Mendocino County

History

History of Mendocino County California - Alley, Bowen & Co., San Francisco, 1880

MENDOCINO COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION.

        BEING in a manner so thoroughly isolated from the outside world, the people of Mendocino county have long felt the need and importance of an agricultural society of their own, but it was not until the fall of 1878 that the enterprise was fairly gotten under way. December 19th of that year the society was organized and incorporated. In the Articles of Incorporation the following are set forth as the objects of the society:‑

        1st. To hold an annual fair and cattle show.

        2d. To encourage the cultivation of the soil and the general development of all the resources of the county of Mendocino.

        3d. To foster every branch of mechanical and household arts calculated to increase the happiness of home life.

        4th. To extend and facilitate the various branches of mining and milling.

        The society was incorporated for forty years, with a nominal capital stock of $10,000.00, of which amount $2,000 has been paid up. The face value of the stock was $5.00 per share. The society owns twenty acres of land lying in the heart of the beautiful valley of Little Lake, about one-half mile north of the town of Willitsville. This is enclosed with a close board fence, and has trees planted in the proper places over it, and is seeded down so that weeds find no encouragement to grow within its limits. There is an excellent track, an oblong circular course of one-half mile, and as the ground is as level as a floor a better track cannot be found in the State. There is an amphitheatre which is one hundred by thirty feet, and a pavilion which is one hundred by forty feet. Besides these buildings there are stock sheds which will accommodate one hundred head of stock, and stabling for fifty horses. The property consisting of the land and buildings have cost between $5,000 and $6,000, which leaves the society in debt somewhat, but the enterprising citizens of Mendocino county will not allow that state of affairs to exist long. The society is the property of the whole county in a great measure, and every person should feel that he or she has a personal interest in its success and welfare. That all do take this deep interest in its prosperity is best demonstrated by the fact that the first fair held was so well patronized by the citizens of the county, that there remained $150 in the hands of the treasurer after all expenses were paid. Such a hearty support from the people assured the success of the enterprise, and evinced the fact that the action of the corporation met with their entire approval.

        The officers of the society for 1878 were: President, B. G. Mast; Secretary, Joseph Kraker; Treasurer, H. Willits; Trustees, E. F. DeCamp, W. L. Brown, J. M. Standley, A. Rucker, O. C. Simonson, J. C. Thompson, D. Lambert, W. H. Young, and John A. Morgan.

        The officers of the society for 1879 were: President, B. F. Coates; Secretary W. H. Young; Treasurer, H. Willits; Trustees, E. F. DeCamp, J. M. Standley, P. T. Muir, A. Nelson Jr., R. Cave, W. L. Brown, B. B. Capell, B. G. Mast, H. Willits, W. H. Young, and B. F. Coates.

        The officers for 1880 are as follows: President, O. C. Simonson ; Secretary, W. H. Young; Treasurer, H .Willits; Trustees, E. F. DeCamp, J. M. Standley, P. T. Muir, A. Nelson Jr., B. B. Capell, O. C. Simonson, A. O. Carpenter, E. C. Buell, W. L. Brown and P. Upp.

        At the inauguration of the exercises of the first fair given by the Mendocino County Agricultural Association; September 17, 1879, the following address was delivered by Honorable Thomas L. Corothers, which is so replete with information and true worth that we reproduce it in full:‑

        "Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen: It is with pleasure that I appear here to-day to assist you in the inauguration of the Mendocino County Agricultural Association. As a citizen of Mendocino county, identified with its varied interests, and its welfare and that of its people being my welfare, I should and do feel it an honor and a privilege to assist in my feeble manner in inaugurating a society that we all know will add so materially to the prosperity of our beautiful and famed county, and its people of all classes, callings, trades and professions.

        "The experience of all people, and particularly those of California, has shown that nothing is so conductive to the prosperity of the masses as the holding of fairs at stated periods, when and where the products of the husbandman, the works of the artisan and the high perfection of stock breeding can be exhibited to an admiring public, their respective exhibits placed in competition with one another, their merits and demerits canvassed by skilled judges, and thus those engaged in these various pursuits reap the advantages attending the occasion, and profit by the knowledge gained and competition with one another.

