. Mr. and Mrs. Dodge take an interest in all that pertains to the public welfare and are generously helpful to all propositions promulg-ated for the general good. He has served his fellow townsmen as a trustee of schools and as such has been influential in elevating the local stan- dard of education. He is a member of the Independent Order of Red Men, in the work of which he is practically interested. JOHN WHITMORE DOCKSTADER A splendid example of the selfmade, self-reliant man. who from early boyhood has earned his own livelihood, is John Whitmore Dock- stader, now prominent as a business man and an official at Lemoore, Kings county. He was born in Montgomery county, N. Y., November 23, 1870, but was reared in Missouri, where he had been taken by his parents when a small boy. When he was fourteen years old he found himself obliged to earn his way and going to Nebraska he worked there for about a year and then went to Barton county. Mo., remaining there three years. At this time he had reached his nineteenth year and he. decided to come to California and in 1889 he stopped at Tulare where he remained twelve months and later engaged at farming near Porterville for two or three years. For the next five years he conducted a store and bakerv at Porterville, but gave that up and TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 525 during the ensuing four years he was in tlie barber business at San Francisoo, whence he came to Lemoore in 1899 to open a barber sho)), which he conthicted until he became a partner in the grocery business of L. S. Stepp. After four years he disposed of his interest in the grocerj- business to Stepp and bought back his barber shop, which he operated a year. In 190.'] he liought the draying lousiness of Mrs. Thomas Winsett at Lemoore, in which his brother, Hiram Dock- stader, soon acquired a lialf interest. Besides doing a general draying and moving business they handle ice in large cpiantities, distributing it throughout the city. Tlieir enterprise requires the use of four wagons and teams, besides a big Packard motor truck which was the first brought to Kings county. In 1899 Mr. Dockstader bought eighty acres of land three miles soutli of Lemoore on which he raises stock and alfalfa. He has also an eighty-acre dairj- ranch, mostly under alfalfa, and milks fifty cows. This land he rents on a cash basis, as he does also forty acres, nine miles south, foi- farming purposes. He has found time from his l)usiness to devote to the public welfare, and in 1909 accepted appoint- ment as city trustee of Lemoore, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of that office by his old grocery partner, L. S. Stepp ; at the expiration of the term he was elected to the same office for the ensuing term. In 1908 he was elected a member of the school board of Lemoore. Fraternally he associates with the Circle, and with the Woodmen of the World. In 1894 he married Miss Lulu Kelly, a native of Tulare, and a daughter of H. C. Kelly, who long farmed at Porterville and who now makes his home with his sons. Hiram Dockstader, father of John W., is a member of his son's household. He was born in New York state, married Louada Whitmore, and came to Kings county in 1908. John W. and Lulu (Kelly) Dock- stader have two children — Lansford and John W. Dockstader, Jr. CARL AUGUST PETERSON The prominent orange grower of Tulare county, Cal., whose name is sufficient to direct attention to tliis brief narrative of his life, was born in Sweden in 1871 and when he was nineteen years old came to the United States. He first located in Iowa, whence he moved to Humboldt county, Cal., in 1891. There he remained seven- teen years, conducting a dairy business and was foreman in a mechanic's shop at Ferndale. In the fall of 1908 he came to Tulare county and bought twenty-five acres of land. His first work here was the i)!anting of thirty acres to trees for others. The entire 526 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES pi'oduct of his place is divided between Valencia and Navel oranges wliich are just coming into bearing. In 1902 Mr. Peterson married Miss Theoline Swanson, who has borne him three children: Ivan L. and Edna H., in school, and Paul Wesley. A progressive man of great public spirit Mr. Peterson is as solicitous for the welfare of the community as for the success of his own enterprise and never fails to respond to any reasonable demand upon him for the general good. A. J. WOODS In Andrew county, Mo., A. J. Woods, of Tulare county, Cal., was born. The time of his birth was Octo])er 5, 1845, and he came to California in the spring of 1863, when he was between sixteen and seventeen years old. The youth settled near the site of Lodi, San Joaquin county, where he developed to manhood and farmed till 1888. Then he came to Tulare county and located at Waukena and went into wheat raising. He gradually increased the volume of his business until he was farming, some years, as many as two thousand acres. In 1890 he bought his present ranch of one hundred and ninety acres at Tulare, a productive dairy and alfalfa farm, which he now rents out. He has always raised fine horses, and recently sold a two- year-old colt for $250. Miss Eva Piersou, a native of Indiana, whom Mr. AVoods wedded in 1872, bore him children as follows: Albert B., of Stockton, Minnie and Claude E. His present wife — their marriage was celebrated in 1907 — was Miss Lizzie Moore. Mr. aud Mrs. AVoods are active members of the Tulare Grange, in which tl'ey have held many offices. For thirty-five years (since 1877) he has been a Granger, nearly all the time holding high positions in the oi-ganization. In fact he is one of the oldest Grangers in the state. Tulare Grange No. 198 was instituted in 1886 and now includes sixty members. It has been an instriiment for the pi'omotion of man.v jniblic interests, one of its notable achievements having been its agency in securing the Sequoia National Park, in the mountains. The Mooney Grove Park, north of Tulare, was promoted by Tulare Grange and a committee of its members will handle the money raised by the board of super- visors for the improvement of the property. In a general way, this Grange has, during the last twelve years, done much to better high- ways in the county and to bring about the construction of good roads. Mrs. Woods was its worthy master in 1911. Its officers were in 1912: Master, Mrs. C. A. Sayer; lecturer, Mrs. A. J. AVoods; overseer, Mrs. L. C. Lawson; steward, Frank Stiles; assistant stew- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 527 ard, Thomas Jacobs; chaplain, Mrs. Emma Loman; treasurer, George Watts; secretary, Mrs. Bertha Morris; gatekeeper, A. J. Woods. Mr. Woods is a Mason. In San Joaqnin county he served for some years as a member of the board of education of his town. PHILLIP AULMAN Another of those good German citizens who have so nobly done their part in the development of California was Phillip Aulman, who came to the state in 1855 and died at Visalia, Tulare county, in July, 1910. Born in the Fatherland in 1827, he came to America when he was twenty-two years old and in 1849 he settled in Iowa and engaged in farming. After six years there he came across the plains to California, where he put in his first twelve months at mining, meeting with indifferent success in the venture. Subsequently he turned his attention to farming and dairying near Suisun, Solano county, and later he operated in the vicinity of Gilroy, Santa Clara county. At length he went back to Iowa, farming there until 1864, when he went to Oregon and Washington, and there prospered as a dairyman. He came again to this state in 1869 and lived for a time in the Packwood district, 1'ulare county, whence he subsequently moved to the vicinity of Visalia, which was his home for many years, and where his widow now resides. There he engaged in dairying and developed a farm of a hundred and sixty acres. In 1850, five years before he started overland from Iowa to California, Mr. Aulman married Miss Parthenia E. Hughes, a native of Indiana, born in 18.33. Her experiences enable- her to relate many interesting incidents of their trip across the plains. She is one of the dependable business women of Tulare county, recognizing all responsibilities and discharging all obligations, carrying out very ably the plans made by her late husband for the conduct and improve- ment of the home interests. LOUIS F. PLATT This progressive and popular architect and contractor of Tulare City, Cal., was born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1874, and began his education in the public schools of his native city. After a five years' course of study he was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was fitted for the professions of architect and civil engineer. He devoted himself to a practice of the two 528 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES professions in the east till 1908, when he came to California and, locating in Tulare, took up contracting and building. It should be recorded that in New Yoi"k City he designed sixty residences and store buildings, in Wilmington, Del., one hundred and seventy-seven, and in York, Pa., thirty-two, all of brick and stone construction. In 1905 he designed a beautiful residence for A. M. Clegg, of Brookl\^l, N. Y., which is one of the show places on the Ocean Park and Burly road boulevard. At the time it surpassed in cost and magnificence any other house in the vicinity. In beginning his work in Tulare county Mr. Piatt recognized the necessity of combining contracting and building with his practice of architecture, and he was the first builder there of the bungalow now so ]3opular throughout California. He has designed and erected residences in and around Tulare City for Dr. Charles, George TI. Castle, F. N. Schnable, W. E. Flagg" (for whom he built two). W. Sampsons, A. Primmes, F. E. Standley, A. Frazer, Jose]ih Myers, Dr. C. E. Harper, F. Newcity, E. F. Treadway, Mrs. Lathrope, A. Martin and others, and stores for W. L. Weidman and A. W. Wheeler. His work both in design and construction takes rank with the best in the state and his services are coming into greater demand with each passing year. Perhaps the concrete buildings on South J street constitute the most consi^icuous monument to his artistry as an architect and his skill and integrity as a Ijuilder. Personally he has become popular in a wide circle of acquaintances and socially lie affiliates witli the Eagles and the Modern Woodmen of the World. In 1904 Mr. Piatt married Miss Sarah E. Bowers, a native of Pennsylvania. FEANK BLAKELEY Among the most active and enternrisina: citizens of Kinsrs countv. and a progressive advocate of a:ood roads, is Frank Blakelev of Lemoore. who was horn in Towa, April 22, 18fi9. In 188"2, when he was thirteen vears old. he came with his father, James M. Blakelev, to Kings countv. where the elder Blakelev farmed near Grangeville. then movinsr on land five and a half miles southeast of Lemoore, the first aereasre he purchased in the county. Frank Blakelev lived with his father until 1890, then came to Lemoore and began farming on rented land, but soon began to buy land and finallv came to own ten thousand acres in the lake bottom. His policy was to buv and sell as occasion offered and in a general wav to improve his holdings, which he did by constructing levees and ditches. He began operating there in 1898 and 1899. and farmed on a large scale, having under TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 529 cultivation from year to year from one thousand to twenty thousand acres. He has done more ditch and levee work than any one else in that vicinity and he was the first there to use steam machinery, such as traction engines and combined harvesters, sometimes owning and operating fi\'e outfits at a time. In 1905 he sowed twelve thousand acres to wheat Init lost the entire crop because of rust. In 1906 he sowed twenty-four thousand acres to wheat, twenty thousand of which was his own proi)erty. and all the time from September 1 to February 1 was consumed in iiutting in the seed. Because of flood this crop with the exception of five thousand acres was lost, and since then he has conservatively farmed on a small scale. Meanwhile he has bought and sold land in the lake district and has operated exten- sively as a contractor, constructing ditches and leveling land. For ten years Mr. Blakeley has l)een a city trustee of Lemoore; he has been trustee of Lemoore grammar school, and in 1910 was elected a member of the board of supervisors of Kings county. He is manager of the Lemoore baseball team and during the past four j'ears has ably promoted the sport here and round about. If he has a hobby it is good roads, and since he has been a supervisor all the roads in his district have been greatly improved under his personal supervision, he having repaired twenty miles of road and built ten miles of new road. Fraternally he afKliates with the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen, the Red Men, and the Foresters. On September 22, 1891, he married Miss Clara M. Cadwell, and they have had seven children, one of whom has died. The following are the names of the surviving ones : Ambrose, Ervine, Floyd, Frank, Jr., Melvin and Albert. HIRAM MOORE The life story of a jiioneer, however briefly or however crudely told, must of necessity be of interest for two reasons — it inevitably possesses historic interest and human interest. Out of the fragments of personal experience history is largely constituted, for when it is finished it is a composite of biographical material. The history of man is the history of the country in which he lives. Such life histories as that of Hiram Moore, a native of New York state and a pioneer of 1849 in ('alifornia, are in the aggregate the material from which our local history must be constructed. It was among the 49ers that Hiram Moore came across the jilains, on the overland trail, to the then ha If- fabulous land of gold. He mined in Nevada City, Nevada county, Cal., with varying success until 1868, when he settled at Porterville, Tulare county. Later he was the i)roprietor and land- 530 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES lord of the old railroad hotel at Tiptou. It was in 1873 that he came to Tulare. At that time, according to good authority, there were only four houses within the present limit of the city; but there was travel through the jjlace and it was beginning to attract attention. By 1876 the settlement had advanced somewhat and representatives of one of the political parties erected a liberty pole, the first that ever stood up against the sky above the town. Mr. Moore helped to select that pole and to put it in place. During the pioneer days of Tulare he filled the office of justice of the peace. It is significant of his versatility that he was given charge of one of the first stationary engines set up in the town. He affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Tulare until his removal, late in life, to Bakers- field, where he passed away in 1899. He married Jane Atkins, a native of Scotland, and they had a son and a daughter, Hiram Mooie, of Fresno, Cal., and Lizzie, Mrs. A. J. Woods, of Tulare. There will be found in this work a biogra|)hical sketch of Mr. Woods, which includes interesting mention of the activity of Mrs. Woods in connec- tion with the Grange movement in Tulare county. Hiram Moore, Jr., is a railroad man in the employ of the Santa Fe. He began railroading while a very young man at Tipton and was a conductor on the Southern Pacific, and in that capacit}^ when he was twenty-one years of age he took one of the first two trains that were ever run over the Tehachapi mountains. His mother still survives and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. A. J. Woods, being now seventy-four years old. Where the Rochdale store in Tulare now stands the firm of Sisson, Wallace & Company had a general store some years ago, and on the fourth of July, ISliy, wishing a flag for their flagstaff they found it impossible to procure one. Finally the material was procured from them and Mrs. Moore and her daughter, Mrs. Woods, then a young lady, assisted in the making of the first flag ever used in a celebration at Tulare. JOHN WILLIAM HARVEY The successful vineyardist of Waukena, Tulare county, Cal, John W. Harvey, is a native of Cumberland county, Ky., and was born October 2, 1863. lie attended public school until he was seventeen years old, then turned his attention to farming for which he had fitted himself by practical experience during all the days of his youth. In 1885 he went to Hill county, Tex., where for two years he grew corn and made crops of cotton. Then he returned to his old home, and after remaining there for a short time came in December, 1888, to Tulare county and settled on the place which is now his home farm. TULABE AND KINGS COUNTIES 531 none of which, however, did he purchase until 1890, when he became the owner of fourteen acres of bare land. Meanwhile, he devoted one year to the service of the Kings River Lumber Company. He has made other land purchases from time to time, as he has prospered and laid aside money for the purpose, and he now owns ninety-five acres of good land in the Waukena neighborhood. For the past fifteen years he has been the proprietor of a combined harvester, which he has operated in season and which he has made a source of considerable yearly profit. He is a farmer of skill and resource, who knows his ground and his seed and every condition of locality and climate that can possibly affect crop production, and his success is achieved not only by industry, but by carefial attention to every detail of the work in hand. Fraternally Mr. Harvey affiliates with the Fraternal Aid Asso elation. In his political alliance he is a Democrat. On October 3, 1893, he married Miss Carrie F. Torrey, who was born in St. Louis, Mo., November 16, 1862, and they have three children, Elizabeth, Catherine and John W. WALTER -S. BURR A loyal son of the Golden State, who despite discouragements has become one of its successful ranchers, is Walter S. Burr, whose birthplace was in Yolo county, seven miles west of Woodland, and the date of his nativity was January 22, 1857. His childhood was passed in Yolo and Tehama counties and in 1869, when he was about twelve years old, he was brought to Tulare county. His father, B. F. Burr, was a farmer who tried his fortimes with the soil near Tulare a short time, then went to the eastern part of the county and operated a sawmill and handled lumber until the spring of 1876, when he moved to the Mussel Slough district, where he soon became known through his activity in the promotion of the construction of the People's ditch. For several years he lived on and farmed lands which were ultimately appropriated by the railroad company, but he had in the meantime bought forty acres adjoining, in the next section, and consequently was not left without a home. There he planted a vineyard and an orchard and lived until 1886, when he joined a colony in Mexico. He I'eturned to Tulare in 1896 and died there soon afterward, aged seventy-one years. As a farmer Walter S. Burr may be said to have begun at the bottom of the ladder. He acquired a claim to a quarter-section of land seven miles south of Hanford and homesteaded it. About the same time he pre-empted forty acres, and later, when fortune liad 532 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES smiled on liiin, be bought two hundred acres adjoining his original purchases and now has four hundred acres. He devotes himself to farming, stock-raising and dairying, owning seventy-five head of cattle, many horses and mules and about two hundred and fifty hogs. One hundred acres of his land is in alfalfa. Water for irrigation he draws from the Lakeside ditch, and on bis i)lace are ample wells for his stock as well as for irrigation, be having two pumping plants. In association with bis sons be operated an alfalfa thresher for two years. He was active in securing irrigation ditches for his part of the county and the legislative passage of the no-fence law. For three terms aggregating twelve years be ably filled the office of supervisor, representing the second district, and during one of the terms be was president of the board. His activity in the work of the local Grange brought him election as secretary of that body. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and with the Foresters. Mr. Burr married, December 30, 1884, Mary L. Graham, daughter of John Graham, a pioneer in the vicinity of Visalia, and they have three children, Carl T., Maud and Reel G. Maud is the wife of E. H. Howe. Mr. Burr has won bis success in life by the exercise of those qualities which enter into the character of all self-made men, and those who know him best know that be has prospered honestly and deservedly. EDWIN H. HOWE One of tlie many native Californians who has made a success of stock-raising and farming in the country round about Hanford, Kings county, Cal., is the son of Tulare county mentioned above. Edwin H. Howe is the son of Frank E. Howe, and was born April 14, 1879. He was reared to manhood in the Lakeside district, now in Kings county, and educated in public schools near his home. Asso- ciated in a business way with his brother, Albert P. Howe, and their father, be farmed in the Lake bottoms from 1898 until 1906, when the filling up of the old lake bed brought an end to their enterprise. They had been successful there, however, and Mr. Howe and his brother bought from their father the one hundred and sixty-acre ranch, nine miles southwest of Hanford, which is now the home of the former. In 1906 he bought his brother's interest in the place, and since then he has bought from the AValker estate one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the homestead ranch on the north, in the west one-half of section thirty-four, ranges nineteen and twenty- one. He devotes bis energies and his capital to the raising of horses. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 533 mules and hogs; at least that is his principal business, though he does general farming and has seventy-five acres in alfalfa. Formerly he gave attention to dairying, but he is converting his land to an alfalfa ranch as rapidly as is expedient. All of the improvements on his homestead, including house, barns and fences, he has made since he bought the place. He o))tains water for irrigation from the Last Cliance ditch and the People's ditch and has on his place a well for his stock and domestic use. He is operating rented land also, notably one hundi'ed and sixty acres west of him, which belongs to his father, and eiglity acres still further west, growing grain and alfalfa on both tracts. In February, 1905, Mr. Howe married Maud Burr, daughter of "Walter Burr, and she has borne him three children : Edwin Orval, Lucile and Herbert L., who died in infancy. Mr. Howe's success in life has been won by his own effort and, as has been seen, not without his having to make the best of serious discouragements. The optimism which has borne him up in his business struggles thus far gives him hope for the future, not a little of which is based on his belief in the destiny of Hanford and its tributary territory, for the up- building of which he is ready at any time to give public-spirited aid. FRANK L. BLAIN The well known farmer and cattleman whose name heads this sketch is a native of California who made his start and has won suc- cess in life within a few miles of the place of his birth. He first saw the light of day in Visalia, Tulare county, in 1880. After finishing a course at the public schools of the town he took a six months' course at the Stockton Business College in 1890, and in the following year he took over all of his father's large ranch interests, which he con- ducted successfully during the ensuing three years. In 1904 he moved to his present ranch of eighty acres, to which he has added one hun- dred and sixty acres op])osite, built him a comfortable bungalow and in a general way got readj^ for success as a farmer and cattle raiser. He put twenty acres in peaches of the Tuscan and Muir varieties, gave forty acres to alfalfa, ]irepared for extensive operations as a stock- man, and cleared and cleaned up the ranch, greatly improving the property in every way. In j^artnership with his sister, he has taken possession of all of the real estate left by their father and is managing the same with much success. He devotes himself princi]ially to the raising of beef cattle, is acquiring large cattle ranges and bids fair soon to rank among the heading cattlemen of the county. He and his sister have seven tlioiisand acres of range land in the mountains, on 534 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES which they have from seven hundred to eight hundred head of cattle, also thirteen hundred and sixty acres of good cattle land north of Visalia. He owns one hundred and sixty acres near the San Joaquin Hill. Mr. Blain controls a total of five good ranch i^roperties in Tulare county. Busy as he necessarily is with his cattle-raising industry, Mr. Blain finds some time to devote to general interests, especially to such as affect men who get their living off the soil. As an instance, it should be noted that he is a director of the People's Co-operative Ditch Company, a concern which is doing good work in the way of irrigation. He is not an active politician, but views all public ques- tions with a patriotic intelligence. In November, 1906, he married Miss Bertha Givens, of Californian birth, and they have a daughter whom thev have named Carroll. DANIEL ABBOTT Born in Washington county, Ark., January 3, 1836, Daniel Abbott has been a resident of California since 1857 and has attained much prominence in the San Joaquin Valley. He was a son of Joshua Abbott, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1800 and had come to California in 1850 and engaged in mining for a time. He returned to Arkansas and farmed, and here his son Daniel was reared and trained to the work on the farm, having but little chance to go to school. In May, 1857, the family started for California overland with oxen and i^rairie schooners ; there was a large train and the party arrived in Calaveras county in the following October. In Calaveras county Daniel Abbott farmed on a small scale and in the year 1861 he went to Tulare county, settled near Porterville and engaged in raising stock. The rains came that winter with such force that there was a flood and for a:lmost forty days it fell, every- thing portable was washed away and the settlers had difficulty in saving themselves. Mr. Abbott Imilt a raft of some lumber he had and in this way saved the family from perishing. He was offered $500 for it after he had finished it. In 1862 he went to Mariposa county and engaged in contracting for wood for the mines, but two years later went to Stanislaus county, bought land, and embarked in the sheep business. Upon the settling up of that i)art of the valley ]\Ir. Abbott came again to Tulare county in 1874, bringing with him his band of sheep and he finally became the owner of thirty-nine hundred and sixty acres of land, for which he i)aid an average of $3 jier acre. He was, in all, in the cattle and sheep business for about forty years, at the end of which time he sold his land and stock and bought prop- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 535 erty at Portevville, where he erected two business blocks and several residences. About 1902 he purchased the home in which he now lives, his object in removing into the city being to further tlie educational advantages for his children, and here they have since made their home. In 1880 Mr. Abbott married Mrs. Frances Elizalieth (Fine) Bursey, a native of Arkansas, who bore him nine children; five daughters survive, viz.: Mrs. Louisa Mahatfrey, Mrs. Lana Nancollis, Winnifred and Minnie (twins) and Emma Lee. Those children who are deceased are Martha, Arlesa, Charles and Daniel. In 1886 occurred the death of his father, who was born in Ohio in 1800. Mr. Abbott, who has been a cripple since August 24, 1857, has been by his infirmity forbidden the activities of some other men and he has been too closely confined to his home to take a prominent part in polities, but he has been a member of the school board and has found other ways to serve his fellow townsmen. He is fond of reminiscence and sometimes tells some interesting stories of his over- laud journey to California in 1857. Once when the party was en- camped one hundred and twenty-five miles this side of Salt Lake, In- dians stampeded the cattle and wounded some of the men. Mr. Abbott himself was shot while coming in from guard duty, and got to the camping place only to find that his comrades had moved on. He was able soon to rejoin them, however, but one of his companions, an inti- mate friend, who was shot at the time, died soon after. JOSEPH LEWIS FICKLIN It was in Scott county, in old Kentucky, the cradle of "Western history, that Joseph Lewis Ficklin was born November 27, 1831. When he was four years old he was taken to Missouri, where he re- mained until 1852, scarcely leaving the neighborhood of his home. Then he came to California as a gold-seeker, remaining four years, lie returned to Missouri, to come out again to the coast country in 1886, when he settled on his present homestead. His first journey across the plains was made with oxen. There were with the ]nirty four hundred cows and fifty head of work cattle, and the trip con- sumed six months time. His second journey to California was made by rail in four days. In Missouri Mr. Ficklin gained such education as was afforded by the public school near liis home. He married Miss Elizabeth Turner, a native of Missouri, who bore him one child and passed away in 1864. In 1865 he married Miss Sarah A. Davis, who was born in Crawford county, Mo., and they had five children, two of whom died in infancy. Tlic survivoi-s arc William Kennett Ficklin. in Yellow- 536 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES stone Park, Anna Fioklin, wlio married F. 0. Fridley, and Mirtlia, who is Mrs. H. A. Powell. Benjamin Fioklin, Joseph L. Ficklin's father, was born in Kentucky in 1808 and his father, John Fioklin, participated in the Black Hawk war, ser\ing as captain under Col. Dick Johnson. The father of Sarah A. (Davis) Ficklin was born in Virginia, in 1798, and her mother in Scott county, Ky., in 1802. When Mr. Ficklin came to Tulare county he bought eighty acres of land at $10 an acre which was at that time devoted to wheat, and he helped to harvest grain where the city of Exeter now stands. Dur- ing the last four years he has converted his ranch to a fruit farm and vineyard. One of Mrs. Ficklin's brothers came to California in 1850 and four of them died in Tulare county. Mr. Fioklin has held ]ml)lic office and affiliates with the Masonic order. Politically he is a Demo- crat. As a citizen he has in many ways demonstrated his public spirit. GEORGE WARNER CODY Near Pontiac, Mich., George Warner Cody was born January 'M, 18-12. When he was seven years old he was taken to Wisconsin, on the removal of his parents to that state. From there they went to Nebraska, where he lived until 1874, except during the term of his military service, variously employed in milling, merchandising, farm- ing and other useful work. In 1861, at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., he enlisted in Company H, Eighth Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Infantry, and his recollections of the Civil war, in which he was in fifteen gen- eral engagements and many skirmishes, includes scenes at Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga and a number of Confederate prisons. After his capture at Chickamauga lie was confined at Ringgold, then in the bull pen at Atlanta, then in Libby prison, then at Pemberton, then at Danville, then at Audersonville, then at Charleston, then at Florence. He escaped from ^\.ndersonville and was recajitured while attempting to cross Flint River. His exjieriences at Florence were terminated by his exchange. He was one of six out of one hundred who were liberated, the others being kept until the end of the war. After his exchange he was sent to Annapolis, Md., where he was paroled and forwarded to Fort Leavenworth. After Mr. Cody was discharged at Fort Leavenworth he returned to Nebraska, where he was wai'mly welcomed after his fifteen months' incarceration in Confederate i)rison pens, and took up farming. Later he 0]3erated a grist mill and sold goods until 187-1, when he came to Tulare county and located near Armona. He bought one hundred and sixty acres of land south of Hanford and one hundred and sixty acres two miles south of Lemoore and farmed tracts of rented land aggre- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 537 gating seventeen lumdred acres. From 1874 to 1881 he raised grain and broom corn, tlien sold his property and for the next five years lived at Los Angeles. Next we find him located near Santa Ana, where he ])lanted twentj'-seven acres to walnut trees and fifteen acres to raisins. Coming to Kings county, he bought thirty-four acres north- west of Hanford, a part of which was unimproved, and now has seven acres in vineyard and twenty-five acres in peaches and apricots. His projierty is improved with a good house and adequate outbuildings which he erected after it came into his possession. He was one of the organizers of the Last Chance Ditch Company and helped to construct its improvements, and he was identified also, in the period 187-4-1881, with the promotion of the People's Ditch and the Lower Kings River Ditch. In 18(i6 ]\Ir. Cody married Mary M. Gray and they have had five children: Thorley G., Harvey P., Rinney, deceased, Andrew Milo and Terrill, deceased. It is probable that no part of his life will always be as fresh in Mr. Cody's memory as that part of it which he passed in Confederate prisons. He considers himself fortunate in having come out of that experience alive. "Clara Barton told me," he says, "that she put up thirteen thousand gravestones at Andersonville and one stone for the graves of two thousand unnamed soldiers. There were seven thousand deaths in Florence prison and there is no record of those who died in the other prisons that I was in." ALEXANDER CROOK A pioneer and a son of a pioneer, the career of Alexander Crook has been a most active one in this vicinity. He was born in Harrison county, Ind., in 18.38, a son of Wiley Crook, and came to California when he was nineteen years old. He and his brother made the long- journey by way of the Isthmus of Panama and settled in Sonoma county, reniaining in the valley five years. Subsequently they lived for a time in Nevada, and in the interval between their departure from that territory and the year 1874 they lived in various places east and west. In the year just mentioned they located in Tulare county, where the land had just been surveyed by the government, and took wp one hundred and sixty acres. Mr. Crook is now the owner of six hundred and forty acres on which he is farming and raising cattle and some fruit with a degree of success that makes him consj^icuous among farmers of his vicinity. In 1873 Mr. Crook married Elizabeth Kipp, a native of Indiana, and they had five children, all of whom are natives of California. Catlierine married Holmes Batcheler. Blanch is the wife of Tiert 538 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Smith. Ethel is Mrs. Frank Gill. Arthur B. and Fred A. are mem- bers of their parents' household. The family is well-known and popu- lar in the county and Mr. Crook has demonstrated his deep interest in public affairs by assisting movements for the general good. In asso- ciation with George Dillon he promoted the organization of the first school near his home, was instrumental in having the first school house built there, and for a time he ably filled the office of school director. His father, Wiley Crook, was born in Indiana and came to Cali- fornia in 1849, eight years before the settlement here of his two sons, making the journey on board an old English brig which was forty days at sea without a landing. He began here with about one hundred dol- lars in cash, with a part of which he secured a few cattle, and pros- pered fairly well until 1885, when he died, leaving his possessions to his two sons. LYMAN D. FARMER The youngest man who ever held the office of sheriff in California is L^-man D. Farmer of Kings county. It should be a matter of pride to Cahforuians that he is a native of the state and doubly so to the people of Kings county that he was born within its borders, nine miles northeast of Hanford. He made his advent in this world Novemljer 7, 1885, a sou of George and Gertrude D. (Ruggles) Farmer, natives res- pectively of Iowa and California. George Farmer came to California in 1875 and located on a farm near Cross Creek Switch, in Kings county, where he still lives and of whom a sketch will he found on another page in this work. His wife was a daughter of L. B. Ruggles, a native of Michigan, who came around Cape Horn to California in pioneer days, returned east by way of the Isthmus of Panama and brought his wife back to this state. After mining for awhile, he farmed and worked at lumbering at Woodland, Yolo county, until he took up his residence in Tulare county. In 1876 he pre-empted land seven miles southwest of Traver, on which he engaged in farming and to which he eventually acquired title. With the aid of his sons he constructed the Settlers' Irrigation ditch in that part of the county. After a life of usefulness he passed away in 1896, and Mrs. Farmer is his only surviving child. Of Mr. and Mrs. Farmer's ten children, eight are living: Leta D. is the wife of Dr. L. C. Cothran; Milton T. is a graduate of U. of C. and now attorney for the State Superinten- dent of Banks with law offices in Oakland; the others are Lyman D., Ethel R., Theodore P., Paul L., Clarence W. and Lucile B. Lyman D. Farmer acquired his primary education in the public schools and was a student one vear at the Universitv of California. TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 539 He helped his father on the home i*anch until 1909, when he was ap- pointed deputy sheriff under Sheriff W. V. Buckner. He was elected sheriff on the Republican ticket in 1910, when he was twenty-five years of age, and is filling the office with ability and fidelity that would do credit to a man twice his years. Fraternally Sheriff Farmer affiliates with the Sons of Veterans; the Native Sons of the Golden West ; is a Royal Arch Mason ; a mem- ber of the Eastern Star, Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the World and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of Hanford. Popular as he is in these orders, he is held in no higher esteem than by the citizens generally. In 1911 he married Miss Ethel Rhoads, a native of Cali- fornia, a granddaughter of Daniel Rhoads, a pioneer of California. Her father, J. W. Rhoads, who also was born in this state, came to San Joaquin Valley among the early settlers and passed away in Tulare county and is buried at Hanford. HENRY C. HORSMAN Of Kentuckians who have become prominent in Tulare county, Henry C. Horsman of Dinuba is, perhaps, as highly regarded as any. He was born in Daviess county, in that grand old state, in 1844. His father was a native of Virginia and his mother was a Kentuckian by birth and ancestry. When he was five years old, which was in 1849, his family removed to Illinois, and thereafter he did not leave that state until in 1861, after he had enlisted in Company H, Twenty-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. By re-enlistment he served four years and was finally discharged at Louisville, Ky., and given papers testifying to his bravery and fidelity as a soldier. It is some- what remarkable that he participated in twenty-seven hard-fought engagements without receiving a wound, and it is to his credit that he enlisted as a private and rose to be a corporal. It was not until 1884 that Mr. Horsman came to California. He homesteaded land in Tulare county and the woman who later became his wife also acquired government land. All of this he sold when he removed to his present homestead near Dinuba, where he raised grain a number of years, but eventually turned his attention to fruit and vines. For his ranch, which is one of the most beautiful in this vicinity, he \m\(\ $47 an acre ten years ago, and today it could not be bought for $500 an acre. The lady who was the wife of Mr. Horsman 's youth was Nancy E. Smith, a native of Illinois, who came with him to California in 1884 and died in the fall of that year. In 1886 he married Lydia E. Hoskins, a native of Oregon, who had come to California. Mr. Hors- 540 TULARE AND KIXCxS COUNTIES man is a patriotic citizen, who lias iu a pnblic-spirited way done mueli for the commnnity and lias been called to some public offices, which he has filled with ability and credit. All who know him deem him a Christian gentleman, having at heart the welfare of mankind, and there are not a few who have felt his kindly influence for good and his generous helpfulness. By his first wife Mr. Horsman had one child, Clarence E. Hors- man, who is identified with the educational profession of Tulare county as a public school teacher, having- followed this profession for about twenty years. He was principal of the Orosi grammar school six years and has been principal of the Dinuba grammar school four years. He is at present in charge of the piiblic school at Venice in Tulare county. Mrs. Horsman is a member of the local W. C. T. U. and has given much active attention to the upbiiilding of that society. She was president of the local organization for four years, then be- came president of the Tulare and Kings county W. C. T. U., which IDOsition she held with great ability. Mrs. Horsman is a daughter of the Golden West. She was born in Douglas County, Oregon, and came with her parents, William and Peninah (Hobson) Hoskins, to California in 1867, when she was thirteen years of age, and settled in Tulare countv in 1873. F. M. PARRISH This efficient city trustee of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., was born at Soquel, Santa Cruz county, Cal., September 10, 1856, a son of Joshua and Narcissa (Dell) Parrish, natives of Ohio. The father crossed the plains with mule teams in 1849, mined and later hauled freight to the mines till 1851, when he settled at Santa Cruz, Cal., and farmed land which is now within the boundaries of that city. After a time he rented land at Soquel, then took over a Spanish grant and for many yeai's farmed the land involved in it. He died at Soquel in 1898, and his wife survived him till in May, 1911. Their children were all born and raised in Santa Cniz county. Mary, the wife of Charles Spreckelsen of Soquel, died in December, 1911. F. M. is the immediate subject of this notice. Winfield S. lives on a ranch four miles west of Hanford. Benjamin F. was next in order of birth. Anna is the wife of A. J. Wyman of Soquel. On the second of November, 1878, F. M. Parrish moved from Santa Cruz county to Hanford. During his first year in Kings county he worked for wages. Tn the second year he put in a crop of wheat, five miles west of Hanford, and he has been ranching in the county ever since. For ten years he farmed a (piarter-section north of Han- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 541 ford, raising wheat, alfalfa and grapes. In 18!)0 lie sold his land and for a decade thereafter lived on a small place which he bought near Grangeville. He still owns the last mentioned homestead of eighty acres, which has twenty acres of peaches, thirty of grapes and thirty of alfalfa. The familj^ have lived in Hanford since 1901. At Hanford Mr. Parrish has proven himself to be a public-spirited citizen with the interest of the community at heart. In the spring of 1910 he was elected a city trustee for a four-year term. He had been previously for many years a school trustee at Grangeville. He affiliates with the Woodmen of the World, and is a director in the Hanford Savings Bank, the Last Chance Ditch Company and the Lone Oak Canal Company. In 1880 he married Miss Martha Robinson and the}' have four children: Maud is the wife of Royal L. Waltz of Armona ; May married R. 0. Deacon of Lemoore ; Emma is Mrs. H. A, Thedieck of Fresno; Ada is a member of her parents' household, and is a student at the Southern California Universitv. ARTHUR W. MATHEWSON In Wheelock, Caledonia county, Vt., Arthur W. Mathewson was born November 14, 1834, a son of Cliarles Mathewson, a native of Rhode Island and a descendant of English ancestors who early settled there. He married Sarah Williams, also of Rhode Island birth, a direct descendant of Roger Williams and a relative of Governor S]irague of that state, with whom members of her family were largely interested in cotton manufacture. Arthur W. Mathewson, the sixth in a family of ten children, was brought up to farm work by his father and educated in public schools and at an academy at Linden, ^''t. Self- supporting from the time he became sixteen years old, he worked in a tannery about two years, then on his father's fai'm three years, and in 1856 came to California by way of Cape Horn. For two years after his arrival here he worked in the mines and in 1858 he was in Tulare county a short time, then bought laud at San Jose, which he oi^erated until 1864, when it passed from his jiossession because of a previous Spanish claim. Returning to Tulare county in the year last mentioned he engaged in herding sheep and in time acquired four thousand head. From time to time he bought and sold ranch property and, August 17, 1896, when he died, he owned a ranch near Farmersville, Tulare county. He did much to jiromote irrigation and was for many years president of the People's Consolidated Ditch Company. Fraternally he affiliated with the Farmers Alliance and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In his politics he was Republican. In 1866 Mr. Mathewson married Miss Lucinda Tinkham, a Jiative 542 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES of Iowa and a daughter of Nathaniel Tinkham, who was from Ver- mont. They had eight children of whom five are living: Mrs. Pearl Ogden, Levi, Mrs. Edith M. Mosier, Earl and James A. October 1, 1870, Levi Mathewson was born near Visalia, Tulare county, where he was reared and educated. He began his active life by helping his father on the ranch, and in 1891 bought forty acres near Visalia, which he devotes to tlie cultivation of prunes and alfalfa and to the breeding of hogs, and on which he formerly had a dairy of twenty-five cows. He set out ten acres to prunes and has otherwise improved the i)ro]ierty. In 1911 he sold six tons of dried prunes from two hundred and fifty trees and he has no difficulty in gathering from five to six crops of alfalfa each season. His ranch, one of the oldest in the valley, has been farmed for more than half a century and was formerly known as the old Judd place. Mr. Mathewson remem- bers the old slab house that was built on it by Mr. Judd some time before 1860. In 1897 Mr. Mathewson married Margaret J. Bacon, a native of California, whose father, John Bacon, settled early in Tulare county. Mr. and Mrs. Mathewson have two children, Guy and Madeline. Socially Mr. Mathewson affiliates with the Native Sons of the Golden West and with the Woodmen of the World. He is interested in every- thing that pertains to the development of the county and responds generously to all demands for public-spirited promotion of the com- munity. A. FEANK SMITH An efficient member of the board of super\'isors of Kings county, Cal., whose name heads this article, was born in San Jose, Cal., December 6, 1866, a son of Buck and Fannie (Heisley) Smith, natives respectively of Iowa and Pennsylvania. Buck Smith came to Cali- fornia in 1859 and engaged in stock-raising in Santa Clara county. Later he operated at the New Idra mines in San Behito county and in 1872 again went into stock-raising. In 1880 he transferred his farming and stockraising business to a point near Hanford and in 1891 he bought land at Lindsay, Tulare county, known as Lindsay Heights, on which he has lived to the present time. Wheat-raising at Hanford first engaged the attention of A. Frank Smith, though later he took up contracting and building and erected many cottages and residences in and around that citj". In 1906 he engaged in the bee business and has become one of the extensive apiarists in his part of the state, selliug about a carload of honey annually. He was elected supervisor in 1906 and re-elected in 1910, TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 543 elected a third time in 1912, and is now serving in that office. Since he entered upon his duties the following undertakings have been success- fully carried out: Annexation of a part of Fresno county to Kings county; purchase of the southwest portion of the plat to enlarge the court house grounds; purchase of the fairground property of fifty- three acres half a mile west of Hanford, for the site of the new county hospital; building of the county hospital in 1910 at a cost of $30,000; and the selling of the old cotmty hospital site and the purchase of an addition to the court house groxmds in 1911. Mr. Smith is secretary of Hanford Lodge No. 264, I. 0. 0. F., and one of the managers of Hanford Lodge No. 163, W. 0. W. In 1886 Mr. Smith married Miss Cornelia Vermason, a native of California, and they have a daughter named Veda. BENJAMIN V. SHARP This prominent citizen of Kings county, Cal., whose office is in the court house at Hanford, is the present efficient horticultural com- missioner of that division of the state. Benjamin V. Sharp, a native of Schenectady county, N. Y., was born April 29, 1839. There he grew to maturity and gained his primary education. In 1858, when he was nineteen years old, he went to McLean county, 111., and located not far from Bloomington. He began his higher education in the Illinois Wesleyan LTniversity. It was interrupted, however, in 1861 by Presi- dent Lincoln's call to arms. Young Sharp enlisted in Company K, Second Illinois Cavalry, but was discharged on account of ill health after a year's strenuous service. Returning to his home in Illinois he •resumed his college course and was duly graduated. After leaving college he was for two years superintendent of a soldiers orphans' home at Bloomington. Then he was for some time in the hotel business in that city. Later he farmed until 1900, when he settled in Kings county, Cal. He bought one hundred and twenty acres of land a mile and a half south of Hanford. It was mostly in fruit, but some of the trees have since been removed. He made his home on the jn-operty until 1905, when he rented it ; in 1906 he sold it, and since that time he has lived in Hanford. In 1896 he was appointed by the Board of Supervisors horticultural commissioner for Kings county, an office which he filled with great ability and wholly to the satisfaction of the public until in 1904, when he resigned it. He was reappointed in 1906 and has served continuously ever since. As a citizen he is iniblic-spirited and helpful to a remarkable degree, and so great is his faith in Hanford that he has invested heavily in its real estate. Fraternallv he affiliates with the Masonic order. 544 TULARE AXD KINGS COUNTIES In September, 1864, Mr. Sharp married .Elizabeth A. Hazel, a native of Ohio, but then a resident of Illinois. They have two sous, James A. Sharp of Chicago and Burns B. Sharp, a contractor well known in Hanford, which is the center of his business operations. OSCAR TROUT GRISWOLD In the Buckeye State Oscar Trout Griswold was born December 7, 1842, a son of Edward and Helen M. (Trout) Griswold. He is a descendant of Edward Griswold, who witli his brother Matthew came over from England in 1(539 and settled in Massachusetts, and is tenth in line of descent from that pioneer. Solomon Griswold, his grand- father, went from New England to western New York and lived there until 1831, when he went to Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, whence he re- turned to Ohio. Later he visited Wisconsin and still later settled in Iowa, where he died, aged ninety years, having been all his life a farmer. Edward Griswold, father of Oscar T., settled in Iowa in 1851. He had become acquainted with that country as early as 1837, when he was a member of an exploring party which explored the Wisconsin river and the vast forests to the westward. He was long a prominent figure in the middle west and was an early and to his death an ardent abolitionist. Oscar T. when only twelve years old, remembers John Brown as a visitor at his father's house and he later saw Brown on the road to Harper's Ferry. Edward Griswold died when Oscar T. was but fourteen years old. He had two other sons, who have passed away. Wlien his parents took him from Ohio to Iowa, in 1851, Oscar Trout Griswold was about eight years old. He was reared on a farm and after he was nineteen was a farmer and a grower and shipper of stock until 1888, when he came to Hanford. He had made a trip to California two years before, riding through the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys on a mule-cart, looking for a location. When he brought his family west, leasing his eastern property, he l)Ought one hundred acres of land east of Hanford which he sold in order to buy, in 1893, eighty acres, including water, three miles north of Hanford, at $40 an acre. This laud, which is now worth $400 an acre, his sons have set out to fruit, and two of them reside on the place. In 1894 Mr. Griswold bought forty acres near this property on which he has since made his home, though he has done no active farming since he came to California. His sons S. P., Oscar E. and A. E. Griswold during 1911 produced thirty-four tons of honey and fifteen hundred pounds of beeswax from seven hundred and fiftv stands of bees. Thev have been TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 545 in the bee business more than twenty years and are members of the California State Bee Keepers Association. The oil industry has long had strong claims on Mr. Griswold's attention. He was one of the organizers of the Baby King Oil Com- pany, and is a stockholder in the St. Lawrence Oil Company. Four hundred and eighty acres of land in section eleven, township twenty- three, range sixteen. Kings county, is owned by the Baby King Oil Company in which he is the largest stockholder. He is serving his fourth term as director of the People's Ditch Company and has been for twelve years a director of the First National Bank of Hanford. In 1867 Mr. Griswold married Miss Lucretia Thompson, a native of Ohio, six of whose nine children are living: Elmer B., James C, Alpheus E., Oscar E., S. Perry and May. The latter is the wife of George W. Anderson of Fruitville, Oakland, Cal. Elmer B. is living at Modesto and the other sons live in the vicinity of Hanford. 0. E. GIBBONS The prominent citizen of Piano whose name is well known throughout Tulare county, Cal., as an enthusiastic promoter of the development and prospei'ity of Central California and as a man whose pulilic spirit is always equal to any demands that may be made upon it, 0. E. Gibbons is a native of Lake county, 111., born Aiigust 2, 1850. He lived in Texas from the time he was about four years old until he was nearly ten. Then his father started with his family to California, arriving at Piano Sejitember 2, 1861. There the boy was educated and has lived continuously to the present time except for such brief ab- sences as the developments of life often demand. His father. Deeming Gibbons, took up a homestead which was number nine of its series, a fact which in itself would suggest how sparsely the country was settled at that time. He planted a few trees on the place and raised a small crop of grain in 1863, and it is said that he was the first man in Tulare county to set out orange trees and sell oranges. He had half an acre of seedlings and sold the first oranges from them at twenty-five cents each. O. E. Gibbons was brought up on the far-m and carefully in- structed in the details of agriculture and horticulture by his father. The father died January 4, 1884, his wife April 1, 1880. At this time Mr. Gil)bons is the jtropi'ietor of the onl.v general merchandise store at Piano; he is the local i)Ostmaster and has been justice of the |)eace and served as a member of the school board. Fraternally he affiliates with the Knights of Pythias. He is a man of enterprise and of lieliiful dis- 30 546 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES position, who while wiimina,- success for himself has not forgotten liis obligations to the community. In 1874 Mr. Gibbous married Miss Fannie E. Thomson, a native of Ohio, and they Jiave tliree children: Clara E. married M. F. Single- ton; Hiram E. married Nellie Monroe; and Pauline is living with her parents aud acquiring an education in the high school at Porterville. AYILLIAM H. BLAIN More than a half century in the hi ml where he came as a pioneer brought to the late William H. Blain well deserved rewards. Cali- fornia has proven herself a generous mother to her adopted children, and Mr. Blain was loyal to her. He was a Missourian, born in Pike coimty, twelve miles from Bowling Green, January 3, 1839, son of W. W. and Ann (Turner) Blain. The father, a cooper, a mason and a brickniaker, built and conducted the Blain Hotel, at Bowling Green. In 1844 he built the Pike county court house. There he lived and kept tavern till the end of his days; his wife died at Hannibal, Mo. Of their nine children, six are living. Two came to this state. The oldest of the girls emigrated thitlier with her brother and married Hugh Jones, a retired pioneer of 1849, and died at Gilroy. The second born of his father's family, William H. Blain, was brought up at Bowling Green, attending the public scliools and, under his father's instruction, obtaining a knowledge of stock-raising. His first triii to the coast, in the year 1854, was made with a bunch of cattle. He was but fifteen at the time, a mere boy, but observant and receptive for one of his age, and he stood guard at night like the most seasoned plainsman in his party and shrank from no other duty that came to him. He left Missouri April 20, reaching Santa Cruz in October, after having made the trip by way of Sublett's Cut-off, thence down the Humboldt, through the Tliousand Sj^rings valley to Walker's, thence to Tuolumne county, a route on which there would be no lack of feed for the cattle. From October until December Mr. Blain stopped at a point near Santa Clara; then he went to Monterey county, now San Benito, where he managed a stock ranch a year. Going back to Santa Clara, he farmer there on shares till 1857, then engaged in hauling lumber in Tuolumne county, whence, eventually, he went to Monterey county, to raise cattle on shares in Pacheco Pass. He sold out there early in 1863, and in June drove to Visalia, Tulare county, and, making headquarters there, teamed to the mountains till the spring of 1865. The first winter of this period he spent at Wilcox canyon. From 1865 to 1869 he was in the sheep business, making money, and tlien he opened a butcher shop at White Pine, Nev., whence TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 547 he went later to Eureka, continuing in the same business. By 1873 he had mastered the butcher trade so that he had no thought of changing his occupation, and it was as a butcher that he then went back to Visalia, where he established a market, which he conducted success- fully many years, in conjunction with a cattle biisiness so large that he at one time owned six hundred head. He acquired an improved cattle ranch of thirteen hundred and twentj" acres near Monson, Tulare county; three hundred and fifty acres northeast of Visalia; five thou- sand acres in the foothills of Tulare coimtv; a hundred and sixty acres east of Visalia ; and a handsome home in that city. For a time he was in the dairy business, but eventually he gave attention only to stock- raising. In Santa Cruz, Mr. Blain married Sarah Collier. Their daughter, Mrs. Laura Zimmerman. lives at Tiburou, Cal., and their son, William, is a citizen of Bakersfield. His second marriage was to Julia Strube, a native of Texas, whom he wedded at Visalia. Mrs. Blain, who crossed the plains from her old home in 1861, has had four children : Frank L., who became his father's partner; George William, who is dead; Gladys and Marguerite. Mr. Blain was a stockholder in the First National Bank of Visalia, and in various ways manifested his solicitude for the town and its people. He was a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Good Templars, in which he passed all chairs of the subordinate lodge, and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In the promotion and development of the San Joaquin Valley Cattle Growers Association he was helpfully active. His religious affiliations, as are those of his family, were with the Presbyterian church. He passed away November 1, 1908. JOHN AUGUST LEEBON The productive ranch of John August Leebon is located three miles east of Visalia. Tulare county, Cal., on East Mineral King ave- nue. Mr. Leebon, who is one of the most progressive and successful ranchmen of this district, was born in Sweden, May 16, 1861. He grew to manhood there and was edu<'ated in the common school near the home of his childhood and youth. In 1881 he came to the United States and made his way west as far as Minneapolis. Minn. In order to ac- quire necessary English education, he went to school there a year, then was employed as a laborer on a Minnesota farm. In 1886 he came to California and found employment in an orchard at San Jose. Eigh- teen months later he went to Tacoma, Wash., and worked in a saw- mill, where he received an accidental injury which kept him in a hospital for a long time. He came back to San Jose in 1889 and 548 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES from then until 1897 was profitably engaged in the teaming busi- ness. Then he came to Tulare county and leased one hundred and eighteen acres of land, not far from Visalia, from the First National Bank of San Jose. In 1901 he was able to buy this property, the bulk of which was then planted to fruit, eighty acres in peaches, twenty in prunes, six in nectarines, the remainder devoted to gi'ain and pasture. He now has a dairj' of eight.v cows and keeps an average of one hun- dred and sixty hogs, and one hundred acres of his land is under alfalfa. An enterprising and public spirited citizen, Mr. Leebon commands the esteem of all who know him. He is a stockholder in the Co-operative Creamery company of Visalia and is from time to time identified, directly or indirectly, with other important local interests. Politically he is Republican, and though he is without ambition for political prefer- ment he accepted the office of school director and was made secretary of his district board of education. He was one of the founders of the Swedish Mission church of San Jose, of which he was a constituent member. He donated the land for the Mineral King chapel and helped build it, and is a member of the board of trustees. Mr. Leebon was married in San Jose to Annie Anderson, of Swedish birth, who died at their home in Visalia, leaving two sons, Oscar William and Carl Edward Leebon. STEPHEN B. HICKS The best authority in Kings county on irrigation ditches is Stephen B. Hicks of Planford. How he came to be such an authority will be of interest in this connection. To liegin with some pertinent biographical data, it may be said that he was born in Green county, Tenn., May 1, 1842, three years later his family moved to Schuyler county. Mo., and still later they weut to Wayne county, Iowa, where he passed eight years of his life. In 1882 he came direct to Hanford, where he has since made his home. Soon after his arrival he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land four miles southwest of the town, where he raised wheat and alfalfa four years. He sold that and bought one hundred and sixty acres three miles east of Hanford. Later he bought one hundred and sixty acres eight miles northeast of Hanford. On these places he farmed many years, raising alfalfa and fine horses and cattle and other stock. In 1891 he went into the mer- cantile business at Hanford. After seven years of success he sold his store and goods and later he sold his ranch northeast of the city; but he still owns his quarter section to the east, which is rented for dairy purjsoses. Since 1888 Mr. Hicks has been interested in irrigation by ditches and, as stated before, is conceded to be better informed than any other TULABE AND KINGS COUNTIES 549 mail ill the county oil water systems. The Settlerts' ditch was started in 1874 and Mr. Hicks was successively director, president and secre- tary of the com])auy. In the early '90s, under authority of a vote by the stockholders, he as secretary sold the franchise to the Tulare Irrigation Company, of Tulare county, and from the proceeds of that sale the old company Ijought somewhat more than a fourth interest in the People's Ditch Company of Kings county, wliich takes its water from Kings river; soon after the latter transaction Mr. Hicks was elected a director of the People's Ditch Company and as such served several years. In the sequence of events he was elected president of the company, which place he filled until January 1, 1909, when he re- signed. During his service as president the first weir at the head of the ditch was built and stood seven years, and he was chairman of a committee of three to effect a compromise with the Fresno Canal Company in the matter of water rights and a member of a committee of three appointed to arrange for a survey to locate reservoir sites in the mountains. One of the busiest men in the county, Mr. Hicks has yet found time to yield to his inclination to do public service on behalf of his fellow citizens. He was four years a city trustee of Hanford and his two years' service as chairman of the board made him the third mayor of the city. In the erection and formation of Kings county in 1893, Mr. Hicks was active and influential. Fraternally he affiliates with Hanford lodge, F. & A. M., and with the Royal Arch chapter of that order. He has been a Master Mason for over twenty years and long been treasurer of the local lodge and is identitied also with the Eastern Star chapter. It is a matter of local and Masonic history that he had charge of the erection of the Masonic temple in Hanford. In 1866 he married Margaret Green, a native of Indiana, who is also a member of the order of the Eastern Star. They have three children : Alice is the wife of J. L. Payton, a rancher living east of Hanford, and has six children. Hannah E. married J. W. Payton, a merchant at Hanford, and they have two children. Mollie is Mrs. J. J. Adams and her hus- band is a dairv rancher near Dinuba. HENRY COLPIEN In his career, which on tlie whole has been A'ery successful since he came to America in 189.'1, Henry Colpien of Enterprise colony, Tu- lare county, Cal., has demonstrated the advantages of following a life of integrity, industry and perseverance. He was born in Holstein, Germany, March 6, 1874, and there grew to manhood and was educated in the public schools. He learned farming there also, according to methods in vogue. In 1893 he determined to come to America, and 550 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES being without funds, he borrowed $135 from a friend with which to pay his passage. He was not very provident on the voyage, and when he arrived in California, which was his objective part of the country, his entire cash capital was ten cents and no more. His first work in the United States was in Tulare county, herding sheep, which he says he ran all over the county and into the mountains. He was thus em- ployed for nineteen mouths, and from 1895 to 1899 he did hard ranch work for wages. Up to this time he had spent his earnings as fast as he received them, but he now began to see the error of his financial ways and decided that if he were to save his money he must have some definite use for it and some ambition to gratify. Accordingly, in the fall of 1899, lie rented two hundred and twenty-seven acres northwest of Tulare City, which for two years he operated on shares, devoting his attention ])riucipa]ly to wheat and stock. Accumulating money he wisely laid it by for future use and soon was able to buy forty acres of laud near where he had been farming. He cleared and improved it and built on it a good house and other necessary buildings. The land cost him thirty dollars an acre and soon was yielding him a splen- did profit in alfalfa. By 1907 land values in his vicinity had materially increased and he bought another forty-acre tract, paying sixty dollars an acre ; in 1909 he bought forty acres more, under some improvement, and had to pay for it $125 an acre. At this time he owns, clear of all debts, one hundred and twenty acres of improved land in one piece, all of wliich he acquired iu a comparatively brief period of eleven years. Twelve acres of his land is in Egyptian corn and fifty-five acres are producing fifteen sacks of wheat to the acre. He raises fine horses, has a dairy of twelve cows, and usually keeps about one hun- dred and fifty head of hogs. In 1912 Mr. Colpieu added to his holdings by buying another forty acres, for which he paid $7,500. In 1901 Mr. Colpien married Ollie M. Johnson, a native of Indiana, and they have children named Herman J., Raymond C. and Heubert H. Socially he affiliates with Tulare City lodge No. 306, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he is also a member of an encampment of that order. JULIUS BURGAMASTEE Among the first land purchasers iu his part of Tulare county was Julius Burgamaster, who was a native of Missouri, and came with his family to California in 1901, buying a tract of fifteen acres of land from Dudley Brothers and locating permanently in Tulare county. His wife was Margaret Tiedemann, also a native of Missouri, and ■they both were descended from German ancestry. Upon coming to California in 1901, thev settled in Farmersville. then came to the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 551 present location of tlie homestead, where Mr. Burgamaster purchased fifteen acres of land and developed and improved it, ever after making it his home, until his death, which took place in Tulare county in 1911. Three children were horn to this coui)]e, of whom two survive, Otto and Mattie. In politics Julius Burgamaster was a Democrat and was devoted heart and soul to the princijiles of his party, all of which he has handed down to his son, who is following closely in his footsteps. As a man of enterprise and public spirit he many times demonstrated his high citizenshi)). Believing that his interests could l)e advanced only with those of the connnuuity at large, he was always generous in his help to movements for the general benefit. Otto Burgamaster, son of Julius, who since his father's death has conducted the si^lendid ranch, was born in Missouri, August 29, 1885. Educated in the public schools there, he was taught the funda- mentals of farming and while yet young was afforded much ]iractical experience as a tiller of the soil. Six acres of the ranch are in vine- yard, producing Muscat and Thompson grapes, and during 1911, which was an unusually dry year, the vines produced four tons of grapes. Two acres are in orchard and the ranch is in a high state of cultivation, and ranks among the most productive in the county. HAERY A. CLARK The esteemed citizen of Tulare county, Cal., Harry A. Clark, has achieved good results as farmer, fruit culturist, dairyman and stock- raiser and is known through his interest in the Tulare Canning com- pany and his activities as a member of the finance committee of the Dairymen's Co-operative Creamery company. From time to time he has been identified with other important interests in Tulare and the county at large, and in many ways he has demonstrated that he pos- sesses a public spirit that may be safely relied on whenever its exer- cise is demanded. It was in Woodson county, Kans., that Mr. Clark was lioru, July 30, 1872. He came to California in 1892, and worked for wages at and near Tulare during the ensuing three years, and then went into wheat growing, nine miles soutli of that city. His operations soon became so extensive that they involved the cultivation of six hundred and forty acres of laud, which he farmed till in 1904, when lie l)ought his present home ranch of seventy-one acres, five miles north of Tu- lare, and under his able management and scientific cultivation this property has been greatly improved. He has set out twenty-five acres to peaches and fifteen are in alfalfa. He has a small dairy, and is setting oul at the present time fifteen acres to ])runes. He has one hundred head of Jerseys, large Durocs. In 1910 he planted to Egyji- 552 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES tian corn eighteen acres between rows of peach trees, and the crop yielded thirty and one-half sacks to the acre, in all amounting to four hundred and thirty-nine sacks, truly a record achievement. He planted also black-eye beans between the trees and they produced, in 1911, eighteen sacks to the acre. Fine blooded brood mares are among his choicest possessions and he raises each year two or three colts bred to a Percheron stallion. He makes somewhat of a specialty also of mules. One of his colts recently was sold for $250. On December 9, 1908, Mr. Clark married Miss Iris Hemphill, a native of Missouri, and they have children, Hazel G. and Jessie E. B. L. BAENEY At Gouverneur, St. Lawrence county, X. Y., B. L. Barney was born, March 24, 1849. Educated in the public schools and at the Gouverneur Wesleyan seminary, he was early interested in merchan- dising, farming and the tannery business in St. Lawrence and Jeffer- son coimties, N. Y., until 1891, when he settled at Hanford. For a time he engaged in ranching and later he went into the grocery trade at Hanford, under the firm name of Foster, Barney & Felton. He sold his interest in the liusiness to Mr. Foster and with Mr. Birklieck as a ])artner organized a new enterprise under the style of Barney & Birkbeck. Later he became sole proprietor and after a time the firm became known as Barney, Kelly & Widner, and under the last name a store was conducted at Grange^nlle. Eventually Mr. Kelly bought Mr. Barney's interest at Hanford and Mr. Barney be- came sole proprietor of the Grangeville store and conducted it until he sold it to J. C. Stewart, in order to give attention to his ranch interests. While Mr. Barney was interested in the grocery trade he engaged in the raisin and dry fruit packing biisiness as head of the firm of Barney & Cameron, which was succeeded by the B. L. Barney com- pany, of which Mr. Barney was proprietor until he retired from that branch of business. He has purchased a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres, three miles and a half east of Hanford, which is given to the production of fruit and vines, cattle, horses and hogs, and is now conducted by his son, Fred M. Barney. One of the most active advocates of the formation of Kings county in 1892 was Mr. Barney. He was elected as a Republican to the office of supervisor, in which he served four years, during which time the jiresent courthouse and jail were built. He was chairman of the building committee and was active in the superintendeucy of the work. He lias lieeu a member of the Hanford Chamlier of Com- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 553 merce and of commercial bodies having for their object the promo- tion of the interests of the county. In 1908 he was elected a member of the board of trustees of the City of Hanford and in 1909 was made chairman of that body, which office he filled one term. He is junior warden in the Episcopal church of Hanford and a member of the local lodge of Knights of Pythias. In 1873, Mr. Barney married Mary E. Herring, a native of New York state, and they have two children, Anna Louise and Fred M. Anna Louise Barney was graduated with honors from the gram- mar and high schools at Hanford and from the University of Cali- fornia, and during the last four years has been a teacher of English in the Hanford high school. Fred M. Barney is operating the ranch near town. JOHN W. BAXLEY One of the most successful of the citizens of Tulare county who have come within its borders in recent years is John W. Baxley, a native of Berkeley county, W. Va., born February 8, 1852. Mr. Baxley was brought up and educated and became acquainted with the details of practical farming in his native state, where he suc- cessfully raised wheat, corn, red clover, tobacco and other crops till 1882, when he removed to Allen county, Kans. There he farmed many years, acquiring eight hundred acres and giving his attention principally to wheat and corn. It was in 1909 that he came to Tulare county, Cal., where he rents one hundred and sixty acres of the Giannini ranch and has charge of six hundred and forty acres more of it as superintendent. He raises chiefly prunes, grapes, olives and almonds and has produced some fine crops of beans between rows of fruit trees. In the spring of 1911 he planted a sack and a half of black-eyed beans and fifteen pounds of brown beans and harvested two hundred sacks of the former and thirty-four sacks of brown beans. In Kansas Mr. Baxley served his fellow townsmen as township trustee and road superintendent. Since coming to California he has been too busy with his purely private affairs to give any time to political work, but he has well defined ideas concerning all ques- tions of public policy and, being an outspoken man, be is quite certain to be heard from whenever he shall consider it necessary to raise his voice in advocacy of any measure directed to the enhancement of the public weal. He married, at Gettysburg, Pa., February 11, 1875, Miss Amanda C. Beecher, a native of that state, and they have had eleven children, all of whom survive: William A. married Alice Griffin, and 554 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES they have two sons, Walter and Marvin. David D., who married Anna Orth, has three daughters, Rose, ^'iolet and Lillian. Charles married Maud Meyers and they have a son named Ralph. Mary is the wife of Edward West and has borne him three fhildreu, Russel, Irene and Everett. Laura married R. R. Ross and they have a son, Elmer. Grace became the wife of M. J. Adams and their children are Viola, Harold and Catherine. Bessie is the wife of William Stevens and they have a daughter named Edna. Ernest married Edna Doru- burg and has borne him a daughter, Hilda. Mattie married Howard Clark and they have one child, a son, Clive Howard. The remaining two are Clarence and Gladvs. I. B. HUNSAKER This native son of California was born in Contra Costa county, August 24, 1867, and was only about a year old when his parents moved to Tulare county, locating near the Tule river, where they engaged in farming, and he eventually became a student in the pub- lic school. His first venture in the field of independent endeavor was as a grain farmer in the Waukeua neighborhood, on Tulare lake. After operating there with success for fifteen years he developed an alfalfa ranch four miles and a half southeast of Tulare, where he established a dairy. This property consists of four hundred and seventy-five acres, four hundred acres of which is under alfalfa. It is occupied by two dairies and is operated by tenants. In 1906 Mr. Iluusaker, whose residence is at F street and Kern avenue, Tulare, was elected a trustee of that city and he was re-elected in 1910. As a citizen he is public spirited and helpful to all local interests. Fraternally he affiliates with Olive Branch lodge No. 269, F. & A. M., and with local organizations of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Woodmen of the World. In 1893 Mr. Ilunsaker married Miss Eva Galbraith, a native of Stockton and a daughter of George Galbraith, and she has borne him two children: Juanita is a student at the University of Cali- fornia at Berkeley; Mary is deceased. OSCAR F. COLLINS Of the number of able men who have succeeded as dairymen in Tulare county, Cal., none has more richly deserved his success than Oscar F. Collins, of Tulare. Mr. Collins was born in Memphis, Mo., TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 555 May 17, 1858, and was reared and educated in his native state. There, too, he learned farmin.c: accoi-ding to methods then in vogue, and it was at farm work that he was eniploj'ed till he came to California, where he saw hefore liiTii the road to success, straight and wide and not too long, and he set himself cheerfully to the task of working for wages to acquire capital witli which to make a promising beginning. He was employed thus, saving every dollar possible, from in 1887 until in IStlO. and then he was al)le to rent a hundred and sixty acres of laud a mile west of Tulare, where for two years he raised grain, hay and stock. Then, moving to a point north of Tulare, he went into dairying with his brother, A. H. Collins, as his partner, and they continued their joint efforts till 1902. From that time, Oscar F. Collins operated indeijendently in the same place till 1905, when he came to his present dairy ranch of one hundred and twenty acres, where he has twenty-five acres in alfalfa, a goodly field of Egyptian corn and a dairy of sixteen fine cows. He has some good horses also, and recently sold a fine animal for $250, and has also sold colts from one mare to the value of $1115. Of the Dairymen's Co-operative Creamery association Mr. Col- lins is a stockholder, and he is otherwise active in a general way for the advancement of the dairy interests of the county and .state. He is a charter member of a local body of the Woodmen of the World and has for twenty-one years been identified with Tulare City lodge No. 306, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. There is no movement for the public benefit that he does not encourage to the extent of his ability. In 1892 he married Miss Marietta E. Riley, who was born in Missouri, and they have three children, Edith M., Jessie M. and George B. JOHN W. DUNLAP Hannibal, Mo., was the scene of the birth of John W. Dunlap, champion sack sewer of California, November 24, 1850. He was a son of Lemuel S. and Cynthia A. (Zumwalt) Dunlap, natives respec- tively of Kentucky and Missouri. The family aiTived in California November 1, 1869, having made the journey from St. Louis in eleven days on one of the earliest trans-continental railway trains. The trip was a novelty not only to them, but to nearly all who ))aiticipated in it. They settled in Colusa county, where Lemuel Dunlap established himself as a farmer. Early in life John W. Dunlap began working on threshing ma- chines in Colusa county, and he soon l)ecame the best and fastest sack sewer in the state, sewing as many as two thousand sacks in a 556 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES day and making a record of two hundred and fifty-six sacks in one honr. In 1883 he bought of Samuel DeWitt his present ranch of fifty-one acres, three miles and one-half north of Tulare City. He makes a specialty of raising chickens and is probably one of the most scientific poultry men in California, a state in which there are so many such dealers that to excel is somewhat of an honor. In 1911 he received $1500 from the sale of eggs from five hundred chickens, mostly leghorns. His chicken ranch is well apjiointed in every particular and is one of the most complete in the county. Its incubators and other appliances are of the most efficient kinds and of the latest models. Mr. Dunlap has given some attention to peach culture and in two years received $1200 from two acres devoted to that fruit. He now has six acres in peach trees and two acres in prunes. A feature of his business is a small dairy, by means of which he adds considerably to his yearly profit. Mr. Dunlap married, April 2, 1876, Lillie F. Green, a native of Nevada county, Cal. Jeremiah Green, her father, was a pioneer in that county and was a storekeeper there in the old gold-mining days. Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap are the parents of five children. Bertie is the wife of Alexander Whaley. William E. is cashier of the First National Bank of Tulare. George L. is employed by the E. F. Gox Lumber company of Tulare. Harry is connected with the Stockton Iron companv. Leslie is a member of his parents' house- hold. JAMES M. ELLIOTT The life of James M. Elliott, Waukena, Tulare county, Cal., began in Cherokee county, Texas, August 23, 1881, and he was brought to California in 1888 by his parents, who settled at Pomona, Los Angeles county. In 1890 they removed to Orange county, and there he remained until 1908, when he took up his residence at Waukena and became a partner in a general merchandise business with his sister. Miss Hattie Elliott, who is postmistress of that town, an office which she fills with great fidelity, giving to its duties the most careful attention in all details. In connection with merchandising, Mr. Elliott gives attention to another enterprise, that of the installa- tion of pumping plants, in which he is associated with his half brother. As a merchant, Mr. Elliott is progressive and up-to-date, handling salable articles of good quality which he offers at such prices as to make them available to the trade of Waukena and its tributary ter- ritory. As a citizen, he takes an intelligent interest in everything TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 557 that pertains to the general welfare. He is a believer in the square deal which would give the greatest good to the greatest numbers and is ready at all times to respond in a public-spirited way to any demand on behalf of the enhancement of the good of the community, for he realizes that he who reaps must first sow and that the pros- IDeritj' of one is the prosperity of all. The father of James M. and Hattie Elliott, the venerable Wil- liam M. Elliott, who was born in Mississippi January 6, 1827, was during ail his active years a successful farmer, and is now a member of the household of his son at Waukena. WILLIAM REINHART One of the numerous Pennsylvanians who have become suc- cessful as farmers in Tulare county, Cal., and passed on to the long reward of the honest and the industrious was William Rein- hart, who was born in Greene county in the Keystone State in 1832, and died in his far western home in August, 1888. When he was two years old his parents left Pennsylvania and settled in Ohio, where he was reared and educated and took up the battle of life on his own account. In 1857 the family moved to Cole county. Mo., and located near Jefferson City. There Mr. Reinhart farmed until 1874, when he came to California. He put in ten years at ranching near San Jose, in the Santa Clara valley, and early in 1885 rented land north of Tulare City, where he resumed farming with much promise of success, but died three years later. He was a man of considerable business ability and was for some years deputy sheriff of Miller county, Mo. On January 1, 1863, Mr. Reinhart married Margaret J. Dripps, a native of Pennsylvania, and they had several children, of whom five survive: Madoi-a, wife of Frank E. Dalzelle, of Berkeley, Cal.; Imbrie D., who lives on the Reinhart home farm; Pliny E., who mar- ried Martha Luck and has a son named Kenneth E. ; James A., of Hollister, Cal., who married Laura Ashcroft, and they have four children, James II., Margaret P., Ulla and Laura J. ; and William C, who is a mining engineer. Mr. Reinhart was a member of the Grange. He loved his liome and his farm and had little to do with politics beyond doing his duty as a citizen. His public spirit was such that he was ready at all times to aid to the extent of his ability any meas- ure which in his opinion promised to benefit bis town, his county, his state or the American people in a broader sense. For some years after her husband's death Mrs. Reinhart man- aged the farm property which he had accumulated. Later her son. 558 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Imbrie D. Reinhart, bought the ranch, which he has operated with much success. It consists of forty acres, eight of which are in vine- yard. Considerable alfalfa is grown and the family derives a good income from a dairy. It should be noted that, while in his latter years the elder Reinhart was working leased land, he was ambitious for a home of his own and his widow and son have carried out his plans so far as they have been able. JOHN F. EVANS When the Evans family went to Tipton the plains about the site of that town were a runway for wild cattle. John F. Evans, of Tulare, was born in Santa Clara county, October 5, 1865, a son of Dudley and Sarah A. (Doty) Evans. Edward Doty, his mother's great-grandfather, came to America with the Mayflower Pilgi-ims and is said to have been the tirst of the party to set foot on Ply- mouth Rock. Later he had a memorable experience as a sailor in Greenland, being wrecked and cast away on the shore of that in- hospitable land, and having to subsist there through an entire winter imder circumstances such as to make his survival depend on the merest chance. Dudley Evans was a native of New York, while his wife, Sarah A. Doty, was born in Ohio, 1834 being the year in which they both were born. Dudley Evans crossed the plains to California in 1852, and went into stockraising in Santa Clara and San Luis Obispo counties. On coming to Tulare county, he settled six miles west of Tipton, taking up government land. To his original one hundred and sixty acres he added a purchase of one hundred and sixty from the railroad people and then owned three hundred and twenty acres, all in one body. When he came to the vicinity there were only seven houses in Tulare. It should be noted that thei-.e is evidence in support of the statement that to him belongs the credit of having burned the first kiln of brick in Tulare City. He passed away in 1893. His widow, who lives at Tipton, is surrounded by loving relatives and friends, happy in her declining years and most interesting in her reminiscences of the pioneer days which tried the souls of men and women among the mountain passes and prairie stretches of beautiful California, a land of promise and of fulfill- ment, but a land of vicissitudes which sometimes sank to the plane of fatal disappointments. Following are the names, in order of birth, of the children of Dudley and Sarah A. (Doty) Evans: John F. ; William, of Fresno; Albert D., of Cochran; Elmore H. and Harry N., of Tipton. John F. Evans spent his early life on his father's ranch, went TULAKE AND KINGS COUNTIES 559 to school and jyained a good deal of useful knowledge of different kinds in the college of hard experience. His ranching life is varied and was spent in different parts of the country. It includes the operation of threshing machines, rough work on the Creighton ranch near Tipton and the breaking of wild horses, and it has other interesting features. He started farming on his own account in 1889, on rented land, six miles east of Tulare, where he remained only one year. After that he operated a thousand to fifteen hun- dred acres in the Dinuba and Orosi section of Tulare county. Ee- turning to the vicinity of Tipton, he first rented and later bought two hundred and forty acres. He is now renting out two hundred and forty acres near Tulare. A dairy of fifty cows is a feature of his enterprise, and he has one hundred acres in alfalfa. In 1910 he had twenty acres of Egyptian corn which yielded eighteen sacks to the acre, and in 1911 eight acres, planted to the same corn, gave him twenty-two sacks to the acre. He owns a fine home on East King street, Tiilare, where he and his family have lived for some years. John F. Evans married, September 25, 1892, Mary Cortner, a native of California, and they have children as follows: Reba L., Harry D., James and Helen A. Mrs. Evans's father was William C. Cortner, a native of Tennessee, who came overland to California in 1852, ox-teams affording him a means of transportation. For a time he mined with some success, but we find he was in Tulare county before the end of 1853, with a stock ranch in the mountains and a farm north of Visalia, but later he farmed near Orosi, and died in March, 1894. The father of Mrs. Cortner was John Jordan, who was in command of the party with which he came overland to California — the same pioneer Jordan who helped to blaze the Hockett and Jordan trail in the mountains. The following- named of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Cortner were living in 1912 : Mrs. S. L. N. Ellis; Lee, of Tipton; Mrs. John F. Evans"; Talbert, of Orosi; Preston, of Auckland. Mr. Evans is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters and a director of the Tipton Co-operative Creamery, and in other relations he has demonstrated his public spirit so unmistakably that he is regarded by all who know him as a citizen generously helpful to all public interests. FRANK GIANNINI Of Italian ancestry, Frank Giannini was born at Porto Ferrajo, Island of Elba, off the Tuscan coast, March 3, 1864, and is one of three brothers who came to the United States. His parents, 560 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES Dominieo and Magdalena (Bolano) Giannini, had also four daughters. The motlier died on Elba in 1869, the father, who was a prosperous farmer and vineyardist, died there in 1911. Frank Giannini early learned the secrets of grajie culture and at seventeen was given charge of his father's vineyard. Soon after he was twenty-one, he carried out a well-studied plan to immigrate to California, of which he had read much, believing that here he would find a climate not unlike that of Elba, which would oifer better chances for advancement than he could obtain there. Bring- ing with him $1200, for the purchase of land, in 1885, about a month after he landed at San Francisco he began grain farming on his own land near Brentwood. An experience there running through two years convinced him that he had not hit on the true jalan for industrial and commercial success. He first saw Tulare county in 1887, but did not buy land there until about two years later. Meanwhile he farmed and raised fruit and grapes in Madera and Fresno counties and during the period from 1887 to 1902 he operated a stock farm and was manager of an orchard, both located at Eeedley, Fresno county. In 1889, with two others, he bought a hundred and sixty acres of raw land, two miles and three-quarters northeast of Tulare. The price paid was $20,000, a very high price for the time, yet as events proved a good investment. A hundred and twenty acres were set out to an orchard and the rest of the tract to vineyard, and in 1891, by rei^lacing an occasional vine with a tree, increased profits per acre were made possible. In that year Mr. Giannini bought out the interests of his partners. By purchase he has acquired four hundred and eighty acres adjoining, and now he has an entire section in one body, eighty acres of which is de- voted to alfalfa. On his place are two wells with never-failing sup- ply of water which are pumped by two fifteen-horsepower electric motors. He has displaced his gas motors formerly used for pumping by electric motors; he is a stockholder in the Electric Power com- pany. He is now putting down a third well which will be pumped by means of twenty-horsepower electric motors. On the place are modern buildings of ample capacity for every purpose, and dry- ing yards and packing houses for jireparing the fruit for ship- ment and forwarding it when ready. There are also a new winery, with a capacity of two hundred thousand gallons annually, and a brandy plant, with an annual capacity of fifty thousand gallons. In the busy season Mr. Giannini employs on the place one hundred and fifty men. In 1910 he incorporated the Elba Land company, which now includes most of his interests, being capitalized at $500,000, and he is the president and general manager. Besides his regular business Mr. Giannini has interests of im- portance, being a stockholder in the First National Bank of Tulare, TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 561 having given the site for the Tulare Power comioany's phiut and promoted the Tidare Milling company and bought the first share of its stock that could be purchased. He sold his Tipton ranch in 1908, his dairy ranch in 11)11, and devotes his attention to his land business, to fruit, alfalfa and wine. He has had much to do with organizations to promote the advancement of these and kindred interests, and is a Mason, of Blue lodge and Royal Arch chapter, having originally identified himself with the Madera lodge and been transferred to the Reedley lodge. His acquaintance with the Cali- fornia fruit and wine fraternity is large and constantly increasing in a measure commensurate with his advancing fortunes and the growth of his home interests. His home stead has been enlarged to twelve hundred and sixty acres; he has two hundred and fifty acres in peaches, five hundred and sixty in vineyard, one hundred and seventy-five in prunes and the largest individual orchard in Tulare county. His home acreage in alfalfa is ninety acres. In 1911 he sold prunes at $115 a ton. Miss Louise Lombardi, daughter of a pioneer in northern Cali- fornia, became Mr. Giaunini's wife and was most helpful to him in all his aspirations, working with him side by side for all that has meant success to both. She died in 1907, leaving one child, Aulrina. EMERIE RENAUD The French Canadian, wlierever his lot may be cast, generally develops into a good and itrosperous citizen with much credit for his easy manner and thrifty qualities. This fact is illustrated in the success- ful life and high standing of t]merie Reuand, a native of the jirovince of Quebec and a descendant of one of the oldest and most honored French families of Canada, who owns and occupies one of the most attractive of the many beautiful home farms in Tulare county, a stock farm four and a half miles north of Tulare. Mr. Renaud was born July 25, 1857, near Montreal, which was the birthjilace of his grandsire, Charles Renaud, Sr., and of bis father, Charles Renaud, Jr. The former farmed all his life near Montreal and his home- stead is now the property of one of his grandsons. Following in the footsteps of his ancestors, Charles Renaud was a farmer all his life, and passed away when be was but fifty-seven. ITis wife was Marcellian Pelon, born in Quebec, daughter of Celesta Pelon, who was a farmer. She and ten of her twelve children sur\ive. 562 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Enierie, the third in order of birth, is the only one of them living in California. In the district school and on the farm f]nierie Eenaud received the practical education that has made possible the siiccess he has achieved. "When he was sixteen years old lie came with a In-other and an uncle to Nevaila, but soon located at Sacramento. Cal, where lie worked as a farm hand two years. After that he mined four or five years with indifferent success in the diggings at Bodie, Cal., and at others in Nevada, then returned to Sacramento, where he married and whence he came in ISS-i to Tulare county. He bought a farm on Elk Bayou, which, however, proved unproductive, and when he had operated it at a loss for two years he rented land and engaged on an extensive scale in grain raising and this latter venture met with great success. Leasing from J. Goldman & Com- pany the old Stokes estate of three thousand acres, he raised grain in large quantities on that land as well as on a three-thousand- acre ranch near Porterville. which he leased a number of years. Other inirchases and leases brought his holdings to the ten thou- sand acre mark, and the in-osecution of his enterprise required the use of one hundred and tifty horses and mules and two harvesters. In 1903 he bought the old J. B. Zuniwalt place, four hundred and twenty acres, in the management of which he has been very pros- perous, having four hundred acres in alfalfa, a dairy of one hundred cows with niodei-n equipment, including a sejiarator, lilenty of good horses and three hundred hogs. Besides operating his home- stead, he operates under lease thirteen hundred acres adjoining, which he devotes to grain and stockraising. Tie is constantly im- proving his home place and now has one of the really fine residences of that part of the county, standing as it does amid palms and orange trees, on a beautiful lawn. Mr. Reuaud is a director in the Dair^onen's Co-operative Dairy company. At Sacramento, Mr. Eenaud married Miss Mary Gignerre, born in Yolo county. Cal., daughter of Frank Giguerre. a pioneer of 1849. and they have nine living children: Joseph. Walter. Laura, Flora (wife of J. Damron, Jr.), Arthur, Blanche, Bryan, Elma and Collis. Mr. Renaud affiliates with Tulare City lodge No. 306. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with Tulare Encampment, and with Olive Branch lodge No. 269, F. & A. M. His moral and theological creed is "Do right and it will be right." Politically he is a steadfast Democrat, and as such he was elected to the jiresidency of the board of school trustees of the Enterprise district. In a jniblic- spirited way he takes a deep and abiding interest in all propositions looking to the advancement of the community or the amelioration of the condition of the people at large. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 563 1 JOSEPH SILVEIRA On one of the Azores Islands of Portugal, Joseph Silveira was born October 24, 1877. He came to the United States in 1895, when he was about eighteen years old, and that same year he located in California. For three months he was employed near Truckee on a dairy farm, then ^vent to Marin county, Cal., where he was similarly employed for three years. From there he went to Nevada City, Nevada county, Cal., where he worked in sawmills in the mountains and at times prospected and mined for gold. Oakland, Cal., was his next objective point. There, in partnership with his brother, he was in the creamery business about a year. In 190.3 he came to Tulare county, where for a short time he was a partner with another in a dairy ranch, but in the fall of that year he came to his present loca- tion. He is the owner of eighty acres and rents two hundred and forty acres, has seventy-tive cattle and milks fifty Holstein cows. Ninety acres he devotes to alfalfa. As a farmer and dair\Tnan he is prosperous in Tulare county even beyond his expectation and is recognized by a wide circle of acquaintances as a self-made man of much prominence and of even greater promise. He affiliates with the U. P. E. C. and the I. D. E. S., Portuguese orders, and with the Woodmen of the World. In 1897 Mr. Silveira married Violanto Eserada, a native of the Azores Islands, and they had five children, here mentioned in the order of their nativity: Manuel, Mary, Louisa, Carrie and Hilda. On June 2, 1912, Mrs. Silveira died. Mr. Silveira mai-ried again. August 26, 1912, Miss Mary P>razill, born on the Azores Islands, becoming his wife. Though Mr. Silveira has not been as long in Tulare county as some of its American-born citizens, he has demon- strated that liis public spirit is adequate to any demand that may be reasonably made upon it. His aspirations are for the uplift of the community and there is no movement for the general good that does not receive his heartfelt encouragement and support. GEORGE ULYSSES WRAY One of the most popular and well-known citizens of Tulare county who by the exercise of untiring energy and inflexible will has forged to the fore in many industrial circles is George Ulysses AVray, who was a pioneer stockraiser in this vicinity, having settled about five miles east of Tulare City in 1874. He is a brilliant type of the self-made, self-reliant man, who in spite of many hardships and numerous impediments in the road for knowledge has so thoroughly 564 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES overcome them that he is today numbered among the reliable and noteworthy sliort-stor_y wi'iters, his chief theme being nature study. Added to this he is a newspaper correspondent of some note and active interest and wide knowledge of all current events and political subjects makes him a valued acquisition on the publishing staff. George W. Wray, his father, was born in Crawfordsville, Ind., and came across the plains in 1851. He was a cabinet-maker by trade and upon coming to California followed mining at Hangtown, now Placerville, in Eldorado county. He was married at Suisun City to Miss Ethalinda Vanderburgh, who was born in Iowa and came across the plains in 1861. After his marriage he engaged in farming and the nursery business at Placerville and continued to live there until they came to Tulare county in 1874. Mr. Wray was the first man to make a success of farming under the no-fence law by taking up trespassing stock under a law passed by the state legislature in 1875, and was also organizer of one of the best and oldest ditch systems in Tulare county. This is known as the Farmers' Ditch company, and he served as its superintendent for over twenty .years, and he was the largest stockholder during that period. Mrs. Wray is now living near Los Angeles at sixty-four years of age, Mr. Wray having passed away November 24, 1910. They were the parents of a family of ten children, seven daughters and three sons, who are all living. George W. Wray had home- steaded a tract of a hundred and sixty acres on the north fork of the North Tule river, which he proved up, and which his son, George U., bought at the time of the former's death in 1910. The eldest of his parents' family George U. Wray was born at Placerville, March 25, 1869, and was about five years of age when he was brought by his parents to Tulare county. Owing to the unsettled conditions at that time educational facilities were meager and the boy was obliged to go to work on the stock farm at an early age. When he was fifteen he started out for himself, working at general farming for wages for four years, when he engaged in farming and stockraising for himself. When he was twenty-one he homesteaded a hundred and sixty acres east of Milo. On March 25, 1904, he was married in Fresno county to Miss Josephine Wood, who died without issue at the present home of George U. Wray in May, 1905. Mr. Wray came to his present ranch about fourteen years ago and bought a hundred and twenty acres, also homesteading the hundred and sixty-acre tract mentioned above, and he now owns two ranches aggregating four hundred acres of land on which is done general farming and stockraising. He has started a young nursery and is clearing land, intending to put in TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 565 about twenty-five acres to apples and it is also bis intention to raise bis own nursery stock. Mr. Wray lias steadfastly refused political preferment, for he is widely known for bis unusual ability and broad intelligence of matters of moment. He was tendered tbe nomination for supervisor on the Populist ticket at tbe time Populism was at its heigbt in Tulare county, but declined tbis bonor. Nevertheless be has taken a very active interest in ]iolitics, being forcibly active wherever there is a principle at stake and he is known as an ultra radical progressive. In fighting the saloons be has been especially active and he has assisted in wiping out several of these evils in tbe county through his writings and active jiolitical work. Notwithstanding the fact that be was handicapped by few advantages when a child, be is of an active, alert and inquiring mind, and through extensive read- ing, close observation and natural intelligence he has become well- informed and is acceded to be among tbe most entertaining as well as instructive writers of tbe day. For two years he was a corres- pondent for the Visalia Times, also tbe Farm View, which was printed at Porterville, and for fourteen years served as the regular local correspondent for tbe Porterville Enterprise, and is now local cor- respondent for tbe Porterville Recorder. He is strongly opposed to tbe liquor traffic and has written many stirring articles against it. Having ever lived the simple life, close to nature, he has become quite a hunter and has experienced many thrilling adventures which he has told in a number of short stories with such interesting style as to endear him to his many readers, not the least of which are the yoimg readers of the Youth's Companion and similar popular publications. A few years ago be started writing up his own ex- periences in bunting bear, deer, etc., in the Sierras, writing under a nom de plume, which are printed in magazine form and attract nmcb favorable attention. AECHIE F. LANEY A native son of California and of Tulare county, Archie F. Laney was born in 1877, a son of George W. and Octavia (Rether- ford) Laney. His father was born in Ohio and came to California in 1873 ; be was married in Iowa. He bought land and raised grain and cattle until he retired from active work about fifteen years ago, when his sons assumed tbe management, and they have continued the business in which be was tbe pioneer and are yet raisinc: and buving and selling stock, being as well known in tbe market as any other 566 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES dealers in the central part of the state. Their ranch comprises twelve hundred acres and they carry about three hundred fat cattle each year, raising only enougli grain for feed and growing alfalfa for their own use. The father passed away November 13, 1912. While Archie Laney has never taken an active interest in prac- tical politics and has never sought public office, he has well defined ideas concerning all questions of economic bearing and in a very public-spirited way performs his whole duty as a citizen. In fact, if we may believe those who know him best and are best able to testify in such a matter, he is liberally helpful to all movements having for tlieir object the advancement and prosperity of the com- munity and ill a private way has many times proven himself a de- pendable friend, doing what he could by word and deed to help struggling neighbors over some of the stony places in life's path- wav. WILLIAM GOUGH In Ohio, Preble county, William Gough, who lives two miles northwest of Orosi in Tulare county, was born October 12, 1838. There he was reared and educated and obtained a practical knowl- edge of farming and of different kinds of useful labor. He was about twenty-two years old when, in 1860, he came to California, the party of which he was a member being under command of Captain McFarlaud, who had twice before crossed the jilains to and fro. The train consisted of sixty-two wagons and the party included one hun- dred and twenty men and thirteen young women. The route was by way of Omaha, Lone Tree, along the Platte, Salt Lake City, the sink of the Humboldt and thence through beautiful California valleys to Sacramento. The Indians were menacing and succeeded in run- ning oft" a good many cattle, but none of their attacks were fatal to any memlier of the party. Forty or fifty cattle died by the way and at Rabbit Hole Springs one member of the party passed away. For a number of years Mr. Gough lived in Sacramento, most of the time engaged in teaming between that point and Nevada. He drove a ten-mule team and the rates on freight ranged from six cents to fifteen cents for one hundred pounds. From Sacramento he came down into Kern county and filed on one hundred and sixty acres of government land which he later relinquished in order to move to Visalia to engage again in teaming. For seven years he drove a stage back and forth between Visalia and Havilah. It was after he took up his residence in "\'isalia that he married Miss TULAKE AND KINGIS COUNTIES 687 Maliuda J. Pemberton, a native of Missouri and a daughter of the lion. James E. Pemberton. With his brother as a partner Mr. Pemberton eoudueted the iirst general store in V'isalia. lie was elected to the state legislature for the session of 1865-66 and served with much ability. Later he was elected ti'easurer of Kern county on the Democratic ticket and re-elected on the same ticket with the Republican indorsement. He was elected for a third term and died in office. A man of much business ability, he became one of the leading cattlemen of the county. Mrs. Gough has borne her hus- band four children, Kuby A., Anna P., Elmo and Leroy. Euby A. married E. E. Montague and lives at Orosi. Elmo, who is a grad- uate of the public schools, married Beulah Howard and they live on the Robert place; they have three children, Howardine, Eugene and an infant. Leroy took for his wife Ethel Tellyer and lives on Sand creek, Squaw valley. When Mr. Gough came to this spot little or no farming had been done in the vicinity and cattle were fed on the plains, over which deer and antelope roamed almost unmolested. In the swamp were many elk and the bear was a pest to all who tried to raise hogs. He has participated in and aided to the extent of his ability the development of the community from that time to the present, and as a Republican has been influential in local affairs. GEORGE ALEXANDER ROBISON An identification with Tulare county interests for more than a quarter of a century, during which time he has been almost a con- tinuous resident in t])e connty, has placed George Alexander Robison among the best known citizens here. He is a native of Linneus, Linn county, Mo., born April 27. 1851, son of Andrew and Eliza (Mar- low) Robison, who took their son when a babe in arms to Perry county, 111. In tliat county he was reared and educated, living there imtil 1874, when he went to Indiana, his father at that time coming to California. It was in November, 1875, that George A. came to California to join his jiarents, and two years thereafter was located in Tulare county. Fi-oni tliere he moved to near Santa Rosa, Sonoma county. During these travels he had been working for wages in tlie intervals of farming rented land. Returning to Tulare county he farmed three-quarters of a section, which was part of the present site of Orosi. In Sonoma county he worked land north of Santa Rosa near Fulton. He remembers 1877 as a dry year in Tulare county; wlieat growing and stockraisiug failed, liorses died, and young sheep were killed in order to save the old ones. 568 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES In 1880, in Sonoma coimty, Mr. Robison married Maiy Russell, a native of Sonoma county, Cal., and a daughter of Hugh and Sarah Russell. She has borne him five children: Minnie, Lawrence, Dora and Nora (twins), and Pearlie. Minnie married Lee Finley, of Tulare coimty, and they have two sons and a daughter. Lawrence married Martha Griggs. The three others are members of their parents' household. After his marriage Mr. Robison came back to Tulare county and bought twenty acres of land near Orosi at $75 an acre, his present home, which was part of a grain ranch. He has fourteen and a half acres under vines, his leading grapes being Muscats and Sultanas. An orchard of four ln;ndred young peach trees is a feature of his farm. It includes three and a half acres and in 1912 brought him $152. While Mr. Robison regards 1911 as having been a poor crop year, he states that in that year he sold eighteen tons of raisins. A comparison of these figures with those of 1893, his first crop, when he shipped his cro]3 to New York and cleared $50 on it, is not at all discouraging, and his many years' residence in this vicinity, while it has not been without its disappointments, has nevertheless on the whole brought him substantial prosperity. Pre-eminently a self- made man, he has succeeded because he is a good farmer and a good citizen. Politically he affiliates with the Democratic party. MOSES S. JENANYAN One of the most i>rosperous fruit growers in Tulare county is Moses S. Jenanyan, who was born April 22, 1864, in Armenia and there made his home until in 1893, when he came to Chicago, bring- ing with him an exhibit of goods from his native land. In 1894 he brought the exhibit to San Francisco and then returned to the east. He came to Tulare county January 4, 1904, and bought ninety acres of land, bare and uncultivated, which he has developed into a fine fruit farm, having now ten acres of Emperor and sixty acres of Muscat grapes, also ten acres of oranges and ten acres of peaches. In the season of 1910 he sold forty-five tons of Muscats, his Emperors not being in full bearing, and his peach crop brought him $1000. He is improving his place with a modern cement residence and has built a barn and made other improvements on the place. One hundred and thirty-two acres of fruit land in this vicinity is owned by Helena R. Jenanyan, a native of New York, who lives in Philadelphia. She has ten acres in Emperors, thirty in Muscats, thirty-five in Thompsons and ten in Malagas, and has an orange grove of fifteen acres. She sold in 1910 fifty-five tons of Emperors, thirty-five of Muscats, thirty of Thompsons and thirty-five of TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 569 Malagas. Her orange crop in 1911 brought about $1500. The Eev. H. vS. Jenanyan bought about fifteen hundred acres of land in association with his brother, Moses S., and they brought twenty-five families to a colony which they have established on this land on Rural Free Delivery Route No. 1, four miles southeast of Mr. Jenanyan 's homestead. This has increased to about sixty fam- ilies in 191,3. They employ about thirty workmen and at bleaching time hire about forty people. Most of their fruit they ship direct to eastern markets. In Philadelphia, in 1899, Mr. Jenanyan was married to Miss Maude P. Pulsifer, a native of Canada, and they are the parents of four children, viz. : Gladys and Clarence, who were born in Bos- ton, and Vincent and Alden, natives of California. The ranch of Mr. Jenanyan, of ninety acres, which had been a wheat field before he bought it, has been improved by an irriga- tion system and transformed into a fine orange and grajie farm. Mr. Jenanyan is as enterprising toward the public welfare as he is where his own personal interests are involved. As a Re])ublican he has been elected to the office of school trustee of the Churchill district. In religion he affiliates with the Presbyterian church. DANIEL MURPHY A career of usefulness and unceasing labor has been that of Daniel Murphy, who has figured prominently in the development of Dinuba and Orosi for many years. He was born February 1, 1828, in Antigonish (Indian name for River of Fish), Nova Scotia, and there his life was spent until he reached the age of about sixty- five years. He made a marked success of his life as a farmer and manufacturer, devoting himself principally to milling and to woolen manufacture. He built up the business from a small beginning, in partnership with Robert Trotter, combining gristmilling and woolen manufacturing of tweeds and yarns as well as blankets and flannels, and so extensive did the enterprise become that he long employed a liiindred or more skilled workmen. Later he built a small steam mill, and this he sold for $7,000, in order to come to California, and in November, 1892, he became one of the jiioneers of this section of the county, buying forty acres of land, twenty of which he later sold. His land was all wheatfield and there were no graded roads. He acquired other property and had two stores and seven saloons in Dinuba, and two houses and one store in Orosi. Mr. Murphy planted six acres to grapes, seven acres to peaches and in 1909 replaced the peach orchard with an eight-acre tract of oranges. 570 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES So well equipped is his ])lace in the matter of water supply that he could irrigate it more cheaply with his own plant than from the ditch. Nevertheless his public spirit impels him to patronize the latter. His well is eighty feet deep, with eleven-inch casings and a five-horsepower engine for pumping. All his operations are car- ried on by the latest and most scientific methods. In Nova Scotia, Mr. Murphy married Miss Ann MacDonald, who has borne him children as follows: Bessie (Mrs. Sydney Holland), who has a son, Percy; AVilliam, who married Rose Phelps and lives in St. Paul, Minn. ; Tina, who married Wesley Ferguson and has four children, they residing in Minneapolis; Huntley, who married Abbie Wheelock, and is an employe of the Southern Pacific Railroad com- pany, living in Oakland; Grace, who became the wife of J. H. Mc- Crackin, druggist, at Dinuba. Four children died in Nova Scotia. Mrs. Murphy passed away June 18, 1902. In jiolitics Mr. Murphy is a stanch Republican and in religion a communicant of the Presbyterian church. As a citizen he is pultlic- spiritedly helpful to all worthy interests of the community. ELIZABETH NAVARRE It was in Monroe, Mich., that Elizabeth Navarre was born in 1842 and lived until 1881, when she accompanied her husband, Sam- uel Navarre, to California, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Tulare county, the site of her present home. They were married in Michigan in 1868 and had three children, Bert. Dot and Lillie. Bert passed away in 1901, aged thirty-one years. Dot and Lillie are married. Mrs. Navarre's parents were natives of Ireland, who sought and found their fortunes in Aanerica and have gone to their reward. Mr. Navarre was born in Michigan and was a man of winning personality, who was beloved by all who knew him. He died at his home in Tulare county in 1897, aged fifty-six years. Their children were all born in Monroe, Mich. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Navarre has sold a part of the old farm, but retains what she has always called her home place. When she came to the county, settlement was so sparse that many miles intervened between the luuisos. The country was wild, lonely and unproductive, and her husband had no difficulty in buying good land at $2.50 an acre. Most of her land is planted to grain, and along this line she is farming very successfully. A woman of the highest character and genial and affable, she has made and kept .many friends in the community in which she has cast her lot, and in a iiul)lic-spirited way she has done whatever was possible for the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 571 promotion of the general interest. Her late husband is remembered as having been a friend of education and a ijromoter of progress and prosperity. LEWIS A. SICKLES In Lewis county, northeast Missouri, Lewis A. Sickles was born, in 1874, and there made his home until he was about twenty-five years old, when he went to Kansas City, Mo., where he lived until 1904. Then he came to Porterville, Tulare county, and after living there two years he removed to Springville, Cal. Two years later he bought the Springville hotel, which he still owns, and which has been written up in the Visalia Morning Delta, published December 21, 1912, as follows: There is no class of institutions throughout the whole category of business concerns which exercise so wide an influence or have so important a bearing upon the general character of a city as its lead- ing and most representative hotels. These establishments have an iudi\-iduality which becomes impressed and engrafted upon the character of the communit}^, and to the vast majority of the trans- ient traveling fraternity a city is just what its hotels make it; for it is here that the visitor receives his first and his last distinct im- pressions, and accordingly as he is favorably or unfavorably inclined toward the hostelry of his temporary abiding place, in just that measure is he pleased or displeased with the community in which it is located. Springville has every reason to be proud of the Springville hotel; it has thirty-two large airy rooms, all comfortably furnished, and the dining room has a seating capacity of seventy-two. Mayor L. A. Sickles bought this hotel six years ago, and then it was not the hotel that it is today, for it was only one-third of its ])resent size. Mr. Sickles is comnumly referred to as the Mayor of Springville, for it was to him that the honor fell to drive the last spike in the completion of the railroad. Mayor Sickles is a genial host, ever looking after the comforts of his guests, and he leaves no stone unturned to impress upon all of his patrons the wonderful resources of this chosen spot. In 1906 Mr. Sickles married Anna Akin, a native of Shelby county, Ohio. In 1895 his father and mother came to this state and his father, B. T. Sickles, is living in Porterville. Mr. Sickles is one of llie directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Springville and was so imjiortant a factor in securing the construction of tlio rail- 572 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES road to that city that ou the completion of the line he was tendered the honor mentioned. This progressive man was educated in his native Missouri and has always been connected with enterprises of importance. For four years before he came to California he was a foreman in the packing house of Schwarzsehild & Sulzberger at Kansas City. After com- ing to California he became proprietor of the hotel as stated. This is the only hotel in the town and he manages it with much ability, catering successfully to both transient and commercial trade. It is as a self-made man that Mr. Sickles should appeal most strongly to those who come to know him. Starting out in life with nothing, he has made a success in every way creditable, and such of this world's goods as he possesses he has won by his own unaided ability and industry. Wherever he has lived his public spirit has never been found wanting. He is deservedly popular in business circles and in a fraternal way he affiliates with the Modern Wood- men. WILLIAM H. MILLINGHAUSEN Of German-American lineage, William H. Millinghausen was born at Lincoln, Neb., in 1877. His father was a native of Germany and his mother made her advent into this world in Michigan; they are now living in retirement from the active labors that commanded their devotion through all their earlier years. They gave their son such advantages for education as were possible, and under his father's instruction he learned the practical side of lumbering and farming. When he was two years old they moved, taking him from Nebraska to Oregon, and two years later the family came to Tulare county, and it was in the Mountain View school that he fitted him- self for business life. Practically all of his life Mr. Millinghausen has spent in Tulare county, and practically all of it has been given to two interests, lumbering and farming, and in the latter avocation he has given particular attention to stockraising. As a lumberman and an owner of stock, he naturally engaged in the hauling of lumber, and from that work a graduation to miscellaneous freighting was natural, and as a freighter he has also busied himself profitably from time to time. The father of William H. is August Millinghausen, who is a man of strong character; his mother is such a woman as gives her- self heart and soul to the moral instruction of her children; and consequently Mr. Millinghausen in his youth did not lack the ethical TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 573 and patriotic instruction wbicli is essential to good citizenship. Those who know him recognize in him a fellow-townsman of public spirit, who does all that can be expected of him in the encouragement of measures directed to the general good. While he is not an active politician, he is well informed on all public questions and votes for the men who will, in his judgment, do the best for the community. He has always been liberal in support of the church and of public education. ULYSSES GBANT PARSONS A self-made man who in spite of many vicissitudes and hard- ships has succeeded and is now prospering as a farmer in Tulare county is Ulysses Grant Parsons, a native of Meigs county, Ohio. Named in honor of General Grant it appears that he has taken as his motto Grant's dogged declaration, "We will tight it out on this line if it takes all summer." It was in July, 1866, that Mr. Parsons was born. In 1884, when he was eighteen years old, he turned his back on his Ohio home and went west as far as Nebraska, with a few dollars iu his pocket over and above the sum absolutely necessary for traveling expenses. He worked tliere on farms until in 1890, when he went to Portland, Ore., and found employment on a ranch at thirty dollars a month. From Oregon he came to California, arriving in Tulare county, February 22, 1891, and here for a time he was variously employed, sometimes working for wages and sometimes cutting wood and selling it in town, just as General Grant had done at St. Louis many years before. But all the time he was saving all the money he could possibly piat aside until at length he was able to buy a team with which he returned to Oregon, seeking better opportunities. Nevertheless he found conditions there so bad that he made his way back to Nebraska and put in one hundred acres of corn, which failed because of lack of rain. He then found work in the hay fields at one dollar a day and board. Returning to California by way of Nevada he left his wife and children there and came on to Tulare, arriving with twenty-five cents in his pockets and owing the railroad company $1.80 baggage charges. He borrowed the latter amount from a friend, securing liis scant personal property, and then looked around for work. Bound to get a start in some way, he worked at odd jobs in Tulare and Fresno counties, being at one time obliged to work for only sixty cents a day. By working and scrimping and persevering he at length managed to save enough money to enable him to rent a farm of forty acres near Visalia. 574 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Later he bought the place, paying fifty dollars down, improved it and then sold it at a profit of six hundred dollars. He next, in 1903, purchased the one hundred and forty acre farm northwest of Tulare which has since been his home, and at this time he owes not a dollar in the world and owns one of the most productive ranches of its size in the county. He has twenty acres of Egj^tian corn and fifty acres of alfalfa, raises grain and sells fifty to one hundred and fifty tons of hay each year. One of the paying features of his enterprise is a dairy of fifteen cows. In 1889 Mr. Parsons married Miss Annie McConnaughay, who has borne him children as follows: Gertrude, Maud, Edna, Inez, Frank, Fred and Fay (twins), and George. Mrs. Parsons has always been a true helpmate to her husband and during the earlier years of their married life encouraged and assisted him so effectively that he readily accedes to her the credit for more than half of his success. FRANK P. ROBERTSON At Willamette Valley, Ore., Frank P. Robertson, now one of Tulare county's best known farmers and dairymen, was born February 18, 1855, son of William J. and Mary (Matthews) Robertson, the former a native of New Jersey, the latter of Missouri. William J. Robertson was the captain in command of the troops which fought for law, order and civilization in the Rogue River war in Oregon, and years afterward he ably filled the office of justice of the peace at Tulare, Cal., where his son has come to the front as a splendid citizen and a first-class man of affairs. When he was but sixteen years old, Frank P. Robertson left Oregon, and, making his way to California, settled in Tehama county, where he farmed till he moved on to Modoc county to take charge of a sawmill. He came to Tulare county in 1885 and found emploAanent on the old J. B. Zumwalt ranch, where he set out many of the trees which, developed to largeness, now adorn the place. For some years past he has been the owner of ranch interests more or less extensive, mostly within the limits of Tvilare county, and at one time owned a ranch three miles south of Visalia. He first occupied the ranch which is now his home by lease, and in 1906 acquired it by purchase. Formerly he farmed it to grain, but for ten years has been operating it as a dairy plant, having now about twenty-five cows. Fifty-five acres of the place he devotes to alfalfa and pasture, and recently he has grown Egyptian corn with much success. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, lodge and encampment. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 575 iiK'lndes Mr. Robertson in its niembeivship, and be affiliates also with the Woodmen of the World and with the Circle of Woodcraft. He has a wide acquaintance throughout the county and is esteemed as a high-minded, i)ublic-s])irited citizen who has the welfare of his com- munity very much at heart. Tie married, in 1888, Josephine Siddall, who died in 1896, leaving three children, Nellie, wife of James Tingley, of Visalia ; Charles, and Elmer. WILLIAM C. RHODES The death of AVilliam C. Rhodes, which occurred in 1888 on the frontier between Texas and Mexico, removed from his vicinity one of the oldest and most honored pioneers of California. He was born in March, 1817, in Knox county, east Tennessee. From his native state he went to Texas in 1847, and in 1857 made his way overland to California by the southern route, starting with a band of cattle which were eventually run off by Indians. At the Platte river it was necessary to block up the beds in the wagons to keep them out of the water in crossing, and a box floated off with three children and their mother in it. About this time Mr. Rhodes saw a Mexican amputate an arm of a man whose life was thought to be in danger from a gunshot wound, he having been accidentally shot while unload- ing bedding from his wagon. Mr. Rhodes made his home in San Bernardino three years, returning to Tennessee at the end of the first year via the Isthmus to bring back more stock. At Carson City he left his stock for the winter in care of the Plouston brothers, but the animals all died before spring. For a time after his arrival in 1860 at Tulare county he engaged in farming and later was in the sheep business on laud where he had settled east of Visalia, and which was his home for years. Subsequently he moved south of Por- terville and remained there imtil some time before his death.* His widow, who Iiefore her marriage was Sarah Rebecca Douglas, sur- vives at the present age of eighty-four. They were the ]iarents of twelve children; Nancy, now deceased; Thomas; John; Harriet, Mrs. J. L. Johnson; Julia, Mrs. A. Scruggs; Ann Hazleton, Mrs. C. Har- jier; William R. ; Tennessee 11, Mrs. S. Fay; Martha E., Mrs. E. ilalbert ; Samuel S. ; Hugh, deceased ; and Ora, Mrs. G. Rolibins. Tluimas married Sarah Fly and they have several children. John married Mrs. Mary Tewksberry and they have five children. Harriet married J. L. Johnson and has three children. Julia became the wife of Thomas Turner and they bad one child; by her marriage with Alba Scruggs she had nine children. Ann Hazleton married Charles Harper and bore him eight children. William R. married Miss Lou 576 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Mefford and has six living children. Tennessee B. became Mrs. Spencer Fay and has two children. Martha E. married Edward Halbert and they have four children. Sanuiel S. married Mary A. Garrison. Ora is Mrs. George Bobbins. As a iiioneer Mr. Rhodes won great honor. Fraternally he affiliated with the Masonic order. In his politics he was a Democrat and as a citizen he was helpfully interested. WILLIAM UNGER In Petalmiia, Sonoma county, a place made famous by General Vallejo, whose old adobe will live long in history, William Unger, who now lives near Orosi in Stokes valley, was born January 3, 1869. a son of Frederick and Dora (Jantzen) Unger. His parents, natives of Germany, came to New York City and from there sailed for Cali- fornia by way of Panama in 1849. Arrived within the present terri- tory of the Golden State, they lived in Sonoma, Santa Clara and Solano counties successively. In 1880 they settled at Selma, Fresno county, and that remained the family home thereafter. For a time Mr. Unger mined and later he worked for the United States govern- ment at $4 a day. In the old mining days he one day picked up a gold nugget which was of considerable value. He died in 1902, his wife in 1904. It is now thirty-three years since William Unger came to Fresno county, where he remained until 1904, buying and improving three fine homes, one after the other. From there he came to Stokes valley, where he bovaght one hundred acres of land. He has sixty-five thou- sand citrus trees and is building up a nursery business and improv- ing his land. His place is well improved and is well provided with modern irrigation facilities, having a pumping capacity of five inches. He was the fii-st to put in a well and pumping plant here, and has over thirty inches of water from the plant installed in 1912. His twelve acres of nursery stock has attracted much attention and he intends soon to plant one hundred acres of oranges and limes. His farm has been made entirely from raw land and as now advanced is one of the best in the vicinity. Since Mr. Unger came to the valley many colonists have followed him and $600,000 worth of land has been sold there, all of which amply demonstrates the wisdom of liis choice, as he has shown the possibilities of this section of the country for growing citrus fruit. In Fresno county Mr. Unger married Miss Ada E. De La Grange, and they have three children. Bertha, Elwood F. and Velora. Bertha has graduated from the graimnar school and Elwood F. is a student. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 577 The members of this familj^ are popular with all who know them. Mr. Unger is a Republican in his politics, and is actively interested in all public affairs. HOMER DAILEY WOODARD A successful and greatly lamented farmer and stockman who before his death was a prominent representative citizen of Tulare county was Homer Dailey Woodard, who was born November 22, 1850, and died in 1908. His native place was Waukesha, Wis., and he was a son of Myron Woodard, who was born near Rochester, N. Y., June 9, 1819. The family of Woodard had been prominent there during several generations. William Williams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was an ancestor of Myron Woodard in the maternal line and Mr. Woodard 's father saw service as a sol- dier in the Revolutionary war, and served under General Scott in the war of 1812. Myron Woodard was an early settler in Waukesha, Wis., where he cleared a farm and assisted to build up the best in- terests of his community. In 1854 he crossed the plains with the Hawkins boys, driving cattle, and became a gold miner in California. He went back in 1857, spent a year in Wisconsin and brought his family to Knights Ferry, San Joaquin county, making the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama. Until 1862 he was again a miner, and then he engaged in farming and wool growing in the Washoe valley, Nevada. Returning to California in 1867, he spent three months in Linden, San Joaquin county, then again took to mining, this time at Columbia, Tuolumne county. In 1870 he went to Badger, on the Mill road, where he organized a school district and established a postoffice of which he was the first postmaster. There he farmed, raised stock and conducted a hotel until he retired from active life and made his home with his son. Homer Dailey Woodard, with whom he lived until in 1886, when he died, aged sixty-seven years. His political and religious attitude will be understood when it is stated that he was a Republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married Miss Eunisa Dailey, a native of Rochester, N. Y., born June 8, 1822. After her husband's death she sold the Badger ])ro]ierty and ]i\'ed on the Woodard farm in the Townsend district until her death, October 4, 1899, aged seventy-seven years She left four children: Marvin W., in Tehama county; Melvin C, a farmer in Tulare county; Homer Dailey, and H. P., a railroad man of Arizona. In the district schools in California and Nevada Homer Dailey Woodard acquired such education as was available to him, and when 578 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES be was twenty he became a brakemaii ou tlie Southern Pacific railroad between Fresno and Sacramento. After three years of such work he turned to farming and stockraising. In the fall of 1876 he home- steaded a lumdred and sixty acres in section two, township seven- teen and range twenty-six, a site that later became known as his home stead. He bought other land from time to time until he owned six- teen hundred acres here, fifteen hundred acres in the foothills, a hundred and sixty acres near Tulare and another one hundred and sixty acre tract in Kings coimty, all of which he devoted to stock- raising and general farming, with such success that he was recog- nized as one of the leading farmers in this part of the state. His sons, Chester H. and Myron F. Woodard, are partners with their mother in the old home ranch. They sold out their cattle interests in the mountains and now own three hundred and ninety acres and are renting two hundred acres more. They have a dairy of twenty- five cows and have two hundred Poland China hogs. Fifty acres are planted to alfalfa, seventy to Eg^i:)tian corn and one hundred and fifty acres to barley. Mr. Woodard's marriage in Tulare county. May 24, 1876, united him to Susie F. Boork, who was born near CarroUton, Ark. She was a daughter of Thomas Eoork, a Tennesseean by birth, who came by the southern overland route to California in 1859, he and his family constituting a part of a large immigrant train. He stopped near Visalia for a while and later became a pioneer in the Cricket- ville neighborhood, where he farmed during the remainder of his life. His wife, formerly Miss Mary Daniel, was born in South Carolina, daughter of Abner Daniel, who died there. She died in Fresno county in 1889. Of her thirteen children eleven grew to maturity and five were living in 1912. Mrs. Woodard was educated at the Visalia Seminary and taught school five years in Tulare county. She bore her husband six children: Flora, a graduate of the San Jose State Normal school, and formerly a teacher in the public schools of California, married H. Swank and leaves near Visalia; Orvis, who was educated at the Pacific Biisiness college, San Jose, and at the Kings Conservatory of Music, married Viola Smith in 1911, and they have a daughter, Mildred; Myron F. married in 1906 Alice Fudge and they have a son. Homer D. ; Chester H. married Ethel Elster in 1911, and they have a daughter, Dorris; Hazel and Myrtle are mem- bers of their mother's household. Hazel is now teaching the Chat- ham school and Myrtle is a student, being a senior in the State Nor- mal at Fresno. Fraternally Mr. Woodard was associated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and he was a member of the Cumberland Pres- byterian church at Antelope, with which his widow affiliates. Politi- cally he was a Republican and always took a keen interest in local TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 579 affairs, serving from time to time as a member of the county central committee. He was a member of the first board of directors for the Townsend district and long acted either as its clerk or as its trustee, and it is worthy of note that the school building of the district stands on an acre of ground which he donated as its site. In many ways he was useful to the community, always occupying places of trust and responsibility. MARTIN L. WEIGLE Many a man who has come to California hoping to find good health has found that and good fortune as well. The experience of Martin L. Weigle is evidence in point. Born in York county, Pa., in 1846, he obtained some common school education in his native state, after which he acquired a practical knowledge of cigar making. When he was about eighteen years old he went to Ohio, where he worked at his trade until failing health made necessary a change of climate. In February, 1890, he came to California and soon after- ward bought forty acres of land northwest of Tulare City, and to his original holding he has added by purchases from time to time imtil he is now the owner of two hundred acres. His farming operations have been somewhat extensive and at one time he worked five hun- dred acres in the county. At present he has fifteen acres in vine- yards, giving special attention to raisin grapes, and ninety-five acres in alfalfa, with twenty acres devoted to a peach orchard, in which he grows freestones and canning fruit. He has also ten acres of four- year-old peach trees which in 1911 produced fruit amounting to the value of $1,700, and twenty acres of young peach orchard not yet bearing. Among his possessions is a fine flock of Indian Runner ducks. Tliere are on his place several good breeding mares and he has raised some fine colts, having recently sold a pair for $450. It will be seen that his career in California has been one of increasing success, and it should be noticed that this success has been the result of careful planning and intelligent labor. To an extent it has de- pended also on a good knowledge of crops, climate and market peculiarities. In short, Mr. Weigle has made a careful study of everytliing that could possibly affect his business and has taken advantage of every opening for improvement and })rofit. In 1878 Mr. Weigle married Miss Matilda B. Wilson, a native of Pennsylvania. Though lie takes an intelligent interest in all impor- tant public affairs, lie is not in the usual sense of the phrase a prac- tical politician, but he has demonstrated the possession of ]mblic interest of the kind that makes him a useful citizen. 580 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES JOHN BROWN BURNHAM The Burnliam family to which John Brown Burnham belongs came originally from England and settled in Massachusetts at a very early date. They were Pilgrims. Mr. Burnham 's paternal grand- mother was born in England and died at Essex, Mass., at the age of a hundred and ten years. An interesting record of this family will be found in a volume, "Genealogy, Eight Generations of Burnhams," by Rosana Angeline Burnham, which was published at Boston, Mass. In the old Bay State, in the old town of Essex, John Brown Burnham was born July 7, 1838, the third son of a family of seven children born to Nathan and Sarah A. (Brown) Burnham, the latter of whom was a native of Ipswich. Mass., and was Mr. Burnham's second wife. Nathan Burnham was a merchant and stockman. He was born at Essex, Mass., where he lived and passed away. John B. Burnham was brought up at Essex and at Lawrence, where he learned the carpenter's trade, at which he was employed until after the outbreak of the Civil war. December 3, 1861, he en- listed in Company H, Nineteenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volvmteer Infantry. He received his baptism of fire at Yorktown, where he for the first time faced the enemy in an engagement. He fought later at West Point and Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, and in intermediate engagements, and at Malvern Hill was taken prisoner. At one time, through a blunder, he came near shooting General McClellan, and while he was held at Richmond he liad a memorable talk with Gen. T. J. ("Stonewall") Jackson. He was near the spot where Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston fell, when that brave Confederate officer yielded up his life for his beloved South. In Richmond he was con- fined in Libby Prison eighteen months and had many gruesome ex- periences. One of his recollections is of having paid $2.50 in gold for a green apple pie for a dAing comrade. After his release he bore rifle and knapsack through many a hard-fought fight till 1865. At the close of the war Mr. Burnham went liack to Massachu- setts, where he remained two years, then went to Wisconsin, intend- ing to take up government land. Not finding conditions there to his liking, he went to Waterloo, Blackhawk county. Iowa. In 1887 he came to Fresno county, Cal., but soon located at Visalia. where he worked as a carpenter nineteen years. Eventually he bought thirty- seven and a half acres of land, on which he has a sixteen-acre vine- yard and a family orchard. He has built a fine house on the place and has biiilt and sold four city homes in Visalia. As a citizen he is helpful in a public-spirited way to every movement for the general good. Politically he affiliates with the Socialists. In Iowa Mr. Burnham married Elizabeth Van Derburgh, a native of that state, a daughter of Isaac Kelly and Charlotte E. (Gleason) TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 581 Van Derbnrgh. Her father went to Iowa when a boy, and was mar- ried in Dubuque, la., where Mrs. Burnham was born Julj- 25, 1846. Her mother died in Cedar county, la., when Mrs. Burnham was in her tifth year, leaving her and a little sister, Laura, then in her third year. Mr. Van Derburgh married a second time in Iowa and by his second marriage became tlie father of three sons and three daughters. John B. Burnham and his wife have six children: Sarah E., Jessie B., Anna B., Pluma B., John B. B., and David C. Sarah E. has married three times. David Carlton was her first husband, Oscar Nelson was her second and Frank McCain is her present husband. She has two children by her first marriage, four by her second and one by her last. Jessie B. is the wife of Hans Larson of Forest City, Iowa, and has ten children, three of whom are sons. Anna B. married Tilden H. Botts, and has five sons; they live in Diuuba. Pluma B. is the wife of O. H. Philbrick, of Oakland, Cal., and they have a son and a daughter. John B. B. became the hus- band of Emma Castilian and she has borne him a son. David C. married Etta Cline, of Dinuba, and they have one child. ZENIAS KNIGHT A son of James H. and Mary M. (AVorley) Knight and a well- known citizen of Tulare county, whose residence is half a mile south- east of Monson, Zenais Knight was born in Jones county, Iowa, No- vember 16, 1854. In 1860, before he was yet six years old, he came as an emigrant to California. A train of one hundred wagons left Wyoming. Iowa, and at Baker, Idaho, was divided into two trains, one of which, consisting of thirty to forty wagons, started for Oregon, while the other came on to California. Of the Oregon party an aunt of Mr. Knight was a member. Indians at that time were very trou- blesome and they attacked the train, killing most of the emigrants, appropriating the stock and burning the wagons. The lady men- tioned was one of those who esca]3ed and it was not until four or five years afterwards that she was enabled to inform her California friends of the fate that had overtaken the train. The journey to California was made by way of Omaha and Lone Tree, Neb., up the Platte River valley, by Salt Lake and down the sink of the Humboldt to Hangtown, where the party rested for a few days. The Oregon party consisted of about seventy-five individuals, the California party of about one Inmdred and seventy-five. The Knights located in Green River valley, after a short stop at Sacramento and took up one hundred and sixty acres of railroad grant land which they had later to abandon. The father lived out 582 TULARE AND KIXGS COUNTIES his days in California; the mother is living in Merced county. Zenias Knight's early days were passed as a pioneer in a new and undeveloped country. "Work was plentiful and educational advan- tages few, but by reading, study and observation he became well informed. He married, at Hanford, Miss Sarah E. Halford, who was born in California, and they have had seven children: Warren, Walter, Laura, Alice, Wallace, Harvey and Zenias. Alice married Jacob Christen and had a son named Christopher. They live at Dinuba. Warren, a resident of Bakersfield, married Elizabeth Worthley. After his marriage for a time Mr. Knight lived in Merced county. From there he moved to eastern Oregon, whence after seven years he came back to California and located in Tulare county. He bought sixty acres of land in 1904 which he has since developed into a fine fruit ranch, giving attention at the same time to stock. He has eight acres of peaches five years old and from twelve acres of his land he secured three cuttings of alfalfa in 1911. His stock consists of eight head and he has ten good hogs. When Mr. Knight first came to this county there was not a house between Visalia and Fresno, and he saw herds of from five hundred to seven hundred antelope and many elk, while bear were numerous in the swamps. The whole country was a vast unde- veloped plain. He was acquainted as boy and man with many pioneers and one man of note among several he knew was Evans of doubtful fame. In 1867 and 1868, then only a big boy, Mr. Knight freighted between Stockton and Bakersfield, often visiting Sacra- mento, hauling mill stutf. He recollects that on one occasion the transportation charges on a steam boiler amounted to $.50 more than the original cost of the boiler at Sacramento. Those were the days of primitive things in California. In the later development of this part of the state Mr. Knight has manfully borne his part. Politically he is a Republican. He formerly had membership with the Baptist church. In every relation of life he has been public-spiritedly helpfiil to those with whom he has been brought in contact. GILBERT M. L. DEAN At Clarksville, Red River county, Texas, Gilbert M. L. Dean was born November 11, 18.39. In 18.50 he came with his parents overland to California by the southern route, reaching Visalia by way of Fort Yuma. He was the son of Lteyi and Letitia (Paten) Dean, natives of Tennessee, who had been pioneers in Red River county, Texas, in 1836. The party was in charge of Captain Bailey TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 583 and Levi Dean would appear to have been second in command. They were often menaced by Ajiache Indians, from whom they were successful in concealin.n- the knowledge of their numerical strength, sometimes camping for the night in stockades well guarded on all sides. Indians claiming to want to buy tobacco or oxen to be killed for beef, sought entrance to their stronghold but were excluded on one pretext or another. Nine months was consumed in making the trip, for the jiarty often withdrew to one side of the trail to rest their stock and hunt. They lirought one hundred cows and eighteen yoke of oxen. At this time a span of mares and a carriage would be a small ]>rice to jiay for one hundred cows, but such a purchase was made on that basis by these immigrants in 1850. The i^arty, consisting of thirty-two men in charge of the same numl)er of wagons, arrived at Visalia just before Christmas of that year and Mr. Dean soon located on the Jacob Brus ranch up the creek. His family consisted of himself, his wife and their eight children, the latter being Anna N., Martha J., Helen, Mary A., Henrietta, George W., Gilbert M. L. and Albert L. Anna N. married Robert Huston, whom she bore six children and with whom she went back to Texas. Martha J. became the wife of Robert Hamlington and they had live children. Mary A. married Claiborne Dunn and bore him two children. Henrietta became Mrs. John Baker and had two daugh- ters. George W. is married and has two sons and a daughter. Gilbert M. L. married Laura E. Shaw, and following are the names of their eight children: Levi, Letitia A., John IL, Laura B., Martha J., James S., Mary A. and Jesse L. Levi married Adeline Filey, who bore him two sons. Letitia A. became the wife of Alfred "Wooley and had two daughters. John PI. married Martha Filey and they were the parents of three children. Laura B. became the wife of George Hill and the mother of his three sons and one daughter. Martha J. married John Findley and has borne him three daughters and a son. Mary A. married George T. Seamunds. Jesse L. took for his wife May Downing and they have a son. Mr. Dean has sixteen grandchildren and one of his granddaughters is married. For several years Mr. Dean lived near Visalia, where he carried on an extensive stock business and raised corn and vegetables. He remembers when he thought he was doing well to sell one hundred pounds of shelled corn for seventy-five cents. He was for a time engaged in freighting from Stockton and had a government con- tract to deliver supplies for soldiers at Fort Independence. He voted at the first election in the county, casting his l)allot for Lincoln with his father, under an oak tree in the open. He rememl)ers well when the coimty seat was changed. He herded stock quite exten- sively and sold many cattle at the mines in California and Nevada and was for a time in business in Visalia. In 1867 he homesteaded 584 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES land in the county, which later he sold in order to lease a ranch of nine hundred acres for stock raising purposes. He keeps an average of two hundred head of cattle and horses and sufficient number of hogs for his own use. Mr. Dean's experiences in Tulare county cover the period of much of its development. He has seen laud which was formerly worth only $1.25 an acre sold for $5 to $20 an acre and other lands at much higher prices at a corresponding increase in value. During his early years here he hunted a good deal, killing many deer and bear. He has seen as many as two hundred and fifty deer in a single winter and more than one hundred bear, sometimes in groups of eight or ten. At one time he shot a bear which had come to the mill at Visalia for water. He killed also many antelope and saw mmierous elk. For a time his association with Indians was rather intimate and they often called upon him for advice in their rela- tions with their white neighbors. At one time they counselled with him as to whether they should give a war dance or peace dance at Isham. His knowledge of Spanish and of Indian tongues made him useful in this capacity. He has been school trustee of the Isham Valley school fourteen years. In politics he is a Democrat and as a citizen he is markedly public-spirited. Mrs. Dean passed away in February, 1911, after forty-nine years of wedded happiness. FRED GILL For many years Iowa has attracted settlers from the east and distributed them through the southwest and the Pacific coast country, and Tulare county has profited because of this fact. Fred Gill was born in Iowa in 1869 and when he was five years old was brought by liis father to California, and his education was acquired in the pub- lic schools at Exeter. He grew up in the stock business and his earliest recollection is of hundreds of cattle and hogs ranging on the plains in sight of his father's house. In fact, he never turned his hand to work of any other kind. In 1897 he married Miss Car- rie Hickman, a native daughter of California, who bore him three children. Roy, now sixteen years old, is a student in the grammar school, and Emmett and Adolph. aged thirteen and eight years re- spectively, are students in the public school. In Tulare county Mr. Gill and his brother are recognized as leaders among stockdealers. They own forty thousand acres of land, mostly devoted to grazing, keep an average of four thousand head of cattle, and in 1912 their sales reached three thousand head. Mr. Gill's whole active life has been given to the raising of horses, cat- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 585 tie and hogs, in which business he has been peculiarly successful, having made all that he possesses practicall)- within the last fourteen years. He has never affiliated with any secret or fraternal order, nor has he ever held a political office, but he performs his duties as a citizen in a public-spirited way that makes him valuable to the community. His father was a native of Iowa and a man of ability and considerable success, who passed away in 1910, aged seventy- three years. His mother is living in Porterville. Mrs. Gill's mother is dead, but her father survives, and is an honored citizen of Tulare countv. JOEL W. WILLIAMS An honored pioneer who has passed away within a comparatively recent time was Joel W. Williams, a native of Missouri, born in 1841, who came overland to California in 1857, when he was about sixteen years old, making the journey with ox-teams and having in his possession at his arrival a cash capital of fifteen cents and no more. Locating in Sacramento, he soon found employment stringing tele- graph wires on a line then under construction between that town and Reno, Nev. Later he was long in the employment of railroad comjianies as a foreman, and afterward for fifteen years he worked in the wiring department of telegraph installation and repairs, sav- ing money with which he started in the sheep business in Fresno and Tulare counties, with which he busied himself profitably until 1883. In 1881 he bought the Joel W. Williams ranch of one hundred and sixty acres, a mile and a half northeast of Lemoore, where in 1886 and 1887 he planted forty acres to vineyard. He devoted him- self principally, however, to the breeding of fine horses, making a specialty of standard bred animals. Bay Rose, a stallion of his raising, was sold when six years old to the Queen of Guatemala. For many years he was successful in his chosen line and was widely recognized as a leading stock-raiser of Central California. In his religious i^reference Mr. Williams was a Presbyterian. He was a charter member of Lemoore lodge No. 225, F. & A. M. In 1882 he married Miss Christie E. Edmonds, of Kirksville, Mo., who bore him a daughter, Iva W., who is the wife of William J. Bryans, of Lemoore. He passed his declining years on his ranch and died December 14, 1907. He is survived by his widow and the daughter mentioned, and the inevitalile termination of his long and useful career was sincerely regretted by many admiring friends, who dur- ing their many years com]ianionship with him had had the daily encouragement and consolation of his loyal and warm hearted friend- ship. *&^ 586 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES JESSE W. HAERIS In that grand old midway state, Missouri, in the historic old county of St. Clair, Jesse W. Harris, now a well-known contractor and man of affairs at Corcoran, Kings county, Cal., was born Feb- ruary 24, 1869. When he was five years old he was taken to Union City, Ind. He was educated in public schools in that state and at the State Normal school at Winchester, Ind. One of the conditions under which some students are admitted to State Normal schools is that they shall teach for a certain time after their graduation. Mr. Harris devoted seven years to that work and won great suc- cess as an educator. In 1907 he came to California and stopped for a short time in Los Angeles, then came to Corcoran to assist in the erection of a sugar factory which is one of the conspicuous buildings of that town. Eventually he went into contracting and building, in connection with which he later took up real estate, in both fields of endeavor being satisfactorily successful. In all direc- tions may be seen buildings which attest his mechanical skill and his business ability, and he has turned some of the notable local land deals of the last few years. On November 6, 1894. Mr. Harris married Miss India Peacock, who was born in Indiana, June 14, 1876. Fraternally he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Knights of the Golden Eagle. As a citizen he is public-spirited to a degree that makes him dependably helpful in any emergency demanding action for the good of the community. He is filling the office of justice of the peace with the highest honor and integrity and to the general satisfaction of the people of the town, who have learned to respect and abide by his judgment and to seek his friendly advice in the private settlement of many of their difficulties. GEORGE T. FARMER Born at Hamburg, Fremont county, la., January 14, 1859, George T. Farmer was a son of John M. and Martha J. (Utterback) Farmer. Attending school until he was sixteen he then came to (."aliforuia, arriving in what is now Kings county, on March 11, 1875. On April 17, following, he was employed in the construction of the Peo- ple's ditch, but a little later he was heading grain on the present site of Lemoore, and in the fall of that year he was hauling lumber. Later, in association with his uncle, William T. Farmer, he was raising wheat and buying hogs, and their first harvest was the grain produced on one hundred and sixty acres of land, situated one and a half miles south of his present home. In the fall of 1879 he TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 587 married and removed with his bride to Iowa, but came back to Kings county in 1880, and in the fall of 1881 moved to Yolo county, where he worked on road construction. He later came to Kings, then Tulare county, and in 1888 went to Siskiyou, where he served as justice of the peace ■ of Lake township. It was in 1891 that he moved to his present locality, and in 1896 moved to his present ranch, which he bought January 19, 1903. He has been very suc- cessful here and is now extensively engaged in stockraising and dairying, giving attention to thoroughbred cattle, including Guernsej^ dairy cattle, and is considered one of the leading breeders of his class in the county. Fraternally Mr. Farmer affiliates with the Sons of Veterans and the Woodmen of the World. Taking a public-spirited interest in affairs of the community, he has filled several local offices. For eight years he was deputy assessor of Kings county, and for seventeen years he has been a school trustee, including seven years as trustee of the Hanford high school, during two years of which he was presi- dent of the school board. He has served also as his party represen- tative in the county central committee of Tulare and Kings counties. On November 11, 1879, Mr. Farmer married Miss Gertrude Bug- gies, a native of Woodland, Yolo county, born September 1.3, 1858, one of the first white girls born in that county, and a daughter of Lyman B. and Martha Ann (Dexter) Ruggles. They have eight children: Leta, who married Dr. Cothran, of San Jose; Milton T., who is at Berkeley; Lyman D., who is now filling the office of sheriff of Kings county ; Ethel, a teacher in the Hanford grammar school; Theodore, who is on the home farm, and Clarence and Paul, who are in the high school, and Lucile, in the grammar school. CHARLES 0. GILL No ranchman in the Porterville district of Tulare county is more widely or more favorably known than C. 0. Gill, who lives seven miles and a half north of that city. Born in Oliio, August 15, 1863, he was taken to Iowa and tliere remained till he was ten years old, then was brought by his parents to California. The family located in Tulare county, aiid Jiere the lioy was sent to school at the Yokohl valley school liousc, where, under the tutelage of tlie teachers there employed, he acquired a pi'actical education which has been of great benefit to him in his active life as a stockman and man of affairs. The first work to which Mr. Gill gave atteution was among his father's stock, and when he was twenty he was raising cattle on his own account, and from that day to this his energies have lieen di- rected to the advancement of tliis one kind of business. He has 588 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES found this concentration profitable. In 1888 he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of public land, and since then has bought tracts, from time to time, till he now has twelve thousand acres, all of which is devoted to stockraising. He keeps on hand about six hundred head of cattle and from fifteen to twenty horses. His homestead is fitted up with all appliances and improvements essential to a successful enterprise in his line. In 1887 Mr. Gill married Miss Clemmie Anderson, a native daughter, whose father, Garland Anderson, came to California in 1851, among the pioneers. They have two children, Maurice, born in 1889, and Ada, born in October, 1910. The son was educated in the Frazier school and is assisting his father in his business affairs. In the city markets, in which Mr. Gill always sells his cattle and hogs, he is popular and highly respected because of his fair and square business methods. In all of the relations of life he is friendly and helpful and as a citizen he has many times demon- strated his public spirit. JAMES MUNEOE BLAKELEY Indiana has sent to California many men and women who liave won honored place in the citizenship of the Golden State. Among those who have lived and prospered in the vicinity of Hanford, Kings county, mention should be made of James Munroe Blakeley. Mr. Blakeley was born in 1837 and was reared and educated in his native state. In 1857, when he was about twenty years old, he settled in Iowa, where he farmed successfully for a quarter of a century. He married there, in 1861, Miss Mary A. Thomas, like himself a native of Indiana, who had gone to Iowa with her parents, and they have had eight children : Eva married Harvey Burns ; Olive May was the wife of H. Clawson; A. W. lives at Riverside; Frank is a citizen of Lemoore; Arthur E. is well known in Kings county; Mary is the wife of David Porter of Hanford; Grace, who is Mrs. Charles Moss, lives in Kings county, and Bessie married John Bow- den and lives in Philadelphia, Pa. In 1882 Mr. Blakeley came with his family from Iowa to Grange- ville, Tulare county, Cal. During the first two years of his residence here he farmed leaSed land, but eventually he bought land on the lake. He sold that property soon, however, and bought a farm on the Mussel slough, and there farmed for some years, then selling the place in order to buy another near Armona. In 1904 he secured by a trade five acres of land adjoining the northwest corner of the city of Hanford, which he has developed into a profitable orchard and which has since x>rovided him an attractive home. As a farmer. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 589 Mr. Blakeley has been successful witbiu the limits of his operations, and as a citizen he has shown a public spirit which has won him the regard of all who know him. He is especially interested in education, and wherever he has lived he has done his utmost for the advancement of the schools in his vicinity. HENRY ALDEN CRANE The career of Henry Alden Crane of the Paddock district, southwest of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., lias been that of a self- made man, who, by his sterling qualities, has profited by his op- portunities and done, directly and indirectly, a good deal for the benefit of his community. Formerly one of the leading apiarists of Central California, he is now making a success in the production of fruit and stock. Mr. Crane is a native of Kansas and was born September 2, 1872, son of 0. Crane, who came from the Sunflower State to California in 1874, when Henry A. was about two years old, and. lived in Yolo county until 1877: Then the Crane family moved to Tulare county, locating eight miles southwest of Hanford, in what is now Kings county, and the elder Crane took up railroad land which he later lost through litigation. While he occupied the property he farmed it successfully and took an active interest in the development of the district. He was a factor in securing the construction of a ditch through his part of the county and in bring- ing about the utilization of Mussel slough as a source of irrigation. He passed away May 7, 1909, after a life of industry and useful- ness. In the neighborliood of his present home Henry Alden Crane was reared and educated, and to the pulilic schools he gives credit for his literary start in life. His business beginning was as an apiarist in the district between Hanford and Cross creek, and he soon ex- tended his operations until he had at one time four hundred colonies of bees. In 1900 he bought eighty acres in the heart of the Paddock district, eight miles southwest of Hanford, on which there was then twelve acres of old vineyard, but no other improvements. He has developed the place into a modern home ranch, with good and ample buildings and up-to-date appliances and appointments. He now has twenty-nine acres of his land in vineyard, six acres in peaches and the balance in alfalfa. He gives considerable attention to the breeding of horses, cattle and hogs, which bring a high price in the market. In 1911 he bought forty acres of the Jacobs tract, about twelve miles southwest of Hanford, which he is improving and ex- pects soon to devote almost entirely to alfalfa. In April, 1902, Mr. Crane married Winifred Battenfeld, of Kings 590 TULAKE AND KINGS COUNTIES county, and they have a son, William Dale Crane. Mr. Crane takes a public-spirited interest in the economic and political affairs of his county, state and nation, and his solicitude for the imi3rovement of the public schools in his vicinity caused him to accept the office of trustee of the Paddock school district, which he is filling with much abilitv and credit. WILLIAM BURGAN CLAEK One of the many self-made men of Kings county, Cal., who are deserving of an especial place in this work, by reason of their perse- verance in the face of difficulty and their ultimate worthy achieve- ment, is William B. Clark, whose farm property is located six miles south of Hanford. Born October 21, 1865, he made a beginning in active life in 1883, when he was about eighteen years old, by work- ing on ranches in his neighborhood. Later he rented land and farmed on his own account till 1898, when he went to Alaska, being one of those who made the first great rush for the Klondike. Per- haps he had inherited some of the venturesome spirit of his father, who had been a pioneer miner in California. After four years of hard work and indifferent success, the young man came back to Kings county and soon afterward bought his present home ranch of eighty acres, on which he has put all improvements. He devotes himself to stockraising, dairying and the breeding of hogs and has twenty acres of his homestead in alfalfa. In 1907 he bought one hundred and twenty acres near Guernsey and in 1911 thirty-five acres adjoining that purchase, which laud he uses for stock. The mother of William B. Clark is Mrs. Amanda B. Clark, a daughter of William Burgan. She was born in Ohio, November 11, 18.33, and when she was fifteen years old was taken by her father to Wisconsin, where she lived till 1854, coming then to California. She was married in January that year to Charles W. Clark, who was born September 13, 1822, and they came overland to Tuolumne county, Cal., where Mr. Clark mined several years, finding some gold, but experiencing much disappointment. In 1866 he was made super- intendent of the Pittsburg coal mine in Contra Costa county, and there he labored till in the spring of 1873, when he came to Tulare county and boiight two thousand acres of land on Lake Tulare, nine miles south of Hanford, at $2.50 an acre, and engaged in stock and cattle raising and in the growing of alfalfa. It is generally con- ceded that he had the first alfalfa in Kings county. He was one of the promoters and builders of the Lakeside ditch and was its prin- cipal manager for several years. Later, he took up grain and sheej), TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 591 and became one of the most extensive sheep men in the county. He had bought a flock which his brother in Fresno county looked after for him and which he brought with him to this county, and that was the necleus of .is later large property of this kind. In time he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining his land and bought three hundred acres of mountain land in Fresno county. In 1880 the reverses of several successive dry years cul- minated in his loss of his property, and he rented land at Lambert's Grove, six miles east of Hanford, and resumed sheep raising, also doing a little farming. In 1885 he and his family emigrated to Woodville, Jackson county. Ore., where he bought a small ranch, put in an orchard and engaged in merchandising. For four years they remained there, and then came back to a ranch on the plains, near their old place. Mr. Clark died at the home of his son. May 13, 1894. Mrs. Clark lived with her son Frank at Tulare till 1902, since when she has been a member of the household of her son William B. She bore her husband six children: Frank B., born January 28, 1855, lives in Tulare. Albert, born December 3, 1855, died April 22, 1859. Ida B., born May 2, 1860, died November 16, 1862. Grant U., born October 1, 1863, lives near Hanford. Wil- liam B. was next in order of birth. Gracie G., born January 18, 1868, died April 19, 1878. Not only is William B. Clark a well-informed and resourceful rancher and stockman, but he is as well a useful and patriotic citi- zen, a promoter of all good for the public and a firm believer in the ultimate great destiny of California and of America. LOUIS DECKER Prominent and active in the industrial and civic world of Le- moore is Louis Decker, born at Ligonier, Ind., January 14, 1866. When four years old he was taken by his parents to Alexander, Nebr., where he lived until 1886, when in company with Charles Russell, also of Alexander, he came to Lemoore, where he has attained to prominence in many ways and become one of its well-known mer- chants. Mr. Decker was erajiloyed five years as a clerk in the store of M. Lovelace, then bought a fruit farm at Grangeville on which he lived during the ensuing five years. In 1896 he became a clerk in Kutner-Goldstein's store at Hanford, and after three years' em- ployment there he went to the oil fields in Kern county and put in two years in the development of oil lands. After that for some time he was a successful contractor and builder in San Francisco. Coming back to Lemoore in 1901, he a second time entered the employ of Mr. Lovelace with whom he remained four vears until he became 592 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES bookkeoptM- of the Bauk of Lemoore, and tliis positiou he filled uutil January, 1912, when he resigned it to buy the M. Lovelace store. He carries a line of farm implements, agricultural machinery and carriages, his specialties including the McCorniick and Buckeye im- plements, the California Moline plows and the Studebaker wagons. He is part owner and manager of the Lemoore garage, with L. H. Byron, who has the agency for the country round Lemoore and Coalinga for the Ford motor vehicles and does a general garage and rejiair business. His implement building is constructed of corrugated iron and occupies a ground space of 100x150 feet, and his garage, of the same material, occupies a ground space of 75x150 feet. The latter has been enlarged three times. The original garage was 75x75 feet in area; twenty-five feet was added to its length and later it was brought up to its present capacity. Having recently built a new residence on Lemoore avenue, Mr. Decker is now the owner of- two houses in the city. He has in many ways demonstrated his public spirit and has served as city clerk of Lemoore, a term as city clerk by appointment, and a term in the same office by election. In 1893, at tlie first election after the organization of Kings county, he was a candidate for coimty recorder against F. M. Fraser and was defeated by only five votes. He is secretary of the Odd Fel- lows' Hall association and is a Past Grand of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a past clerk of the Lemoore organization of the Woodmen of the "World, and in 1891 was a delegate to the High Court of the Independent Order of Foresters lield at Los Angeles. On May 3, 1911, Mr. Decker married Maria Westerhoff, of Alex- ander, Nebr., a daughter of William Westerliotf, who was a pioneer in that state. JAMES E. DUNLAP An extensive land owner and cattle dealer of Tulare county and one who has figured prominently in business affairs here is James Early Dunlap. His father, Johu Dunlap, was a native of Missouri and a pioneer in Texas and in California, and met his death on the San Bernardino fair grounds by being struck by a sulky*. His wife, a native of Texas, died there when James E. was five years old. James E. Dunlap was born January 1, 1838, in Washington coimty. Tex., and here learned something about books in the public schools, and a good deal about handling cattle on the ranges which stretched for miles and miles in all directions round about his home. When he was in his seventeenth vear he came overland to California TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 593 with his father and others, and the Dunlaps located in Los Angeles county. In 1855 the younger Dunlap made his first visit to Tulare county, bringing Texas cattle to Visalia. He had started with about thirteen hundred head, but about nine hundred had died by the way for want of water. His father came to Tulare county in 1858 and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land of Mr. Lynn. James took up a homestead in Ljim's valley, and he has been a land owner in the county ever since, having owned at one time three hundred and twenty acres, but never less than one hundred and sixty acres. He has been an extensive handler of cattle for the market and from time to time has farmed considerable tracts to various cro])s. He deeded to the Bald Mountain Mining company a strip off the side of his ranch on which the mine of that corporation is located. On September 2.3, 1860, Mr. Dunlap married Miss Lucy Ellis, a native of Texas, who has borne him six children : Thomas is deceased. Henry lives near Bakersfield, Cal. ; John's home is at White River, Cal. ; William James is well known in Tulare county; Emma mar- ried Henry Conner, and Mary is deceased. Mr. Dunlap 's recollec- tions of his early experiences in this county are those of a pioneer. At this time there are very few others living here who were here when he came. He relates that during the time of the Indian trouble his father camped near Deer creek; he has himself killed many 1)ear and deer within the limits of the county. For some time after he came, there were few houses within a radius of many miles in any direction from the place of his settlement, the whole territory being open country, utilized as cattle ranges. He has pros- pered with the community in which he lives, and while he has been winning fortune for himself has watched the development of a wil- derness country into one of the rich and important counties of a great state; and as opportunity has offered he has encouraged and aided that development in a public-spirited way that has insured him the respect of all who have known him. JOHN V. CLEMENTE It was across the ocean on the other continent at Pico, in the Azores islands, that John V. Clemente was born. May 6. 1864, and he now lives a mile north of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., and is a successful dairyman and fruit grower. He is a true citizen of America, devoted to the best interests of his adopted country and especially to those of the community with which he has cast his lot. He re- mained on his native isle in a far-away sea until he was eighteen vears old, then came to the United States, and direct to California. 594 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES locating at Pescadero, San Mateo county, where for four years he was employed at ranch work. For the five years thereafter he worked on ranches in San Luis Obispo county. In 1891 he came to Kings county, bought a band of sheep and went into the sheep business, to which he devoted himself nine years, having at one time a flock of twenty-five hundred. In 1901 Mr. Clemente bought one hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land, on which he has put fences and buildings and which he is now cultivating with success. He has ten acres of vines, two acres of orchard and thirty acres of alfalfa, the remainder of his tract being given over to pasturage. In connection with this business he manages a small dairy. With three associates, he bought four hundred and eighty acres of land north of Lemoore, his interest in which he sold in 1910. He is a stockholder in the Hanford Mer- cantile company and affiliates fraternally with the U. P. E. C. and the I. D. E. S. As a citizen he is public-spirited to a degree that makes him helpful to every worthy local interest. In June, 1903, Mr. Clemente married Maria Garcia, and they have three children: Leonard, Elvira and Maria. CARLETON JAMES SHANNON Prominent as a farmer and dairyman and through his con- nection with the Dairymen's Co-operative Creamery association and the Farmers' Irrigation Ditch company, Carl James Shannon of Tulare is probably as favorably known as any other citizen of Tulare couuty. where he has lived since 1889. He was born in Coleborne, Ontario, Can., June 9, 1870, the second in a family of four sons and one daughter, born to Robert and Deborah (Richardson) Shan- non. The parents left Canada in 1891 and came to California, mak- ing their home on a farm near Yisalia, where Mr. Shannon died. His widow lives at Dinuba. Their son, Carleton J., lived on the parental farm in Canada until he was sixteen years old, attending the public school near his home. At sixteen he became self-supporting and for three years worked at such employiuent as he could find in the vicinity of his birthplace. At nineteen he was making only fifteen dollars a month and he was not at all satisfied with his income. But he saved the little money that he could and in 1889 reached Tulare county, all traveling expenses paid, with twenty dollars in his pocket. Here he began working for one dollar a day. He remained with his first employer. J. R. Robinson, a year and eight months and then worked two full years for John Frans at stockraising. Next he ventured in the field of business on his own account, renting the R. H. Stevens ranch near his present farm for TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 595 five successive years. Returning to the Frans rancli he became Mr. Frans's partner in handling stock, and by 1897, through good man- agement, acquired enough capital to purchase a farm of one hundred and forty acres, which was the nucleus of his present ranch. In 1900 he bought two hundred and forty acres more and in 1902 an- other hundred acres, bringing his holding up to four hundred and eighty acres in sections thirty-two and thirty-three, township nine- teen, range twenty-five, located five , miles northeast of Tulare. He has improved and cultivated the tract until it ranks with the best ranches in the couuty. By later purchases he has become the owner of fifteen hundred and sixty acres. Forty acres is devoted to peaches, one hundred to alfalfa and eighty to vineyards. He has a dairy of sixteen Holstein cows, keeps an average of four hundred hogs and raises seventy-five beef cattle yearly, and he has also raised some fine Percheron colts. In 1911 he planted one hundred and two acres to Egyptian corn which yielded thirty-three hundred sacks. He is a member of the Dairymen's Co-operative Creamery association and president and manager of the Farmers' Irrigation Ditch company, which has an eight-mile ditch whose practical length is greatly in- creased by many laterals. Besides President Shannon, the officers of the company are W. P. Ratliff, secretary, and Bank of Tulare, treasurer. Its directors are Carl J. Shannon, P. F. Roche, E. P. Foster, Joseph LaMarche and A. W. Church. In Fresno, Cal., in 1902, Mr. Shannon married Mrs. Lulu B. (Jordan) Smith, born near Visalia, daughter of James B. Jordan. By her former marriage Mrs. Shannon had one son, Leslie Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Shannon have three children, Gordan, Dorothy and Richard. Fraternally Mr. Shannon is an Odd Fellow, affiliating with Four Creeks lodge No. 92, of Visalia, and politically he is a stanch Democrat. Public-spiritedly he is all that his many admiring friends could wish him. DANIEL HEADRICK It was in Kentucky in 18.32 that Daniel Headrick was ])orn, and when a child was taken to Missouri. From there he came to Cali- fornia in ISGO with his mother, his father having died previously. He had learned the blacksmith's trade, but settling in Butte county, he worked there as a farmer for some time and from there went to San Joaquin county, where he was both farmer and bhutksmith several years, as he was later for ten years in Fresno county. His next place of residence was near Kings river, in the vicinity of Han- ford, until 1888. He removed from there to Deer creek, thence to 596 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES Tulare, thence to Round valley, thence to Porterville and thence, in 1899, again to Tulare, where he remained until his death, which occurred November 9, 1909. Wherever he lived he combined his two occupations, farming and blacksmithing. In 1866 Mr. Headrick married Sarah Palmer, a native of Wis- consin, who had been reared in Iowa and was then living at Fresno. She bore eleven children, six of whom are living: Leonard Fry, George Fry and Delia Fry, who married Ellis Marvin of Hanford, Cal. (these three by a former marriage), and Arna, Emory and Ivy (by her marriage with Mr. Headrick). Arna is the wife of John E. Walker of Tulare, a biographical sketch of whom appears in these pages; Emory lives at Porterville; Ivy married S. J. Miller of Tulare. HENRY JOSEPH BORGMAN A leader in the transfer business at Exeter, Tulare county, Cal., Henry Joseph Borgman is the owner of considerable property in that city and its vicinity. One of the successful men of the town he has made his way in the world by his own unaided efforts and is recog- nized as one of the prominent self-made men of the county. He was born in Kewaunee county, Wis., in 1871, was educated in the public schools there and lived there imtil 1902, about the time he attained his majority. His father, Max Borgman, a native of Germany, landed in New York city April 14, 1865, the day of the assassination of President Lincoln. He died in 1894, and his widow, also a native of the fatherland, survived until 1907. When Mr. Borgman came to California he found employment as a laborer and by industry and frugality as well as by good business ability, he has made himself the owner of the most ex- tensive transfer business in his part of the county. He keeps five teams and five men constantly busy. In connection with the enter- prise he maintains a large storage warehouse which has been in- stalled at considerable expense during the last year. He has bought property from time to time until he owns several valuable pieces in Exeter and in the country round about. Politically he is a Re- publican, and as a citizen he has in many ways demonstrated his public spirit, showing a willingness at all times to do anything in his power for the community with which he has cast his lot. Fra- ternallv he affiliates with the Modern Woodmen and the Woodmen of the "World. In 1895 Mr. Borgman married Miss Frances Wahl, a native of Wisconsin, whose father has passed away, but whose mother is a TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 597 member of Mr. Borgmau's household. Mr. and Mrs. Borgman have eight children: Lena, Eddie, Katie, Mary, Joseph, Clara, Antone and Adolph. The first four nioutioned were born in Wisconsin, the others are native sons and daughters of California. Lena, Eddie, Katie, Mary and Joseph are students in the public school at Ex- eter. WINFRED D. DEENNEN This enterprising and skillful harnessniaker and saddler, whose place of business is on North Irwin street, between Sixth and Sev- enth streets. Hanford, Kings county, Cal., was born in Kansas, Jan- uary 1, 1877, and lived there until he was abovit eight years old. Then his father died and his mother brought him to California, lo- cating in Hanford, and here he was reared and educated. His first emploAnnent was on a ranch, and for some time he divided his labors between ranch work and such work as he found in packing houses. Eventually he began to learn the harnessmaker's trade with C. S. Cunningham of Hanford. Two years later Mr. Cunningham sold out to Mr. Uberbacher, for whom the young man worked until Mr. Uberbacher died, leaving the business to his widow, who continued it till September, 1911, wlien she sold it to Mr. Drennen, who has owned and managed it since. He manufactiares harness and sad- dles and deals in them and in whips, robes, carriage trimmings and harness and leather supplies, besides doing in a workman-like man- ner all repairs in his line. Fraternally Mr. Drennen affiliates with the Improved Order of Red Men, the Foresters of America and the U. P. E. C. In these orders as well as in business circles he is justly popular, for he is of a friendly and helpful disposition, and as a citizen is public- spirited and solicitous for the general welfare of the community. JOSEPH BEZERA In the Azores, in February, 1866, was born Joseph Bezera, who is familiarly known to i)eoi)le around Hanford, Kings county, Cal., as Joe Bezera. He was brought up on a farm on his native island and remained there until he was sixteen years old, when he emigrated to the Sandwich islands, whence he came when he was eighteen years old to California, locating at Hanford before the end of 1884. Until 1893 he worked on farms and sheep ranches, and then he became a sheep raiser on his own account, and so successful was he in ac- 598 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES f-nmnlatins' stock that he came in time to have a flock of seven thousand; lie ecially adapted to this locality. As means and opportunity have made it possible Mr. Wells has added to his acreage, the home farm now containing two hundred and forty acres, besides which he owns what is known as Bone Canyon ranch, eleven himdred acres of land fourteen miles northeast of his home ranch. The last-mentioned property is devoted almost exclusively to grain and stockraising. The Wutchumna canal, in which Mr. Wells is financially interested, supplies water to his property. Mention has been made of Mr. Wells's marriage. In maidenhood his wife was Miss Catherine Fudge, a native of Tennessee, the daughter of John B. Fudge, a farmer, who settled as a pioneer in California in 1856. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wells : Mary, the wife of L. H. Douglass, died at the age of twenty-three years, leaving one child, David Roy Douglass, a graduate of the San Francisco College of Pharmacy; Sallie is a resident of Visalia; Susan E. became the wife of David Douglass and died in Visalia at TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 601 the age of thirty-two; Maggie died when eighteen years old; John died when twenty years old; and William Reid is a prominent farmer and stockman, having charge of the Bone Canyon ranch. The son last mentioned married Linda Pleas, a native of California, and they have one son, Donald Morgan. Politically, Morgan J. Wells is a Democrat, and at one time served as a member of the county committee. Elected to the ofBce of sheritf in 1879, in March of the following year he took the oath of office and rendered his constituents valued service for two years and ten months. While holding this office Mr. Wells became asso- ciated with a number of celebrated cases, among them being that of Ben Harris, a negro, who killed his wife and child. Harris was overtaken in the brush by Mr. Wells and his deputies, and being defied by their victim,' he was shot by one of the deputy sheriffs. Mr. Wells belongs to Visalia lodge No. 128, F. & A. M., as does also his son, William R. ; and he is also a member of Visalia chapter, R. A. M., and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mrs. Wells is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Since 1909 Mr. and Mrs. Wells have resided in Visalia, having built a pretty little bungalow suited to their needs at No. 423 South Garden street. ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS To the pioneer belongs all honor, and he is invariably given due respect in his own countiy, for when he has passed away he is re- membered as one who gave his life as a part of the foundation on which rests the splendid social structure of a later day. Andrew Jackson Davis was a pioneer whose life spanned the period from November .S, 18.33, to May 1, 1901, when he passed away. He was a native of Tennessee and in 1854 left his old home and came overland to California, arriving at San Francisco in the spring of the following year. For three years he was a miner at Hangtown and at other mines on the Frasier river. In 1858 he came to Tulare county and took up government land,, near Farmersville, which he im]ivoved until he had one of the good farms in that vicinity. He married Sarah Ann Davis, a native of Illinois and of a family of Davises which bore no known relationship to his, and they had children as follows: xMfred A., Fitzhugh, Eva, Irene, Elizabeth A., Clement B., and Andrew P. Fitzliugh died in early manhood, Eva when she was seven years old, Irene when she was five years old and their mother in August, 1880. Elizabeth A. is the wife of B. W. Jennings, a ranchman near Farmersville. Clement B. died when thirty-three years old, leaving two children and a widow, residing in Los Angeles. 602 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES The youngest of his father's family, Andrew P. Davis was born at Farmersville, Tulare county, Cal., May 27, 1877. After leaving school he helped his father on the latter 's ranch of one hundred and sixty acres until his father's death, then received thirty acres as his share of the propertj'. He began to farm on his own account in 1898 and planted a fine orchard which adorns his place. Having made a careful studj^ of fruit culture, he has been enabled to obtain the very best results from his trees and in a general way his entire venture has been very successful. In 1907 he took two hundred and thirty tons of prunes from one thousand trees, an average of eight boxes to the tree, and in 1911 the same trees yielded him two hundred and twenty tons. From two hundred and seventy-five Pliillips cling-stone peach trees he gathered sixteen tons of fruit in 1910 and fifteen tons in 1911. In 1897 Mr. Davis married Elizabeth Titrich, a native of Kan- sas, and they have children named Mellxiurne and Irvin P. Fra- ternallv Mr. Davis affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. JOHN WHITTAKER BAIRSTOW Numbered conspicuously among the successful fruitgrowers of Hanford and vicinity is John Whittaker Bairstow, who was born in England, May 23, 1859. He was reared in England and there edu- cated and taught the secrets of the nurseryman, and it was as a nurseryman tliat he was employed in his native land till he was thirty years old. Leaving his wife and three children behind him in England he came to California about the first of July, 1889, crossing the continent by rail from New York city. He sought work in vain at different nurseries in Oakland and Alameda and was finally com])elled to take emplo^iiient in the planing mill of George C. Pape at East Oakland, where he worked about eighteen months. Mean- while he made the acquaintance of J. C. Kimball, the well-known prune grower of Kings county, and went with him to Hanford in 1891, remaining in his emplo.y till the fall of that year. During this time he was engaged in setting out a i)rune orchard for Mr. Kimball and the latter 's brother and some of their relatives, handling all the trees and distributing them to different ranches until five hundred and four acres had been put under that fruit. For six months he helloed to bud nursery stock in the Lucerne vineyard. Mr. Bairstow later brought his family over from England and set up his home near Hanford, renting twenty acres of vineyard of N. M. Newell. After the first season, he pulled up the vines and for six years he farmed the land, working out whenever he could spare time from the place. His next venture was as a nursery- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 603 mau, raising bis own stock. In iy*J(j he bought twent.v acres of the J. C. Courtner ranch, and ten years later an adjoining twenty, of the Lucerne vineyard. He set seven acres of vineyard on the original twenty, an acre of apricots and a small family orchard, but at this time he uses all the land for nursery ' stock. In 1902 he established a nursery yard at TIanford, where he carries Early May, EUierta, Lovell, Muir, Admiral Dewey, Wheatland and late and early Crawford free-stone peaches and Heath, Sullivan, Orange, Phillips and Lemon cling-stone peaches; Early Royal, Routier Peach, Tilton and St. Ambrose apricots; Ben Davis, White Winter Pearmain, Red June and Red Astrakhan apples; Bartlett and Winter Nellis pears; French, Robe de Sargent and Tradegov prunes; Prunes Simona and English Dawson plums ; Muscat and Thompson seedless grapes ; nec- tarines, and sycamore, maple, California walnut, poplar, Texas um- brella and other shade and ornamental trees. He was the first nurserATuan to put on sale the Tilton apricot, exhibiting it at the State Fruit Growers' convention in Sacramento in 1902 and taking a first grade diploma for choicest dried fruit in competition with all the fruit produced in the state. This apricot originated here in Kings county with J. E. Tilton, and Mr. Bairstow handles it in his trade. In March, 1877, Mr. Bairstow married Miss Louisa Williams, a native and then a resident of England, and she has borne him five cliildren, of whom two, Lott and Samuel, survive; Rosson, their eldest, died at Hanford; Ethelliert died in infancy in England, and another, born in California, died in infancy. Mr. Bairstow is an American in everything except actual birth that the name can imply. His interest in the community with which he has cast his lot is such as to make him a citizen of much pulilic spirit, and no call for aid toward the betterment of the condition of any considerable number of his fellow citizens fails to receive his prompt and generous response. EDMUND J. FUDGE Among the most prominent citizens of Visalia was the late Ed- mund J. Fudge, who made his home at No. 42.3 South Garden street. He served for eight years as deputy sheriff of Tulare county, Cal., and was four times elected marshal of the city mentioned. Mr. Pudge was l)orn in Madison county, Tenn., in 1832, a son of John B. Fudge, and was taken in infancy to -Arkansas, where his family lived until 1856. Then tliey crossed the plains to California with ox-teams, driving cattle and otherwise making the journey in prinutive ways 604 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES of pioneers. In 1859 they came to the vicinity of Visalia, where the father prospered as a stockraiser until he passed away. After acquiring such education as was afforded him, Edmund J. Fudge took up the activities of life in the teaming business in Tulare county, and in 1861, when he was thirty years old, he went to Arizona and New Mexico, where he teamed and prospected for ore, and about this time he mined in Nevada and for a year in Stanislaus county, Cal. In Arizona he narrowly escaped being killed by Indians; he and four companions were chased by a band of redskins, and three of his companions were killed. Mr. Fudge's horse was shot imder him, and he sprang to a seat beside his re- maining companion, whose horse made good in a race with their pursuers. For many years after his return to Tulare county Mr. Fudge was engaged in stockraising with M. J. Wells, his brother-in- law, who has an enviable place in the history of Tulare county as one of its most efficient sheriffs. Under Sheriff Wells Mr. Fadge was appointed deputy sheriff, in which office he served eight years, giving the greatest satisfaction in that capacity. Elected four times city marshal of Visalia, he filled the office with singular fitness and fidelity. Mr. Fudge owned a quarter-section of ranch land near Visalia and a quarter-section of timber land in the mountains, but was for some time before his death practically retired from active busi- ness. Fraternally he was affiliated with Knights Templar Masons and with the Knights of Pythias. As a citizen he was always public- spiritedly helpful to all good interests of the community. Mr. Fudge died at Visalia November 14, 1911. He left an estate valued at about $16,000. HAERY JEROME RAISCH The ability to see a good opportunity and the ]:)romptness and energy which enables a man to take time by the forelock are as requisite to the farmer who would succeed as to men in any other business or profession, and perhaps in his work these factors are brought into demand oftener than in the work of his neighbors in other walks of life. One who has demonstrated this fact by the sagacious buying of good land, and by improving and cultivating it with due regard for all influencing conditions, is H. J. Raisch, who lives five miles north of Hanford, in Kings county, Cal. It was in the honored old state of Kentucky that Mr. Raisch was born on February 7, 1861. However, he lived there but a com- paratively short time, for he was early taken by his family to Kan- sas, where he was reared to manhood, educated in the public schools TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 605 and initiated into the details of practical farming. In 1883, when he was about twentj^-two years old, he came to Hanford, where he prospered for some years at teaming and as a farmer on rented land. In 1907 he bought twenty-two acres five miles north of the city, ten acres of which was a tine peach orchard. He has since ac- quired an adjoining tract of the same area and is preparing to go quite extensively into fruit culture. Besides this property he owns one hundred and sixty acres of grazing land on the west side which he rents out. In 1912 he inherited twentj'-two acres of his father's estate, which is located opposite his home place and is all in vines. He has improved his homestead with buildings and fences and outfitted it with everything in the way of machinery and ap- pliances that is essential to the successful prosecution of his enter- prise. In 1885 Mr. Raisch united his fortunes by marriage with those of Miss Cinderella Barlow, who by her spupathy and advice has aided him materially in the winning of his most substantial suc- cess. Genial of disposition aud social in all his instincts, he has from time to time identified himself with fraternal orders, notably with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World. As a citizen he has shown his devotion to the general good by giving all due encouragement to such measures as have been promoted for the development of his town, county and state. JOHN CULBERSON RICE A pioneer of Central California who has been identified with its development for over half a century is John Culberson Rice. He was born in Benton county, Ark., April 27, 1849, son of Isaac and Martha E. (Gardner) Rice, natives of Tennessee. In 1857, Isaac Rice, with his wife and children, crossed the plains with ox-teams to Califor- nia, their journey consuming six months. They passed the winter of 1857-58 in Napa county and in the following spring went to Clear Lake, Lake county, where the elder Rice went into the raising of cattle, horses and hogs. In 1862 he went back to Wooden valley, where he had passed his first winter in California, and bought one hundred and sixty acres, on which he raised stock until in 1867, and then moved to Vacaville, Solano county, in order to obtain better educational facilities for his children. Buying town property tliere, he also rented land outside which he farmed with success till 1872, when he came to Tulare county and took up a quarter-section north of Visalia. Later he farmed near Dinuba, where he passed away in 1888, his wife surviving him till in 1907. As a Mason and as a citizen, Mr. Rice stood high in the public regard. Following are 606 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES the names of his children : John C. ; Laura, wife of E. Edwards, of Globe, Ariz. ; Mrs. Melissa Smith, of Dinuba ; Ella, wife of John Bacon, a rancher north of Visalia ; Maimie Burke ; Jessie B., who mar- ried James Eyce of Selma ; Thomas; Hattie, wife of "William Hunter; Charles and Frank. Through the first winter after the departure of his father from Vaea\-ille, John Culberson Rice remained there. He spent the next two years in Nevada and came to Hanford on Christmas Day, 1876, and farmed for a time south of the city. His present ranch, one mile from the city line, contains seventy-six acres set to fruit and vines, including twenty acres of Muscat grapes, eight of Thompson seedless, three of primes, twenty of peaches and three of apricots. The re- mainder of the place is devoted to alfalfa and pasture. In 1877, Mr. Rice married Miss Carrie Barton, a native of Bur- lington, Iowa, and they have children, George, at Reedley; J. Clar- ence, coroner of Kings county, a biographical sketch of whom appears in these pages; Mrs. Leila (Rice) Shields, and Lulu, a student at Mills College. Mr. Rice is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Woodmen of the World. J. CLARENCE RICE The coroner of Kings county, Cal., J. Clarence Rice of Hanford, prominent as a funeral director, was born near that city December 5, 1880, son of John Culberson Rice, and was educated in the pub- lic schools of Hanford and at Heald's Business College in San Fran- cisco. For a time after his return from the institution just men- tioned he was in commercial emplo>^llent, but eventually he went into the undertaking business with E. J. Kelly as a partner. Later Mr. Kelly retired from the enterprise and in September, 1902. W. M. Thomas .became a member of the firm. In 1908 Mr. Rice bought the interest of Mr. Thomas, and since then has been sole proprietor. He served as deputy county coroner under Coroner Thomas and under Coroner Denton, and so efficient was he in the office that in 1910 he was elected to the ofiice of coroner. Real estate has commanded Mr. Rice's attention for some years and he has bought and sold quite extensively. At this time he is the owner of fifty acres of apricot and ]ieach orchard, a mile and a half south of Armoua. He served as the first president of the Kings County Chamber of Connnerce, which was organized in No- vember, 1908, to succeed the Kings County Promotion association. In other ways he has amply jiroven his ]iublic spirit, and he is regarded as a patriotic and heljiful citizen who has close to his heart the best interests of his community. Fraternally, he affiliates with TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 607 the Masons, being a Shriner and a member of subordinate orders, with the Knights of Pythias and with the Woodmen of the World. In September, 1902, he married Miss Eva M. Sutherland, a native of California, whose father was a pioneer in Tulare, and they have a son, Leland Eice. WILLIAM H. DAVENPORT For more than a quarter of a century there has been identified with Tulare county William H. Davenport, the present general man- ager of the Wutchumna Water company, who was born in Missouri in 1842 and was among the early pioneers of the state of California. The sou of Stephen and Elena (HoUoway) Davenport, both natives of Kentucky, he shared their early experiences, which were filled with adventure incident to the coming to the west. In 1846 his father went to New Mexico, but returned in the winter of 1847-48 and in the following spi'ing lie treked back to Santa Fe, N. M., taking with him his wife, but leaving William H. and his elder brother, John, with their grandiDarents. In the fall of 1849 Stephen Davenport followed the onrush to California for gold, arriving at the town of Mariposa on March 17, 1850. In 1853 William H. Davenport and his brother John crossed the plains to California with the late William R. Owen, a California pioneer of 1849, who brought with him about five hundred head of cattle, and they arrived at Mariposa in September, 1853, joining their parents there. Until the fall of 1857 the family remained there and then moved to Tulare county, settling just north of Visalia near the present site of that city, and here the parents passed away. In 1863 William H. Daveni)ort went from Tulare county to Ne- vada, where he was employed in lumbering operations until in 1870, when he made his way back to Tulare county. After ranching in a small way until 1875 he expanded his operations in the Mussel slough district, where he met with varying success until 1882. Then he came to Visalia and connected himself with the Wutchumna Water company, for which he has been general manager ever since. This irrigation ditch company was founded in 1871 by Stephen Bar- ton, Sanmel Jennings and Joseph Spear. Its ditch was enlarged in 1879 and its system now comprises twenty miles of irrigation ditches, supplied by the water of the Kaweah river. The system, which fol- lows the contour of the land, has its terminal on section twenty, townshiji eighteen, range twenty-five, and includes the largest arti- ficial reservoir in the county, which has an area when full of one hundred and sixty-five acres, when empty of sixty acres, its sides extending ten feet above low-water mark. Many of the orchards. 