        "I rejoice that Mendocino has waked out of its state of lethargy, and following in the wake of its sister counties, has determined that the people shall know that it has resources second to none, and that its products will compare with those of the remainder of the State, and that in stock-raising and in the quality of its live-stock, it will not permit any superiors.

        "We all know that the commencement of such enterprises is attended with a great deal of labor and some considerable expense. An agricultural society has been mooted and talked about in this county for years. But it has been left to the zeal and untiring efforts of the people of Little Lake valley and vicinity to start the ball that is now rolling so beautifully, and to make annual fairs in our midst a reality, and to be the instrumentality through which our good people can gather together, bringing with them the products of their genius, industry and toil, that they may be exhibited for the criticism of the skilled and for the mutual benefit of all. All honor to the people of Little Lake, and the people of the remainder of the county owe them a debt of gratitude for their zeal and enterprise which they can never repay.

        "Mendocino county, with its area of three thousand eight hundred and sixteen square miles, and its population of twelve thousand souls, assumes an importance in our young and growing State that is by no means insignificant. It stands about eighth in wealth among the counties of the State. When we consider the fact that there are fifty-two counties in California, and that about forty-four contain less taxable property than Mendocino, we may at least ask ourselves why cannot we afford a county fair once a year ? We can afford it, and I opine that the people of these beautiful hills and valleys, and of our one hundred miles of sea-coast, will not be slow in realizing the vast benefits to accrue to them from the Mendocino County Agricultural Association, but will lend it that helping hand and bestow upon it that countenance, encouragement and favor which their good intelligence will teach them it deserves.

        "There are few people, whether in California or elsewhere, who are more blessed than those of our own county. It is a well-known fact that we suffer but little from droughts, and taking into consideration the markets that we have, and the amount of produce consequently raised, we may say that, financially, the droughts so frequent in other portions of the State do not affect us to any considerable extent. Our pursuits are so varied, and so adaptable to the seasons of California, that, if the season is inimical to one pursuit, we can follow another for the time being; and so well is this understood by the farmers and producers of Mendocino county, that they rarely lose by dry seasons, while the plains of the great San Joaquin, and in fact when the whole of southern California is parched and dried for want of rain, and when stock is dying there by hundreds for want of grass, and the whole population is despondent and in despair, by reason of the fact that the Almighty has failed to send them copious showers from heaven, we of Mendocino county are enjoying a plentiful supply of rain, our hills and valleys, glittering in their coat of green and rivaling the splendor of the garden of Eden, are covered with a plenteous supply of feed for our countless herds. Our farmers go to their labor in their broad fields with an elastic tread and with unfeigned delight, and wonder to themselves why, above their brother farmers in other portions of the golden State, they should be thus favored and blessed.

        "Our resources are varied and valuable. Our forests of redwood and fir have already become famous in history. The ships of the world anchor in our harbors and load with railroad ties and other commodities peculiar to our loved county, and transport them to South America and other foreign countries where they are in demand. For twenty-five years the woodman's ax has been heard in our lumbering forests, and yet its inroads are scarcely perceptible. The steam whistles of fifteen lumber mills awake the echoes of the early morning, and at eventide sing the sweet lullaby of rest and contentment. Our countless herds of sheep and cattle roam upon a thousand hills, basking in the sunlight of God's favor, bringing wealth and prosperity to their provident owners. Our wool commands the highest market price of any in the State; is, as a rule, of the finest quality, and is readily sought for by the numerous agents of the Eastern markets. In such demand is it that, when the wool season opens, agents for the great wool houses of San Francisco call at your doors, anxiously desiring to purchase your clip, and, if the bargain is consummated, willingly pay you for it on the spot. Your sheep ranches are in great demand, and almost daily we see men from other sections of the State passing through our county in search of grazing land. They come from the silver mines of Nevada, from the business thoroughfares of cities, from the frozen regions of the Eastern States, from the sterile regions of Europe, and lastly from the bleaching plains of southern California, to purchase grazing lands in Mendocino. They behold our grass-covered hills and enjoy our genial climate with satisfaction, and being satisfied of the advantages of our county, purchase land and settle among us.