608 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES as well as other farmiug lands, situated to the north and east of Visalia, are irrigated by this canal. In 1870 Mr. Davenport married Miss Ann Early, a native of Texas, and a daughter of a hero of San Jacinto, who fought under Gen. Sam Houston in that memorable battle of 1836 by which was won the independence of Texas. Her father crossed the plains to California in 1849 and returned to Texas, bringing his family to the coast in 1852 and locating in Mariposa county. In 1868 he moved to Glennville, Kern county, where he lived until 1884, when he passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Davenport have a son, Frank Davenport, who married Mrs. Helen Huff and is a conductor on the Sierra railroad in Tuolumne county. Mr. Davenport is a man of much public spirit, devoted heart and soul to the interests of his community, who never neglects an opportunity to aid to the extent of his ability any move- ment for the general good. ETHELBERT S. WEDDLE The family of which Ethelbert S. Weddle was a member re- moved to Tennessee in 18.j4 and lived there until 186.5, then settled in Indiana, where it made its home until 1874, when it came to Cali- fornia. Mr. Weddle was born in Virginia, April 1, 1849. Soon after he came to Tulare county, Mr. Weddle went into the sheep business, which profitably occupied his attention four years. At that time the land was all raw and sheep could roam throughout all the territory between the river and the mountains. When he sold his sheep he engaged in contracting and building. Later he took up grain farming and fruit raising and now he has eighty acres in fruit, fifty-five in vines, two in oranges and forty in alfalfa. In 1911 he sold a ton of Muscats to the acre. His seedless grapes yield a ton and a half to the acre. He is a thoroughly up-to-date farmer, filled with new ideas, and he employs modern methods in every de- tail of his work. As a citizen he is public-spirited and devoted to the general interests. Fraternally, he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and politically he is a Re]nibliean. In Indiana Ethelbert S. Weddle married Theresa Wilson, a native of that state, who bore him children named Charles and Walter E., who are now physicians in the active practice of their profession, one in Fresno, Cal., the other in Reedley, Cal. Dr. Charles Weddle, of Fresno, married Maymie Jacobs and has daugh- ters named Barbara and Beatrice. Dr. Walter E. Weddle. of Reedley, married Margaret Parker, and has children named Robert and Dorothy. Mrs. Theresa Weddle, who died November 30, 1908, was the daughter of Olli S. and Elizabeth (Hamilton) Wilson, and a lineal TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 609 desceudant of Alexander Hamilton. The Wilsons fignred in the period preceding the Eevolutionary war, and trace their ancestry to John Wilson, who participated in that conflict. J. ALBERT RAGLE Farming has been the chief occupation of J. Albert Ragle. A son of California, he was born in Sonoma county in 1861 and has lived in Tulare county since he was four or five years old. Here ne was reared and educated and taught practical farming in a most practical way. His first memorable experiences were in the cattle business in the ))eriod after 1870. It was in 1871 that he began to take an active part in the work of the ranch, his father owning at that time six hundred and forty acres and being a leader among the ranchers of his part of the county. In 1884 Mr. Ragle located on his present home farm, then new land with negligible improvements, and since that time he has de- voted himself to its development, making it one of the best orange and general fruit ranches in the vicinity. In 1889 occurred the mar- riage of Mr. Ragle to Miss Jennie M. Lynn, a native of Arkansas, whose parents are living in Fresno county, where her father, Wil- liam F. Lynn, is well known. Mrs. Ragle has borne her husband three children. Adah was educated at Tulare, and on December 26, 1912, was married to W. A. Stone, of Fresno; Etta is in the high school at Exeter, and Orval is attending school near home. William C. Ragle, Mr. Ragle's father, canie to California in 1853, one of a party who made the trij) with an ox-team train, consuming more months than it would now consume days to accomplish the same journey. He began his active life practically without means and achieved a success which made him one of the well-to-do men of his community. He passed away in 1895. The public spirit of J. Albert Ragle has been demonstrated in so man}' ways that he has come to be known as a useful citizen of the progressive type. For fifteen years he has been a member of the school board, and in a fraternal way he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World, and with the order of Artisans. J. M. SAGE That popular and successful dairyman of Waukena, Tulare county, Cal., whose name is well known throughout the county, was born in Jackson county. Mo., August 13, 1858, and has lived in Tulare countv since 1890. 610 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES J. M. Sage grew up in the states of Iowa, Missouri and Kan- sas, where he was a student in tlie public schools until he was sixteen years of age. At seventeen lie began work with a gang on a con- struction train in Carroll county. Mo., and continued at this work until he was twenty, then procuring emjiloynient in the roundhouse as tireman, determining to become a locomotive engineer. Later he accepted a jiosition as fireman and stationary engineer. In 1881 he engaged with the Santa Fe at Las Vegas, N. M., soon thereafter going to Los Angeles, where he went to work for the Southern Pa- cific and later became engineer on a run from Bakersfield to Fresno by way of Porterville. He saved his earnings and used the $2500 saved as an investment in farming operations in San Joaquin and Tulare counties, having eight hundred acres planted to wheat, but met with almost com])lete financial failure in this venture owing to the drouth. His holdings now comprise forty acres, which he has developed into a fine dairy projierty, it being in Kings county, and he feeds and accommodates thirty-seven milch cows. In this venture he has proved most successful. In 1886 Mr. Sage became the husband of Miss Louisa Minges, born at Stockton, Cal., in 1859, a most worthy woman who was to him an achnirable helpmate until her death, which occurred in Aug- ust, 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Sage had children : Bernice, Hazel, Philo- pena and Wesley, who survived her. Mr. Sage married (second) Mrs. Josephine Simpson of Salt Lake city. As a dairyman Mr. Sage has won high re])utation, and his busi- ness, already large, is rapidly increasing. The quality and purity of his ])roducts connnend them to all discriminating buyers. His dairy is up-to-date in every resi)ect and all his methods and appliances are such as meet the ai)))roval of the most critical judges. As a citizen he is public-spirited and helpful. ANDREW SCIARONE A pioneer farmer of Tulare county as well as a pioneer busi- ness man of Hanford, Andrew Sciarone was born in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland, July 13, 18;M. There he received his educa- tion and remained until he was twenty-one years old, when he went to Australia and was variously engaged until 1870, then returning to his native country. He arrived in the L^nited States in January, 1872, and came direct to San Francisco. He traveled to Gilroy, Hol- lister and Fresno, and engaged in farming, and became the owner of land by pre-emption and later on homesteaded a tract of eighty acres, owning two hundred and forty acres in Tulare county, near the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Rll boundary of Fresno county. In 1879 he came to Manford, when it was a struggling village, and ever since then has made it his home, where for the past fifteen years he has lived retired from all business pursuits. He invested in business property in Hanford and has been interested in the growth and development of the city from its start. Agriculture has interested him ever since he arrived in this country. In 1854, Mr. Sciarone married in Switzerland and became the father of one daughter, Josei:)hine, who married J. Martinetti. Mr. Sciarone has two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. His wife passed away in 1S!)7. Of his descendants one grandson, Albino Martinetti, is attending the University of California at Berkeley. In every way Mr. Sciarone has demonstrated his public spirit and has lived to see a wonderful change in the Golden State. Frater- nally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias of Hanford. JOHN SIGLER It was in the Old Dominion, the Mother of States, and the mother also of men who have won fortune in every state in the Union, that John Sigler was born, February 3, 1852. Such schooling as was available to him in his boyhood he obtained near his father's home, and at seventeen he moved to Maryland, where he lived four or live years before he came to California. He located in Yolo county in 1873 and in 1875 came to Tulare county and bought three hundred and twenty acres of land six miles southwest of the site of Hanford, his ])resent home. He helped to secure the Lakeside ditch and with its aid developed his farm and grew grain for twenty years until he gave up grain in favor of cattle and sheep, which were his princi|)al products till he turned his attention to general farming, though he raised a good numy hogs. He has re- cently bought one hundred and sixty acres, distant from his home- stead about half a mile, which he will put into alfalfa. His interests in irrigation ditches has not been confined to the one just mentioned, for he is a stockholder in lintli the Lakeside ditch and the New Deal ditch. In 1X7."), wiicn Mr. Sigler first came to Tulare county to buy land, wliicli was selling very cheaply at that time, he arrived in \'isalia and from there he came across the country to Lemoore. Some few ditches had been started, but none completed. Fiom the ap- ))eai'ance of the soil he concluded that the land would wear out with a couple of crops after irrigation began, and cease to yield pay- ing returns, llowevei- he determined to ))urciiasc i)r()perty and the returns lie lias reaped since that date show that his |)rediction was 612 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES not fulfilled. By farming to wheat many years the soil did show the ill effects, hut with fruit and rotation of crops wonderful returns are possible. In all things Mr. Sigler is conservative. He is especially so in his political views, and while he glories in the progressive prin- ciples of American democracy he has no desire to be classed with traveling Eepublicans. His interest in public education impelled him to accept the trusteeship of the Eustic school district, which he is discharging with characteristic efficiency and fidelity. In 1887 Mr. Sigler married Miss Lodema N. Dewey and she has borne him three daughters, Leah and Catherine, who are members of their parents' household, and Arlie, who is the wife of Marvin Eoberts. OSBOENE L. WILSON That venerable and honorable citizen of Kings county, Cal., O. Tj. Wilson, who is living in retirement at No. 602 East Ninth street, Han- ford, was born in Washington county, Ind., August 29, 1825, and has lived in California since August 8, 1849. He grew to manhood on a farm on Blue river, went to school at Salem and was managing a farm there for his father at the time of the outbreak of the Mexican war. Enlisting in Company D, Second Indiana Volunteers, he was sent to Mexico in 1846 and served until the expiration of his term of enlist- ment. He returned to his home in Indiana, but again enlisted in Com- pany B, Fifth Indiana Vohanteers, under Captain Green, and was sent again to Mexico in 1847 and served gallantly imtil the end of the war. when he was honorably discharged. He took part in many important engagements, including those at Buena Vista and Del Eey under such commanders as Generals Taylor, Woolfe and Scott, the latter having been commander-in-chief. He has kept a copy of the Salem News, pub lished at Salem, Ind., April 7, 1847, an extra edition devoted largely to the events of the Mexican war and containing bulletins of the very latest news from the camp of General Taylor. After the war he went to Scotland county. Mo., where he remained through the winter of 1848-49. On April 15, 1849, he started with an ox-team wagon train to California and arrived within the borders of this state August 8 fol- lowing. For two years he mined at Einggold and Weavertown, on the American river, at Yuba, at Eough and Eeady, at Nevada City and in Nevada, meeting with fair success. His associations were not to Ms taste and in 1851 he bought land at Gilroy, Cal., part of the Los Alamos grant, and devoted himself to cattle raising with farming as a subsidiarv business. There he remained until he sold his land to TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 613 Thomas Bey and drove liis cattle and sheep over into that part of Tuhire county which is now Kings county and squatted on part of the Laguna De Tache grant. Later he secured one thousand acres of hmd on his Mexican war hind warrant, lying on the Kings river in sections 1, 12 and 13. After that he bought land from time to time until he owned six thousand acres in that vicinity and in Fresno county and for about thirty years he was engaged in sheeji raising. Even- tually he divided most of his land among his children and in 1900 re- tired from active life. On December 3, 1854, Mr. Wilson married Miss Rose Wilburn at Gilroy, and they had thirteen children, six of whom are now living. Mr. Wilson has nineteen grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Those children who survive are: John A.; William C. ; Julia, widow of John Alcorn; Mrs. Eose Henry; Mrs. Fannie Hughes, and Calhoun Wilson. During all his long and honorable career Mr. Wilson has consistently demonstrated his public spirit and has been in the van of all worthy movements for the public uplift. He has bought eight cemetery lots, on which he has erected a replica of the Washington monument, which when he has passed away will be his lasting memorial. THOMAS CLINTON NEWMAN A member of an old pioneer family of California and a native of Tulare county, Thomas Clinton Newman, who lives nine miles north of Exeter, on rural free delivery route No. 1, was born Decem- ber 5, 1882, a son of Thomas W. Newman, who was born while his parents were en route across the plains, in 1856, from their old home in Ohio. William Newman, grandfather of Thomas Clinton, had come out to California in 1848 and gone back in 1849. He finally returned accompanied by his sons, E. S., C. 0. and Thomas W. New- man, and the latter 's wife, and the family settled on the Sacramento river, but were driven out by floods, and after living at different places in the state Thonuis W. Newman at length located in Tulare county and in 1872 settled on the present homestead of his son. Had William Newman arrived at his first location in California one day earlier than he did he would have been the pioneer of pioneers there. While crossing the ]ilains half of his party had been killed in the Mountain Meadow massacre. Thomas C. Newman has several relics of the overland trip, among them part of the chain used by his grandfather on the cattle he drove and an old shotgun that his grandfather used while standing guard over the train. After locating in Tulare countv Thomas W. Newman set about ()14 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES oleariug laud and putting it under cultivation and soon developed a farm that compared favoralily with auy in his neighl)orhood and which he operated successfully until 1909. when he jiassed away, his wife having died when their son was about five years old. December 20, 1905. T. C. Newman married Miss Eva May Ster- rett, a native of California, and their two children are lola, now six years old, and Bernice, who is four years old. In the house which is now his home tliere passed away his grandfather, his grandmother, his father and his uncle, R. S. Newman. The place now consists of eighty acres, and is devoted to the cultivation of alfalfa and potatoes and to the jnirposes of a dairy of about ten or twelve cows. It was in the St. John's district school tliat Mr. Newman was educated, and to him belongs the honor of having been the first grad- uate of its grammar school. "While not active in political affairs, he is helpfully public spirited. Fraternally he affiliates with the Masons. FRED STORZBACK Germany has given to the United States a class of citizens indus- trious, honest, thrifty and law aliiding. who have done nuich to build up the interests of the conununities witli which individually they have east their lots. One of the most progressive citizens of Corcoran, Kings county, Cal., is Fred Storzback, a native of Wurtemberg. Young Storzback attended pul)lic schools near the parental home until he was fourteen years old, when he immigrated to England and engaged in the butcher liusiness. From there at the age of twenty he came to the United States in 1885, settling in Philadelphia, where he acquired a practical knowledge of the baker's trade. After work- ing as a baker in different parts of the United States he came to California in December, 1905, and January 15, 1906, he settled at Corcoran, where he operated a combined bakery and restaurant for two years, then transformed his establishment into a combined bakery and ice cream parlor. His business, which from every point of view is successful, is one of the most popular in Corcoran, and the purity of his goods and his courtesy to all patrons commend him strongly to the general public. In 1895 Mr. Storzback married Elizabeth Schlep, who was born August 17, 1876, in the state of Louisiana, and they have children as follows: Pauline, Augusta and Bertha, who are mentioned here in the order of their nativity. Mr. Storzback is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a AVoodman of the World, loyally devoted to the interests of these orders and ready at all times to meet any demand upon him in behalf of their beneficent work. As TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 615 a citizen lie takes a vital interest in everything' that pertains to the growth and development of the town and to the econoniio problems of its people. So flattering has been his success thus far that to his observant neighbors his future is full of brilliant promise. In 1913 Mr. Storzback built a tine two-story brick building, 50x112, which is equipped with the finest aud most up-to-date machinery and appli- ances for the bakery business and is a fitting testimonial to his laud- able enterprise. JOHN BURRELL The most extensive breeder of jacks in the territory round Han- ford, and in fact in the state, is John Burrell, who is operating seven and one-half miles southwest of that city. It was in Tulare (now Kings) county that Mr. Burrell was born January 5, 1880, a son of Monroe Burrell, who lived near Armona. The elder Burrell, who had grown to manhood in California, had come to this vicinity in 187fi. He is now running a fruit ranch near Graugeville. It was in the neighborhood of Grangeville that John Burrell was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools. When he made his start in life for himself it was in the oil fields at Coalinga, where he worked two years. Then, returning to Kings county, he rented the Haas ranch, near Grangeville five years, operating it successfully as a stock and alfalfa farm. Then he rented three hundred and twenty acres seven and one-half miles southwest of Hanford, twenty acres of which is in vineyard. He devotes himself chiefly to the raising of mules and hogs, his yearly average being forty mules and eight luindred Duroc liogs. Some time ago he bought seven valuable imported jacks for breeding purposes, which he has sold })esides a number of others that lie lias raised, in all alxnit twenty head have been disjiosed of during the jiast three years. lie has another importation of jacks from Kentucky and Missouri to arrive aliout January, li>]."). Besides these he owns twenty head of Mammoth jenneys which he uses for raising jacks. Thoroughly ui)-to-date ill all his methods, having intimate knowledge of the work in hand aud using only the latest improved aids, he is successful in his special line beyond many of his neighbors and comi)etitors. His knowledge of the market is such that he is usually al)le to sell to the very best advantage. He is a member of the "Woodmen of the World, devoted to all the interests of that beneficent fraternity. As a citizen he is notably public sjjirited and helpful. 616 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES THOMAS JEFFERSON CLARKSON In Scott coimty. 111., Thomas Jet¥erson Clarksoii, who lives in Exeter, Tulare county, Cal., was born in 1860, and he was nine years old when his ]:)arents brought him to California. The family lived in Yolo county until 1871. then came to Tulare county. He attended the public schools more or less until he was twelve years old, and from his twelfth to his twenty-eighth year he rode after cattle on the plains. Then he turned his attention to blacksmithing, which has employed his energies ever since. For a time he worked from place to place, but during the last nine years he has operated a general blacksmithing and agricultural repair shop at Exeter. As a Democrat Mr. Clarkson has long lieen ]irominent in the affairs of his town and county, and was aiipointed a member of the health board of the city of Exeter, in which office he is serving with ability, integrity and discretion at the present time. Fraternally he affiliates with the organizations of the Woodmen of the World and Knights of Pythias of Exeter. He is devoted heart and soul to the general interests of the county. Coming here when the land was wild and there were a1)out as many Indian inhabitants as white ones, he has witnessed and participated in its development to one of the rich sections of one of the great states of the Union. The woman who became the wife of Mr. Clarkson was before her marriage Mrs. Mary Augeline Austin. She was born in Kansas of a family who were among the pioneers there. Four children have blessed their union : Annie, May. Presley and Hazel. Annie is Mrs. V. W. Lucas of Exeter. May married Charles Maddox of Exeter. Preslev is in the high school. CHARLES GREEN McFARLAND An innovatoi- among farmers and dairymen in Tulare county, Cal., Charles Green McFarland, who lives two miles west of Tulare, is undoiibtedly deserving of special mention. He is a native of Green county. Mo., born February 27, 1872, who came to California in 1887. During the five years after his arrival he was employed by his father, and in 1892 bought the Exeter stable at Tulare, where he conducted a livery business for about a year and a half. Sub- sequently he grew grain eight years, and in 1901 bought forty acres of land and rented three hundred acres, on all of which he set up as a stockman and dair^^nan and he operated with success five years. His location during that period was four miles south of Tidare. He now bought thirty-two acres two miles west of the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 617 Tulare post office and rented an adjoining thirty-two acres. He has on his own place twenty acres of alfalfa and twenty-five acres on his leased land, and milks thirty cows, disposing of their prod- ucts over a milk route which he has established in Tulare. He has the only herd of registered Jersey cows in the vicinity, thirty-five head altogether, the largest milk producers thereabouts, the average test of their milk yielding 4.8 in butter fat. He has raised no cattle except thoroughbreds and it is only after years of selection and of careful attention to details that he has been able to produce a herd so excellent. In 1910 he built a silo on his place, in which respect he was a pioneer in his part of the county, and in 1912 he installed an electric pumping plant which furnishes ample water for all purposes. On February 27, 1896, Mr. McFarland married Matilda Monroe, who has borne him a daughter and two sons, Lois, Merrill and Loren, who are aged respectively fourteen, ten and eight years. The family are communicants of the Methodist Episcopal church of Tulare, and Mr. McFarland is a member of the order of Fraternal Aid of that city. He is a stockholder in the Dairymen's Co-operative Creamery Company of Tulare, and also a stockholder in the Tulare Power Company. ELMER A. BATCHELDER It was in Plainfield, Vt., that Elmer A. Batchelder, a prominent fruit grower, living two and one-half miles east of Lindsay, Tulare county. Cal., was born in the year 1866. He was brought up and edu- cated in his native place, and when he was seventeen years old came to California and was for a year and 'a half a resident in Nevada county. Then for a year he was in the Sacramento valley, whence he went into Humboldt county, where he passed the succeeding twelve months. During this time he had been employed at ranch work and had acquired an intimate knowledge of California farming in the best of all schools — the school of experience. In 1887 Mr. Batchelder came to Tulare county and for a time worked rented land. In 1892 he homesteaded a C|uarter section in the district known as Round valley and made improvements on it and devoted it to wheat growing till 1906, when he set out twenty acres of orange trees and fifteen acres of vines, including five acres of Valencia oranges. His orchard is so well advanced that the crop for 1912 from the twenty acres promises to reach the 1,000-box mark. By later purchase he has added to his land holdings until he now has one hundred and forty acres. 618 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES The parents of Mr. Batelielder, natives of Vermont, both have passed away. In 1893 lie married Catharine Crook, a native daugh- ter of California, and she has borne liim two children : Harold, now eighteen years old, and Eunice E., now in her fourteenth year. They are attending school at Lindsay. Mrs. Batchelder's parents were early settlers in Tulare county. Mr. Batchelder. has never aspired to public office, but because he was known to be a good-roads man of advanced ideas he was three years ago given the oversight of the roads in his district, and so well has he discharged his trust that he is likely to be kept at the same task year after year. Public spirited in a generous degree, he is ever ready to respond to demands upon him for the good of the community. Fraternally he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pvtliias. ALBERT A. HALL Tliere are probably few men known more widely or more affec- tionately in Tulare county than Albert A. ("Dad") Hall, of Tulare. A native of Watertown, N. Y., he was born July (>, 1846. While he was yet quite young, his family moved to Baraboo, Wis., where he was brought up and educated so far as he could be before he went away to the war between the North and the South. That was in 1863, when he was but seventeen. He enlisted in Company F, Third AViscousin Cavalry, which regiment was under command of Colonel Barstow, and saw arduous service, ])rinci]ially in guerilla warfare in Missouri and Arkansas, till he was mustered out at Leavenworth, Kans., June 27, 1865. Returning to Wisconsin, he was interested iu hop raising thei'e two years, then went to Nebraska and took U]) some government land. The grasshojipers were so numerous, however, that after five years filled with attempts to save from them enough for his absolute per- sonal needs, to say nothing of improving a farm, he gladly turned his face toward California. He arrived iu February, 1877, and bought a hundred and sixty acres of laud near Forestville, Sonoma county, whicli he cleared of trees and i)lanted to a vineyard which yielded liini grapes for seven years. In 1888 he came to Tulare county and, settling on forty acres north of Tulare city, engaged in the dairy business and sold milk in Tulare fifteen years. Two years during that period he fed cattle in the mountains. In 1904 lie established at Tulare City an express and transfer business, which, under the half jocular title of Dad's Transfer Company, has come to be one of the popular institu- tions of the town. In tliis well established enterprise his son. Rozelle E. Hall, is his partner. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 619 Naturally, Mr. Hall is a memlier of the Grand Army of the Re- public. Thus he keeps alive memories of the days of the Civil war in which he was a faithful, if a \ery young, soldier. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a member also of Tulare Lodge No. 269, Free and Accepted Masons. With Forestville Lodge No. 320, Independent Order of Odd Fellows he affiliates also. He married Miss Adilla Plummer, a native of Wisconsin, in 1867, and they have children, Rozelle E., Carrie (wife of J. E. Robidoux, Edu (Mrs. F. A. Thomas, of Tulare), Beryl and Edna. JOHN R. REED A native of England, John R. Reed, of Orosi, Tulare county, Cal., was born in Leicestershire, November 14, 1840, was l)rought to the United States when six months old, stopping at New York City and Philadel])hia, and about 1848 arrived in what is now Evanston, 111. He was the oldest of the six children of his parents and eventually became one of the bread winners of the family. In 1851, when the boy was about eleven years old, his father, responsive to the lure of gold, left for California, and made the journey by way of the Isthmus of Panama. After his arrival his family heard from him several times, then came rumors of Indian outbreaks in California, they heard from him no more and his fate has been a mystery which none of his chil- dren have been able to unravel. In the course of events the family settled in Illinois, whence the mother took her children to Geauga county, Ohio, settling not far from Cleveland. During their residence there ex-President Garfield boarded with Mrs. Reed for a time while attending school. The support of the family devolved upon her and John R. The latter early found work at $3 a month and his board. He kept l)usy, his fortunes im- proving until in 1861 he was receiving $13 and his board. Then he enlisted April 24, 1861, in Company F, Nineteenth Ohio ^^olunteer In- fantry, and served for a time in West Virginia. Returning home lie veteraned by enlisting in Company C, First Ohio Light Artillery wilh which he served until in 1863. He had now earned $400 in liounty and he married and gave his mother $.300, his newly wedded wife $7."), then re-enlisted in his old company to serve during the period of the war. He was duly discharged and mustered out at Cleveland in Juiu\ 1865. lie jiarticipated in many notable engagements, including Rich Moun- tain and Chickamauga, and was under Sherman on the march from Atlanta to tlie sea. His last engagement was at Bentonville, N. C., where his brother was killed. At the close of his service he returned home. His first wife, who was Miss Adelaide Gillmore, bore him two 620 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES children. George V., casliier of the First National Bank of Lindsay, married Jennie Mitchell and they have two children, Jay and Earl. Daniel L. married Lelah Bander and they have two children, Eoscoe and Lola, and are living- near Reedley. Mr. Reed's second wife, Mary Ann Post, whom he married in Ohio and who was a native of that state, bore him iowr children: Bernice (deceased), Eliza Mabel, Ray- son J. and Sarah A. Raysou J. married Edith Bacon and they have a son. John Allen Bacon Reed and live at Lindsay. All of Mr. Reed's children were born in Ohio and all have been given as good education as is afforded in common schools. The family removed to California in 1886 and located in Fresno county, where Mr. Reed engaged in wheat farming. Later he took charge of four sections, increasing his acreage to fifteen thousand acres, and broadened operations by raising wheat and barley. Pie was thus engaged for sixteen years in the vicinity of Reedley. He came to Orosi in 1902, bought seventy acres, ]iarty improved with vines. At this time he has eighteen acres in vines, ten in peaches, forty in alfalfa, and also engages in dairying and the stock business. The educational ad^'antages of Mr. Reed were limited, Init by read- ing and otherwise he has become a well informed man. In his political affiliation he is a Democrat and his influence in local affairs has been considerable. He was the organizer and the first master of the Masonic Lodge at Orosi and is a member of the Presbj'terian Church. ROBERT A. PUTNAM John and Polly Ann (Shields) Putnam, natives respectively of Illinois and of Indiana, were visiting at Moimt Sterling, Ind.. when their son Robert A. Putnam was born, April 24, 1856. Burland Shields, grandfather of Robert A. Putnam in the maternal line, came overland to California in 1849 and settled in Shasta county. His party was several times menaced l)y Indians, but no member of it was killed and all arrived safely. For a time Mr. Shields mined, but later he becaine a stockman and was successful in that way until his death. No other member of the family came to the Pacific coast until 1901, when Robert A. Putnam located in Tulare county. He married in 1877, Sarah A. Shackleford, who was born in Mississippi in 1856, of parents who were natives of North Carolina. She was reared and educated in Illinois and one of her brothers served as a soldier in the Civil war. She has borne her husband seven children : John F., George William, Laura E., Piua M., Myra N., Mabel G. and Sadie B. John F. of Orosi married Blanche Miller and has two children. George William mar- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 621 ried Katie McKersie and has two children. Laura E. married Duane Straw. Pina M. has graduated from the Orosi high school and the others have been educated in the public school. When Mr. Putnam came to his farm nine acres of it was devoted to peaches and five acres and a half to Muscat grapes. In 1910 he sold seven and a half tons of dried peaches, a goodly quantity of green peaches and eleven tons of raisins. A portion of his ranch is devoted to pasture and he has some stock, but he keeps only enough horses for his own use. He is as progressive a citizen as he is a farmer and in a public-spirited way aids every movement for the good of the com- munitv. He and Mrs. Putnam are Democrats. ALEXANDER M. BEST In the state of Iowa Alexander M. Best, of Tulare county, Cal., was born April 23, 1867. He passed his boyhood and youth on a farm there and was educated in a public school near by. In April, 1888, when he was about twenty-one years old, he arrived in California and located on a ranch in Poway valley, twenty miles northeast of San Diego, where his father took up government land. For seven years he lived and farmed in San Diego county, then located in Orange county and lived at Santa Ana, and he also bought land at Newport. He farmed in that vicinity five years, on the San Joaquin three years, and at La Habra one year, and in October, 1901, came to Tulare county and bought the Jones ranch of one hundred and twenty acres, twelve miles east and two miles south of Tulare. After raising grain there four years, he sold the property and bought eighty acres a mile and a half west of town, a homestead of forty acres with forty acres adjoin- ing it at one corner, on which he put all imiirovements, including house, outbuildings, fences and roads. Until February, 1911, he con- ducted a dairy, but he then sold his cows, retaining his stock and horses, for the excellence of which his place is well known. He also gives attention to hogs and poultry. Thirty-five acres of his land is in alfalfa. December 3, 1894, Mr. Best married Susan Columbia Bardsley. of Poway valley, Cal., and they have a son named Edwin Bardsley Best. Fraternally Mr. Best is identified with the Woodmen of the World lodge of Tulare. Politically he has well defined ideas about all public questions and does his full duty as a citizen, but he has no liking for professional jiolitics and has never sought any elective or appointive office. He has at heart the welfare of the community and is generous in his encouragement of movements for the general good. 622 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES J. L. TAYLOR The prosperous farmer and fruit grower of Three Rivers, Tulare county, Cal., whose career it is intended here hriefly to refer to, is a native of Fallbrook, Tenn., horn in 1846. In 1866, when he was twenty years old, he came to California and settled near Three Rivers and Lemon Cove and, having faith in the future of the state, he resolved to grow up with it, deserving his share in its prosperity. It was at ranch work for others that J. L. Taylor was employed until 1893. He became known as a hard and steady worker and as a man who saved his money, and in the year meutioned he was alile to buy one hundred and sixty-five acres of land, on which he has been. successful with fruit and grain. It was in the year 1893, the year in which he started for himself, that he married Miss Louise P^lizabeth Myrten, a native daughter of California, who in 1904 bore him a son, Edward, who is engaged with his father in conducting tlie ranch and developing the fruit and nursery business. Mr. Taylor has always been too busy to take much practical part in political work, but as a citizen he has performed his duties with the lialjot, voting always for such men and measures as in his opinion jjromised most and best for the general good. He has never petitioned for nor aceejated public office. Fraternally he affiliates with the Lemon Cove organization of Woodmen of the World. His father is living, retired from the activi- ties that once made him a factor in the u])]ift and advancement of the communitv. LUCIUS HERVEY TURNER The well known native of Tulare county whose name is above was born December 6, 1866, a sou of Peter Q. and Emily S. (Keener) Turner. His father was liorn in ILamjiton county, Va., February 15, 1828, his mother in Missouri, December 9, 1843. The former lived in his native state until 1850, when he was about twenty-two years old. He then went to Ala1)anui and Mississippi, where he had more or less intercourse with Indians, and lived for a time in New Orleans, where he passed safely through a historic epidemic of cholera. At one time, believing he had lieen attacked by the disease, he found relief by drinking burned whiskey. It was during this early period of his life that he had his first experience with a stove. He took up his residence in Texas, where he married Miss McGlassen, of Texan l)irth, who died three months later. In 1858 he came from Texas to California, making the journey overland with oxen, a member of a jiarty of which his future father- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 623 in-law, John I). Keener, was captain. At one time, while traveling a new route, they were without water for seventy-two hours. Mr. Tur- ner's tongue heoaine so swollen that he could not talk, all his com- panions suffered and one of them l)ecame temporarily insane. They came to Los Angeles in 1858, where they remained some time, selling their cattle. From Los Angeles they went to Visalia, where in July, LS61, Mr. Turner nuirried Miss family S. Keener, who bore him fifteen children : Nancy A., Peter Q., John H., Lucius H., Anna B., Edna M., Laura L, Charles A., Ida ("., Frank E., Marcus A., Elizabeth, Lottie, Ada C, and another who died in infancy. Nancy A. married J. A. Drake. John H. married Mary E. Dunham. Lucius H. married Grace Lenell, who has borne him three children. Anna B. married C. H. Foster and bore him four children, she died May 3U, 1889. Ida C. is the wife of J. E. Foster and they have seven children living. Frank E. married Idena Jones and they are the parents of four chil- dren. Marcus A. married Elsie Brothers and they have three children. p]lizabeth F. married H. B. Mitchell and has five children. Charles A. married Mary Mades. Lottie married George Fickle and has one child. Ada C. married J. G. Jones and they are the parents of two children. Peter Q., Edna M. and Laura I. have passed away. The father died at Dunlap June 6, 1883; the mother makes her home with her children. It was as a farmer and carpenter that Mr. Turner was instructed in the practical work by means of which he was destined to earn his living. His first purchase of land was of twenty acres. He later bought ten acres on which he now lives. Six acres of his land is de- voted to fruit and berries, the remainder to pasturage. Fraternally he affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America, of which he is a charter member. His political affiliations are Socialistic. Mrs. Turner is a communicant of the Church of God. ERASTUS F. WARNER Well and favorably known in Tulare county, where he has been a resident since 1858, Erastus F. W^arner is jironiinently mentioned among the rejiresentative citizens of this section. He was born in Cambridge, Washington county, N. Y., October 24, 1842, the son of Cajitain Gerrit W. and Julia A. (Fenton) Warner, both natives of that state also. The news of the finding of gold in California brought Cai)tain Warner to the state in 1849, the voyage being made via the Horn in the vessel Morrison, lie was successful beyond his expectations in his mining exi)eri('nc(' on the middle fork of the Ameri- can river, and with the ipeans which he accumulated by his efforts he returned east for his family in 1S51. It was not until two years later. 624 TULABE AND KINGS COUNTIES however, that he was able to settle his affairs in the east and make his second and last trip to California. The year 1853 found the family coming- to the west by way of Nicaragua. Settlement was made in San Jose, and that was the home of the family until the fall of 1855, when the father became interested in mining at Hornitas, Mariposa county, and subsequently he became, the proprietor of a hotel at Mariposa. January of 1858 found the family in Visalia, where the father con- tinued to follow the hotel business, being proprietor of the Exchange, the Eagle and the Esmeralda Hotels. Going to Porterville in 186.3 he opened a hostelry and also conducted a stage depot, a business which he followed ]n-ofltably until death ended his labors on June 1, 1865. His wife is also deceased, having passed away August 30, 1898. The parental family comprised three children, Mrs. Sarah M. Cousins and Frederick A., both deceased, and Erastus F., of this re\aew. At the time the family removed from the east to California in 1853 the latter was a young lad and the experiences of the voyage made a lasting impression on his plastic mind. They left New York March 5 of that year and all went well until April 9, when their ship, the propeller steamship Lewis, was wrecked off Bodega bay. Total destruction threatened them, and although the ship was driven ashore and considerable damage done, no lives were lost. The passengers were finally taken aboard the Goliah and the steamer Active that were sent to their rescue from San Francisco, and thus they reached their destinatiou in safety. Throughout Tulare county Mr. "Warner is well known as an expert well borer, having followed this business for the past thirty-eight years. Considerable work of this character has been done for the Southern Pacific Railroad, ranging all the way from El Paso, Texas, to Salt Lake City, and he also made the Iwrings for setting the rail- road bridges all over the line. Mr. Warner's services are still in constant demand, and that his work is entirely satisfactory is e\'idenced in the fact that his reputation is county wide, and visible evidences of his work are as broadly scattered. In the early days he was a member of the volunteer fire department of Visalia, and he is still connected with the department as foreman of old Eureka Engine Company No. 1. He is an honorary member of the Volunteer Veteran Firemen of San Francisco, and fraternally is a member of Four Creek Lodge No. 94, I. 0. 0. F., having joined the order in 1866, and is also identified with Damascus Encampment No. 44, and Canton No. 24. His political sympathies are with the Republican party. The first marriage of Mr. W^arner occurred December 24, 1868, uniting him with Maud A. Baker, a native of Pennsylvania. She died in 1893, leaving one daughter, Mrs. Evelyn English. Mr. Warner's second marriage. May 21, 1903, united him with Mrs. Kitty (Schreiber) Horsnyder, a native of Kentucky. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 625 EARL MATHEWSON Among the native sons of Tulare ooimtj'^ who are winning success as farmers is Earl Mathewson, who lives on the Exeter road, near Visalia. Arthur W. Mathewson, his father, married Miss Lueinda Tinkham in 1866, who was born in Iowa, daughter of Nathaniel Tink- ham, a native of Vermont, and bore her husband eight children, of whom five are living: Mrs. Pearl Ogden, Levi, Mrs. Edith M. Mosier, Earl and James A. A biographical sketch of the father has a place in these pages. Earl Mathewson was born near Farmersville, August 28, 1876, and was educated in the public schools near his boyhood home. For a time he helped his father on the ranch, then made some money running cattle through the mountainous portion of Tulare county. In 1900 Mr. Mathewson rented of his mother a ranch of one hundred and fifty-one acres which he has since operated with much success. He has twenty acres of three-year-old French prunes, ten acres of Egj-ptian corn yielding a ton to an acre, and twelve acres under alfalfa. He makes a specialty of the breeding of cattle, horses and hogs and has produced some stock that is as fine as is to be seen in his vicinity. Fraternally Mr. Mathewson affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. In 1909 he married Miss Marie Holtoof, a native of Trinity county, Cal., and they have a son named Orley. As a citizen Mr. Mathewson is public-spiritedly heli)ful to all worthy local interests. WILLIAM F. BERNSTEIN As a baker and also as a stock-raiser William F. Bernstein has achieved a high standing in Kings county, Cal., and his bakery at Hanford and his stock farm near that town are among the best, each in its class, of their respective kinds in Central California. Mr. Bernstein was born in Ohio, near the old town of Lebanon, Warren county, in April, 1873, and there was reared to manhood and educated in common schools and at a normal school, and began teaching some years before he attained his majority. He was twenty-three when he came to Hanford and found emplo>anent in the bakery establishment of Fred Bader. Three years later he bought a one-half interest in the business and at the expiration of another three years he became its sole proprietor. Since then he has been its able manager and has developed it commensurately with the growth of the town. He handles a general line of first- class bakery goods and his ice-cream and candies have won a reputa- 626 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES tion which keeps them in constant demand. His business occupies a two-story and basement building which takes up a ground space of 25 X 150 feet and employs in its various departments twenty-one skilled workers. Adjoining the city on the southeast is a ranch of six acres which is the property of Mr. Bernstein, and he owns forty acres located a mile west of the city on which he breeds thoroughbred registered Poland-China hogs, as well as saddle horses which are in high favor with discriminating users of animals bred and trained for such service. He has exhibited his thoroughbred hogs at various local fairs. His entire ranch is devoted to alfalfa and to the feeding and ( level oiunent of the stock mentioned. In the promotion and organization of the Kings County Chamber of Commerce Mr. Bernstein was influential, and he was elected its first president and re-elected to that office in December, 1911. In a fraternal way he affiliates with the Masons, being a Templar and a Shriner, and also with the Hanford Camp, Woodmen of the World. As a citizen he is helpful to all worthy local interests, ready at all times to do his full share in the encouragement of the develoi^ment of the town. He was married, May 28, 1902, to Mary Pearl Trew- hitt, who was born in Tennessee, but had been brought to Hanford by her parents. Her mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Trewhitt, is a resident of that citv. JOHN T. MORGAN Synonymous with the name of Mr. Morgan is the name of the Morgan's Market, of which he is the owner and proprietor, a thriv- ing enterprise in Visalia, which is known for the high character of the goods handled and for the excellent service rendered. From seven to ten employes are required in the conduct of the business, and two delivery wagons eual)le the owner to make prom])t delivery. All of the meats carried in the market are killed and prepared under the direct supervision of Mr. Morgan, whose slaughter house is located on the outskirts of town. A native son of California, John T. Morgan was born in San Bernardino in July, 1863, the son of Thomas and Eliza (Mee) Morgan, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of England. The Morgan family became established in California in 1859, when Thomas Morgan came hither from the middle west and settled in San Bernardino county. He was a man of versatility and ability, and in addition to carrying large personal interests he rendered invaluable service to the young and growing community in which TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 627 he settled. He was elected and served acceptably as the first sheriff of San Bernardino county. He died in 1863. His wife was also a pioneer to the west, having crossed the plains from Utah at the time of the Mountain Meadow massacre. Reared and educated in his native county, at the age of fourteen years John T. Morgan went to Pinal county, Ariz., where he entered the employ of the Silver King Mining Company and also for several years worked in a butcher shop. This latter experience, combined with the knowl- edge of the business that he had acquired in his native county, led him to undertake a business of his own, and going to Riverside he opened and managed a meat market for Barker Brothers for four years. Subsequently he purchased the business and conducted it alone for four years. He then sold out and went to San Jacinto, where he opened and conducted a market until coming to Visalia in 1902. In that year he bought out the nucleus of the business which he owns today, then a small, unpretentious store, which in the meantime has expanded in business and reputation until it is now conceded to be one of the best appointed butchering establish- ments in the state, doing a wholesale and retail business. In April, 15)11, Mr. Morgan was honored by his fellow-citizens by election to the office of city trustee of Visalia, from the sixtli ward. He is a projierty owner and an influential member of a number of fraternal orders, l)eing a member of Four Creek Lodge No. 94, I. 0. O. F., Fraternal Brotherhood, Woodmen of the World, Foresters of America, and the Native Sons of the Golden West. He was married in 1891 to Miss Lillian R. Cleveland, who was born in Iowa, and they have three children, Everett C, Howard G., and J. Thomas. "\'^isalia has no more public-spirited citizen than Mr. Morgan, wlio is ever on the alert to promote the development of the city, as is indi- cated by his lil)eral assistance toward every worthy public movement. ALPHEUS C. WILLIAMS The present supervisor of the Third District of Tulare county, Cal., A. C. Williams, who lives at No. 420 N. Church street, Visalia, was born in Dent county. Mo., November 24, 18()8, and after leaving school became connected witli tlic train department of the St. Tjouis and San P^rancisco railroad. It was in 1891 that Mr. Williams came to California. Locating at Tulare city, he worked on different ranches near there for three years, then moved to six hundre*! and forty acres of laud east of Visalia, where lie engaged in grain farming, in whicli he was suc- cessful for some vears. In 1903 he established the Visalia Feed, 628 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Fuel & Storage Co., au enterprise which under his management became one of the most important of its kind in Central California. For a considerable period he has been prominently identified with local political affairs and in 1908 he was elected super\isor to repre- sent the Third District of Tulare county, and it is worthy of note that he was the first Republican elected to that office by that constituency. How well he has served in that important capacity his fellow citi- zens well know and his record for efficiency and integrity is a most enviable one. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1893 Mr. Williams married Miss Mary Ellen Goad, daughter of John C. and C. Odele (DeBolt) Goad, the former of whom was born in Madisonville, Hopkins county, Ky. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Williams, Ellen M. and Alpheus C, Jr. Mrs. Williams' father came across the plains to California in the early '60s, and lived in Nevada county imtil 1873, when he came to Tulare county and located on a ranch eight miles northeast of Visalia. He was one of the most prominent ranchers in the neighborhood of old Venus until his death, which occurred Sei^tember 25. 1905. When he was twenty-one he joined the Masonic order and was popular in those circles. His wife, whom he married in Grass Valley, Nevada coiinty, was a native of Ohio and passed away April 25, 1906. They were the parents of the following children: Pearl, Anna G. and Frank A., all deceased; J. E. Goad, of San Diego, the only living son; and Mary Ellen, who is now Mrs. Williams. IRA BLOSSOM Among the early jiioneers of Tulare county who have become successful ranchmen is Ira Blossom, who was born in 1832 in the state of New York. He grew to manhood and was educated in the Empire State and in 1852, when he was twenty years old, sought his fortune in California. For a time be stayed in San Francisco, and from there he went to Stockton and soon went into the mines, where he worked a year. After that he lived six years in the San Joaquin valley. In 1860 he moved to Tulare county and during the ensuing six years assisted in the operation of a flour mill near Visalia. Next we find him located on South Fork river, in a section of Tulare county in which he has since made his home. His first land purchase was a tract of eight hundred acres on which he lived for a time, but which eventually he sold in order to buy land near Three Rivers, where he has lived during the past decade. In 1860 Mr. Blossom married Mrs. Julia Clough, and they have TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 629 four children, three of wliom are living. One of their daughters lives in Sau Francisco, the other in Mt. View, Cal., and their son is with his parents on their family homestead. The latter is filling the office of deputy park ranger, the duties of which he is performing with much ability and credit. The present laud lioldiugs of Mr. Blossom aggregate one hun- dred and thirty-five acres, part of it in fruit and most of the remainder in grain. He has given part of his time to stock-raising, in which he has achieved considerable success, and is regarded as one of the old reliable farmers of his district, being honored by the people of Tulare county as one of their few remaining pioneers. His personal characteristics are of the kind that make men popular with their fellows and many a man who has had the benefit of his acquaintance has found in him a valued friend. He never held office or identified himself with any order, but is public-spirited in support of all worthy interests of the community. J. A. CRAWSHAW, M.D. While giving attention to general practice Dr. J. A. Crawshaw specializes along lines safely and sanely within the limits of the field of the family physician. His residence and office are in the Bissell Building, Hanford, Kings county, Cal. Born Aiagust 10, 1879, at Carbondale, 111., he was there educated in the public schools and in the state normal school in the usual courses of such institutions. When advanced sufficiently in his professional studies, he matriculated in the medical department of the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1901, and after passing the prescribed exam- inations was duly graduated therefrom with the degree of M.D., June 5, 1905. After eighteen months devoted to the practice of his profession at Murphysboro, 111., he came in 1907 to Hanford, where he has since prospered increasingly as a general practitioner of medicine and surgery, specializing in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Dr. Crawshaw is a director of the Hanford Sanitorium, which he helped to organize and which is now in the course of construc- tion. It is a modern structure, costing $30,000, and is to be com- pleted February 1, 1913. The Doctor holds membership in the Fresno Medical Society, the San Joaquin Medical Society and the California State Medical Society. He is identified with the Kings County Auto Association, is a Blue Lodge, Royal Arch and Eastern Star Mason, a Forester of America and a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Foresters and its ladies' auxiliary order, a 630 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Modern Woodman, a member of the order of Fraternal Aid and of the Portuguese orders of U. P. E. C. and of I. D. E. S. In all of these societies he takes a helpful interest, greeting their members in fraternal brotherhood and advancing their many good works in every way possible. Beside his professional work Dr. Crawshaw has found some time to devote to other interests, notably to ranching. He owns a farm of one hundred acres, eight miles north of Hanford, all under irrigation and devoted to stock-raising. At this time he is arranging to give special attention to the breeding of mules. In 1904 Dr. Crawshaw married Miss Bessie Hagler, who was then a resident of Illinois. They have an interesting little daughter named Alleen. The Doctor, althougli an adopted son of California and a comparatively late arrival to the city of Hanford, yet enters heart- ily into the political and social life of Kings county. He took part in the program of the "Kings County Karnival" in May, 1911, and rendered an original poem cm the liirth of Kings county, from which we quote the following: " 'Twas in the spring of ninety-three, In the county then of Tu-lar-e. With division talk on every tongue. That the battle of politics was sprung. Fast the missiles flew each way, Until the twenty-third of May, When Captain Blakely with his dart Plunged the weapon in tlieir heart. "With the sun still shining in the skies, And the tears undried in the mother's eyes, Out from the wounded, bleeding heart. The "Baby County" made a start, To spread afar its honored fame And win itself a Christian name. Whose echo o'er the plain would ring, In honor of our Babv King." CHARLES E. JOYNER In the country round about Exeter, Tulare county, Cal., there are few citizens who are more highly regarded than is Charles E. Joyner, a native of Tennessee, born in 1859. who came to California TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES (531 in 1872, when he was thirteen years old. It sliould he noted tliat he came here simply as a visitor, expecting- soon to return to his old liome and that excei)t for hrief absences he has remained here ever since. He grew to manhood on tlic J. H. Johnson rancji and finished his education in the public sciiools in that neighborhood. He was an orphan, his mother having died when he was an infant, his father when he was but a small boy, hut he found friendship and encour- agement under the sunny California skies and set his face bravely toward the future. He may be said to have made his way in the world since he was a mere boy. In 1884 he married Catherine Mabrey, a native of Arkansas, who has borne him seven children, all of whom are being educated in the public schools near their home. Fruit has engaged Mr. Joyner's attention and he has thirty- five acres in three-year-old navel oranges. Formerly he raised grain. His land cost him about $2.50 an acre and at a fair market valuation it is worth today $700 an acre. He has prospered, and in so doing has generously conceded the right of the community at large to do as well. While he is very public-spirited, he cares little for prac- tical politics and has steadfastly refused office. JOSEPH W. LOVELACE A native of the Lone Star State, born in Fannin county, in 1858, Josejah "W. Lovelace, now living at No. 502 S. Church street, Visalia, is a son of John W. and Arminta (Stallard) Lovelace, natives respectively of North Carolina and of Tennessee. The family came to California, members of a party that came across the plains with ox-teams and seventy-five wagons, consuming six months in the journey. Coming over the southern route, they stopped in the fall of 1861 at Bakersfield, where John W. Lovelace Iniilt a small cabin, which in the following winter was swei)t away liy a flood. After the breaking up of their home there they moved to El Monte, Los Angeles county, where they lived until they removed to Tulare county in 1863. The father fought through the Civil war in Gen. Sterling Price's Confederate army. After receiving his discharge, he brought his family back to Tulare county and engaged in mer- chandising at Farmersville, where he bought the store of Crowley & Jasper and formed a partnership with T. J. Brundage. He interested himself also in stock-raising and in 186!) took up a stock ranch at Three Rivers which he improved. Returning eventually to Texas, he died there in 1875; his wife also has passed away. During his residence at El ^lonte, Los Angeles coimty, this ))ioneer became a member of the local lodge of Free and Accepted Masons. As a 632 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES citizen he was public-spii'ited and helpful to all good interests of the community. Follomng are the names of the living children of John W. and Arminta (Stallard) Lovelace: Martin F., Charles P., Willis R. and Joseph W. The last named was but a lad when his father brought his family to Tulare county during the war of the states. He grew to manhood at Visalia and there finished his schooling. For twelve years he was engaged in stock-raising in the Three Riv- ers district of Tulare county, and in 19U0 he moved to Visalia iu order to give his children better educational training. He is interested in real estate in that city and owns besides a one hundred and twenty acre grain ranch fifteen miles east of Lemon Cove. Socially he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. He married, in Texas, Miss Helen Schliehtiug, a native of Wisconsin, who has borne him children as follows : Byron 0., county surveyor of Tulare county ; Nathaniel F. ; Clay ; Walter ; and Lee. Mr. Lovelace is well known for his helpful public spirit. Mr. Lovelace's deceased brothers and sisters were: Mollie, who died about the year 1884, was the wife of the late Hon. J. C. Brown, who represented Tulare county iu the legislature several times and was a member of the Constitutional committee which revised the state constitution of California in 1876; John Aimer, who was married, died in Texas in 1889; and Lillian Josephine, who also was married, died in Texas in 1882, leaving no children. JOHN CHATTEN A resident of California from 1868 to 1907, when he passed away, the late John Chatten was of English extraction and a native of Canada. Thomas Chatten, his grandfather, brought his family from Norfolk, Eng., and settled in Ontario, where his son Robert Chatten, father of John, farmed near Colborne till 1896, when he died aged seventy-eight. Robert's wife, Betsy Doe, a native of Ontario, died there aged seventy-two. She was of English ancestry, a daughter of James Doe, who was a Canadian settler and farmer. John Chatten was their second oldest child and the oldest son in a family of nine children, all of whom attained to maturity. He was born near Colborne, Northumberland county, Ont., December 8, 1848, and grew up where the work was hard and the living not the best. From the time he was eleven, when he was taken out of school, he worked on the farm and one of his tiresome and painful tasks was the picking i\\) of stones, which made his back ache and TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 633 wore the skin off his fingers. His nncle Eichard Chatten had come to California as a 41)er, and his accounts of the climate and the ease with which a living might be earned or a competency secured were alluring reading to the folks in the bleak Canadian backwoods. This finally lured John Chatten to the state and for two years after his arrival he worked for his uncle. After his marriage he took up independent farming and stock-raising on one hundred and fifty acres of his uncle's land, and a year later bought an unimproved tract which he transformed into an attractive homestead. More than ordinary success rewarded Mr. Chatten's efforts as a farmer, and late in life he made a profitable specialty of dairying. His activity in local affairs was displayed in efficient service as a member of the county central committee of his party, and his interest in education impelled him to accept the trusteeship of the Elbow school district, the duties of which he discharged for thirty years, assisting to build a school house and to put the home school on a firm and substantial basis. Other praiseworthy measures were given his aid and counsel, and he was recognized as one of the leading men of the county. Miss Celeste Eeynolds, who became the wife of Mr. Chatten December 11, 1870, was born in Iowa and brought across the plains to California by her parents when she was but seven months old. They came in an ox-train and seven months were consumed in the journey. Her entire life in California has been lived in Tulare coimty. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Chatten were: Wesley-, an engraver in Portland, Ore. ; Arthur ; Wilmot L. ; Eay, deceased ; Fred, and Elsie. The family residence was built in 1903 and the homestead includes a hundred and seventy-two acres on Elbow creek, irrigated by the Wutchumna ditch, Mr. Chatten having been a direc- tor in the ditch company. Every acre of this homestead is tillable, and he also owned a quarter-section of adjoining land which he devoted to grazing. The third in order of birth of the children of John and Celeste (Ee\-nolds) Chatten, Wilmot L. Chatten was born near Visalia, November 11, 1878. He liegan his active career by ranching with his father. In 1902 he bought land, which he farmed until after his father's death. He now rents of his mother the home place and the adjoining land. He has twenty-five acres in barley and twenty acres in alfalfa, the remainder being pasture, and he maintains a dairy of twenty cows and keeps an a\-erage of about a hundred hogs. His family orchard is one of the best in its vicinity, and he gives some attention to chicken-raising. He is a man of public spirit and, as was his father, is a Eepublican. In 1902 he married Miss lola Fudge, daughter of William Eudge, an early settler in the county. They have two children, Meredith and Dallas. 634 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES HARRISON A. POWELL Most of the sons of Kentucky who have come to California have developed into citizens of whom Californians are proud and they have exacted from California the full reward of enterprise and industry. This is true in the case of Harrison A. Powell, one of the best known citizens in the Exeter district in Tulare county, who was born in Henderson county, Ky., August 11, 1859, and lived there until 1902. He came to California at this time and located at Exeter, where he has made his home up to this time. He had passed the earlier years of his life as a farmer and it was but natural that he should have continued here to woo fortune after the manner of his youth. But at first he had not the capital with which to establish himself as he planned to do. He went to work, saved money and invested it in land, and while the land was increasing in value added to his fund by continuing his labors. Then when the land was worth selling he converted it into money and put the money where it would draw interest, and as a financier he has perhaps prospered as well as he would have done had he carried out his original intention to become a farmer. In 1879 Mr. Powell married Leurah Cottingham, a native of Kentucky, and they had six children : Chester E., Ernest C., Judith A., Mary, Rhea and Earl. Mrs. Powell died in 1891 and in 1909 Mr. Powell married (second) Martha Ficklen, a native of Missouri. His father was born in Virginia, while his mother was a native of Kentucky. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, affiliating with both lodge and encampment, and was vice grand of his lodge in 1911. Politically he adheres to the Democratic faith. Having at heart the welfare of the community, he is public- spirited in such measure as to make for the very best citizenshi]:). He is essentially a self-made man who has prospered by industry and frugality at the expense of his brain and brawn and not to the cost of any of his fellow citizens. Some idea of his quality may be inferred from his recent assertion, not boastful yet delivered with an air of satisfaction: "I am fifty-three years of age and have never been under the influence of liquor." WILLIAM WHITAKER In Connecticut William Whitaker, now of the Dinuba district in Tulare eoimty, Cal., was born in November, 1833. His start in business life was as- an axe-maker. Later he manufactured clothes- pin.s until about the time of the beginning of the Civil War. Re- TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 635 sponding to Presideut Lincoln's first oall for seventy-five tlionsaud three months' troops, he enlisted in the First Regiment, New Hamp- shire Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered into the service of the United States at Concord, N. li., in April, 1861. Later he re- enlisted in the Fifth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war. During the period of his service he held all ranks from private to captain of his company, having been commissioned for the latter office just before his dis- charge. His first experience in battle was in June, 1861, and he was in thirty regular engagements with the Army of the Potomac, in- cluding the fighting at Petersburg and Oettysburg and in many skirm- ishes, passing through many perils, not the least of which were those incident to an explosion which he is not likely ever to forget. After the war he engaged in the lumber and sawmill business in Ashford, Conn. Later he devoted himself to farming, which he fol- lowed there until in 1899, when he came to Tulare county, where he has since made his home. His first purchase of land here was five acres, which he has since sold in town lots from time to time. He owned twenty acres at Yettem, eleven of which is in Muscat grapes, also five acres of Malagas. At this time he is practically retired from active business life. He keeps alive memories of the Civil war by membership with Shaffer Post No. 92, G. A. R. Politically he is a Socialist. In his religious affiliation he is a Seventh Day Adventist. Besides his home at Dinuba he is the owner of consid- erable valuable property in the East. His brother Edward W. Whitaker was promoted froiu his original place as ]irivate in the ranks, by successive advancements, to the office of brigadier-general in the I'ederal army in the Civil war and is now stationed at Wash- ington, D. C. Daniel Whitaker, another of his brothers, rose to be a cai^tain and was killed June 17, 1863. He had another brother, George, in the Union Army, enlisting from California. Another brother, Horace Whitaker, who died in Stokes valley in October, 1910, unmarried, came to California in 1856, via Isthmus of Panama. He followed the stock business in Tulare county from 1858, and became a well known factor tbi-oughout the county, having won a suit over land title from the Southern Pacific Railway Com]>any after being in litigation about twenty years. In 1866 Mr. Whitaker married Ada Ferguson, a native of Penn- sylvania and she bore him six children: Mary J. married Wilbur Devoll and has four children. Ada became Mrs. Clifton Wright and died leaving three children. Eva married Clifton Church and they have two children. Etta mai-ricd Charles McDonald and tliey have three children. Helen is Mrs. William Ileffron, who is the only one of the children residing in California. Jesse L., the fourtli in order 636 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES of birth and the only son, met an accidental death in December, 1909. The wife and mother passed away in 1899 and in 1901 Mr. Whitaker married Mrs. Frances C. "White. HANFORD NATIONAL BANK This well established and dependable institution, one of the strong and popular banks of Kings county, Cal., was organized in May. 1903, was incorporated in the following month, and was opened for business July 28, that year. Its savings department, known as the Peoples Savings Bank, was organized November 1, 1903. The first president of the bank was Dr. N. P. Duncan, who died February 15, 1905, and he was succeeded by W. V. Buckner. Its original vice-president died and was succeeded by Charles A. Kimball ; H. E. Wright was cashier, S. E. Railsback, assistant cashier. The capital stock of the Hanford National Bank was $50,000. all paid in, and the capital stock of the Peoples Savings Bank was $25,000, $12,500 of which was paid in at the time of its organization, and the remainder of which was paid two years later. The board of directors serves for both banks and is constituted as follows: W. V. Buckner, L. Hansen, Charles A. Kimball, S. E. Railsback and H. E. Wright. The cashier and manager of this bank, Harland E. Wright, is represented in a biographical sketch in this work. He came to Han- ford as assistant cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank and soon became cashier. In 1903 he sold out his interest in that liank, in which he had become the largest stockholder, in order to promote the organization of the Hanford National Bank. Mr. Railsback is still assistant cashier. SIDNEY H. WOOKEY Among Hanford 's most progressive business men is Sidney H. Wookey, proprietor of an enterprising hay and feed trade. It was at Fond du Lac, Wis., that Mr. Wookey was born November 19, 1861, and there he grew to manhood and obtained his education both in books and in the business which engaged his attention for many years. He began his active career in his native town as a contrac- tor and builder and engaged also in the fuel trade. The latter became his sole business and he followed it with success until October, 1901, when he again turned his attention to contracting and building until TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 637 1906, when he located at Hanford,whei-e he established a wood-yard and oijerated it until July, 1911, then selling it to the Hanford Fuel Company. The retail hay and feed trade at Hanford now commands Mr. Wookey's ability and attention. His warehouse, which he erected in August, 1911, occupies a ground space of forty by ninety feet and af- fords storage for three hundred tons of hay. With his office, it con- stitutes a thoroughly adequate and up-to-date business plant, well appointed in every detail and equipped for the successful transac- tion of his large and constantly growing enterprise. By his personal geniality and his "live and let-live" business methods Mr. Wookey has commended himself to the good opinion of the people living at Hanford and throughout its tributary territory, and the success which he has obtained is popularly regarded as but an earnest of the still greatei- successes which will come to him in the future. As a citizen he has in many ways manifested his loyalty and public spirit, and his neighbors at Hanford Mnd him ever read}' to yield generous support to any measure proposed for the develop- ment of the town or for the improvement of general conditions through the introduction of such economic provisions as seem to him possible. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. BENJAMIN DONAGER, Sk. Natives of Ireland have always been peculiarly welcome as immi- grants to this country and their prosperity here has equaled that of our native-born citizens. One of those who have been successful in the quest for home and pros]>erity in Kings county, Cal., was the late Benjamin Donager, whose widow and son own and operate the New Method Laundry in Hanford. Mr. Donager came to the United States in 1874 and after stopping for a time in Sacramento, came on to Tulare county and located at the site of Hanford, in the portion of that old county which is now known as Kings county. At that time Hanford had just been platted and offered for sale in lots convenient for building purposes. Mr. Donager became the local station agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and filled that position ably and honoralily until September 25, 1882, when he died. His marriage occurred in 1879 to Miss Hattie Coe, a daughter of Julius T. Coe. It will be of interest here to say something of the career of Mrs. Donager 's father. Julius T. Coe was born in Fulton county, N. Y., where he farmed in early life and later manufactured gloves. In 1874 he was attracted to California as offering a field for larger oj^por- 638 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES tunities and brought his family to a farm near Vacaville. Solano county. In 1876 he came to a tract of government land two miles south of the site of Hanford and his original purchase of one hun- dred and sixty acres of land was increased by the acquisition of other tracts until he owned two hundred and forty acres, which he managed and cultivated with fair success and which was his home until in 1884, when he died, aged sixty-four years. In his religious belief he was a Presbyterian, and politically he allied himself with the Ee- publican party. His wife, who before their marriage was Miss Cath- erine Simpson, also a native of Fulton county, N. Y., survived him. making her home in Hanford, until 1909. To Mr. and Mrs. Donager was born a son Benjamin, Jr., June 10, 1880. He began his education in the public schools in Hanford, continued it at Santa Ci'uz and at Oakland, and took a commercial course at Heald's Business College. He then found employment for two years with George AVest & Son and later for three years with Schnerger & Downing. In 1906 he married Miss Frances Kuntz of Hanford. Fraternally he affiliates with the Hanford organizations of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Improved Order of Red Men, the "Woodmen of the World and the Native Sons of the Golden West. In 1906 Mrs. Donager and her son started their enterprise, the New Method Laundry, installing it in a building fifty by ninety-two feet, which was erected for the purpose. It is a modern, well-ap- pointed structure, occupied entirely by their flourishing and constantly growing business. Besides doing fine laundry work they have a cleaning and pressing line. Their methods and machinery are thor- oughly up-to-date; they employ only experienced help and their rela- tions with the public are based on the idea of the square deal. Their prosperity is in every way richly deserved. FREEMAN RICHARDSON Di;ring the last half century the laundry business has been developed to proportions which make it. in its peculiar way, one of the important industrial interests of the country. Among tlie lead- ers in this industry are many Californians, and among the best known of these in the central part of the state is Freeman Richardson, proprietor of the Hanford Steam Laundry, an auxiliary feature of which is his establishment for the cleaning and pressing of tailor-made clothing. Mr. Richardson first saw the light of day in 1868, over the Cana- dian border line, in New Brunswick. There he was reared and edu- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 639 cated and from there he came in 1889, when he was about twenty- one years old, to California, locating at Fresno, where he worked in a laundry until 1893. He then made his advent in Hanford and established the Hanford Steam Laundry, until 1900 occupying quarters on Front street, which by that time became too small for his enter- prise, and he then moved into his present principal building on West Seventh street. Later he erected an adjoining building and now has a ground space of tifty-eight by one hundred feet, equipped with modern machinery which is 0])erated only by skillful laundry workers. His pressing and cleaning ])lant for gasoline work is located on Second street, beyond the fire limit, and his laundry work as well as cleaning and pressing process are equally satisfactory to his large and growing list of patrons. In 1903 Mr. Richardson married Miss Lola Manning of Han- ford and they have a daughter named Mary Eleanor. Fraternally, he is a Knight of Pytliias and a member of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. As a citizen he has proven himself to be most patriotic and public spirited. J. GRABOW In the promotion of irrigation in central California the sinking of wells is an important factor and among the enterprising men giving attention to this industry is J. Grabow, of Hanford, Kings county, a native of Denmark, born in 18-11, who came to the United States in 1881. He had learned the trade of well borer in his native country; his first employment here was as a farm hand, but it was not long before he was called upon to help bore for water, and the possibilities of well-drilling at once became apparent to him. Lo- cating at Paso Robles, he gave his attention to this work and was one of the first, if not the first, in the state to develop water by the hydraulic process for domestic use. He operated in that vicin- ity until 1903, then came to Hanford, where he has devoted himself to well-boring on a larger scale than before, having put down more than a thousand wells, among which were those of the Ogdens, the Armona Winery, Dr. Miller (on his dairy ranch), Mecfussel (of Hardwick), Richards (of (xrangeville), fourteen on the Floribel ranch and others, all of which have been so successful in operation that they have attracted wide attention to his enterprise. Mr. Grabow finds that in this vicinity good water for domestic uses is reached sixty to one hundred feet below the surface of the ground. In 1876 Mr. Grabow married Miss Nanny Heger, a native of Sweden, who has borne him seven children: Fannie is a school 640 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES teacher at Coaliuga; Hans is his father's assistant in the latter's well-drilling operations; Ellen married Fred Donohoo; Esther is a student at the Conservatory of Music at San Jose; two died in in- fancy; and Anna died at the age of twenty-one years. The progressive spirit which has marked Mr. Grabow's per- sistent development of his enterprise commends him to the general public as one of the leading business men in the country round about Hanford. He has established a shop in which, during the past two years, he has made all the casing he has used in his wells. The metal which he most favors for use for this purpose is gal- vanized iron. In municipal atfairs he favors and supports those measures for the betterment of local interests, and has come to l)e known as a most helpful and u]i-to-date citizen, who has the welfare of the comumnitv at heart. NAPOLEON PETER KANAWYER Peter Kanawyer. the first of the name to come to California, brought hither his son, Napoleon Peter Kanawyer, when he was a lad of fourteen years. He was born in Indiana in December, 184!), and was a small child when the family moved to the frontier of Iowa and from that state came to California. The family settled near Sacramento and later were pioneers at Grang•e^^lle in Kings county, where they became well and favorably known. Mr. Kanaw^'er married Viola Blunt and she bore him three children. Napoleon mar- ried Cisly Collins and they have seven children : Napoleon. Doris, Cyril, Gertrude, Mervin, and twin babies, and they reside at Sanger in Fresno county. Thomas is next in order. Frances is the wife of Jay Robinson. Mr. Kanaw^-er died in 1908. Thomas Kanawyer, the second son, was born in Tulare county, the part now set aside as Kings county, on September "2(1, 1879. He was reared and educated in the common schools and with the family moved to Fresno county, settling near Dunlap. He married Miss Margaret Main, born in Fresno county February 20, 1882. They are the parents of two children, Viola Frances and Margaret Ruth. In 1910 Thomas Kanawyer purchased three hundred and ninety-five acres of land which he is clearing and developing. One hundred and twenty acres of it is tillable and the balance is in timber and pasture. He keeps aboiit one hundred head of stock on his place and has about thirty-five hundred cords of marketable wood. With his mother he is the owner of several jenneys which are used for pack animals, and he is otherwise assisting his mother in the care of the family homestead. As a farmer he has won a place for TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 641 himself in his neighborhood and as a citizen lias proven his worth as heli)ful to tlie general interests. He is a Republican in politics but has never sought office. Like his father, who was a well known citizen, he is giving his attention to the building up of his own for- tunes and in aiding [niblic movements to the best of his ability. HARVEY N. DENNY Born in Putnam county, Ind., June 25, 1834, Harvey N. Denny, whose residence is now at No. 602 North Church street, Visalia, Tuhire county, Cal., passed his early life on a farm in his native state. He and two of his brothers did duty as soldiers in the Federal army in the Civil war. Enlisting in the Fifty-first Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, he sei'ved under Major-General George H. Thomas until he was nmstered out at Nashville, Tenn., Jime 18, 1865, during his service participating in many historic battles and in numerous minor engagements. Returning to his old home in In- diana he was given charge of the old Denny homestead, which he operated six years, clearing $1,000 annually. In 1870 Mr. Denny married Miss Melissa D. Iloskins. His wife's health failing, he sought relief for her in California, arriving in the spring of 1873, and here for twenty years, until his retirement a few years ago, he was engaged successfully in the undertaking- business at Visalia. Mrs. Denny died in March, 1875, leaving a daughter, Carrie A. In a iiatriotic way Mr. Denny is deeply inter- ested in everything that makes for the betterment of the community, He is a charter member of the Visalia organization of the Grand Armv of the Republic and because of his many sterling qualities of head and heart is popular with the leading citizens of all sections of the countv. C. E. FREEMAN In Boone county. Mo., whicli has given several promineiil citi- zens to this iiait of California, Clorie Elmer Freeman lias born March 20, 187!>. When he was aI)out twenty years old he i-ame to Caiifoi-nia. His parents, James Monroe and Sarah Roxanna (Green") Freeman, natives of Missouri, are living in Callaway county. His fatlier enlisted in 1862 in a Confederale regiment imder Cajttaiii Price and served in the infaTitiy until the end of the Civil war. When C. E. Freeman ari-ixcil at Dimiba, which is now a town of M-2 TULARK AND KINGS C'OUNTIES two thousand people, he found only one hotel, two general merchan- dise stores, a drug store, a livery barn and a few dwellings. The eountry round about was all under grain and the fields stretched clear down to the village limits. In 1!>()2 Mr. Freeman bought fifteen acres near Orosi at $50 an acre. It was just plain wheat land with no vines. He has since planted thirteen acres to graj)es, eight to Muscats, five to Hultanas, and in 1911 he sold eight-and-a-half tons of Muscats and five of Sultanas. He keejis ten liead of live stock and has a small family orchard. Among tlie many improvements which he has witnessed in the country round about has been the introduction of a telephone system. When he came tliei-e was not a yard of telephone wire to l)e seen in any direction and now neai ly every house is reached by this means. In his politics Mr. Freeman is a Democrat, devoted heart and soul to the principles of his jiarty. He and Mrs. Freeman are mem- bers of the Baptist church. She was Miss Lena Johnson, a native of Missouri, and they were nuii'rieil in Visalia in lil()4. Tliey have one daughter, Grace Ellen. EARL POWERS FOSTER Xot only a native Califoruian but a native of Tulare county, where he now lives, Earl Powers Foster was born November 4, 1867. the oldest of the six children of Leander P. and Hattie (Muu- son) Foster, four of whom survive. His father, who first saw the light of day in W'linont, settled early in life on a stock ranch in Tulare county, but later moved to a farm of three hundred and twenty acres near Atlanta, San Joaquin county, where he grew grain until in 1875, when he died. His wife. Miss Munson, wIkuu he married in California, was a native of Maine. She came to the coast in her girlhood with Nathan Munson, her father, who lived out his days and passed away in Humboldt county. For some years she has made her home at Pacific Gi'ove. She died November 26, 1912. Only eiglit years old when his father died. Earl Powers Foster grew to manhood and gained a knowledge of farming on the Foster home- stead near Atlanta and later was a student at Woodbridge College. He came to Tulare county in 1894 and engaged in stockfarming and grain raising in which he has since been successful. He rented two thousand acres, two miles and a half southeast of Tulare, the pro]iert>' of James Turner, of San Joaquin county and iio]iularly known as the Turner ranch. He farms six hundred and forty acres to grain, summer-fallows about two hundred and fifty acres a TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 643 year and uses the remainder of the property for pasturage, earry- ino- al)out one Imndred liead of l-ows year after year. The marriage, in 18S)2, of Mr. Foster and Sarah, daughter of James Turner and a native of San Joaquin county, has resulted in the liirth of three sons, James, Powers and Forest P^rederick. Theii- wedding was celebrated at French Camp, San Joaquin county. This California family of Turners was founded by John Turner, an Englishman, who settled in San Joaquin county, lived afterward in Stanislaus county and died in Tulare county at the advanced age of ninety-two years. His son James was a California pioneer of 1850, who came into this country with a party that had made its way across the jilains with an ox-team outfit. In his first winter here the mines yielded him $400, but he later engaged in teaming and in the s]iring of 1852 settled on a (]uarter section of land near Stock- ton, wliich he bought. He now owns two thousand acres of tillable land there, on a part of which he makes his home. In his politics he is a Rejniblican, in his religion a Methodist. His wife was Hannah Blosser, a native of Pennsylvania, who died on their California home- stead in 1882. Jacob Blosser, her father, came overland from the east with oxen in 1850 and settled on raw land in San Joa«|uin county, and the closing years of his life were passed in Mendocino county. Fraternally Mr. Foster affiliates with the Woodmen of the "World and with the order of I'raternal Aid, holding membership in local organizations of these bodies whose .stated meetings are held in Tulare. He has achieved remarkable success in his efficient handling of such extensive tracts of land and has taken rank among the leading business men in this part of the county, and is known to his fellow citizens as a man of public spirit who aids to the extent of his ability every measure proposed for the general u])lift or for the advancement of tlie pros]ierity of his comnuuiity. R. M. GRAHAM It was in the Hoosiei' State that R. M. Graham was born in 184!). In the years of his young manhood he was a successful school teacher, then for many years he published the Boonville Standard, a weekly ])aper, at Boonville, in his native state, disposing of it in 1880 to come to California. Here, finding no opening in the jiub- lishing line, he worked by the day on ranches and as a carjienter until eight years ago, when he went into the real estate business at Visalia, maintaining his residence at Lindsay. Three years later he established his office at Lindsav, where he has done a successful 644 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES business to the present time. He has a beautiful orange grove of twenty-five acres and has given considerable attention to the growth of olives. As a citizen he is public-spirited to an eminent degree, and in a business way and otherwise he has done much for the pro- motion of the best interests of the community. In 1873 he married Miss Mary J. Hunsaker, a native of Indiana, who has borne him two children, one of whom has passed away. Joseph B. Graham, Ms father, was a native of Ohio; his mother was born in Pennsylvania; both have passed away. He is the present city recorder of Lindsay, which office he has held since the summer of 1912. "When he ac- cepted this office he resigned as a member of the Board of Health of Liudsay. He is also es-jDresident of the Board of Trade and has ably tilled the office of justice of the peace. Fraternally he has affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Lindsay since he came to the town. He became a memlier of the order in Indiana in 1872 and has passed all the chairs of the subordinate lodge and been a representative in the Grand Lodge. In real estate circles he is widely known through his efficient management of the Central California Eealty Company of Lindsay. DAVID H. HICKMAN Born in Missouri, March 6, 1877, the subject of this sketch is a son of Anthony G. and Louisa (Rose) Hickman, natives respectively of Kentucky and of Missouri. He lived in his native state, acquiring a good common school education, until he was about twenty years old, and then, in 1897, came to Tulare county, Cal., where he has lived during the past fifteen years, making an enviable record as a citizen, as a farmer, and as a man of affairs. The days of his youth were spent on a farm and in his new environment he natur- ally depended on the laud as a source of livelihood. On coming to the state he at once api^rehended the wonderful ojiportunities that it presented. In 1901 he bought forty-one and one-half acres, most of which he devoted to hay and alfalfa, reserving a few acres for pasturage. He bought a number of cows and began feeding them for their product. Later he made another purchase of eighty acres, of which he devoted thirty-five acres to hay, thirty to alfalfa and fifteen to pasture. During the last four years he has operated a cheese factory, and he manufactures thirty-six pounds of cheese per day from the milk of fifteen cows, keeping about this number of cows year to year and selling the increase for veal. His cows produce an average of fifty cents a day the year around for each animal, ])aying for themselves in aboiit twelve months. Mr. Hickman is the owner TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES fi45 of two of the tinest maiinnoth jaoks to be found iu the coimty, each of which commands from $10 to $15 for service. He gives consider- able attention to mules and during the past two years has sold ten mule teams at from $350 to $450 per team. Keeping seven good brood mares and eleven liead of young horses he raises several good mule teams each year. ( )ne of the most notable of the animals owned by Mr. Hickman is an Australian shepherd pui> which lias but three legs, being minus one leg and shoulder in front. In jiolitics a Re]nililicau, Mr. Hickman is also a Prohibitionist. He is a member of the Woodmeu of tlie World and he and members of his family are communicants of the Bai)tist church. He was mar- ried at Orosi to Eunice Dye. wlio l)ore him three children: Marie, Kathleen and Rita May. Marie is a student in the iniblic school at Orosi, Mrs. Hickman died January 6, 1912. WALTER D. MURRAY Near Palo, Linn county, Iowa, AValter D. Murray, a son of Alex- ander and Jane (Morris) Murray, natives of Ohio and Massachu- setts, respectively, was born March 8, 1865. When he was twenty years old he went to Beadle county, S. Dak., where he lived five years. In three successive years during that time he did all that was possible for him to do as a farmer. The first year his crops were destroyed by hail; the second they were killed In- drought. In the thirri year he garnered a good crop, with the proceeds of which, minus what he used to pay his debts with, he came to Cali- fornia. Locating in Tulare county, he engaged in the raising of goats, in which he continued six years, at one time owning twelve hundred Angoras, ranging them in the Sierra Nevadas on eight hundred acres he owned. Later he bought thirty acres of land one mile east of Sultana. During the last ten years nmch of his land has been under alfalfa, which he has been able to cut four times each season without irrigation. He runs a dairy of eight cows and keeps twenty head of horses and mules and about thirty-five hogs. When he started in the goat business he had one hundred and twenty-five head, for some of which he paid as high as $7.50 each, and the others cost him $3 a head. He sold the mohair at thirty- five cents ])er pound, the larger animals >-ielding twelve and the others eight pounds each. Politically Mr. Murray is a Repulilican, and as a citizen he has demonstrated a fine public spirit. Frater- nally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World, Mrs. Murray with the Women of Woodcraft. They were married in South Dakota in 188fi, and she has borne him four children, Florence, Lionel, Sam- 646 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES uei and Reba. Floreuee and Lionel are graduates of the pul)liL' school and Samuel and Reba are now acquiring their education. Mrs. Murray was. before lier marriage, Miss Nina Perry. She was born in Wisconsin. ALEXANDER W. WHEELER Sons of Illinois, a field of enterprise and of patriotism, have with few exceptions done, well in California. In La Salle county, in the Prairie State, Alexander W. Wheeler was Ijorn October 7, 1859, a sou of William and Elizalieth (Brown) Wheeler. His parents were na- tives of England and his fatlier was a graduate of Oriel College at Oxford. In public schools near his boyhood home, under his father's able direction, Alexander W. Wheeler ol)tained a practical education. In 1880 he came to California and was employed for a time in a fruit orchard at San Leandro, Alameda county. Later he was in the ser- vice of the F>aker e^' Hamilton Company at Benicia. He came to Tulare City with his biother Feliruary 1, 1882, and bought a carriage and blacksmith shop which was doing l)usiness in the town, his brother hav- ing l)eeu his partner in the enter])rise. Later they sold tlie i)lant and Alexander AV. Wheeler went to a point near Tipton, on the plains south of Tulare City, and devoted nine years to grain farming. Re- turning to the town he was in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railioad Company until, in 18!l.">. he liought a furniture business in Tulare, which he has conducted with increasing success till the pres- ent time. He has recently erected a fine business building, after his own designs, on North K street. The structure occupies a ground space of fifty by one hundred and twenty-five feet, and his store room is eighteen feet from floor to ceiling without any obstructing ]iosts. The l)uilding is tlioroughly modern, with attractive plate glass show windows. He carries an extensive line of fine furniture, and sells not only to people of Tulare but to hundreds of families in all the country round about who come to him confidently for good goods at fair prices. In his fraternal relations Mr. Wheeler affiliates with the Masons and the Odd Fellows and has pas.sed nearly all the chairs in Olive Branch Lodge No. 269, F. & A. M., and Tulare City Lodge No. ;^()6. I. 0. O. F. He has from time to time been In-ought to general notice through participation in iiul)lic affairs, notably as a juryman at the trial of the Dalton l)rotliers, train wreckers, some twenty years ago. In 188.3 he married Miss Mattie P>. Holcombe, a native of Ohio. Her father, who cauu^ to Tulare county in the early '70s, was a ]>ioneer TULARE AND KINGS (Y)rNTTES W7 merchaut at Tulare (_'ity and was for a time identified witli the in- terests of the Southern Pacific railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler have a dauyhter, Claire J. (MIAHLKS F. STAA^TON In San Joaquin county, Cal., Cliarles F. Stayton was horn Octoher 29, 1859, a son of John F. and Martha (Hawkins) Stayton, natives, respectively, of Missouri and Tennessee. His father, who had fou^-ht in the Mexican war, crossed the plains with ox-teanis in 1S.")2 from Independence, Mo., liy way of Westport and old Fort Bridser, thence ou hy way of the Suhlett cut-off and the sink of the Humboldt to llanstown and Sacramento, the tri]i consuming between five and six months' time. Indians were a constant menace, but did the i)arty little damage. After liis arrival in California he began to buy stock, which he drove to the mining cam])s and sold. In 1869, five years after he had come to California, he went to Utah, where he mined till in 1887. Next he traveled to the "White Mountains in New Mexico, where he was engaged in lumbering and raining. He died Deceml)er .31, 1911, at the home of his daughter at Kingsburg while on a visit in Califor- nia, aged eighty-seven. In 1869, when his father left Tulare county, Charles F. Stayton was ten years old. In 1873 he went to herding sheep for Jolui Tuohy, a inoneer in San Joacjuin and Tulare counties, who owned at different times from five thousand to fifty thousand sheep. His favorite breed was the Spanish Merino, and he paid as high as $50 for single animals of ])ure blood and often sold rams for $50 each, ewes for $10 each. The thoroughbred siieep yielded an average of twelve ])OUiuls of wool to the fleece, and the others eight. After packing and herding for about eight years Mr. Stayton turned his attention to gi'ain farming, and after ten years of that he went into the stock l)usiness. After another ten years of success in that field he took u]i vine and fi'uit growing in Tulare county, luiying twenty acres, fifteen of wiiich is in Muscat gra]ies. He has a small family orchard started, and from four-year-old vines made a satisfactory ci-o]) of gra])Os in I!)!!, selling eighteen tons of raisins and three tons of other graiies. A ])rivate means of irrigation cheapens his ])i-oduction quite materially. Politically Mr. Stayton affiliates with the Republican party and his active jniblic sjiirit makes him \ery useful to the couununity. He married, near Porterville, l'nnond and J. Alden. Harry J. and Addie F. were horn of a former mar- riage. By her first marriage Mrs. Ogilvie had three ehildren : Elbert Leroy Askin; Margaret Myrl, now the wife of Frank L. Atwood. and Dora Bernice. BYRON GLOYD COMFORT One of the successful and scientific farmers in the vicinity of Han- ford. Kinsjs county, is Byron G. Comfort, who has been a resident of the county since 1887. He was born at Palatine, 111., June 17, 1863, and attended public schools near his home until he was seventeen years old. Then be found emjiloyment on farms and saved a little money with which he came to California and eventually settled near Hanford. His farming here was successful and he was soon enabled to buy a ranch of one hundred acres on which he has lived since 1902. He gives his attention to hog raising, dairying and general farming, making a study of his land, the climate, the crops and of everything that can in any way influence ])roductiveness, and it is pi'obable that he has met with as few failures as any farmer in his vicinity. In 1886 Mr. Comfort married Miss Carrie H. Drullard. who was born in Stockton, Cal., February 22, 1864. They have four children living, here named in the order of their nativity : Elvira G.. Aimer B., Ward R. and Wayne M. Of much public spirit and with a real desire for the uplift of his community, Mr. Comfort has commended himself to his fellow townsmen as one who may be depended on to advance to the extent of his ability any movement which in his opinion tends to the general good. LEVI BLOYD The jironiinent contractor and builder of Hanford whose name is abo\e was born in Sutter county. Cal., A]iril 22, 1864, and was quite young when his parents came to what is now Kings county and located four miles west of Hanford, where his father homesteaded a quarter- section of land and bought a quarter-section of railroad land. Tliere Levi grew u]) and attended the public schools and later farmed until 1898, since wlien lie has lived at Hanford. He learned the carpenter's trade with David Gamble and was with him seven vears as foreman. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 651 For a time he was employed at cement work aud afterward with the San Joaquin Liglit and Power Company. Because the latter emploj*- ment kept him much of the time away from home, he gave it up and turned his attention to contracting and l)uihling-, aud since that time has built many residences, among which are some of the iinest in ITanford and vicinity, those of Lyman Farmer, I. R. Horton and E. Pickrell being among tliem. AVhih^ his operations have been confined principally to Imildings of tliis class, he has done other work, including the fixtures and show windows in the Brown & Nieson store, those of the ITanford Hardware Co., and improvements on the Stewart pack- ing house. In the cement de))artmeut of his work he has his bi'other, Winfield S. Bloyd, as a i)artuer. He employs several carpenters and several cement workers. As his nierits as a contractor and builder become known he is brought constantly into a largei' aud yet larger demand, and there are those who jtredict that his o])eratious will in time surpass in volume those of auy other builder in the county in his i)eculiar fields. On March 4, 1886, Mr. Bloyd uuirried Miss Rose Ellis, a native of Stanislaus county, Cal., who had come to Kings county, and they hav^e a daughter and two sons. Hazel married William Tyler, and they re- side in Kings county; they have a daughter, Rosalee. Raymond is becoming a machinist at Hanford. Stanlev is a student. Mr. Bloyd is a member of the Fraternal Aid and of the Improved Order of Red Men. As a citizen he is i>ul)Iic-s])iritedly helpful. R. J. ESTES In Alabama, January ](>, 1865, was born R. J. Estes, wjio lives on the Orosi rural free delivery route No. 1. Box 64, Tulare county. Cal., a son of Jack and Jane (Berry) Estes, who when he was about a year old took him to Mississijipi, where they were early pioneers, settling thirty miles from any other human inhabitant. There young Estes grew to manhood, obtained some little education and was initiated into the mysteries of backwoods farming and familiarized with all the si^orts of a new country, including hunting, of which he liecame very fond. His father ])rocured most of the living for the family in the woods. It has been estimated that he killed thousands of deer and many thousands of turkeys. It is certain that he made quite a deal of money from deerskins. He attended many turkey shoots and was usually the winner of most oi' all of the prizes offered. He lived out his days there and died in 1901. His wife survives him aud is now living on their old homestead in Mississippi. Cntil he was twenty-six years old. R. J. Estes lived in Mississippi. He married there Miss Anna "Watson, who was born in Alabama ami 652 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES wlio has horiie liim a daiiohter, Troy Estes, who was graduated from the Visalia high school in 19U2 aud is married to Van La Port, a native of Iowa, and has a son. Wythal La Port, who is a student in tlip jiulilic school of Bakersfield. Mr. Estes came to California in 1890 and began farming in Tulare county. He is working eighty acres of the Vacovich land, having sixty acres devoted to grapes, twenty acres to oranges. His rancli is outfitted with everything essential to its successful cultivation and all the improvements have been installed by himself. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and with the Fraternal Aid. He is a member of the Christian church, generous in support of all its interests. Politically he is a Democrat, thoroughly alive to all economic questions of the day and public- spiritedly solicitous for the welfare of the community. MIKE V. GARCIA A native of the Azores, M. V. Garcia was born June, 1861. He is now a highly esteemed citizen of Tulare county, living one mile south of Sultana. He grew up and was educated near the place of his birth and in 1882, when he was twenty-one years old, came to tlie L'Tnited States, landing at Boston. From there he came to Alameda county. Cal., wliere he raised sheep two years. Then he made his advent in Tulare county and broadened his operations until he had one of the notable sheeii-herdiug enterprises in his vicinity, handling French and Sjianish Merinos and other fine grades, which he was able to dispose of at a large jirofit. At one time he owned five thousand shee]i. at another he raised twenty-five hundred lambs in one season. In those days the sheep industry was at high tide. The country was new and unimproved and antelope, bear and deer were to be seen in all directions and all kinds of game were plentifxil in the mountains. He remem))ers having made what he calls "a summer trip" into the Blue mountains and back to Fresno. His outdoor life brought him many strange acquaintances, and he knew Sontag and Evans very well and was the only witness of their capture. He relates how Evans went over to Mrs. Beekin's and Sontag was killed. These desperadoes were often at Coalinga, and menaced every good citizen. Though they did not molest Mr. Garcia personally, he has said: "I was glad to get out — I did not know what was under ground." He often saw the Dalton brothers and he remembers when they went throiigh Antelope valley. Eventually Mr. Garcia sold his sheep, five thousand head, at from $3.75 to $5 a head, and bo^ight one Inmdred and sixty acres of land, which he operated from 1901 to 1910, then sold for $24,800 cash. In all the business transactions here referred to Mr. Garcia demon- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 653 strated that he was a man of ability for large affairs. He has identi- fied himself with American institutions and is a member of the Re- publican party, but inclined to l^e independent. Fraternally he affili- ates with the Masons and with the U. P. E. C. As a citizen he is public-siiiritedly helpful to all good interests of the community. On the day of the San Francisco earthquake, April 18, 1906, Mr. Garcia was married by telegraph to Francisca Silva, an old sweetheart in the Azores, at an expense of $36. She died Deceml)er 30, 1907. His present wife, whom he married December 2, 1911, was before their marriage Miss Mariana Tavaz, also a native of the Azores, who had come to the United States on the same vessel as her husband and was married in Boston. In 1911 Mr. Gai"cia left California and began a year of travel through the United States and the old country, meeting with many people and investigating social conditions. He finally came to the conclusion that California offered inducements unsurpassed and returned here and purchased twenty acres of land, part of a tract he had formerly owned. Here he has begun improvements and is making a comfortable home. CHRIST S. HANSEN Many natives of Denmark have made good in central ( 'alifornia and in Tulare county, though not one has achieved higher repute for all that makes for the best American citizenship than Christ S. Hansen, who is making a success of vines and fruit trees two miles and a half northwest of Orosi. Descended from old Danish families, Mr. Hansen was born December 23, 1874, and was reared and educated in his native land. He was about thirty years old when, in 1904, he came to the United States. California was his objective point and he lived a year in Fresno, where he arrived with his wife and two children with a cash capital of $50. However, he bought his present ranch of forty acres at $125 an acre and has partly paid for it and in many ways improved it. He has thirty acres in Muscats, Thompson and Emperor grapes, a ])each orchard of one and one-half acres, and sold in 1910 twelve tons of Thompson and Muscat raisins and about thirty tons of Emperor table grapes. He has five head of stock on his place. As a farmer he is proceeding along scientific lines and is winning an enviable success. Politically he is a Re]iublican, and Mrs. Hansen is a voter in the same party. They are members of the Presbyterian church. His public spirit makes him helpful to all good interests of the conniiunity. He mari'ied, in 18!)9, in his native land, Miss Sene Nelson, and they have children named Carla M. and Ester, who are .students in the public school at Orosi. 654 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES LEWIS BRUCE The science of osteopathy has made a phice for itself among recognized curative agencies, and the practitioner of osteopathy is en- trenclied as firmly in the good ojiinion of the general public as are the regular practitioners of medicine and surgery. A leader in its field in Kings county, Cal., is Lewis Bruce, whose office is in the Shar- l)les building in ITanford. A native of Cass county. Iowa, born De- cember 5, 1878, he received his elementary education in public schools near the home of his youth. In 1899, ji;st before he became of age, he entered the Dr. S. S. Still College of Osteopathy, at Des Moines, Iowa, where he was graduated in 1902, and during the vacation wliich followed he took s])ecial courses in orificial surgery and g\Ti0ecology. He began the ])ractice of his profession at Greenfield. Iowa, in Feb- ruary, 190l', and in June, 1903, came to Uauford, where he has devoted himself to general practice with nmch success, specializing in chronic diseases. As a business man tlie subject of this notice is coming to the fi'ont in different ways. He is a director of the Lindsay National Bank at Lindsay, Tulare county, and owns an interest in a citrus nursery near Riverside, Riverside county, on which are thirty thousand trees. For a time he was engaged in raising racing horses of good blood and capabilities. He owned Beauty N. (trotting record, 2:23). also Sir Val- entine, a three-year-old colt which in 1911 took the first premium as a two-year-old and holds the championship over all other standard-bred stallions of any age. Dr. Bruce was one of the incoT])orators in 1912 of the Pilue Ribbon Manufacturing Company, with $100,000 capital, to be located in Hanford; the principal article for manufacture wid be llie Blue Ribbon ])um]). By his marriage with Olive L. Peterson, of Iowa, in 1903, Dr. Briice has a daiighter, La"\"erae Gloria. As a private citizen he takes a deep and abiding interest in all that pertains to the advancement of his city, county and state, and he has often manifested a ])ub]ic spirit responsive to all reasonable demands upon it. ELIAS T. COSPER Indiana has given to California many popular and successful men. among them the prominent lawyer and man of public affairs whose name is above. It was in Noble county, that state, that Elias T. Cosper was born, May 12, 1849. He was educated in jiublic schools in liis native county and at the LaGrange Collegiate Institute at Ontario. LaGrange county. Tnd.. having been graduated from the last- named institution about 1870. For a time thereafter he taught school TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 655 in Indiana, Ohio and Iowa, and so successful was he in this calling that he was made superintendent of the school at Lima, Ind. By this time his reputation was so well established that his services were sought as superintendent of the schools of LaGrange county, in which office he served two terms with efficiency and honor. Meanwhile he had determined to become a lawyer and was already well read in the ]irinci))]es of the profession. Finisjiing his law studies under the preceptorship of J. D. Feri'all of J^aGrange, he was admitted to the bar of Indiana in 1878. After eight years' successful practice there he located in Tulare. Cal., in 1886, opening an office, afterwards asso- ciating J. F. Boiler witli liim as partner, and tliis relationship con- tinued four years. He was elected to represent his district in the thirty-third session of the California legislative assembly, in which, as well as in the special session in which the Hon. Thomas Bard was elected United States senator, he served with distinguished ability and credit. Meanwhile he had moved from Tulare to Hanford, where, after the expiration of his legislative service, he formed a law part- nership with H. P. Brown, which existed two years, since when he has I)een in indejjendent i)ractice with offices located in the Emporium building. From the time of his settlement at Tulare he was promi- nent in Republican politics and eventually was made chairman of the county Republican central committee, an office which he filled for sev- eral years while acting as a member of important connnittees of that body. As a lawyer Mr. Cosper has had to do with a large number of important cases. His defense of Ike Daly, the murderer, is a matter of record as well as of history. He also appeared in the defense of Frank Smith and of Ward, tlie burglar, and bore a consjncuous part in the water cases of Lovelace versus tlie Empire Insurance Com- pany and the C. A. Reagan and Patrick Talent will contests. In 1884 Mr. Cosper married Miss Sarah Moore, at LaGrange, Ind. Their son, Volney B., of San Francisco, is superintendent of the Sartorious Structural Steel and Iron Company's works. Their daughter, Laura M.. is the wife of H. L. Bradley of San Antonio, Tex. Mr. Cosper berame a Mason at LaGrange, Ind.. and is a member of Hanford Lodge No. L'7!», F. & A. M. It was at LaGrange. too, that he became an Odd Fellow. Here he affiliates with Hanford Lodge No. 264 and with Encam])ment No. 68. and with Truth Rel)eka]i Degree Lodge No. 326. Court Regcs of the Independent Order of Foresters includes him in its membershi]). His interests in the advancement and development of Hanford early made him a promoter of the Chamber of Commerce idea for the town and he .is a member of the present local body, as he was also of earlier organizations of similar aims. As a communicant of the Episcopal church he has at heart the various interests of the local organization and has for some time been an active member of its vestrv. 656 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES IIENKY AND PHILENA A. MURPHY The well-kuown breeder of horses, hogs, sheep and cattle, wliose name iutr-odnces this brief notice, was born in Dennison, Clark county. III., in I806, and when lie was three years old he was taken to Wood- ford county, in the same state, where liis parents established a new houu'. There they lived until 185-1, when Henry was eighteen years old. Meanwhile he had attended school as opportunity offered and had acquired a practical knowledge of farming as then prosecute:] in that part of the country. In tlie year last mentioned the family went to Iowa. There Mr. Murphy lived until ISfiO, when he went to Pike's Peak, Colo. After leaving Colorado in May. 186;], he took a pack train to the gold mines in Montana, and after selling his outfit took up mining. In February, 1864, he opened up the first paying- claim on Alder creek, in Pine Grove district, six miles above Vir- ginia city. The claim was a good one, yielding $-10,()00 returns. He took his gold to Philadelphia to the mint to be coined, and was there when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. After disposing of his gold to a Broadway banker in New York city, Mr. Murphy went to Barton county. Mo., where he purcliased considerable land and erected two stoneware pottery plants at Lamar, Mo. In 1880 he erected the finest cut-stone building in Barton county. Two years later he en- gaged in the grocery business in Lamar and subsequently he removed to Wolsey, S. Dak., remaining there two years, wlien he came to California and settled on the north fork of Tule ri\ er, where he now makes his home. This property was inherited by Mi-s. Murphy, it formerly belonging to her father. The i)roperty comprises eiglit hundred acres, and this Mr. Murphy is operating with nmch i)rofit, giving special attention to horses, hogs, sheep and cattle. So exten- sive is his business that he has become known as one of the leading stockmen in his part of the county. In 1879 Mr. Murphy married Phileua A. Bailey, a native of (Jhio. "When he came to the county it was mostly wild land and he was one of the pioneers in improvement in his vicinity. He has watched the development of this now rich region and has clone whatever was ]ios- sible to encourage and promote it. To those who best know him it is well known that no legitimate appeal to his public spirit is unheeded. While he is not active in iiolitical work he entertains very definite convictions concerning all questions of public policy, and always favors such men and measures as he l)elieves promise to confer the greatest good upon the greatest number. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy have no children of their own, but have taken into their home and brougjit up antl educated ten orphan children. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 657 CHARLES HENRY HOWARD A man wlio is well regarded in Hauford and Kings connty is Charles Henry Howard, wlio formerly had to do with ranching and with the oil industry, and who will he remembered for his prominence in the partition of the county. Maine is the native state of Mr. How- ard, his birth occurring February 3, 1850. He attended the common schools of the Pine Tree State, which from time immemorial has been famoiTS for its public educational system. When he laid away his school books it was to take up the implements of the carriage builder and in time he became expert in their use, setting up for himself as a carriage builder at Brownsfield in Oxford county, western Maine, where he jirospered until the spring of 1884-, when he came to California. In the fall of the same year he located in Hanford and for the succeeding eighteen years he most efficiently filled the jjosition of sui)erintendent of A. L. Cressy's ranch, a mile from the city. His principal concern there was with resjiect to stockraising, and he soon developed into one of the best informed, most careful and most pro- ficient stockmen in central California. While Mr. Howard was thus employed he l>ought forty acres of land three and a half miles southwest of Hanford which he developed into a profitable vineyard and which has been for some time operated by tenants on sharing terms. He also made some investments in oil ))roperty which turned out quite well. In 1884 he married Miss Addie F. Jlarmon, a native of Maine, who passed away December 21, 1910. Gifted with all of the natural progressiveness of the down-east Yan- kee and imbued with the spirit of western ])rogress, Mr. Howard has been interested in everything pertaining to the development of his community and helpful to all local interests. CLAUDE D. COATS One of tiic prominent farmers and stockmen in the Paddock dis- trict, eight miles southwest of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., is Claude D. Coats. :Mr. Coats was born at Dayton, Nev., December !». 1860. a son of Thomas Coats, who was until the end of his career a leader in milling enter])rises in that ])art of the country. The family had been at F^ort Churchill four months during Indian troubles and were I'eturning to their home in ^'irginia City, stop|)ing at Dayton to look after some mining business when theii- son was born. In October, 1881, after his father's death. Claude located a mile east of his present ranch, lie and his brother L. B. Coats rented one hundred and sixty acres and were associated in farming and stock-raising for fifteen vears. Meanwhile Claude D. Coats bouiiht two hundred and 658 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES forty acres, which is inchided iu his present home property. He moved onto the ranch in 189U and has since made all -the improve- ments for which the property is well known throughout the county. While his principal business is the raising of horses and hogs, he does some farming and has one hundred and twenty acres in alfalfa. Some years ago he bought and sold seventy-three and one-half acres about a mile distant from liis homestead. By his marriage in June, 1902, Mr. Coats united his life aud fortunes with those of Miss Mattie Finley, a native of Contra Costa county. August 29, 1864, but a resident of Santa Rosa, Sonoma county. They have many friends iu the country round about Han- ford who rejoice in their success thus far and express the firmest faith in their future. Mr. Coats is a man of much natural public spirit who is interested in the growth and development of Kings county. JOHN V. CREATH In his successful career as a contractor and builder, John V. Creatli. whose i^lace is at the corner of I and King streets, Tulare, in the California county of that name, has demonstrated the value of originality and initiative. He is a native-born Californian and his life began in Merced county in 1873. He was only a baby when his family moved back to the place in the East whence th.ey liad come out to the West. In 1888, when he was about fifteen years old, he went to Phoenix. Arizona, where he engaged in mining and as opportunity offered worked at the carpenter's trade. He came to Tulare iu 1906 and has risen to prominence as a contractor and buildei'. Among the structures which are monuments to his enter- prise aud industry are the Post Office building at Tulare, the Moore block and the Dair^Tuen's Co-operative Creamery building. He cou- structed the concrete dam across tlie Tule river near Porterville. 1iuilt twelve buildings on the Tagus ranch, built several houses in Lindsay, Iniilt a set of buildings on the R. F. Gearing ranch and another on the McGarver and Walker ranch. In fact, he makes a specialty of designing jilans for com]3lete sets of ranch buildiugs which he erects so substantially aud artistically that they attract attention and pro- claim his talent aud skill as nothing else could do. In addition to the achievements mentioned he has erected many buildings of dii¥er- ent kinds throughout the country. In 1911 he built twelve houses on uniu'])roved property in Tulare City. His business gives constant eniployn;ent to from ten to twenty-five men and requires the use of two automobiles. Iu the winter of 1912 he built the town of Graham, twentv-five miles west of Fresno, for B. F. Graham. October 9, 1895, Mr. Creath married Miss June B. Allison, who TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 659 was liorn in Illinois, and they have children named Ralph, James, Florence and Donald. Mr. Creath is identified with local lodges of Eagles, Red Men and Woodmen of the World. He is too busy to take active part in political work, but has a good knowledge of public questions, local and general, and a well defined opinion as to how he should vote in order to further the best interests of the people at large. MRS. CATHERINE LOUISA TRAUT In Livingston county, state of New York, June lU, 18;>6, the lady mentioned above, a citizen of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., was born and in the state of Pennsylvania she grew to womanhood. May 23, 1860, she married Henry A. Traut, a native of Girard, Erie county. Pa., born August 14, 1830. In 1890 they settled at Texarkana, Ark., whence in 1898 they came to Kings county, Cal. They lived at Grangeville when they came to the county and later bought five acres of land in the Emma Lee Colony and remained for about seven years, engaged in raising fruit and farming. In 1903 they sold out their California interests and returned to their old home in Pennsylvania for a visit, but came back to California before the end of that year, and in 190-4 bought twenty acres half a mile north of the north limits of Hanford, a portion of which was in orchard, the balance pasture laud. In 1906 they sold ten acres of this tract, retaining ten acres, which is now the home of Mrs. Traut. It was at Girard, Pa., already mentioned as his birthplace, that Henry A. Traut was raised. When he was twenty-one years old he caiue to California, where he mined for eight years. Then, retuj'ning to Pennsylvania, he married and engaged in farming and mei-chaudising. Eventually he removed to Arkansas, where he con- tinued to sell goods until his failing health made it necessary for him to come l)ack to California. Here he gave his attention to fruit growing until his death, which occurred May 7, 1907. Socially he affiliated witli the Masons, and he and his wife were identified with the order of the Eastern Star from the time of coming to Kings county. They early identified themselves with the Methodist Episcopal church. Their one child, Minnie, died aged five years, in 1866. Mrs. Traut was a daughter of Samuel L. and Hannah (Crooks) Buckbee. Her father died soon after the beginning of the Civil war. Thei-e were many bushwhackers in the neighborhood at the time of his funeral and his family found it advisal)le to conceal from them the fact of his death. Those were strtnuons times in Missouri, when the Buckbee fannly was then living, and it was understood l»v Mrs. Traut and her 660 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES friends that Confederate marauders had decorated their l)ridle reins with scalps of Federal sympathizers. Thomas J. Buckbee enlisted at Chillicothe, Mo., in 1861. in the Federal cavalry, with which he served during the war. His In-other David enlisted in 1861 also and served three years in the same Missouri regiment, then, instead of re-enlist- ing, came home to care for his aged mother. Thomas was the eldest and David was the second brother of Mrs. Traut. PARKER RICE BROOKS In the old state of Georgia, in tlie heart of the South, P. R. Brooks, now of Sultana, Tulare county, Cal., was born September 24, 1857, a son of Micager and Susan (Sansing) Brooks, both natives of Georgia. While he was yet an infant he was taken by his parents to Texas, where the family lived a short time. In 18,58, with ox- teams, they made a six months' journey across the plains to Califor- nia. They met many Indians, but were not seriously molested by them. Young Hambrite of the party was drowned in crossing the Colorado river. The Brooks family arrived at Porterville in the fall of the same year and they have lived in this part of the state ever since. The father of the family was a stock-raiser and for some time owned many sheep. P. R. Brooks was a stockman from 1868 to 1893. Later he bought a homestead in Yokolil valley, one hundred and sixty acres of new land, and from time to time other tracts in the valley and in the hills near by. At the time lie was proving up on his land the country was new and wild, witli cattle, sheep and horses ranging in all directions. He has watched the progress of civilization and the agricultural changes that have developed Tulare county into vast fields of grain with vines and trees that are making it famous, not only as a farming district, liut as a wonderful land of grapes and oranges. For several years |)ast he has lived in Sultana, but has given his attention to important interests in the vicinity. ( )n two tracts of leased land, one of one hundred and twenty acres, the other of three hundred and twenty acres, lying in the valley, he has hatched twenty-five liundred turkeys and has at this time fourteen hundred and fifty. He has forty acres near Sultana, purchased in 1901, which he calls his home, thirty acres of it in vineyard and orcliard, the remainder in pasture. For the past thirty years he has given attention to turkeys, raising many each season. Since Jan- uary, 1912, he lias lesided vi])on his home place and is looking after that with the care he has always displayed. When he began here there was plenty of wild game in the country, including elk, of which he saw more than one thousand specimens, and the territory now TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 661 within tlie limits of the county had not a popuhition of more tlian two thousand souls. In liis ])oliti<"s, Mr. Brooks, formerly a Democrat, now inclines to Socialism, lie married, near llanford, Miss Ellen Burr, a native of Shasta county, Cal., who has borne him seven children — Myrtle (the wife of Clyde Bursford), Harry, T>illie, Dwi,2,ht, Minnie, Josephine and Carmen. Josephine is attending school at Fresno. JAMES MAXWELL CANN September 1, 1861, James Maxwell Cann was born in Kentucky. In 1880, when he was not yet twenty years old, he went to Missouri, where he remained until 1886. Tlis parents were John Miller and Margaret Franklin (Calhoun) Cann, of English ancestry. He mar- ried, near Visalia, Tulare county. Miss Lizzie L. Howell, who was born near Bozeman, Mont., and they have two children. Lewis H. studied at St. Mary's College, Oakland, and is ])laying professional baseball known as "Mike" Cann; Margaret J. is attending the State Normal school at P^resno. Soon after his arrival in this county, in the si)ring of 1886, Mr. Cann found employment in cutting gi'ain with a combined harvester. In 1887 he was employed in a flouring mill and for several years thereafter was in the grain business, for different companies. There was little business then in the country round about except the rais- ing of grain. At Sultana he was later employed in a grain warehouse until his fruit on his ranch had grown to the paying point, he having carefully nursed it in the meantime and done something toward the develo):)ment of his land otherwise. His property is located in the Alta Irrigation district, the ditch for which was completed about twenty years ago. The district itself was established in 1889. Before the days of irrigation, land could have been bought for $2.50 an acre. With irrigation started, land cost Mr. Cann !^."{7.50 an acre for open stubble field without im))rovenient. He planted thirty acres to Malaga and Sultana grapes and has five acres of Elberta ])eaches. His Malayas have brought him $200 to $300 per acre, his Sultanas have yielded a ton and a quarter to the acre. His expei'ience covers all of the latter-day develoi)ment of this district, he having seen raw land iiereabouts increase in price from $2.50 to $200 and $2r)0 an acre in twenty-five years. Having cast his fii'st ju'esidential vote for Grover Cleveland in 1884, Mr. Cann has been a consistent Democi'at to the jiresent time. In a fratenuil way he afdliates with the Woodmen of the World. Mrs. Cann is identified with the Women of Woodcraft and with the Eastern Star, and is a comiinmicant of the Christian rliurdi. 662 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES L. W. BARDSLEY This native of Missouri was brought to California by his parents when lie was seven years old, when the family of Lafayette and Mary Bardsley, after a short stop in Sonoma county and another in San Diego, located in Poway valley. There young Bardsley grew to man- hood and obtained an education in the public schools. He labored there principally at farming until he was twenty-five years old, when he rented a ranch near Santa Ana, Orange county, which he de- veloped and operated with profit in connection with several pieces of land which he had rented, raising alfalfa and conducting a dairy until December, 1904, when he came to the neighborhood of Tulare. He bought eighty acres of the E. DeWitt ranch, on which he put all improvements including a residence, farm buildings and fences and made of it a fine dairy on which he keeps about twenty-five cows and raises and handles calves and horses for the market, incidentally keep- ing about twenty hogs ; he is well known for his fine Holstein cattle. Sixty acres of his land is in alfalfa and he has a two-acre peach orch- ard, and the remainder is devoted to his stock. He was one of the organizers and is now one of the directors of the Dair^^nen's Co- operative Creamery company of Tulare and is a stockholder in the Tulare Rochdale association. Besides having achieved success as farmer and dair^anan, considerable notice is given to his fine Perch- eron horses, which he is breeding more and more extensively each year. In 1895 Mr. Bardsley married Miss Maude E. Hartzell, a native of Iowa, daughter of the late Capt. T. B. Hartzell of San Diego, and who had become a resident in the Poway vallej'. They have a daughter, Zoe L. Bardsley. Fraternally Mr. Bardsley associates with the Red Men, the Woodmen of the "World, the Eagles, and with the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows, in which last order he holds memlier- ship in lodge and encamjmient and with the Rebekahs. As a citizen he is helpfully public-spirited. WILLIAM B. WEST The late William B. West, of Tulare county, Cal., was born in Henry county. Mo., in September, 1837, and died at his home in Por- terville, October 1.3, 1903. He was reared in his native state and remained there until 1875, devoting himself to farming. His parents were natives of Kentucky, representatives of that old Southern stock that has done so much honor to American citizenship in successive generations. His wife, Ellen M. Gordon, also of Kentucky ancestry, was born in November, 1841, in Johnson county, Mo., a daughter of TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 663 Dr. Presley and Margaret (Wiugfield) Gordon, and their union dated from March, 1857. Slie bore liim five children, of whom only one is living. Rowena married William Moore and died in Tulare county; Thomas G. died at Visalia ; William P. died in Tulare county as the result of a railroad accident, and Eunice also passed away in Tulare county. Nancy E. married Elias McDarment and is living near the Indian agency' in Tulai'e county. Mr. West and family settled near Porterville in 1875 and re- mained here up to the time of his death. He owned forty acres of land on Deer Creek, remained tliere six years, then moved to Porter- ville, which remaineil their home until he located on eighty acres in the Poplar district. He also invested in business and residence prop- erty in town. Mrs. West managed the ranch after her husband's deatli until September, 1912, when she sold out and moved to Porter- ville. When she and her husband came to California, in 1875, the country round aliout Porterville was very thinly settled and im- provements in that part of the county were very few. Together they watched and assisted in the wonderful development that trans- formed Central California from raw territory to a vast garden of almost incalculable riches. She has seen the price of land in her vicinity advance from $20 an acre to $200 an acre and she owns town property at Porterville worth now more than $10,000, for which her husband paid $450 in the latter part of the '80s. Mr. West was highly respected by the many who came to know him and won an enviable reputation as a man of public spirit who was ready at any time to do anything within his ability for the uplift and development of his community. He was road overseer and helped build the roads in liis locality. His widow is maintaining his enlightened and liberal ]iolicies. SCHNEREGER & DOWNING The house of Sclmereger & Downing, bottlers and (listri))utors of beer at llanford, is one of the leading concerns of its kind in Kings county, Cal., the partners in the enter]-)rise being Joseph Schnereger and Thomas Downing. Mr. Schnereger came to Hanford in 1885 and bought the soda liottling works of M. Hegele, which he con- ducted with success until 18!)!). It was in 1890 that Mr. Downing came to the town. For several months after his arrival he worked at his trade as a bricklayer, but in 1891 he liegan to bottle and whole- sale beer and his l)usiness was increasingly ])rofital)1e until 1899, and at that time Messrs. Sclmereger and Downing combined theii- interests and consolidated tlieir two establislimeuts. So wise was tliis depar- fifi4 TULARE AXn KlXdS CorX'I'lKS tiii't' that they not only abolished mutual conipetition, hut i>ut them- selves iu a way materially to ciilariio their combined interests. They have the local asi'ency for the Wielands and Rainier l)eers, which they bottle and distribute throuiihont llanford and its trade territory. They are owners of valuable l)usiness property in llanford and Mr. Schnereo-er is a director of the Old Bank. There is uo interest of the town, no j)roi)osition for the public uplift that does not have the moral and financial support of these two enterprising and progressive citizens. WILLIAM STAXTOX P.HOWN Januaiy !•, IS,")!), William Stanton lirown, who now lives a mile west of Hanfoid. Kings county, Cal.. was horn in Henry county, Mo., a son of William and Sallie Ann (Davis) l'>i-own. They had a daughter, Mattie, who is the wife of David Pcarscm, of llollister, Cal. The father died in Callaway county. Mo., in lS(i4. In ISfi,"), W. IT. Davis, Mrs. Ilrown's father, came across the plains to California, and in 1S()7 ^Irs. Brown came out by way of the 1st hums of Panama, bringing her son and daughtei-. They had to take the train fiom Mexico, Mo., for Xew York, via St. Jjouis and Chicago, and embarked on the Henry Chaucer for Panama, thence to San Francisco on the Sacramento, arriving on December 3, 1867. They located in Stanislaus county, where Mr. Davis farmed and later he established a ferry across the Tuolumne river, which was in oi)eration before the bridge was built at Modesto, in 1869. He had made Ins first stop in Cali- fornia at Stockton, farming one year, then he took up a half-section of laud, in 1867, and farmed in Stanislaus county. From 1872 to 1875 W. S. Brown did farm work near Woodville, in Tulare county, then lived a year with his grandfather at Modesto, attentling school. Returning to Tulare county, he located at (xrange- ville and was employed on different farms until 1887. During tlie period, 1887-5)0, he rented what is now the Kimble jirune orchard. Then he set out and imi)roved a jirune orchard of two hundred and forty acres, of which he was forenuui until 189."?. In 1893-94 he worked the Avers ranch near Grangeville, and in 1894 moved onto twenty-three acres two miles west of llanford. which he had liought in 1891. After two years' residence there he rented the P)ardin ranch of four hundred acres, which he farmed 1897-1903. About that time he bought eighty acres of that projierty. In 1905 he bought forty-six acres adjoining his other ranch. In 1909 he built a line two-story house on his eighty-acre tract. In 1!)12. with Lee Camp, he bought eightv acres of the S. W. Hall ranch, two and one-half TULA HE AXl) KINGS COUNTIES GCw miles soutli of Haiiford, all in pcaclics, prunes and vineyard, lie has fifty aeres in vineyard, forty-live acres in peaches and apricots, has improved his property in evei-y way, and gives attention to general farming. From time to time he has interested himself in noteworthy enterprises and he is now a stockholder in the California State Life Insnrance company. Fratei-nally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. In 18!)] he married Miss Jennie McCamish, a native of Henry connty, Iowa, and a danghter of the late R. B. McCamish, of Orange county, Cal. LEO LEONI One of the successful farmers of Hanford and vicinity is Leo Leoni, who was horn in Canton Ticino, Switzerland, in 1865. He remained in his native land until 1884, when he came to California and located in what is now Kings county. For five years after his arrival he was emjiloyed as a farm liand, then renting land in vai'ions ]>arts of the county at different times, engaged in grain farming foi' him- self. After several successful years he made his first purchase of land, consisting of twenty acres near Grangeville, which he set out to fi'uit and gra])es. As he ])ros))ered he ke])t adding to his holdings from time to time, huying, impi-(i\ing and selling, and in 1906, pur- chased forty-two and one-hall' acres west of the city limits of Hanford, which is now known as the Pfeil tract. At intervals he sold a greater part of this acreage, retaining his home place, which he now occupies with his family. Mr. Leoni buys and sells I'eal estate, is a stock- holder in the Farmers' and Merchants' hank of Hanford, has other in- terests of various kinds, and in nuuiy ways shows his i)ul)lic spiiit. In inOG Mr. Leoni was united in mai'riage with Lena Oiu'sti, a daughter of A. Onesti, and a native of Tulare county. They are the parents of two children, Milton and Verna. HON. F. DkWITT The Inisy, useful and patriotic citizen of Tulai'e county whose patriotic interests and unusual executive ability have won him nuu-li commendation tlu-oughout the county, is E. DeWilt, who was boi'u in Kentucky, February 5, 1844. His family left tiiat state when he was a 7nere boy, and coming to California in 1859, his father lo- cated with his household at IJed P>luff, whence removal was later ma, when 666 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES be was aboiit twenty-eight years old, and from that time until iu 1877 he was in the dairy business in Nevada. Then, coming to Tulare county, he located on government land near Deer creek, where he lived two years. In 1879 he settled on eighty acres just east of Tulare on which he lived until 1893, when he moved into the city and made his home until in 1908, farming meanwhile near that town. In the year last mentioned be moved to bis present location, two miles and a half southwest of Tulare, which consists of three hundred and sixtj' acres of land which he had bought in 1903. He has since sold all but one hundred and twenty acres of this land and now has eighty acres in alfalfa, the balance in grazing land. Politics from the point of view of the Democrat has commanded Mr. DeWitt's attention since he was a young man. He has served many years as a member of the Democratic County Central com- mittee and was elected to represent his district in the state legis- lature at the session of 1885 and the extra session of 1886. He is a member of the board of directors of the Tulare Irrigation district, and as such has served ably for eight years, and he superintended the building of the Kaweah canal and in a general way has been influential in the work of canal and ditch construction. In 1870 Mr. DeWitt married Margaret Ford, of Yolo county, and they have children as follows: Marcus of Porterville; Mrs. Edmoudson of Tulare; Mrs. Frank Ellsworth of Tulare; Mrs. Joseph Sherman of Visalia; Mrs. Gertrude Evans of San Francisco, and H. C. DeWitt. EGBERT P. FINCHER It was in Kansas, the Sunflower state, that Robert P. Fincher was born June 3, 1857, son of Nelson and Paulina (Moore) Fincher, and there he lived until in 1862, when the family removed to Cali- fornia. As a forty-niner the father had visited that state before, coming overland and returning by way of the Isthmus, and had mined three years iu Shasta, Sacramento and Placer counties. Now he brought bis family overland, with a train of one hundred and eight wagons. Homesteading one hundred and sixty acres of land iu Stanislaus county, seven miles northeast of Modesto, he lived there twenty-five years. He then sold out and went to Fresno, where he passed away April, 1908. He was a native of North Carolina ; his wife, who died in 1887, was born in Tennessee. There were born to them six daughters and five sons, all of whom are living. Alice is the wife of Prof. C. P. Evans of Sau Diego. Mary married G. D. Wootten, of Santa Cruz. Jesse M. lives at Madera and Nancy is TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 667 the wife of John High of that city. James, Letitia, Francis, Elizabeth, Vetal and Matilda live at Fresno. Robert P. was reared at Modesto, where he remained until 1876, when at the age of nineteen lie took u]) the battle of life for him- self in Modoc county, where he was employed by Captain Barnes for a year as a buyer of cattle and a breaker of horses. After that he came home and in 1879 went to Nevada, where he bought and sold cattle until in 1881, when he came back to Modesto and ]5urchase(l a ranch near Oakdale, where he farmed five years. Mean- time, in 1882, a dry year, he went to British Columbia and for a time worked on a railroad near Westminster. Later he was employed for a while in a lumber camp near Seattle. Returning to Modesto in 1885 he worked his land until 1888, when he sold it and removed to Fresno, where he farmed until in 1890. Then he came to Tulare, now Kings county, and during the succeeding eighteen months was surveying land and locating settlers, until he took up land for himself near the lake. This he soon sold to William Hammond and went to work for L. Hansen. Then for three years he farmed land which belonged to Mr. Sharpies. Next he moved onto the Woodgate place, which adjoins the Sharpies ranch, where he lived until he bought ten acres of Mr. Hansen near his present home- stead. He let this land go back and moved to Fresno and man- aged his father's ranch one year. Returning to Kings county he farmed Judge Neiswanger's place ten years. In the meantime he bought one humlred and sixty acres of the Stone ranch, on which he raised cattle three years, developing the land as rapidly as he was able. He sold this property and in 1908 bought his present i-anch of eighty acres, eight miles southwest of Hanford. He has eight acres under vines and the remainder of the land is given over to alfalfa and pasturage. He has erected a fine residence, a good barn and other farm buildings and gives much attention to the Itreeding of cattle and hogs. In 1912 he purchased eighty acres five miles from his home place, which he intends putting in alfalfa. In 1888 Mr. Fincher married Miss Minnie Hansen, a native of Germany, who had lived at Stockton and Modesto. They have had four children: Nelson, Mabel, Edna and Forrest. Nelson and Mabel died in Fresno. Edna was born in 1889 in Tulare county, and Forrest was born in 1891. Of the first Sunday school of the Methodist church organized northeast of Modesto, Mr. Fincher was a member. It was or- ganized in his father's house and his parents were influential in bringing it into existence. He was a student in the McTTenry district school, the first school organized in Stanislaus county, and has dur- ing all his active life been a friend of education and a man of public 668 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTTES spirit. Fraternally he affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd P^ellows, tlie encampment and canton, and passed through the chairs of these organizations. MARTHA J. BUCKBEE Since Martha J. Buckbee has made her home with her cousin, Mrs. Catherine Louisa Traut, of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., she has been known and beloved by many citizens of Hanford and vicinity. She was born in Livingston county, N. Y., and was reared there on one of the large farms for which the Genesee valley is famous. Her parents were P]chnund and Hannah (Clark) Buckbee. She has lived at the Traut homestead since October, 1909, when she took up her residence in Kings county. In 1905 Mary E. Buckbee, a sister, came to California, hoping to benefit her health, and found a home with Mrs. Traut, who cared for her with more than sisterly solicitude until her death, which occurred August 25, 1910. Before coming west the sisters Martha J. and Mary E. sold the old Buckbee homestead in New York. The former is a member of the Methodist Ei)iscoi)al ciuirch and during her residence here has affiliated with the Hanford congregation. The only brother, Charles Buckbee, enlisted at the beginning of the Civil war in Comi)auy E, Eighty-fifth Regiment, New York Vol- unteer Infantry, which regiment contained many I'ecruits from 1 Liv- ingston county. After three years' service he veteranized by reen- listment, and was soon taken prisoner and confined in Andersonville prison, where he was kept for more than a year, and while being re- moved to another ])rison died as the result of starvation. During a poi'tion of his service his regimental commander was Col. T. J. Thorpe, who is now at the Soldiers' Home at Sawtelle. JESSE THOMAS TURNER The native sou of California whose name is above is a son of an overland ])ioneer of 1849 who is now living in San Joaquin county, and was liorn near Stockton, Se]iteml)er 8, 1850. His education was ob- tained in the public schools and at a business college at Stockton. He assisted his father, James Turner, in the latter 's farming operations, until in December, 1884. The elder Turner had bought the Hyde tract of fourteen hundred acres in 1881 and anotlier tract of nine hun- dred acres in 1884. From the l)eginning of 1SS5 until 1897, Jesse Thomas Turner farmed an average of abimt one tliousand acres of TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 669 his father's land on shares, the remainder of the large holding- being devoted to live-stock, including cattle and hogs, and to summer fallow. In the fall of 1881) he bought four hundred and seven acres east of the Porterville road, and later he bought thirty acres more adjoining his first jjurchase. In 1897 lie improved the phice with a residence and other necessary buildings and has since made it his home and his sole field of agricultural enterprise. He has thirty acres of alfalfa and twenty acres of vineyard and usually devotes one hundred and ten acres to grain, though in some seasons he has given a good deal of attention to black-eyed beans. His vineyard produces fine raisin- grapes which he dries, selling an average of twenty tons annually. Though not making much of a specialty of stock, he raises cattle, horses and a few good hogs. During recent years he has rented one hundi'ed and ten acres of his father's land, across tlie road fi'om his own i)roperty, on which he has grown grain. November 30, 1907, Mr. Turner married Mrs. Ada Ellis, who has a son by a former marriage. As a Mason he affiliates with Olive Branch lodge, F. & A. M., of Tulare, and is included in a Royal Arch chapter. JAMES R. BEQUETTE Conspicuous among those ambitious men who are fast coming to the front in Tulare county is that native son of the county, James R. Bequette of Ijcmon Cove, who was born near Farmersville. in 1861. His education in the public school, which was well begun, was int(M-ni])ted when he was fourteen years old by the death of his father, a native of Missouri, who was a California pioneer of 1852. The years after that event which otherwise woukl liave lieen devoted to his l)ooks lie was obliged to spend in laboring for his living. His first independent ventures were in stock-raising, with which he was long successful. In 1909 he went into the fruit business and has since set out many orange trees, his entire place being now devoted to that fruit. In 1891 Mr. Bequette married Miss Carrie McKee, a native of Missouri and a daughter of the late John McKee. Mrs. Bequette has borne her husband two daughters, Rita and Velma. The former was educated at the Lemon Cove public school and at the Exeter high school and is now in her seventeenth year. The latter, now in her fourteenth year, is attending school at Lemon Cove. Mr. Bequette 's mother was a native of the state of New York. Mrs. Bequette 's mother lives at Lemon Cove. Fraternally Mr. Bequette affiliates witii the organization of Artisans at Ijciiion (^ove. While he is iiitei'ested in political (|uestions from the point of view of the intelligent voter, lie is not a practical 670 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES politician and has never aspired to public preferment. He votes at all elections and nsiaally deposits a Democratic ticket. In a public-spirited way he has always been devoted to the general interests of the com- munitv. JACOB V. HUFFAKER In Morgan county. 111., Jacob V. Huffaker was born February 23, 1845, the eleventh in a family of thirteen, and passed away at Visalia, June 16, 1909, in his sixty-fifth year. His mother died when he was young and he was early compelled in a measure to look out for himself. He accompanied his father to Texas, where he herded cattle until in the spring of 1861, passing most of his time in the saddle. As a member of Captain White's company of three hundred and sixty-six wagons, he made the overland journey to California by way of the Platte and Snake rivers through Western Washington and Oregon, and arrived in California seven mouths after leaving his old home, having experienced many hardships on the way. The party was three days and nights crossing the Snake river, which they accom- plished by caulking their wagons, thus transforming them practically into skiffs, which not without considerable difficulty they ferried over the stream. From time to time they met wandering bands of Indians, with whom they had fierce encounters, and Mr. Huffaker, being an exjierienced sharp-shooter, was able at one time to save the life of a companion named Wells. At 'S'isalia, Mr. Huffaker began his career in California as a breaker of wild horses and a herder of wild cattle, and in 1871 he rented an old stable at $25 a month and embarked in the livery busi- ness. In 1882 he bought propei-ty of S. C. Brown on South Church street for $1600. From time to time he took an interest in important enterprises at Visalia, where' he was regarded as a representative citizen of much spirit and where he built up an enviable re])utatiou as an honest, energetic, enterprising man of affairs. Fraternally he affiliated with Four Creek lodge No. 94, I. 0. 0. F., and with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In 1871 Mr. Huffaker married Miss Palestine Dowuiug, a native of Missouri, and a daughter of Joseph and Louisa (Bell) Downing. Her father settled in Sacramento county and later farmed a year near Visalia. He died in Squaw Valley, in 1894, aged seventy-five years, his wife passing away in 1909, aged eighty-six years. Follow- ing are the names of their children : Mrs. Jacob V. Huffaker and Mrs. Clementine Weishar, twins ; Mrs. Sarah Stout, of Fresno ; William ; Eli ; and James. Mrs. Huffaker bore her husband these children : TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 671 William H. ; Frederick E.; Joseph Edward; J. Artlmr; Mrs. Elsie L. Dollner, and Harold P. Surrounded by children and friends, highly respected by all who know her, she is passing her decHning years in her home at No. 530 North Court street, Visalia. SAMUEL WHITSON HALL The ranching and oil interests of Central California engage the attention of many men of ability and enterprise who succeed here not alone because of the fine natural opportunities presented by the country, but because they would succeed anywhere in any field of endeavor to which they might direct their attention. Of this class is Samuel Whitson Hall, who lives two miles west of Hanford, in Kings county. Mr. Hall was born in Tennessee, April 6, 1865, a son of John Ewell and Eliza Jane (Trigg) Hall. John Pjweli Hall was born in Tennessee, May 11, 1831, the son of Wilson and Lucy (Ewell) Hall. He was i-eared on a farm in Bedford count.v, in that state, was edu- cated in local public schools and farmed there until May 12, 1861, when he died. In 1854 he married Eliza Jane Trigg, daughter of William H. and Mary Ann (AVhitson) Trigg, Tennesseeans by birth. Mrs. Hall is now living with her son,' Samuel Whitson Hall, of Kings county. She bore her husband twelve children, seven of whom are li\ing, all in the vicinity of Hanford. Mary Priscilla is the wife of J. J. Cortner; Lucy Virginia married W. T. Holt; Neppie Jane is deceased; William Fergus Hall died November 27, 1912; Louis Edgar Hall and John Ewell Hall are next in order; George Arthur Hall and •James Leroy Hall are deceased; Annie died in Tennessee; Finis Trigg Mali and Robert Vance Hall complete the family. The immediate subject of this sketch, Samuel Whitson Hall, was ivared on ■ the old Hall homestead in Central Tennessee and came from there direct to Hanford in 181)7. He l)ought land south of Hanford which remained his home until selling out in December, l!ni'. It consisted of eighty acres, fifty acres of which were devoted to vineyard, twenty-five to fruit trees. After he took possession he improved the ])lace in many ways, setting out twenty acres of vines anurton, Sr. In 18()(;, wlien he was about fourteen vears of 690 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES age, lie came to California with liis fathers family, and for three years thereafter helped the elder l^>nrton at his work in the coal mines at Mount Diablo, Contra Costa county. In 1873 the Burtons moved into the part of Tulare county which is now Kings county and took U}) land ten miles southwest of Ilanford, the title to which was subse- quently secured by payment on the part of the young Absalom Bur- ton's brother Richard. Absalom worked two years on the construction of the People's ditch, then started a herd of sheep, which he drove through a wide range of country round about and which he eventually sold to take up ranching. In 1873 he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land, nine miles southwest of Ilanfortl, on which he made some improvements while working out on ranches in the neigh- borhood. Later he sold eighty acres of this tract to his brother. He bought laud six miles 'northeast of Yisalia, which he sold after hav^ing farmed it a few months, and then for six years he farmed a rented half-section on the lake. After that he engaged in hog raising, a few years, subsequently turning his attention to dairying. At present he milks twenty cows, raises about one hundred hogs annually and keeps an average of about two hundred stands of bees. About forty acres of his original eighty is under alfalfa. In June, 1908, the familv bought eighty acres east of his old homestead, forty acres of which he set out to peach, apricot and other orchard trees. The remaining forty acres he devotes to general farming. In 1882 Mr. Burton married Mrs. Elizabeth (Robinson) Ogden, a native of England, who bore him a son, A. F. Burton, who assists him in the management of his business. By a former marriage with John Ogden, Mrs. Burton had two children, William and Lettie. Mr. Burton is a generously helpful man, actuated by a lively public spirit. JOHN EWING. Jr. Conspicuous among the progressive farmers of Tulare county, whose many experiences in this country have made them the expert agriculturists they are to-day is John Ewing, Jr., the eldest and only survivor of the family of John and Margaret (Ewing) Ewing. The other members of this family are: Mrs. Margaret E. Bolton, whose sons were James and Charles; William, who left two children, Henry and Margaret; Mrs. Mary Sherman, whose three sons were David. John and William; Mrs. Elizabeth Swauson, who left two children, Elmer and Stella; Mrs. Isabella Sherman, whose children were Gilbert, Sanmel and a daughter. John Ewing, Jr., was l»orn in Pennsylvania, fifteen miles from Philadeliihia, April 3, 1840. In 1857 his family moved to Putnam TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 691 county, 111., whence they came to California in 1876. He settled first at Big Oak Flats, in the mountains, thirty miles east of Visalia, where he early pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of government land and with his sons now owns an entire section. He raised cattle there until lyuG, when he located two miles east of Visalia and operated a ranch under lease from Samuel Gilliam. Seventy acres were planted to alfalfa and a fiue dairy of fourteen Holsteiu cows engaged his time; he has also raised some good draft horses and now has a bay colt three years old, weighing sixteen hundred pounds, in which he takes much jiride. An average of fifty hogs was kept on the place, and Mr. Ewing became an ex^jert in these lines. A scientific farmer, his machinery and methods are up to date, and his ideas and his manner of executing them are as advanced as any farmer's in the county. In 1863 Mr. Ewing married Rachel Davis, a native of Pennsyl- vania, and they have several children. William H., of Exeter, married Jeanette Hatch, of San Francisco, and they have two children, Dorothy and Girard. John M. is a farmer near Visalia; he married Mary Cuda and they have two children, Salina and Emery. Mrs. Nira Kelley, next in order of birth, is a trained nurse and the mother of two sons, Cecil and Otis. Howard married Stella Chedester. and they have two daughters, Elva and Eileen. For a number of years Howard ran a pack team through the mountains and at times acted as a guide to tourists. He now assists his father in his ranching operations. Mr. Ewing is a man of strong convictions and has well defined ideas on all cjuestious of public policy, tie believes in the election of good and honest men to office and uses his influence as far as is possible to secure the nomination of such by his party. He is a man of undoubted public spirit, patriotically generous in support of all measures pro- posed for the general benefit. JOHN FRANS Ojie of the most successful stockmen of " Tulare cuuutv and a native son of California, having been born at Santa Rosa, So- noma county, January 11, 1S5!), is John Frans, who lives at No. 609 South Court street, \'isalin. ilis fatlier, John B. Fi'aus, was born in Kentucky and lived tlicrc until, in bis young manlmod, lie removed to Missouri, to become a I'armci- in the vicinity of St. Joseph. Thei-e he enlisted for service in the Mexican war under (Jen. Sterling Piice. In IS.").'! he was one of a iiarty that came across the plains to Cali- foiiiia witli ox-teams. Reniaininn- sevei'al years at San Jose, he then went to Santa Rosa, where he farmed until 18().3, wlien he re- ino\ed to Tulare county and bought four hundred and twenty acres, 69:2 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES three mileh aud a half east of ^'isalia. Here he farmed iiutil iu 1870, wlieu his death occurred iu his fifty-third year. He married Miss Elizabeth Fultou, a native of Indiana, who survived him, but is now deceased, and of their three sons and five daughters, Johu Frans was tlie fourth child aud the youugest son. The other sur- viving children are: Thomas H. of Los Angeles; Mary; Mrs. Daniel Switzer of ^^isalia, and Mrs. Edward Hart, who lives near Farmers- ville. Johu Frans was educated in the common schools near his home, and in 1878 began faruiing the Fraus homestead -in pai-tuershij) with his brotluiVs, Thomas H. and James Madison, the latter of whom died three years later in his twenty-sixth year. In 1882 he bought his preseut rauch and iu 1886 l)egan farming independently. He has met with such success that he is classed with the prominent business men of the county. For the past five years he has rented his ranch. The Cross Hardware block, on Main street, Visalia, was built by Mr. PVans aud R. F. Cross, and later Mr, Frans bought Mr. Cross's interest in the property, thus becoming sole owner of one of the finest business properties in the city. It should be noted in passing that Mr. Frans and one or more of his brothers operated the old Frans ranch until their mother remarried. His beginning was small, but he has added to his original purchase until he is now the owner of a large and valualile property. Politically he is a Democrat, and as a citizen he has proven himself remarkably enterprising and public-spirited. He married, at Visalia. Miss Dora Jones, who was born at Santa Rosa, Cal., aud is a member of the Society of Native Daughters of the Golden West. They have a sou whom they have named in honor of his ])aternal grandfather, John B. Frans. JEREMIAH D. HYDE The Hyde family, of which Jeremiah D. Hyde is a member, is well known in this jiart of the country. Son of David and Sarah (Houghtaling) Hyde, natives of New York state, Jeremiah D. Hyde was born in Ulster county, the scene of a historic Huguenot settlement, aud died in Visalia, Tulare county, Cal., in 1897. He came from the Empire state with his brother, Richard E., mined with him and was with him in his mercantile venture at Santa Cruz. In 1873 he came to ^"isalia and was for many years re- ceiver in the United States land office in that town, and was also interested with his brother in lands in Tulare county. As a man of affairs he develojjed an admirable ability. His character was TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES fi93 lofty and full of beauty and lie was patriotic, cliaritahle and de- voted to the advancement of the Inmian race aloni;- all lines of creditable endeavor. Tliongh not a ])ractical i)olitician. he wielded a recog'nized jjolitical influence, and while never an office-seeker, he was at times ))revailed upon in the interest of i)ublic welfare to accept ])nblic trusts. His interest iu education impelled him to consent to serve on the school board, which he did for some time, with much credit to himself and sj-reatly to the benefit of the local schools. His desire for certain refoi-ms and innovations led him to submit to election as a member of tlie board of trustees of ^'isalia. He married Mary Schuler, a native of Iowa, and she bore liim two sons, Richard E. Hyde, Jr., and Dr. Lawrence D. Hyde, iioth citizens of ^'isalia. In Visalia, in 1878, was lioru Richard E. Hyde, Jr., son of Jeremiah D. Hyde and nei)hew and namesake of Richard E. Hyde, pioneer and financier. He was educated in the imblic schools and at the California State University at Berkeley. At present he has numerous ranch interests in Tulare county, and he is vice-president of the Visalia Savings bank and a director of the National Bank of Msalia. He was married, in 1905, to Miss Luella Burrel, daugh- ter of Cutlibert Burrel, and they have two children, Cnthliert Bur- rel and Richard E., Jr., Mr. Hyde is able and ready at all times to do bis full duty as a citizen as he has often heard it defined iw his honored father and uncle, and his many friends in the business conmmnity regard him as a woi'thy successor of those useful and influential citizens of a day now past, but not soon to be forgotten. HOMER C. TOWNSEND A native of Noblesville, Ind., born January 8, 18;?2, Homer C. Townsend crossed the ))lains to California in 18.32. prospered in the land of his adoption and died in 188.), after a career in many ways interesting. He was but twenty yeai's old when he came to the state, young, hoi)eful, ambitions and determined to succeed. After a long journey full of trials, of dangei's and of weariness, he arrived at a i)oint on the American river, and there lie began mining, con- tinuing in 18,54 and 18,55 at Placeivillc. Eldorado county. lie then was ready to take to ranching, and he followed this near Sacra- mento, remaining till in 18,')(), when he came to \'isalia. In the spring of that year he located on the old Pratt place, on which he lived about a year, and then again became a miner, operating on White river in Kern county, meanwhile having an exjierience as a a:'-ocer, in a venture in which he had Ira Kinney as a partner 694 TULARE AXD KINGS COUNTIES Back to Visalia Mr. 'I'ownsend soon came, now to i^o into the Iiarness and saddlery hnsiuess, in company with Mr. Bossier. He served his fellow citizens as ))ul)lic administrator of Tulare county eight years and as deputy county assessor for a shorter period. Eventually he engaged in stock-raising and farming on a ranch two miles east of ^'isalia, where, in the course of events, he was washed out of house and home hy a flood. His next location was at a ranch on the Mill road, in the mountains, which he bouglit and devoted to raising cattle and horses. There he lived out his days and passed from the scenes of earth. His widow conducted the ranch a few years after his demise, then sold it; l)efore her marriage she was Miss Elizabeth Huston. She was born in Ar- kansas and her father was a pioneer in California, long well known in Tulare county. This daughter of one ]iioneer and wife of an- other, who now lives at Visalia, was the mother of children as follows : James H., who married Myrtle Pattie and has two sons, Russell H. and Ray "W. ; Thomas H., who has passed away; Fan- nie M., who is the wife of S. Sinunons of Coalinga, C'al.. and P^rauk A., of Montana. A man of tine character, devoted to the development of his town, state and county, Mr. Townsend was a model citizen, active, patriotic and useful. The vicissitudes through which he passed in his earlier years here were a good jireparation for the main struggle of his life which brought him success, contentment and honor. ALBERT KNIERR Born in Baden-Baden, Germany, in 1868, Albert Knierr came to the United States when he was sixteen years old and made his way to Burlington, Iowa, where he was employed a year as a butcher. During the next four years he traveled quite extensively in Illinois, Kansa;; and < 'olorado, stopping from time to time in one town after another to work at his trade. Eventually he came to California, arriving in San Francisco in 1889. For a time he worked there at his trade; then, with a Mr. Allan as his ]>artnei-, he started a small slaughter house, killing one or two cows a day. Their business began to grow and at length advanced almost by leaps and bounds, and at this time they have one of the largest and best appointed slaughter houses on the Pacilic coast and carry on a very heavy wholesale business. Their sanitary cold storage plant at Fifth and Railroad avenues, San Francisco, cost $50,000; they kill eight hundred cattle monthly and one hundred and fifty TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 695 sheep daily. In 190!^) Mr. Pyle became a member of the lirm ami its style was ehau.ned to Knierr, Allan & Pyle. Mr. Kiiierr has always attended to the outside wmk of the concern, traxelin.n' in its interest and Imyiiii;- catth' wherevei- he conld do so to tlic best advantage, lie has bouglit many in Tulare county in the last twelve years, and in 1!)()I» he established his home in Visalia, at No. 415 South Conrt street. lie has large personal interests in the county, owning three tliousand acres of cattle-grazing laud between Tipton and Angiola and leasing six thousand acres near that tract and five thousand acres near Cross creek. On these large ranges he constantly keeps lifteen hundred to twenty-five hundred head of ■ cattle. At ^'isalia he is known, as he has long been known in San Erancisco, as a man of great {)ulilic sjiirit, who is alive to the liest interests of the community. In the world of commerce he is rated as one of the best informed butchers in the country. His success in life has been won fairlv and in the o))en, and those who know him best realize that it is richly deserved. By his marriage to Miss Marcella Rowan, Mr. Knierr had four children, Byron, Marcella, Alberta and Erancisco. Byron is de- ceased. Mrs. Knierr died in IfllO and in IDll he mai'ried her sister. Miss Annie Rowan. R. L. BERRY Among these i)ublic-s))irited citizens of Tulare county who have I)nt forth their efforts toward promoting better conditions, is R. L. Beny, who was l)orn May (i, 1860, in Tuolumne county, Cal., a son of John M. Berry, a native of Missouri. The latter in 1857 came aci-oss the i)lains with ox teams to California, and his widow, a na- tive of Virginia, is sui'vi\-ing liim at the advanced age of eighty- seven years. When R. L. Berry was ten years did lie was taken by bis par- ents to Tulare county and the family settled on the site of Lindsay when their house was one of two within the present limits of the city. The boy was given some opportunities for schooling but was early called u))on to take the place of a hand at hei'ding shee)) and made familiar with tlie details of dry farming as it was ))rac- ticed in the district at that time. Most of the land for many miles round about was government laud subject to entiy. Some years after his arrival there he enteicd three (piartei'-sections, but even- tually went to Kern county and abandoned all claim to them. Re- turning later he took up farming and buying and selling land and cm TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES has since handled or operated tracts aggregating a considerahle acreage. In 1879 Mr. Berry married Miss Ella Berry, a native of San Joaquin county, and she has borne him a daughter, Hthel May, who is the wife of F. (}. Hamilton, superintendent of the Mount Whit- ney Power company of Visalia, C'al. In his political afliliations Mr. Berry is a Socialist. Fraternally he affiliates with the Wood- men of the World and the AVomen of Woodcraft of Lindsay, Mrs. Berr.\ being also a me]nl)er of the order last mentioned. He is a friend of public education and an ardent i)romoter of good roads. In fact, no demand inade u])on him on behalf of the conunimity fails to receive his ready and helpful response. JOEL KNEELAND A native of New England, Joel Kneeland was born in Vermont in 18.S0. In 1860 he removed with his family to Shawnee county. Kans. In 1870 the family went to the westei-ii pai-t of the same county and carried on farming there until 1874, when the father died. Subsequently the son came with his mother to Red Bluff, Cal.. where they farmed four years, and from there they removed to Mr. Kneeland's ])i'esent ranch, where he has since prospered. The woman who became Mr. Kneeland's wife was Agnes Wilson, of Scotch descent, who came to California about twenty years ago. They have five children: Eugene S., Francis F., Joel M., Mary ()., and \Villis W., of whom the three eldest are attending school. Politically the father of Mr. Kneeland was a Rei)ublican, and he himself is a Socialist. His mother died at the age of sixty years, and her mother lived to the advanced age of eighty-seven. Mr. Kneeland is a member of the Farmers' Union and affiliates with the Modern Woodmen. As a farmer he ranks with the best in his neighborhood. Of his thirty-acre farm he has three acres under alfalfa, most of the remainder being ])astnre land. He keei)s (ifteen to eighteen head of stock, and from twelve to twentv hogs. S. (lAVOTTO The name of Gavotto indicates the Italian origin, and it was in Italy that S. Gavotto was born March 18, 1865. . There he grew to uuinhood, was educated in the schools and learned lessons of industry and economy. In 1884, when he was about nineteen years TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 697 old, he left 1/is native land and in 1S86 located in Sacramento, Cal.. where lie was emi)loyed until 1881), then eomins- for the first time to Tiilare. He almost iminediately went noi'th, however, Init in 1890 came back and ))aid $800 for an interest in a small ranch which i)roved sncli a failure that he lost his entire investment. He then bought a lease of the D. A. Fox ranch with some stock that was on the place of a Mr. Pike, who had been operating the property. Establishing a dairy, he sold milk in Tulare until 1898, when he dis])osed of his entire dairy and farming interests. For four years thereafter he worked for wages, saving liis money and phuming for the future, and then embarked in the cattle business in a small way. After the l)onds were burned in 1893, he bought seventy- acres just outside the city limits of Tulare and established another dairy, and he now has ten cows and kee]is an average of about seven hogs. Twenty acres of his land is under alfalfa and he farms a few acres to corn and a few other acres to grain, producing only enough feed for his stock. In 1895 Mr. Gavotto united his fortunes witli those of Margaret Monteverde, by marriage. This lady, who is a native of Italy, has two sons by a former marriage and their Christian names are An- drew and P"'rank. She has borne her ))resent husband children named Lucca, Carlo, Henry and William. Mr. Gavotto is a man of nuich i)ublic spirit and of a genial and social disi)osition. Fra- ternally he associates with the Tulare organization of the Woodmen of the World. JOHN KLINDERA The pojiular citizen mentioned above, the second of the name to be known and honored in Tulare county, was born in Visalia in ]87.'5. and is a son of John Klindera, Sr., and his wife, Annie. His father was born in Bohemia in 1843, made his way eventually to Chicago, and fi'om there came by way of New York around the Horn to (California in 18()."). He remained in San Francisco until in 1807, and then took up his residence in Visalia, where he be- came an accountant in the mer'cantile estal)lishment of R. E. Hyde & Co. Later he went into sheep raising, three miles west of Tulare, whei'e, in 1878, he was killed by a falling tree. He left four childi-en, viz.: Robert is a railroad man and lives at Mon- talvo, Cal.; (1. \V. lives in Fresno; Lillie is the wife of Ed Tribau, and John, Ji'. The nu)thei' of these children still survives. John Klindera, Jr., lived three miles west of Tulare until he was six years old, then moved to Tipton, where he was i-eared and 698 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES educated. With his brothers, he went into the sheep business witli sheep which they brought from the lunne phice, and soon bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, tlieir mother three hundred and twenty acres and one of tlie Ijrothers two hundred and forty acres. They erected brick buildings on this property, improved it otherwise, and eventually sold it. Meanwhile, in 1884, they disposed of their shee]) and after that they raised grain on their land until 1!M)5. Then John engaged in dairying and stock-raising on four hundred and eighty acres of the Ci'owley ranch, near Tipton, on which he also grew grain. In 1909 he rented six hundred and forty acres of the Dresser ranch, of which sixty acres is in alfalfa. He milks thirty cows and raises horses, cattle and hogs, considerable of his acreage lieiug devoted to pasture. In 1898 Mr. Klindera married Miss Ethel Thomas and they have a son, Martie Klindera, named in honor of his grandfather, Martie Thomas, who was a pioneer in Tulare coimty and in California. Mr. Klindera owns and rents out a dairy ranch of forty acres on the Hauford road, a mile and a half west of Tulare. He is a stock- holder in the Tipton Co-operative Creamery company and the cream from his place is marketed with that concern. He affiliates with the Tipton oi'ganization of the Woodmen of the World and as a citizen is public-s]iiritedly liclpfiU to all imiiortaut interests of the com- nnmitv. GEORGE D. RAMSEY Among the re|)resentative farmers in the vicinity of Hanfoi-d is George D. Ramsey, who was born in Knox county. Mo., Octol)er 28, 1866, a son of John Wilson and Eliza A. (McVey) Ramsey. The elder Ramsey was born April 3, 1843, in Adams county. III., remaining there until moving to Knox county, Mo. Here he lived until he brought his family to California in 1871. Arriving in this state he settled near Danville, C*ontra Costa county, one year later he went to the Panoche valle>- in Fresno county, and three years later came to what is now Kings county, settling on the Hanford and Tulare road. He was a member of the Settlers' league during the Mussel slough troubles. He worked on the Lakeside ditch and helped build and was superintendent of the Mussel slough ditch, also working on the construction of the Wutchumna ditch. Later he settled down to farming and was one of the first men to put in a crop on Tulare lake, from which he reajjcd a good harvest. He had to do with every progressive mo\'ement in the county, was a Mason before leaving for the west, and also held membershiji in TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 699 the A.O.U.W. for mauy years. While a resident of Fresno county he served as deputy sheriff and during his life was for many years a school trustee. From 1906 he made his home with his son, George D., his death occurring January 24, 1912, aged nearly sixty-nine years. His wife passed awa>- on Deceml)er 14, 18!)4, aged forty- eight. Their three children sui'vive, John Theodore, George D., and Mrs. Effie P. McClellnii. George D. Ramsey was lnought to Californin by his parents when he was about five years of age, and in October, 1875, was brought to Kings, then Tulare, county. He attended school until he was about sixteen years old, meanwhile working with his father on the I'auch, and eventually he took up farming for himself; and he later drifted into the dairy business, in which he is now making a substantial success. Kings county remained his home until 1901, when he moved to Elk Grove, Sacramento county, anil during the ensuing five years made a success of his venture there. Returning to Kings county at the end of that time he bought eighty acres of land from his father and engaged in raising hogs and horses and cultivating fruit. He is constantly developing his place along those different lines and in each of them has come to the front. What success he has made has been by his own efforts. On November 20, 1898, Mr. Ramsey was united in marriage with Mrs. Margaret P. (Jones) Lewis, and of this union four chil- dren have been born: Velma I., George E., John IL, and Delbert E. Wherever he has lived Mr. Ramsey has exercised a generous public spirit which has won him recognition as a helpful citizen, for he has been solicitious for the general welfare and devoted to - the best interests of his fellow townsmen of all classes. JEFFERY J. LaMARSNA The life of Jeffery J. LaMarsna embraced the period from 1846, when he was born in Canada, to January 24, 1907, when he died at his home in Tulare, Tulare county, Cal. As a bal)e of six weeks he was brought from his birth-])lace to Michigan, whence his parents later removed to Illinois, and there he grew up and ac- quired some little education in i)ublic schools. In 1862, when he was only about sixteen years old, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry and did soldier's duty in the Civil war until h<' lost a leg in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain. When he was able to leave the hosi)ital he returned to his home, crippled for life, when but in his eighteenth year. In 1872, when he was about twentv-six vears old. Mr. La- 700 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Marsna married Miss Maria Clougli, a native of New Hampshire, and tliey soon afterward moved to Pottawatomie county, Kas., wliere, in association with his father and lirother, lie raised cattle and sheep sixteen years. Then his services as a soldier and the bodily sacrifice he had made for his country were recognized by his appointment to a ])osition in the ])ension office at \Yashing1on, D. C. After he had labored there four years, he was transferred to Ohio, where for three years he was in the field work of the department. In 1887 Mr. LaMarsua came to California and located on a farm at Woodville, where he raised crops and stock nntil 190o. Then he moved to Tnlare, where he made his home imtil he passed away. His ranch of eighty acres was sold when he gave up farm- ing. As a citizen he was always patriotic and public spirited. Members of the Grand Army of the Republic were proud to hail him as a comrade and he affiliated also with the Royal Society of Good Fellows. The children of Jeffery J. and Marie (Clough) LaMarsna, four in number, are named as follows: John Walter, who is a rancher at Woodville; Eber II., who is rei^resented in these pages by a separate sketch; G. C.. who is an ele<'trician. and Ella, who is well known in Tulare. BKXJAMIX E. McCLURE A member of an old-established family in central California, Benjamin E. McClure is the grandson of Thomas McClure. who was a very early settler in Woodland, where he built the first lilack- smith shop and followed that trade. James M. McClure, father of Benjamin, was a native of Missouri, as was also his wife, Sarah (Ely) McClure. In the early '50s James M. came overland to this state and in 1857 his mother came by way of Cape Horn. Mr. Mc- Clure identified himself with the best interests of Yolo county in his time and spent most of his life there, winning a success that placed him among the enterprising men of that section. Benjamin E. McClure was born at Buckeye, near "Winters, Yolo county, in 1806. In the public schools near his father's home he was a student in his childhood and boyhood. He began his active career in Y'olo county and won distinction there as a successful farmer, operating land in farms of a single congressional section to immense tracts which inchuled five thousand or more acres. He remained there till 1902, when he sold out his Y'olo county interests and came to A'isalia. Seeing the value of real estate investment there he l)ought eighteen acres in the southern part of the city, TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 701 wliicii lie developed iuto oue of the tiuest homes in its vicinity, and thirty-five acres south of his home, wliit'h he cut up iuto oue- acre lots, on twenty-one of which houses have ))een erected and families are living. On his homestead he has a four-acre alfalfa field, from which he cut forty tons of hay in 1910 with only oue irrigation. For some years, until 1912, he leased the Coombs ranch of two huudred and forty acres and farmed it with good results. He cleared up the land and raised five cr<)|)s. In 1911 lie planted fifty acres to Egyptian corn and later sowed the same land to barley, which yielded twenty sacks to the acre. In li)10 he sowed eighty aci'es to l)arley with like results. With such an experience to refer to, he is naturally enthusiastic in praise of Tulare couuty as a place of residence and a ))romising field for the endeavors of the scientific farmer. He owns two eight-nmle teams, one of which is employed in grading alfalfa laud in the county, the other on street work at Dinuba. Socially Mr. McClure affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. In 1896 Mr. McClure married Miss Ida B. Bearing, born in California. Mrs. McClure was born in California, the third of a family of eight children of John W. and Martha E. (Morris) Bearing, the former of whom was born in Missouri, was a pioneer of this state and died in 1884.. Mrs. Bearing survives and makes her home with the McClures, enjoying splendid health. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bearing were California pioneers, the former crossing the ])laius with his father in 1849, driving ox-teams, and upon ar- rival he engaged in gold mining near Hangtown. The mother came overland by way of Texas when a little girl about six years of age, and her father "Uncle" Bickie Morris was one of the founders of Woodland and at one time owned eighty acres where the county hos])ital of Yolo couuty is now situated. Mr. and Mrs. Bearing were married in Lake couuty. The beautiful residence of the McClures was built in 19(j;! on the homestead and is a model of architectural elegance. Here Mr. and Mrs. McClure dispense a broad and liberal hospitality. HARRISON F. PEACOCK Well known throughout central California as a fruit grower, Harrison F. Peacock of Hanford, Kings county, was born in Oneida county, N. Y., May 5, 1836. There he remained until he was twelve years of age and then began his education in the public schools near the home of his childhood. Then he was taken to Wayne county, in the same state, where from his sixteenth year to Becember, 702 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 1863, he was engaged as a farm hand, and thus he had begun his career as a self-made man, and it was to be continued as a soldier. In the year last mentioned he enlisted in Company B, Ninth New York Hea\-j^ Artillery, for service in the Civil war. He participated in quite a number of important engagements and in many that were less noteworthy, was promoted to be a sergeant and received honorable discharge at the end of his term of enlistment, in 1865 at the close of the war, and was discharged from the Second Heavy Artillery. In 1868 Mr. Peacock came to California and settled in Nai)a county, where he found emi)loyment at mason work in which he had had enough experience to gain a practical knowledge of the trade. He stuck to such employment for years, until his health failed, then turned to farming and teaming. Eventually he took up railroad laud in Tulare, now Kings county, which he still owns and on which he has made his home since 1875. While his rareer here has not been without its reverses, his prosperity has been in a general way i)rogressive and his success compares favor- ably with tliat of any farmer of the better class in his vicinity. During recent years he has given much attention to fruit grow- ing, which he lias made a source of considerable profit. He has taken an iutelligeut interest in irrigation and was one of the build- ers of the Lakeside ditch. As a member of the (Irand Army of the Republic, Mr. Pea- cock keeps in touch with comrades of the Civil war period. He married, January 25, 1872, Miss Rebecca J. Bonham, a native of Illinois, and they had three children: Mary, deceased; (irace and George ; of these George is in the dairy business in Kings county. As a citizen Mr. Peacock is ])ublic-spirited to a degree that makes him heljiful to the community. BRIGHT EARL BARNETT Born in Kings county, Cal., October 15, 1886, Briglit Earl Barnett attended public schools near his boyhood home until lie was sixteen years old. After that lie was employed liy his father on the hitter's ranch until he attained his majority, when he took up the liattle of life for himself and met with much success. He is managing, at tliis time, three hundred and twenty acres of well improved laud, which he devotes to the purposes of stock-raisiui;- and dairying. He has a vineyard of fifteen acres, keeps forty milch cows and raises many hogs. One hundred and fifty acres of his TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 703 laud is used for pasturage aud for the produrtiou of alfalfa, of which he harvests froui four to six crops annually. Fratei'ually Mr. Barnett affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He takes intelligent interest in public affairs from the ])oiut of view of his ])arty and is ready at all times to respond with prompt generosity to any call on behalf of the com- munity at large, and there is no proposition which in his judgment promises to benefit his conanunity that does not have his cordial encouragement and support. On December 23, 1907, he married Miss Vera Kussell, a native of Pike county, Tlliuois, born Novem- ber 27, 1884, and she bore him a son, Glenn Ray Barnett, who was born Mav 8, 1911. CUTHBERT BURREL In Wayne county, in central New York, Guthbei't Buri'el was l)i)rn November 28, 1824. a son of George and Mary (Robinson) P>ui-rel, natives of England, his grandfather, for whom he was luimed, being an English squire. Of his parents' nine children, Cuthbert was the fourth in order of nativity. In 1834, when he was ten years old, his people moved to Plainfield, Will county, 111., where he attended school and grew to man's estate. He crossed the ])rairies and mountains to Galifornia in 1846, driving an ox- team, and consuming almost six months' time in making the jour- ney. Stephen A. Cooper was the leader of the party which with its belongings constituted the train. For about six months Mr. Burrel was in army service under Fremont, and after his discharge ho went to Sutter's Foi"t, and there he found the wagon in which be had made his overland jour- ney. Procuring it, be traveled in it to Youht's ranch, in Na])a county, taking with liim one of the children of the histoi'ic Domier l)arty. Later he went to Sonora, where he was employed during the summer of 1847 by Salvator Vallejo, and for his work received $100 cash, one hundred firkins of wheat and two hundred heifers. In 1848, working in a bay Held in Suisun valley one day, he was a])proacbed ))y John Pattou, who showed $r)00 worth of gold that he had brought down from the mt)untains, assuring Mr. Burrel and flic latter 's com])anions that there was plenty more whei'e that had come from. The haymakers at once determined to work no longer in flic field, sold their interests in the lia\' and set out for the mines. Mr. Piui-rel mined three years, hut soon after leaving the mines, he bought land in Green valley, Solano county, where he fanne(l and raised stock until 1860. Then he sold his ranch for 7(14 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES tliirteon Imiidred and eleven liead of cattle, wliich lie drove to the Elkboru rancli in Fresno county, where lie raised stock until his death, acquiring there a ranch of twenty thousand acres, lie was in the east during the period 1S71-1874. Coming back to California in the latter year, he bought a thousand acres of land in Tulare county, five miles northwest of Visalia. and later he bought an addi- tional thousand acres. In 187o Mr. Burrel married Mrs. Adaliza H. Adams, who has borne him four children, three of whom are living: Varina J.. May and Luella (Mrs. Richard E. Hyde, Jr.). Mr. Burrel was a member of the Society of California Pioneers and was widely known throughout the San Joaquin valley. He found time from his farming and stock-raising to interest himself in business and com- mercial matters, as is evidenced by the fact that he was a director of the First National Bank of San Jose, and assisted in the found- ing of the Bank of Visalia. His landed interests became extensive and he was one of the leading men in his vicinity. He died Aug- ust 7, 1893, deeply regretted by a wide circle of acijuaintances. WALTER FRY The family of F^ry is an old one in America and in different generations rejtresentatives of it have attained prominence. An offshoot of one branch of it located rather early in Iroquois county, III., and there Walter Fry was born in 1859. His father, a native of Ohio, died in 1897; his mother, who was of Illinois birth. i)assed away when he was ten years old. When he was nine years old the boy was taken from the Prairie state to Kansas, and he lived there and in Oklahoma, by turns a cowboy, a miner, a rancher and deimty United States marshal, till he came to Tulare in 1887. Then he was given employment with the railroad company and was made a peace officer, in which capacity he served until 1895. Duriig the succeeding two years he lived elsewhere, and in 1899 he moved on his present homestead, conqirising fifty-five acres, near Three Rivers. He has for some time been in charge of General Grant park and Sequoia park, with official standing as a ranger, and acting superintendent, which latter position he holds at the present time. With a record of eleven years' service under the United States government, he has for eight years filled his present position, for which he was selected by the Secretary of the In- terior because of his sjiecial fitness and experience. As rancher, cowboy and ranger he has spent most of his years out doors. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 705 and liis life has boon tlic full, free, hroad life of the western plains, forests and mountains. Jii lS7i( Mr. I''iy married Miss Saiah A. llinf>ins, a native of Illinois, wliose father, John T. Ilinniiis, died in Illinois in 1880 p.nd whose motlier is liviui^ in Tnlare. Mr. and Mrs. Fry liave foui- children, two of whom are citizens of this eonnty. Frater- nally, Mr. Fry afliliates with the Exeter lodge of lndei)endent Order of Otld Fellows and with the loeal division of the auxiliary order of Rebekahs, in which Mrs. Fry also holds membership. As a citizen Mr. Fry is |)ublie-si>irited ti> a notable degree, ready at all times to assist to the extent of his ability any movement which, in his good judgment, is i)romising of benelit to the connnunity. ALBERT PRATT HOWE A native-born son of Kings county, C'al., wiio is achieving suc- cess on his native heatli is A|])ert Pratt Howe, of Guernsey. It was in 1881 that Mr. Howe was ))orn and he was reared in the Lakeside district and educated in the public schools near his home. He and his brother Edwin and their father farmed on the lake bottom from 1898 to lOOfi, when they were driven from their land by the filling up of the lake. Before this catastrophe the lirothers had bought of their father the farm of one hundred and sixty acres, eight miles southwest of Hanford, now owned by Edwin Howe, and there they farmed several years as partners. In 1906 Albert sold out his interest there to his brother and bought two hundred and seventy-fi\e acres at Guernsey and eighty acres one mile south of that idace. The lan' to sixty acres to grain each year. The eighty-acre tract is im- proved ))astnre land. The ))rinci))al business of Mr. Howe is in stock-raising and dairying, though he raises some hogs, and he milks an average of about thirty-live dairv cows. From his farming and dairying he has spared some time and money for investment otherwise. He married, in 1!)07, Miss Elvira Comfort, daughter of B. G. Com- fort, who is well known in Kings county, and she has borne him two daughters and one son, Carrie, Eunice and Earl. Mi-. Howe is a wide-awake man who takes an interest in everything that can possibly influence the public good. He is es])ecially interested in the 706 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES development of the oommimity with which he casts his lot and is ready at all times to give geuerous aid to any movement proposed for the general uplift. LOUIS X. GLOVER A leader in things agrienltiual, who lives six miles south of Tulare city in Tulare county, Cal., and was born in the historic old state of Kentucky, October 2. 18(iO. is Louis N. Glover. He passed his boyhood and youth in the pul)lic schools and on the farm and when he was twenty-one years old went to Nebraska, whence after six mouths' residence there he went to Colorado. Two niontlis spent tliere determined him to come to California, and lie rarived at Stockton, October 10, 1882. In that same autumn he found employment on Roberts' island, and then, after three months spent at Lockeford, he came to Tulare county January 23, 1883, in response to an invitation of friends who had bought land there. I^iking his surroundings, he entered the em])loy of Paige iS: Morton and marked off the land and set out the hrst orchard on the ranch of that firm, for whose cannery he employed all help. It is said that this was the first establishment of its kind in the county. After three years' connection with that enterprise, he began to farm rented land and at one time worked fourteen hun- dred acres. After operating the Laurel Colony property se^•en years, he put in two years at dairying in a modest way, and in the fall of 1904 he bougiit three lumdred and five acres, six miles south of Tulare, on wliich he conducts a daiiy of forty-eight cows, raises stock, keeps twenty-two head of horses, feeds one hundred and fifty head of liogs and maintains a growing venture in poultry. One hundred and seventy acres of his land is devoted to alfalfa and on the lialance he raises corn and grain, lie was one of the l)romoters of, and is a stockholder in, the Dairymen's Co-operative creamery, and he helped to estal)lish the old Co-operative creamery at Tulare. Of the Tule River Riparian Water association he was the organizer and it was largely through his influence that cer- tain historic differences concerning water rights near that river were finally adjusted to the satisfaction of all concerned. The official title of the association is now the Tule River Riparianist, incorporated. Its district comjirises the country between the sum- mit and the lake. One of Mr. Glover's possessions is a good resi- dence property in Tulare. ,\t Tulare, Mr. Glover married, April 12, 1893, Miss Ettie Moody, a native of Kentucky, who has borne him three children. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 707 one of wlioiii (liod in infancy. Their son, James Earl, died Decem- ))er 1, 1!KI7. Tiieir danslitei', \lrnia, born October 21, 1895, is a pupil in the hiiili school at Tulare. Fraternally, Mr. Glover affiliates with the Tulare ori>;uiization of the "Woodmen of the World and with the Watsonville organization of the Yeomen. As a citizen, he is helpfully ])ublic-spirited, never withholding his support from any movenu'iit which he deems conducive to the good of the com- munitv. D. W. LEWIS ( 'orcorau. Kings county, Cal., is the home of D. W. Lewis, president of the Tulare I^ake Dredging company, who has made his home in that enterprising town since 1906. He was born in Redlake, Beltrami county, Minn., November 24, 1848, and while young was taken by his parents to Morrison county, where he livel until he was fourteen. . At that time he was done with the public school at Bellejilaine, Minn., and became a student at Oheran col- lege. His studies were soon cut short, however, by his enlistment in the United States army, in which he saw arduous and hazard- ous service during the latter i)art of the Civil war. In ISdli he came to California and lived i)rinci])ally in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties, lie ti'aveled over \arious ])arts of the state, and from Santa Clara county he moved to Fresno county in tS7.>, wliei'e he established the first commercial nui'sery in the valley south of Stockton, which he conducted until 19(l(), and then came to Kings county. His hi'st veiitnie there was to i)lant out a tract of land to asparagus, but he soon relin(|uished the latter business to embark in a dredging enterprise and organized the Tulare Lake Dredging company, of which he is president. This Imsiness has been hinhly successful and' of much benefit to th(> country in which it has been operated. Meanwhile, Mr. Lewis has also given attention to wheat farming, which has brought good results. In 1866 Mr. Lewis married Miss Margaret Clark, a native of New York city, who has been his helpmate and adviser in the vaiioiis interests to which he has devoted himself from time to time. They ai'c a genial and heli)ful coiqile, and their kindly intei-est in all with whoiii they conie in contact insures them a welcome wherexer they may go. Public spirited to an unusual degiee, ^Ir. iicwis extends aid cheerfully and generously to anv T!U?asure which, in his ojjinion, promises to promote the genei'al welfare or to enhance the jn-osperity of any considerable number of his fellow citizens. 708 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIF^S HENRY F. ROCK Tliat progressive merebaut and real estate investor of Armona, Kings county, Cal., Henry F. Rock, was born in Sbasta county, in tbis state, Sei)tember 12, 1870. His youtb and tbe earlier years of bis nianbood were passed on a farm and lie was educated in tbe public scbool in liis lionie district. "Wben lie was about twenty- nine years old be located on a farm in Fresno county, wbicb be operated witb varying success for some years. By tbis time be bad made u\> bis mind that lie would l)e a mercbant and bad saved money witb wbicb to go into lousiness. Buying tbe O. B. Hanan store at Centerville, Fresno county, be conducted it four years, meanwbile farming on rented land in tbe vicinity. In 1907 be closed out tbe merchandise business to Messrs. Elliott & Coleman of Conejo, Fresno county, and came to Armona, Kings county, to take over tbe well establisbed mercantile enterprise of Muller Brotbers, wbo bad been trading bere five years. He bas since liandled tbe business witb increasing success. From bis mercban- dising be bas found time to interest bimself in real estate, and bas acquired an interest in town and country ])roperty, in diiTerent alfalfa ranches and in a farm of seventy-eigbt acres. Besides, be is a stockholder in tbe commission bouse of Zaiser Brothers, Los Angeles. Fraternally, Mr. Rock affiliates with Lucerne lodge No. 27;"), I.O.O.F., Hanford. He married, November 6, 18!M). Miss Lora Burner, at Glenburn, Sbasta county. She was born in Colusa county, and bas borne bim four children, only one of whom survives, Carl E., wbo was educated in the public scbool of Armona and Heald's Business College at Fresno, and is now engaged in the bakery business at Armona. Taking a deep and abiding interest in tbe u])lift and develoi)meut of bis community, Mr. Rock bas proven bimself dependable wben demand is made for aid in movements for the ))ublic good. J. C. C. RUSSELL One of the few memliers of Kings county bar, wbo is a native of tbe Golden state, is J. C. C. Russell, wbo bas offices in tbe First National Bank building at Hanford. Mr. Russell was born Jan- nary 8, 1868, in Merced county, seven miles south of tbe site of Merced, a son of J. C. C. Russell, Sr.. and bis wife, Sopbia M.. who was a daughter of Dr. T. 0. Ellis. Tbe latter was a pioneer in TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 709 'I'lilare and Fresno cuuntifs and once prominent as a physician. The elder Russell, a native of Winchester, Tenn., came to Cali- fornia in ]84i), when he was eiithteen years old, and after mining for a while, went to Los Angeles, where he remained until April, 1857, when he settled in Marijiosa, within the ])reseut limits of Mereed county. Here he Jiomesteaded government land, which he im))roved and on which he farmed and raised stock until his death, which occurred Septeml)ei' MO. ISitL His son, J. C. C. Russell, grew up and began his education in the pulilic schools, continuing it in th.e high school at Oakland, where he was graduated July, 188fi. The succeeding two yeai's he spent in farming, then entered the University of California, where he was graduated in 1895. Mean- \'.hile, in his spare time, he was a student in a law school at San Francisco, and such good use of his ojiportunities did he make that lie was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Cali- fornia, January !*, 18il4. After an English course, in which he graduated in 18f)5, he l)egan the practice of his profession in San Francisco, where he remained for over two years, and then moved to Mariposa, but after a residence of not quite two years there he came to Hanford, Sejitember 14, 1897. In 1898 he estalilished him- self here in the general jiractice of his profession, which he has continued till the i)resent time with much success, winning a high place at the liar and an enviable standing in the jiublic rejiute. Socially, Mr. Russell alliiiates with the Foresters, the Eagles, (he Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Native Sons of the (jolden West, the Degi'ee of Honor, the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of ^Vnierica. On June 1.'!, 1903, he mar- ried Gwendolyn Darnell, a daughter of Mrs. Clara E. Myers, and they have a daughter, Mercedes. CLARK M. SMITH Numbered among those brave jiatriots who fought so cour- ageously for their country's cause in the Ci\il wai- is Clark M. Smith, born May ."), 1847, at Adrian, Mich,, where he grew up, attending the public school, lie did i'aiin work until he enlisted in Company K, Sixth Michigan Infantry, and was transferred to Heavy Artillery, for service in the Federal army. He was en- rolled January 4, 1864, and was iionorabl\- discharged August 20, 18fi5. During his term of service he participated in many historic engagements, notably at Mobile Bay, I'ort Morgan and Fort Blake- ley. His father was a member of the same company and died on the way home after having been discharged. 710 TULARE AND KIXGS COUNTIES Ketnruin.i'- to Mifliigan ;\Ir. Smith remained there, emijloyed mostly on the farm, until July 14, lS7o, when he started for Cali- fornia. Locating at Ferndale, Humboldt county, he eugaged in business, was soon elected constalile and served as a special officer four years. Then he engaged in tlie fuiuiture trade, ct)ntinuing in it there till 1S89, when he took up his residence in Hanford and bought out tiie ohl Ijillie furniture store, but in 1893 the building he Occupied was destroyed by lire. It was his intention to resume business, but before he could secure other quarters he fell ill and was not able to take np the activities of life again until four years afterwards. Then he was elected justice of the peace at Hanford, and after he had filled the office with much credit four years he was, in June, 1903, ap])oiuted to the same office at Armona by the board of supervisors of Kings county, and since then the latter town has been his home. He is a justice of the peace, a notary public and fills the office of secretary of the Grangeville Cemetery association, besides doing considerable business in real estate and insurance. On (Jctober 22, 1890, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Georgia Amner and they are the parents of two children, Osmond and Georgia Irene, both of whom have been educated in Kings county. Fraternally, he has ])assed the chairs in both the Knights of Pythias and the Indeiiendcnt Order of Odd Fellows, as well as the encampment. In 189.") Mr. Smith was counuander of McPherson post, G.A.R., of which he has been quartermaster six years and is in his eleventh year as adjutant. He is also a mem- ber of the local organization of the Sons of ^"eterans. As a soldier, as a pul)lic official and as a business man and citizen, he has been e(iual to everv demand. JOSEPH wnjjA:\r sturgeon As a farmer and as a Imsiness man, Joseph William Sturgeon has achieved distinction in the country round al)out Tulare. Tulare county. He is a native son of California, having been born in Ama- dor county, October 7, 1855, and was in bis sixth year when, in 1860, his father, Francis Marion Sturgeon, located near Farmer.s- ville, in Tulare county. There the boy was reared and educated in the common schools and on his father's ranch instructed in the fundamentals of farming and stockgrowing. His original land hold- ing was one hundred and sixt\' acres, but he rented and farmed other land and grew as a stockraiser until he now has two thou- sand acres and handles al)out three hundred head of cattle. Fif- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 71 1 teen Imndrerl acres of his land is reserved for fanning and is at tliis time used for ]»astnre. He owns also eighty acres of alfalfa land on the Tulc rivci-. ten miles fi-oni Tulare, which is lieing im- ]iroved under his i)ersonal direction. Lie lived on his ranch until 1895, when he removed to Tulare, where he has since made his home. Since his retirement from active farm life he has identified iiimself with several im])ortant interests and is a stockholder in the bank of Tulare. His father, Francis Marion Sturgeon, ranched near Earmersville until his acti\ities were terminated by his death. In ISSi) Joseph W. Sturgeon married Matilda Evelyn Lathro]), and they have three children, Mildred Lee, and "William Tyler and Wallace Ezra (twins). The Sturgeon family is well and favorably known to members of most of the best families in the county and its head is recognized as a citizen of much iniblic spirit, who is never backward in assisting any measure which, in liis opinion, promises to promote the public weal. FRANK SMITH This prosperous farmer, merchant and warehouse jn'oprietor at Angiola, Tulare county, Cal., was born in Alameda county, Cal., June IT), ]8(i2. He attended the ])ublic school near his home until he was eighteen years old, meanwhile accpiiring a jiractical knowledge of farming on his father's ranch. After he left school he helped with the work of the family homestead until he was twenty years of age, and then engaged in farming on his own account, and so jjersistently has he followed out the well-laid plans of his youth that, while he has given attention to some other interests, he has been a farmer during all the years of his active life. He is at present engaged in ranching and wheat-raising on the lake. Locating at Angiola he went into the cattle business and bought and sold stock for eight years. In 1908 he engaged in the grain, feed and fuel trade, with a warehouse in Angiola, and he has continued in these lines to the present time witli good success. He makes a specialty of the breed- ing of mules and he was in 1912 the owner of fifty head of as good stock of that class as was to be found anywliere in his i)art of the country. In 188() Mr. Smith married Miss Jennie Morgan, who was born in San Francisco, Cnl., in 18()(), and they have eight children: Cleve, Grover, Leo, Vieva, Vcia, James, William and Edward. Mr. Smith is a man of much public spirit, who has in different ways done nmcli 712 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES for the welfare for Angiola, for lie has the interest of the com- iminity at heart and strives earnestly to promote its develoiJiiient and prosperity. DR. WILLL\M WHITTINGTON Notwithstanding iiis fomi)aratively recent advent at Dinul)a, Tulare county, CaL, Dr. William Whittington has established a jiro- fessional practice which evidences his skill as a physician. Making a specialty of tuberculosis of the lungs, he has achieved a success which has been remarked by his brother i)hysicians throughout central California. His beautiful home is presided over l)y his wife, who is giving Christian training to their children, and he possesses the friendshiji of many and esteem of all wJio are so fortunate as to have made his acquaintance. Of Northern l)irt]i. but of Southern extraction, he unites all those (]ualities of enterjnise and of cultiva- tion which make for the very highest American citizenship. Besides, he represents honored families of pioneers. Early in the history of southern Illinois Josejih Whittington, his revered grandfather, came from Tennessee and settled near Benton, Franklin county, where he secured a tract of virgin soil on which he farmed the remainder of his life. His son J. F. Whittington was born and lived out his days near Benton, 111., dying in 1886. His wife was Mary Spencer, a native born Tennesseean, and accompanied her parents to Illinois, where she still lives in the eomiianionship of some of lier children. There were ten in all, of whom Dr. William Whittington was the first born, and of whom five are living. Doctor Whittington is the only one of the family now living in California. He was born near Benton, Franklin county. 