        "Our farming land is of the richest; the cereals are all grown in profusion, and, in short, there is nothing known to agriculture that our soil does not produce. Every variety of fruit is grown, and of a quality that defies the criticism of the daintiest epicure. Our hops are the best in the world; England and Germany do not excel them. Our hop crop never fails, and even now, owing to some natural cause, the hop crop of Europe being a failure, the extensive European markets are dependent upon Russian River valley for their necessary supply of this useful commodity. I say Russian River valley for the reason that four-fifths of the hops grown in California are grown in that valley, at least one-half of which is in Mendocino county. Our hops command a higher price than any others grown in the State, excepting only those grown in Sonoma county. Their passport through the market is their brand, ' Russian River Hops,' it being a rule among hop dealers to thus designate the product of Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

        "There are many other industries peculiar to our people which compare favorably with other portions of the State. Upon this branch suffice it to say that, as a people, we are and have been singularly blessed; and as we contemplate and view the advantages we have, and daily experience over other portions of the State, we can but be satisfied. We should be thankful that we, as a people, have been so favored, and it is fitting that we should assemble together, and bring with us the consummation of our skill—the products of our soil, our handiwork and our fine bred stock—and hold sweet communion with one another upon this occasion, the first meeting of the Mendocino County Agricultural Association, as was the wont of olden times, and as has been the custom from time out of mind.

        "It is an honored custom for the people to thus meet on stated occasions—one that even goes so far back as to be almost traditionary. In the palmy days of the Roman empire, in the middle ages, and at other remote periods fairs were not held for the same purposes as now. They were first great gatherings of the people for the purchase and sale of goods or the hiring of servants, and were occasionally associated with religious festivals and popular entertainments. They yet partake greatly of that nature in European countries, while throughout the United States they are more for competitive exhibition than for general traffic. The ancient Greeks held fairs in conjunction with popular assemblies for political purposes. The Roman fora, though properly permanent market places, attracted great multitudes at times of festivity and important judicial and political gatherings, and on such occasions the special facilities for selling goods, as well as the special provisions for popular entertainment, gave them somewhat the character of fairs, as they were then considered. As far back as the fifth century fairs were established in France and Italy. Alfred the Great introduced them in England in 886, and they were established in Flanders in 960. In Europe they were of great value during the middle ages, and they were especially serviceable in rude, inland countries. They had numerous privileges annexed to them, and afforded special facilities for the disposal of merchandise. While commerce was burdened with all kinds of taxes and tolls, and travel was not only difficult but frequently unsafe, the fairs had generally the advantage of being free from imposts, and the merchants who wished to be present at them enjoyed the special protection of the Government for their goods and persons. It seemed that then, as now, the Government recognized the necessity of fairs, and the advantage and benefit they were to the people.

        "In many of the States appropriations are annually made by the legislatures for the promotion, encouragement and assistance of agricultural societies. Our own legislature has recognized the propriety of such a course, and has repeatedly made munificent appropriations to the State, and other agricultural societies in California. They very wisely consider that a portion of the public money can be used in no better way for the common good of the whole people than by using it in this manner; and we have yet to hear of any asserting that in this respect they acted unwisely. Fairs for the sale of live stock, agricultural products and staple manufactures have been found entirely unnecessary in countries enjoying a free and flourishing trade like ours; and when attempted here they dwindle accordingly into insignificance. On the other hand, as is the case with us, fairs offer special opportunities for comparing different qualities of home manufacture and produce, and thus are valuable as a means of instruction, just as we see to-day. There is not an exhibitor here at this time who has not a laudable desire that his or her exhibit, whether of products of the soil, live stock or specimen of mechanical skill, shall be better than his neighbors', and that he shall receive the prize offered by the society for the particular class he may have on exhibition. Thus we are instructed, as it is well known that by ambition, pride, and a laudable desire to excel we always profit, and are accordingly educated. Another advantage attached to them is that they bring communities which otherwise are slowly reached by the progress of civilization into direct contact with it. The most celebrated fairs of large cities in former times accordingly exhibit the greatest degree of attendance, while the country fairs still retain much of their importance.