111., and grew to manhood there on the old family liomestead on which he was taught practical farming. Agriculture possessed few attractions for him, however, and early in life he turned to school teaching, and in his intervals of teaching read medicine under the in-eceptoi'slii]) of Dr. C. O. Kelley, of Ewing, 111. In 1878 he became a student at the Missouri Medical College, at St. Louis, Mo., where he was grad- uated March -t, 1880, with the degree of M. D. He began his practice at Ewing, 111., but soon moved to Campbell Hill. Jackson eoimty, that state. In 1891 he came to California and o]iened an office at Reedley, Fresno county, whence he moved in ISWA to Tulare county. In the l)eriod 1898-1900 he was in active practice of his profession in Los Angeles and in 1902 located in Dimilia. While a resident of Illinois, he was identified with the Southern Illinois ^ledical Association which still retains his name on its roll of members. TULARE AND KINGS ('(^UNTIES 71:: In 187(i J)r. Wliittin.n'toii married Miss Virginia ITaekney, a native of Tennessee, their wedding eei'emony having been solemnized at Elkville, 111. Her father, E. J. Hackney, was born in Tennessee and re])resented long lines of Sonthern ancestry. To Dr. and Mrs. Wliittington have i)een born children as follows: Pearl lone is the wife of H. Ilamner, of Fresno, C'al.; Frank Edmnnd died in infancy; William E., who is a salesman for the San Joaqnin Light & Power Co., married Miss Grace Alters; ('harles Roy, who is the proprietor of the Dinnba P]lectrical Works, married Miss Grace Nichols; and Ray Hackney is a gradnate of the Dinnba high school. Dr. and Mrs. Whittington are members of the Methodist Episcopal chnrch of Dinuba and liberal contuibntors toward its maintenance and that of its numerous charities. He is a Thirty-second degree- Scottish Rite Mason and a member of Dinnba lodge, F. & A. M., and is identified with the A\'()odmen of the World. As a stockholder and director, he is jjrominent in the affairs of the United States Bank of Dinuba, the history of which dates from its estal)lishment in 1908. He is the owner of a twenty acre orange grove just coming into lieariiii!,- in the Smith Mountain countrv. HENRY L. WH.S()N 'i'he family of Wilson of which Henry L. Wilson is the head came to Tulare county in January, 1!)0(;, and was the first to domicile itself on what is now the site of Alpaugh. Mr. Wilson was born in ^forgan county. III., March 27. 18fi7. After he was old enough to go to school he was a student in the public school until he was nine \"ears ol()!). His hogs and chickens have taken himdreds of first prizes at fairs and exhibitions in Oregon. Washington and California, and are known for their excellence throughout the entire coast country. He also makes a specialty of Percheron horses and is the owner of a thoroughbred stallion and owns a share in another. His chickens are barred Plymouth Rocks and lilack Minorcas. His land is all well improved and his home is one of the most attractive in this vicinity. From time to time Mr. Bassett has \ery public s|)irit('dly inter- ested himself in mimerous enterprises. He is a stockholder in the Lucerne Creamery, in the Armona P''ruit and Raisin Packing Co. and in the Farmers and Merchants' Bank of Hanford, and is a member of the Kings Comity Chamber of Connnerce. In October, 1872, Mr. Bassett married Miss Helena Lander, a 718 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES member of old English families, wlio has borne him twelve children, ten of whom are living : Helen, wife of J. Malott ; Mabel, who married Frank Pursell ; William George ; Mark, Jr. ; John ; Bertha, wife of John Day; Edith, who married Louis Nieson; Ernest; Guy, and Archie. MELVIN A. HILL A native of Indiana, l)orn in La Grange county on March 14, 1844, Melvin A. Hill is a sou of the late William Remington and Sarah (Gregg) Hill, natives of Monroe county, N. Y., and South Carolina respectively. The former was born in 1815, went to Indiana at an early day and grew up with the pioneer life of that period. He married in that state about 1841, and remained there uutil September 10, 1859, when with his wife and seven children he started across the plains with ox-teams aud prairie schooners. Arriving in this state he settled down to the life of a rancher, following this uutil his deatli here, with the exception of a short time spent in Oregon, where he went to join his son Melvin A. Melvin A. Hill attended school until he was fifteen aud remained in California with his parents until 1864, when he went to Oregon. Soon after he returned to this state, and in 1874 we find him in Tulare county after having lived and labored for a time in Ventura county. Farming has been his occupation ever since reaching man- hood. When he came to this part of the state Kings county had not been set apart from the mother county of Tulare and all trading was done in Visalia for many years. He bought one hundred and sixty acres of land on the Hanford-Tulare road, began its imju'ove- meut aud assisted to build the Lakeside ditch to supply the water for irrigation. All the improvements seen on his ranch have been placed there by himself and he has carried on general farming and stock raising with increasing success all these years. There is probably no man better informed than is Mr. Hill on the successful production and sale of crops and stock, and it would be impossible for any one to give himself more devotedly to his business or to have brought an enterprise to a higher ])lane of success. In Santa Barbara, Cal., on September 1, 1872, occurred the mar- riage of Melvin A. Hill with Cynthia Reuk, a native of Adams county, 111., and two children were born to them, Henry, who is faruv ing on eighty acres given him by his father, aud Cora, wlio died in infancy. Mrs. Hill passed away in Septeudier. 1909, aud on Septem- ber 15. 1912, Mr. Hill was uuited in marriage with Mrs. Mary Ball. Mr. Hill has not taken an active intei-est in politics otiier than TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 719 to cast his vote for the men aud measures that he considers for the greatest good to the greatest numlier. He is interested in the cause of education aud served as trustee of the Frazer district for two years. He is patriotically interested in economic questions local and national, advocated the organization of Kings county, and assists all worthy enterprises for the advancement of the interests of the people and countj*. His success has been of his own making and he is looked upon as one of the substantial pioneers of the county, and has a wide acquaintance in this section of the state. GEORGE W. HOUSTON A breeder of cattle, horses aud hogs in the district of Kings county, Cal., southwest of Hanford, who has won prominence by his excellent stock and good business ability is G. W. Houston. Born near Bloomington, Monroe county, Ind., August 11, 1853, Mr. Houston passed his early life there, learning farming and studying in the public schools. He was married in 1877 and some time later went to Kansas, where he lived about three years, and in 1889 he came to California, locating in what is now Kings county. His first year here was spent in operating the George Camp ranch near Armona, and the following year he was on the Ernest Rollins ranch. His next venture was to lease two hundred and forty acres for five years, on which property he put in ten acres of vineyard and twelve acres of orchard. His first ]iurchase of land was in 1904, when he bought eighty acres which he has developed into a fine ranch. When it came into his possession part of it was devoted to vineyard and some of the rest of it to orchard, lie has put out eleven acres of it to vines and taken up the old orchard aud has forty acres under alfalfa. Ail the improvements on the place are due to the enterprise of Mr. Houston, who has used the best judgment in the selection of trees and vines. Cattle, horses and hogs are among his chief products. They are of the best breed and bring the best prices in the market. On December 26, 1877, Mr. Houston married Miss Minerva A. Morris, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of Hiram and Rebecca Morris, and it was in the lioosier state that their wedding was cele- bi-ated. Mrs. Houston has borne her husband four sons and two daughters, Ernest W. and Everett R., born in Indiana; Grace S. in Kansas ; and Oscar C, Howard G. and Blanche in California. Everett R. and Ernest W. are in the real estate business at Han- ford. Grace S. is the wife of Claulily nji-to-date fanner and stockman wlio lias won an enviable rejintation among his fellow citizens, is Judsou Andrew Dibble, a native sou of this state, having been born at Santa Crnz, ("al., October 12, 1869. He was four years old when his jiareuts moved from Santa Cruz to Tulare county and settled in the Lakeside district. There he attended school until he was sixteen years old, and after the completion of his studies he was busy until he was twenty-one years old in assisting his father in the latter 's agricultural operations. The time had now come when he was to assume responsibilities for himself, and he went into stock-raising and farming and achieved success almost from the outset. In 1895 he acquired one hundred and sixty acres of good land which he has develojjed into a tine homestead, fitted up with suitable buildings of all kinds, including a comfortable residence, the farm being well stocked and provided with modern machinery and ap]>liances such as are demanded in scientific farming in California. Politically Mr. Dibble is a Republican, proud of the history of his party and devoted to the measures by which it ]ilans to ])romote the best interests of our citizens of all classes. He faithfully performs his duties as a citizen and so far is he from having been an office seeker that he has declined such ])nblic preferment as he has been urged to accept. Ilis interests in education impelled him, however, to assume the duties of trustee of the Lakeside schools, and in that caiiacity he was elificient in raising the educational standard in his neighborhood. May 24, 1893, Mr. Dibble married Miss Lulu Skaggs, who was born in Tulare county. April 5, 1875. They have three children, Ella A., Alta E. and Nora L. FRANK POE From the ])osition of an humble employe in the Farmers' Union Warehouse at Tulare, Frank Poe, through diligence and painstaking effort, rose after five yeafs' service to his ])resent ]ilace as manager. He is a native of Minnesota and was born August 5, 1868. a son of Hiram B. and Eliza Poe. Reared and educated in Minnesota he came to California with his parents when he was eighteen years old. After having devoted his energies to farming for many years, the elder Poe in 1907 sold out his ranch interests and moved to Tulare, where he died in July, 1911, his wife having i)asscd away two years earlier. 41 722 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIP^S From the time of bis arrival in Tulare county until the begin- ning of his connection with the warehouse Frank Poe was variously employed, and after five years' faithful service he was made man- ager, this being seven years ago, and since has ably filled tlie position. The Farmers' Union Warehouse Company has a history of success dating from 1885, when it was organized at Tulare by outside capital. By his marriage with Miss Phoelie Garrison Mr. Poe united his life with that of a good woman who has proven herself a most worthy helpmeet. Fraternally he affiliates with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Independent Order of Red Men and the Woodmen of the World, all of which orders have representative bodies in Tulare. As manager of the Farmers' Union Warehouse, Mr. Poe is in close touch with the business community of Tulare and its tributary territory, and as a business man and citizen he has demonstrated a public spirit which has made him helpful to all local interests. CHARLES FISHER Philadelphia, Pa., was the scene of the birth of Charles Fisher, now of Tulare county. Cal., April 15, 1853. When he was three years old his family moved to Missouri, and there were passed the years of his boyhood and young manhood. It was not till 188fi, when he was thirty-three years old, that lie turned his back on Missouri with an intention of making a home elsewhere. Then he came to Cali- fornia, and locating near Cottonwood creek, Tulare county, farmed there for a year. Next we find him on the Robert March ranch, where he i-emained two years. The succeeding nine years he spent on the John A. Patterson ranch. On his present home place, south- west of Visalia, he has lived fourteen years. He rents the rancli, which consists of two hundred acres. Thirty-five acres he devotes to alfalfa, fifteen acres to {)runes and peaches and seven acres to raisin gravies. He has also a fine dairy of seven cows. He has sold as much as $11)00 worth of fruit off the ranch in a single season. He has made a study of fruit-growing, to which he has given twenty years, and has not hesitated to experiment ; some of his ex]>eri- ments have turned out well. At this time he has six acres jilanted to Egyptian corn. In the early days of his residence in California, he hauled grain from Lindsay. Then that ]iart of the county was a wheatiield and land could be bought at $5 an acre which now com- m.ands a high i)rice. In 1879 Mr. Fisher married Jane Kirkman, a native of Missouri, and they liave six children: Agnes, Jacob C., James F., Anna May, Deva E. and Harlev M. While he takes an intelligent interest in all TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 723 matters of public moiiient, Mr. Fisher has little likinii' for the aetiv- ities which are iiopularly known as practical politics. He is, essen- tially, a business man and by choice devotes his abilities to farniing and fruit-growing. In many ways he has demonstrated a public spirit which has been helpful to the community. J. A. HANNAH While the American joeople present to view aliout the most het- erogeneous conglomeration of humanity ever known in history, it is true that the population has long been made up mainly of descendants of emigrants from the British Isles. Canada is a distributing- station for much British immigration to the United States, and in our industries, from the railroad l)uilder to the bank president, the men from Canada have shown excellent qualities and their offspring have not only been successful, but in most instances have been exceedingly prosperous. J. A. Hannah, lawyer, with office in the Harrell building, Visalia, Tulare county, comes of old families well known in the history of the mother country and its colonies and is a native of New Brunswick. He was educated in Canada and at the Harvard Law School, which he entered in 1876 and from which he was graduated in 1878. He practiced his profession in Nevada until 1888, when he located at Visalia, where he has since lived, gaining distinction at the bar. He is the owner of twenty-six hundred acres of valuable ranch land near Strathmore, Tulare county, on which he grows vines and alfalfa and has bred many tine cattle. In 1899 Mr. Hannah married Miss Kate Miller, a native of Cali- fornia, and they have daughters, Margaret and Dorothy. F^raternally he affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and as a citizen he is helpfully public-spirited and not without recognized political influence. JOHN MITCHELL GLASGOW A native of the Emerald Isle, John Mitche'l Glasgow was born near Belfast, Sei)tember 20, 18(54. He lived in Ireland until he was seventeen years old, accpiiiing a primary education and receiving some training in useful work. Then he crossed the ocean to the United States and located at Auburn, N. Y., where he was employed in the delivery of milk for a daii'y. In 1887 he came to California on his wedding trip and settled in Tulare countv. His first few 7-24 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES years here were busy oues. He farmed the old Teruian ranch on shares, raised cattle in a small way and cut and hauled wood. Thus, and otherwise at times, he was employed until he bought his home- stead of nine acres, which was the nucleus of his j)resent one hundred and eleven acre farm, which includes several subsequent purchases. He has a dairy of twenty cows, six acres planted to Egyptian corn, and four acres in prunes and peaches. His land produces a ton and a half of alfalfa to the acre and he sold during the season of 1912 eighteen tons of prunes from three acres for $450. In 1887 Mr. Glasgow married Maggie Henry, a native of New York, and they have four childreu: Harry H., Ina B.. Iva M. and Lena. Ina B. is attending business college in Stockton. In all things pertaining to the advancement of the best interests of his community, Mr. Glasgow is jiatriotically interested, and there is no measure that in his opinion promises to benefit any considerable number of his fellow-citizens that does not receive his encouragement and support. He is a member of the Loyal Order of ^loose, devoted to its various interests and respected by its brotherhood. His suc- cess is but another demonstration of the fact that grit aud hard work will win in the game of life if intelligently applied to everyday prob- lems and persisted in until the hoped-for end is gained. What he has done and is doing other Irish-Americans have accomplished aud are accom]5lishing, and they are proving the claim that has been made for them by many observers that they constitute one of the really admirable elements in our foreign-born citizenship. ARTHUR BURTON Scions of the old New England stock do well in California, aud California is justly proud of many of them. They have helped make history from coast to coast. Of such ancestry is Arthur Burton, a native of Lee coimty, Iowa, born October 7, 1866. His ]iarents were Edward and Mary J. (Wren) Burton, his father a native born Vernionter aud his mother a product of Illinois. Edward Burton left Vermont in the early '40s and crossed the country with an ox- team to Chicago, then little more than a big country village, sitting low down in the mud and scarcely alive to the prospect of things to come. He farmed in Iowa until 1885, and then came to California. Having brought some money with him, he was able to buy a ranch near Visalia, Tiilare county, which comprised seventy acres, on which he raised stock and alfalfa. He lived on that place until March 4, 1912, when he passed away, aged seventy-seven years, active to the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES IS.) end. His (.-liildrt'ii are Mrs. Edith AVestou, and Arthur, whose name introduces this article. In tlie conduct of the paternal farm Arthur Burton helped his father until 1903, when he bought his present ranch home, four and one-half miles west of Visalia. He owns sixty acres which he de- velojied from its original condition. His homestead {proper he devotes to the production of alfalfa. In connection with liis own place Mr. Burton is conducting the home ranch. On December 7, 1894, Mr. Burton married Ethel Wilcox, a native of Illinois, who has borne him two sons, Hollis H. and Carroll E. He is a member of Four Creek lodge No. 94, I. O. O. F., and affiliates with the Fraternal Brotherhood. LE^"Y NEWTON GREGORY The California citizen of the Dinuba neighborhood, whose career has been most worthy as a soldier, a pioneer and a successful man of affairs, is Levy Newton Gregory, who was born in Carroll county, Tenn., February 6, 1843. When four years old he was taken by his parents to Cedar county, Mo., from which place the family moved two years later to Springfield, Mo., where the son was educated in the public schools. Here he learned his first lessons in farming and nmde his home until 1870. Meanwhile, in 1862, when he was nineteen years old, he enlisted in Company I, Second Missouri Light Artillery, under Ca]5t. S. H. Julean. A year and a half intervened between the date of his mustering-in and the date of his musteriug-out. It was a time of hardship, of nnicli rough service and ]ioor livi'ng, which, however, is not the least jileasant of Mr. Gregory's recol- lections of the past. When Mr. Gregory came to California it was as a poor man and it was not until ]8!)1 that he was able to buy land. He remained on his first purchase until ten years ago, when he came to Dinuba and bought twenty-five acres of land at $40 an acre, which because of his lal)or and the rise in property values in Central California is now well worth $600 an acre. In 1870 Mr. Gregory married Sarah J. Hill, a native of Missouri. Of their seven chikh-en three are living. George was born in Mis- souri and died in California. James G. married Nettie Patterson and is living in Tulare county. AVilliam A. married Maud Fairweather and he, too, lives in Tulare county. Fred A. was born in Oregon, Mo., and died, aged twenty-six years, leaving a widow and one child. Bert Wiley, who is a well known ranchman in Tulare county, is the only one living of triplets. 726 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIP]S AJr. (iiejiory is an Odd Fellow and a uienxber of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Through his fraternal relations, no more than by his social intercourse with his fellow citizens he is popular, with all who know him. In every relation of life he has proven him- self generously helpful and his public spirit, many times tried, has never been inadequate to any legitimate demand upon it. His father, Wiley B. Gregory, a native of Tennessee, died in Texas at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. His mother passed away in Missouri. Mrs. Gregory's parents died in Missouri, where her father, Lawson Hill, was in some wavs well known. EDWARD ERLANGER The well known attorney and counsellor at law and breeder of trot- ting horses whose name heads this article was born at the University of Marburg, Germany, June 15, 1852. He came from a family of bankers. His father, Moritz P]rlanger, was a banker and merchant at Marburg. Our subject was educated at Gymnasium at Marburg. When seventeen years of age he entered the em])loy of the banking firm of von Erlanger & Son at Frankfurt on Main and continued till 1870. when lie was forced to resign his jiosition owing to the fact that he was drafted into the military service in the French and German war. He did service in the amlnilance corps, after which he sailed foi- New York, where he ai-rived in October, 1870. He came to California in 1871 and in 1872 located at Kingston, where he was employed as liookkeeper in the store of Jacol) and Einstein until the spring of 1877. It was while thus employed in the year 1874 that he and thirty-seven other white men were held up, bound and robbed by that historic California bandit Tiburcio ^^ascjuez and his band of thirteen outlaws. They were plundered to the extent of $4,000.00 and Vasquez and his men made their escape, but were later, in 1874, apprehended and arrested by officials from Los Angeles county and were hung in 1875. Upon the completion of the railroad to Hanford and Lemoore he came to the new town of Lemoore, where for two years he was a bookkeeper for J. J. Mack & Company, general merchants. Meanwhile he built the hotel and Masonic and Odd Fellows' hall building, and he established a general notion store in the building, which he was conducting wlien it was burned. He resumed Ijusiness in Erlanger Hall, in which a store was operated in front and a dance hall in the rear, but sold out in 1884 and took up the study of law in the office of Judge Jacobs, with which he was connected until 1893, when the latter was elected judge of the Superior Court and moved to Hanford, since when Mr. Erlanger has TULARK AND KINGS COUNTIES 7_'7 comlm-ted a general law, notary, real estate, and insurance oltice. For a time he handled real estate in association with Otto Brandt. Always a lover of horses he engaged in ranching and stockrai sing, giving particular attention to trotters. Ills real estate interests broadened into the buying, improving and selling large tracts of land. His health failed, however, and in 1893-95 he lost most of his holdings. It will he remembered that that was a period of iinancial depression. But he kei)t to his horses, was made a notary iiublic and had a fairly good law i)ractice, and for two years was dei)uty assessor under G. W. Follette. In 1895 he branched out as a farmer and stock-raiser and bought considerable property in and around Leraoore. As an outcome of his enter])rise he raised Toggles, trot- ting gelding, which for three years was the fastest horse in its class, taking all records in the state. In 1898 at Los Angeles he trotted the three fastest heats ever trotted in the West. Toggles was sold in 1898 to Mr. Babcock, owner of the Coronado Beach Hotel, and in 1899 won all stakes in the state, and in 1900 was taken East and there won three $10,- 000 stakes and the chamiuonshi]) of his class, and $25,000 was refused for him that year. He took also the premium at a horse show as the 7iiost i)erfect trotter as a show horse in the state. It is interesting in this connection to note that Mr. Krianger sold this valualile animal for $2500. In 1901 Toggles was retired from the track l)y his owner. Mr* Erlanger has his dam and two full brothei-s of him. J^e has always bred standardbred horses. In 1891 he started by buying twenty-six standard-lired brood mares, which were the foundation of his successes. He calls his brood estal)lishment the Royal Rose Breeding Farm. The sire Royal Rose was a finely bred trotting animal. Mr. Erlanger has at present a large number of horses for breeding and is developing Lightening Bug, a full brother of Toggles, which made 2:22 in 1911. He is now devoting himself principally to his legal and real estate work. In 1906 he was elected justice of the peace for four years and is also filling the office of city recoi'der. He has subdivided and sold ofT several tracts of land and was the builder of the first Masonic and Odd Fellows' hall in Lemoore. Politically he affiliates with the Rejniblican party and as a member of the County Central conuuittee and otherwise he has been a leader in its local work. Personally Mr. Erlanger has a generous heart, a loving and cheerful dis])osition, and makes and holds many friends. He sur- rounds himself with many pets, horses, dogs and birds. One of his best iiets is a native California l)ald eagle named "Old Abe." a bird which lias won national distinction. In the year 190fi an agent of the United States Government from the Smithsonian Institute at Wash- ington came to Lemoore, looking uj) data iiei'taiTiing to the Indians of this region and other things of interest, lie soon discovered in 728 TrLAEE AND KIXGS COUNTIES "Old Abe" a perfect type of tlie bald eagle, and bad bis pbotograpb taken, and tbis pbotograpb it is believed is tbe original for the eagle engraved on tbe new five and ten dollar gold coins. DA\aD WAED DE MASTERS A pioneer of iiioneers, Marshall Foster De Masters, a native of Missouri, crossed tbe plains, ■witb ox-teams to California in 1849, tbe memorable gold-seeking period tliat will be ever memorable in tbe bistory of this state and of tbe country at large. He settled in Tulare county, on tbe old Rusb place, northwest of Visalia. Later be sold out there and moved to tbe Kibler farm, where he was a successful breeder of cattle, sheep and hogs to tbe time of his death, which occurred in 1861. In bis time he was prominent in connection with tbe important affairs of his ado]ited county. In the days of tbe Indian wars be was captain of a local company that was jiitted against tbe savages in defense of tbe settlements round about. In Tulare county. October 16, 1855, was born David W. De Masters, son of Marshall Foster the pioneer. His has been, for tbe most part, tbe life of the cowboy, though he has at times acted as g-uide in tbe mountains of California. In all parts of the country be has driven cattle. At one time he drove a band of sixteen hundred cattle across country to Paso Robles for C. W. Clark, and in 1869 he crossed tbe Sierra NeA^ada mountains with a band of three hundred and drove it all the way to S]iring Valley, Nevada, a triji wliicli consumed five months and thirteen days. He enjoys tbe distinction of being one of tlie few cowboys yet living who ran cattle through central California in tbe early days. For tbe last thirteen years be has been su]ierintendent of tbe Persian irrigation ditch in Tulare county, one of tbe oldest water systems in tbis part of the state. In the sunnuer months be is much in demand as a guide to travelers and tourists through tbe mountain ranges. In August, 1878. Mr. De Masters married Miss Mav Lloyd, a native of California. He and bis wife are members of the Inde- pendent Order of Foresters. They bad two sons : Remmert died in March, 190.3, at tbe age of twenty-four years ; and Harry passed away Auo-ust 2, 1889, aged four years. Tbe experience of tbe De Masters family in California covers all periods of its history since the discovery of gold. In the early days of tbe elder De Masters tbe settlers had to grind their own flour and drive overland from Tulare county to Stockton for j^rovisions. Flour sold at Stockton at .$50 a sack, and other provisions were proportionately high. Marshall Foster De Masters married Miss TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 729 Amelia Ridgeway. Of their children only three survive, Newton and Stephen D., of Fresno county, and David W. De Masters of Tulare coimty. Mr. Lloyd, father of Mrs. David W. De Masters, came to Cali- fornia across the plains in 1850 and now at the age of eighty-five years is hale and hearty. His wife, Eleanor Coker, like her husband a native of Little Rock, Ark., is aged seventy-nine years. They have three daughters and one son living, all natives of California. Mr. and Mrs. Llovd were married at Rough and Readv, Nevada eountv, Cal. S. D. COCHRAN Of old Southern families, but of Irish and Scotch-Irish extrac- tion. S. D. Cochran of Dinuba, Tulare county, Cal., was born in Logan county, Ky., and lived there until he was forty-five years old. He is a great-grandson of Andrew Cochran, who emigrated from County Down, Ireland, when his son Andrew, grandfather of S. D., was a child of seven years. This was in 1776 and in that year they settled in South Carolina, where the elder Andrew passed away. The surviving family then removed to Kentucky, settling in Logan county in 1804, and it was in Kentucky in 1865 that the grandfather, Andrew Cochran, passed away aged about ninety-seven years. The maternal great-grandfather of S. D. Cochran, John Beatty, lived to be ninety years old and died in Kentucky in 1809 ; his daughter married Andrew Cochran, and was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. John B. Cochran, father of S. D., was born in South Carolina and married Mary Sawyer, daughter of Squire David Sawyer, of English descent, who emigrated from Pennsylvania to Kentucky in the early years of the nineteenth century. Mr. Cochran passed away when his son S. D. was twenty-two years old and the latter took charge of the old homestead. S. D. Cochran was educated in the public schools near his boy- hood home, but from an early age gave his attention to farming. In 187;^ he married Harriet Pierce Coles, who was born in Wilson county, Tenn., on the bank of the Cumberland river, daughter of John Temple and Amanda K. (Bandy) Coles, both natives of Tennessee. Mrs. Cochran is a member of a most distinguished family, characterized for great virility and longevity. Her great-grandmother (her father's paternal grandmother), was a Walters and a native of Tennessee and lived to lie ninety-six years of age. Mi's. Cochran had six uncles in the Confederate army. It is of interest to remark that her parents had a family of twelve children, all of whom are 730 Trr.ARE AND KL\GS COUNTIES Imno'. Jolm 'I'l'iiiple Coles. Iier father, is descended from old Irisli families. Twelve children were horn to S. D. Cochrnn and his wife as follows: ,lohu Cowan was drowned in infancy. TJohert Cleland mar- ried Edith Johnson, is a citizen of AVatsonville, Santa Cruz county. Cal., and has three children. Temple Beatty married Emma Clapp, has three children and they are living in Tulare county. Eureka was born November 12, 1878, in Kentucky on the date of the anniversary of her brother John Cowan's death, and she died at her home in the year 1910 from burns received from an explosion. Elbert, assistant postmaster at Dinuba, Cal., nuirried Emma Orrison of Selma, Cal., and they have one child, a son. Eunice married P. V. Carlson of Berkeley, Cal., and they have two children. Mansou M. is postmaster at Dinuba, Cal., has been in the government service for the past five years; he married Miimie Wiley, daughter of Assem- blyman Wiley, and they have one child, a sou. Euvie married Roy W. Wiley, a son of Assemblyman Wiley and they had one child, a daughter, and live at Dinuba. S. D., .Ji-., is a farmer and resides with his parents. Earl P. is a student at the University of Berkeley, and is taking a i)reparatory course to enter the Presbyterian min- istry; he has held an important government position. Eulalia and Willard arc members of their parents' household, the former a senior in the high school, the latter in the grammar school at Dinuba. When ]\rr. Cochran came to Tulare count \- in 1892 much of the best land, as then im]n'ovod, could have been Ixuight at $100 an acre, a small fraction of its market value at this time. In the school at Dinuba only two teachers were employed; the number at this time is about twelve. In the advancement of education and of all other local interests he has been a recognized factor. While residing in Kentucky he was twice elected to the office of justice of the peace, which office he resigned to come to California, in 1892. He is an elder in the Presbyterian church and a member of the Grange at Dinuba and he and Mrs. Cochran are charter members of the local bodv of the Fi'aternal Brotherhood. REV. J. R. COOPER On a farm in Perry county. III, rtfty-tive miles from St. Louis, was born J. R. Cooper. He was graduated from Monmouth College in 1877 and eventually entered the ministry of the Presbyterian church and now lives near Dinuba, Tulare county, Cal., on rural free delivery route No. 2. His parents were Hugh and Eliza (Despar) Cooper, natives respectively of South Carolina and of Kentucky, and TULARE AND KL\(}S COUNTIES 731 he was reared to laaiiliood amid tlie healthful .surroundings of an Illinois farm. His great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary war. Mr. Cooi)er began his ministry at Solomon, Kansas, and labored there five years; his next pastorate, one of four years, was at Lake City, Colorado, eight thousand six hundred (8600) feet above the sea level. Then he was stationed iiriefly in Nebraska ; then, for three years, at Aztec, San Juan county. New Mexico. Next he labored a year near the Mexican border, with head(|uarters at Douglas, Arizona. From this last station he came to Tulare county and bought forty acres of land. He has thirty acres in vines and six acres planted to trees and grows six acres of Grand Duke and Hungarian plums which bring a higli ])rice in the market. He has ]ilanted five acres to Rosaki grajies for shipping puriwses and has installed a ]>umping plant with a four horse-power Holliday engine, by means of which he raises watei- from a depth of seventy-five feet for irrigation and domestic ])urposes, in such volume that one hun- dred and fifty gallons a minute may l)e discharged. Mr. Coojier's many friends are glad to be able to testify that he is making a distinct success of his venture in central California. The lady who became Mi's. Cooper is of Scotch ancestry and was born at Ballymena, Ireland. They have a daughter, Jessie E.. who was graduated from the Dinuba high school and has been tea<'hiug five years. The mother, who was Margaret (McPherson) Steel, came comparatively young to the United States, was educated at the St. Louis Normal school and for some time was a teacher at a yearly salary of $1000. Her nephews, Mathew and Richard Steel, graduates of the University of New York and Edinburg (Scotland) University res]3ectively, have won prominence, the one as a professor of chem- istry, the other as a physician in the Indian sei-vice. Mr. Coo)>er is a Republican and a citizen of notable public spirit. THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF VISALIA This important financial institution occupies its own beautiful and substantial banking house at Main and Court streets, Visalia, where it has every requisite for the conduct of its large and growing- volume of business. This liank was organized and began business in 181>o. It is capitalized at $l.j(J,()UO, fully paid in, and has a surj)lus of more than $40,000. In 1907 its increasing business demanded more commodious quarters, and the present fine bank building was erected. Its premises are spacious, conveniently arranged and well lighted, and its atmosphere is one of solidity and comfoit. They ai-e well equipped for the prom]it handling of the bank's extensive business. 732 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES and their facilities are at the disposal of frieuds and patrons, who are cordially invited to raake use of them. Included in the list of the officers and directors of the First National Bank of Yisalia are the names of some of the hest known financiers and men of affairs of the entire state, men of large capital, interests and influence, who are personally known to the husiness community for their individual integrity and for their ability as advisers in all matters in which considerable sums are involved or in which the welfare of the i>eople at large is at stake. The officers are S. Mitchell, president; A. Levis, A'ice-president ; C. M. Griffith, cashier; C. E. Coughran, assistant cashier. The directors are S. Mitchell, A. Levis, N. 0. Bradley, W. E. Spalding, D. G. Overall, W. L. Fisher and C. M. Griffith. These men individually have done much for the advancement of A^isalia and Tulare county. Mr. Mitchell, the president, is one of the best and most widely known of western financiers, and besides his heavy financial interest in this bank has large investments in other important business and monetary institutions. He is president of the Pioneer Bank of Porterville, the First National Bank and the Lindsay Savings Bank of Lindsay, the First National Bank of Delano and the Producers Savings Bank of Visalia. To such officials and directors, to its established reputation for reliability, to its strict adherence to correct and conservative methods, is due the high standing of the First National in business circles both at home and abroad. HOLLEY & HOLLEY This is the story of the California success of two Yermonters. The brothers H. H. and (\ H. Holley came to Los Angeles, Cal., in 1889, and both graduated from the ])ublic schools of that city and from the engineering dei)arlment of Stanford University. C H. Holley has been a citizen of Yisalia since 1901, H. H. Holley since 1904. Before they went into business for themselves, they were both engineers for the Mount "Whitney Power Company. It was in December, 1907. that they opened an office and began biasiuess in Visalia as civil and electrical engineers. In April, 1911, H. H. Holley bought the real estate and insurance business of the Tulare County Land Company. As engineers, their principal business has been the establishment of irrigation systems, pumj^ing plants for subdivision and electrical power plant. For the last two years they have been quite busy in the organization and promotion of the Tulare County Power Company, an electrical development for furnishing electric power for irrigation and lighting. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 73J the main hydraulic phiut for which will be located at (xlol)e, on the Tule river, fourteen miles from Porterville. They have installed a steam auxiliary station at Tulare City, which is now in successful operation. C. H. Ilolley gives his attention entirely to the electrical side of the proposition. He has laud interests in the county, among them some orange land, and a vineyard at Exeter. H. H. Holley is a meml)er of the Liln-ary Board of Yisalia and in many ways both have demonstrated their usefulness as public-spirited citizens. They are widely known throughout the state in a professional way and both are members of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Hav- ing made an exhaustive study of land and water conditions in Tulare county, they are as well informed concerning them as it is possible for anyone to become, and they otTer their clients the most thorough and efficient service available. JAMES FISHER (Jn North Court street, N'isalia, lived that venerable pioneer. .Tames Fisher, who watched and aided the development of the town and of Tulare county. Having come to the state in 1857, he was a human landmark in local history and until his death a connecting link between the old order of things and the new. A son of Spencer and Elizabeth (Henderson) Fisher, he was born at Kaskaskia, Ran- dolph county. 111., October 13, 1823, and for many years survived the place of his birth, which once was the capital of Illinois. Silencer Fisher, son of an Illinois pioneer, was born and died in that state. His busy and useful years were devoted to farming. Elizabeth Henderson, who became his wife, was born near Little Rock, Ark., and passed away in the Prairie State. They had five children, of whom James was the longest survivor. "Brought up on the home farm," says a recent writer, "he obtained his early education in a subscription school, whicli was held in a log house chinked with mud, and having a puncheon floor and shake roof. On one of the slab benches, near the huge fireplace, he was taught to write with a quill l)eii. and under the instruction of his teacher made as good progress in the three 'R's' as his schoolmates." When he was twenty-one. he went to Murphysboro, 111., wheie he found employment in a store, living at the old hotel owned liy Dr. Logan, father of Gen. John A. Logan. In 1844 he took up his residence in Sbreveport, La., and for some time managed a ferry, tlie i)roperty of a man named Douglas. Then going back to Illinois, he clerked in a store at 734 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Chester until 1855. He was now ready for a change of scene and of employment and had contracted the "California fever." He came out, with horses and wagons, by way of Council Bluffs, Iowa, over the old Mormon trail, arriving at Millerton, ("al, after half a year's weary travel. He made and fulfilled a contract to cut two million feet of sawlogs for Alexander Ball, then built three miles of road down the mountains from Ball's mill. Later he purchased ox-teams of Ball and hauled lumber from the mill to Millerton and to other points. In the spring of 1857 he moved to Visalia, making that town the headquarters of his transpoi'tation enterprise, which he continued about eighteen months thereafter. His specialty was the transporta- tion of manufactured lumber from mill to market. He hauled loads of three thousand feet with six yokes of oxen and received $30 a thousand ($90 a load) for a five days' round trip. In the fall of 1858 he went to Sonora, Mexico, bought a herd of branded cattle and drove them back to Califoinia, to a place in Antelope valley, Tulare county, where he sold them at a profit. In 18(30, Mr. Fisher bought two hundred acres of land of R. L. Howison and began the improvement of his homestead. As he made money he made frequent investments in laud until he became one of the extensive property owners of Tulare couuty. Three and a half miles northeast of Visalia, in sections eleven, twelve, fourteen and fifteen, he had thirteen hundred acres under irrigation by means of lillbow creek and St. John's river and its canals. This property, Oaklawn Ranch, is devoted to grain aud alfalfa. Pour miles further north is the stock farm of ten Imndrcd aud twenty acres. At Taurusa, two miles north of Oaklawn Ranch, is a ranch of eiglit hundred acres which is included in tlie holdings, and seven miles east of Oaklawn Ranch is another of twelve hundred acres, which he gave to his son, William L. Fisher. Besides his general farming, Mr. Fisher gave much attention to stockraising in the days before tlie fence law came into operation, having at times twenty thousand sheep. As a stockman he was uncommonly successful, owning manv cattle and raising tine nudes and draft horses. The lady who became the wife of Mr. Fisher was Miss Mary E. Ilowison, daughter of R. L. ITowison, who came to Visalia among the pioneers. They were wedded on Mr. Fisher's own home f.-inu. in 1860. Mrs. Fisher has borne her husband three children : Mrs. Alice Markham, who died at Visalia; Mrs. I^innie Bodden of Visalia; and AVilliam Lee Fisher. The Fisher farm residence, one of the most hospitable in Tulare county, was built in 1875. In his politics Mr. Fisher was a Democrat. As a citizen, his public spirit had been many times put to the test and.never been found wanting. He died on his home ranch September 18, 191 "2. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 7:55 GEORGE S. CLEMENT In Allegan county, Mich., twenty miles from Grand Rapids, George Stillman Clement, a i^rominent landowner and business ujan of Porterville, was born October 2',], 1856. Near bis boyhood home he attended school, and as the son of a farmer he early in life was made familiar with the duties connected with farm life. The year 1864 witnessed the removal of the family to Iowa, and from there in 1867 they moved still further west, settling in Nebraska and remain- ing there until 188U. That year fgund them once more in Michigan, and they remained there until 1887, when they came to C'aliforuia and settled near Springville, Tulare county. There G. S. Clement pre- emjited a tract of government land and from time to time he added to this by i)urchase. At the time he settled tliere the country was wild and undeveloped and game was so plentiful that he could easily kill any number of deer or bear. He has watched the development of this part of California and has assisted in it to the extent of his ability, having been a member of the school board and identified from time to time with other public interests. For a considerable period he was a well-known figure in the stock business of the county, con- tinuing his residence near Springville until 11)10, when he came to Porterville. Here too he has become well and favorably known and has purchased considerable city property. In 1887, in Michigan, Mr. Clement married Miss Effie May Cronk, a native of Michigan, whose father died in that state. Her mother was a member of Mr. Clement 's household for fourteen years, or until 1912, when she passed away, at the age of eighty-eight. Mr. Clement's father, Jacob Clement, was born in the state of New York and died aged fifty-four years. His mother, who before her marriage was Miss Emily Gault, a native of Michigan, died when her son was about five vears old. LYMAN L. FOLLETT The well-known citizen of Lenioore, Kings county, Cal., whose name is the title of this sketcli, was born in Iowa in 186!). a son of Granville W. and Lucy (Abel) P^ollett. His father, a native of Ohio, born Se])tem])er 25. 18.'14, went to Fremont, Ind., when lie attained his majority and became a clerk in a store there. Eventually the store was bought by Dr. L. L. Moore, who admitted liiui to partner- sliip in the business, the association cojitinuing until ]\lr. Follett sold out his interests in Indiana and went to Gi-anville, Iowa. There he conducted a general merchandise business six years, and during 736 TULARP] AND KIxVGS COUNTIES most of that time be also filled the office of postmaster. In July, 1875, he brought bis son, who was in failing health, to what is now Kings county and deciding to remain here, opened a store witliin the boundaries of what is now Moore's addition to Lemoore and continued there until 1877. The railroad having been constructed, he found a better location on E and Fox streets, opposite the depot. About that time he and J. A. Fox and Dr. L. L. Moore bought squat- ters' rights to the quarter-section of land which is now the townsite of Lemoore and eventually the railroad bought their interests. For a time they raised alfalfa where the business of the town is now transacted. Mr. Pollett continued in the mercantile business until September, 1882, when his store was destroyed by fire. From that time until 1884 he was profitably employed in boring artesian wells, and from 1884 to 1894 his principal business was threshing. In the last-mentioned year he was elected county assessor of Kings county and filled the responsible office with ability and credit for two terms until he retired from active life. He died at the home of his son, Lyman L. Follett, June 11, 1911. In 1868, at Coldwater, Mich., Granville W. Follett married Lucy Abel, a native of Ohio, and she bore him four children, of whom Lyman L. was the eldest. The others were Mary E., who died in childhood; Carrie E., who died in 1877; and C. W., born in 1878, who lives at Tuolumne, Cal. In 1888 Mr. Follett married Mrs. Sue Thacker, a native of Tennessee. Fraternally he affiliated with the Chosen Friends and with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. It was in July, 1875, that Lyman L. Follett came with his father to the site of Lemoore. He was then about six years old. He was reared at Lemoore and educated in a public school there and in the high school at San Francisco, then took up steam-engineering and ran engines twenty-two years in stationary work as well as in harvest- ing and similar operations. In 1909 he engaged in the insurance business at Lemoore in connection with real estate operations and since then has done much conveyancing and officiated as notary ]iublic. In Novembei-, 1911, he was apjiointed city clerk and sewer insj)ector of Lemoore. He served as deputy-assessor of Kings county under his father and was city assessor of Hanford in 1900. R. A. Moore, of whom a biogra])liical sketch appears in these ]iages, is associated with him in the real estate business. Mr. Follett was formerly a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and his social affiliations now are with the Woodmen of the World, the Red Men and the Knights of Pythias. He married in 1894 Miss Kate Esery, a native of California, a daughter of Jonathan and Sarah A. Esery, and she died in 1908, after having borne him .four children — Charles Granville, La Verne. Eileen and Ernest. The latter is with his uncle at Tuohmine. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 737 In the municipal eleotiou at Lemoove, I'Jll, Mr. Follett was elected City Clerk, which office he tills with entire credit to himself and citv. EIJAS JACOB The flight of years is mit likely soon to make the people of Tulare county, Cal., forget the late Elias Jacob. He gave so much energy to the u])lniilding of his personal success, he won so many signal triumphs, he did so much for others, that those who labored side by side with him in the pioneer days of the modern California remember him with a certain tender pride that is nothing short of ])ers()nal mourning. His success meant the advancement of the coun- try's best interests, the extension of all its affairs of moment, social, l»olitical and commercial. Tie was Ixirn in Germany, of German parents, in 1841. His father was u merchant, and even as a child the younger Jacob knew something about business. With a sturdy iudei»endence that was characteristic of him, he made his way to California when he was only twelve years old, found employment at Stockton in a drygoods store, and in that position busied himself till 1856, about three years after his arrival. He had learned some- thing of American business ways. He liked California, but wanted to see more of it before settling down to a good long struggle for fortune. He passed a year at Millerton, then the seat of justice of Fresno county, and then came to Visalia to take charge of the store of his brother-in-law, H. Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell passed away in 1859 and young Jacob became his successor and enlarged the store and continued the business until 1876. Meantime he had opened se\eral stoi'es in dilferent towns in I^resno and Tulare counties, which had been successful. Now, his health having declined, he retired from trade and devoted himself to the aci|uisition of land, and in the years following l)ouglit about forty-live thousand acres in Tulare county, his largest single tract containing fifteen thousand two hundi'ed acres. It is a matter of most interesting farming history that in some years his entii'e acreage was sown to wheat. He imjiroved his jn-operty with artesian wells, jmlting down as. many as eight on some single tracts, using the flow of water both for iriigation and foi- stock. During his mercantile career, in the days before he was an exten- sive land ownei', lie was an enthusiastic advocate of the opening up of irrigation ditches, and his ventures in that way brought liim manifold returns, and the lands he ac(|uircd have grown very \al- uable because of theii- ample watei- sujijily. The stock on his hold ings long remainci] intact. lie built iiiaiiy houses in \'isalia, all 738 TULARE AND KIXGS COUNTIES of wliioh beoanie a part of iiis estate when he i)assed away. lli> deatli occurred October 1, 1902. The whole coinmuiiity appreciated Mr. Jacob's personal char- acteristics, recognizing' in him a citizen who gave the best of him- self for the public advancement. In liis political afliliations he always gave his support to the men and measures of the Democratic party, and was one of its most influential workers in the county. Wanting no political preferment for himself, he rei)eatedly refused such as his admiring friends would liave bestowed upon him, at the same time i)utting forth his l)est efforts to jiromote the principles he en- dorse! and to augment the prestige and influence of his jjarty in his part (tf the state. He served for many years as a member of the county and state Democratic Central connnittees. Fraternally, he was a Royal Arch Mason, and it is a part of the Masonic history of Tulare county that he was the orator of the day on the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone of the courthouse at Visalia by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of California. LHWIS WASHINGTON HoWLTH The late and res])ected citizen of Porterville, Tulare county, familiarly known as "Luke" Howeth, was born in DeKalb coimty, Ala.. June 4, 1837. a son of Thomas and Nancy Howeth, natives of the same state. Following are the names and -birth dates of their other children: William, 1818; Tandy B., 1819: Fletcher, 1820; Har- vey, 1821; Nelson, 1823; John W., 1821; Eliza. 1825; Martha, 1827; Sarah, 1828; Thomas, 1829; Jefferson, 1831; Cornelius, 1833; Cather- ine, 1836;" Byron. 1838, and Franklin, 1841. Nelson, Jefferson, Cor- nelius and L. W. lived in California. In his native state Lewis Washington Ilowetli was reared and educated and under his father's instruction and that of some of his elder brothers, acquired a |)ractical knowledge of farming. In 1855, when he was about nineteen years old. he made an overland journey to California and mined in Inyo county until 1860, when he took up farming in San Joa(|uin county. From there he went to Tuolumne county, thence to Sianislaus county, and for a time he was engaged in lumbering in Mendocino county. After his mar- riage, which occurred September 25, 1867. Mr. Howeth removed to 'I'uiare county, making his home here until his death, June 9, 1904. During his residence here he became one of the most extensive sheep- men of the county and he became equally well known as a tiller of the soil. Fn maidenhood Mrs. Howeth was Miss Sophia (Gardner, born TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 739 in Jefferson county. III., April 5, 184:5, the daugliter of Jacob and Sophia Gardner, natives of Germany, who came to the United States in 1840 and settled in Illinois. From there they came to Califoi-nia in 1852 by way of the Isthmus of Panama. They located in Tulare county and it was here, in ]8r)8, that their daughter became the wife of John Ilewey. lie died in 18(14, leaving a widow and two chil- dren, Enuua R. and John \V. Ilewey. Mrs. Hewey's marriage to Mr. Howeth occurred in Stockton. Of this marriage the following children were born: Mary I^ee, who died in infancy; Franklin J., who was born in 18(ii»; Thomas A., born in 1871; Lnc\- in 1873, the wife of H. ^Y. Manter and the mother of two ciiildren; Elizabeth, born in 1876 and the wife of II. J. Thomas; Edgar W., born in 187i); May, born in 1881, the wife of Roy Smith and the mother of two children; and Hazel, born in 1883, the wife of Fred LaBrague and the mother of one child. In his political affiliations Mr. Howeth was a Democrat. Fra- ternally he was identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His place in the business community is tilled in part by his son, Thomas A. Howeth, a native of Stanislaus county. The latter, who was formerly a far- mer and merchant, is now handling real estate quite extensively at Porterville. FRANK P. SMITH At San Jose Mission, Santa Clara county, Cal., P^'rank P. Smith was born in 1852, a son of Henry C. and Mary (Harlan) Smith, natives respectively of Michigan and Illinois. His father crossed the plains to California in 1845, witji Colonel Hastings, who blazed the way for the tide of emigration that was to follow, a little later, after the discovery of gold. For a time he was at Sutter's Fort. He was occupied in whip sawing lumber in the woods north of Oakland and then went to the mines when the excitement was the greatest. In the early days, when Califoi^nia's capital was at Vallejo, he was three times elected to repre- sent his district in the legislature, and for some years he was justice of the peace at the Mission of San Jose. As an interpreter of the Spanish language he had, perhaps, no superior in all Calil'oi-nia. As such he was often called u))on to help iu the settlenu^nt of matters of gi'eat im)iortance. The last yeai- of his life he passed at Ijivermore, Cal., where he passed awa>- in 1S75. He h.id children as follows: Fi'ank P.; Emma, who has tatiglit s( liool at Livermore foi- more than thirty years; and Cluu'les F., of Richmond. Cal. Mrs. Smith is now living at the age of eighty-six years, making her home at Livermore. 740 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES It was iu the original Contra Costa eonuty tliat Frank P. Suiitli grew to manhood. He engaged in ranching there, and after a time went to a place near Cambria, on the Pacific, in San Luis Obispo county, where he began dairying. After twenty years' residence he came, in 1901, to Tulare- county. For four years he operated the old Broder ranch, east of Visalia, then came to the place that he has since owned and occupied. It is located five miles west of Visalia and comprises three hundred and fifty-eight acres, of which a hundred acres is in alfalfa, twenty acres in Egyptian corn, and the balance in grazing and general farming uses. He has a dairy of forty to fifty cows and has usually about a hundred and fifty hogs. As an example of the productiveness of California land, he says that in one year he cut from eight acres of land four tons of wheat hay and then planted the same land to Egyptian corn and produced a thousand pounds of corn to the acre. In 1882 Mr. Smith married Miss Martha Cha]>pell, a native of Gilroy, Santa Clara county, Cal., and she has borne him two sons, Henry C. and Charles L. In his work he is assisted by his sons, who take an interest in local affairs and are members of Four Creek Lodge No. 94, I. O. O. F., in which Henry C. holds the office of vice- grand. The father is a Native Son of the Golden West. A man of enterprise and public spirit, he has in many ways demonstrated his interest in the county and its economic problems. His uncle, Ira Van Gorden, was so early a settler in Tulare county that when lie came he could count the white inhabitants of the county on the fingers of his two hands. WILLIAM N. STEUBEN The first agent of the Wells-Fargo Express Co. at Visalia, Tulare county, Cal., was William N. Steuben, a native of New York, who crossed the plains with other pioneers in 1849, mined in Placer county three years and came to Visalia in 1852. Soon he was made agent of a local express company, called the Overland Stage Company, which was later taken over liy the Wells-Fargo company. His recollections of tlie Imsiness included the exi)eriences of the days wlien all exjiress matter came to California iu the overland stages, guarded by sharp- shooting pony express riders, and of the days of the develo])meut of the express business along modern lines, in which the railroad is the chief utility. He ])assed away in 1892. liaving lieen succeeded as agent long since liy his son Zane Steulieii, who was the local represen- tative of the company at Visalia for nearly fifty years |)rior to his death, which occurred on Washington's birthday, 1908. The elder Steuben took an active interest in all public affairs of the town, ]iar- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 741 ticularly iu the establislaneiit aud developmeut of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was a devoted member. He married ]\riss Katherine Hamilton, a native of New York, and tlieir family consi.sted of: Zaue and Katherine, married to Ned Hart, who in the early days was identified wdth the United States land office at Viscilia; her children, William N., Frank R. and Ned Hart, are deceased. It was in 1852 that Zane Steuben came to California, around Cape Horn. For a time he mined at Placerville; later he became his father's assistant in the express office, and in timq his successor, as has been narrated. He married Mary Louisa Elme,, and they had four children : Mrs. Mary E. Burland, William E., John and Catherine H., who died in infancy. From the day when the Wells-Fargo company began to do busi- ness at Visalia to the present time, the Steubeus have been in charge of its local affairs. Something of the administration of William N. and Zane Steulien has been told. William E. and Mrs. Mary E. Burland are now in charge of the office. John Steuben is working for the Central California Cannery, having the management of the receiv- ing department. The history of the Steuben connection with this important interest for so many years is a history of faithfulness to duty and of fidelity to all trusts, a history that carries a lesson for good to men and women who would succeed worthily and permanently. JAMES SWEENEY One of the prosperous and highly respected fruit growers of Tulare county, Cal., is James Sweeney, who owns a fine ranch near Farmersville. Mr. Sweeney was born in Kentucky June 10, 1858, and left home when very young, working his way here and there aroimd the country. For quite a while he lived at Cairo, 111., and later at St. Louis, Mo. His opportunities for schooling were limited, but he has a good fund of practical information, which he gained in the "college of hard knocks," aud which he finds very useful in various cTuer- gencies. In 1890 Mr. Sweeney came to California and for some time worked for wages on the John Jordan peach, prune and gra]ie ranch of eighty acres near Hanford, Kings county, which he later rented and operated for twelve years. He came to his i^roductive ranch of one hvmdred and ten acres near Farmersville, in 1902. It was formerly the property of R. E. Hyde aud is one of the best improved farms in the vicinity. He owns a tract of twenty acres near by and two town blocks in Farmersville. On his landi he has four hundred apricot 742 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES trees, three acres of Tragedy Freuch primes, ten acres of Laval peach trees and three acres each of orange clingstone, Muir and Siis- qnehanna ])eaclies, and has recently set out eighteen acres of French and Rolie De Sargent prune trees. Besides he has thirty acres in alfalfa and keeps hogs, turkeys and a dairy of twelve cows. The woman who liecame Mr. Sweeney's wife was Miss Bridget Sweeney, of the same name, a native of Missouri, who has borne him nine children, viz.: Timothy. Albert. Nora, John, Mary, Dorothy. Michael. Maggie and Viola. As a farmer Mr. Sweeney is thoroughly up-to-date and in all his plans and work ]irogressive. His jilace is well improved and outfitted with good buildings, modern machin- ery and appliances and every essential to its successful cultivation. As a citizen he takes an interest in all affairs of the commimity and extends public spirited aid to every movement for the general benefit. JESSE A. THOMAS Among the progressive farmers of his vicinity is Jesse A. Thomas, whose father, Dewbart W. Thomas, was a native of Illinois; his mother, Clarinda (Harrell) Thomas, was born in Texas. Jesse A. Thomas was born January 29, 1868, near Visalia, Tulare county, Cal. In 1849 Dewbart ^Y. Thomas cros.sed the plains to California and for a little while mined in the northern part of the state. Then he came to the Four Creek section of Tulare county, and some time in the early fifties liought eighty acres of land on which he established him- self as a farmer. Later he took up one hundred and sixty acres of government land, which he improved during the succeeding eight years, devoting it to the breeding of cattle and horses. He passed away in 1888, leaving seven children: Alexander, Jesse A.. Mrs. Nancy Hicks, Sarah Janie, Frances, Weiley D. and Carrie. Reared and educated in Tulare county, Jesse A. Thomas liegan his active life as a farmer in association with his father, and after the latter 's death managed the home farm three years. He then rented three hundred and twenty acres of land north of Visalia, on which he has won success as a farmer and dairyman, maintaining a dairy of sixty-seven cows and growing much alfalfa. He now owns eighty acres of grazing laud on Cottonwood Creek and another eighty acres three miles southeast of Visalia. Thirty acres of the latter tract he devotes to Egyptian corn, of which he lias marketed ten sacks to the acre. He keeiis about fifty head of cattle and as many hogs and is at this time ])lanting jieach trees on fifteen acres. In 1889 Mr. Tiionms married Miss Mattie F. De Pew, a native of Iowa, and they have had these children : Lawrence L.. Hazel L.. Dollie N.. Augusta and Jessie F. Dollie N. has passed away. Fra- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 74:! tcnially Mr. Thomas affiliates with V\nn- Creek Lodge, No. !»-t, liide- peiulent Order of Odd Fellows, ami with the Foresters of America. As a man of enterprise he is making a distinct personal success, and as a man of puhlic s])irit he is promjit and generous in the aid of movements i)roi)osed for the good of the community. JOHN W. WILLIAMS One of the well-rememhered citizens of Msalia, Tulare county, of the period including the latter part of the last and the ojiening year of the jn-esent century was John W. Williams, who was horn in South CaroHna and who died at Visalia, his busy and useful life hav- ing spanned the period beginning December 12, 1830, and ending October 12, 1!»()L lie came to California, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, in 1S5;!, and went to the mines of Tuolumne county, where he met with various degrees of success and failure. In 1859 he located near Porterville, Tulare county, where he divided his time for some years lietween farming and the superiutendency of the Tule River Indian reservation. It is a matter of local horticultural history that he planted the tirst fig tree near Porterville. Later in life he was interested in sheep raising in the mountains. The ])ioneer days of this comparatively early settler were full of the vicissitudes of life on the border and in the mines. His skirmishes with Indians were frequent and some of them would make interesting reading were he here to supply the details. In 1862 he went to Sacramento, where he had a band of horses, and the animals were all lost in the flood of that year. Thus suddenly and providentially impoverished, he made his way back to Tulare county and made his home in Visalia, where he held the office of city marshal twelve years. He jiroved himself the man for the jtlace and the time l)y ridding the town of a rough and lawless element that had so intimidated former nuirshals that not a man of them had stuck to the office after real ojjposition set in. Later he was de]iuty sheriff two years under Sheriff Parker and four years under Sheriff Kay, ]ierforming the duties of the jiosition with characteristic l)ravery and fidelity. The lodge of Free and Acce]ited Masons included Mr. Williams in its membership, lie manied Julia Storey in LSfi,'). Flcr i)areuts, Fari'is and Addla C. (Johnson) Storey, were natives of Geoi'gia. Mrs. Storey (bed in her native state, and Mr'. Storey brought his child Julia to California in 1852, making the journey by wav of Panama. After having been for several years engaged in stock-raising in the Santa Claia valley and later near Los Angeles, he located at 'N'isalia in 1857. continuing in the stock business. In 18H0 he was put in (•omiiiaiid of a local company in Nevada which engaged in war- 744 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES fare agaiust ]iredatory Indiaus, and lie was killed while leading bis men in a fight. Thus he yielded his life in defense of the settlers. Storey county, Nevada, was named in his honor. Mrs. Williams has one son, J. Fred Williams, a member of the firm of Williams & Butz, Visalia. He married Miss Nellie Jones and they have two sons, Farris W. and Storey F. As his pioneer ancestors were leaders in their time, so is he in his, alive to the business possibilities of this ])art of the state and solicitous for the development and advancement of all its important interests. The widow of John AV. Williams is passing her declining years in the town where he won some of his greatest triumphs, cheered by loving relatives and welcomed everywhere by a wide circle of admiring friends. ROBERT McADAM One of the most splendid cxam]>les of the self-made, self- reliant and jiersevering men who are now numbered among the prosperous and successful operators in California is Robert Mc- Adam, whose wide interests and signal success in his undertakings have marked him conspicuously in many localities in the common- wealth. He is well and favorably known to the ]ieople of Tulare county as the promoter and ]iart owner of the celebrated McAdam ranches, which are situated five miles west of the city. Mr. McAdam is a native of the north of Ireland, his birth occurring September 27, 1851, in County Mayo, son of Samuel and Eliza (Henderson) Mc- Adam, both of whom were nati^■es of Scotland. The McAdam was a very ])r(>minent family in County Maj'o, where they followed farming and milling and liecame land owners. In 1855 Samuel A[(Adam with his family immigrated to Huron county, Ontario, Canada, and here in the year following the mother passed away, leaving a family of four children: James, who is men- tioned more fully elsewhere in this volume; Robert; Sidney, who became the wife of Robert Wright, lived in Michigan and died at the age of forty years, leaving one child; and Mary, who became the wife of John Jordan and died at her home in Toronto, Canada, at the age of twenty-four, leaving two children. Samuel McAdam married for his second wife Mrs. Sarah (Wiggins) White, of Canada and by her had seven sons, viz.: William (deceased), Alfred, Ste- phen, Samuel, David, Joseph (deceased), and Charles. Robert McAdam, son of Samuel, was aliout four years of age when brought from Ireland to Canada. The loss of the mother at a tender age jiroved a great hardslii]> and when but seven years of age he was ol)liged to take an active pait in the work of pioneer- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 745 ing, swinging the ax and working in the forests clearing hind for many long hours. It is difficult to realize in this day that such labor and long hours could l)e withstood l)y such a small boy, who, dejirived of leisure hours and the many games and diversions which go to cheer the heart of a boy, was instead forced to live the life of a laborer and become inured to the hardest kind of work. While he used the ax and handspike his education was of necessity neg- lected and as the schools were not modern or well equipped be had little op])ortunity to obtain a thorough training. However, by nat- ural ability, close observation and attending diligently to good read- ing he became well informed and his wide and many experiences have been the most able teacher he has ever had. At the age of twenty-three Mr. McAdam married Miss Mary Elizabeth Gemmill, of Canada, and six years later they removed to Pembina county, Da- kota territory, where they remained for nine years, successfully farming a tract of six hundred and forty acres especially in wheat. Selling their place they went to St. Martins Parish, Louisiana, where Mr. McAdam accepted a position as manager for the Huron Plan- tation, a large sugar plantation of eight thousand acres, owned by an English syndicate, and under his able su]>ervision the business ])rospered, a retinery was built at a cost of $800,000 and the enter- prise rapidly advanced. Finding that the climate there did not agree with him he came to Pasadena, Cal., in May, 1892, buying thirteen acres of orange grove for which he paid $6,000, and this he sold eighteen years later at a good i)rotit. Meanwhile he had become the owner of a two-huudred-acre ranch, seventeen miles southeast of Los Angeles, which he sold in 1904 and then came to Tulare county to purchase sixteen hundred acres, five miles west of Tulare which he has improved and developed until it is now one of the best of its kind in the state. A further mention of this ranch ]iroperty is given in this volume imder the name of the McAdam Ranches. Eleven children were born to Robert McAdam and wife, three of whom died in childhood. Of those surviving we mention the fol- lowing: Isabelle, jn-incipal of the Linda Vista schools, is the widow of John McAli)ine, and has a daughter, Catherine. Annie is a senior in the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. Frank S. is mentioned elsewhere in this iiublication as is also his brother William J. Grace is attending a private school at Pasadena. Robert anil Fred are students at the high school at Pasadena. Helen is in the grammar school there. About two years ago Mr. McAdam became interested in mining. He is the owner of the Castle Dome Silver and Lead mines in Yuma county, Ariz., and it has alread;^ been bi'ought uj) to a paying proposition; with the splendid energy of Mr. McAdam united with that of his two sons. AVilliam ,]. and Frank S., the present managers, the mines bid fair to become one 74(5 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES of the great dividend payers of Arizona. Mr. MeAdani is also in- terested in a gold mine at Goldtield, Nev., and one at Kingman. Ariz. In fraternal circles he affiliates with the Masons, is a Knight Templar, member of the blue lodge, chapter, commandery and Scottish rite. The family are members of the Lincoln Avenue Methodist Epis- copal church at Pasadena, where tliey make their home at No. 76(5 No. Orange Grove avenue, surrounded by many well-wishing friends who have come to appreciate their gentle and kindly ways, their unfailing hospitable welcome and their generous, thoughtful living. JAMES McADAM The McAdam family of which James McAdam is a member num- bers among its representatives some of the l)est, most reliable and active citizens of the state of California, their interests being mostly in Tulare county and throughout southern California. James Mc- Adam, whose residence is now No. 1248 East Colorado street, Pasa- dena, is a native of Ireland, having been born in County Mayo, March 17, 1849, son of Sanniel and P]liza (Henderson) McAdam, of whom more extensive mention is made in the biograi)hy of Robert McAdam elsewhere in tliis publication. Coming to Canada in 1855 with his i)arents, here the next year his beloved mother passed away, leaving her sons to face the battle of life together with two sisters who have married and passed away. Like his brother, Robert, Mr. McAdam had few educational advan- tages, but was comi)elled while still a young child to assume the duties of hai-d and arduous toil, which though beyond his strength and years served later to create in him the strong character, inflexible will and unswerving courage for which he is known. In 1884 he re- moved to Pembina county, Dakota territory, and with little or no capital he began to work for himself and after three years had fully paid for a hundred and sixty-acre wheat farm which was located about three miles from a railroad station. Selling his holdings there in 1894 he came to Pasadena and immediately purchased property which he imi)roved and sold, buying more and entering the real estate business which has increased until he today is i-eputed to be one of the prosperous men of Pasadena. He is the owner of a quar- ter block of business buildings there, located on East Colorado street, which is estimated at .$(!(),( )0(). His interest in the dairy I'anch in Tulare county is large and he has given close attention to all his property with a view toward impro\-ement and bringing it to the best state possible. A clear-headed, keen-sighted Imsiness man, who has attained success largely through his straightforward, honest TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 747 manner of dealing, he lias ever displayed sagacious judgment in his operations, and he is a thorough, practical worker in every line he undertakes. Mr. McAdani l^ecame interested in Tulare county i)ro]ierty in 1910, when he purchased three hundred and twenty acres seven miles west of Tulare. He has improved this place by erecting three barns thereon, 44x60 feet in dimensions, with cement floors and stanchions of the most modern kind. In his dairy business every i)recaution is taken to promote the most extreme cleanliness, the most modern methods being used. Three irrigating electric pumping jilants have been installed and every improvement is made toward developing the land. He is a great believer in the fertile San Joaquin valley as a splendid field for dairying purposes and the handling of stock. In spite of his meager educational advantages he has become a well-posted man through wide reading and .study and he is looked upon as an authority on many subjects of the day, his most pleas- ing characteristics lieing his modesty and generosity to aid others in whatever manner is in his power. He believes in intelligence coupled with ability and industry and has no time for drones. In 187.'! James McAdam was married in the county of Huron, Canada West, near Toronto, to Miss Mary Ann Musgrove. They have two adopted children to whom they have given loving care, Pearl, who is now seventeen years of age, and Edith, eight years of age. Mr. McAdam is a Mason, being a member of the Masonic lodge, No. 272, Pasadena, and is also a devout attendant of the First Pres- byterian church, of which his family also are members. A great admirer of William Jennings Bryan, for whom he has voted for Pr^-sident three times, he followed his politics as far as national atfairs are concerned. While evincing the greatest interest in civic affairs he has never sought public oflice, choosing to fill the dutie-; of p private citizen with conscientious effort. HERMAN T. MILLER Herman T. Miller, city attoi'iiey of Msalia, of Plxeter and of liindsay, Tulare county, Cal., is a native son of Tulare county, having Iteen born in Visalia in 1874. His father, Artelius (). Miller, a con- tractor and builder, came to \'isalia in 1858 and died there in 1888, after a career of success and honor. Mr. Miller was educated in the public schools and the high school of Visalia so far as his ('ducation was |)ossible in those eflicient institutions, was graloyment with the Comstock people, operating sawmills in the mountains. Thus he busied himself six years, then he rented a hundred and twenty acres of land four miles east of Visnlia. and farmed for two years, raising wheat, barley, alfalfa and stock. His next venture was on more rented land, this time two and a half miles south of Goshen, the old Tom Coughran ranch, two hundred and forty acres of rich soil, which produced for him alfalfa and stock. There he remained eight years, making some money and learning a good deal aliout California farm- ing and stock-raising. In 1907 he bought the sixty acres which constitute his home farm, on which he has usually about two hun- dred hogs and raises considerable fruit. Twenty-five acres of his land is in alfalfa. Looking back on his life thus far Mr. Pollock sees in it a record of u))s and downs, but the ui)s have been more permanent than the downs, and gradually, as all good things are accomplished, he has gone forward to greater and still greater suc- cess. He counts his exjjerience as one of work and rewards, and tries to forget the obstacles he has had to overcome. In 1893 Mr. Pollock married Margaret Preston, of ^Missouri TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 751 birtli, who lias ln)riie liiiu toiii' cliiklren : Ereal, Kita, Cieorge aucl Elizabeth. Socially he is a Woodman of the World. As a citizen he has in minieions instances demonstrated an ailmirahle jniblic spirit. DANIEL WOOD A native of the Emjiire State, at one stage of our national development a mother of pioneers, Daniel Wood went early to Wis- consin, whence, in 1849 he came across the plains to California as a member of a party of thirteen whose experiences during their six months ' journey were perilous and painful in the extreme. Once- they were obliged, in the desert, to burn some of their wagons for fuel, and a few of the party died of cholera. After his arrival in Cali- fornia, Mr. Wood went into the mines at Hangtown, where flour was .$50 a sack, one onion cost H^.'!, and eggs readily brought $1 each. Of course it will be understood that the lack of local production and the excessive cost of transportation were factors in determining these almost prohibitive ))rices. When he was done with the mines, he went to San Francisco, wliose Indian camps were then its most con- spicuous features. From there he went to Mari]iosa county, where he taught school for a time, lie was one of the first white men to visit the Yosemite valley. Eventually the fortunes of the border brought him to Visalia and soon he was employed to teach in the old Visalia Academy and later given charge of schools in other jiarts of Tulare county. He was one of the founders and a constituent member of the first Methodist class organized in Visalia and was the ]iioneer berry- grower of Tulare county, taking off a cro]) of sti'awberries worth $1600 from one acre of ground. During the pioneer period he oper- ated a ranch of two hundred and forty acres near Farmersville, Tulare county. P'or some time he held the office of justice of the peace, by authority of which he performed the marriage ceremony of the famous Chris Evans. The state of Indiana includes what was the birthplace of Miss Carrie Goldthwaite, who became Mr. Wood's wife, and bore him children as follows: Daniel (}., George W., Litta, Stella, Pldna and Edward. John W. Goldthwaite, Mrs. Wood's father, came to Cali- fornia by way of the overland trail, in the pioneer days, took up gov- ernn'ent land and deveIo])ed a ranch in Tulaic county. Ife saw service in the l^'nion army (huiug the Civil wai- and had an intimate personal acciuaintance with (Jen. W. T. Slicnuaii. in the years after the war until lie passed away he was a leading spirit among Californians of the (Jrand .\nn\' of the Republic. 752 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES HENRY 0. RACiLE On October 15, 1860, Henry O. Ragle was horn in Hawkins county, Teun. His parents, natives of Virginia, l)otli died in Tennessee. They were representatives of old Southern families and his mother was a woman of rare quality, who to an nnconunon degree impressed her cliai-acter on her children. He was al)out twenty-three years old wiien he came to California, well equijuied l)y public school educa- tion and by nuu-li practical exjjerience in farming to take u]) the battle of life in this then comparatively i)rimitive agricultural re- gion. For a time after he came here he did farm and ranch work for wages, but soon he took up one hundred and sixty acres of land and began to imi)rove and cultivate it. From time to time since then he has bought other tracts until he is now the owner of more land* than nine hundred acres, some of it grazing land, some of it fruit land, and some of it devoted to grain. Besides lieing a sue cessful farmer he is quite an extensive handler of cattle. In 18!)4 occurred the marriage of Henry 0. Ragle, son of Henry Ragle, to Miss Jennie K. Underwood, a native of Tennessee, whose father has ]iassed away, but whose mother is still living. Mrs. Ragle has borne her husband four sons and three daughters. Clarence is a student in a business college at Fresno; Eva is in granmiar school; Lloyd, Herliert, Oscar and Marie are, in the pulilic school ; Dorothy is the baby of the family. Without capital when he came to Tulare <'0unty, Mr. Ragle has been successful beyond many of his friends and neighbors and as he has advanced he has been ready at all times to extend a helping hand to those who have been less fortunate. His interest in the community is such that he has been public-s]iiritedly helpful to every movement for the general uplift. Especially has the cause of educa- tion commanded his attention, and though having no liking for public otifice, he has been impelled by it to accept that of school trustee, in which he has served with much efficiency, with an eye single to the educational advancement of his neighborhood. SANTOS BACA A descendant of old Mexican and Spanish families, Santos Baca was born in San Bernardino county, Cal., in what is now Riverside county, November, 1865. His father was Jesus Cabeza De Baca, who was the son of Jose Baca, for whom Vacaville was named. (The name Baca was formerly spelled Vaca, hence the s]ielling of Vacaville.) Jesus Cabeza De Baca married Inez Baca, a native of TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 753 Spain, and lie engaged in llie st()cl< linsiness and grazed sheep where the city of Riverside now stands. He was directly descended from Sjjanish discoverers who landed on the shores of the United States in the middle of the sixteenth century and eventually settled in New Mexico. In 184:9 the parents of Santos Baca came to California with ox-teams from New Mexico, and lioth passed away at old Siiaiiishtown, near Riverside. When Santos Baca was seven years old he was taken to Sivcra- mento to attend school and in 1880 made his way to Tulare county and thence to Riverside. In 1883 he went to Vacaville but the same year found him in the employ of a liveryman in Tulare city. In 1902 he located at Porterville and was employed in the same busiiiess until 1910, at which time he liecame one of the proprietors in the pjxchauge stables. He has from time to time interested himself in other enterprises and has evidenced a lielpful solicitude for the ad- vancement and prosperity of the community. Fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient ( )rder of United Workmen. In 18i)2 Mr. Baca mai'ried Miss Nancy E. Doty, a native of Mis- souri, who has borne him six children, as follows: Fay and Harold, in the higli school; Glenn and Rita, in the grammar school; Rene, in the primary school, and Damon. JOHN H. LEACH One of the comparatixely few citizens of Porterville, Tulare coimty, Cal., who saw the place come into being on the prairie and have witnessed and ])romoted its develo])ment to the ])i'esent time is John H. Leach. A native of Washington county. 111., l)orn January 15, 18-I-9, he was reared and educated in Clinton county, whither his jiarents moved when he was a small child, there taking up the re- s]i()nsil)ilities of active life. In the spring of 1880 he left Illinois fnv the Black Hills, wIkmh' he prospected for gold and worked in the mills four years. After that he lived for a time in Missouri and later until 1890 in Kan.sas, where he followed the carpenter ti-ade. In that year he located near Porterville, Cal. He soon bought prop- eity and later brought his family on from the east. After he was well started here he bought land, planted orange seed, raised the plants and set out tive acres, which he still owns, and has given consideralJe attention to truck gardening. In 1875 Mr. Leach married Miss Louisa Lewis, a native of Clin- ton county. 111., and they have two children. Their daughtei', Mamie E., is a menil)er of theii- hnuschold. Their son, William S., is an 754 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES arcliitectuial draftsman aud resides iu Baltimore, Md. Mr. Leaeli's success is all his own and he is recognized as a self-made man who deserves the high place in the commnnit.v that is his, not alone by his record as a man of affairs, Init liy tlie fine character which has been manifest in his entire career and the generons pul)lic spirit that makes him i)romptly responsive to every demand for the general good. Mr. Leach's mother, now pii;hty-six years, is a mem- ber of his household. SAMUEL C. BROWN In Franklin county, ^'t.. Sanniel C'arr Brown, late of Visalia, Tulare county, Oal, was born August 17, 1826. He died December 31, 1908. His parents were James and Sarah (Smith) Brown, natives respectively of Rhode Island and of Massachusetts, and his father was long a merchant and an extensive land owner at Swanton. Frank- lin county, N. YJ, but they moved eventually to St. Lawrence county, N. Y., where they passed away. Of their four sons and three daugh- ters, Samuel C'arr was the youngest. He was educated in the com- mon schools, at the Pennsylvania College in the Western Reserve, and at Oberlin College, where he was a student in 1S48. Under tiie in- struction of Judge Wallace of St. Lawrence county, N. Y., he ac(|uired a rudimentary knowledge of law; later through long connection with the justice court, he gained considerable experience of its practice and during all his active life gave much attention to legal matters. In 18-tI) he located in Pike county. 111., and six mouths later joined a band of gold seekers who were turning their faces toward California. The joui'uey across the plains was begun in April and in Sejitem- ber Mr. P)rown reached the North Fork of the American river, where he mined for a year, but meeting with no success then went to San Francisco, where he was for six months a steward on the Vincennes, a sloop sailing out and in that port. In January, 185:2, he came to Tulare county in company with about fifty people, most of whom were farmers from Iowa. Learning that the Indians had two years before killed the primitive white settlers, they built a stockade in which they erected eight or ten log houses. He came as a hunter and remained as a citizen, to practice law, teach school, buy land and engage in multifarious activities as settlement advanced and civil- ization took root and spread. In the Civil war period he was an active sympathizer with the Union cause and Confederate s>T[n])athiz- ers made three attemjits to wreck his office. Imt United States troops preserved order till the end of the war, liy a lequest of a committee of tiirec prominent Re])ublicaiis and three prominent Democrats. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 755 For a time Mr. Brown had as his law partner William (J. Morris, later was a memher of the firm of Brown & Daggett, and in 1891 retired from i)rofessional woik and until his death gave personal supervision of his extensive property interests, which included an office l)iiilding in Visalia, twenty-five hundred acres of farm land near that town and a half interest in four thousand acres in the mountain foothills, ills land was divided into five ranches, most of which he usually leased. Many of the important enterprises of Visalia were encouraged and promoted by Mr. Brown. He was influential in the establishment of the Bank of Visalia, of which he was a director. The same may he said of his relationship to the local ice concern and to the \'isalia Steam Laundry. He was a director of the Tulare Irrigation Company and of the soda works. Politically he was a Freesoiler and later a Repulilicau. During early days here he was for two years district attorney, for two terms mayor and for three terms a member of the city council. After Mr. Brown became a citizen of A'isalia he married Miss Mary F. Kellenburg, a native of Illinois. The following are their cliildren who are living: May, wife of William IT. Hammond, of Visalia ; Fannie, wife of C. G. Wilcox of Visalia ; Philip S., who is succeeding as a farmer in Tulare county; Maude, who married J. E. Combs, of Visalia; ani()neer at Merced. In 187() he nuule his advent in Kings county, set- tling on the land which he has since develo]ied into one of the most pi-oductive and valuable fnniis in i1s vicinity. Originally tlic place consisted of three hundred ami twenty acres, hut in the pi'ocess of biinging it to its pi'esent peifcctiiui he reduced it to two hundred and forty acres. He gave eighty acres to his son Arlhiii-. and he now gives his attention to geiu'ral farming, hog and cattle i-aising. Ilis stock is of good breeds and is always so well fed and skillfully han lied that it liriiigs the highest market price. The farm is out 756 TULARE AND KINGS ("OrXTlKS fitted with inodeni buiknuys aud accessories aud is in every respect tliorouglily up-to-date. The (irst marriage of Mr. Boudson occurred Feliruary 2'2. 