        "Among the many pursuits of man, none is more ennobling, more honorable, more beneficial to mankind en masse, and which should be more respected and fostered, than agriculture. All nations have paid due respect to this, the greatest of arts, recognizing that within it lay prosperity and safety. They have fostered it in every conceivable manner, and have encouraged it by all the means at their command. Our own nation has followed in the wake of its elders. Among the retinue of its officers at Washington is the prominent one of Commissioner of Agriculture. The office was established by an act of Congress, and all the incidental expenses of the office are paid from the national treasury. Its attaches are sent to the agricultural localities of Europe to gain information, which is reported to the home office, and then, with the observations and learned essays on the various branches of agriculture written by those who have made the various subjects treated a study, it is printed and sent broadcast through the land at, the expense of the Government, for the edification and instruction of the people. The reports of the Commissioner of Agriculture are common in the libraries of all our farmers; and many of you, doubtless, who are present here this evening have read and profited by them. Experience has shown that the country has profited by so doing, for it is admitted that nothing so conduces to the welfare and prosperity of a people as the fostering and encouragement of the chiefest of industries and greatest of arts. It is useless for me to detail the many reasons why this is so. They are perfectly familiar to all thinking minds, and therefore do not require repetition.

        "It is pleasing to reflect and consider agriculture in its primitiveness, watch its progression through the long ages of time that have elapsed, and view the high state of perfection in which we find it to-day. The change from a state of nature, in which the human race must have first lived, to the pastoral, or to any higher mode of living, must have been gradual, and perhaps the work of ages. The race was doomed to toil, and necessity soon became the mother and sharpened the power of invention. Even in our own generation, we have noted the great improvements that have been made in farming utensils, and how the skill of the inventor has triumphed over manual labor. We notice this to a greater extent in our own country than in others, for the reason, probably, that we only have Yankees in the United States. In many parts of Europe they yet cut their wheat with the sickle, use the wooden plow, harnessing men and women to it, and thrash their grain with the flail. But, thanks to American genius and Yankee ingenuity, we can do the labor of the farm almost wholly by machinery, and while tilling the soil do not have to labor as menials, as do the great masses of the farmers on the continent.

        "In the course of time, during which man multiplied and wandered from place to place, those countries were found most productive which were watered by the Euphrates, Tigris and the Nile, and the dwellers in their valleys actively engaged in tilling the soil, while the dwellers in the hilly regions surrounding, which were better adapted to grazing, became the owners of flocks of live stock. It is well known that the agriculture of a people must be influenced by the climate and the natural features of the country. What can be easily grown in southern California may not be adapted to the soil and climate of the northern portion of this State. For instance, the orange is successfully raised in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, while with us the climate is too cold and severe. And many common articles of produce can be grown here that would be a total failure in the warmer climate of southern California. Its progress also depends to a great degree on the density of the population. In our neighboring county of Sonoma, which is much more thickly populated than this, farming has arrived at greater perfection than in this county.

        "Consulting the pages of history, we find that Egypt, Chaldea and China were among the first nations that followed agricultural pursuits to any considerable extent. In these countries, probably, animal power was first applied to agriculture; where men and women were unyoked from the plow and oxen were first hitched to it. From Egypt a knowledge of the art extended to Greece, and there we find it in a tolerably flourishing state about one thousand years before Christ, and where the art gradually advanced, until in the days of her glory, it may be said to have attained, in some provinces, a very high degree of perfection. The Greeks had fine breeds of cattle, horses, sheep and swine. Many of the implements for farming used by them in those days were not very unlike those of the present time in our own country. Extensive importations were made from foreign countries of sheep, swine and poultry for the purpose of improving their stock. The importance of a thorough tillage of the ground seems to have been well understood by them, as they plowed three times during the same season with mules and oxen, and sometimes subsoiled, and often mixed different soils, as sand and clay. They cultivated to perfection, the apple, peach, pear, cherry, plum, quince, nectarine, and other varieties, together with figs and lemon and many other fruits suited to the climate. The names of several of their agricultural writers have come down to us, and from these we gain what little knowledge of them as agriculturists we possess.