1882, uniting him with Cordelia Nauce. aud they have tiu-ee living cbildreu: Stella, wife of A. L. :Miller; Pearl, wife of Charles C. Church; and Artliur. On Juue 16, 1910. ^Iv. IVmdsou married Miss Maud Waite, a young woman of many accomplishments, who is his devoted helper in his endeavors for success. They have one daughter. Ethel. Mr. Boud- son has not thus far had nuicli to do with practical jiolitics. but he has decided opinions upou (juestions of local aud national policy to which he gives expression at tlie polls. A friend of education, he has served two years as school trustee, and in that ca[)acity has ably served the interests of his district. On several occasions his public spirit has commended him to his fellow citizens who recognize in him one who is ever ready to encourage to the extent of his ability any proposition having for its object the general uplift of the community. WILLIAM WILLARD BROWN In Jefferson county. N. V.. William Willard Brown was born No\ember VX 1851. When he was tive years old he was brought to California by her mother, his father. William A. Brown, having come out a year before to look o\er the ground "with a view to making a settlement here. The father was a school teacher and he was em- ployed at Stockton aud Visalia. He opened a school at Camels Cross- ing, Kings river, one of the first schools in the county. He enlisted as a musician for service in the Civil war. returned east aud was transferred to El Paso .Texas, where he was nmstered out and began teaching school at Terrill, Texas. He spent his remaining days in that state. The sou left Visalia in the fall of 185!), when he was about eight years old, with the family of his mother and her second husband, Huffman M. White. The latter homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in the Frazier valley and went into the shee]) business, giving some intelligent attention to fruit growing. Mr. Brown states that in 18(i4 the first orange trees ever planted in Tulare county were planted on the farm of his step-father. The boy was educated in the schools of Tulare county and remained on the White ranch until 1882. He took np a government homestead in 1878 and remained on it most of the time until 1889, for a time making his home with his mother. In the year last mentioned he sold out and located in Porterville. Since settling in town he has been engaged in the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 7r.7 machine business and sinr-e 1!H)4 lias heen the kx-al rei)resentative of the Samson Iron Works of Stockton and San Francisco. In 1882 Mr. Brown was a guide for the United States Govern- ment surveying party working in the mountain district of Tulare county and for a time he filled the office of road overseer. So well developed is his public spirit that he has been found ready at all times to aid to the extent of liis ability movements which in his opinion have j)romised to benefit the community. Socially he has associated with the Knights of Pythias since 1884 and he has repre- sented his lodge at the Grand Lodge in 1880 and again in 1911. In 1876 Mr. Brown married Rosalia Ford, a native of California, and daughter of J. P. Ford, a i)ioneer of 18.'j6. She has borne him six children, three of whom are living. Roy F. is in New Mexico. Lahalla A. is the wife of Thomas I'erguson, of Porterville, Cal., and Pauline is a student in the Porterville high school. ALFRED BALAAM It was in Louisville, Ky., that Alfred Balaam, stockman and farmer, ex-sheriff of Tulare county, was born September 5, 1839, a son of George and Sarah (Swain) Balaam, natives of England. The family moved from Kentucky to Arkansas and from there to Texas, and from the Lone Star State came with a train of fifty ox-wagons across the plains to California in 1853, settling at El Monte, Los Angeles county, where they remained until the end of December, 1857. They then set out for Tulare county, where they arrived soon after January 1, 1858. The head of the family took up land a mile west of Farmersville, entering it at the government land office, a raw tract of one hundred and sixty acres, on which he raised horses, cattle and sheep. He was a man of ability who took a leading part in local ijolitics, served in the office of justice of the peace and promoted the best interests of the community as long as he lived. The following nine children of George and Sarah (Swain) Balaam are named in order of biitli: George, the eldest, is dead; Sarah Ward; Ann Wai-d: Martha is the wife of Joseph Homer; Frank S. ; Alfred; Edward; Mary Van Gorden is dead; and Mrs. Emily Van Gordon resides at Watsonville. Alfred Balaam was educated in the public school near his boy- hood home and early worked with his father at stock-farming. Later he farmed for himself and at one time operated a half section of land. At this time he owns thirty-one acres near Farmersville. Tulare county, which he devotes principally to hay, alfalfa and Egyptian corn. For sixteen vears he has filled the office of roadmaster and has been 758 TULARE AND KIXGS COUNTIES iiistiumeutal in iutruduciui;- great impiovemeuts iu local roads and bridges. By appointment of Sheriff Wells, be served as deputy sheriff under that olhoial and in 1885 was elected sheriff of Tulare county, which office he filled for one term with great efficiency and integrity. A man of abundant ]mlilic spirit, he has always promoted the prosperity of the community. In 1862 ]\Ir. Balaam married Anna AYhitlock. a native of Oliio. wlio bore him two children, Charles and Nellie. His present wife, wliom he married in 1869, was Miss Marion Bequette, a native of California, and children as follows were born to them: Ida Higdon. Carl and I^dward. DANIEL FINN The late prominent and successful man of affairs of Kings county, Cal., Daniel Finn of Hanford, was born at Oswego. N. Y.. May 11, 1858, and lived there, meanwhile acMjuiring an education, until he was about twenty years old. He then went to Colorado and between that state and Idaho and Nevada he divided his time until in 1883. when he came to Colusa county, Cal. and farmed about a year. In 1884 he located in Hanford, which has since been his home town, and it is probal>le that in all the years since he came no man has been more devoted than he to its growth and development. For about ten years he worked on farms and conducted a drayiug and transportation business and in the period 1895-1901 he was in the retail liquor trade. After the oil business began to assume some importance in California he gave attention to it and in 1898 was one of the locators and incorporators, whose foresight was destined to bring success to the Hanford Oil Company, the property of which was located at Coalinga, where the first discovery of oil was made in that district outside of section twenty. The holdings of this com- pany were bought in small pieces liy the Standard Oil Company in 1906-1907. the parcels having been deeded one by one to Martin & De Sabla, who later transferred them to the great corporation men- tioned. Mr. Finn was president of the Hanford Oil Company until the termination of its corporate existence; he was one of the organ- izers and was from the first vice-president of the Hanford Gas and Power Company, which was incorporated in 1902; and in 1901 he was one of the incorj^orators of the Old Bank, of which he was a director through all its history and of which he was president after the death of the late President Biddle. As a Knight of Pythias he passed all the chairs of the lodge. In 1890 he married Mary Corey, who survives him. Mr. Finn was a self-made man, and found his true TULARK A XI) KTXdS COUNTIES 759 field of eudeavur aud the i)r()tital>le scene of his .success at llaiifurd. hence the reason for his manifest devotion to the town and to all of the various interests wliicli make for its advancement and pros- perity. It is doul)tful if any measure for the general good was pro- posed that did not receive his co-operation. As his fortunes advanced he was more and more .yeneronsly responsive to demands upon his public spirit. He passed away June 22, 191:!, mourned by many friends and admirers. PHILIP S. BROWN The home of Philip .S. Brown, on the Exeter road near Visalia. is one of the show places of that part of Tulare county. A fine new residence graces the i)roperty, and its approach is by way of a road- way past a fountain aud underneath palms and other ornamental trees and bordered on either side with many of the kinds of flowers for which California is famous. In Visalia, June 15, 1867, Philip S. Brown was born, a son of S. C. Brown, who came to Tulare county among the pioneers. After he had finished his education he engaged in the real estate business in Visalia, as a member of the firm of Frasier, Prendergast & Brown, to the interests of which he devoted his energies until in 1896, when he began dairying and farming on nine hundred acres of his fath- er's land near Visalia. He soon built up a large business which brought him good yearly profit and he had at one time one hundred registered Holstein cows, four or five hundred hogs, and one hundred acres of prunes and peaches. His fruit was killed by a flood a few years ago. At this time his ranch consists of three hundred and fifty acres, one hundred and fifty acres of which he has planted to alfalfa. As has been seen his career has not been without its vicissitudes, but he has overcome all o])stacles and achieved success in the tyjiical California way, and while he has prospered he has publie-spiritedly promoted the welfare of the comnumity. In 1896 he married Miss .lenevieve Loraine, a native of New York, who has Iionie him a daughter whom they have named Bernice. DALLAS H. GRAY One of the few men represented in this work who were liorn on property which they now own is Dallas H. Gray, who made his ad- vent into the world in February, 1882, near Armona. Har\ey P. Gray, 760 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES liis father, was born in Wa\Tae county, Pa., A\n\\ I'U, 1811, and came to California from Nebraska in the '50s. Before 1870 he came to Tulare county, before settlement had advanced to any considerable extent, and here homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land. He mined in Tuolumne and Placer counties and in 186.5 enlisted in the Federal army, serving until the close of the Civil war. It was in December, 1869, that he came to Tulare county and engaged in farm- ing, taking over one hundred and sixty acres on army scrip and made a home to which he moved and lived out his days, passing away June 2, 1896. He was one of the pioneer raisin growers in the county. In 1879 he married Miss Emma C. Hurd, and they had two sons, Donly C. and Dallas H., the former living in Visalia. Harvey Gray was a man of public spirit and forceful character, and helloed to promote the Peoples, Last Chance and Lower Kings River ditches and improved the home ranch to splendid condition. Dallas Gray was educated at Armona and in the Hanford high school. After his graduation in 1903 he established a vineyard and orchard of eighty acres of the family estate, to which he has added by purchase from time to time. He now has ninety acres in vines, forty in orchard and ten in pasture. He is encountering . success, drying fruit of various kinds and packing raisins. His packing house, covering a ground space of 80x120 feet, has a storage capacity of four hundred tons. He has erected nearly all the buildings on his ]ilace except the ])acking house. His dairy of twenty llolstein cows is becoming well known. He has erected sanitary Imildiugs with con- crete floors, 45x64 feet, for dairy purposes, and a hay storage building with a ca])acity of one hundred tons, elevated on concrete piling. His dairy requires thirty-four acres of alfalfa. He has also sixty acres in the orange belt of Tulare county and has an interest in one hundred and sixty acres of timber land in ]\Iadera county. From sixty-seven acres of vines he took one hundred and sixty-eight tons of ])roduct in 1910 and one hundred and tifty in 1912. He markets all his own produce in the East, selling direct to jobbers. On his ranch he has two three-room cottages and one five-room cottage for hired help. He has installed electric machinery and two electric motors and has a modern pumping a]>paratus. His chicken business dates from 1909. He I'aises thoroughbred AYhite Leghorns only, increasing from oite thou- sand to five thousand laying hens, and operates six incubators of a capacity of four hundred and eighty eggs each. All the eggs he sells are bought throughout the coast states for hatching, and to this interest he devotes three acres. He gives employment to from five to one hundred men in his various enterjirises, according to season. His l)rooder house is one hundred feet long, with capacity for two thousand chicks. His fireless brooders generate their own heat. The hens have sanitary drinking fountains. Mr. Gray advertises his TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 761 cliieken business exteusively aud L-annot supply the demaud that he has created. In 1905 Mr. Gray married Miss Katie Biddle, daughter of S. E. Biddle of Ilanford, and tliey became the jsarents of a son, Dallas H., Jr., who was born February 4, 1913. Mr. Gray is a man of much public spirit, having at heart the interests of the community, gener- ously heljjful to all good work. FEANCIS MARION AINSWORTH In Missouri, in 1845, was born Francis Marion Ainsworth, and in 1857, when he was about twelve years old, he participated with his parents and others in a memorable overland journey to California. They came with ox-teams and endured many hardships and braved many perils. Their tirst home in this state was in Mendocino county. There his father acquired land which he farmed and improved three years. Then, after living a little while at Santa Rosa and a short time at Sonoma, the family moved to Napa county, where they re- mained until 186-1. Stockton was the scene of the family's activities for some years and after that Modesto numbered its members in its l)()liulati()ii. At Modesto the father died in 1870; the mother had ))assed away in 1863. It was from Modesto that Francis M. Ains worth came to the Mussel Slough district of old Tulare county, near Hanford. where he soon began ranching. He moved to his ]iresent location at Milo in 1876. He owns here two hundred and forty acres of land which he is o]3erating very jirofitably. It is remarkable to realize that Mr. Ainsworth, who at the age of sixty-seven years is enjoying sjilendid health and is giving personal attention to the conduct of his ranch as well as the duties of postmaster at Milo, was at one time a consiimptive in a most precarious condition, suffering from hemorrhages of the lungs. His cure may be attributed to his tremendous will power and the exceptional climate and he has every reason to count his blessings and be happy that he has sought this country as his place of residence. In 1872 Mr. Ainsworth married Nettie Braden, a native of Iowa, wiio bore him ten children, all native sons and daughters of Cali- fornia, four of whom have died. Royal Jasper Ainsworth married r'lara TTinkle and lives in Tulare county. The other survivors are named Chester O., Archie ^\.. Frances M., Lisle R. and Alden R. The parents of Mrs. Ainsworth moved to Kansas when she was about five years old and some two oi' three years later they came ovei'land to California, settling in Santa Clai-a county, whence they later removed to Stanislaus countv, and it was here that she first met lier future 762 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES husband. She was the second chihl of a t'aniil\- of four chiklreu, one son and three daughters, born to her parents, the others being-. William Braden, of ^"entura couutN', Agues Richardson of Poi'terville, and Malissa, who died in Tulare county in 1878, Ijeing at that time the wife of S. "\V. Webb and leaving no children. Mr. Ainsworth's uncle, Davy Crockett, is a justice of the jieace at Ukiah, Mendocino ccninty. Col. Davy Crockett, the hero of the Alamo, was Mr. Ainsworth's great-uncle. His life of adventure, his devotion to the cause of lilierty and his tragic death for the freedom of Texas are all matters of history. Mr. Ainsworth is a man of public spirit and as a Democi-at he has been elected school trustee and in 1907 was appointed post- master at Milo, which responsible office he still fills with aliility and credit. M. E. WEDDLE In Virginia, M. E. Weddle, late of the Diuuba district of Tulare county, Cal., was born July 28, 1844. When he was ten years old he accompanied his parents to east Tennessee. In 1861, before he was seventeen years old, he enlisted in Company H, Second Ohio Cavalry, under Captain Chester, with which he served until in ISCVA. In June of that year he re-enlisted, and served until the end of the war and was mustered out at St. Louis, Mo., in 1865. He took part in sixty- three battles and skirmishes, some of his memorable experiences having been in the Wilderness campaign and at the battle of Cedar Creek. In 1865 his father had removed from Tennessee to Indiana. In Tennessee he had had his war experiences as well, having operated there a corn mill which was patronized by passing soldiers, sometimes, but not always, to the ju-ofit of its proprietor. At the close of the war young Weddle joined his father in Indiana, worked at ranching and at teaming and learned the car- penter's trade. He married Miss Lucy J. Newlon. They had six children: John C. married Mabel Day and has three children. Mary E. married Charles Snyder of Oregon and they have three children. George W. married and has four children. Hester married William Heine of San Jose, Cal., and they have a son and a daughter. Two have passed away. By his later nuirriage with Mary E. Robbins he had no children. She was the widow of David Alden Robbins of Iowa and had two children by her first marriage. Her maiden name was Mary E. Fulton and she was born in Westmoreland county, near Monongahela City, and is the daughter of Abraham and Rachel (New- lon) Fulton. Mr. Weddle came to Tulare countv in 1888. As far as the eye TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 76;: /Do could reach iu every directiou lay au expanse of wheat tields aud Diuuba had jnst been platted. He found plenty of work as a carpen- ter, and helped to erect the first building in the town for a store and real estate oliBce. He became owner of ten acres of land on Wilson avenue. Three and a lialf acres of it are under \ines, one acre is planted to trees. For a number of years he prospered as a house- mover. Politically Mr. Weddle supported Republican principles and was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He itassed away August 12, 1912. JAMES THOMAS BOONE In Missouri, Benton county, in 1862, James Thomas Boone was born. There he grew up and was educated. He began his active career as a clerk in a factory in St. Louis. "When he was twenty-one years old he came to California and not long after his arrival he located at Traver. For a time after he came to the state he was liookkeeper in connection with one of the old canal ]irojects which in their time promised to be influential factors in the commercial pros- perity of this then new country. In 1884 he bought land at Traver, on wliich he lived until 1895, when he moved to Orosi. After two years' residence there he located at Dinuba and in 1899 he bought forty acres near that place. He was the first man to build a home in Section Eight, and when he planted most of his forty acres in vines it was as a ]iioneer vineyardist. The land cost him $37.50 an acre and $6(10 an acre would be a low price for it now. In 1887 Mr. Boone married Matilda Isabelle Blakemore, a native of Tulare county, and their five children are all living in Tulare comity. Roy B. Boone, prominent iu the drug business at Dinul)a, married Frances Williams. He is one of the few graduates in pharmacy who live in this part of the county. Guy H., who is prosjiering at Dinuba as a liveryman, married Ktliel Alford. Estella Jeanette is a graduate of the high school at Dinuba; William is a student in that school; and Clyde Thomas is attending the granuuar school. Thomas Jefferson Boone, father of James Thomas Boone, was a native of Kentucky and the woman he married was also a native of that state. William Bailey Blakemore, father of Mrs. Matilda Isaliello (Blake- more) Boone, was a native of Arkansas, who iu pioneer days made the overland journey to California with ox-teams. His daughter, who was born in Tulare county, recollects seeing much game on the ]ilains and in the woods round her home when she was young. A man of much public spirit, Mr. Boone is ready a1 all times to do anything in his ]iower for llie advancement of the public good and 764 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES lias served his fellow townsmen iu the office of justice of the peace, making a record for just and wise decisions of which judges of many greater courts might well be proud. Mr. Boone was the first City Clerk after Dinulia was incorporated and served the first term. JONATHAN W. MAY It was in Mississi])pi, in the heart of the Old South, that Jonathan AV. May of Springville, CaL, first saw the light of day in 1836. When he was six years old he was taken by his parents to Texas, where he lived until 1870. Then, aged about thirty-four years, he came over- land by ox-team transportation to California, consuming nine months in making the journey, and settled at Pleasant Valley, Tulare county. When he came here there was no one living in the vicinity of his present home. He bought property at Springville and became the pioneer livery stable keeper there. At this time there is no other than his blacksmith and wood-working shop in the town. Meanwhile he has acciuired a moderate sized but profitable ranch. In his younger days he raised stock, but in the more modern period he has kept abreast of California agriculture and horticulture. In the Civil war Mr. May was a lieutenant in the Confederate army, and he once filled the office of deputy sheriff in Shackelford county, Texas. In 1868 he married John Ann Stanphill, a native of the Cherokee nation, and she bore him three children, the eldest of whom is dead, while the others are living in Tulare county. Mrs. May died in 1875 and in 1904 Mr. May married Mrs. Anna Brown. Wherever he has lived Mr. May has. since he was a very young- man, been interested in the growth and development of his conunuuity. In many ways he has demonstrated his public spirit since he came to' this county and no movement is made for the benefit of any large number of its citizens that does not have his hearty encouragement or co-operation. BENJAMIN J. FICKLE The earliest recollection of Benjamin J. Fickle is of having seen a team of horses fall down when he was only two years old. That happened back in Ohio, where he was born December 12, 18.32. a son of George and Margaret (Beckley) Fickle, natives respectively of Kentucky and of Pennsylvania and descended respectively from German TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 765 aud fium Irish ancestors. George Fickle fought for America in the war of 1812 and his father was a Revolutionary soldier. In 1853 young Fickle crossed the plains to California and stoi)ijed at ^'olcano, Amador county. He was of a party that came by way of the Sublett cut-off, most of whom turned back to find grass for their stock. He and others pressed forward on foot, and after a day's travel they came upon a train under connnand of Clark, who was leading it to the Nai)a valley. The young man found employment with the train at $18 a month and board. After the party had crossed the Green river, he met a man named Hogan, whom he accom])anied to Volcano, helping with a drove of cattle until the animals ate too much grass aud died as a consequence. Then he was employed near Amador and in the vicinity of Court House Rock. While he was there, three women went out to see the rock aud were captured by Indians and were uever seen tliere again. Here he mined for a time at $3 a day until a passing stranger told liim he was not being iiaid enough, and for a time'he farmed at Nevada, then took up a homestead on the Tule river three miles Ijelow Porterville, to which he acquired title and which he subsequently sold for $2200, taking his pay in cattle which perished on the })laius for want of watei. Next he bought three hundred and twenty acres of railroad land, near the site of Hanford, which he sold in two or three years for $1000 and which is now well worth $20(* an acre. He no^^' owns forty acres, eighteen acres of which is vineyard land, five acres peach orchard, the remainder pasture. Politically Mr. Fickle is a Socialist. He affiliates with tlie (Miris tian church. As a citizen he is public-spiritedly helpful to all the interests of the community. He married Enmia Rutherford, a native of California and a daughter of jnoneers, and she has borne him eleven children : Jerome F. married Beatrice Craft and has two children. Alfred H. nmrried Katie Burch, a native of Missouri, who lias borne him three children. George M. married Lottie Turner, and they liave one son. Pearl F. married Charles Burch aud has borne li'iu three children. 0. Estella married Clem Moyer and has four childreu. Delia is the sixth child. Flossie F. married Albert Carver and has one son. The others are: G. Frank, Flora L., John H., and Belle, who married E. H. Hackett and who has two childreu, Elmer and Flora. SAMUEL DINELEY The late Samuel Dineley, born in Worcestershire, England, in 1829, died in Visalia, Tulare county, Cal., August 5, 1007. His mother dying when he was quite young, his father brouglit their childi-en to New York city, where later he took a second wife. After that some of the 766 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES children went away and the family was in a manner broken up, but .Samuel remained in New Yoi-k city until he was twenty-five years old and then crossed the plains to California, where he engaged in mining and later in the mercantile business. About 1855 Mr. Dineley came to Visalia, where he lived out the remainder of his allotted years. He was the pioneer lime-maker in Tulare county and set up the first limekiln ever seen here. Later for some years he was a successful sheep-herder, and after his retire- ment from that business he long conducted a confectionery store on Main street, in Visalia. On April 2, 1861, Samuel Dineley was united in marriage with Charlotte E. Kellenberger, the ceremony taking place in the old Pasqual Bequette house. He took his bride to the home purchased from Nathaniel Vise in 1862, located at 417 North Locust street, which has since been the home of the family and is perhaps the oldest homestead continuously inhabited by one family in Visalia. There eleven children were born to this worthy couple, viz.: Mrs. E. O. Miller, Mrs. H. W. Kelsey, George, Mrs. George Vogle, Mrs. G. C. Lamberson, Mrs. Herbert Askiu, Mrs. Fannie Burroughs, deceased, Mrs. Eve Bliss, Clarence, Harry and Frank, also deceased. Mrs. Dineley was born in Washington and was a daughter of F. J. Kellen- berger, who brought his children to the Pacific Coast via the Isthmus of Panama in 1860. WILLIAM F. DEAN The well-known farmer, fruit-grower and educator, whose post- office address is Three Rivers, Tulare county, Cal., was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1855, and when he was about four years old his parents removed to Iowa. A few years later the family moved down into Missouri. Thus young Dean was educated in both Iowa and Missouri. In the latter state he took the course at the State Normal School at Kirksville, and was awarded a state certificate as to his al)ility as a teacher, which gave him the privilege of teaching anywhere in Missouri. He taught there and in Illinois for some time, and in 1877 came to California and in that year and in 1878 taught in the public school at Poplar; later he taught two years more at that place. In California his abilities and his standing as an educator were I'ecognized by Governor Perkins, who conferred upon him a life diploma, a document having the same effect here as the state certificate in Missouri. His recollections of his early school at Po]ilar are inter- esting. There was a goodly number of pupils, but the attendance was somewhat irregular in bad weather, as some of them came from a considerable distance. He savs that some of the earlv school dis- TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 767 tricts iu this part of the state were til'ty miles from side to side. The liouses of the settlers were widely scattered, each one practically isolated. About ten years after he came to the state, Mr. Dean home- steaded laud on the Kaweah river. By subsequent purchases he acquired a total of six hundred and fifty acres, on which he embarked in stock-raisiuii'. After disposiui;- of his cattle, he turned his atten- tion to fruit-growing, devoting himself chiefly to the production of apples. lie has fourteen acres of apple trees, nine acres of them l)eing winesaps wJiich bore for the first time in 1912. He now owns six hundred and thirty-two acres, a part of it given over to grazing, the remainder being set to fruit. Mr. Dean's father was Henry Dean, a native of Western Virginia, who settled in Ohio when he had reached middle age. His mother was born within the present borders of the state of West Virginia. They both ])assed away iu Missouri. In 1885, in California, Mr. Dean mar- ried Miss Etta B. Doyle, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of parents both of whom were born in that state. She died in 1886, leaving no children. When he came to this state, Mr. Dean expected to teach here a few years and go l)ack East, but the longer he remained the less inclination had he to return to the old climate and the old en\iroument. Now he is a loyal Califoi-nian who expects to die under the sunny sky tliat kee])s flowers lilooming the year round and makes fortunes of golden grain and golden fruit that are more reliable and more valuable than the fortunes of real gold that lured men to this coast in the days l)efore and after the Civil war. In his political affiliations he is a Republican. In an official way, he has helped to enumerate the census of Tulare county and by election on the Reiuiblican ticket has served his fellow townsmen as a member of the local school board. There is no home interest that does not have his encouragement if encouragement is needed, and in many ways he has demonstrated a ])ublic si)irit that makes him useful and ])0]iular as a citizen. MARTIN DONAHUE Among the retired citizens of Tulare county, and one who lias fisiured prominentlv in the industrial circles tJiere. is ]\Iaitiu Donahue. flis |)arents wei-e l»orn in Ireland. This blacksmith, so long known by the people round Springville, Tulare county. Cal, was boin February 17, 1828, at Oswego, N. Y. He there went to school, leai'ued his ti-ade trade, and lived until he was thirty-two years old. In 1862 lie enlisted in the Federal ai'iiiy I'or tln-ec ycai's and sci-xcd until lionorablv dis- 768 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES oliarged and mustered out at Raleigh, N. C, iu 18(55. After the war he went back to his trade, aud iu 1869 came to Califoruia. For some time after his arrival he was a prospector in the gold tields and later was employed at iiis trade aud otherwise. Iu 1887 he located in Tulare county, and about one year later, in 1888. he came to this county aud settled near Spriugville. He has divided his time between farmiug and blacksmithing and has prospered so well that he now owns three hundred aud twenty acres of good grain laud. He stopped working at his trade about two years ago, since when, excei)t for the attention that he has had to give his land interests, he has enjoyed a well earned rest. Politics has never strongly attracted ]\H-. Donahue aud he lias never been particularly active in political woi-k. Always deprecating partisanism, he has at no time iu his life yielded his allegiance to any political organization, but has held himself in i-eadiness at all times to supjiort such men and measures as in his belief jiromise most for the general good. To all measures for the benefit of the community he has always been generously helpful in a truly public-spirited way. JAMES AV. FINE The death of James W. Fine, which occurred at Piano, t'al.. January 12, 1900, removed from his comnmnity one of the old and well-known pioneers of California and ended the activities of a well- spent and splendid life, full of energy aud unswerving i)erseverance. He was the son of John Fine, a native of Missouri, who died in 1868, at the age of seventy-two; he followed farming during his active years and In-ought his family to California in 18.37, his death takiusi' jilace at Woodville. The Fine family are well-founded, James ^\. Fine being of German extraction on his mother's side, while his paternal line is Irish. He was born Ajiril 13, 18"2o, iu Missouri, and started with his parents from Randolph county. Ark., iu May. 1857, to make the journey across the plains with ox-teams. There was a large jiarty at the start of the journey, ninety wagons being required, but at Salt Lake City many remained behind, and the remainder of the jiarty arrived in Califoruia in October. Mr. Fine first lived at San Andreas, Calaveras county, Cal., where he remained until 1860, his wife having been Imried there. Subsequently he came to Tulare county, and settling on the Kaweah river, at the elbow, he farmed and followed stockraising on rented land, but finally he made his way to the Por- terville section aud liuying six hundred and forty acres of land, remained there until upon selling out to Daniel Abbott, he retired from active life. His last days were spent with his sou, Robert R.. and TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 769 he passed away at Piano January 12, litOU, at the age of seventy-six years and nine niontlis. Mr. Fine was married December 7, 1848, to Martha Jane Warner, l)orn September 13, 18:51, in Arkansas. She passed away January 12. 1858, a short time after arriving in California. To their union five children were born: Mary Ann, born October 28, 1849, married S. B. King and has six sons now living, one daughter and two sons having passed away. Her sons are, John T. residing in Watsonville, George G. in Salinas, S. Frank in Merced, Charles W. in Porterville, William W. in Modesto and Daniel B. in Stockton. Mr. King was born in Kentucky and was reared in Missouri. Their marriage occurred in 1864, in California, and Mrs. King makes her home in Porterville, where in 1900 she ])urchased her home place. The second child born to Mr. and Mrs. Fine was Steven, who was born April 24, 1851, and now resides near Salinas. Robert R., born September 12, 1853, also resides at Salinas. Frances E., born April 26, 1855, is Mrs. Daniel Abbott, of Porterville. William A. was born Ajtril 2, 1857, and lives in Hanford. LEVI MITCHELL In the passing of Levi Mitchell, in 1885, Tulare county lost one of its oldest and most conspicuous pioneers. He was born in 1821 and was a child when brought to California. He married Miss Anna Stargarth, a native of Germany, who came to California with her aunt and located in Stockton in 1863, three years and a half before their marriage. After their marriage they located at White River, Tulare county, where Mr. Mitchell bought a store, and there they lived nineteen years and saw the place grow from vacant land to a thriving town. Miners and Indians were the only inhabitants, and for three years after they came Mrs. Mitchell was the only white woman tliere. Her husliaud l)uilt the hotel and schoolhouse and jirac- tically all the buildings there. He was a comparatively wealthy man when he came, and his fortunes iinproved. Twenty-two years after he died his wife moved to Ducor, where her son conducted a hotel, the Mitchell House. She remembers Porterville when it was a small clus- ter of houses; she saw the cattlemen supersede the Indians, as one of the early steps in the march of jirogress under which (\ilifornia has been transformed. Her husband bought mines and grubstaked miners and was in a general way ready for any s]ieculation that i)romised good returns. Genial, friendly and naturally helpful, he was popular with all who knew him and to the end of his days was honored as one of Ihe i)ioneers who blazed the way for the civilization of a later 44 770 TULARE AND KINGS COl'XTIES day. He and his brother owned the first .store in Visalia. Fraternally he was an Odd Fellow and did much for the l)enefit of his order. Born in 1842, Mrs. Mitchell was considerably younger than her husband. She bore him eight children, four of whom are living. Her son Joseph is managing a hotel at Hot Springs, C'al. Michael married Del)orah Samuels, a native of California, and has children named Annie and Lee, aged respectively six and five years. Jacob is living at Hot Springs, Cal. Herman is employed at a bank at Visalia. All of Mrs. Mitchell's children were born at AVhite River and are by birth-right native sous and daughters of California. Joseph and Michael are both Masons. Michael Mitchell fills the offices of justice of the peace and notary public and is secretary of the Ducor Chamber of Commerce and of the Ducor Realty Company. DAVID GAMBLE Formerly a trustee of the City of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., and member of its board of education. David Gamble is at the same time one of the leading contractors and builders of Central California, a man of enterprise and public spirit who would be a credit to the citizenship of any munici])ality. Mr. Gamble was born in Chester county, Pa., September 15, 1852, and grew to manhood in Philadelphia, where he gained a practical knowledge of contracting and building. When he decided to come west he planned the structure of his future success as carefully as he would plan a building of today. As the foundation must be first in the building, so the location must be first in his Imsiness career. He prospected, with eyes and ears both alert, through Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona and then into California. In 1878 Mr. Gamble arrived in Hanford. He found employment at his trade and worked at it diligently, saving his money, until in 1886, when he became the ])ioueer contractor and builder in this city. Many of tlie buildings erected by him in the years immediately fol- lowing have been destroyed. Among the blocks of his erecting in the central jiart of the city which are standing today are the Baker, Malone and Manasse l)uildings, the court house — of which he did the woodwork — the Hill and Robinson buildings, the offices of the Hanford Water Works Company, the Bernstein block and the high school build- ing. One of his larger buildings is the hotel at Traver. The following- residences in Hanford are momnuents to his artistic skill and business enteri»rise: Goldberg's, Daniel Finn's, Kuntz's, F. A. Dodge's, Bern- stein's, Wesebaum's, Kiljiatrick's. Among those he has built in the country round about Hanford are D. Bassett's, H. E. Wright's, S. L. Brown's and the Ralestock home. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 771 For twelve years Mr. Gamble has beeu a member of the board of education of Plauford and in 1908 he was elected city trustee. Frater- nally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias. He married, in 1886, Miss Margaret A. Raisch, a native of Kansas, and they have foui- children : Katherine, a teacher in the Hanford grammar school; Edith; Florence, a student at Stanford Universitv ; and Raymond. C. A. ELSTER One of the most vahicd and industrious workers for the jaublic welfare in Springville and one to whom is due much ]iraise for his untiring efforts and generous aid in promoting the many enteri)rises with wliich he has been identified is C. A. Elster, who was born in Grass Valley, Nevada county. Cal., in 1862, and is now one of tlie lead- ing business men and landowners in the comnmnity. He is a son of Alonzo Elster, who came to Nevada county in 1858 and became well- known through his activity in running a block mill at Grass Valley, which he built about 1861. He was born in New York and died in California in June, 1888. He had come to Tulare county in 1866 and engaged in freighting from Stockton and Banta to Visalia before the advent of the Southern Pacific Railroad. He hauled the first fire engine ever used in the city of Visalia and he also ran the Overland livery stable at Visalia in the early seventies. When he was three years old, C. A. Elster 's parents came to Tu- lare county, where he has since lived. He was educated here in the l)u1)lic schools and took fundamental lessons in ranching and in busi- ness under his father's instruction. He began to acquire land by buy- ing a chiim before he was twenty-one years old, and by later purchases he has lirought liis Jioldings uj) to about five lumdred acres. For a while he oiierated a sawmill, but lie later gave his attention to ranch- ing and to stofkraising, and has from time to time beeji active in lai-ge enterprises for the general good. He is known as the fatliei- of the Tulare Electric, Watei' and Power Com])any, the hist(H-y of which dates from 1908, and it was largely through his and the efforts of ('. W. Hublis and C. H. Tlawley that valuable water rights were se- cured on the miildle foi'k of the Tnle river about two miles above Springville. which when developed will generate at its full capacity about twenty-seven hundred horse-power electric current, hi this con- nection Mr. Elster has lieen one of '^rnlaie county's juost active pro- moters. Desiring a road to Springville, he associated with Messrs. liubbs and Ilawlcy and other Tulai'e county men and pi-oposed an electric line which was duly incorporated under tlic name of the 7T1 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Tulare Cuimty Tower Company, with capital stock of $1,UUU,UU0, wbieh consisted of ten thousand shares at $100 each. It was proposed to operate this road by means of electric power and to run from Tu- lare to Jjindsay, from there to Strathmore and from Strathniore to Springville. Mr. Elster supplied the necessary money for the prelimi- nary survey, right of way, etc., and the Southern Pacific Railroad, observing their preparations, immediately built their branch line from Porterville to Spi'iugville, and thus Springville secured its rail- road, and it has been entirely due to the work and enterprise of Mr. roister that this has been accomj^lished. Mr. Elster in 191 li completed a two-story brick Iniilding, 48x60 feet, the cost of which was $12,000. He owns a comfortable residence in Springville and has an olive nursery and orchard, and he is today one of the largest taxpayers in the city. In 1887 Mr. Elster married Miss Eva Hubbs, who bore him a son. Irvy Elster, who is now a member of his father's household. Mrs. Elster died in 1890 and in 1895 Mr. Elster married Miss Minnie Hubbs, by whom he had a daughter, Lora, who died when she was thirteen vears old. LOUIS BEQUETTE in the state of Wisconsin occurred the birth of Louis Bequette, stocknuvn and orange grower, one of the citizens of note in the vicinity of Lemon Cove, Tulare county, Cal. He was a child of three years when his parents came, with four teams, overland to California. The family located in Sierra county and remained tiiere five years, the father working in the mines. Their next halt was one of two years in Yolo coimty, whence they moved to Tulare county, within the hospitable borders of which the immediate subject of this article has had a home ever since. As a young man Mr. Bequette worked on ranches and helpeil licid cattle, and he has never been able to give up such em]iloyment in all the yeai's that have ensued. In 1872 he married Miss Mary p]liza Davis, of Stanislaus county, Cal., whose father, Harvey Davis, was a pioneer of 1849. Their three children were: Irving Bequette, who was born in Tulare county in 1874 and died in 1909. in his thirty-sixth year; C. L. Bequette died in 1911, leaving three children; Leonard Bequette, born in 1877, is married and is in the stocTv business in this county. When Mr. i^)equette took up the burden of life on his own account he \entured a little at first with stock. There came a time when his operations in that line were very considerable and made him widely TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 773 kiKiwii. His first tract of laiul was one of one liimdred and sixty acres, and today he is tiie owner of twelve hundred acres, with fifteen acres in corn, five acres in oranges, and the remainder in ci'ops, range and alfalfa. His home is one of the most comfortable in his neighborhood and his ranch is fitted nj) witli every improvement and appliance necessary to its successful operation. He takes an intelligent and patriotic interest in the public affairs of tlie county, state and nation and res|)()nds readily and generously to all calls for aid in the advance- ment of his communitv. J. CAEL THAYER The architect is able to show forth his good works as no other man, except, perhaps, the editor; though the architect's exhibit is permanent as any human creation, the editor's comes into being today and is gone tomorrow. Only in musty and dusty files, half liiddeu in a dark corner of some library, is the editor's record available after he has himself ])assed away, but out in the sunshine the work of the architect has its place in its own chapter of the history of the men who have lived and builded — on Earth's great open page, where men and the sons of men may see and read. So is the record of the jiro- fessional achievements of J. Carl Thayer spread before those of this generation and of generations to come, everywhere in the business district and in the residence districts of Visalia, Tulare county, Cal. In Lewis county, N. Y., Mr. Thayer was born. He was educated in the Booneville (N. Y.) High School, at Cornell University and at Syracuse University, graduating with the degree of C. E. and other professional degrees, after liaving pursued a collegiate course in archi- tecture. The first six years of his professional career were jiassed in Pittsburg, Pa. Then, after two years in New York City, he came to California and located at Visalia for the practice of his ]irofession. Here his success has been commensurate with his abilities and his personal popularity. He has drawn plans for the following mentioned buildings, among others: The R. A. Little residence, the Episcopal church, the Levey building, the Willows district school, the C. W. Berry residence, the A. D. Wilson residence, the George Baker build- ing, the J. E. Richardson i-esidence, the C. B. Moffatt residence, the N. II. Grove residence, the Presbyterian church, the Visalia club, the L. Lueier residence, the theater block erected by E. 0. Miller at rianford, the Ivomoore grammar school building, wliich cost $40,000; the Methodist church at Lindsay, the Second National Bank building at Lindsay, L. L. Brown's store block in Exeter, the store building of Frank Mixter at Exeter, the store block of George Tinker at Lindsav 774 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES and the store Imildiug of Tinker «S: Smith iu tlie last-named town. Considering the comparatively recent date of his advent in \"isalia. it will be seen tliat he has been very snccessful in a i)rofessional way. It should be noted that he is not merely an artistic designer, but is at the same time a practical designer, all his buildings being admirably calculated for the uses to which they were to be put and all giving the best of satisfaction in actual use. It was in 1905 that Mr. Thayer came to California. He married Miss Mary Morrell, a native of the state. As a citizen he is public- spiritedly helpful to all important interests of the couuuunity. Jan- uary 1, 1912, he removed to Fresno, where he is a member of the firm of Thayer, Parker & Kenyon, 348-9 Forsyth building. LOUIS LEE THOMAS The story of the self-made man is always interesting and it is always instructive. As such this brief account of the successful career of Louis Lee Thomas of Exeter, Cal.. should be of service to some of the younger readers of this volume. Mr. Thomas was born in Posey county, Ind., in 1868. John Thomas, his father, was born in that state in 1838 and died in Missouri iu 1904, and his mother also was a native of Indiana. When Louis was nine years old he was taken by his fam- ily to northern Missouri, where he grew to manhood and obtained such education as was afforded him in the ])ul)lie schools near his home. While he was yet a young man he went to the state of Wash- ington and secured emjiloymeut at farm work and remained there about fifteen years. Coming to California, he settled on the eighty- acre ranch on which he now lives. The place was well imjiroved and he later sold all of it Init thirty-six acres. Of this, twenty acres is planted to orange trees, which are now in full bearing, fourteen acres is in alfalfa and one acre is devoted to nursery stock. Mr. Thomas came to Tulare county with very little cajjital, but his industry, econ- omy and good judgment have made him the owner of one of the best homestead projjerties in his ^'ieinity. In 1895 Mr. Thomas married Miss Grace Akers, a native of Decatur county, Iowa, who had gone with her parents to Oregon when she was seven years old. Her father, a native of Indiana, and her mother, a native of Iowa, are both living. P^raternally Mr. Thomas affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. While he has well defined ideas upon all questions of public moment, he has never been aggres- .sive in political work, nor has he asked or accepted public office. He favors anything which ]n-omises to advance the welfare of tlie county and the country at large, and never fails to respond ]M-om)itly au'l TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES I (0 i^'enerously to any legitimate demand upou his i)uljlic spirit. As a farmer and fruit grower he has been successful beyond many whose o])[)()rtunities and advantages have surpassed his. In 1911 he sold fifteen hundred boxes of oranges and in 1912 he raised two thousand boxes of oranges from twenty acres of five-year-old trees. His laud will produce six crops of alfalfa each year, aggregating nine tons to the acre. The place is i)rovided with an up-to-date water |)lant, and he spares no pains or expense to add to the value and productiveness of his property. WILLIAM FREDERICK HEUSEL At Kalamazoo, Mich., William Frederick Heusel was born August n, 1859. He was reared and educated in that city until he was ten years of age, when the family moved to Sturgis and that was his home until 1879. After that he lived two years in Illinois and several years in Kansas and from the Sunflower State came to California in 1891, locating in Hanford, Kings county. He bought )iroi>ei-ty in that city and worked there at plumbing and in season was a foreman in the Del Monte Packing House. Thus he was employed until 1900, when he bought twenty acres of land a quarter of a mile north of the city. It was entireh- unimproved, Init now he has it planted to orchard and vineyard. He now has nine acres of growing vines and about seven acres producing fine ])eaches and apricots. He was one of the first to settle on this sub-division. He has given special attention to poul- try, raising fine chickens and ducks. His chickens are mostly thor- ouglibred butf and silver Wyandottes and Buff Orpingtons, his ducks are Indian Runners and Pekins. He has imported thoroughbred stock from the east for breeding purposes and hatches about five hundred ducks and as many chickens each year. At the state fair at Sacra- mento he has presented exhibits for four years and at local fairs throughout tlie state from time to time and has taken numerous i)rizes of many kinds. July i;J, 1882, Mr. Heusel married Maiy L. O'Brien and they have five daughters: Jessie is the wife of W. L. Peers, a native of Colorado, and they live at Oakland. Irma married Walter Tandrow of San Francisco. Nora, Jiei'uice and Muriel are members of their pai'cnts' household. In 1911 Mr. Heusel built a fine residence on his i)lace, and until that date lived in Hanfoid in the home he erected, 214 West Ivy street, which he still owns. He is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and i)assexl the chairs of the subordiiu\te lodge while a resident of Wichita, Kans. As a citizen he is helpfully public- spirited. 776 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES FBEDERIC'K M. CARLISLE A progressive Tulare county farmer who has lived in the vicinity of Ducor since 1883 is Frederick M. Carlisle. He was born in Ten- nessee in 1852 and was a son of Wiley H. Carlisle, a native of North Carolina, who came to California in 1900 and died in 1906. Wlien he was thirty years old Mr. Carlisle left Tennessee and during the succeeding three years lived in Texas. On coming to Tulare county he homesteaded land which is included in his present holdings. His ranch, which is located about one mile from Ducor, is a five-hundred- acre property, well improved and under systematic cultivation. He raised grain until two years ago, but is now giving his attention to fruit. He long kept an average of forty head of horses and males, but has sold off much of his stock and in season operates a threshing machine. In 1876 Mr. Carlisle married Elizabeth Haley, a native of Mis- sissippi, whose father came to California and lived out his days here, her mother having died in Mississippi. Mrs. Carlisle has borne her husband nine children, six of whom are living: Joseph Node, born in Tennessee, is married and lives in Sacramento county. Eva M. (Mrs. Van Valkingburge) resides in Tulare county. Jessie H., who married A. F. Welsh, is living near Ducor. Viola E., who married Charles Hughes, lives in Ducor. Clarence M. and Clyde F. are in school. As school trustee and as clerk of the school board Mr. Carlisle has done efficient and praiseworthy service to the community. He has never sought ])ulilic office, but has well-defined opinions on all political questions, and his active interest entitles him to a place in the front rank of progressive citizens. Fraternally he affiliates witli the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. MANUEL B. LEMOS A native of one of the Azores, Manuel B. Lemos was born Decem- ber 11, 1860, in the home of a farmer. When he was twenty-two years old he came to the United States, and for sixteen months after his arrival was employed on a farm near Providence, B. I. Coming to California, he sto]iped a short time in San Francisco, then went to Fresno, where he worked six years on a ranch. The succeeding two years he passed in the sheep business, which in his hands was so ex- tensive that at one time he and his partner. Manuel Silva (rularte, had fourteen hundred sheep. Selling his interest in this venture, he did ranch work again for a while, then with a partner he handled TULARE AND LvINGS COUNTIES 777 sheep for eleven years. By this time he had done so well financially that he was able to take a trip to the land of his birth. Eeturning to Hanford in 1898 Mr. Lemos bought the forty-acre ranch which is now his home property, two miles north of the city. All the improvements on the farm, including his comfortable house, he has put on since then. In 1905 he bought forty acres adjoining his first purchase of his brother, John B. Lemos. He has eight acres in vine and twelve in orchard, and the remainder of his land, except what he devotes to general farming, is under alfalfa. His principal business is the raising of hogs and sheep, but he breeds horses and cows for use on his place. In September, 1896, Mr. Lemos married Maria Clara Cardoza in Hanford, and she has borne him ten children. Those living are: John, Bento, P^'rauk, Andrea, Manuel, Mary, Joseph and Tony, the first- mentioned four being students in the public school. Manuel, the first born, dietl aged eight years, and Bento died aged fifteen months. Mr. Lemos affiliates with the I. D. E. S., of the interests of which society he is a liberal sui^porter. Though of foreign birth, he is a loyal American and his public spirit has impelled him to do much for the general benefit of his community. PERRY C. PHILLIPS A pioneer of his section of the county of Kings that was last partitioned from Fresno county, as well as one of the successful men who are now residents of the county, is Perry C. Phillips, who was •born on April 7, 1838, in Gibson county, Ind. His schooling was limited to a brief attendance at the common schools in the vicinity of Ills home and lie early gained experience in farming as it was carried on there. In 1854 he crossed the plains with ox-teams and located at Grizzly Hill, Nevada county, engaging in mining for a time. In 1860 he came to the San Joaquin valley and settled in Fresno county, locating on his present home place on October 23 of that year, ^"isalia, twenty-five miles distant, was the jirincipal trading jijace. He first bought eighty acres of land upon which is now located his Jiome, and by subsequent ])urcliases increased his holdings until he is now the owner of about four thousand acres. Nearly all of this is fertile soil ; twenty aci'es are now in fruit, the balance in alfalfa and grain for general fai'ining purposes, and he makes a specialty of raising liogs. In the early days of the irrigation movement Mr. Phillips became prominent iind was one of the men of foresight who saw that by the construction of ditches to carry the water from the river a large area 778 TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES of unproductive laud could be converted into one of tlie world's garden spots. How well he aud bis associates planned the jiistory of this whole region testifies. He was for a year a director of the People's Ditch Company, and as a citizen he has ever bad in view the greatest good to the greatest number, firm in the belief that the prosperity of one is the prosperity of all, and he has been ready at all times to respond to any call on behalf of the uplift aud development of the community. Mr. Phillips was united in marriage April 21), 1860, at Vacaville, Solano county, with Elizabeth Hildebrand, born in Shelby county, Ind., Octol)er 22, 1840. She came to California in 1853 with her par- ents, who settled first in Sierra county and later lived at Grizzly Hill, where she first met Mr. Phillips. After their marriage they came that fall to Fresno county aud settled on their present home place. Tliey had eight children: Floreuce E., wife of E. D. Mortou; Martlia I., wife of W. D. Runyon ; Carrie W., the wife of L. L. Lowe ; Ada B. ; Dora E., deceased; George H.; Robert H., aud Oscar L., all born, reared and educated iu central California. Mr. aud Mrs. Philli))s are the last of the pioneers in this section of the county. W. C. MACFARLANE A native of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, W. C. Macfarlane was born June 3, 1868, and now is proprietor of the Richland Egg Raucli. at Hauford, Kings county, Cal. He went to Chicago when a lad and learned the printer's trade aud fiually engaged iu business on his own account. He came to Hanford from Chicago in 1886 and for a time worked at his trade iu this vicinity. His second claim to distinction is his prominence iu the Benevoleut and Protective Order of Elks. In the fall of 1911 he organized the lodge at Hanford and sei-ved as its Esteemed Leading Knight. February 16, 1891, he married Miss ^Mary Sevier, of Visalia, who has a son, Harry C. Macfarlane. Writing, two or three years ago, of the begiuuing of his egg enterprise, Mr. Macfarlane said: "About eighteen years ago I traded a scrub calf for three dozen scrub hens, and the first month they netted me $15. That caused me to 'sit up and take notice.' I then jnir- chased a few settings of Brown Leghorn eggs aud raised that breed for a few years; but finally discarded them for the Wliite Leghorns, as they are a larger bird, lay larger eggs and as pullets get to layiuLi a marketable sized e^g much sooner than tlieir Itrown sisters." His original "White Leghorns were "bred to lay," 1)ut he improved the strain by the use of trap-nests, aud constant work and breeding pro- duced birds that laid as many as two hundred and twenty-seven eggs TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 779 iu a year. Hens showiug a record approaehiug this were yarded for breeding. Until five or six years ago he never offered or advertised eggs or birds for sale, and even now will not sell a female from the two hundred and twenty-seven stock, but is in the market with male birds and eggs, lie confined his Itreeding to hens laying one hundred and ninety-two to two hundred and twenty-seven eggs a year and has increased his size of birds and eggs so that they are larger and more vigorous than the average Leghorn. Pullets from the high-grade layers were laying when fifteen weeks old and pullets from the one hundred and ninety-two egg strain were laying two weeks later. The Richland Egg Ranch, four miles northwest of Hanford, com- prises ten acres, its soil is good and it is watered by the People's Ditch. Mr. Macfarlane improved the place by building a small house and soon afterward planted part of his original five acres to peaches and sowed the remainder to alfalfa. When he was well started in the poultry business, he named the place the Richland Egg Ranch. A practical man of mechanical mind, he has done much of his own building and the ranch shows care and the painstaking work of a prac- tical owner. The Iniildings are simple in construction, Imt neat and attractive. Under the sign bearing the name of the ]:)lace stands the brooder, a building with a ground area of thirty-six by one hundred and twelve feet, which houses about twenty-five hundred pure bred White Leghorn chicks from a few days to a few weeks old. The brooder is fitted with thirty-two runs and is heated with nine gas heaters by which the temperature is kept at ninety degrees for the younger chicks down to seventy degrees for the older ones, according to season. Mr. Macfarlane averages a loss of but five ])er cent, leav- ing ninety-five per cent for successful breeding and maturing, notwith- standing many scientific poultrymen have a loss of fifty per cent. The incubators turn out fully ninety-four j^er cent of the fertile eggs and Mr. Macfarlane is al)le to keep the chicks alive and growing after they come out of the incubators. His brooders are devised on a plan of his own, adopted after he had visited all the jirincipal poultry farms of the state, and the part under the mother Iioards is cleaned daily, the runways twice a week. During the first ten days of their life the chicks are fed on Richland Ten Day Chick Feed, a preparation of Mr. Macfarlane 's own, and after ten days they are placed on a diet of meat, lilood, bone, bran and barley, a food that stinudates the body growth of the fowls so that the feather growth does not im])air its healtlifulness. Pure water is furnished to the chicks in stone foun- tains. When they are ready to leave the brooder they are jilaced in yards laid out in a peach orchard, which furnishes the necessary shade. Eacli yai'd is watered automatically by means of Jiipe and automatic fountains and there are no puddles or mud holes. Mr. Macfarlane breeds entirely for eggs. All the product from 780 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES October to July he sells for hatching purposes, usually taking up six or seven hundred eggs daily. He ships hens and cocks as far east as New York and as far west as the Hawaiian Islands. He sells about twelve hundred liirds a year. Breeding only White Leghorns, he has taken tirst premium on his showings at the county fair for se\'eral years past. His four-story tank house, which cost $500, was built witli tlie profits of one season's broilers. His yards measiire one hun- (Iretl by one hundred and sixty-five feet and he never keeps more tliau eighty birds in one yard; and he never feeds any kind of food on the ground, but uses troughs for the soft food and hoppers for grain. Some information concerning the prices he receives will be of interest in this connection. For males from the one hundred and ninety-two egg strain he gets $3.50 to $5 each, age and appearance causing dif- ference in price. For males from the two hundred and twenty to the two hundred and twenty-seven egg strain, $7 each. For females, from April until sold, $1.25 each; these, being hens in their second season, are the best breeders, especially when mated with a two hundred and twenty-seven cockerel ; no females of the two hundred and twenty to two hundred and twenty-seven egg strain are sold. For eggs from selected trap-nested layers that pass the one hundred and ninety-two mark, $2 for fifteen, $7 for one hundred, $70 for one thousand, deliv- ered at the Hanford express office. He now offers settings from hens that have records of two hundred and twenty to two hundred and twenty-seven at $4 for fifteen, or $25 for one hundred. Having in- creased the number of birds of this class, he can supply settings in greater numbers than in previous seasons. On his ranch Mr. Macfarlane now has three thousand White Tjeg- horn chickens. In December, 1911, he received the largest order for eggs for hatching purposes ever given in California and at the high- est price — two hundred and twenty-five thousand eggs at seven cents an egg. This great order came from Petaluma, Cal. He ships eggs in lots of fifteen hundred and twelve, for which he receives $100 a lot. Mr. Macfarlane thanks his White Leghorns for a ranch worth $10,000, a business lilock in Hanford worth $30,000 and considerable other valuable property. All printing of catalogues is done by himself on his ranch, and he is now using his fifth press. PETER THOMSON Cattle raising has been the chief industry of Peter Thomson, who is numbered among the most ]irogressive citizens of his com- nmnity. Born in Sweden in 1844, he came to the United States when he was fifteen years old and arriving in New York he enlisted in the TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 781 United States navy and served one year, at the end of wIul-Ii he re- ceived honorable discharge. After that until 1870 he was employed on vessels sailing to different parts of the world, Ijut in that \ear he landed at San Francisco, where he remained about twelve months. Then he worked in the redwood forests in Mendocino county for three years, later coming to Tulare county. In 1875 in partnership with L. W. Howeth, he went into the sheep business, and siuce then he has at times owned as many as three thousand sheep in a single band. He did not dispose of this interest until 1894. During the time of his connection with this enteri)rise he saw many of the ups and downs of sheep raising — of the sheep bought in 1875 most were lost. One of his largest purchases after that was in 1879, when he added two thousand to his flock. He now devotes his attention to cattle, of which he has about two hundred head. He owns six huudred and forty acres of land, which he judiciously devotes to various features of modern farming as it has lieeu developed in this part of California. He feels grateful to the country at large for what it has done for him and more especially to central California for the opportunities of which he has so wisely taken advantage, and as he has prospered he has always tried in an unselfish, loyal way to make some returns to the community for the l)enefit he has received from it. It was in 1889 that Mr. Thomson married Miss Eleanora Thaden, a native of Germany, who has borne him five children, four of whom are living. Lyla attends the State Normal at San Jose and will grad- uate in 1913. Ernest is at home and aiding in the conduct of the home farm. Beattie is a student in the Porterville high school. Olga at- tends school at White River. George E. is deceased. HIRAM L. PARKER It was in that mother state of the Middle West, Ohio, that Hiram L. Parker was born May 25, 1849. He was taken to Iowa by his ]>ar- ents when two years of age and there he was reared to nianhooil and educated, and in 1870, when he was abont twenty-one years old, lie came to California and located in Yolo county, not far from Wood- land. Tliore for seventeen years he raised grain and stock with in- creasing success and gained a financial start. He came to llanfoi-d, Kings county, in 1887, and Iionglit eighty acres of land which is now included in his homestead. He planted 'ten acres of it to vinos in 1888 and the rest of the ranch was devoted chiefly to grain and alfalfa In 1890 lie planted thirty-five acres to ])eaches, apricots and prunes, in the ))roportion of twenty-seven, five and three acres, respectively. Eventually he sold forty acres and bought eighty acres moi-e in the 782 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES same section. Ut' the latter tract lifteen acres is iu alfalfa, the remain- der in fruit. He sold it in 11)12 to E. J. Hummel at $400 an acre. In 1907 he bought twenty acres adjoining his homestead and planted it with peach trees. His last purchase was another twenty acres, which lies south of his homestead in the same section. It is now utilized for general farming, but he intends later on to devote it to fruit. His expenditures in fitting up his home ranch have been heavy, including the cost of buildings, fences, trees, machinery and appliances. His original house was destroyed by tire and he inmiediately l)uilt a new one on its site. Aside from his farming, Mr. Parkei- has some other important interests, having been associated with others in the production of oil in the Lost Hills district, the general development of which is now being promoted. He is a stockholder also iu the Lilian Oil Company. In 1909 Mr. Parker married Mrs. Ella (Harris) Eraser. By a former marriage he has children as follows: Mrs. Nellie Hummel; Mrs. Mettie Moorehouse; and A. C. Parker, of San Jose. Mrs. E. E. Brooks, of San Francisco; Mrs. Clarence Kemp, of Lakeport; and Bruce Eraser, of Lake county, are Mrs. Parker's children l)y her for- mer marriage. Mr. Parker's enterprise along the lines of private business is equaled only by his public-sjiirited helpfulness in all move- ments for the general good. A. J. SALLADAY In the Buckeye State, in 1854, was born A. J. Salladay, a promi- nent citizen of Tulare county and an enthusiastic promoter of the in- terests of Terrabella and its tributary territory. AVhen he was twelve years old he was taken to Iowa by his parents on their removal to that state, and there he remained eighteen years, until 1884, when he came to California and settled in Fresno county. After a residence of two years there he removed to Tulare county, within the borders of which he has since made his home. It was in Ohio and Iowa that he obtained his education. His father was a rancher and all through his boyhood and youth the son was his assistant. When he left Iowa in 1884 he took up the battle of life for himself,, buying forty acres of land in Fresno county, which he subsequently sold. In Tulare county he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres, to which he added by sub sequent purchases until he owned a whole section, which he sold a few months ago for $42,000, it being good producing wheat land. There is food for thought in this brief statement of the success of a self-made man. It was dependent not alone on industry and j^erse- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 783 verance, hut not a little on a i)rophetic foresight which took accoiuit of values past aud present and future. lu 1885 Mr. Salladay married Sophia Carr, a native of Iowa, and they have had four children, all of whom are living. Nita mar- ried J. B. Garver and lives at Terrabella. Sarah became the wife of Henry Owens and lives in the same neighborhood. Joe is un- married, and Carr is a boy of five years. Mrs. Salladay 's parents, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, are living in California. Mr. Salladay 's father, also of Ohio birth, died soon after his son came to Tulare county. The latter remembers the country then as only a boundless sheeji range, and he has watched and aided in its de- velopment until it has become famous as the citrus l)elt of Cali- fornia. AVhen he came here the people did not dream of this latter day prosperity based on irrigation, and farmers were subject to all the vicissitudes of the seasons. Patriotic and helpful to an unusual degree, Mr. Salladay is not an active politician and has never consented to accept any public otSce except as a member of the school board, the duties of which his interest in general educa- tion has impelled him to undertake. BYRON ALLEN This native son of California, of Tulare county and of Visalia was born October 10, 1868, was brought up by his stepfather, James W. Oakes, and after leaving school was associated with him in the cattle Imsiness. Later he went to Arizona, New Mexico and Old Mexico on a prospecting tour, then, returning to Visalia, he again engaged in the breeding of cattle and horses; for, after all he had seen, I'anching looked more promising than mining. Since the death of Mr. Oakes he has had the management of the interests left by the latter and is making a success that is notable among the many successes in his vicinity. With two hundred and eighty acres of land, he is nmking a specialty of the raising of fine blooded hoi-ses. Cattle also command his attention, he having a range of two thou- sand acres in the mountains and keeping year after year about two hundred and fifty head of beef cattle, a hundred and fifty hogs and forty turkeys. A feature of his home farm is a large family orchard, one of the most productive in the neighborhood. In 1!)n4- Mr. Allen married Miss Delia Carter, daughter of an eai-jy setlh'r in Tulare county. Fraternally he affiliates with the Eagles and the Woodmen. As a citizen he takes an intelligent inter- est in all questions of national or local significance and as a voter does his whole duty by helping to elect to office Ihe men who will best 784 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES serve the interests of the people. His public spirit, many times tested, has never been found wanting either in spontaneity or in generosity, for he has near to his heart tlie ui)lift and prosperity of tho rom- munitv. CAPT. ROBERT M. ASKIN As citizen, soldier, artisan, merchant and official, Capt. Robert M. Askin of Visalia won prominence among his fellowmeu. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, April 10, 1838, and died at his home in Tulare county January 1, 1908. John Askin, his father, an English- man transplanted to the Emerald Isle, became a plumber under his father's instructiou and worked at his trade in Ireland as long as he lived. He was married in Ireland to Miss Sarah Sophia Shea, a Dublin girl, who bore him five children, of whom Robert M. was the third in order of birth, and of whom two sons and two daugliters grew to maturity. In November, 1852, Robert M., seeking fortune in a new land l)efore he was fifteen years old, crossed the Atlantic and joined an uncle at Trenton, Canada, where he gave about two years to learning the tinner's trade. From 1854 to 1856 he worked at his trade in Jefferson county, N. Y., whence he went to New York City at the request of another uncle. Three years later he was working at his trade in St. Louis, Mo., biit he soon went with a Mr. Crippen to Steel- ville, Crawford county, that state, where he established a tinsmith's shop, which he operated until in the fall of 1861. On Septemlier 6, 1861, he became a member of Company E of the Phelps Regiment, with which he served six months, during which he witnessed the liattle of Pea Ridge. Receiving honorable discharge at the end of his tei'ui of enlistment, he re-enlisted in Company E, Thirty-second Missouri In- fantry, August 14, 1862. From a private he was promoted in the fol- lowing October to lieutenant, and April 14, 1864, he was connnissioned captain. He served under Grant until 1863 and afterward until the end of the war under Sherman. It is somewhat remarkable that while he participated gallantly in thirty-two engagements he never missed a roll-call or a meal with his company and received but one wound, a mere scratch by a ball while he was charging on a battery at Jones- boro, Ga. He was mustered out of the service July 18, 1865, returned to Steelville, Mo., and worked as a tinner and sold hardware. In 1870 he moved to Cuba, Crawford county. Mo., and in 1878 to Salem, Dent county. Mo., where he dealt in hardware and house furnishing goods for twentv-one vears. From his voung manhood he was an ac^tive TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 785 Republican, and for a tenu lie held the office of presiding justice of the county court and he served as postmaster of Salem by appointment of President Harrison. From the time of his arrival in California until his death he liad his residence and business headquarters at Visalia. Captain Askin married, February 22, 1866, Clara Alice Jameson, a native of Missouri, wlio bore him four children : Charles Robert and Mary Catherine are dead; William C. lives in Missouri; John Herbert was connected with liis father in business at Visalia and is still a resi- dent of that city. Mrs. Askin died at Cuba, Crawford county, Mo., Ajiril 12, 1876, and Captain Askin married (second) in that town Miss Frances Amelia Shephard, of New York liirth, and they liad ciiildren, Arthur Wesley, Adney Horace, Mervyn Leroy, Matie Ajuelia and Flora Dell. Captain Askin was a constituent memlier of the post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Salem, Mo., and on coming to Visalia transferred his membership to Gen. George Wright Post No. Ill, of that city. In religious affiliation he was an Episcopalian and the surviving members of his family are communicants of that church. At Salem he was active in the work of the Masonic lodge and com- mandery and in that of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. .Wher- ever he lived he was in a jniblic-sjiirited way devoted to the uplift of his commnnity, and in this i-espect liis son is following in his footsteps, giving genei'ous encouragement to every movement at ^^isalia foi' the good of any considerable class of the people. GEORGE BRIDGES California is a field peculiarly alluring to young men of states further east, who, having good health and good character, are deter- mined to prosjier by their own efforts. This is jiroven by a glance at the facts in the life thus far of George Bridges, a jirosj^erous farmer and dairyman near Visalia, Tulare county. Mr. Bridges was born in Morton county, lucL. iMarch 3, 1867, and there he attended the iniblic schools and gained a ]iractical kiutwlcdge of farming as it was then carried on in his vicinity. In 1884, when he was seventeen years old. he came to California. His oiiginal settlement here was at a point west of Visalia, and eventually he bought ten acres of land near the Shirk ranch, which he still owns, and where for nine years he grew alfalfa. Then he rented a [lart of the Frans ranch, forty acres, east of \"isalia. There he cultivated alfalfa and installed a dairy of thir- teen cows, besides raising some vegetables. The following year he rented the Smith ranch of three hundred and twenty acres and in- creased his daii'y to oiu> of twenty-five cows, giving attention to alfalfa 45 786 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES and devotiug au adequate portion of his land to pasturage. After living- there a year he moved to his present residence, two hundred and twenty-six acres of the old Patterson ranch, northeast of Visalia, which tract he has since operated under lease. At this time he has ninety-eight acres in alfalfa, owns one hundred head of hogs and beef cattle and has a dairy of fifty cows. Thus, from a small beginning and not under the most favoralile circumstances, he has developed a fine, growing business which stamps him as a man of ability and enter- prise and holds much promise for his future. In 1890 Mr. Bridges married Miss Mary F. Stokes, a native of Tulare county, where her father, Yaucy Stokes, was an early settler, and they have four children: Flora May, Stella I., wife of Roy Swit- zer, George M., and Zelda E. Mr. Bridges is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, devoted to all its interests. He is a man of considerable public spirit, always ready to do his part for the advance- ment of any measure for the general good of his community. ARTHUR P. HUBBS It was in Porterville. Tulare county, Cal., that Arthur Preston Hulibs was born in 1870, a son of James Robert Hubbs. He was edu- cated in the schools of Porterville and in the Mountain View school, and in his youth assisted his father in the latter 's stock farming. The elder Hubbs came across the plains in 1840 with his father, making the journey with ox-teams, and later he and his father owned thousands of acres of land which they bought cheaply and sold while land was yet a drug on the market, and they operated extensively in stock while tlie stock Imsiness was only in its infancy. When Arthur Hulibs first saw the site of Porterville it was wild land without a building, and he remembers Springville when its condition was no less primi- tive. He has watched and assisted in the development of the country and observes its present prosperity with the just ]>ride of the pioneer. At one time he served the community with ability as constable, and he remembers that being a constable then was not the peaceable undertaking that it is today. In all the years of his residence here he has always been ready in a public-spirited way to assist any move- ment ]iro])Osed for the general good. Fraternally he affiliates with the Court of Honor, of which his wife also is a member. In 1895 Mr. Hubbs married Miss 011a Doty, a native daughter of California, and they have had three children. Del])ha, Gladvs and Law- rence. Delpha and Gladys are in school. Mrs. Hubbs' father was a pioneer in California and is still living in Tulare county, where he was long a stockman. So extensive were his operations in that line that TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 7?7 he onee owned a iit'teeu huudred aud twenty acre stock range which he bought at two dollars an acre and sold later at six dollars. Some years ago he went into the. livery business and now he is the proprie- tor of an up-to-date stable at Springville, Cal., which is one of the best appointed and most profitable in this part of the coimtry. ISAAC T. IIALFORD On October 10, 1848, in Moniteau county, Mo., Isaac T. Halford was ])orn, the eldest of twelve children born to L. R. and Hester (Coale) Halford, both natives of Missouri. L. R. Halford was the son of Kentuckians and he passed away in Missouri, where also his wife died. In ISfiH the family moved to Henry county, Mo., and there Isaac T. Halford worked on a farm and attended school until he reached the age of eighteen years. Two years later he was in the cattle business in Texas, whence he returned to Henry county. Mo., to engage in the mercantile business in Coalesburg, and continued in it successfully until in 1885, when he sold out. In 1887 he came to California and located at Orange, in Orange county, remaining for two years, and tlien moved to Porterville, Tulare county, which has since been his home. Opening a general merchandise store, he con- ducted it for a while and later engaged in stock raising. After forty- two years of active business life he retired to enjoy a three years' rest, and December 27, 1912, with Stejdien D. Halford, his brother, he bought the grocery business conducted by Wilko Mentz, and they are now conducting the business under the firm name of Halford Bros. Mr. Halford has bought property in Porterville and im])roved it and has in different ways manifested a helpful interest in the town. While a citizen of Coalesburg, Henry county, Mo., he held the office of post- master seven years, and at another time he was a deputy sheriff. Though he has wielded a i)olitical influence in Tulare county, he has never consented to hold office. Fraternally he affiliates with the Inde- jiendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Encam]iment. He was a cliar- ter mem})ei- of his lodge and has for some time served as its secretai-y. Mrs: lialfoi'd is a Rebekah. When he began business in Porterville thei"e was not a hricic building in the town, aud his was tlie fdiirtli store in operation. In 1878 Mr. Ilalfnrd married Cornelia Holston, a native of 'Pen- nessee. They have no children, but they have an adojyted son, D. Wrinkle, born Deceinber 24, 1902, who has been a member of tlieii- family since he was three years old. Before her marriage Mrs. Hal- ford was a teacher in the Stat<' Normal school at Kirksville, Mo. 788 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES JOSEPH WILLIAM HOMER Born in England, the late Joseph Wijliam Homer early settled in New York, whence, while yet a young man, he went to New Har- mony, Posey county, Ind. His father, Richard Homer, and other members of his family came .to America also and lived in Indiana, where Richard died. After that event Joseph William Homer went down the Ohio river and enlisted for service in the United States army for ser\ice in the Mexican war, in which he did duty as a soldier about a year. Returning to Indiana, he later came through Arkansas and Texas and thence west to Los Angeles, and soon engaged in stock raising at Visalia in partnership with his brother-in-law, Ira Van Gordon. Later he lived a mile north of Farmersville. with stock- raising as his principal occupation. When he first came to California the Indians were very troublesome, and he assisted in the construction of a fort for the protection of women and children. He was a pioneer also in the construction of irrigation ditches and was in one way or another connected with many important movements and enterprises. He was well educated, spoke the Spanish language fluently, and taught his own children before schools were established. He voted at the historic local election held under the oak tree. He continued to live at his home at Three Rivers until 1879, when his long and useful life came to an end. Mr. Homer married Miss Martha Balaam, a native of Kentucky. who bore him these children : Catherine R., S. Ellen, Truman J., Ed- ward B., Thomas and Anna M. Catherine R. married James S. Price, and they have a son, Charles, and a daughter. Alta Florence. S. Ellen married John Hambright, whose parents were among ('alifornia ]Honeers, and they liave eight children. Truman J. married Alice Rice and they have a child, Carrol S. Edward B. married Anna Swank, and they have five daughters and live near Orange Heights. Thomas married Matilda Mehrten and they have two sons. Anna ^f. married Harvey Hodges, of Dinuba, and bore him one son. With Jackson Price, his father, James S. Price, then only about six months old, came overland from Kansas to California in 1863. Tjater the family removed to Oregon, whence the younger Price even- tually came to California, where he has won success as a dair^^nan and as a stock-raiser. He bought twenty acres of land at $200 an acre and has three and a half acres under trees and vines, the remain- der under alfalfa. He has recently st)ld seventy head of stock, but keeps an average of forty head and about one hundred head of Duroc hogs. Not long ago he sold a male pig for $15. His cattle are of the Holstein breed. Politically he is Republican and his wife is a Pro- gressive Republican. He very ably fills the office of postmaster at Orange Heights. He is an Odd Fellow, a Forester of America, a TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 789 Woinliiiaii of America and a luember of the Order of Loyal Protection. Mrs. Price, formerly a memiier of the Women of Woodcraft, is identi- fied with Rel)ekah Lodge of San Tjiiis Obisjio coimty. S. C. KIMBALL A successful merchant and financier of Hanford who is well known here for his exceptional Imsiness ability and honorable meth- ods is S. C. Kimball, who was born in Barton, Yt, March 24, 1859. He was educated in the public schools and at the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie. N. Y. Meantime he early entered business life, and from the time he was seventeen until he was twenty-one years old he traveled through the New England states, buying wool in carload lots and establishing agencies for fertilizers. In this period he ojjened a general merchandise store at Albany, Vt., where he gained his first ex])erience as a merchant. In 1889 he went to Puyallup, Wash., and there sold drygoods for six years, then re- turned to "\"ermont for the benefit of his liealth. He opened a dry- goods store at Barton Landing and incidentally engaged in the flour, feed and grain trade to a large extent, having six agencies with one to five carloads of feed and grain on the track all the time during the shipi)ing season. Meanwhile he bought and conducted his grand- parents' old farm. Though he was doing well, he was longing for the west and he sold out his interests in Vermont and came to California, and by advice of wholesalers of his acquaintance, lo- cated, in 1903, in Hanford. Here he opened a drygoods store on the site of the ])resent city market, taking over the old Hutchins stock. His small initial business was the forerunner of greater things and in a year and a half he moved to his present site at the corner of Seventh and Douty streets, moving into the ground- floor story of the building he now occupies. His store space was 125x35 feet; later he leased an adjoining building, acquiring an addi- tional space of 25x100 feet, and not long afterward added to his establishment the second floor of the original building. In October, 1911, he Oldened two branch stores, one at Lemoore, the other at Exeter. In the first he sells drygoods and shoes, in the other dry- goods only. His sons, Raymond C, Hugh A. and H. C. Kimball, are associated with him in business. H. C. Kimball is secretary of the New York department store and manager of the Lemoore branch store. The stocks of the three stores embrace general drygoods, cloaks, suits, carpets, shoes and men's furnishings, tinware, glass- ware, agateware and stationery. In addition to his large department store. Mi-. Kimball is be- 790 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES comiuy lar.yely iuterested iu baukiug tlirougliout Tulare aud Fresno counties. In the spring of 1910, associated with Chester Dowell, he organized the Lindsay National bank, of Lindsay, Cal., of which he was made the first president, and in February, 1911, he bought the First National bank of Exeter and was made president of that also. His sons are married and settled in Kings county, their financial interest in his business dating from June, 1911. Mr. Kim- ball is ]3resident of the First National bank of Exeter and the National bank of Oro.si, the latter being capitalized at $25,000 and o]5ening its doors in February, 1913. He is a director of the Fowler National bank at Fowler, Cal., capitalized at $50,000 which started its business also in February, 1913. He is largely interested in the Golden State's Security Co.. Inc., of Exeter, capitalized at $50,000, their holdings being practically all orange lands. This compan.v has a bright future and handles twenty and forty acre tracts, and as director of this corporation Mr. Kimliall is an active element. In 1908 Mr. Kimball bought the Dr. Holmes fruit ranch, a mile west of Hanford, which he has converted into a fine estate. Besides this twenty acres he bought twenty-tive acres near the city limits, all in orchard and vineyard. In 1912, with A. W. Quinn and two others, he bought nine hundred acres of orange land in the orange belt, four miles from Exeter, which they intend to improve. A. W. PHELPS Near Sheboygan Falls, Wis., A. W. Phelps, who lives north of Dinuba in Tulare county, Cal., was born June 24, 1862, a sou of Ben- jamin aud Matilda (Humes) Phelps, and lived there until he was nine years old, when he was taken by his parents to Missouri. There the family home was located directly across the road from that of the Samuels, mother aud stepfather of the James boys, famous in outlaw history of the west. The Phelpses, who were pioneers in Wisconsin, became pioneers in Oregon in 1875, settling near Salem and Silverton, in Marion county, where the family lived twenty-one years and where the father died, aged eighty-five. In 1896 A. W. Phel]is came to California and located in Tulare county. He leases ten acres belonging to Mrs. Latin and another tract of twenty acres, and has four acres and a half in peaches and three in Malaga vines. As a farmer, considering the extent of his operations, lie is achieving a marked success. Mr. Phelps' experience as a pioneer in several states was replete with interest. On one occasion in Tulare county he wandered from the road on his wav to a dance and came uiion two voung lions, and TULARE AND KINGS (XHTx^'TES 791 wliile he was considering the advisal)ility oT captiiriiig Jiiid making pets of theai he was startled by beholding in the near vicinity a rtve- legged double-hoofed Jersey calf. How these strange animals came to be there or whether or not he took them home with him lie did not inform his interviewer. Perhaps he left them because he was more anxious to attend the dance than to begin the collection of a menagerie. In the early days he saw many dro\-es of elk and was successful in deer-stalking. In his politics Mr. Phelps is an independent Repul)Iicau. Frater- nally he affiliates with the Maccabees. He married in Kingsbui-g, Tulare county, Miss Emma Peterson, a native of Kansas, and they have children named Minnie, Grade and Eva. Minnie has jiassed through the local grammar school. BREWSTER S. GURNEE In any survey of the substantial enterprises of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., the Gurnee iilaning-mill is certain to attract attention. Its output in windows, doors, mouldings and bank tixtures aggre- gates $60,000 yearly. The guiding spirit of these enterprises is Brewster S. Gurnee, who came to Hanford from the city of Fresno in December, 1891. Born in Stony Point, Rockland comity, N. Y., May 26, 1859, a son of Walter F. B. Gurnee and a grandson of Mathew Gurnee, natives of the Empire state, he traces his ancestry to one of the Pilgrim fathers. Walter F. B. Gurnee, a farmer and a brick manufacturer, served the Federal cause in the Civil war as a private soldier sixty days, then was sent home because of ill health and died in his tifty-sixth yeai'. He married Mary M. Smith, also a native of New York state, who died at Rye, N. Y., at the age of seventy-six. In the public school near his l)oyhood home Brewster S. (Jurnee ol)tained such education as was availa])le to him. His first business ex])erience was in Washington, N. J., where he learned the organ maker's trade with the Beaty Organ company. Later he was em- liloyed in a piano factory at New York, but was constrained by his wife's failing health to give up Ills ))osition there and remove to California. His first location liere was at Fresno. After working in a ])laning-mill there for about a year, he became foreman in the large i)laning-mill of M. R. Madary, a jtosition which he filled four years, when he bouglit a half interest in the estalilishment. After two \ears of successful linsiiu'ss life, he sold his interest in the planing-mill, December, 1S!»1, and came to Ilant'oi'd, where he es- tablished himself in a ))i-os|K'rous manufacturing Inisiness. His sue- 792 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES cess, however, was not achieved without discoiuagiug- reverses. Be- sides his iiiill i)i()])t'rty he early acquired a fruit farm near Han- ford, and during the ])auic of 189.3-94 he lost both mill and farm; but in 1899, on boi'rowed cai)ital, he again became owner of the same mill and has since operated it with profit. His first planing- mill in Hanford was a small affair covering a ground s])ace of fifty by sixty-five feet. His plant now consists of two buildings, one cov- ering a ground space of one hundred and twenty-five by one hundred and fifty feet, the other seventy-five by one hundred feet. The Gurnee mill is one of the best equipped in the lower San Joaquin valley and its manufactures are sold in all parts of California. It gives constant employment to thirty men. The Republican party has in Mr. Gurnee a staunch member, but he has persistently refused to accept public office. Fraternallv he affiliates with Hanford Lodge, No. 279, F. & A. M.; Hanford chapter. No. 74, R. A. M. ; the Hanford organizations of Woodmen of the World and Knights of Pythias; and the I^'resno lodge of the iJenevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Gurnee is no less popular in business and social circles than in these orders, and as a citizen he has never been found wanting in public spirit. He mar- ried Eugenia A. Van A'aler, a native of Stony Point, N. Y., and they have had five children, one of whom died in infancy. The survivors are Mary, Minnie, Candace and Adelia. Mary is the wife of F. M. Vincent, residing at Niles, Cal. Minnie is the wife of A. R. Schimmell, residing near Tulare. Candace is the wife of W. H. Wilbur, residing at Alpaugh, Cal. EUGENE A. LUCE The jiopulation of California is made up very largely of men from other states of the Uuion and ]iresents uiore distinct elements than almost any other state. Yet it is a melting-i)ot in which all immigrants are converted into out-and-out Californians. In local industries, from the railroad liuilder to the bank ]n-esident, the citi- zen of New York birth has shown excellent (jualities. One such is Eugene A. Luce, formerly a plumber at Yisalia, now a rancher on the Exeter road, east of that city, a self-inade man, who has won high repute in the community for all those qualities of mind and heart which make for good citizenshijj. Mr. Luce was born in Buffalo, N. Y., January 19. 1845, and when he was two years old his father died. He was reared and educated in his native state, and in the spring of 1870 came to California and opened a plumb- er's and tinsmith sho]) in Visalia. After a successful business there TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 79:5 of tweuty years' (.huation. lio sold out his plant aud bought .a raUL-h of eighty acres near that city. It was set out to fruit trees which lie dug up to convert the place into a dairy ranch of fifty acres of alfalfa and thirty aci-es of wild feed. He is able to gather six crops of alfalfa each \ear without irrigation. A dairy of thirty cows is a feature of his enterprise and he keeps fifty hogs. In 1907 Mr. Luce married Mrs. Metcalf, a native of Iowa, who has two children: Herman and Odell Metcalf. Mary E. Luce is a child by a former wife. Mr. Luce affiliates with the Visalia Grange aud is a man of liberal ]mblic spirit. EDWIN F. HAET Many Missourians have come to California and have been per- fectly satisfied by their change of location. One such is Edwin F. Hart, of Farmersville, Tulare county. He was born in St. Charles, Mo., December 24, 1860, a sou of Amos and Sarah AV. (Logan) Hart, natives of Kentucky. He came to this state in 1882, when he was about twenty-two years old, and located in Tulare county. With his brother, he liought three hundred and fifty acres of land at Cottage, on the Mineral King road, where they engaged in hog raising. Three years later they sold the place and Mr. Hart bought his present farm of two hundred and forty acres near Farmersville, forty acres of which is in alfalfa, eight in peaches, ten in ]irunes and two in a family orchard. He does general farming aud has a dairy of twenty-five cows. He owns also a cattle range of one hun- dred and sixty acres on the Tule river, near Woodville. Fine draft horses are among the i)roducts of his farms and lie is i)art owner of an imported Percheron stallion. Farming and stock-raising do not command Mr. Hart's entire time so as to exclude other interests. His public spirit has led him from time to time to take part in movements for the general benefit of the community. He is iiresident of the Consolidated People's Ditch company and has been at the head of the cor]ioration since 1894. The other officers are S. T. Pennybaker, vice-i>resi(l('nt ; Bank of Visalia, treasurer; J. C. Lever, secretary. The water used in the system under consideration comes from the Kaweah river. The ditch dug by the old <'()iii))any was merged with the new one in the consolidation and was the first in the county. It was begun with nine short ditches in 1852 and was known as the Swansou ditch. It was enlarged from time to time down to 1860, and in 18(i4 the Consolidated company took it over, including it in its present sys- tem of five miles of ditches with numerous laterals, each of ten to 794 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES fifteen miles, making an aggregate of nearly one hundred miles. In the dry season of 1898 the company irrigated more than sixteen thousand acres of land. This enterprise is one of utmost local importance and, as has been seen, has comman(Jed the best efforts of leading citizens in all i^eriods of its history and now is in the hands of some of the best men in the county. Socially Mr. Hart is identified with the Woodmen of the World and the Fraternal Aid. He married Miss Martha E. Frans, the daughter of a Tulare county pioneer, February 2, 1887, and they have seven children : Sarah F., a teacher in the Farmersville public schools ; Charles E., who married Belle Hartsell; John H.; Rebecca E.; James v.; Homer S. ; Ruth E. Sarah F. and Rebecca E. were graduated from the San Francisco Normal School. Mr. Hart is recognized not only as one of the successful men of the county but also as one of the most public spirited of those who are leaders in affairs of general import. WILLIAM 11. BRALV In Missouri, in 18()2, was born William H. Braly, who now makes his home at Ducor, Tulare county. Cal. When he was three months old his parents made the journey l)y ox team to Oregon, and there he lived for eight years. Then coming to ("alifornia he settled in Alameda county, where he grew uj), finishing his studies and familiarizing himself with the details of farming. In 1886 he came to Tulare county and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land that is a part of the Braly Brothers' ranch. The father of the Braly Brothers, Shadrach Braly. was a native of Missouri, and died in 1892. Their mother, who was l)orn in Kentucky, is living on the Braly homestead, passing her declining years amid the scenes of her active life. Her sons, W. H., S. W. and J. C. Braly, constitute the firm of Braly Brothers. Another of her sons, B. F. Braly, lives in this vicinity. Braly Brothers own twenty-two hundred and forty acres of land. While they have raised many horses and mules, they give their attention prin- cipally to grain. They have made their own way in the world by hard work and have proven their right to succeed by showing their willingness in a loyal way to contribute their full share toward the prosperity of the community. Their ranch, two and a half miles west of Ducor, is one of the show places of that part of the county. William H. Braly has served his fellow citizens as school trustee, but has never accejited any other office. TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 795 ELMER L. KITCHEL In settling in a new country, the measiare of one's success is not so much wliat one lu'ings in as what one acquires. The man who comes with ca])ital does not always keep it, and the man wlio comes empty-lianded may Hve to fill his coffers. The citizen of Tulare county whose name is ahove, arrived with thirty cents cash in hand. How he has prospei-ed it is the task of the writer here to narrate. Mr. Kitchel was born in Warren county, Iowa, May 6, 1870, a son of James and Aleysana (Webster) Kitchel, the former born in Illinois, the latter in Indiana. The family came to Cali- fornia in 1887 and lived at Antioch, Contra Costa county, and from there eventually came on to Tulare county. Elmer L. Kitchel nuxde his api)earance in the county with the small sum mentioned, but he had more and something better — he had work in him, work that was for sale because he needed cash, work that was wanted because it was honest and thorough and effective. For two years after his arrival he was a wage earner, then he rented the Johnson & Levison ranch near Visalia, which embraced forty acres, devoted chiefly to fi-uit. iVfter operat- ing it three years he was able to come to the ranch which he still leases and which has come to be known as his home. It is the old Patterson ranch, northeast of Visalia, which includes ninety-five acres of cultivated land and one hundred and fifteen acres of pas- ture. There he has li\ed since 1906. When he came to the place it was badly run down. He got busy, cleaning up, cutting do^\^^ sixty acres of dead fruit trees, convertiug the trees into four hun- dred and fifty-eight cords of wood. Ever since he has been im- jiroving the projierty, on which there are now twenty acres of flour- isliing i)rune trees which produced nine tons of dried fruit in 1911, which tested fifty-two and sold at six cents a jiound. There is also a young orchard of thirteen acres of French ])runes which came into bearing in 1912. In 1909 Mr. Kitchel had forty-five acres of Egyptian corn, which on threshing yielded ten hundred and seventy- five sacks, which he regarded as a very favorable showing. In 1911 he had fifteen acres of corn. Sixty acres of the ranch is de- voted to alfalfa, which in 1912 yielded over eight tons to the acre for five cuttings. Ten acres of this was sown in December, 1910, forty-five in October, 1909. A feature is a dairy of twenty-five cows, all young stock, and there are on the place five Pei-eheron mares from which Mr. Kitchel raises fine draft colts. The mares weigh respectively from fourteen hundred and fifty to seventeen hundred pounds. In 1912 Mr. Kitchel became a stockholder in the Visalia Co-operative creamery, and also owns stock in a Percheron stallion. Socially, Mr. Kitchel is an Odd Fellow, alliliating with Four 796 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Ci-eek Lodge No. 94. In 1896 he married Mmnie E. Hunniiel, daughter of Thomas and Florence A. (Hill) Hummel, both resi- dents of Tulare county for the past forty years. She was born in Tulare county in that part now in Kings. Mr. and Mrs. Kitchel have four children: Kalph, George, Elmer W. and Hattie. GEORGE L. BLISS Near Visalia, Tulare county, Cal., George L. Bliss, the reliable abstract man of Hanford, was born January 24, 1866, a son of Henry P. Bliss, Sr., and his wife Roxey (Jordan) Bliss. His father was the first of this family of pioneers to settle in Central Cali- fornia. He was born in New York state, the son of a Presbyterian minister, whom he accompanied to Michigan. Amid frontier conditions, in Allegan county, Mich., Henry F. Bliss, Sr., grew to manhood. In 1850 he came overland to Cali- fornia with an ox-team outfit and settled at Sonora for a short time, and later on settled in Tulare county and bought land six miles south of Visalia, which he sold later in order to buy a farm about a mile south of that town, where he built up extensive stock- raising interests. It was after he came here that he married Miss Jordan, a native of Texas, who had accompanied P'rauk Jordan, her father, to California. From girlhood her home was on the Pacific coast and she passed away at the home of her son, Henry F. Bliss, in her fifty-fourth year. Henry F. Bliss, Sr., died in Visalia in his fifty-eighth year. Of their children, William died in Visalia; Henry F. died in Visalia, in 1909; Charles E. is in Fresno; George L. is the subject of this notice; Irving is a dairyman at Bakersfield; J. H. is in the abstract business in Bakersfield; Mary, the eldest daughter, died in Visalia; Cora is in the abstract busi- ness at San Diego; Maggie, a graduate of the State Normal School at San Jose, married I. E. Wilson of lianford; and Earl (Maggie's twin) is in the U. S. army, located at Vancouver, Wash. In the public schools of Visalia George L. Bliss was educated and in 1885 he connected himself with the abstract business of his uncle, John F. Jordan, of the Visalia Abstract company. Even- tually be was made deputy county clerk of Tulare county and served two years as city assessor of ^'isalia. Later he moved to Bakers- field, where he was employed in an abstract office; then, returning to Visalia, he was again connected with the Visalia Abstract com- pany until July 5, 1899, when he took up his residence in Hanford. There he bought a branch of the ^^isalia Abstract company, which he has operated to the present time, now kno-mi as the Kings TULARE AND KINUS COUNTIES 797 County Abstract company. Meauwliile lie lias eugaged iu real estate business, and since 1899 has been interested in the development of oil lands in this part of the state. He is secretary of the Coaiiuga- Pacitic Oil and Gas company. In company with Kichard Mills, he has lately erected a new brick block on Eighth street opposite the courthouse, which he has made the headquarters of his abstract business and his rapidly growing real estate business. A man of j^ublic spirit, as well as of private enterprise, Mr. Bliss has done much for the development of Kings county. Fra- ternally he affiliates with Hanford lodge, Knights of Pythias. In 1890 he married Miss Hattie Beville, a native of Georgia. Their children are Iris M., Georgia J. and William Payson Bliss. M. F. SINGLETON Back in Indiana, a state from which many men have come to California to find here signal successes, M. F. Singleton, of Ducor, Tulare county, CaL, was born in 1862. When he was about twenty- two years old he went to Kansas, where he remained but a short time, coming on to California and arriving in Tulare county Aug- ust 27, 1884. Such education as was available to him he obtained in public schools in the Hoosier state, but as he was obliged to go to work for a living when he was fifteen years old his literary training was necessarily not very liberal. He came to the county alone and for four years worked by the day as a farm hand, and his first land was a homestead of eighty acres, which he took up soon after he came. By later purchases he has acquired five other eighty-acre tracts and now owns four hundred and eighty acres. At one time his holdings included other land which brought them up to a total of six hundred and eighty acres. He is now raising grain in goodly (piautities, being located six miles from Ducor. In 1888 Mr. Singleton married Miss Eva J. Hunsaker, a native of Tulare county, who died in 1898. In 1902 he married Miss Clara E. Gibbons. By his first marriage he had five children, Claude F., Louis I., Nettie E., Elsie and Nora. Fraternally Mr. Singleton affiliates with Porterville lodge. No. 359, I. 0. O. F., and with the Porterville organization of the Woodmen of the World. While he is not a practical politician and has never sought ollice, he was, in 1910, elected to represent the fifth district of Tulare county in the board of supervisors. This is said to be the largest and wealth- iest district of the county, lie has novel' accepted any other ollicial jiosition, but he is not without honor as a public-spirited citizen and as a self-made man, who having begun at the very bottom of the 798 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES ladder of success, has gained eminence in a fair and square struggle for advancement in which he has always been willing to give gen- erous aid and honorable dealing. In the days before he was him- self a landowner he was instrumental in inducing a well-known farmer to have a well put down on his ])lace. It is worthy of note that this well was the lirst in the Ducor district for agricultural purposes. W. D. TREWHITT This prominent contractor and builder of Hanford, Kings county, favorably known throughout Central California, was born at Cleve- land, Bradley county, Tenn. When he Avas twelve years old he be- came a resident of Fort Worth, Tex., and there while still quite yoimg, served an apprenticeshi]> to the carpenter's trade. He worked ten years there, then went to New Orleans, La., whence he came to Hanford in 1886. Here he has been busy as a con- tractor and builder, the majority of his buildings being handsome brick structures, among which are: the First National Bank, Em- porium, Vendome Hotel, the New Opera House, the Sharpies, Knowell, Bush and Kutner-Goldstein buildings, the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, the Axtell block and the Slight & Garwood, Cliildress & Nunes, Kennedy & Rol)inson, Chittenden-Flory, Robin- son, K. Rollins and Buck buildings, and the Hanford ice plant, all in Hanford; many fine structures in Fresno, P]xeter, Porterville, Lemoore, Visalia and San Francisco; a bank building in Patterson, Stanislaus county, a $50,000 apartment house in Fresno, a $20,000 addition to the Burnette Sanitarium in Fresno, a $40,000 addition to the court house in A'isalia. a $20,000 grammar school building at Visalia, the Mt. Whitney Power company's liuilding in Visalia, the Hyde block in ^'isalia, high school buildings at Tulare and Porterville, grammar school buildings in Lindsay, Exeter and Fresno, a $50,000 school building at C?oalinga and some business blocks in Lemoore. One of his notaltle residences is that of D. R. Cameron in Hanford. The Hanford Sanitarium, the Delano high school, the high school at Msalia, Scally hotel at Lemoore and the Convention Hall at Fresno. In 1907 Mr. Trewhitt, in association with L. E. Hayes, founded the S. P. Brick company of Exeter, which makes six million a ire- cut brick annually. He is one of the owners of the Talc & Soap- stone company at Lindsay, whose stone material is taken from the earth and ground up into a i^owder which is a base for manv products, including paints and i)aper, soaps and face powders. He TULARP: and kings counties 799 lias louii- l)eeii interested in ranch jiroperty iu Kings eounty and now owns an eighty-acre farm, two miles west of Hanford, which is given over to vineyard, orchard and the raising of horses, cattle and hogs. In 1907 the firm of Trewhitt & Shields was organized, the partners being W. D. Trewhitt and H. W. Shields. Mr. Shields has charge of estimates and drafting. Fraternally, Mr. Trewhitt is a Mason of the Knights Tem|)lar degree, a Sliriner and a member of the Woodmen of the World. In 1890 he married Miss Mary Ijillian Carney, a native of Ken- tucky, and they have three children: Klizabeth, Dorris and Doug- las Trewhitt. J. L. PRESTIDGE This native of Mississii)i)i and prominent farmer near Dinuba, Tulare county, Cal., was born April 1, 18(31, and remained in the state of his birth until he was seventeen years old, attending school after he had reached school age and acquiring a practical knowl- edge of farming which has been the foundation of his later success. In 1878 he went to Washington county, Ark., where he remained six years. It was in 1886 that he came to California, locating at Hills valley and remaining one year. In 1887 he went to Kettlemaus Plains, where he took a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres and a timber culture claim of one hundred and sixty acres, remaining there until 1894, and six years later he located near Dinuba, where he has since li\ed. Some idea of the cjuality of the man may be gained by the fact that he came to the county without capital and without infiueutial friends and has iirospered steadily year after year, in s])iie of many difficulties, until he owns a homestead wliicli could not be bought for $10,000. His friendliness and public spirit have been of ma- terial aid to him, for it is true that one cannot be a friend without gaining friends or help the community without helping one's self. Fraternally he afliliates witli the Woodmen of the World. In his political relations he is a Democrat and as such has been elected to important townshij) offices. He is one of the most prominent pro- ducers of g.rai)es in this part of the state, having a very large acreage devoted to vines, lie also raises much fruit. The ))arents of Mr. Prestidge were natives of Mississijijii and his father died in the last siege of Vicksburg. In 1880 he married Myra D. Pore, who was l)orn in Missouri of paients who were natives of Kentucky. Of their five children, three are living. Dean Prestidge is well known in Kings county, where he has lived at Cottonwood foi- some time ))ast. He married Miss llattie Tottv of 800 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Los Augeles. George R. is deputy couuty auditor of Tulare county. Johnuie is a student in the local public schools. It is probable that there is not another man in the vicinity who is more prom])t and gen- erous than Mr. Prestidge in the assistance of every movement for the public good. FEED W. CONKEY A native of Wisconsin, Fred W. Conkey, bookkeepei- for G. AY. Knox of Orosi and one of the successful farmers of Tulare county, was born August 16, 1864, a son of Lucius and Julia E. (Sheldon) Conkey, natives respectively of New York and of Michigan. His father died in Chicago, 111., in 1904; his mother is still living. Her great-grandfather was captain of a company of patriot soldiers in the Revolutionary war and was captured by the British and miglit have been severely dealt with had he not been pardoned by King George because of his standing in the Masonic Order. His great-grandfather in the paternal line also fought for the colonies in the Revolutionary struggle, his grandfather being a soldier of the war of 1812. Mr. Conkey entered the employ of the Swift Packing Company and rose to authority in the office and was for several years private secretary of Mr. Swift. For eleven years Mr. Conkey was chief teller in the office of the county treasurer of Cook county. 111., whicji includes the city of Chicago. He married in Chicago Miss Jessie Nye, daughter of the Hon. B. F. Nye, now a member of the legislature of the state of Kansas. By a former marriage he has two children. After the death of his father, his mother removed from Chicago to California and bought fifty acres of the old Reinheimer ranch in Tulare county for $19,000, and won much success with oranges, raisins, peaches and other fruit, having had many vines and seven hundred four-year peach trees. This property has been sold for $22,000. For two years after he came to California, Mr. Conkey did outside work. He now has a forty-acre fully improved ranch near Yettem for which he has refused $16,000. He is conducting the El Monte Inn, a place of twenty-six rooms, in the management of which he is ably assisted by Mrs. Conkey, they having acquired this property by their united etTorts, evidencing the reward for unceasing labor and toil. Their ])lace is the only hotel in town and holds an enviable re])u- tation among the traveling public. Mr. Conkey affiliates with the Masons, is secretary of the Orosi lodge, and is a member of Medina Temple of Chicago. He is a Republican in his politics and as a citizen has evidenced a ]iublic spirit which makes him useful and popular in the community. TULARE AND KIX(JS COUXTIES 801 JOHN J. DOYLE A descendant of Irish anoestors, tliat enterprising Irish-American, John J. Doj'le, of Porterviile, Tulare county, Cah, was ))orn at Lafayette, Ind., April 19, IS-l-l, son of John Doyle. The latter was born in Kentucky, whence he removed in 1829 to Indiana and there followed agricultural pursuits until his death in 1870. John J.'s grandfather was William Doyle, who came from Ireland wlien a boy, settling first in \"irginia and then in Kentucky, where his death oc- curred. John Doyle married Sarah Wilson, born in Virginia, who in 1876 died in California, where she came with her son John J. on his second trij) to the coast. She was the mother of sixteen children, of whom John J . was tlie second youngest. John J. Doyle was reared on the parental farm until he was nine- teen, attending the common schools and also taking a course at a com- mercial college. Then he went to Ohio, but soon returned to Indiana, whence he came overland to California in 1865. It was not long, how- ever, before he returned to Indiana, but he came again in 1867 and taught school in Sonoma count}' in 1869. He settled in Tulare county in 1871 and has paid taxes there ever since, dui'ing a i)eriod of more than forty years. In the historic Mussel Slough fight, in which J. M. Harris, Ira Knutson, John Henderson, Archie McGregor and Dau Kelley were killed, Mr. Doyle did not participate, but he and four of his friends were jailed for eight months because of their infiueuce in bringing about the troubles which culminated in the encounter. He started the fight and fought the railroad company nine years and four months and was ol)liged finally to pay $30.60 an acre for his land fov which he had so long contended the railroad company had no title. It is a matter of history that more than six hundred other land owners set up a similar claim. The memorable year in which he served his jail term was 1881. In 1883 he was the first to locate a timber claim in the mountains at Sununer Home. At one time he owned over one thousantl acres, which he has since sold. After ten years of farming in that district he went to the mountains and ])lanted an orchard at Doyle's Springs. He now owns about two hundred and eighty acres, one hundred and twenty-one acres of which, adjoining Porterviile. he platted into lots and is offering for sale. In 1907 he bought ten hun- dred and forty acres east of Porterviile, known as tiie old Indian tract, and divided it into twenty-acre farms, all of which, except one hundred, he has sold. One acre he gave for school purposes and a school house was built on it which accommodates about forty pupils. He is luiving land and selling on easy terms, as nmch to l)enefit the town as foi- aii\ puri)ose of his own, and he intends soon to i)lant near Porterviile an extensive orchard of deciduous fruits. In 1880 Mr. Doyle married Miss Ijillic Alice Holser, a native of 80-2 TULARE A XT) KINGS COUNTIES Califuruia, who lias borne liiiu four children, three of whom are li\iu.u and married, viz., Chester H.; Ruby S., wife of John McFadyen; and Floreda Alice, married to C. S. Pinnell. Mrs. Doyle's parents were California pioneers, settling- in Sacramento county in the early mining days. Her father died in 1866; her mother December 19, 1911, aged ninety-two years. Mr. Doyle's parents both died in 1876. The experi- ences of the family link the early days with the present time. Mr. Doyle has always been noted for his public spirit and has never sought any office, though he has ably filled several appointive ones. He is helpful to an eminent degree aud his niost distinguishing characteristic is his disposition to look on the l)right side of things. CHARLES WILLIAM HOSKINS No real success in life is won without a persevering struggle, and the self-made man is, in the commercial aud financial sense of the term, literally self-made. At the beginning he is handicapped by lack of capital, and after that his jirogress must be made in the face of strenuous circumstances aud often unfair comi)etition. When he has reached the top he knows how he got there and so do those whom he has left behind in. the race. One of the men of this class in Kings county is Charles William Hoskins. Born in Adams county, Iowa. June 8, 1861, it was in 1862 that he was taken by his parents to Penn- sylvania. He was able to attend public schools only two years, but he made the best use of his limited advantages and has since acquired much knowledge from books and by an informing course of instruction in the college of hard experience. In his infancy he had reversed the general rule by going East. He was still but a boy, however, when he was in business life as a clerk in a store in Nebraska. In 1891 he came to California and in September settled in Tulare county. He moved in 1892 to the Lakeside district and opened a blacksmith sho]i which he operated about a year, then gave up the enterprise as having a not very promising future. He had now had experience in selling goods and in ranching and in blacksmithing, and, between times, had made himself useful in other ways. Returning to Hanford, where some of his experience had lieen obtained, he again became a clerk in a general store. Here he would have seemed to have settled down to the kind of business to which he was best ada]ited naturally and by association. In 1900 he became manager of a general merchandise store at Guernsey, which he bought a year later and which he con- ducted with steadily increasing success until August 1. 1912. when he sold out and removed to his property in Hanford. In 1882 he married Miss Alma Atwood, a native of Henrv countv. Til., who has borne him TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 803 a son, Howard A., who is in the automobile business in Hanford. Mr. Hoskins is a member of the W. 0. W., and is a man of public spirit who seeks rather to i^ive to, than receive from, the community with which he east his lot. ADOLPHUS MITCHELL The life of Adolphus Mitchell has been closely identified with the early history and development of the state of California, and he is numbered among- those pioneer settlers who have been instru- mental in its progress for many years. He is a re]iresentative of an old and honored family, members of which have taken active part in the wars of the new as well as the old world. He is the son of Lewis and Mary E. (Duff) Mitchell. His grandfather, Solomon Mitchell, was a soldiei- in the Revolutionary war, and fought undei- General Pickens of South Carolina, while his son, Lewis Mitchell, father of Adolphus, was a soldier in the war of 1812. The latter 's death occTirred in 1861, wlien he was aged aliout seventy years. On the maternal side, the Duff family is of Irish descent. His grand- father, Robert Duff, was major in the Irish rebel army. The Irish lost their cause, and so Mr. Duff came to America ; but on account of religious difficulties he dressed in woman's clothes, was stowed away on a vessel and thus came to America, locating in West Vir- ginia. Robert Duff married Miss Dickerson, who was also of Irish extraction, and their daughter was Mary E. Duff, who was born in West Virginia, ilev husband, Lewis Mitchell, was born in South Carolina. Adolphus Mitchell was born in Hawkins county, in eastern Ten- nessee, May 28. 1829, and in 18o6 moved with his parents to south- western Missouri, in what was then P>arry county, Imt which lias been changed to McDonald county. He attended the common schools there, but at that time the method of educating was very crude, owing to the lack of facilities. The lights used were pine knots and candles. His entii'e attendance at school here covered a ])eriod of only nine months, the last two montlis when he was over twenty years of age. Reared on the frontier, accustomed to face hardships and unflinchingly forge ahead, he was a man well fitted for work in his new home. He remained at home until he had reached the age of twenty-five years, when he started out with oxen and wagons for the coast, but finally decided to leave them on Green River, and iia<'ked from there. He had many encouiifcrs with Indians en route, both warriors and friendly, but he finally arrived in California August 5, 1855. As he was undecideil what line of work to follow he sto])pe(l in the mines for a time and 804 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES then came to Tulare coimty, where, in 1857, he embarked iu the cattle business, buying Spanish cattle to the amount of a hundred and fifty head, at $12.50, pasture being free. The next sjoring he sold thirty head at $30 each. Mr. Mitchell had decided uot to follow the miner's life because of their ill luck, and accordingly in 1859 bought land in Visalia, when that town had but three business houses. He had crossed the plains in company with his brother and there was also a Mrs. Billips in the party, whom he afterward found keeping a restaurant in Visalia. At the time of this purchase the hoiises there had canvas tops and were rudely built. He has seen this coimtry grow to its present propor- tions and has benefited by it. In 1857 he met Colonel Baker, founder of Bakersfield, who advised him to buy land. This he did, from time to time, until he owned twelve himdred acres in that vicinity. Through all his hard struggle to gain a foothold in the new country, Mr. Mitchell had the assistance and earnest co-operation of his brother, Ozro, who was born June 4, 1831, and whose death occurred iu December, 1906, at Mr. Mitchell's home, which had always been his. He had never married. On January 11, 1862, the flood covered their tract with water, and there seemed to be three .waves pass through the valley. The second flood, on December 24, 1867, coming in one wave, covered everything. Mr. Mitchell returned to Missouri in 1869, leaving Visalia on the 9th of June and arriving home in the same month. Here he remained for a time, being taken with an attack of typhoid in July, and he was obliged to stay there for fifteen months, during which time his mar- riage took place. He returned to California, by stage from Stockton, and settled on a ranch near Visalia, where he made a specialty of raising stock, but af the time the railroad came was giving his atten- tion to the cultivation of wheat. Visalia courthouse was to be moved by the railroad, but as the Constitution prohibits removal more than once, and it was formerly at Woodville and thence removed to Visalia, it could not be taken to Tulare as they proposed. However, it was a hard fight to hold it at Visalia, but through the hard work of the citizens it was finally kept there. Mr. Mitchell had rented sixteen hundred acres for cattle in what is now Kings county, and owning cattle, was there when the county division was made. Mr. Mitchell was married to Susan Bogle, who was born in Cannon county. Tenn., but had lived in Missouri since 1859. They had five children born to them, viz. : Mary, who is unmarried ; Walter Franklin, who works on his father's ranch; Addie, who is the widow of Edward C. Jones, of Visalia ; Chester, deceased ; and Arthur Galen, who is also on the ranch with his father. Mr. Mitchell owned at one time about twenty-five hundred acres of land, but he has di\'ided his property among his children. TTXARE AXn KIXGR COUNTIES 805 Mr. Mitchell takes an active interest in all public matters and is a progressive, energetic citizen, hut he would never consent to holding office. Since 185(5 he has made many prophesies concerning the wel- fare and growth of his adoi)ted state, and they have in most cases materialized. A self-made, self-educated man, he is public-spirited and interested in all that tends to the prosperity of his conmumity, and he is well kuown throughout the countv as a most successful man. WILLIAM R. COOKE This native of California and well known citizen of Tulare county was born in Placerville, January 22, 1857, a son of W. S. and Lucy (Eutledge) Cooke. Ilis father was born in Leeds, England, in 1827, and his mother was born in England that same year. The former came to South Carolina when he was sixteen years old and was for some time engaged in shii)ping. Eventually he located in Boston, where he comjileted his education and whence he nutved after four years to Da\'enport, Iowa, where for a time he sold fanning mills and John Deere jilows. There he married Miss Rutledge, who had come from her native land when quite young. She is living in San Francisco at the advanced age of eighty-five years. In 1851 they came overland with a large train from Iowa, halting a short time in Salt Lake City. From time to time they had dangerous encounters with Indians and when they reached llangtown, now Placerville, they witnessed the hanging of a man named Van Lugan. Later they were attacked by Indians who drove otT their cattle, killing several. They witnessed the sinking of the Humboldt mine in Gold Canyon on the site of Gold Hill. At Hangtown, where Mrs. Cooke arrived wearing a green silk dress, she was one of but two women in the settlement. A dance was given on the evening following their arrival. It was at Ford's Bar on the American river that Mr. Cooke had his first experience as a miner. He long remembered the arrival of the first circus that visited at that diggings. At one time he walked from Hangtown to Sacramento, bare- footed, and brought back with other purchases a pair of cop])er-toed boots for his son, the subject of this review. From Hangtown the family moved to Mountain Springs and from there they moved about eighteen months later to Foi'd's Bar, where in 1857 more than five hun- dred votes were cast. Their next place of residence, where they re- mained until 1859, was at Iowa Hill. Mr. Cooke owned sevei-al mines one after another and made and lost considerable money. He became prominent in affairs in Placer county and for eight years filled the office of sheriff. Tjater at N'irginia City he was elected police judge and 806 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES tax collector, lie died there in 18!)8 aud his widow removed to San Francisco. The children of W. S. and Lucy (Rutledge) Coolie were named as follows: Sarah A., Mary E., William R., F. W., Jennie V., Henry S., deceased, Joseph E., Lucy, and Edwin, deceased. Sarah A. mar- ried Andrew Lane and has three children. Mary E. married W. (x. Thoni])son of Storey county, Nevada, and has l)orne him two children. William R. married lantha A. Kelso and their liome is near Orosi ; they have twin sons, Bruce E. and Roy A., born in 1886, who were educated at Selma and Stockton, graduating- from the Western School of C'onuuerce at tlie age of twenty years, Roy being now bookkeeper for the Kirby Winery at Selma. Bruce and Roy prepared for entrance at the National Na\al Academy at Annapolis, Md., received the ap- pointment, but did not go. Jennie V. is editor of the Pacific Coast Nurses Journal, and resides in San Francisco. From several of the leading families of America Miss Kelso, who became Mrs. Cooke, is descended, one of her ancestors having been Henry Clay. Her father, John Russell Kelso, a native of Ohio, was a colonel in the Federal service in the Civil War and was a member of congress. Mrs. Cooke's mother was born in Missouri and educated at Springfield. Mrs. Cooke was a normal school graduate of the year 1878, became a teacher and rose to the position of vice-principal from which she was promoted to that of principal. She taught thirteen years in Fresno county, six years in Selma, where she was for four years vice-principal. Later she was for one year principal of Bishop school in Inyo. Her recollections of California would make an inter- esting volume. She distinctly remembers seeing the notorious Sontag and Evans pursued liy the men who later brought them to iustice. By trade Mr. Cooke is a machinist and millwright, in which capacities he worked thirty-eight years. In 1901-2 he mined in Alaska with indifferent success, was caught in the ice and sojourned for a time on Siberian Island. He was at one tinie interested in the pur- chase of five hundred and one acres of land and now owns one him- dred and sixty acres of orange land, vines and figs. He has about six thousand budded trees for transplanting. He makes a specialty of white Leghorn poultry, owning about three hundred chickens. He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and is a popular citizen who does much for the public good. He and his family are Socialists. WILLIAM NORVAL STUBBELFIELD Arkansas, a state of central geographical location which partakes largely of the agricultural qualities of the East, North, South and West, has been for many years in a way a clearing house for pioneers. TULAKK AXn KINGS ("OUX'I^IKS 807 gatln'riug them Iroiii I he okk'r parts of tlie coimtry and disti'ihuting them to newer fiekls fnrtlier on. One of the numerous good citizens which that state lias furnished to California is William Norval IStubbeltield, who was horn in Fayetteville, Washington county, Ark., January 7, 1873, and lived there until he was nineteen years old. From Arkansas Mr. Stuhlielfield went to Baylor county, Tex., and after one year's I'esidence there went up into Oklahoma and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres at Cheyenne, Rogei' Mills county. In six years he had ])r()ved up on his land, acquired title to it and sold it for two thousand dollars. Then he came to California and at Cutler, Tulare county, bought ten acres, six of which are in peaches, four acres in vineyard, and he secured a very good crop in 1911, selling two and one-fourth tons of grapes to the acre. Mr. Stulibelfield has given his entire life to different kinds of farming, and as he has made a study of soils and seeds and seasons and of every other factor in the production of crops of various kinds and operates by uj^-to-date and thoroughly scientific methods, he is al>le to achieve success where it is possible. He is a meml)er of the Fraternal Brotherhood. Politically he affiliates with the Socialist party. Mr. Stubbellield was married in 1894, at Fayetteville, Ark., to Miss ^"ictoria Gulley, a native of that state. Seven childi-en weie born to them, viz.: Eula, Eddeth, Annie, William, Claud, Ladona and Bessie (now deceased). A. CLIFFORD DUNGAX A native of Virginia, A. Clifford Dungan, of Exeter. Tulare county, was born at Glade Spring, September 10, 1875, the youngest of the large family of children of Thomas N. Dungan. He came to California in 1894 and settled at Three Rivers, Tulare county, where he worked in his brother's sawmill. In 1895 he was em]iloyed liy tiie Kaweah Lemon Company, and for three years had charge of one of its lemon oi-chards. The ensuing year he was in the em])loy of the Ohio Lenum ("ompany. By carefully saving his earnings he was enal)led to buy seven acres of land five miles southeast of Exeter. Tho l)r()))erty was rough and without iiii])rovements, but with charact'n- istic energy and foresight he set out orange trees, erected a pumping plant and put on other necessary auxiliaries, and soon had seven acres of line bearing na\el ti'ees, which prox-ed very ])rofitable. After he had improved his original seven acres Mr. Dungan en- tered the service of George T. Frost, who had charge of the Boimie Brae orchards, and was made superintendent of th(> vinevards of the 808 TULARK AXD KINGS COUNTIES Frost & Caruey Land and Lumber Company. Two years later he was given the management of the orange grove on Badger Hill. While thus em]iloyed lie was studying the fruit business, and in 1903 he began caring for groves in the Bonnie Brae district on contract. He now has seventy-three acres under fruit and vines and a contract covering quite a number of orchards. Two hundred and fifty dollars an acre for a crop of grapes on twenty acres of four-year-old Emperors was the I)rice paid him recently by R. D. Williams. This was a record price for a crop of grapes bought outright in the Exeter district, and was especially good for the jiroduct of a vineyard of that age. On the other hand the crop on this orchard was very heavy and Mr. Dungau made a fine profit. On the twenty acres there are approximately eight thou- sand vines, most of them yielding three or four crates to the vine. At Fresno Mr. Dungan married Miss Nellie Tuohy, a native of Oakland, daughter of A. V. Tuoliy of Vacaville and niece of John Tuohy of Tulare. She is a graduate of the San Francisco Normal School and was for a time a student at the Johns Hopkins Art Insti- tute. Mr. and Mrs. Dungan have the following children, May \'ir ginia, John Anthony and Helen Margaret. In his i)olitical alliances Mr. Dungan is a Democrat, and fratex-- nally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. He came to Cali- fornia in 1894, without cajiital, and by industry and good business ability has made a fine property. His success is the success of the self-made man, and those who best know him say that it has been fairly won and is richly deserved. In many ways Mr. Dungan has deiuon- strated a public spirit that marks him as a citizen of much patriotism and helpfulness to all worthy community interests. ANDREW J. LAFEVER Born in Knox county, Tenn, November 14, 1826, Andrew J. T^a- fever was a representative of families noted for their valor and devotion to justice. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Rob- erts) Lafever. In colonial days Henry Lafever, great-grandfather of Andrew J., came from France to Virginia and remained there two years, then returned to his native land. Later he came with Lafayette and fought under that commander for American liberty and after the end of the Revolutionary war went back to France, and at Waterloo he was a brave soldier under Napoleon. His son, John Lafever, a native of Virginia, lived most of his life in Tennessee and gained wealth and prominence as a cotton-grower. He fought for the cause of the col- onies in the war of the Revolution and yielded up his life in defense of free America in the war of 1812. He married Lucv Barbankez, a TULARE AXT) KTXfiS (*()UNTTF:S 809 woman of inucli (.'ourage and decision of character. While in the Revo- lutionary army, British soldiers stole sweet potatoes from his farm and she shot down seven of them. Though she was arrested she was not jn'osecuted, as the soldiers were ai)propriating her proj^erty and her stern sense of justice entitled her to a place in the history of those thrill- ing times. She bore her husband two children and lived to be eighty- seven. Her son William, father of Andrew J., was born in Tennessee and in ]S:;4 became the owner of land in Ray county, Mo., partly by purchase and partly by i^re-emption. He prospered as a planter and slave owner and acliieved prominence' through his interest in the state militia and in the training of soldiers, and fought in the war of 1812, the Black Hawk war and the Seminole war. He married Elizabeth Rol)erts, a native of South Carolina, and he lived ninety-seven years, she eighty-four. The third of the fourteen children of William Lafever was Andrew J., who inherited much of the valor and stern sense of right and wrong of his forefathers in both lines of descent. Such education as he received lie accpiired in a private school. In his youth he had to do with the labor of cotton growing and through trading on his father's plantation became expert as a judge of horse-flesh. In 1846 he volun- teered for service as a soldier under General Taylor and was assigned to the division commanded by Colonel Willock. In 1847 he re-enlisted and was assigned to Company C, Santa Pe Battalion, United States Army, under eonunand of Gen. Sterling Price, and rose to be sergeant, and in 1847-48 was a member of the general's escort. He was honor- ably discharged from the service at Independence, Mo., in October, 1848, and November 4 following cast for his old commander. General Taylor, his first presidential vote. For a time he was in the meat- packing business at Camden, Mo., where he heard much of the dis- covery of gold on the Pacific coast. April 4, 1849, he left there for an ox-team journey across the plains, and about seven months later ar- rived at the Peter Lawson ranch, near Bidwell's Bar, Cal., and he mined in that vicinity during the succeeding thirteen months. At Bid- well's Bar, according to an intei'esting writer, "a thief was discovered in cam]) who had tried to purloin a can of syrup. A consultation was held by the other miners and it was decided to hang without ceremony. Mr. Lafever, however, objected, owing to the absence of a code of laws covering such misdemeanors. The life of the man was s])ared, but an attempt was made to obviate further trouble of that kind by drawing up a code calculated to terrorize evil doers." Flogging and hanging were features of this code. "Men condemned to ti'ial had the benefit of the opinion and judgment of twenty- four substantial men of the eomnuinity and every (piestion had to be answered by the witness." From this point Mr. Lafever went as a member of a prospecting party to the south fork of the Feather river and took ])art in an unsuccessful 810 Tl'LARE AND KIX(;S COUNTIES attempt to change the course of that 8tieam. Later he uiiuetl at Marysville and then set out on a fruitless quest of Gold Lake, which the history of California mining tells us was never found. Before 1850 he prospected around St. Louis, Pine Grove, Howlaud Flat. Nelson Creek and Poor Man's Creek, and in that year he mined in Told's Diggings and at Forbestown. In the last mentioned camp he engaged in business as a butcher and as a general merchant. The spring of 1851 found him at Lexington, where he built and opened the Lexington house, which hostelry was kei)t in a log building near a spring which he had discovered the year before; and here also he engaged in general merchandising. He built a new house near the log cabin at Lexington, of lumber which he sawed by hand, in 1852, and established a hotel and butcher shop at Spanish Flat. In 1854 he dis- posed of his Lexington interests. He lived at Spanish Flat until 1857. "In the meantime, in 1856," says the writer already quoted, "there had been great excitement in camp over the water ditches, resulting in shooting scrapes and the organizing of a mob that would have hanged an innocent man had it not been dispersed by Mr. Lafever. In the spring of 1857 Mr. Lafever himself escaped serious trouble because of the justifying circumstances surrounding his act. In self defense he shot and killed Judge John Chapels, the leader of that mob, and though he surrendered to the authorities, nothing ever came of the matter. Mr. Lafever showed wonderful clemency for his fallen foe hired a man to care for him, and so far ingratiated himself that the d>"ing man shook hands with him and expressed an appreciation of his bravery." Mr. Lafever went to Marysville in the fall of 1S57 and starteci thence for Mendocino county, but stopped at Petaluma and Santa Eosa. Later he bought a place at Ukiah in Mendocino county and eventually set out for Colorado, but passed the winter in Merced county, where he fed two hundred and fifty horses and mules, many of which fell sick. He reached Visalia with his stock in August and took his horses to the mountains for the winter. Twice, in Mendo- cino county, thieves tried to deprive him of his land and in 1871), in Potter Valley, H. Griffiths shot him through the left lung and left hand and wrist, almost destroying his left arm. In 1873 Mr. Lafever bought land near Kings river in Fresno county, to which he added by later purchases until he had more than a township of unsurveyed land, including Pine Flat, a quarter of a township, which he presented to his only child, Henry C. Lafever. "When the fence law was passed," narrates the writer already re- ferred to, "he experienced serious trouble with his land, for grabbers resorted to every device to deprive him of it, even waylaying and killing his son, November 17, 1882. During the trial following this brutal murder Mr. Lafever killed Zeb Lesley in the court yard at Fresno, the outlaw being at the bottom of the difficulties over tlie laud TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 811 aud the killing- of his sou. The outlaw was surrounded by forty-eight of his gang. Through the prevalence of injustice Mr. Lafever lost his cattle and land and practically everything lliat he had in the world." Mr. aud Mrs. I^afever had at different times narrow escapes from Indians. In November, ISSf), Mr. Tjafever Ixmght forty acres outside the borders of Visalia, where he raised cattle, horses aud hogs uutil 1893, when he moved to his home within the city limits at No. 409 Watson avenue. His house and all its contents were l)urned May 29, 1904, causing a loss of more than $7,000, only $2,200 of which was covered by insurance. He jmssed away at his home October 6, 1912. His estate consists of two ranches near Visalia ui)on which hog raising is carried on extensively. March 19, 1852, at Marysville, Cal, Mr. Lafever married Cath- erine Trulliuger, a native of Eaden, Germany, who came to Califoruia in 1850. The tragic death of their only son saddened the lives of both. Mrs. Lafever passed away in May, 1908. A Democrat in politics, Mr. Lafever was formerly a member of the Knights of the Golden Circle, and was a veteran of the Mexican war, having served as commander of his division, aud a member of the ('uliforuia Society of Pioneers. Few residents of Tulare county witnessed so much of its development as did Mr. Lafever, aud there are few men remaining in California today who look back on careers as perilous and as full of vicissitudes as was his during the earlier years of his citizenship here. RICHARD POWERS Of the sons of Illinois who have come to California and made a success of their undertakings mention belongs to Richard Powers. He was born in the Prairie State, June 24, 1847, aud came to Califoruia when he was twenty-one years old with his brother John, settling in San Joaquin county, where for thirteen years he was engaged in stock aud grain farming. Then he went to Merced county and farmed near Minturn for ten years, after which he moved to Butte county and carried on farming near Chico for three years. Subsequently he engaged in railroad work for two years with headquarters at Redding. It was in 1884 that he came to Tulare county, and in 1891 he located in Porterville, devoting himself with ability and energy to the stock business. His specialty was the raising of draft horses and roadsters, which he exhibited at the different fairs aud he secured Tnany pi-cniinms for his di'aft horses. At the time he came to Porterville it was a mei-e hamlet of but few houses, and his was the first residence to be erected off Main street. He has seen the settlement grow to its 812 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES present importance and has witnessed and participated in the luar- velons develoinnent of the country round about. December 23, 188,), Mr. Powers married Miss Stella Smith, a native of Butte county and the daughter of Theodore and Sarah W. (Horton) Smith, who came to California in 1849 and 1852 respectively. The former was a native of Kentucky and the latter of Virginia. Both came across the plains with ox-teams and they were married in 18.55 in Butte county. Later they lived for a short time in Shasta county, but returned to Butte county and there passed their remaining years. Besides Mrs. Powers two sons survive, Harry C, of San Francisco, and Jay, of Redding. The devotion of Mr. Powers to the stock business during so long a period marks him as a man of persistency, who having formulated a plan of action will carry it out intelligently, allowing no obstacles to deter him, and bring it to ultimate success if years and opportunity are given him. He not only raises many cattle, but he buys and sells in the market, and in his business transactions has won a reputation for fair dealing of which any man might be proud. BEV. JAMES MURPHY The long and useful life of Rev. James Murphy, which throughout its entirety signifies untiring energy, unselfishness and perseverance for the good of others, is a most interesting one, embracing many hard and trying experiences but withal receiving the tribute for the high calling which he had responded to in that he was beloved by all who were fortunate enough to come to know him, and his memory is revered by a wide circle of admiring friends. One of God's noble creatures, he had ever accepted his task without nmrmuring and filled his duties to the best of his ability and many there are who have had reason to bless him. Born near Richmond, Va., March 18, 1803, James Murphy at an early date removed to Tippecanoe county, Ind., where he was married to Miss Jane Morris. To this union was born a family of twelve chil- dren, six of whom grew to maturity. He was ordained a minister in the United Brethren Church when he came to Indiana and continued to preach for forty years. Moving from Indiana to Woodford coimty, III, he resided there until in August, 1854, when he went to Iowa and settled at Clarksville, where he was a pioneer minister. He established the first Ihiited Brethren Chui-ch at Covblev Grove, Favette county. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 813 Iowa, which grew rapidly, and I'orty years later a uew ehurch was built at Westgate by that congregation, and this was named Murphy Memorial (Mnncli in honor of Rev. James Murphy, who had been its organizer. In 1886 Henry Murphy, son of Rev. James Murphy, visited the latter at Oldwein near Westgate, Iowa, and finding him in ill health took him to his home on the north branch of the Tule river, where he S]ient the remainder of his life, passing away IMarcli 18, 1892. Rev. James Murphy was twice married and as mentioned above sis of his twelve children by his first marriage lived to mature age. Delilah, who was the wdfe of Daniel Fague, had two children, Mary and Henry; she died in 1911, at Oldwein, Iowa, aged eighty-two years. Nancy was married three times, first to Ira Havens of Bloomington, 111. ; second to James Phillips, of Delhi. Iowa, and had one son, Zina ; and third to Zina Wheelock, of Manchester, Iowa; she ])assed away in A])ril, 1911. James, now deceased, was married in 1856 to Mary Buckmaster, and is mentioned below. Henry is mentioned fully on another page of this publication. John, a stockman residing at Atchison, Kans., is married and has a family; he is unfortunate in that he is blind. Emaline is the widow of Elonzo Spencer, formerly of Bloomfield, Iowa, and she had three children, Bert, Louise and William, all residing in the vicinity of Bloomfield. By his second marriage Rev. James Murphy was the father of three children: Hattie, conducting a hotel at Livingston, Mont.; Fred, a wholesale tobacco dealer at Poeatello, Idaho; and Wen- rich, a railroad man on the Oregon Short Line. James Murphy, son of Rev. James, married in 1856 Mary Buck- master, and the eldest daughter of this union is Sara J., now the wife of W. R. Neal, who resides at Springville, Tulare county. Mr. Neal is one of the leading merchants and postmaster of Springville and was at one time state superintendent of ])nl)lic instruction of the state of Oregon. He is an educator of note, having followed the profession of teaching more than thirty years before taking up the mercantile busi- ness at Sijringville, and is pursuing his enterprise with unusual energy and such success as to mark him one of the leading business men of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Neal have had a family of six children, viz.: Minerva is the wife of Rev. AYilliam M. Olderby, pastor of the North- ern Liberty Thurch at Philadelphia, Pa., situated at No. 510 Button- wood street, and they have one child, James. William is married to Catharine GuUey and is a jiartner with his father at Springville. Jennie Neal is vice jnincipal of the schools at Porterville. Lillie is bookkeejier in her father's business. Gwendolyn is a student in the school at Springville. James accidentally shot himself while the family were residing in Oregon when nineteen vears of age. 814 TULARE AND KINGS (^OUNTIES A. J. PEREY This well known citizen of Hanford, head of the firm of Perry & P.arlieiro. was born on the Azores Islands, July 31, 1863, and worked in a store there from the time lie was eleven years old until he was eighteen. His first emplo>Tnent in this country was on a farm near Fall River, Mass., where he remained twenty-two months. In 1883 he found employment in Fresno county in the construction of levees on the Laguna de Taehe grant, to prevent the overflow of water, and was retained on the work seven years. After that for fourteen months he had a liquor store in Kingsburg. Then for a season he helped operate a threshing machine in the vicinity of that town and for a year after that had charge of some sheep. The next year he put in as a farmer on the Laguna de Tache grant. Next he opened a liquor store in Hanford, in the old Freeman house on Fifth street, but a month later removed to a store on Sixth street and still later to the McJunkin building, which was his headquarters until 1905, when he moved to a location at 104 Sixth street, where he sells soft drinks and cigars. For a time M. V. Garcia was Mr. Perry's partner. He was suc- ceeded by S. L. Jackson and he after two years and a half by J. I. Barbeiro. The firm conducts a ranch of three hundred and ten acres, four miles north of Lemoore, which is now rented out for dairy purposes. Beginning January 1, 1913, Mr. Perry will superintend the ranch and the business in Hanford will be taken care of by Mr. Barbeiro. ]Mr. Perry is a stockholder and was three years a director of the Hanford Mercantile store. He is a stockholder in the Portu- gese-American bank, at San Francisco, in connection with which he is known to men of his nationality throughout the greater part of the state. Fraternally he affiliates with the U. P. E. C, the I. D. E. S. and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. In 1898 Mr. Perry married Anna S. Flores, and they have had eight children, seven of whom are living: Lillian, Edward, Tony, Lorianno, Earl, Geraldine, Harry and Edith. Tlie latter died when she was six vears old. FRANK REA The Rea family is one of the early Virginia families. Edward Rea, great-grandfather of Frank Rea, came from Ireland and settled in Virginia before the Revolutionary war. He was a Universalist in religion and every genei-atiou of the Reas has clung to that faiili as does the present representative of tlie family. It was in Macon TULARK AND KIN(}S. ("OUNTIES 815 coimty. 111., that Frank Rea was born June !i, 1845, and be attended public schools until he reached the age of sixteen. Enlisting in the Civil War, he rendered faithful service to the Federal cause as a private soldier during three eventful years. After the war he returned home and for one year attended Lombard University, then completing a commei-cial coui-se at Decatur, 111. He worked for his father until after he became oi age. During the succeeding four years he was engaged in farming in Illinois. Then he came to California and after spending two years in the Santa Clara valley came in 1874 to Kings county and later located on what has come to be known as bis home- stead. During the first few years of bis residence here he worked for others, Init as soon as water was obtained he went into stock- raising, dairying and fruit-growing. He bas been active in ditch construction, and for some years was a director in the company con- trolling the outer ditch, which was under his superintendency a year, and consequently one of bis public responsibilities after he came to the county. He has served as trustee of schools by election as a Republican, he being a member of that part}', a venerator of its his- tory and an ardent advocate of all its economic policies. By member- ship with the Grand Army of the Republic, he keeps alive memories of the Civil war days which tried men's souls. Mr. Rea has been a director in the Alta Irrigation District for fourteen years, and on February 6, 1913, was re-elected for another term of four years. Even beyond his expectations Mr. Rea has been prosperous. From time to time he bas bought land until he is the owner of ten hundred and eighty acres, eighty acres of which is devoted to fruit, the remainder to ranching and stock-raising. His cattle herd aver- ages two hundred head of blooded stock. The improvements on his land are up-to-date and in every way first-class, and his home is one of the most attractive and hospitable in the county. His marriage occurred in September, 18(i8, to Miss Mattie Ehrhart, who was born in Macon county. 111., in January, 1848. Their five children are named respectively Clara, Edgar, Frank, Bunn and Neva. SQUIRE HAYDEN KINKADE " In Monroe county. Mo.. S. 11. Kinkade was born January 1, 18.3(), and there be went to school in a log cabin from the time he was six years old until be was fourteen, when the family moved to Boone county. Mo. From there they went to Scotland county. Mo., whence they started to California. Young Kinkade was about sixteen years old when the family set out to cross the plains in 1852. A large party was banded togethei- foi- company and mutual i)rotection and the loni;- 816 Tri.ARK AND KINGS COUNTIES journey was made with ox-teams, thirty wagons, which made sh)W progress over the prairies and through tlie desert for many long weeks wliich would liave l)een dreary had it not been for the daily excitement inseparable from such a venture. Fortunately there were no Indian attacks. The party ariived at San Bernardino in the fall, the Kin- kades wintering there, and in the sjiring settled in Santa Cruz county. There they remained two years, then moved to Contra Costa county, whence they came to Tulare county in 1857 and settled two and a half miles southwest of Visalia. Their first experience here was in raising- hogs; later they took up cattle and in 1868 went into the sheep busi- ness, in which they continued twelve years, running their stock over a wide range of country and owning at one time four thousand head. There were at that time so many Indians in the county that out on the plains as many as six were encountered to each white man that was seen. Half a mile south of the Kinkade home about four hundred Indians were encamped for some time. Mr. Kinkade has jiassed through all the changes and revolutions of farming and ranching in Central California and since 1892 has resided in the vicinity of Porter- ville. He closed out his sheep interests in 1881, and after selling his ten-acre ranch in December, 1912, he moved to Porterville. In 1887 Mr. Kinkade married Miss Harriet Anderson, who was born April 21, 1851, in Rock Island county. 111. They have had two sons: Benjamin Harrison Kinkade, who is employed by Mr. Traeger in Porterville, and Milton Kinkade, who died aged eleven months. B. H. Kinkade mari'ied Jessie Landers, liy whom he had two daughters, Evid M., who died when about two years old, and Jessie Bertha, an infant. Mrs. Kinkade died in October, 1912. Mr. Anderson, the father of Mrs. Harriet Kinkade, passed away when she was about ten years old and her mother when she was four. Mr. Kinkade 's father died in 1877; his mother in 1885. In his political affiliations Mr. Kinkade is a Republican, and his interest in the coninuinity makes him helpful in a public-spirited way to every movement looking to its advance- ment and prosperity. ANDERSON W. LEE It was in Indiana that Anderson "W. Lee, who now lives four miles southeast of Diuuba, Tulare county, was born March 22, 1867. There he lived until in 1889, for three years thereafter making his home in Illinois and Missouri. On March 1, 189o, he came to Tulare county, Cal., finding the country round about the site of his jiresent home practically a vast wheat field. Dinuba had two small stores, there was a little store at Orosi and at Sultana no beginning had been made. TULARE AND KIX(}S COUNTIES 817 Me was a daily ol)server of tlie bnildiug of the railroud in his i)art of the county and often saw many ten and twelve horse teams awaiting the unloading of the wagons which they had hauled out to the line. Soon after coming to the county he bought eighty acres of land at $45 an acre and i)lanted twelve acres to vineyard, twelve to trees and gave most of the remainder to alfalfa. He early had a twenty-five acre melon |)atch from wiiich he sold in one season about $2,000 worth of melons, feeding about as many more to his hogs. His jilace is well planted to young vines and he has raised twenty-five tons of peaches on five acres of six-year-old trees and in 1912 planted twenty-five acres to peaches. He keeps eighty head of stock, besides four good horses. In polities Mr. Lee is a Socialist, and fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. In Johnson county. Mo., he married Miss Mary E. Null, a native of that state and whose parents crossed the plains with ox teams to California. The party of which the Nulls were members were often menaced by Indians, who drove off their cattle but killed none of the emigrants. Among pioneers known to this family was Charles Crow, who crossed the Isthmus of Panama on foot. Among Mr. Lee's household possessions is a quart bottle weighing four pounds which was brought overland to California in 1852. Anderson W. and Mary Ellen (Null) Lee have three daughters and one son: Lilly M., Mary Z., Ruby E. and James W. Lilly M. has completed her school studies and is now studying music. Mary Z. is a student in the high school at Dinuba ; while James W. and Rul)y E. are attending grammar school. JAMES LAFAYETTE JOHNSON It was in the state of Arkansas that James L. Johnson was born August 22, 1844. Early in the following year, when he was about seven months old, his iiarents, Joseph H. aiiJ Mary (Murray) John- son, took him overland to Oregon. After a four years' residence there, they came to California. They located first at Napa City, later en- gaged in stockraising in the vicinity, and then went to Oakland, and for several years they lived there and at Martinez and on San Joaquin Island. Subsequently they were at Merced, Gilroy and Watsonville, one after the other, and in the meantime James L. had acquired an education in the public schools. At Porterville he married Miss Hai riet Rhodes, daughter of the late William C. Rhodes, a biogra])hical sketch of whom appars in these jiages. Mrs. Johnson bore her hus- band tliree children. Edna nuirried William Lucius Kelley, of Fresno county, and they have hail three chihlren nameil ('hai'lotte, deceased; 818 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Loreii and Oia. Ehuo married Bertha A. Crocker aud she lias borne Iiim tliree cliildreu : Ich-iia, Fk)renoe and Odessa. Lena is deceased. The first land in this vicinity owned by Mr. Johnson was bought from the United States government. He in-e-enijited one hundred and sixty acres in Jordan Valley and paid it out at $1.25 per acre, and has added from time to time and now owns about four sections. Three Inindred and fifty acres is devoted to farming, the remainder is hill land, used for pasture. On the place are kept about seventy-five head of cattle and one hundred head of other live stock. When Mr. and Mrs. Johnson settled in the valley, laud could l)e bought at $1.25 an acre which would now be cheaji at $200 and upward. The only 1)uyers of stock in those days were Miller and Lux. The old Democratic iiolitics of his sire was in a way inherited by Mr. Johnson, a man of public spirit, ready always to aid to the extent of his abilitv anv movement for the good of the community. HENRY W. REED The well known citizen of Tulare county whose name is Hie title of this article and who lives a mile north of Sultana could tell many an interesting story of the days before the law was fully established in central California. He was personally acquainted with Soutag and P]vans and the Dalton brotliers, and with (ieorge Radcliff, who was shot bv the latter on Alkali Plains. He tells how the train was stopped by the bandits by force of ai'ms and how, when the door of the exjiress car was blown from its hinges, Radcliff received a load of shot in the abdomen, and he does not fail to add that the brave engineer hung to the throttle until he ran the train to Tulare, then died; and lie could indicate the place in Fresno county where the Daltons for a time main- tained their mountain residence. A native son of California, Mr. Reed was born in Kern county June 23, 1873, and was reared, educated, and lived there until 1884. In 1000 he came to Tulare county, settling near Visalia. He married in August, 1907, Mrs. May (Price) Schaaf, widow of Louis Schaaf. She was liorn in Crawford county, Kans., June 23, 1876, and had three children, Milo, Chester F. and Marguerite E. Schaaf. By the union with Mr. Reed, one son has been born, Harris Reed. Mr. and Mrs. Reed are Republicans. In 1907 Mr. Reed located on twenty acres of land, which was the home of Mrs. Reed, all of which is devoted to fruit and vines, he hav- ing nine acres of vineyard and seven acres of apricots. In 1911 he marketed eight tons and a half of raisin grapes. He is an enterprising fanner and a progressive public-spirited citizen. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 819 THOMAS SMITH The sons of Ireland makes friends everywhere, succeeding in any community with wliich their lot may be cast, and California has always welcomed this industrious class to the ranks of its citizens among those who have sought a home under her sunny skies. One of the most pros])erous farmers in the vicinity of Ilanford is Thomas Smith, who was born in Irehuid, June 27, 1841. He came, comi)arative!y young, to the United States and finished his studies in New York, whence about 1860 he went to San Francisco, and from there he moved to Merced county. Later, in September, 1872, he settled in Tulare county, in that jiart now known as Kings county. Soon thereafter he located on one himdred and sixty acres which was the nucleus of the homestead wliich is now one of the land-marks of his part of the county. One year later, in 187.'>, he bought a second one hundred and sixty-acre tract, increasing his holding to three hundred and twenty acres. He engaged in di-y farming and has given much attention to dairying and to hog-raising. Having been a farmer all his life he has obtained an intimate practical knowledge of everything making for successful cul- tivation, and so expert is he that in the operation of his fine ranch very little is left to chance except such things as unavoidably depend upon unforeseen developments in the way of blights and pests. He is one of the very few pioneers in his ])art of the countv and ervery improvement on his ranch today was placed there by himself. In 1912 he and his son bought a twenty horse-power gas engine which is used for pumping water for irrigation on his place as well as his son's. The wells are eighty feet in depth, furnishing ample water for their need. October 13, 1886, Mr. Smith married Mrs. Margaret (Gann) Whit- worth, a native of Wisconsin, who in 1852 was brought in an ox-wagon across the plains- by her parents, who were California pioneers of that time. By a former marriage Mr. Smith was the father of two children, William H., who lives on an adjoining farm, and Mrs. Stella (*urry. residing near Hanford. One child was born to his union with Mrs. Whitworth, a daughtei'. Myrtle J. Wilkinson, who resides near Eiver- dale. Mrs. Smith was married (first) to P. Johnson and became the mother of two children, Mattie and Katie. By her marriage to Mr. Whitworth she hareseutative citizenship. There are many l)ranches of the family in Ibis country and nine generations have lived in the United States. Originally of England, the first American ancestor of the family was l)orn in England, probably not far from the (Tuernsey Islands, but there the name was spelled Sares. This progenitor was named Richard Sears, and the first auth.entic record we have of him is on the ta.\ list of Plymouth Colony, dated March 25, 1633, when he was one of forty-four out of eighty-six persons who were assessed nine shillings in corn at six shillings per bushel. He soon crossed over to Marblehead, Mass., and was listed as a tax-])ayer of that place, and in the Salem rate list was granted four acres of land "where he had formerly planted." This was dated October 14, 1638. Arthur Elliott Sears, father of William A., was an industrious and well-known minister in California as early as 1878 and his memory is deeply revered by all who have had the good fortune to know him. He was born in Cincinnati, and in Missouri was married to Eliza E. Def^'rance, who was lioru in Mercer count\'. Pa., near New Lelianon. Mr. Sears had been previously married and was the father of five chil- dren bv this marriage, William A. being the only child of the second union. In 1862 Arthur E. Sears came across the i^lains with ox-teams and settled in Oregon, bringing his family with him. He was a Methodist minister and was an early organizer and itinerant ])reacher, and was a pioneer of Methodist preaching, traveling and organizing in that state, giving his services up to that vocation for a i)eriod of thirty years. In 1874, his healtli becoming im])aired, he went to Colorado and was given entire charge of the work of organizing for the Meth- odist Episcopal Church South in Colorado, where he labored diligently until he came to California in 1878. As a local minister he continued to labor in California foi- the rest of his days, and such was his influence for good that at his death in 1906 this comnuinity felt deprived of a kindly spirit whose place could never be filled, lie made 822 TULARE AXD KINGS COUNTIES his home witli las son and his widow continued to live with hiui uutil she ijassed away P\^biuaiy 14, 1913, at Porterville, where both of them were buried, and their memory will ever be held in high reverence for the lives of liigh principles and honor which they had led, to say nothing of their energetic efforts and achievements in their chosen field, which ever command unselfishness and untiring industry and coui'age, marked traits in tlieir characters. William A. Sears was born in Milan, Sullivan county, Mo., De- cember 14, 1860, and lived in Oregon from 1862 to 1874. In the common school of Polk county. Ore., he received his elementary educa- tion and also at the schools of Golden, Colo., where he completed the high school course. Upon arriving in California he matriculated at the Normal school at San Jose and was graduated with the class of 1882. Eager to com])lete a law course he had read law with his uncle, the Hon. A. H. DeFrance, wliile he was in Colorado. Hon. DeFrance was then First Territorial Senator, then State Senator and then was a);)]iointed Supreme Court Commissioner, and later was elected United States District Judge from Colorado, wliich office he held with great honor until his death. He was also attorney for the Colorado Central Railroad Co., and under his able supervision Mi-. Sears imbibed the rudiments of legal training which have served him to no mean purpose in his real estate and other business interests. After coming to Cali- fornia and graduating from the Normal he taught school for a time and soon began to interest himself in real estate investments. Buying land, he developed a fruit ranch in Santa Cruz county and this was his real start in his chosen line of work. In 1903 he came to Tulare county from San Jose and bought in partnership with A. V. Taylor, of Hanford, a tract of four thousand acres at Angiola, which for one year he superintended and then sold out his interest to Mr. Taylor and made his way to Porterville. He then bought a tract of three thousand acres on the White river which he still owns and which is operated as a stock and dairy ranch. Mr. Sears is the i)resent proprietor of the Sears Investment Co., with offices at No. 508 Main street, Porterville, and is well known in liis community as a prosperous business man, who is an authority not alone on land, but on fruit growing and all their relative branches. He is a stockholder in the Porterville Co-operative Creamery Co. He has just moved his family into their fine residence on El Granito avenue, Porterville, which is one of the picture places of that city. Indei)endent in his ])()litical viev:s lie has always refused any political honors and votes locally for the man he deems best suited for the office. In national affairs he unites with the Democratic party. Mr. Sears was married January 1, 1888, to Miss Sara B. Loucks, of Contra Costa county, the daughter of the late Hon. George P. Loucks, wlio was lor many years in political office in Contra Costa TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 823 coimty. He was a leader in politics in the Republican party in South- ern t'aliforuia, where he was justly well and favorably known. For years he was a member of the Republican National Committee and of the State Central Committee. The eldest of Mr. and Mrs. Sears' four surviving children is (leorge Arthur, now manager of the telegraphers in the K office of the Southern Pacific Railway at Bakersfield. By his marriage with Miss Abbie (ilil)bons of Porterville he has two children, (iciirgie and Eloise. William Allison, Jr., is at jjresent manager of a drug store at Strathmore and is unmarried. Emma Pauline and Annie Belle are both at home. These children represent the tenth generation from their American ancestor, Richard Sears. In religion the family are Congregationalists and socially are well known and number their friends by the score. Mr. Sears has the honor of being the first grower to ojjeu up, advertise and make known the orange lands south of Porterville under the new irrigation system for oranges, and his success has' been such as to attract the attention of many who have those interests at heait. A very interesting article written by Mr. Sears on this subject and giving a detailed account of the beauties and advantages throughout the Earlimart Colony in that vicinity may be found in the July, 1906, issue of the magazine entitled Out West. He was one of the organizers of the Porterville Realty Board and Chamber of Commerce and has since been one of its influential members. He has found time from his active business life to organize the Imi)ro\'ement Club here and this has l)een since taken over by the ladies of Porter- ville. Such a citizen merits the praise and earnest gratitude of his fellow-citizens, and Mr. Sears is fortunate in that he receives the esteem and confidence of all who know him and he holds an enviable place in the minds of many who have come to appreciate his excellent characte)istics and his sagacious and well-informed mind. FRED SAIIKOIAN This skillful farmer is well known and res])ected in the vicinity of Yetteni, where he is enjoying prosperity as the result of well-directed effort. He was born November 25, 1S84, and remained in his native Armenia until he was fourteen years old, then came to the United States with his father and at Philadelphia, Pa., ate his first turkey dinner, an experience which he will always remember. After a short stay there, be came to California and settled in Fresno county, where he lived seven years. He attended school for a time, farming and fruit-growing for wages and learning the work and the ways of the countrv. S-24 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES It was to Tulare county, where he has since lived, that Mr. Sahroian went from P>esno county in 1907. He soon bought twenty acres of land and later forty acres more, making' a farm of sixty acres, which he has improved with a house, a barn and other necessary build- ings. He has forty-three acres under vines, seven acres bearing peaches and ten acres devoted to oranges. One year he sold twelve tons of Thompson seedlings from six acres; also eleven and one-half tons of Muscats, and forty-eight tons of Zinfandels. His orange grove is young and his peach trees are just coming into bearing. As a citizen he has the good opinion of his neighbors, and fraternally he affiliates with the Yettem Bauavalimi club. Politically he is a Repub- lican. He married Victoria Meledouian in April, 1912. Mr. Sahroian 's parents. Melick and Elbis Sahroian, are members of his household. ( )f their six children he is one of the most helv)ful to them. His sister married James Dagdighiau and lives at Selma, Fresno county. Mr. Sahroian, still loving his native land with true patriotism, is nevertheless thoroughly Americanized, and his aspira- tions are all for the future greatness of his adopted country. In many ways he has shown that he possesses a commendable jniblic spirit and there is no local interest that does not have his encouragement and sup]iort. JOHN J. SCIIUELLER One of the most persistent and successful promoters of the devel- opment of Central California is John J. Schueller of No. 401 South Bridge street, Visalia. Mr. Schueller was born in Prussia in 184-1^, and was brought to the United States by his family, which settled in She- boygan county, AVis. After leaving school he became a salesman of agricultnial implements, in wliicli capacity he traveled many years, winning much success and acquiring a wide acquaintance. In 1884 he bought land and settled down to farming and cattle, horse and hog breeding, besides giving considerable attention to grain, and eventually he allied himself successfully with the insurance business. Twenty years later, in 1904, on account of imjjaired health, he gave uj) the latter business and settled at Msalia. Tulare county, becoming the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land northeast of town, so exceedingly rich and productive that in 1907 he marketed one huudred and eighty tons of hay cut froui one huudred acres. This' property is now operated by a tenant under lease. Mr. Schueller is the owner of valuable real estate on South Bridge street, Visalia, and being a man of much public sjnrit he has from time to time participated jiromi- nentlv in movements for the benefit of the comnumity. He is much TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 8:25 interested iu the develoiiiiieut of Tulare county, and as a correspondent to German papers i)ul)lislied in "Wisconsin, lias ])ut many glowing ac- counts of local conditions and advantages before his countrymen in that state. This work lie has followed up by writing letters to inquir- ers, setting forth the healthfulness of Tulare county's wonderful cli- mate and giving in detail some account of the opportunities here offered to home-seekers. As the result of his personal efforts forty- nine families of Germans have lieeome permanent settlers in the county. He is the moving s])irit also in German Lodge, California D. 0. H., No. 693, which has a membership of one hundred and twenty- two Germans, all of whom are able to read and write the English lan- guage. In 1872 Mr. Schueller married Miss Augusta Poppe, a native of Germany, and he has seven children and thirteen grandchildren. Fol- lowing are the names of his children : John P., Andrew, Herman, Casper, Joseph, Josejihine and Clara. Josephine married Casper Schlaich, and Clara is the wife of A. L. Depute. GEORGE H. TEAGUE On the farm near Exeter, Tulare county, on which he now lives, George H. Teague was born in 1877. He was educated at Exeter and at Visalia and was reared to familiarity with farm work. John Teague, his father, was born in Missouri and came with an ox-team to California more than forty years ago and settled on the ranch which is now the home of his son. The country was then new and not very productive and his greatest success was in raising stock. He married Susan Buckman, a native of Kentucky, who survives him, he liaving passed away in 1907 on the family homestead near Exeter. After his father's death Mr. Teague became associated with his mother in the conduct of the farming and stock raising enterjirise which the elder Teague had brought to such important proportions. They liave seventeen hundred and thirty-five acres of land in tlie foothills, which is a cattle range. Besides the homestead, which con- sists of one hundred and fifty-three acres, they own one hundred and sixty acres one-half mile north which George H. and his brother Edward E. devote to stock raising. A man of public spirit, Mr. Teague is in every way a worthy and useful citizen. In 1907 he mar- ried Miss Eva Wiley, a native of Iowa, whose parents had brought her to California. While he does not hold membership in any parlor of Native Sons of the Golden West, he is a native son of sunshiny Cali- fornia, proud of his liirth within its borders and solicitous not onlv 826 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES for its material advancenjent, Imt for the moral njilift of all its i)eople of whatever class or condition. OCTAVIUS H. WEBB A native of the Old Dominion, Virginia, O. H. Webb, wliose present postoffice address is Dinulia, Tulare county, Cal., was born in historic Fluvanna county, January 27, 1857. His father, George H. Webb, a carpenter by trade, served under General Lee in the Civil war, from 1861 to the end of the struggle, and during the closing years of his service was detailed to the commissary department. He mar- ried Martha Noel, who like himself was a native of Virginia, and they had three children. In 1887 O. H. Webb came to California and since then has given all of his active years to ranching. He has bought town lots in Dinuba and built a residence near the high school. For one acre he paid $100 and for his other Dinuba lots $100 each. He leases forty acres of the Humphrey land and has five acres in orchard, the remainder in vine- yard, yielding an average crop of one ton per acre. Five acres he devotes to peaches, which yielded in 1911 one ton of dried fruit per acre at an average price of eight cents a pound. In his youth Mr. Webb learned the carpenter's trade with his father, who was a contractor and builder, but he has not followed his trade since coming to California. Politically he has always affiliated with the Republicans. In ^"irginia he married Sallie Mahaynes, and they have a son, Hoi'ace L. Welib, who is married and has two children. Mrs. Webb died in May, 1887, deeply regretted by all who had known her. As a citizen Mr. Webb is piiblic s])irited to a noteworthy degree, taking a deep and abiding interest in all economic questions affecting the welfare of his communitv and state. HARVEY L. WARD December 28, 1851, Harvey L. A\'ard. son of Lewis and Mary (Harmon) Ward, was born in Shiawassee county, Mich. His father was a native of Vermoiit, his mother was born in the state of New York; they were the first cou])le married in the vicinity of their home and Mrs. Ward taught the first school there. Lewis Ward was a suc- cessful farmer. In 1862 the family crossed the plains with horse- teams to California by way of Omaha, Salt Lake City and the Sink of the Humboldt, traversing the desert and arriving eventually at Placer- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 827 ville. They soon located at Mud Sjirius' in Placer county and lived afterward at Bodega Corners, Sonoma county. In 1866 the family returned to Michigan, experiencing considerahle delay at Greytown, where they had to wait for a vessel. For two years they lived hear Clarence, Shiawassee county, Mich., maintaining themselves by farm- ing, and in 1868 they returned to California by practically the same route over which they had come out before, except that they crossed the river at North Platte, taking their wagons across on hand-cars and swimming their stock, wliicli tliey effected successfully, while others, who paid $200 to liave their stock taken over, lost some of it. On the way they saw many graves marked "Killed by Indians." After a short stop at Sacramento they went on to Bodega Corners, where Mr. Ward operated a hotel, meanwhile becoming owner of a farm in Green Valley. In 1877 Mr. Ward came to Stokes Mountain and in 1880 he mar- ried, in the Wilson district. Miss Martha E. West, a daughter of Cali- fornia, whose parents had come across the plains in 1849. Her father, Morris M. West, a native of Kentucky, had lived some time in Mis- souri, whence he came to California, jiartially )iy the Platte i-oute. His cattle gave out on tlie way and he made a trade In- which he had a better outfit than that witli which he started from Missouri. After li\iiig for a time in Sutter county, he moved to San Jose, whence he came to Tulare county, later locating in the Wilson district. Mr. and Mrs. Ward have had four children, Phoebe G., Arthur T., Henry H.. and Stella. The last-mentioned has passed away. Henry H. mar- ried Mabel Allen, a native of California, and she has borne him a son, Allen Ward. Phoebe G. has distinguished herself in the high school at Yisalia. Mr. Ward, most of whose schooling was obtained in the public school at Bodega Corners, Sonoma county, was determined to give his children the best education at his command. In 1892 he Iiought ten acres, where he now lives, two miles north of Orosi. That land was then mostly under vines. He has since been an extensive ])urcliaser of land and now devotes twenty-two acres to vineyards, growing Muscat grapes and a few Sultanas. He has five hundi-ed acres on Sand Creek devoted to pasturage, with two hundred acres of woodland adjoining. He also owns one hundred and twenty acres in the Baker Valley. Giving considerable attention to stock, he is es])e- cially interested in his fruit trees and vines. In a single year he has raised tliirty-two tons of raisins and he has several thousand cords of wood on his property. When he came to this locality, where he and his brother, I. T. Ward, were among the earliest wheat growers, wild game was plentiful and he has killed many deer and antelope as well as ))ear. mountain lions and foxes. He was interested in teaming to the mountains 1877-9!) and freighting to the mines in Tuoluiiuu' county 1888-1900. His recollections of the past are most interesting. Politi- 828 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES (■ally Mr. Ward i? an inde]iendeut Republican. He and his family are communicants of the Christian church. WILLIAM A. WILLIAMS In Queens county, N. Y.. part of Long- Island, in tlie old town of Jericho. William A. Williams was i)orn .January 1, 1.S40, a son of George and Mercy Williams, both of whom were natives. of Hyde Park, London, England. When lie was six years old his family removed to Mill Neck, N. Y., whence they went to Hempstead, Long Island. After two years' residence there they moved to a place four and a half miles west of TToboken, N. J., near the Hudson river, and there lived for quite a number of years. The father was an industri(ms teamster and farmer, and there were nine children in the family. On July 80, 1862, William A. Williams enlisted as a private in Company K, Eleventh Regiment, New Jersey A'olunteer Infantry, and later saw some of the most hazardous service of the Civil war. At Chan- cellorsville, his first battle, of five hundred men detailed for a certain duty, eighteen were killed, one hundred and forty-six wounded and five missing. On the second day of the fight at Gettysburg seventeen men of his regiment were killed, one hundred and twenty-four wounded and twelve missing. The Eleventh New Jersey was included in Humph- rey's division of the Third Army Corps, being afterwards transferred to the Second Corps under General Hancock. Mr. Williams took part in twelve battles and in a large number of skirmishes, among them the second Chancellorsville, Battle of Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor. In his last general engagement he was wounded in the head by a Confederate sharpshooter and sent to the hospital, and in the course of events he was discharged from the service for disal)ility, March 11, 1865, about a month before the collapse of the Southein Confederacy. Returning to New Jersey, September, 1865, Mr. Williams mar- ried Josephine L. Williams, in June, 1866, and she bore him four chil- dren, Gertrude, Clark V., Josephine and one daughter, deceased. After his marriage, he lived three years in Adams county. Wis., where he devoted himself to farming and hop-raising. In 1870 he home- steaded land in Kansas, where during a time of privation he and his family lived on buffalo meat and artichokes, for the cooking of which there was no fuel but buffalo chips. It was necessary for them to haul their i)rovisions one hundred and fifty miles, from Waterville and Marysville. The great grasshopj^er year, 1874, Mr. Williams will never forget. One of his neighbors had his grain in shock and he helped him to thresh his wheat. The man declared that he would cut TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 829 his corn as soon as the tirst grassho])per would appear, but the pests came in such numbers that they ate ten acres of corn before he could do anything to prevent them, and after having vainly attacked them with rollers, lae and his wife were obliged to burn the prairie to kill them. From 1880 to 1906 he lived in various places in Colorado and South Dakota. In October of the year last mentioned he bought forty acres in Tulare county at $40 an acre. Previously he had owned land in the Owens river valley, which he sold to the city of Los Angeles. His forty-acre tract in Tulare county was unimproved, but he has since built a house, a barn and other necessary buildings on the property and is making a specialty of the cultivation of jMuscat grapes. Associations of the days of the Civil war are maintained by Mr. Williams in a way by his membership in the Grand Army of the Re- pul)lic and he receives a goverm;:ent ];ension of $24. He was a charter member of General Shafter Post No. 191, G. A. R., of Dinuba. Politi- cally he is a Republican. As a citizen he is public-spirited and helpful to all good interests of the community. Dear to him as are the mem- ories of his youth and of the Civil war period, the recollections of his days of overland travel, in the period 1870-85, are no less fondly cher- ished. They picture to him the old road to Kansas and to Colorado, glimpses of Greeley and Fort Collins and of other wayside places and of Miller, S. Dak. Those days under the white-topped prairie schooner were days of discomfort, but they were days of hopes that after a time were fully realized. Mrs. Williams died in 1887 at her home in Mis- souri Hot Springs, whither she had gone on a visit and for her liealth while her husband was getting settled in his new location. WILLIAM ALFORD One of the native sons of California who are winning success in Tulare county is William Alford, who is farming and dairying eight miles north of Exeter on rural free delivery route No. 1. Mi-. iMford was boi-n in Plumas county in 1862 and began attending si'lido! near his childhood home. When he was twelve years old he was brought by his family to Tulare county, where he completed his education and where he has lived continuously to this time except duiing three or four years. His father, who was a native of Virginia, was a ]n'omi- nent farmer and an active promoter of irrigation who had much to do with the construction of early ditches in the county. His mother, also a native of the Old Dominion, was a woman of the finest character, who influence has been a beneficent force in her son's life. They came to California among the pioneers, as long ago as 1853, and ])assed to their reward many years ago. Mr. Alford has been familiar with the 830 TULARE AND KINGH COUNTIES work of the farm since his childhood, haviiifi: been early instructed iu it by his father. AVhen he came to Tulare county the country was new, settlements were sparse and improvements were few and primitive. He has Iieen permitted not only to witness but to participate in its de- velojiment into one of tlie most jiroductive districts of a state of won- derful resources. In 1S82 Mr. Alford l)ou the first tent on Puso creek flats, where he mined, kept a boarding house, and did freighting. J. W. Bozeman 's recollections of that cross-country trip would be inteiesting reading could they all be put into print. He helped to bury the liodies of members of the Oatman family, who had been nmr- dered ))y Indians on their way from Texas to California. Two of the Oatman children were captured by the savages and one of them was rescued later by friends. Usually emigrants were safe so long as goodly numbers of them kept together, but there was .great ]ieril foi' any who became sejiarated from their trains. It was when he was about eighteen years old that Mr. Bozeman arrived in California, passing through Tulare county along the immi- grant trail, and on October 12, 1854, they stopped on Kings river. His opportunities for education had been very liinited, as almost from childhood he had i-idden after cattle or worked in the cotton field. In 1864, in San Bernardino county, he married Miss Susan Hendrey, born January 16, 1842, in Indiana, daughter of Isaac Hendrey, who was a pioneer of Oregon. He was a descendant of old Irish families and his wife was Miss Mary White of Indiana. Mrs. Bozeman passed HU TULARE AXJ) KINGS TUUNTIES away iu Kings county in 1898, wliile the lauiily were living near Ilan- ford. She was the mother of a large family of children, all natives of California, eight of whom grew to maturity and married, viz. : Preston Leander, of Exeter; Julia A., married to L. H. Byron, of Lemoore; Armazila U.. wife of Vj. C. Nowlan, of Exeter; Jesse D., of Hanford; Melissa A., wife of J. Bloomhall, of Alhamhra ; John W., of Fresno; Hattie, married to Warren Hawley, of Lindsay; and Rachel, wife of Ralph Berridge, of Porterville. Three children died in infancy, and Chester W. passed away in early childhood. The father of Mrs. Boze- man lived to the age of ninety-six years, and one of his daughters, Mrs. Cleghorn, now lives at Highlands, San Bernardino county. Two of his sons are making their home at the Soldiers' Home at Eugene, Oregon. After his marriage Mr. Bozeman went into the shee]) business and was successful for about twenty years, keeping most of the time about ten thousand head. He became the owner of three hundred acres of land on Kings river, where he settled in 1854, with his father, and later rented large tracts on which lie sowed grain. His last wheat crop was garnered from thirty-five hundred acres. He disposed of all his holdings in Kings county and lives with his children, and has been a resident of Porterville since January, 1911. He has always been an active, influential and ])ulilic-spirited citizen. MARTIX WTRHT In that wonderful European republic, Switzerland, Martin "Wirlit, who now lives a mile and a quarter northwest of Exeter, Tulare county. Cal.. was born in 1857. When he was eleven years old he came to the United States and made his way to Springfield, 111., where he lived a year, and from that time until 1879 his home was in Missouri. He went from Missouri to Kansas, from Kansas to Wyoming, and then back to Kansas, and in 1896 from Kansas to California, living six years in Wyoming and six years in Kansas. In Tulare county Mr. Wirht's first place of residence was Porter- ville, from which town he moved to his present home near Exeter, where he has fifteen acres bearing oranges, five acres under grape- vines and twenty-five acres on which he grows vines and trees. His navel oranges are of fine variety and are usually among the earliest in his vicinity to reach the market. When he took the ranch in hand it was raw and without imiirovements, but he lias provided it with a house and other buildings and developed it into one of the best linme- steads in the Exeter district. The marriage of Martin Wirht and Eliza Meredith, a native of TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 835 Missouri, has resulted in the birth of five children, all of whom were educated or are being educated in Tulare county. Tlieir oldest daugliter is married. The parents of both Mr. and Mrs. Wirlit have passed away. Mr. Wirht is regarded as a self-made man who richly deserves the success that he has won. He has always been too busy to take up political work and is not ambitious for office, but he is public-s])iritedly helpful to all worthy interests of tlie community. RICHARD BURKE This is the life story of a man whose activities were begun as a drummer boy in the Federal army in the Civil war. Born in Clay county. 111., July 5, 1849, he was only about twelve years old when the war began. He enlisted at Louisville, 111., December 21, 1863, in Com- pany K, Forty-eighth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which was attached to the Third Brigade, Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, with which the name of Gen. John A. Logan is identified. The first fight in which he participated was that of Buzzard's Roost, at Resaca, Ga. From that time on until the end of the war he took part in many hotly contested engagements of greater or less iniportance, participating in Sherman's march to the sea; his more immediate com- manding generals being successively Ilarland, Hazen, Oliver and Rice. It was not long after his service began that he became a soldier in active dutv. He was discharged August 15, 1865, and mustered out at Springfield. Returning to Clay county. 111., Mr. Burke remained there until April 20, 1870, when he started for California, arriving in Sto^ckton, Cal., May 1, that year. He then came to Tulare county and remained until April, 1872, when he located in Squaw Valley, homesteadiug one hundred and sixty acres of land which he has impi'oved and on which he now lives. By subsequent purchase he has come to own three hundred and fifty-two acres. He farms about one hundred acres, the rest of his land being under jiasture and timber, and keeps a1)out one hundred head of stock. On August 5, 1868, in Louisville, 111., Mr. Burke inarriod Miss Mary R. Drake, a native of Ohio. Her parents, also of Ohio l)irth, came to California in 1870, being members of Mr. Burke's party. They found the country very new and were oliliged to go thirty-fivi' miles for their mail, wJiich they got at Visalia. They paid eighteen cents a jjouud foi- brown sugar by the half ban-el. and other things in proportion. Children as follows were born to Mr. and Mrs. Burke. Anna G., Floy I., Elva Lewis, Alraeda J., John W., Harry A., Oliver M., Viola L., and Harold R. Anna G. married C. C. Traweek. Flov I. 836 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES is Mrs. W. A. Hampton. Elva Lewis is the wife of L. B. Holcombe. Aimeda J. is the wife of Harlan Mclntire. John W. married Miss Jean Lawresten, formerly a teacher. Harry A. married Myrtle M. Akers. Oliver M. married Irene Fleming, who was a teacher. Viola L. mar- ried T. E. Byrd. Harold R. is a graduate of Heald's Business College of Fresno and is employed in that city. Mr. and Mrs. Burke have thirteen grandchildren. In his politics Mr. Burke is Republican. He is a member of At- lanta Post, G. A. R., at Fresno. A. M. DREISBACH At Tiffin, Oliio, April 20, 1852. was born A. M. Dreisbach, who is now a farmer and a minister of the United Brethren church at Exeter, Tulare county, Cal. His fatlier, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Ohio in his youth; he married a daughter of a German, and died in 1876. Mr. Dreisbach 's mother has been dead many years. A. M. Dreisbach remained at Tiffin until he was twenty-five years old, and there he secured a primary education which he supplemented by a course at the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He had just completed his studies at that institution when he was re- called to liis home by the death of his father. His earlier labors were all on the ranch, but eventually he entered the ministry. From his old home in Ohio he went to Kansas, and a year later went up into Iowa. From there he returned to Kansas, and he went thence to Utah. About eighteen years ago he came to California and settled at Exeter, where he now has a beautiful ranch of twenty-five acres, his principal crop being oranges. This property he has acquired by industry and econ- omy and those other personal qualities whicli are the fundamentals of the success of the self-made man. In 1878 Mr. Dreisbach married Miss Elizabeth Bollinger of Ne- braska, who has l)orne her husband eight children, three of whom, Clara, Jolm Wesley and Hattie, have died since the family came to California. The others are Minnie, Nellie, Harvey, Grace and Roy. The latter is a student in the high school at Exeter. Minnie married Rev. J. L. Hanson in 1909; he is pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church South at LeGrand, Cal. They have one child. Margaret. Nellie married T. W. Harvey, a furniture dealer at Los Angeles. The others are at home. Mr. Dreisbach is patriotic and public-spirited, interested in the political issues of the day. especially solicitous for the cause of temperance. He has held public office, but he does not affiliate with anv secret order. TULARK AND KINGS COUNTIES 837 SAMUEL LAVERNE KENNEY Back iu Tennessee in Greene county, Samuel Laverne Kenney, who now lives three miles southeast of Orosi, in Tulare county, Cal., first saw the light of day in the year I860. He lived there witli his parents until he was seven years old, then tiie family moved to Mis- souri aud located in Pineville, McDonald county, where the elder Ken- ney farmed sixteen years. It was iu 1886 that Samuel h. came to Tulare county, within the borders of which he has since had his home, in the Alta district. The country round about was then a vast wheat- field, without trees or fences, and stock roamed at will in the swamps and hills. He now has on his homestead eighty acres of fine land, eighteen acres of which are in Malaga grapes, ten in peaches, ten in miscellaneous orchard trees, and the balance under pasture. His vineyard and orchard are just coming into bearing. He keeps enough horses to work his ranch and raises a few hogs each year. He has a four-year-old grove of eucalyptus trees. The parents of Mr. Kenney were James D. and Nancy (Goodin) Kenney, natives of Tennessee. The mother died in Missouri and Mr. Kenney came to Tulare county in 1901, where he passed away in De- cember, 1912. They had children named Ebie, Wroten, Bruce R., Samuel L., C'allie, and Ida. Bruce R. married Lotta Scott, who bore him three children, Raljih, Laverne, and Goldie. With the excejition of Samuel L. and Ida the others have passed away. As a citizen Mr. Kenney has many times and in many ways dem- onstrated his public spirit by lending generous aid to movements for the uplift and development of the community. Politically he is a So- cialist. JOSIAH M. FERGUSON A long and useful career which has figured prominently in national as well as civic affairs has identified Josiah M. Ferguson as one of the most valued citizens of his country and his service in the Civil war supplemented by active participation- in the development of Tulare coimty has marked him a stanch patriot. In the state of Georgia, iu the heart of the Sunny South, Josiah M. Ferguson was born March 25, 1843, son of Champion and Rachel (Dackett) Ferguson, the former an old Georgia planter, and a native of Kentucky, his wife being a native of Georgia. Josiah M. Ferguson was rear(>d and educated in his native ])lace and learned much about the cultivation of the soil. In 1863 he made his way through the mountains and enlisted in Company G, Tenth 838 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Tennessee Cavali'v, serving in that company until lie received his dis- charge. Soon after the war he removed to Tennessee, and there, October 20, 1872, he married Miss Parthenia C. Cundiff, a native of that state. From Tennessee, in 1875, they came to Tnlai'e county, Cal., and homesteaded one hundred and sixt)' acres of laud which Mr. Fer- guson developed into a good farm, on which he lived until 1904, when he moved to Porterville, and passed away in 1909. He helped to establish the postoffice at Poplar and served as postmaster one year. He was a man of public spirit, ready at all times to do anything in his power for the advancement of the interests of his fellow-citizens whom he held iu warm affection as friends and neighbors. He aided in l)ui]ding the Poplar ditch, ran the first water, and was president of the company. Fraternally he affiliated with the Masons and was a mem- ber of the G. A. R. He was a Republican in ]iolitics. The parents of Mrs. Ferguson were Thomas and Mary (Grass) Cundiff, natives of Virginia and descended from old and honorable Southern families. She bore her husband eight children, three of them native sons and four native daughters of California. All of them sur- vive except James, who was drowned at Oakland in 1901. Cordelia, the eldest, liorn in Tennessee, was nine months old when her parents came to California. She married Fletcher Martin and is living in Tu- lare count>'. The others were Dora, Mrs. George Futrell, and Cora, Mrs. William Walker (twins), Mary, wife of Arthur Hayes, Temiia. married to Ernest Ridgeway, James, Thomas and Fletcher. The two last mentioned are in business at Porterville, Cal. Mrs. Ferguson has five grandsons and five granddaughters. She owns a half-section of fine land near Poplar, which was their old homestead. A woman of strong cliaracter, whose good influence is manifested in the lives of her children, she is fortunate in being able to pass her declining years in association with friends who honor her for her sake and for her hus- band's and regard her with gratitude for many kindnesses whicli she has rendered them. MARTIN CLICK Descended in the jiaternal line from old families of Germany, where his father, Peter Click, was born, "Mart" Click, who lives ten miles west of Porterville, Tulare county, is a native of Stark county, Ohio, where he opened his eyes to the world June 18, 1844. He spent his l)oyhood and youth in attending public schools and helping his father on the farm. In 1864, when he was twenty years old, he came to California. Stopping in Placer county, he worked for wages six years for B. C. Trefry, with whom he came to Merced county in 1870 TULARP] yVND kings COUNTIES 839 aud bought a liaud of sheep, nnniheriug about iiiue hundred lioad. They remained partners and stayed there until 1874, when they sokl out and came to Tulare county and again bought four thousand sheep on the plains. In 1881 Mr. Click bought his partner's interest, since which time he has been engaged indeijendeutly. In 1877, the year known to sheep men as the "hard year," he had ten thousand head, all of which he lost excejit about two thousand, by which misfortune he was lirought to practical ruin. In 1886, selling his sheep, he bought three hundred and twenty acres of land near WoodviUe and engaged in raising grain, cattle, horses and sheep, in which business he has continued up to the present time with a degree of success that has done much to make him forget his troubles of the past. His home has been on this ranch since that date, and he has witnessed the devel- opment of the county, in which he has been a participant. In 1883 Mr. Click nuirried Miss Hope Broughtan, a native of Pennsylvania. She has borne Jiim a son, Roy Click, who was educated at Stanford University, and who man-ied Miss Nellie Stockton, they residing with Mr. and Mrs. Click. Mr. Click, while entertaining pro- nounced opinions on all x^olitical and economic questions, has never acce])ted any oilce, but he is not without influence among his towns- men, who honor him as a pioneer, remembering that when he came to Tulare county it and the territory in all directions was wild, ojien country where any man could feed sheeji at will. When he went to Poi-terville there were only two stores there. Bear and deer were plentiful in the country round about and he often saw cattle come eight to ten miles for water. He has grown up with the country, whose development he has encouraged in many public-spirited wavs. JOHN BACON A native of Pennsylvania, John Bacon went to the old frontier in Ohio when lie was a small child. Thence he later emigrated to Missouri, and from Missouri he crossed the plains with ox-teams, in 185!). and made his way to the mines in Amador county, where he sought gold for a few months. In 18()() he came to Tulare county and engaged in cattle raising. Later he took u]) government land near Tulare city and still later he owned a ranch cast of Visalia, where he lived the closing years of liis life and passecl away August 18, 1911, aged eighty-nine years. He nuirried Margaret Hall, a native of Canada, and she I)ore him six children. Catherine, who was tlie third in order of hiith of the family, becanic the wife of B. S. A'elie in 1901. lie is a native of New York state, who came to California in 18!»l' and went into the insurance business at Tulare. He came to Visalia in 840 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 1904 and established an insurance and real estate business here, which he manages while looking after his twenty-acre ranch on East Mineral King avenue, ten acres of which is producing peaches. Mrs. N'elie has an old chest, a bed quilt, some german-silver spoons and otiier valuable articles which her father brought across the plains witii him and which she prizes highly. The members of the family in ordei- of birth are: Mrs. George AV. Dailey; James; Mrs. B. S. A'elie; Alexander; Mrs. Levi Mathewson; Mrs. G. B. Ralph, and Mrs. A. J. Teague. All are residents of Tulare county with the exception of Mrs. G. B. Ralph, who resides in Stockton, Cal. WILLIAM FINDLEY On the Siberian river, Texas, William Findley was born February 22, Washington's Birthday, 1851. When he was six years old his par- ents, John and Sarah J. (Masters) Findley, natives respectively of Missouri and Texas, brought him across the plains to California. The family was included in a party which came with ox-teams and had fre- quent trouble with Indians on the way. The savages often attemjited to stampede or run off their cattle, and even when they were driven away they managed to kill the animals. At times the emigrants, under protection of wagon stockades, fought long battles with their red- skinned foes, whose flintlock guns laid many a white man low. Ten of the party were killed by the Indians and Mr. Findley 's sister Martha died on the way out. The family came to Hackliy Ford in 1858 and started in the cattle business, locating in Tulare later in that year. In August, 1871, the grandfather, John Findley, who was the owner of two square miles of land in Drum Valley, was called to the door of his house by rol)bers, v\iio demanded his money, evidentlv lielieving that he had considerable of it on hand. His wife died in 1900. About 1907 William Findley located on his present homestead, where he has one hundred and thirty-three acres of grain and pasture land, a garden and about two thousand cords of wood in the tree. He keeps forty-five to fifty head of cattle and about half as many hogs. The elder Findley and his son are Democrats and their fellow citizens recognize them as men of public spirit. February 22, 1868, his birthday, Mr. Findley married, in the Sand Creek neighborhood, Miss Ellen Woodey, who has borne him ten chil- dren. John M. married Martha Dean and has four children, Blanche, Cecil, Gerald, and Inez. William J. married Mrs. Ida Strong, a daugh- ter of Stephen Gaster, at one time treasurer of Fresno county. Ivan married Susan Collier and their children are Aaron, Byron and Myrtle. Lee married Minnie Robinson and their children are Earl, Oswald and TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 841 Melba. Martha iiiarried Jolm Dean aud is the mother of the following children, Carroll, Mand and Cleo. Callie A. married Levi Dean and their cliildren are Gilbert and Forest. Mary married Fred Kiner and their children are Clare E., Elsie, Harold and Denzelle. Ira, nnmar- ried, resides with William J. Findley. Myrtle is single and lives with her mother at Dinuba. Daisy married Daniel Tullie and resides at Orosi. CALVIN H. ANTRIM A respected and well-known citizen of Tulare county, now living retired from active cares in Orosi, is Calvin H. Antrim, whose career has been indicative of energy, thrift and perseverance. Born in C'lin- ton, Ohio, -April 12, 1827, he was a son of Hiram and Sarah (Whitson) Antrim, natives respectively of Virginia and Pennsylvania and who were the parents of a family of nine children. Receiving his educa- tion in the common schools of his locality, Calvin H. Antrim early learned the carpenter's trade, being quite proficient when he was but fourteen years old, and until 1895 that was his chief occupation. He left Ohio in March, 1866, going to Lewis county, Mo., where he pur- chased one hundred and twenty acres of land, on which he lived for eleven years with his sons, and followed farming. In November, 1877, he went to Lee county, Iowa, where he farmed and raised stock in partnership with Dr. Todd lantil he give it up on account of poor health. In October, 1889, he decided to come to Tulare county, Cal., to recui)erate, and buying seven town lots in Orosi he erected a residence on one which he sold in the fall of 1912 for hotel purposes. For thir- teen years he i-an the stage between Orosi and Cutler, carrying pas- sengers, mail, freight aud expi-ess, but since then he has lived in pi-ac- tical retirement, enjoying the well-earned rest from active life. On February 6, 1851, Mr. Antrim was married to Nancy Jane Collagen, a native of Greene county, Ohio, born October 20, 18.33, and children as follows were born to them: Hiram, A. Ellen, Luella, Lin- coln, Elmer, Susan H., Ira, Ida, Elbert, Cora, John W., and Lillian. Hiram, now deceased, married Belle Furtney and had five children. Luella mari'ied Andy Langwith and they were the parents of two chil- dren. Lincoln married Ida Smith, a native of Iowa, and they have two children. Susan II. married W. D. George. Elbei-t married Anna Powell and has two children. John W. married Dora Lovelace and they have one child. Lillian is the wife of Ed Combs. The othei-s have all passed away, and the mother's death occurred November 19, 1908, at the age of sevent\-four years. In 1862 Mr. Antrim became a member of that famous militarv 842 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES ' organization known to bistoiy as the Squirrel Hunters and partici- pated in the operations involving Morgan's raid into the North. He was honorably discharged from the service March 4, 1863. In politics he is Republican, and as a citizen he has always been public-spirited and helpful. FRANCIS M. MAYES A native of McDonald county, Missouri, Francis M. Mayes is a son of natives of that state and his parents were Richard and Elizabeth (Moffett) Mayes. He was born November 30, 1845, and came overland to California with his father with ox-teams when he was about twelve years old. The party, under direction of Captain Pogue, left their old homes in April, 1857, and consumed about the usual tinie in making the trip. There were about thirty wagons in the train and enough oxen for convenient relief. The party came by the North Platte, the Hud- son Cutoff, the Honey Lake route, and thence by way of Red Blutf. Along the Humboldt river in Nevada the Indians were very trouble- some and they had only a little while before massacred all the mem- bers of a large party of emigrauts, approi)riatiug the stock and run- ning the wagons into the river. Only two yoke of oxen were lost to Indians by Ca|)taiu Pogue 's party and they were later recovered. Everj^ precaution for safety was taken. Encamjjing, a stockade was formed and guards were ever on the alert. During the progress of the journey there was some sickness and two children were born to women of the party. After a brief rest at Red Bluff the journey was completed and Mr. Mayes and family went to a point near Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, where he lived from late in 1857 until in 1875. There the mother died in 1858, leaving three sons and four daughters, of which family but three survive. Coming to Tulare county the elder Mayes resided with his son until his death in 1878. Having come thus to California, Francis M. Mayes gained his edu- cation in public schools in Sonoma county and learned blacksmithing under his father's instruction. He settled in Antelope Valley in Tulare county, on one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land which in the course of events he was obliged to relinfjuish. But he moved his house onto another tract of one hundred and sixty acres in Sand Creek Gaji. which he purchased from the Southern Pacific Railway Com])any. Later he came into possession of two hundred aud forty acres of railroad land which he improved and on which he lived until in 1897. when he sold it and removed to Orosi, buying propei-ty there aud going into general blacksmithing. It was as a blacksmith that he busied himself during the succeeding eight years. When he first set- TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 843 tied iu the Sand Creek Gap there was uo towusite nearer than Visalia, all trading and postottice business having been done at Visalia. Deer, bear, antelope, and other wild game was plentiful and much of the country round about was given over to the feeding of sheep. At the end of the period mentioned he sold out his interests at Orosi and bought forty-four acres on the Dinuba road, where he took up his residence and has since developed a line home ranch. The land was mostly planted to fruit. lie has ten acres of Malaga grapes, fifteen of wine grapes and five of Muscats. Eleven acres are given to peaches, his trees now being about six years old, and he has sixty orange trees, some miscellaneous fruit and several attractive palms. In 1911 be sold for shipment sixty-two tons of Malaga grapes at $28 and $30 a ton, grew ninety-eight tons of wine grapes on fifteen acres, pro- duced ten tons of Zinfandels to the acre, of which he has five acres, sold four and a half tons of dried peaches for ten cents a pound, and received $900 for wine grapes and the same amount for peaches. He keeps horses enough to work his ranch. Politically Mr. Mayes is a Democrat and for more than twenty years he has filled the office of school trustee. He and members of his family ai-e connnunicants of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. The lady who became liis wife was Miss Mary E. Faudre, a native of Cali- fornia, and she has borne him children as follows : Mattie, deceased, Frances E., Etta and Arthur, deceased, Melvin L., Oscar 0. and Edith, deceased (twins), Ella, and Clara. Frances E. became the wife of Victor Franzen, a native of Sweden, and they have two sons and three daughters. Clara married Fred G. Nelson, an Englishman by birth, and they are living in Tulare county and they have two sons and one daughter. STILES A. Mclaughlin The McLaughlin family, to which belongs Stiles A. McLaughlin, originated in Scotland. His grandfather, John McLaughlin, lived in Pennsylvania. His father was Williain Harrison McLaughlin and was a native of Pennsylvania, where he grew u\) and learned the trade of carriage maker, later removing to Ohio. Following his trade there for a short time he engaged in merchandising and various other ])ursuits with varying success. It was in Ashtabula county, Ohio, that Stiles A. was born January 3, 1852. When he was about ten years old his parents moved to Pennsylvania, and after a residence there of six years they went to Illinois, where they remained foi' a like period. The changes of time brought the younger McLaughlin to Califor- nia when he was about twentv-one vears old. He worked in Yolo 844 TLTLxVRE AND KINGS COUNTIES county about a year, then came to Lemoore, Kings county, and soon afterward acquired a land claim half a mile south of that town. He relinquished it, however, and bought forty acres, bounded on one side by the city line, which he planted to fruit trees and retained until 1902, wlien he sold it to advantage. He then bought forty acres west of the forty just referred to and eighty acres adjoining this last pur- chase. After having lived there six years, he sold forty acres of the property, retaining the eighty acres, forty of which is in vineyard, and moved to Lemoore. In these various real estate deals he was quite successful, gradually accumulating money and land until he has come to be considered one of the well-to-do men of, that part of the county. He is a director of the First National Bank of Lemoore and has been in one way or another identified with several interests of importance. His public spirit im})elled him to accept the nomination of his party for membership of the Board of Supervisors of Kings county. He was three times elected and served continuously from November, 1895, to December, 1906. Local lodges of Free & Accepted Masons, "Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows include Mr. McLaughlin in their membership. In 1876 he married Mary "Wright, daughter of Samuel "\A"right, a pioneer of 1868 in Kings county, who made his mark as a farmer and stockman. They have children as follows : "Wilmot "U'^right, of Lemoore ; Aimee, wife of Samuel McCor- kle, of Dinuba; Mary, who is a clerk in the ])Ostoffice at Lemoore; and Elmira, a student in the high school. In April, 1912, Mr. McLaughlin completed his comfortable brick residence on "West D street, which is up-to-date in every respect and adds greatly to the residence dis- trict of Lemoore, being most tasteful and attractive in design and appearance. The "Wright family of which Mrs. McLaughlin is a member came originally from England and were old Virginia settlers, coming to Ohio in the early jiart of the nineteenth century. Later they removed to Iowa, whence Mrs. McLaughlin's parents, Samuel and Amelia A. (Orton) Wright, came overland to California in 1849. Mrs. Wright is of Scotch ancestry and is now making her home at Lemoore, briglit and active at the advanced age of eighty-four. JOHN C. JOHNSON In the year 1845, on the sixth of January, John C. Johnson was born near Palmyra, in Marion county, Mo., a son of William Shirley and Ruth (Risk) Johnson. His mother was one of sixteen children of William Risk, an American officer in the Revolutionary war, whose TULARE AND KlXdS COUNTIES 845 shoe ami knee l)iu'kles were iim iuto s^ix teaspoons and presented to her, as she was the yonngest daughter in tlie family, and this custom is ever since folh>wed from generation to generation, the relics de- scending to the yonngest (laughter. She was a native of Scott county, Ky., liut moved to Marion county, Mo., and during her first winter there saw tlie snow thi'ce feet dee]) on level gi'ound. She was early taught the ways of the housewife and often gave members of her family products of her spinning wheel and of her loom. Mr. Johnson has a bedspread which was woven by his mother from material of her own si)iuniug, nmch of the work having been done by the light of one of the old style grease lamps. By her marriage with William Shirley Johnson she had a daughter named Elizabeth, who died in infancy, and a son, John C, who is the immediate subject of this review. By her first marriage with James Johnson, a brother of W. S. Mrs. Johnson had five children, of whom Mary A. is living. William R. married Clementine Adams, who bore him three children, and by a second marriage, with Louisa Dale, he had two daughters. Sarah J. became the wife of William M. Allen and bore him five sons and a daughter. Joseph S. married Rebecca Allen and had five daughters and two sons, all of whom are living in California. James H. married Sarah Shanks, daughter of the Rev. John Shanks, a Christian minis- ter, and has two children. Mary A. married John W. Cason and has three sons and three daughters. John C. Johnson, who was taken early from Marion county to Lewis county. Mo., has not married. He spent much of his life on the farm his father bought of the United States government at $1.25 an acre, to which John C. added forty acres, making a ranch of four hun- dred and forty acres. His parents had sold their projierty in Ken- tucky before they came to Missouri. In 1905 and 19()() he sold off the Missouri homestead of the family and in the latter year came to Tulare county, Cal., and bought sixty-two acres, thirty-five of which is under vines, twenty acres devoted to peaches. He raises also some alfalfa which rims about a ton an acre to a cutting. He has taken thirty-five tons of dried peaches from his land in a season, which he considers the banner yield. In national politics Mr. Johnson is a Democrat. I»ut on local issues supports men and measures he considers for the pu))lic good. His interest in the general good is dee];) and abiding and he aids to the extent of his ability any movement pvo- posed for the benefit of the community. WILLIAM MICHARLIS In a conversation some time since someone said of this man, who lives in the vicinity of Poitcrvillc. Tulare countv. Cal., "He is a uTcat 84(3 TULARE AND KTNGS COUNTIES booster- for Tulare county." This is a homely way of saying very briefly that Mr. Michaelis, though a native of Germany, is loyal to the community with which he has cast his lot and is solicitous for its Ijrogress as any native son of the soil could possibly be. He was born August 1. 1882, was educated in the Fatherland and patriotically served two years in the German army. Coming to the United States when he was twenty-four years old, he spent his first few years in Cali- fornia in working at the mason's trade. His father and mother came to this comity, too; the former passed away some years ago, and the latter is living in Tulare county. Martha Yolitz, born September 24, 1881, a native of Germany, became Mr. Miehaelis's wife in 1906. She has borne him two children, Willie, born January 4, 1908, and Martine, September 18, 1909. Soon after his arrival here Mr. Michaelis bought land, most of which is in grain, but seven acres are planted in pomegranate trees. His achievements, considering his opportunities, are noteworthy, the more so because they are the achievements of a self-made man, who in bis day of small things began in a small way and has risen steadily year by year until he ranks with the ]irosperous men of his community. Politically he is a Republican, interested in all that pertains to the public good. As a citizen he is always generously helpful to all move- ments for the common benefit. MICHAEL GILLIGAN A native of Ireland, Michael Gilligan was born November 1'). 1830. After he had grown up he came to Canada, where he was em- ployed for a time in railroad work. Eventually, in 1871, he came to California and remained long enough to fall in love with the country, but went hack to Canada and lived there another year before settling here permanently. He located a quarter-section, his brother having located the same amount of land also. All of this land ultimately became his and by later purchase his holdings were increased to ten hundred and twenty acres. The sheep business subsequently engaged his attention, starting with three hundred and seventy-four head, and in time he owned as high as three thousand, but in 1877 he lost all but about seven hundred head. He was compelled to conform to the changes in farming and in stock growing with which the history of Central and Southern California has made every observer and reader familiar, and in time he sold out his sheep interests and gradually paid more and more attention to his land, which he is now handling iu a way that makes it very profitable. In 1911 he sold his sheep to his sou, who in turn sold them to a Frenchman who rents the Gilligan rancli. TUr.AKK AND KlXdS CorXTIES >S47 In 1866 Mr. Gilligaii iiianied Nora Broderick, who was boru and reared in Canada. Of the ten children born to them six have passed away, the foiir remaining- being John E., Hngh, Michael T. and Nora. The latter married Jesse Riley. Mr. Gilligan is a public-spirited man who does his full share in promotion of the general uplift. His interest in the country in which he has cast his fortunes is all the deeper because his recollections of it in the days that are gone are those of a inoneer, who came to it when it was practically a wild state, with antelope and other game plentiful and Indians in evidence evcu-y- where. At that time there was only one house ))etween his liome and Visalia, twenty-five miles. BARNEY DE LA GRANGE The great grand-father of Barney De La Grange, of Orosi, Cal., came to America to fight for the independence of the colonies under command of General Lafayette, and hence Mr. De La Grange is a genuine Son of the American Revolution, -Rathout the necessity of joining the association of that name. Mr. De La Grange is one of the best known carpenters and orange growers in the district north of Orosi and a leading citizen of Tulare county, and was born in West Virginia April 16, 1858, a son of Omie and Elizabeth (McLain) De La Grange, respectively of French and Scotch ancestry. There were in his father's family nine children, five of whom were daughters. When Barney De La Grange was thirteen years old his parents moved to Ohio. He has in the course of his life been an extensive traveler in America, having covered the entire country from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes and from ocean to ocean. He married in West Virginia, Ida M. Lewis, a native of Kentucky, but of English par- entage, and she bore him a daughter, Lena Marie, who married George M. Daniels, of Oreston, Iowa, and has sons, James B. and [jh)yd. Mrs. De La Grange jiassed away in 18!)5. in West Virginia. In his youtli Mr. De La Grange learned tlie trade of carpenter and builder in which he was employed at ditferent times and at differ- ent places. He has recently bought a ran(;h of twenty acres north of Orosi and will plant it to navel, Valencia and other varieties of oranges. He has lived in Tulare county since 1909, having come here from Fresno county, where he had located eight years before. It has been seen that Mr. De La Grange is a descendant of a ))atriot liero "of the days tliat tried men's souls." He is the pi'oud owner of a pair of slioe buckles once worn l)y his great-grandmother when slie danced witli George Washington at a famous ball in Phila- del]iliia. Of German silver, of l)eautiful design and fine woi-kmanshij). 848 TFLARE AND KL\(iS ( OTXTIKS tliey are exceediiifily iuteresting relics. Omie De La Grange, father of Barney, was a veteran of the war of 1812 and served his country in the Mexican war. Mr. De La Grange's In-other William enlisted in Company B, P^leventh Virginia Infantry, April 1, 1862, and served three years in the Civil war. He is now a citizen of Selma. Politi- cally Mr. De Tja (i range is a Republican and his religions affiliations are with the Methodist church. Fraternally he is identilied with the Woodmen. JOHN B. HOCKETT The life of the late John B. Hockett, of Porterville, Tulare county, Cal., spanned the period from 1827 to 1898. He was born at Hunts- ville, Ala., and died at his California home. Prom Alabama he moved to Arkansas and in 1849 from there to California. His father. William Hockett, came here with him and they mined for some time on the Tuolumne river. Eventually Jolm B. Hockett went back east and remained over the winter, returning in 18."j4 and settling in Lagrange, Stanislaus county, where he operated a butcher shop. There in 18.")9 he married Miss Margaret McGee, a native of Texas, born January 27, 1840, who bore him seven children, all born in Tulare county, where they settled in 1859. At Yisalia he engaged in merchandising with Johnson & Jordan, and later with Reinstein & Clapp. In 1864 he came to Porterville. He engaged in the hardware business in Por- terville about 1889, remaining three years, and was interested in the stock business for years. The parents of Mrs. Hockett made a nine months' journey with ox-teams across the plains to California in 1850, locating for a time at Los Angeles, thence to Santa Barbara, and in 1851 they settled at San Juan. In 1852 they were at Stockton and then settled between the Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers near Knights Ferry. On the way across the plains the supply of food was exhausted and they were nourished only by eating boiled wheat. As if to add to their troubles, most of their stock died by the way. Mrs. Hockett states that when she first went to the site of Porterville the town, if such it could l)e called even by courtesy, consisted of one small shack and a tent. She has in her jiossession the first postoffice furniture ever used there, which was brought into requisition some years after she and her hus- band made their home there. In the early days of the locality there were nmny Indians near by, and some of them were not pleasant neighbors. Of the seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Hockett, tive are living. Benjamin F. lives near Hot S])rings; Robert Lee lives on White river; TL^LARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 849 E. Barton is at Portula; Lena became the wife of R. il. Allen and resides at Roseville; and Dora married E. L. Scott, of Porterville. The old family home included land in Porterville now covered by part of the townsite. Mr. Hockett acquired land from time to time imtil his holdings were very large. His widow still owns five sections of grazing land in Tnlare and Kern counties and one city block in Por- terville, where has been the family residence since December, 1864. Mrs. Hockett 's recollections of Porterville and vicinitj' are very inter- esting. It was four years before her arrival that the river changed its course, but she had her experiences and witnessed some exciting scenes at the time of the Hoods of '67- '(18 and '6;)- 70 when the water covered almost the entire town and people had to go about in boats. Fraternally Mr. Hockett affiliated with the Masons and was Master of the Visalia lodge, ))eing member also of Royal Arch Chapter; the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He was a busy and helpful man who counted his friends by scoi'es, his business associates by hundreds. His interest in the growth and prosperity of Porterville impelled him to do everything in his power for the welfare of the com- munity. He was instrumental in establishing the first school and the first church there, and served on the school .board. Since his death Mrs. Hockett proved uj) on his homestead and purchased three claims of one hundred and sixty acres each, and has imjiroved them; a well of four hundred and forty feet depth has been put down. When he passed away he was publically mourned by the people with whom he had lived so long and whom he had helped in so many ways. WILLIAM SW\\LL The life story of William Swall, one of the large landowners of the Visalia district and one of the honored citizens of Tulare county, a mode! of honesty and enterprise and foremost in all good works, is a most interesting one. He was born in LaSalle county. 111., November 5, 1848, a son of Mathias and Elizabeth (Hayne) Swall, both natives of Germany, the father born in Berlin, January 24, 1824. In 1840, Mathias Swall came to America in an old-time sailing vessel and settled in LaSalle county, 111., where he married April l(i, 1847. There he farmed till 1865, in the summer of that year coming to California by way of Panama. He remaim^l that winter on a farm near San Jose, and in the fall of 1866 settled near Tracy, San Joafpiin county. His land there he sold in 1871, when he went to Monterey county, and farmed and raised stock until in 1877, when he moved to Ventura county. Thence he went to Sherman, Los Angeles county, late in 1882. He farmed and conducted a dair\- almost to the time of 49 850 TULARE AND KINGS (JOUNTIES bis death in May, 1896. His widow still lives at Sherman. lu religion Mr. Swall was a Catholic, in politics a Democrat. First born of his parents' family of two daughters and nine sons. William Swall secured what education he could in the public school near his Illinois home. Later he attended school in Santa Clara county, Cal., and was for a term a student at the San Jose Institute. Meantime he had become a practical farmer of wide and accurate knowledge. In 1873 he homesteaded eighty acres of land in Tulare county and later bought land along the Tule river. In 1884 he moved to his i^resent farm of seventeen hundred acres, known as Deej) Creek Ranch, which as he has imjjroved it is one of the finest properties in the county, and has four hundred acres in peaches, prunes, pears, apples, plums, nectarines and English walnuts. He owns all in all seventeen huudred acres, and his extensive operations necessitate the renting of an additional thousand acres, which he devotes to stock and fruit. As a farmer he has been well-informed and up-to-date in all respects. He emjiloys on his ranch from thirty to fifty men. His dairy has an electric power plant for pumping water, and there is a similar plant for lighting his house and barns. The place is provided with an adequate and convenient water system. It is one of the notable alfalfa farms of the district, having six hundred acres set apart for that crop. From time to time Mr. Swall has diverted his energies from the farm to the town and he is a director of the Bank of Tulare, a director of the Tulare Co-operative Creamery Company, a stock- holder of the Tulare Telephone Company and a director in the Roch- dale stores of Tulare. He has been prominent in the promotion of irri- gation and was one of the originators of the Tulare Irrigation Dis- trict. Since 1903 he has been one of the directors of the district. A Republican, interested in all public questions but never an o'fice seeker, he has nevertheless been a director of the Elk Bayou school district. Mr. Swall married Emma Cole, born in Knox county, 111., a daughter of Asa Cole, a native of Ohio, who crossed the plains to Cali- fornia with his family in 1856 and located in Contra Costa countv. Several years later Mr. Cole went to Santa Clara county and in 1866 he located near Tracy, San Joaquin county. In 1873 he came to Visalia, whence in 1888 he removed to Brentwood, Contra Cos+ county, where he jiassed away in the autumn of that same year. Mr. and Mrs. Swall were the parents of children as follows: George, who is a dairy rancher near Yisalia ; Newell, who is deceased ; Walter, who is also a dairy rancher near Visalia ; Arthur, who is superintendent of the Neuman ranch, south of Tulare; and William, Jr., who lives south of Visalia, not far from his father. Mr. and Mrs. Swall also have eleven grandchildren. Mr. Swall has been described as a prince of good fellows, always TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 851 ready to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate than himself. The responsibilities of citizenship appeal to him forcefully and definitely. While his character is commanding he is eminently fair in all busi- ness transactions and is admired for his kindness, sympathy and good judgment. His loyalty to his family, to his friends and to his convic- tions has never been questioned. JOHN A. WILSON One of the leading cattle men of his district, John A. Wilson, who lives at No. 720 North Irwin street, Hauford, was born in 1862, in the part of Tulare county which is now Kings county, twelve miles north- east of the site of Hanford, a son of 0..L. and Rose J. Wilson. The elder Wilson came to California in 1848 and was a pioneer of pioneers. He mined in Placer county and on the Feather and Ameri- can rivers and after 1850 settled in the vicinity of Gilroy, where he farmed extensively until 1857. In that year he married and came to this part of the state. It was in the district schools of the days of his youth that John A. Wilson was educated. He began at seventeen, with some financial aid from his father, to fight the battle of life for himself. His career since then has been one of U])s and downs, but he has never gone down hopelessly and he is undeniably up at this time so well established that there is little ]irobability that he will suffer further disaster. In 1887 Mr. Wilson married Miss Mary Alcorn, of California, and their daughter is the wife of Marion Hefton, of Hanford. The Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows includes Mr. Wilson as one of the most valued members of its Hanford organizations, and he is popular not only with the brethren of the order but with the citizens of Hanford and Kings county generally. t^riendlv and oiitimistic, he lias a pleasant word for all whom he meets and a ready hand for the assist- ance of the general interests of the town. JAMES HOUSTON Noteworthy among tiie pioneer settlers of Tulare county was the late James Houston, for over forty years a respected and valued citi- zen of Visalia. The descendant of a long line of Southern ancestry, he was also a native of the Southland, having been born in Tennessee. During young manhood he located near Pocahontas, RaudolpJi county. Ark., this being at a time of an uprising of the Indians, and he val- 852 TULARE AXD KlXCiS COUXTIES iantly took a baud in (jiiietiiig these (li.sturl)ances aud otliei- tr()ul)les that arose incident to border life. During the Sabine disturbances of 1837 he enlisted in the United States army and as a lieutenant of the mounted gun militia of Arkansas rendei'ed a service that was a])pre- ciated, as was evidenced in the fact that at the time of his discharge he received the brevet of major. Mr. Houston was a second cousin to the famous Sam Houston of Texas, and no doubt inherited his intrepid spirit from the same source as did his celebrated relative. The marriage of James Houston united him with Frances Sebourn Black, a native of Virginia and the descandant of a prominent South- ern familj", being related to the Sebourns of South Carolina and to General Cobb, the latter a conspicuous figure in the Revolution. In 1859 James Houston brought his family to California across the plains by means of ox-teams. For a short time he mined at Hang- town, now Placerville, but in the spring of 1860 he came to Tulare county and made settlement in Visalia. Purchasing land near town he made his home thereon until 1902, when his earth life came to a close, at the venerable age of ninety-three years. His wife survived him about three years, passing away in 1905 at the age of eighty- foui- years. Of the eleven children born to this worthy couple seven are living, as follows: Mrs. E. B. Townseud, of Visalia; Mrs. J. W. Oakes, also of Visalia ; Miss Thalia Houston; Mrs. R. A. Robertson, of Kinoinan, Ariz.; Mrs. Ed Graham, of Berkeley; Mrs. John Went- worth, of Globe, Ariz.; and Andrew, an extensive cattle rancher near Phoenix, Ariz. The four children deceased are: Maria, who was the wife of A. H. Glascock, a well known citizen of Tulare county; Sanmel T. • Mrs. Frances S. Chilson, and William, who was a well known attornev of Visalia. JOSEPH LEY In Seneca county, Ohio, January 27, 1852, was born Joseph Ijey, son of Andrew and Mary (Steinmetz) Ley, natives of Alsace Loraine, Germany. AVlien he was nine years old his family removed to Nolile county, Ind. There he grew up on his father's farm and he was employed as a farmer until he was twenty-four years old. In 187(5 he went to Iowa, farmed near Sioux City for five years, going from there to Thomas county. Neb., where for six years he followed farm- ing. He came to Tulare cormty in 1891 with little worldly goods besides an ax and a cross-cut saw. with which he was ready to make his living unless some better means should be at hand. He pros- pered by hard work and was enabled, eventually, to buy seventy-five acres of land at $3 an acre in Squaw Valley. Fresno county, and in TUJ.AKE AND KINGS COUNTIES 853 1905 he luiught oue Imiulred acres more. His holdiugs consist oi' one hundred and seventy-five acres, located in Sqnaw Valley, which was so named hecause in an earlier day Indians often left their sqnaws there to await their return from hunting expeditions. He has ninety acres under cultivation and some of it has produced four tons of hay per acre, and in 1911 he raised twenty sacks of barley to the acre. The remainder of his tract is in pasture. He keeps horses for his own use and usually has on his farm about twenty head of cattle. All the improvements he installed on the place. Mr. Ley married, in Indiana, Miss Eftie Smith, of English liirth, whose parents had settled in Pennsylvania and moved thence to the Hoosier state. They have six children: John E., Martin M., Oliver, Mary, Rose Ann and Susan A. John E. married May Applegate and has a daughter and a son. Mary is the wife of Erauk ^^olf ; they have two sons and four daughters and their home is in Calaveras county. The others make their home with their ])arents. Politically Mr. Ley is independent of party affiliations. He has no great liking for i)ractical jiolitics, and one of the most vivid i-ecol- leetions of his boyhood days is of having gone to the ]iolls on election day to see and hear Northern and Southern symjiathizers wrangle over questions on which they were at odds. He and his family are members of the Catholic cluirch. JAMES WALLACE OAKES The Canadian family of Oakes, originally from France, had its first American representatives in New Brunswick. John W. Oakes died there at the advanced age of one hundred years. His sou, Ham- mond Oakes, was for many years a lumberman on the St. John's river, then located near Port Ryerse, where he farmed and raised stock, j)ros]iering as a stock-raiser near Port Ryerse. He became the ownei- of three farms, and died aged eighty-five years. He married Miss Isabelle Hannnon, who was descended from old New England families, and located as a farmer and stockman near New London. She died aged sixty-eight years. Of their eleven children, only five of whom are living, James Wallace Oakes, fifth in order of nativity, was the only one who came to California. He was born in Canada West, in 1836, and reai-ed on his father's farm. He was not only well edu- cated in a literary way, but was given practical training which was beneficial to him as long as he lived. He came to the United States in 1855 and stopped near Sabula, Jackson county, Iowa, until the fol- lowing spring, when he bought one hundred and eiglity acres of ))raii-io ami tiinbci- land in Harrison county. Mo., which he pi-occcdcd 854 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES to lireak and improve, oue of bis first purchases for his farm havinu- been a yoke of oxen. In the spring of 1857 he was employed by Upton Hayes as driver of a freighting team between Fort Leaven- wortli and Camp Floyd. Reliuquisliing tliat employment, be went to Salt Lake, Utah, and from there be and fifteen others set out for California by way of Car.son, Nevada, but at Genoa they sold tbeii- ox-teams, and came the rest of the way on mule back. lie uiined at Placerville, in Nevada county, and at Marysville until 1868, then came to Tulare county and rented a ranch of B. G. Parker, on Elbow Creek, where be liegan farming on a scale large for that time. He con- ducted three farms, meanwhile improving bis own ranch, o]ierating altogether about seven hundred acres. He also operated a ranch owned by his wife. Mill Creek and Packwood Creek and a ditch which he and others constructed all traverse this property, about one hun- dred and thirty acres of which was devoted by "him to alfalfa, the bal- ance having been given over to dairying. At one time he owned eighty-five milch cows. Toward the end he leased this ranch foi- dairy purposes, furnishing the stock. He bad also a stock ranch of twenty-two hundred acres, about thirty-five miles east of Visalia, on which he raised cattle and horses. Fraternally Mr. Oakes affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Politically he was a Democrat, never shirking the respon- sibilities of citizenship, but never consenting to become a candidate for office. However, he was for two years a deputy sheriff under Shei'it¥ Balaam and later for three years a deputy United States marshal under Marshal Franks. The duties of the last-mentioned jiosition included the settlement of the Mussel Slough troubles of the Southern Pacific Raihoad Comjiany and settlers on its land in this vicinity and demanded great tact and diplomacy, for the people were naturally suspicious of anyone attemiiting an adjustment of the dispute. F)efore undertaking the work, Mr. Oakes gained the consent of the railroad company to exercise his own discretion, and he soon won the con- fidence of the land claimants and brought about amicalile settlement of all questions in controversy and returned to private life with the commendation of all with whom be bad business dealings. The lady wlio became the wife of Mr. Oakes was Mrs. Margaret I. (Houston) Allen, a native of Arkansas, whose first husl)and. W. B. Allen, came to California in 1857 and settled in Mariposa county, but later became a stock-raiser in Tulare county, where he passed away July 26, 1867. Her son, William Byron Allen, is engaged in farming on a ranch of two hundred and twenty acres, two miles east of Yisalia, and owned by himself and bis mother. Mr. Oakes died De- cember 4, 1909. TULARE AND KINGS Cn)UNTIES SSf) M. L. CRAMER 'I'liis active and ])i-<),i>ressive citizen of Sj)rin,i>ville, (*al., was born in 1S()4 near Cottas^e ])ostoffice, Tnlare connty. one of the early set- tlements in that jiart of tlie state. In ISd.) his ])arents moved to Mountain View, on the north fork of tlie Tnle, and continued to reside there until 1887. When lie was a small hoy there was no school near his home, hut one was available to him there when he was nine years old and he attended it in 187l' and in 187o. His life has been a Inisy and useful one and he has had to do with many interests of imnor- lance. As a machinist lie has lieen emj)loyed in responsible places here and there. Since locating in Springville he has worked at Ins trade as occasion has otTered, giving' attention, meanwhile, to other business matters also. His activities in connection with the Lindsay Planing mill are matters of public knowledge. Fraternally he affiliates with the Porterville lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, hlis ex- perience in this jiart of the state dates back to the days when deer were plenty in the woods and wild game was to lie found everywhere. He has seen the country settled and improved and villages spring up on every hand and quickly develop into cities of more or less impor- tance. In all this growth, he has taken the interest of a public- spirited man. As a member of the local school board he has done not a little to advance the efficiency of the i)ublic schools. In 1887 Mr. Cramer married Miss Mae Baker, a native of Kan- sas, who has borne him six children: Morris, Bessie, Frank, ^"i()let, Eleanor and John. Mr. Cramer's father, J. K. Cramer, a native of Pennsylvania, came to California in 1851, crossing the plains in the slow and dangerous wa\ then in vogue. Taking up land which eventually proved to be railroad property, he suffered disap])ointment and loss in lieing compelled to forfeit it. His wife, Eleanor Ott, a native of Ohio, eanje overland with her parents in 1850, and they were manied at Petaluma, Cal., in 1857. HON. ALLEN J. AinVELL The name abo\e will be recalled as that of one who as lawyer, journalist, legislator and man of affairs was long prominent in Tulare county. The late Allen J. Atwell was born at Pharsalia, Chenango county. N. Y.. April 16, 1836, and died at Visalia November 21, i8!)l. His parents were Daniel L. and Mehetabel (June) Atwell, both natives of the Em])ire State. When he was ten years old his family removed to Wisconsin, anaration in the ])ublic schools he became a student at the Lawrence I'niversity at .\ppleton. Wis., 856 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES gradnatiiin witli lirst honors from the first class of that university. Because of alphal)eti('al precedence his name lieaded the membership list of the class. The day after graduation, Mr. Atwell went to Nebraska, wliere he read law a year under competent direction. In the early 'ods he crossed the ])lains to California, and after stopping for a time in San Diego he came to Visalia, where he was soon afterward admitted to the bar and where in due course of events he gained a place in history as the orator who delivered the first Fourth of July oration at that county seat. He succeeded as a general practitioner of law, was made district attorney of the coranty and was elected to represent Tulare county in the legislature of California. He won much success as prosecuting attorney, several important cases having fallen to his management during his term of service, and as an assemblyman the records show that he not only achieved distinction on the floor of the house, but did important and patriotic work as a member of com- mittees. He was for a time owner of the Visalia Times, which under his control was a local newspaper of much influence. During another l^eriod he owned and operated a lumber mill near Mineral King, and among his possessions at one time was Atwell's Island, in Tulare lake, where he raised cattle and hogs. For some years he was asso- ciated in the ])ractice of law with N. O. Bradley of Visalia. In his long and useful career he was identified from time to time with various local organizations, and as a citizen he was notalily ])ublic- spirited. In 1861 Mr. Atwell married Miss Mary M. Van Epps, a native of Illinois, who survives him, and they were the parents of nine children : Mary, wife of F. M. Creighton ; Arthur J. ; Nellie, wife of B. J. Ball, of Visalia ; Irving, who is dead ; Clarence C. ; Allen L. ; Paul ; Ethel, who is the wife of Hugh McPhail ; and Lizetta, who is Mrs. E. Martin. HENRY CHRISTOPHER ROES. A native of Hanover, Germany, Henry Christopher Roes, who now lives three and a half miles southeast of Dinuba in Tulare. county, Cal.. was born November 10, 1835. He received the usual common school education of the ]ilace and time and when he was in his four- teenth year came over seas to New York. There he attended night school and was for six years a clerk in a grocery store. Then he came to California by way of the Isthmus of Paiiama, sailing to Aspinwall, crossing the Isthnms on foot and transporting his baggage on a mule, and from Panama came to 'Frisco on a ship that had come TULAKE AND KTNdS COUNTIES 857 around the Horn. The voyage from Panama to San Francisco con- sumed eight days and was not marked by any accident. After a short stay in 'Frisco Mr. Roes went to Stockton, where during the ensuing eighteen months lie was proprietor of a genei'al store. Then for three years he was mining in Calaveras countx', where he and a man named Hiues staked out a claim and were measurably successful, taking out some days as miu-h as $50 worth of oi'e, but not lieing experienced miners they lost in one way or another about as nmch as they made. Returning to Stockton, Mr. Roes operated a grocery six months, then went to La Grange, where he mined until 1868. Early in that year he went to Europe, and returning he made a tour of the Southern states and in November was in South California when General Grant was elected president the tirst time. About two years later he started for San Francisco by way of Panama. He arrived in San Francisco in February, 1870, and soon went to Stanislaus county, where he was for three years a merchant. His next place of residence was Merced, which was then coming into prominence by reason of the building of the railroad. There he dealt in lumber. It was in Merced that he married Miss Louisa Snedeker, of French descent and a native of New Orleans, in 1874. She bore him two children, Edna L. and Edna Louisa. The latter has passed away. Edna L. married W. E. Rushing, a native of Texas. Mrs. Roes died in 1887. Mr. Roes sold his lumber yard two years before he was married and started in the sheep business in the Smith mountain district. At one time he was the owner of twelve thousand head of Spanish Merinos, had other important interests and was in receipt of a salary of $125 a month and exyjenses as manager. The coimtry all about him was in a state of nature. Standing on the mountain with a spy glass, he could see sheep, cattle, horses and antelope for many miles in every direction. Many herds of antelope contained as many as fifty or sixty animals and he killed many antelojie for meat. Deer and bear were numerous in the mountains. He had but few neighbors and one of them, in his early days there, was Mr. Edmonson. He was in the shee]> business eighteen years and made many thousand dolhii's. He left it to engage in wheat growing and eventually liomesteaded and improved land. The Inisiness had not been without its disadvan- tages. Many of his shoe]! had been killed by bear and his loss by accident and disease was sometimes heavy. He was twenty-two miles distant from Yisalia. his nearest market town, whicii lie had fre(|uent]y to visit foi- many purposes, on one memorable occasion running his horse nearly the whole distance. The journey to and fro consumed a day or more lime. There being no roads a part of the way was necessarily diOicult. About six years ago he bought twenty acres which he has devoted to vines and alfalfa and he has charge 858 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES of twenty acres, the property of another man. He has been partic- ularly successful with the Thompson seedless grapes. When he was twenty-three years old Mr. Roes became a member of the Masonic order and he has been identified with the Blue Lodge at Merced since 1899. In his politics he is Republican. He is a com- municant of the German Lutheran church. JASPER N. BERGEN April 19, 1862, Jaspei- N. Bergen was l)oru in Minnesota. lie is now a prosperous fniit growei', two miles and a half southeast of Lindsay, Tuhire county, Cal. His parents, natives of Indiana, have passed away. His sister was the first of the family to come to Cali- fornia. When he was twenty-six years old, in 1888, Mr. Bergen came here to visit her, and during a seven months' stay made trips of observation to different parts of the state. He went liack to his old home and remained there seven years, then came again to Cali- fornia and during the succeeding seven years was farming five miles north of Woodville. It was not until 1902 that he occupied his pres- ent ranch of twenty acres. Small farms are rapidly liecoming a fea- ture of Tulare county; many families are not only making a good living, but are each year 1 tanking money fi'om returns of twenty-acre orchard, vineyard or alfalfa field. Such farmers are always located close to town and they have daily mails and telephone service that rob rural life of its isolation and make social conditions agreeable. The home built up by Mr. Bergen is one of the pleasantest in its vicinity. For the vacant land he paid $(55 an acre, and ])lanting seven acres of figs, he produced a good crop, packed it himself and sold it in the local market at fifteen cents a pound. Four years later he planted five acres of orange trees and two years ago he planted five acres more. His place is almost entirely devoted to figs ami oranges. In 1901 Mr. Bergen married Miss Sarah Etta Dunham, a nati\e of Indiana and a daughter of parents born in that state. Socially he affiliates with the Lindsay organization of the order of Fraternal Aid, of which he was a charter member. Wliile he is not an active politician, he takes an intelligent interest in all economic questions and is heljiful to the ujilift of the comnuinity in a public-spirited way. As a fruit grower he is iirogressive and resourceful and he is fast coming to the front as one of the leaders in that industry in his part of the county. With figs he has lieen remarkably successful, and in 1911 he packed about forty-five hundred pounds gathered from four hundred and eight trees. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 859 WILLIAM SWAN A son of Frederick ami Sarah (Butler) Swan, William Swan was born in Kent, England, November 7, 1849, and was two years and a half old when he was bronght to the United States by his mother, his father having preceded him in 1850. The family lived in Indiana until 1858, then settled in Decatur county, Iowa, where Frederick Swan bought one hundred and sixty acres of government land at $1.25 an acre, which he improved and on which he lived out his days, dying in 1893, aged eighty-four years. Mrs. Swan died in 1900. In Iowa William Swan learned farming and worked at it until 1875, when he came to Tulare count.v. He went up into the mountains in the neighborhood of Sequoia lake and worked in the timbers and later tended sheep for a while in Kings River at Reedley. Then he came to the valley. Those were pioneer days in a new, wild country, and he had often to cope with bears foi-aging for food and saw at different times as many as a thousand antelope. His tirst holding in the valley was two hundred and forty acres of railroad land. Later he bought six hundred and forty acres of other land and acquired a half interest in oak timber land in the mountains. He sold forty acres of land in small tracts, by judicious subdivision. He has now ten acres of fruit bearing land. Around his house are a number of large trees and he owns the biggest orange tree in Tulare county. The woman who became Mr. Swan's wife was Mary Smith, a native of Kansas, who had taken uji her residence in California. Their children who are living are : Bertha J. ; Wesley AV. ; Gertrude ; and Wilma E., at home. Bertha J. married J. W. Smith, a native son of California. The Swan family is a family of Democrats and Mr. Swan has served his fellow townsmen as school trustee, in which office his son-in-law, J. W. Smith, is serving at this time. Mr. Swan and Mr. Smith are enterprising and public spirited, ready at all times to do their utmost foi- the general good. FRANK REMBRANDT KELLENBERG Prominent in real estate circles in A'isalia and the San J<)n(|uiii valley in general, Mr. Kellenbei'g's enter|)rise and ability Jiave won for him an envial)le })lace among his fellows, yet his high i)rincii)les and keen sense of justice have actuated throughout his successful career none but the fairest dealings. Mr. Kellenberg was born June 11, 1854, in Alton, Madison county, 111., and was tlie second youngest in a family of two sons and live daughters. His father, Francis Jerome Kellenberg, a native of (ieorgetown. D. C., was an artist of 860 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES exceptional ability, his early predileetiun for drawing having been followed liy thorough training therein. In his home town he estab- lished a studio where he devoted his time to his beloved art, both landscapes and ]iortraits receiving his attention, and after his re- moval to Alton. III. where he opened a studio, he continued to main- tain his first work shop. In I860, after the death of his wife, he took his family to Visalia, Cal, where, until his death in 1876. he continued to work at his profession, taking up artistic sign painting also during his latter years. Among his best works are his copies of the Duke of Athens, Venus Arising from the Sea, the Court of Death, upon which he worked almost twelve years, a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and an original study. The Dance of the Four Seasons. He painted, also, many of the scenic charms of the beau- tiful Yosemite valley. His delight in life was to work out through the medium of his brush the dreams created by his soul, and his nature, kindly and compassionate toward all living creatures, was unsullied by selfish greed of gain. Frank Rembrandt Kellenberg received his education in the schools of Visalia, whereupon he entered the employ of Richard E. Hyde, a jiioneer merchant of that city, also for thirty years ]>resident of the Bank of Visalia. In his first position Mr. Kellenberg served eighteen months, wheu he became a clerk in the establishment of Douglas & Comi>any, who later sold to Stevens & Company, with whom Mr. Kellenberg remained many years. Eleven years and six months from the date of his entrance as an employee of the store, he purchased a one-fourth interest in same, but in 1881 he dis- jiosed of his share in the establishment and started a retail shoe Inisiness, which for seven years he profitably conducted. In 1906 he sold his store and entered the real estate field which, offering a more untrammeled and largely open air life, had long appealed to him. In 1885 Mr. Kellenberg was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Rebecca Kelsey, a daughter of Hiram Kelsey, who is mentioned else- where in this volume. Some of the most important sales of which Mr. Kellenberg is the author, are the following: The Bequette estate, consisting of eight hundred acres; the Benjamin Hicks tract north of Visalia, eight hundred acres ; a tract of six hundred and forty acres in Kings county, and the twenty-four hundred acre Brandon ranch in Fresno county. Me owned and sold also large ranch interests as follows: Three hundred and twenty acres near Orosi; six hundred and ninety- one acres near Orosi, in the Stokes mountains ; one hundred and sixty acres near Cross creek; eighty acres near Farmersville; one hun- dred and sixty acres on the Tule river; fifty aci-es three miles from Visalia, and numerous smaller places. He is at present interested TULARE Ax\D KINGS COUNTIES 861 iu a section of land in tlio Lost Hills, Kern connty. wIumi' oil has been fonnd and where drilliniis are now taking i)laee. Mr. and Mrs. Kellenherti have been lilessed with a son and a daughter, Frank Unido and Louise. In retrospection, Mr. KelJen- berg frequently mentions liis early days in the west, beginning with the never-to-be-forgotten stage coach trip across the plains, from (iilroy to Visalia, tl:en inhabited only by wild horses and antelope, which took flight at the sound or sight of man. He has been one of Visalia 's most dependable citizens, always prompt to lend his aid whenever possible toward the develo]nnent of the eonnnunity. IJIRAM KELSEY One of Visalia 's substantial citizens was Hiram Kelsey, who passed away August 8, 1907. He was born in Logan county, Ohio, December 10, 1829, his ancestors having been pioneers of Kentucky and also among the first settlers of Ohio. In 1799 his grandfather, John Kelsey, moved from tlie former state to Warren connty, forty miles north of Cincinnati, when his son Abner, father of Hiram, was l)ut six months old. In this section Abner Kelsey spent his youth, and ere he reached his majority wedded Miss Nancy Purely, a native of Genesee county, N. Y., whose mother, Miss Brown before her marriage, was a native of Scotland. Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kelsey, nine of whom grew to nuxturity; but two, however, are now living. Both husband and wife lived to a good old age, ninety-one and eighty, respectively. In 1852 Hiram Kelsey crossed the jilains to California and i)ros- pected for a time in Placer county, later moving to the San Jose valley, where he conducted a farm. In 1854 he returned to Placer county and engaged iu the butcher Imsiness, securing his beef from the well-known Todd brothers, cattle dealers of Nai»a valley. In addition to his profitable trade, Mr. Kelsey's income from his mine ventures was not inconsiderable. After three years in this loca- tion he returned east, where he married Miss Jemima Hill, and with his bride located on an Iowa farm, where they resided seven years, and where three of theii- children were born: Isadora May (now Mrs. George A. Butz), Harlan W. and Mimiie R. (wife of Frank R. Kellenberg of Visalia). As a jiroof of his popularity and executive ability, Mr. Kelsey was elected three times to serve as supervisor while i-esiding in Marion county, Iowa. Later he disposed of his farm and took his family to Michigan, where they resided two years, moving, in 188(), to Missouri. Their youngest son, John \\'., was horn in California, and in 187.'! the family came to N'isalia, where 8(52 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES Mr. Kelsey engaged iu business and where his conscientious prin- ciples and wide sympathies, soon recognized by his fellow citizens, were able to find adequate expression during his service of two years as health officer. Later he established a butcher shop iu Tulare, and in 1887 retired from active life, spending his last days in Visalia. For many years Mr. Kelsey was the oldest member of the Knights of Pythias, and upon liis death was mourned by a large number of friends who appreciated his genial, kindly uature and his keen sense of justice. HENRY C. SMITH The hardy Norwegian, wherever the fortunes of life may cast him, be he safely landed or shipwi-ecked, is quite likely to make the best of the situation in which he is placed and more certain tlian men of some other nationalities which might be mentioned to win all the success that is enwrai)ped in the possibilities of the unknown future. Kings county has had some i)ioneers and numerous citizens of this nationality. One of the best known of them is Henry C. Smith of Guernsey, son of John H. Smith, who was born iu Norway in November, 1813, eventually coming to Tulare county, and died there May, 1907. Henry C. Smith was Ijorn at Sonora, Tuolumne county, Cal., Feb- ruary 12, 1866, and lived with his father wherever the latter 's agri- cultural enterprises caused him to establish a home until the old Norwegian farmer jiassed away. As a boy he attended Lakeside dis- trict school until he was seventeen years old. Afterwards, in accord- ance with tlie custom which lias obtained quite generally with farmers' sons, he gave his services to his father until he was twenty-one years old. After that, as has been stated, the two were associated in bu.siness during the remainder of the life of the elder Smith. Since his father jiassed away the son has given liis attention to general farming and stock-raising, making a specialty of the lu'eeding of hogs. He owns eight hundred acres of good land and a one-half interest in an additional two hundred and eighty acres. As a farmer he has been very successful and takes rank with the best agriculturists in his part of the county. In 1909 Mr. Smith built the Kings County Cheese factory, of which he is the sole owner, and its location is on the southeast corner of the northwest quarter of section twenty-five, township twenty, range twentv-one. On his land are a hundred and sevenfv-five cows TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 863 wliose milk is utilized in the factory. His clieese-maker is an expert in liis line and they niannfacture three brands of cheese, viz. : Young Anierioan. Flat and Monterey, all being full-eream and commanding the highest mai'ket prices because of their delicious taste and ex- cellent <|uality. Constantly looking for iuiijrovements, Mr. Smith, in 1911 and litTJ, put down two artesian wells so that his lands are now among the best irrigated tracts in the county. The wells have a depth of twenty-three hundred and eighty and two thousand feet respectively, and flow copiously, and in connection with the Lake- side ditch furnish an abundance of water for iri'igation purposes. In 1891) Henry C. Smith married Miss Marie Heinrich, a native of Kansas, who has borne him six children: Albert, Ethel, Clara, ^"ernon, Marie and Queenie. Mr. Smith takes a deep and abiding- interest in everything that pertains to the advancement of his county and state and is ready at all times with liberal encouragement of measures directed to the benefit of the iieo])le at large. VAIL BROTHERS Painting and paper hanging is now a well recognized trade, and those who succeed in it are men who like the Vail Brothers of Han- ford, Kings county, Cal., have given years to its acquisition and [tractice. J. W. and E. M. Vail were born at Antioch, Contra (Josta county, Cal., sons of F. M. Vail, a painter, who had himself served an api>renticeship to a trade which he had jierfected by long years of experience. AVhen the sous were mere boys their parents took them to Lemoore, Kings county, where their father taught them their trade and they began their career as contractors of painting and paper hanging. It was in 1911 that they built their present store and shops on North Douty street, Hanford, materially extending their Imsiness after having devoted ten years of work and study to it. Besides handling materials for their own contracts, they sell house lining, wall ])apcr, paint, oils and glass and merchandise of all kinds which can be utilized in interior or outside decoration of buildings. There are not in Hanford, in the younger business circles, t^wo more jiopular or well esteemed men than J. W. and E. M. Vail. They take a public spirited interest in all the affairs of the town and aflfiliate with several of its fraternal organizations, notably with the Native Sons of the (! olden West, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Woodmen of the World. They are members of the Painters' union, of which J. W. has served as trustee and P]. M. is the recording secretary. In .July, 1897, J. W. Vail married Miss Mary Bollninn, a native of Atlanta, (}a., then living in Kings county, and they have daughters named Mary and Agnes. E. M. Vail married Miss Minnie Cox in 864 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 1901. mill they have had two sons and a daughter. The second son died when two years of age. Tlic two living are named respectively Frank and JNIinnie May. To F. M. ^'ail, the father of J. W. and E. M. Vail, belongs the distinction of l)eing the first man married in Kings county. His sec- ond imion at an age of forty-three with his present wife, then Mrs. Hattie Stanton, a native of California, on the second day of June, 1893, is the first marriage recorded in said county. ROBERT K. OGDEN A native of the Prairie State, now one of the successful men of Tulare county, the career of Robert K. Ogden has been one of strug- gles and success. He was born at Victoria, Knox county. 111.. A]iril 2, 1864, a son of Mathew B. and Catherine (Fisher) Ogden, the one a native of Pennsylvania, the other of Illinois. The father came to California and, locating in Riverside, was one of the pioneer orange growers in the southern part of the state. He met with much success and became widely known in fruit circles as well as in the leading markets of California and the East. He so far won the confidence of his fellow citizens that they called bim to the office of justice of the peace and elected him a memljer of the 1)oard of supervisors of Riverside county. In young manhood Robert K. Ogden engaged in freighting be- tween Leavenworth, Kans., and Santa Fe, N. Mex. Buffalo and other wild game were jilentiful in that ]:iart of the country at that time, and he saw buffalo chased by hunters through the streets of Dodge City. Kans. After be bad freighted for a time be went to Indian Territory. He once drove a band of horses to New Orleans and later was engaged in the livery business for a year in Arkansas. We next find bim in Montgomery county, in his native state, working for wages. From Illinois he went to Kansas City, Mo., where he was employed to assist in the construction of a railroad from that city to Beatrice, Gage county. Neb. California has been his home since 1889 and be began his career here as a rancher on Lewis creek, between Exeter and Lindsay. In the period 1891-95 he was farming west of Visalia, grow- ing wheat extensively and breeding bogs in large numbers. In 1896 he bought his present farm of sixty acres on the Exeter road, four miles from Visalia, and has greatly improved the property, planting- much of it to alfalfa and maintaining a fine dairy. He is considered one of the up-to-date farmers of Tulare county and bis success is of so substantial a character that it seems to hold out a promise of note- wortbv future achievement. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 865 In December, 1891, Mr. Ogden married Miss Pearl Mathewson, wlio was l)oru iu 'J'ulare coimty, a daughter of oue of its pioneers. Tliey own a line home in Visalia. Mrs. Ogden has been a worthy heli)meet to her worthy husband and has given him her sym[)athy and encouragement in all the years since their marriage. They have children named Arthur M., Harry R., Beulali, Beryl, Ralph and Wanda. Mr. Ogden alhliates with the Eagles, the Modern Woodmen and the Woodmen of the World. ENOCH A. SMITH On his father's side the subject of this sketch is descended from old Virginia families and on his mother's from families long known near Frankfort, Scott county, Kentucky. His parents were Jeptha and Nancy Rachel (Waller) Smith and he was born in Kentucky, January 26, 1840. When he was live years old his parents took him to Northeast Missouri, where his father farmed and where his mother died in 1848. In 1850 his father came overland, with ox-teams, with the Hill outfit, to California and located in Yolo county. From there he later went to Nevada county, where he mined for a short time and later was otherwise employed until 1866, when he passed away. Enoch remained in Northeast Missouri until 1857. In the spring of that year the Vines and McManus party was organized for immigration to Cali- fornia by the overland route. Ox-teams were to be used; there were forty wagons manned by twenty men. The train left St. Joseph, May 5, 1857, and arrived at Santa Rosa September 1, following. Six hun- dred head of cattle, the property of a Mr. Moore, were driven. At Gravelly Ford, Indians stole twenty-one cattle, seven of which they killed, but the immigrants rescued the fourteen others. The twenty men kept up a long running fight with twenty-five Indians, killing nine- teen of them. Closely pursued, the surviving redskins sought safety by jumping into the Humboldt river, but the white men waited on the bank and shot at a head wliene\er it appeared above the water. After that there was no molestation of this party by Indians. Between Lassen Meadows and Honey Lake valley the immigrants came upon a deep spring which they sounded to a depth of one hundred and thirty- two feet without finding bottom. After living for a time near Windsor, Mr. Smith came to Tulare county and located at Visalia in 1859. He was acquainted with all the old settlers, the Evanses, the IMcCrurys, the ]\Iorrisseys and the Shannons and others, and was a witness to the hanging of James McCrury and knew the latter's friend, Mr. Allen. For a time he had charge of a band of sheep iu Fi-aziei' valley which numbered two 866 TULARE AXD KINGS COUNTIES thousaud liead. After Lis marriage lie bouglit governmeut laud iu Sand Creek district, holding three hundred and twenty acres. He pre- em|)ted one hundred and sixty acres in 1869 and has taken over land since until he and his son, George E. Smith, own one thousand acres, farming two hundred and fifty acres and devoting the remainder to pasturage. They keep an average of one hundred and fifty head of stock and seventy-five hogs. When Mr. Smith came to this part of the state, cattle and sheep were being fed everywhere, houses were scattered very sparsely over the country and travelers found at Smith Ferry the only dwelling they ]iasse.l in eighteen miles from that point to within four miles of Vi- salia. There were many bands of deer and antelope and he shot deer from time to time for food. Brown bear were numerous. He is the owner of many relics of by-gone days. Mr. Smith is a public-spirited citizen of Republican principles and has done his full share toward the development of the county. He married in 1872, in Northeast Mis- souri, Miss Ellen Ilarley, a native of Maryland, and their only son and child, George E., a native of California, is a member of their household. LEWIS S. SMITH In no lines of business is true ])rogressiveness more eagerly sought or more (juickly recognized than in those which touch upon our household economies. Esi)ecially is this true of the dairy busi- ness, whicli is ably represented at Hanford by Lewis Smith, proprietor of the up-to-date concern at No. 116 S. Irwin street, which is operated under the name of Smith Brothers. Mr. Smith was born in Lawrence county, Ohio, April 3, 1879, and was there reared and educated. He early inclined to a business occupation and was employed as a sales- man in a general stoi-e until 1901-. Then he came to California and. locating at Hanford, worked in that vicinity until 1907. Then, with his brother George R. as a partner, he engaged in the retail irillc business and Imilt and equipjied the fine ]^]aut at the location above mentioned. It is a building eighteen by forty feet in area measure- ments, having a concrete fioor and other equipment, thoroughly sanitary and of tlie latest models. In 1909 he bought his brother's interest in the business, but has since conducted it without change of name. His milk is purchased from R. R. Butler and Ray Campliell, both of whom keep ins]iected dairies. In 1912 he added a complete outfit for the manufacture of ice cream for the wholesale and retail trade. Decemlier 20. 1910, Mr. Smith married Miss Bessie Johnson, a TULARE AND KINGS (M)UNTIES 867 native of Missouri, born April 2, 1891, who hail l)ecouie e, encamptuont and canton at Hanford and with the organizations of Knights of Pythias. As a member of the Chamber of Commerce and in his other relations with his fellow citizens he has always shown a decree of public spirit that has commended him their good opinion. WILLIAM M. CLARK The birth of William M. Clark occurred in Scotland county. Mo., November 5, 1866. He was a son of James M. and Martha E. (Baker) Clark, the former a native of Kentucky, his mother a native of Mis- souri. James M. Clark served in the Civil war under General Morgan in the Confederate army and was one of ninety-nine of Morgan's men who tunneled out of the Federal prison for Confederate captives at Chicago. One of the guards hailed him after he had left the tunnel, and failing to get a response fired at him, but missed him. He had other narrow escapes which would be interesting could they be nar- rated here. He was in the service from 1862 until the end of the war, all the time in Lee's command and a part of that time under the great general's authority, took part in many battles and skirmishes, and from time to time did hazardous scouting. One of his recollections was of an involuntary horse trade on a bridge, another was of the instantaneous disajipearance of the nose of the man near him whose face had unfortunately come into the range of Federal firearms. After the war he lived in Missouri until 1892, when he died, aged forty-five. It was beside his father's deathbed that William M. Clark married Miss Mary Johnson, and they have had three children, Arthur, Mar^-in and Laurin. Mrs. Clark was born in the same county in Missouri as was Mr. Clark. Their oldest child is now a student in the grammar school. Mr. Clark lived with his father in Missouri until he was twenty- three years old. He learned farming, and contracting and l)ui!ding, and was employed at different limes at these occupations. When he came to California and settled in Tulare county, in 1889, he found him- self in the midst of a vast wheat country, the land ranging in market value from $5 to $15 an acre. Later he bought thirty acres at $25 an acre, which is now worth $200 an acre. He has fourteen acres of grapes and ten acres of peaches and will soon plant five acres to orange trees. His first crop of grapes yielded him three-quarters of a ton to the acre and his peaches in 1911 sold for $400. He is not 868 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES giviug muc'li attention to stock and keeps only such as is required on Ms ranch. Fraternally Mr. Clark affiliates with the Modern Woodmen, Mrs. Clark with the Royal Neighbors. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In his ])olitical conviction he is a Democrat. As a citizen he is public-spirited and helpful. JABEL M. DEAN As citizen and official, Jabel M. Dean, of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., has impressed his personality upon the ])rogress of that city. Born in Tennessee, June 29, 18(30, he settled in Hanford in 1880 and learned the carpenter's trade with W. H. Nyswonger. He worked as a carjienter until 1896, when he engaged in contracting and building with W. W. Cole as a partner. Among the residences built in Hanford by this firm may be mentioned those of T. J. Mcjunkin, A. G. Parks, L. C. Dunham, Charles McGee, J. Bowman, "William Trewhitt. Thomas Ebod, A. M. Fredericks, Frank Arnold, E. W. Pilkingtou, Mrs. Mary Bruner, and three for H. E. Wright. In Lemoore they erected the residences of Ed. Sellors and R. Deacon; they built an addition to tlie Methodist church at Hanford; and among the country homes of their fashioning are those of J. J. Gartner and John W. Jones, and those of Mrs. Hitchock and Mr. Haekett of Grangeville. They draw their own plans for buildings and give the most conscientious attention to every detail of construction. In 1906 Mr. Dean was elected city trustee of Hanford, and during his four years' service a number of important civic matters were un- dertaken, including the beginning of cement sidewalk construction in residence streets, the extension of the sewer system, the bu^-ing of chemical fire engines and of hose carts, and the extension of the electric tire alarm system. In this period a proposition was made to submit to the people the question of the abolition of saloons in the city, and Mr. Dean was the only member of the ))oard who voted for it. He introduced an ordinance demanding that the jjeople vote on the ques- tion of a municipal water system. In other ways he has proven his public s^iirit. He is a member of the Carpenter's Union. WILLIAM BRYAN CHARLES, M. D. In Salem, Washington county, Ind., William B. Charles. M. D., of Hanford, was born March 12, 1857, a son of Levin and America (Rodman) Charles. Nathan Chai'les, his grandfather, a Quaker, was TULARE AND KINGS (M)UNTIKS 869 liuin in ^larylaud aiul was takeu by his [tarents to North ("aroiina, where lie married. In 1818 he settled within the present limits of Washin.iiton county, fnd., as a farmer and saddler, and died there in 1868, aged ninety-one years. His son, Levin Charles, born in North Carolina, was four years old when his parents took him to Indiana, where he passed the remainder of his years, dying at the age of sixty- five after a useful career as a farmer. He was prominent in local affairs as a Wiiig and later as a Republican. He married America Rodman, who was born in Shelby county, Ky., daughter of Hugh Rod- man, a native Kentuckian, who settled in Washington county. Inch, about 1825. He had served in the war of 1812 and later became a successful farmer and he lived to be seventy-live years old. Hugh Rodman, Sr., his fatiier, born in P)ucks courity. Pa., settled iu Ken- tucky in 1786, going thence by jjoat down the Ohio river. He traced his ancestry to Scotland. America (Rodman) Charles died in Indiana in 1875, fifty-two years old, having home eleven children, of whom Doctor Charles was the sixth. After attending the schools at Salem, Ind., until he was nineteen years old. Doctor Charles came in 1876 to what is now Kings county, Cal., and foi' two years was employed at farm work and teaming. Then, returning to Indiana, he entered an academy at Salem to lire- pare himself for the university and was graduated in 1882. A ])art of the time while he was a student at the academy he taught school in the vicinity and gave some attention to an ac(iuisition of a knowl- edge of the drug business under the instruction of his brother, who was a physician as well as a druggist. He entered the medical dejiart- ment of the LTniversity of Kentucky at Louisville and was duly gradu- ated from that institution March 1, 1887. It was at Norcatnr, Kans., that he entered upon the practice of his profession. There he remained until 1894, and in March of that year he located at Hanford, building up a lucrative i)ractice and commending himself to his fellow citizens of all classes by his thorough knowledge of his profession and a winning per- sonality. At Norcatnr, Kans., Doctor Charles was married November 30, 1887. to Miss Carrie S. Wildfang, a native of Wisconsin, and two of the children born to them are living, Ethel and William Gordon. Though he was always very Imsy professionally. Doctor C^harles, as a loyal, iniblic-spi riled citizen, found time to devote himself to the uplift of the comnnmity. He was a stanch Republican and influential in ))oliti- cal affairs. He served as delegate to several county and state con- ventions and was a member of the Republican State Centi'al Com- mittee. He was appointed to the office of county physician in 18!)i) and served until 1906. when he resigned and, on account of his wife's ill health, I'eturned to Kansas and practiced at Olierlin foi- one year. November 30, 1907, he returned to Hanford and in 1!<09 was reap- pointed county i)hysician. In 1912 he was ni)])ointed i-ity health olificer. 870 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES and iciiiaiiit'd in active practice and official life until liis death, October 13, 1912. His interest in his profession was deep and sincere and he kei)t in touch with the progress which medical science is constantly making". Fraternally he affiliated with Hanford Lodge No. 279, F. & A. M., and the Woodmen of the World, Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Knights of Pvthias. WILLIAM P. RATLIFF W. P. Ratliff has been postmaster at Tulare since May 1, 1902, having received his original ap])ointmeut under President Roosevelt in the preceding April. He has been a local leader in the Republican party, has served on state and county central committees, has been city assessor and city treasurer of Tulare and president and secretary of the Board of Trade. Fraternally he affiliates with Olive Branch Lodge No. 269. F. & A. M., in which he was made a Mason and in which he is past master; with Tulare Chapter No. 71, R. A. M., in which he is jiast high priest; with the Ancient Order of United Work- men, and with the Woodmen of the AVorid. With the members of these orders he is no more jiopular than in the business and social circles of the city and county. In Oskaloosa, Iowa, Mr.. Ratlilf was born ()ctol)er 12, 1859, a son of John and Elizabeth (Madden) Ratliff. John Ratliff was a son of William Ratliff. whose father, a native of the Isle of Man, settled in Pennsylvania. William moved from Pennsylvania to Indiana and later inished on to Iowa. When his i)arents left Pennsylvania John was lint a small lioy. In his early manhood he settled on a farm in Iowa, but the stories of gold in California which came to him in the late '40s awoke within him a spirit of adventure. He crossed the plains in 1850 and jirosjiected and mined for eight years, then went back to Iowa by way of the Isthmus of Panama and New York. He made a brief sto)) in New York City and there married Elizabeth Madden, a native of Dublin, Ireland, whose brother Michael had shared the ups and downs of mining with him in California. At the beginning of 1860, when their son William P. was about three months old, John Ratliff, who had stoii])ed in Iowa to settle u]i some business prepara- tory to his intended return to California, was killed by being thrown from a horse. His widow brought their child to California before the close of that year and found a home in Plumas county, where she later married E. PI. Holthouse, to whom she bore four sons and a daughter, who live in Santa Clara county. The family moved to a farm near Lawrence Station, not far from San Jose, in 1870. Theie Mrs. Holt- house died as the result of an accidental fall in 1902, when she was in TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 871 her sixty-uintli year. IJer sou, William P. Ratliff, supplemented a common school education by a three years' course in Santa Clara Col- lege, then became a clerk in the employ of T. AV. Sprin.s>-. Tu 18S-J he came to Tulare and became a brakemau in the employ of the South- ern Pacific Railroad company. In a year he was made conductor of a train running between Tulare and Huron. In ISSS he identified himself with the business of P>raly & Blythe, real estate agents and representatives of the Wells-Fargo Express Comjiany. lie withdrew from tliat connection in ISili' to become cashier of the Tulare County Pauk and the Tulare Savings Bank. In August, IHiXi, he resigned to accejtt the assistant casliiersiiii) of the Bank of Tulare, which he held until February, 1901, when he removed to Kern county as superiutend- ent of two -oil companies ojjerating in the Kern River oil field. There he fell a victim to typhoid fever, which held him to his bed for five months. Meanwhile he was taken to San Francisco, where better at- tention and care were possible than he was receiving in Kern county. He came back to Tulare in November, 1901, and a few months later accepted the cashiershi]i of the Bank of Tulare, which he held until his appointment as jiostmaster. June 5, 1888, Mr. Ratliff married Alice Harter, a native of Stock- ton and a daughter of Isaac and Matilda (Parker) Harter, ]uoneers in California. Their wedding was celebrated in Tulare and there their son Clinton P. was born. H. P. BROWN This leading lawyer and man of affairs of Kings county, Cal., whose olfices ai-e in the P"'armers and Mechanics Bank building at Hanford, is a native son of Tulare county and was born two miles west of Grangeville July 17, 1873. Primarily educated in the pioneer district schools near there, he later attended ITauford high school, from which he giaduated in 18i)(). In 1899 he graduated fi-om the Hastings Law College and in May of that year was adniitted to iirac- tice in the Supreme Court of California. Immediately thereaftei- he opened an office in lianlord, and here he has made his business and ])ro- fessional headquarters ever since. As a lawyer he has given his atten- tion lai-gejy to s))ecial interests, but notwithstanding that fact he has achieved a notable success in general practice. He is deeply intci-ested in agriculture, horticultuic and stockraising, and in irriiinfion as a factoi- essential to success in those fields of endeavor undei- the jie- culiarities of local environment, lie is the owner of six hundred and forty acres of land, half of which is devoted to farming, forty acres to fruit growing and the icmaindcr to alfalfa, L;iaiii and stock grazing. 872 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIF.S He owus a one-tliiixl interest in the reolaniation conipauy whose ac^tivi- ties center on Empire ranch and is one of its directors. It irrigates a district extending twelve miles southwest from the river, a large part of the land having been reclaimed from the lake. He is a stock- holder and director also in the New Deal Ditch Company of Hanford (whose ditch extends from a jioint southeast of John Sigier's ranch), a director in the Lone Oak Canal Company (whose ditch runs south of the old Lost Chance ditch), is attorney for the Wilber reclamation district (which includes thirty thousand acres of land under reclauui- tion on the southeast border of Tulare lake), and attorney for the Fresno & Hanford Railroad Company. He was one of the organizers of and is a director in the New Kings County Chamber of Commerce and helped to organize the Kings County Dairyman's Association, of which he is a director, and organized the Lam])enhein Creamery of Hardwick, in the comjiany controlling which he is a director. There is no movement for the ])ublic good in which he is not interested directly or indirectly. Fraternally he affiliates with the Masonic lodge at Han- ford. with Scottish Rite Masons and with the Shrine of Islam at San Francisco and with the Eastern Star, besides which he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, the Im- proved Order of Red Men and the Native Sons of the Golden West. In 1902 he married Metta Robinson, a daughter of the late W. W. Robinson. M. J. PONTANA In all of our industries, from the railroad builder to the bank president, the foreign-born citizen has always displayed excellent qualities, this being especially true of some of the sons of Italy who have located here. Among these none has made a more striking record in California than M. J. Fontana, general su])erintendent of the California Fruit Canners' Association. He came to America when he was quite a young man, determined to make a home and fortune for himself in the New World. Having worked in the fruit business in New York, this interest was continued in California, whither he came in 1868, arriving in San Francisco with very limited means. Today, measure him as you will, he is one of the big men of the state, for he has made a success in every sense of the word. For a time he worked at anything that his hands found to do, 1)ut later he managed to form an alliance with fruit men which was the beginning of his upward progress. In 1870 he started in the fruit and produce busi- ness in San Francisco, and afterward engaged in the canning business in the same city, also starting branches at ?Iealdsburg and Hanford. TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 873 Finally in 1898 lie sold imt to the California Fruit Cauners' Associa- tion, an organization in whicli lie still holds an interest, being a direc- tor and a member of the executive board. His Hanford plant was the pioneer fruit canning and ]iacking establishment in Kings county and was built in 1895. Tliis i)lant has packed a yearly average of three hundred thousand cases of peaches and dried fruits for the past fifteen years, and also handles dried prunes, raisins and ai^ricots. Mr. Fontana has been a large developer in the fields of horticul- ture and viticulture in California for many years. He has large wine interests in the state, being president of the Italian-Swiss Wine Col- ony Association and dii'ector of the California Wine Association and is general superintendent of the California Canners Association, a flirector in the Italian-American Bank of San Francisco and is a direc- tor of the E. B. i^- A. L. Stone Co., a large contracting concern which did the construction work on the Western Pacific Railroad from San Francisco to Oroville, Cal. For two years he held the office of trus- tee of the city of San Francisco. In 1877 Mr. Fontana was married to Nellie Jones of San Leandro, Cal., and they have three sons and one daughter, all of whom are married and connected with the California Fruit Canners' Associa- tion. IVER KNUTSON A native of Norway, Iver Knutson received a good education in that far northern country and served an apprenticeship at the car- penter's trade. When about seventeen years old he came to the United States and made his way overland to California, where he was a miner in the early '50s. Eventually he went to Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, and from there to Gilroy, Santa Clara county, and in the latter place ])lied his 1i-ade of cai'])enter, and several buildings which he built or helped to l)uil(l arc still standing. Hearing of the rich lauds in the Mussel Slough section of Tulare county, he moved there in 1872 and took iip a claim, which he began to imjirove. In the history of this ]>art of the state it is recorded how he was killed in the famous Mussel Slough fight of 1880. He married, at Santa Rosa, Miss Cyn- thia Clawson, a native of Wisconsin, who was brought across the |ilains when a small child by her father, coming overland to Cali- fornia soon after 1850. She bore her husband seven children and survived him until 1894, when she i)assed away. Their children were: Charles, deceased; William (J.; Joseph F., deceased; James E. ; Mrs. William C. Clarkson, of Lemon Cove, Cal.; Henry E., who lives in Exeter; and Albert E., deceased. 874 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES On October 8, 1868, William 0. Knutson was horn at Old Gilroy, Cal. He divided bis time between tbe public scbool and work on his father's ranch, and his first venture on his own account was as a farmer in Kaweah swami^. For the past nine years he has been in the dairy business on the Exeter road near Farmersville, in the region known as the A^isalia district, and at this time he is renting sixty acres, on which he maintains a dair.y of twenty cows. In 1896 Mr. Knutson married Miss Nellie E. Gray, a native of Iowa, and they have two children, Esthei- N. and Thelma L. In a fraternal way he affiliates with the Modern AVoodmen, the Royal Neighbors and the Fraternal Brotherhood. Without being an active politician, he takes an intelligent interest in all questions of pulilic significance and is prompt and generous in response to all demands toward the advance of the communitv. N. B. BOWKER Prominent in tlie mercantile circles and well known throughout Central California, N. B. Bowker, of Corcoran, is recognized as one of the leading citizens of Kings county, Cal., where he has lived since 1908. He was born in Defiance, Ohio, in 188-4, and just missed being a Christmas present by making his advent in the home of his parents on December 26. As soon as he was old enough he was sent to the public school, and after he comi^leted the course of study laid down for its students he took a thorough commercial course in an efficient business college. He was employed in his native state as a clerk until 1901, when he came to California. After emiiloyment about six years as an electrician, he located in Corcoran and not long after- ward engaged in business for himself as proprietor of a men's fur- nishings goods store, and has won one of the consi)icuous commer- cial successes which has brought Corcoran to the attention of an extensive tributary territory. October 15, 1907, Mr. Bowker married Miss E. E. Doughtery, who was born in Iowa March 6, 1886, and they have two daughters, Mildred and Margaret. Mr. and Mrs. Bowker have won the friend- ship of a large circle of acquaintances and their geniality and sin- cere interest in all with whom they come in contact make them wel- come everywhere. Mr. Bowker has achieved ]iopularity in business circles by doing business on strict business principles, while always showing a disposition to give the other man a chance. C'ustomers once attracted to his store continue their patronage and bring their friends to take ad\autage of the bargains that he offers from time to time. With so satisfaeory a ]iast, so prosperous a itresent. his TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 875 future is full of promise, and the time is uot far distant when he will take his place among the foremost merchants in his part of the state. JESSE B. AdNEAV An identification with Tulare county's industrial affairs since 1883 has made Jesse B. Ag-new well known throughout that vicinity, and although his ]iresent business takes him from the neighborhood on many occasions he holds his residence in Visalia at the old Young homestead. No. 600 South East street, where the family of his esti- mable wife had lived for many years. Mr. Agnew is a successful seed grower, wdth offices at No. 110 Market street, San Francisco, and he is also manager of the Pacific Seed Growers' Company. His father came to the west in 1846, locating in Oregon, and then returned east for a short time. He made in all seven trips to California be- fore there was a railroad, and his experiences and knowledge on the traveling situation in those days is a most interesting narrative. A blacksmith by trade, he conducted a shop at the early mining camps and later removed to Santa Clara county, Cal., about lS7o, and it was at this time that he jmrchased the old Agnew homestead. Jesse B. Agnew was born at Eddyville, Iowa, Sejiteniber 15, I860, and when nine years old was brought to Santa Clara county, where he was reared until 1883, at which time he moved to Tulare county. He was in the railroad land office of the Southern Pacific Railroad for a time. He married Miss Ida Young, daughter of Newton and Mary (Price) Young, who were among the earliest pioneers of Visalia. The Price family were natives of Wales, who came to America with the well-known Evans family. TILLMAN B. PHARISS Among the well-known and ]irogressive cattlemen of his vicinity is numbered consi)icuously Tillman B. Phariss, whose well-equipjied ranch and fine range of cattle evidence his unusual ability in his chosen calling. His father was F. W. Phariss, who ma' projier financing, one of the greatest things for the 880 TULARE AXD KlX(iS COUNTIES advancement and prosperity of the farmers in Kings county. He was one of the organizers of the Guarantee Land & Investment Co., which com|)any ))iirchased eight thousand acres of land l)etween (\)r- coran and llanford, now l)eiug (h_^vehjped for colonization. Politically Mr. Bush is a Democrat. Though never an office seeker, he has been secretary of the County Central Committee and a delegate to the conventions and was one of the presidential electors on the Democratic ticket in 1908. Fraternally he affiliates with the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Foresters. Mr. Bush mar- I'ied in Kings county December 21, 1884, Miss Emma L. Byrd, wlio was boi^n in California, and they have four children : Ruby Pearl, wife of Tx. M. Wilson; Clarence E. ; Moses L\anan; and Grover L. DAVID F. CARTER It was in Platte county, Iowa, that David F. Carter was horn in May, 1852, a son of William F. and Frances M. (Hill) Carter. His father, a farmer, was a native of Kentucky, and his mother was liorn in Tennessee. They had eleven children: Sarah A., Marion F.. James L., Mary, Vicia J., William P., Joseph 0., John P., David F., Colum- bus G. and Amanda. Sarah became the wife of Joseph (). Lands- downe, has l)()rne him eight children, and they live in Visalia. Marion F. married Elsie Kent, of Visalia, and theii' two children are attend- ing high school in that city. James L. married Elizabeth Sti'awn and their home is at Visalia. Mary married Joseph Ray and has borne him a son named Oliver. Vicia J. is also married. William P., of Lindsay, married Sallie Sherman. Joseph 0. nuiriicd ^liss Vickery and lives at Three Rivers. John P. married Cenio Johnson and lives in North Dakota, where he is principal of a school. Colum- bus G. is dead. Amanda married Newton Kent. David F. married Elizabeth Reaves, and she bore him seven children: Frank, JjuIu, Albert, Joseph 0., Ora and Delia, and one that died in infancy. Frank married Elsie Smith, and they and their two children reside at Reed- ley, Fresno county. Albert has devoted himself to educational work and his wife, formerly Miss Grimsy, is teaching at Porterville. He has served as a member of the board of education and is now princi- pal of a night school and will graduate in law from the Hastings law school in 1913. He was for four years a student at the normal ■school at San Jose. Joseph 0. is married. Ora married William Janes, a newspaper man at Taft, Cal., and has three children. Delia married Byron Allen, a well-known stockman, and lives at Visalia. In 1870 Mr. Carter came to California from Iowa, crossing the plains with an emigrant train. For a time he lived at TTill's Ferry TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 881 on tlie San Joaquin river and was engaged in farming and in driving a ten-mule team in freighting. He has lived in Tulare county since 1872. After following stockraising for a time he went into the lime business, in which he was successful, furnishing this necessity for most of the public buildings in the county. He located in Lemon Cove in 187(i and in 1878 was instrumental in establishing a postofifice there, of which he was in charge as postmaster for fourteen years. He was for a time prominent in the sheej) liusiness, at one time own- ing twenty-one thousand head. One of his transactions in sheep, with which he made a large profit on thirty-seven hundred sheep wliich he liought at Tulare, brought liim to the attention of sheei) men tlirougliout the country. Finally he sold his sheep for $10,000 and iuvesled his money in cattle. He formerly ran his sheep in the mountains, but his cattle business centers at his ranch at Three Rivers. He was for a time the owner of a lemon oi'cliard at Lemon Cove. He has latterly given his altention to the laying of cement pipe and his operations in connection with Mountain \'iew ranch are well known to all his fellow citizens. Politically he is a Democrat. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. His interest in education has impelled him to accept the offices of school trustee, director ot schools and clerk of the board of education. JOHN H. HINE In the struggle for success in which John H. Mine was for many years putting forth his efforts no one was more helpful and proved a mightier force in assisting him to gain prosperity than his estimable wife and helpmeet, and they are now making their home in Rich- mond, enjoying the fruits of their hard labor. Mr. Hine was born in North Carolina, in 18()6, the son of John H. Hine, Sr., the latter of whom was a jtrogressive fruit grower iji California and is now making his home in Tulare county. AVhen John H., Jr., was very young he was taken by his parents to Missouri, where the family lived until 1885, and there the boy began his education in the public schools. His active career began as a helper on his father's ranch. and there he remained until he was twenty-two years of age, when he mari'ied and settled on land which is now included in his extensive farm of ninety acres. Aided by his wife, he embarked extensively in general farming, growing fruit in large (juantities and raising con- siderable stock for the market. As a citizen he has always been help- ful to all good interests of the community, and in his i)olitics he is inclined to be independent. Fraternally lie affiliates with the Wood- men of tlie AVorld and tlii' Woodcraft Order. 882 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES The marriage of Mr. Hine united him witli Mrs. Mary E. Hill, a native of Nebraska, and together they have since faced many hard- shijjs and reverses which they have bravely overcome with united forces, and liave seen much of the growth and development of the great agricultural interests of Tulare county, witnessing many of the changes which have marked its progress from a primitive condi- tion to its present excellent status. Before her marriage Mrs. Hine had conducted a small hotel in Dinuba, but she rented it for two years after marrying and then sold it at a good profit. She is an excellent example of the rare woman who unselfishly shares the bur- den of life's responsibilities with her husband, and they justly merit the well-earned rest they are now taking, for they are renting their ranch and making their home near Richmond, surrounded by many friends. WILLIAM H. MILLER, M. D. Dr. Miller was educated in the common schools near his birth- place in Illinois and at Aulmrn, Ind., and was graduated from the medical department of tlie University of Illinois with the M. D. de- gree in 1886. After a year's practice in Chicago he went to Dakota, where he remained two years, until he came to California. He opened an office in Hanford in 1889 and has since built up a very successful general practice. He served as health o.fficer of the city, and was surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railroad until he resigned because of the demands of his private practice. As a member of the California State Medical Society and through other affiliations he keeps in touch with the profession. Inclination has led Dr. Miller to take an interest in ranching and in dairying, and during the past seven years he has develojjed thirty-five acres, six miles south of Hanford, into one of the most attractive homesteads in this part of the county. He has three hundred and twenty acres also on Mill creek, east and south of Han- ford, between that city and Tulare, which is devoted to dairy ]iur- poses. It is irrigated by means of a twenty horsepower electric motor and two ten-inch wells which produce fifteen hundred gallons of water per minute. One hundred and sixty acres of the ])ro]ierty is imder alfalfa, and the rest is given over to grain. He has a dairy of forty-five Holstein cows. All in all, this is one of the liest proi^erties of its kind in the vicinity. Too busy otherwise to give personal attention to its management, he leases it on shares. His house in Hanford, which he erected in 1901 with a view to making it a suitable residence for this climate, is one of the model homes of TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 883 tliat eity. It is of l)riok. witli doultlo walls, separated by open spaces, aiul is surrounded l)y beautiful park-like grounds in wliieli lie has planted many trees. Fraternally Dr. Miller aftiliates with the Woodmen of the World, l)eing a member of the llanford lodge of that order. In a public- spirited way he has been a factor in the building up of the town, whose citizens recognize in liim one willing, so far as he is able, to con- tribute to the general good. ASBURY C. RANEY It was in Missouri that Asbury C. Raney was liorn January 12, ]W0. Reared and educated there, he made his home in that state until 1884. In that year, when he was twenty-four years old, he came to California and during the ensuing three years lived in Lake count \'. In October, 1887, he drove down to Tulare county in a ])rairie schooner, stopping at Grangeville. He entered government land on the plains near Huron, Fresno county, and after perfecting his title to it eventually sold it. For some time he was in the em- ploy of others on farms, besides which he did considerable teaming, and for nine years he worked on harvesters. In November, 1890, he bought thirty acres of land five miles and a half northwest of Hanford, of which twenty-two acres are in vines and about six acres in orchard, the Italance of the tract being liis home site. Later he ])urchased forty acres near Orosi, in the orange belt in Tulare county, and this he devotes to general crops. In 1885 Mr. Raney married Berintha Kern, a native of Missouri, and they have one son, Teddy Roosevelt Raney, born in xVpril, 1903, now a student in the i)ublic school near his home. Socially Mr. Raney affiliates with the Woodmen of the World. Politically he entertains progressive ideas and is devoted to the develo])ment of his district and county and to the best interests of the people of the country at large. WILLIAM RIVERS One of the enterprising and successful dairymen of Visalia is William Rivers, whose establishment is on Goshen avenue. Bereft of a father's care at a very early age, he found it necessary to earn his own way when he was (juite young, and it is largely to his credit 884 TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES that be has reached his present eomi'urtahle state, having acquired pro]3erty and becoming the proprietor of a well-paying business. Mr. Rivers was born in Joliet, III., August 7, 1872, son of William and Mary (Miller) Rivers, and was but fifteen years of age when brought to California by his motlier. He remained with his family on the small farm near Goshen, where they had settled, for about nine years, coming to his i)resent place in Yisalia January 1, 1911. Witli a ])artner, James Butler, he farms three thousand acres of land, lin\ iiig three Imndred and fifty acres planted to alfalfa, and they e.xpect to have a thousand acres devoted to that crop in the course of three years or less. Seveuty acres are in vineyard and three hundred in Egyptian corn. The land produces half a ton of dried raisin grapes to the acre, or a ton and a half of wine grapes to the acre. They have been successful in the raising of beef cattle, hogs and mules, and their stock, being exceptionally fine, commands ihe highest market price. Mr. Rivers was married May lli, 1;mj3, to Daisy Williams, a native of Kansas, whose family came to California in 1887, and she has borne him the following children: Lois, Irene, AVilliam, Jr., Ralph, Edith and Ray. He is identified with the Woodmeu of the World and with the Loyal Order of Moose. In his politics he is stanchly Republican, and the confidence which his townsmen repose in him is indicated by the fact that he has been a member of the County Central Committee for Tulare county and as such has ac- quitted himself with much ability. The niother of William Rivers, who is still living at Goshen, aged about sixty-five years, is one of those strong, courageous women who have done so much in aiding in the development of this territory. Her family consisted of ten children, viz.: Mrs. Frank Halstead. of Fresno county; Mrs. Arthur Mitchell, of Yisalia; Alice, wife of James Black, of Oaidand; Mollie; David; William, Jr.; Roy; John; James, and Ilarrv. JOHN EARLY SCOGGINS The Scoggins family of which John Early Scoggins is a member is of Scotch origin (the great-great-grandfather having been ban- ished from Scotland on account of religious j)ersecution, he being a Protestant in his faith), and many of its rejiresentatives in this coun- try inherit the sturdy traits of character of that excellent race. The father of John Llarly Scoggins was Dr. Franklin Scogeins and was a native of Tennessee, whence in 18,14 he set out for California, com- ing overland across the plains and enduring the untold hardships TULAKK AND KIN(iS COUNTIES 880 and vicissitudes of tliat tedious jouruey. He was the fatlier of nine children, as follows: Noah H., David T., Vesta Tennessee, Jolin Rai'ly. Alice May, Nowton Jasper, Nettie, Tjcna and one child that died in infancy. In Yolo county, Cal., shortly after his i)are.iits liad arrived there, occurred the birth of John Early Scogi;ins, on June iT), 1S54-, and he tliere f>rew to a boy of twelve years, attending the schools of the vicinity and receiving careful and attentive training from his excel- lent i)arents. Tie then was taken by his parents to Vacaville, Solano county, and attended the Methoilist Episcopal College, there taking a preparatory course, after which he entered the State University at Oakland. His desire to complete a course was frustrated by the sickness of his father, which compelled him, after a year at the uni- versity, to relimiuish his studies and athletic activities and return home to take charge of his father's large fruit farm near ^^acaville. Witli his accustomed thoroughness in everything he undertook he learned the fruit business in its every phase, and in 1892 moved to Tulare count\ to take charge of the Grant Oak Fruit Ranch of four hundred and sixty acres near Farmersville. As manager of this fruit ranch he sliipjied out the first carload of green fruit from tliat jilace. thus eslalilishing himself as one of the pioneers in the fruit exporting business of the county. For thirteen years he continued as manager of this ranch and then became interested in fruit farming on a tract three miles southwest of Dinuba, where he still owns a well-improved forty-acre fruit and alfalfa ranch, five acres being- planted to peaches, twenty acres to grapes and the balance to alfalfa. Mr. Scoggins is a stanch Democrat in political belief, and, not- withstanding his large ranching interests, has found time to fill the office of member of the Democratic County Central Committee, I0 which he has repeatedly been elected in Tulare county. In chui'ch associations he is a Seventh Day Adventist and has served on the association board for several years. On October 18, 1876, in YiM-ix valley, Mr. Scoggins was married to Miss Ida Oriia Decker, daughtei- of Mrs. I. L. Decker, who lives at Diamond, Cal., and to this union eight children were born, as follows: Ethel Ida, Mable Clair, Roy E., Adelbei't Ellis, Paul Elmon, Edith Lucile, Nellis Louise and Helen Merle, all of whom arc at present residing in Tulare county. Flthel Ida is the wife of Alva Leil)sher; Mable Clair is tlie wife of Charles R. Thompson, of Farmei'sville ; Paul Elmon is a minister in the Seventh Day Adventist Clmrcli, stationed at Tulare; and Roy E. is mcntioiicil fully in another part of this publication. The Decker family, of which Mrs. Scoggins is a member, are of old Colonial history, members having been among those brave i)eople who came in the Mayflowei- to Phnnouth, Mass. Her father, I. L. Decker. <'nm(> aci'oss the iilains in IS.')!), and it is an interesting fact 886 TULAKE AND KINGS C"OrXTI?:S in the family memoirs to know that he was married on the way to California and took his bride to live in tlie Suisun valley. His death occurred in 1873, his wife still surviving and making her home, as above mentioned, at Diamond, Cal. In all of his interests, industrial, commercial, political or relig- ious, Mr. Scoggins has been ever an important factor for good and every emergency has found in him an active helper and a most gen- erous contrilmtor. A kind and thoughtful father, domestic in his tastes and loyal in his duties of citizenship, he has been most worthy of the honor and esteem which is accorded him by all. It is inter- esting to add that Mr. Scoggins has always evinced a great interest in athletics, having played first base with the Lone Stars team, and in 1873 was a valued member of the team of the University of Cali- fornia. ROY E. SCOGGINS Inhei'ent qualities of an unusual character have qualified Roy E. Scoggins to fill tlie ]>rominent i)osition in tlie business world lie liolds. he being a member of a very old and well-known Scotch family on the paternal side, while in the maternal line he is a descendant of Mayflower ancestors of the Decker family. Mr. Scoggins' ingenuity has been evidenced liy his invention of the Hard Pan Renovator, a machine made /or the drilling of holes in which dynamite is ])laced for the blasting of hard pan. The machine is mounted on four wheels and is driven by means of an eight horsejiower gasoline engine; by means of this power the holes are driven into the hard pan mat- ter and into the holes thus made dynamite is placed and exploded, thus breaking the hard surface for several feet around and making the land, formerly so useless, very fertile and valuable for orange, peach or lemon trees, alfalfa or any deep-rooted plant. In partner- ship with his estimable father, John E. Scoggins (a sketch of whom ap])ears elsewhere in this volume). Mr. Scoggins is now operating three of these machines in the field, and they have built up a new and very ]ir()fital)le industry in the county. The machines are made at the Briscoe i\Ianufacturing Co., at Lindsay and Hanford, and the invention l)ids fair to liecome one of tlie most useful of the times. Mr. Scoggins was born in Colusa county in 1882, son of John Early and Ida O. (Decker) Scoggins. When he was fourteen years of age he came to Tulare and prepared for college at Healdsburg, where he entered and com]>leted his course with a good record. For some time he was employed on his father's ranch, and he then turned his attention to the carpenter's trade, which has been for many years TULAEE AND KINGS COUNTIES 887 his eliief work. In 11)08 he married Miss Edith Jones, a native of Iowa, and they have a daughter, Oleta, who was two years old in 1912. They make their home in Lindsay, and it has become the cen- ter of many ijleasant social gatherings, their host of friends always finding a most hospitable welcome there. Mr. Scoggins has never been actively interested in political work, but he has well-defined ideas on all questions of domestic economy and his public spirit has prompted him to respond generously to all reasonable demands on behalf of the community. He is an enter- lirising and successful citizen, numbered among those j'oung men of the state who have contributed the vigorous interest, inflexible will and indomitable courage to further interests, make larger attempts and luing about the prosperous conditions that exist at the present time, llis invention has proved not only a iiuaucial success to him and a source of gratification as well, but it has given to many the means of improving land wliich heretofore had been waste and unde- veloped. J. NEWTON YOUNG The Young family to which J. Newton Young belongs is one of the leading pioneer families of Visalia, having lived there since 1855, during which time many representatives of the family have become identified with its progress and development. Born at Visalia, Cal., at No. 600 South East street, which has been the family homestead for many years, J. Newton Young is the son of Newton and Mary (Price) Young, the former a native of Indiana, while Mrs. Young was born in AYales. The parents were married in Visalia, whence Mr. Young had come as a soldier to quiet disturbance incident to the Civil war. He was a private in Company I, and it was while serving in that capacity that he married. He was killed in a sawmill in the (xreat Forests bv a large log rolling on him on August L'4, 1871. J. Newton Young was a jiosthumous child, his birth occuii-iug April L'4, 1872, just eight inontlis after his father's accidental death. He had a sister, Ida, who became the wife of J. B. Agnew, a seed- grower with place of business at No. 110 Market street, San Fj'an- cisco. The maternal grandfather of J. Newton Young was an old settler at Visalia. Tie built the old Visalia home and was identilied with much of the develoiunent of that place. He came with the Evans family from "Wales, that party comprising Samuel Evans, Sr., and his wife, .\nn Evans; John Price, Saiimcl Evans, Jr., and James 888 TULARE AXD KIXGS C'OUXTIES Evans, and Mary Price. The last-named, who liecanie the wife of Newton Young, passed away at Visalia in 1909. J. Newton Young is now managing the Mary Young estate, which consisted of two hundred and forty acres and a dairy ranch, besides other property. He has farmed successfully, and during later years has invested in the oil industry at Lost Hills and Belle Ridge, in all of which interests he has met with signal success. He married Miss Maud Shuman of San Francisco, and they make their home in the cozy bungalow Mr. Young has Iniilt at No. 501) South Bridge street. Visalia. JAMES M. WELLS One who has achieved jirominence as a contractor and l)uilder tln-oughout the West and Northwest is James M. Wells, who was born at Lansing, Mich., April 4, 1855. He was there reared and educated and was instructed in the essentials and the niceties of the carriagemaker's trade. Thus he laid the foundation of the splendid knowledge of mechanics which has enabled him to win success in an- other tield of mechanical labor. He came to California in 1875, when he was in his twenty-first year, and worked at carriage-making, mill- wrightiug and carpentering in San Francisco, and also in Seattle, Wash., Portland, Ore., in Idaho and Montana, and in British Colum- bia. In his work in connection with the construction of fine build- ings he developed an exceptional ability for interior finishing in resi- dences and office structures of the first class, and eventually this note- worthy specialty brought him to the notice of a leading contractor in the neighborhood of Los Angeles, by whom he was employed, mostly at Long Beach, for three years. He gave attention solely to interiors, and he worked there eight years altogether, heli")ina' to erect and beautify many of the largest and finest buildings in that field of remarkable building operations. He came to Tulare county in 1907 and boiight a forty-acre ranch just out of Tulare City, raw land which he improved with a residence, outbuildings and a modern pumping plant, setting out a family orchard and devoting himself princiiially to the growth of alfalfa. This pro]ierty he sold advan- tageously in 1910. For several years past Mr. Wells has given his attention mostly to contracting and building. Among the notable buildings he lias erected in Tulare City are the residences of Mr. Feltnig, Mr. Johns and Frank Moody, and in the county outside of that town he has built the ranch houses of Messrs. Ottaman, Wattenberg, Fry, Wol- cott and Miller, besides the Dr. Scroggs home and a fine concrete TULARE AND KINGS COUNTIES 889 l.lork house for Frank M. Adams. Oue of Mr. Wells' earlier ven ures was us a raui^er in Washington, where for some time he ran a large band of cattle over an extensive range. He was married in 190L to Miss Strong, a native of Indiana. ISAAC HENDERSON WARREN In C^oifee oountv, Tenn., Isaac Henderson Warren was born in October. isr,6, a son" of Thomas P. and Mary (Harris) Warren. His father lived to be seventv-tive years old, and his mother survives, m her seventv-first vear. They were natives of Tennessee, and it was at Ilillsboro in that state that the elder AVarren passed away in l.)Ob. Mr Warren married in his native state Miss Bobbie Wilhs, who also was born there. Her mother lived to be seventy-five years old, and John Willis, her father, attained to the same age ; one of her grand- mothers reached the advanced age of ninety-two years. After his marriao-e Mr. AVarren removed from Tennessee to Brownwood, Brown countv, Texas, where he farmed until he came to Tulare countv He bought fifteen acres of land near Tulare and has twelve acres "in vines, Muscat grapes' being his prin.'ipal crop. The remain- der of his land is a big chicken yard, he having about one hundred fine chickens. While he is interested in stock, he keeps only enough for his own use. To Isaac Henderson and Bobbie (Willis) Warren have been born six children: Willis, Oscar, Leasel, David, and Ira and Ima twins Willis is a salesman in a store at Collis; Oscar is einployed in a packing house; the others are attending school. Mr Warren is a member of the Baptist church. Politically he is an independent Democrat, and fraternally he affiliates with the Woodmen of the World He is in everv sense of the word a good citizen, sohcitous for the general welfare and helpful to all pul)li<- interests. .TOSHUA E. WEST or tlie enterprising haiidUM's of sululivisions at Visalia, Tulare county, none lias l)een more successful in recent years than Josliua E. West, of the firm of West & Wing. A native of the P.iue Grass Stale, Mr. West was born in Graves county, Ky., a son of Josei)h W^est.' The fatb.er came to California first in 1850, subsequently re- turning to Kentucky, and again came to the Pacific coast in 1S74. Josliua E. West, who was then (juite young, grew to inanliodd \u 890 TULARE AXD KINGS COUNTIES Fresno coiuity and was edneated in the imblic school near his home. From an early age he was a valnable assistant to his father in the latter 's farming and stock-raising operations and in 1895 he engaged in Inisiness on his own acconnt by leasing four hundred acres of land near Fresno and devoting it to the production of grapes and fruit. There he operated until 1903, when he came to Tulare county as man- ager for the Robla-Lomas Cattle Comiiany, which had a range of ten thousand acres about twenty-two miles north of Visalia. There he had in charge neai-Iy two thousand cattle, the number having been kept up to eighteen hundred and fifty for quite a long time. Later he engaged in fattening cattle at the "\"isalia sugar factory, feeding them on the pulp of beets. It should be added that his business here comprised the buying, fattening and selling of cattle, and that he transacted it successfully wholly on his own account. In May, 1911, he organized the real estate firm of West & AYing. In this last-mentioned business Mr. West's partner is William A. Wing, and they make a specialty of handling large tracts of land for subdi\isiou. A plat of twelve hundred acres east of Orosi they bought at an average price of $41.50 an acre, and after subdividing it tiiey sold it at $125 to $200 an acre. They also handled profitably a tract of eighteen hundred acres north of Orosi, nine hundred acres of which they |)latted in siibdivision and planted to oranges. In the last ten years Mr. West has seen orange land in Tulare county ad- vance in market value from $10 to $200 an acre, and he has wit- nessed a similar advance in property of other classes. Fraternally Mr. West atfiliatei^ with the Woodmen of the World. As a citizen he is very helpfully progressive and i)ulilic spirited. In November, 1901, he married Miss Eliza Freeman, a native of Fresno, whose father came to California with the pioneers. Mr. and ^frs. West have a son and daughter. Herbert and Marcella. QECa^iQAQ \.** 1^ «. '• . \°"'^ v^ \,^^ '' 2. 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