        "Agriculture was not a source of pride with the Greeks as it afterward became with the Romans. The chief cause of this was the fact that the land was tilled mainly by a subdued and menial race, as we all know that the dominant Greeks were given more to other arts than farming, and cared more for building up their cities than for cultivating the soil. On the contrary, it seems to have been one of the fundamental ideas of the early Romans to practice the art of agriculture. With them, by custom and law, a lot of land was allotted by the Government to every citizen; and here I may remark that the question as to whether land should be held in large or small quantities by individuals, and which has assumed, and is yet assuming, such importance in our State, was considered by them, and by them decided that the welfare of the people required that it be held in small bodies. Each citizen was carefully restricted to the quantity granted to him. It was said by one of her many orators, for which she was so famous, that he was not to be counted a good citizen, but rather a dangerous man to the State, who could not content himself with seven acres of land.  The Roman acre being about one-third less than ours, the law actually limited each man's possession to about five acres. This, however, was only in the early days of Rome; for afterwards, as the nation advanced and became more powerful, and extended its limits, the citizen was allowed to hold fifty acres, and still latter he could be the holder of five hundred. That was, however, the extreme limit that they were ever allowed to hold, showing that with their boasted wisdom, the Romans saw the impropriety of allowing land to be held in large bodies. One result of this custom among them was that it lead to a careful and exact mode of working ground and growing crops; and hence we learn from history that the old Romans always had abundant crops.  And thereby the propriety of holding land in small tracts is illustrated.

        "It is also a well-known fact that in England, Spain, France, Germany and Italy, as a rule, more is produced to the acre at the present time than in America. This for the reason that in those countries, owing to the density of the population and the large class of agriculturists in comparison with the inhabitants, they are from the force of circumstances compelled to occupy and use small tracts of land; and for the same reason, and for the additional one that land is in great demand, they reduce to a high state of cultivation land of an inferior quality, and what would appear to us barren hills and mountains are made to blossom as the rose. As proof that agriculture was greatly respected and fostered by the Romans, the greatest and most intelligent of nations of olden times, I may mention that no greater praise could be bestowed on an ancient Roman than to give him the name of a good husbandman. The great Cincinnatus was called from his plow to fight the battles of his country, and Cato, distinguished as an orator, a general and a statesman, is most loudly commended by the Roman historian for having written a book on farming.

        "And I may here remark that in America some of our greatest statesmen leave the field to enter the halls of Congress. A striking example is General Garfield, member of Congress from Ohio, who was informed of his last nomination while following the plow, and who is acknowledged by all to be learned, wise, and one of the greatest debaters in either House of our national Congress.

        "Says Cato: 'Our ancestors regarded it as a grand point of husbandry not to have too much land in one farm, for they considered that more profit came by holding little and tilling it well.' And Virgil says:  The farmer may praise large estates, but let him cultivate a small one.' Pliny says that four hundred stalks of wheat, all grown from one seed, were sent to the Emperor Augustus, and at another time three hundred and forty from one seed were sent to the Emperor Nero, accompanied by the statement that the soil, when dry, was so stiff that the strongest oxen could not plow it, but after a rain the soil was opened by plow drawn by a wretched mule and an old woman, harnessed together.

        "Farming in the United States has certainly arrived at great perfection; and I think I can safely say that we would have excelled the world—possessing the richest land that the sun ever shone on—if we had not held too much land. If we had been confined to small tracts for farms, as they are in Europe, and thus been forced to utilize all our land, to till it and care for it as they do, then, with the natural industry of the American farmer, assisted by the improved farming utensils and machinery that the inventive genius of our people has placed at our command, no one can question that the art of agriculture would ere this have been one of our greatest attributes, and that we would have led the van of civilized production and prosperity.

        "In this respect California is not behind her sister States. Land within her borders has been plenty—more than sufficient for the necessities of her people; so plentiful and so easily cultivated that her farmers have not been stimulated to care for it and educate themselves in agriculture to the extent which it is necessary to make it produce to its full capacity. Yet our State ranks well; and considering its youth and the many pursuits that lure its citizens, can readily be classed as one of the best farming and stock-raising States of the Union.

        "And we of Mendocino are not behind our sister counties. Our farmers willingly produce all that our markets demand; and when the valleys of our county are connected by railroad with deep water and the great commercial city of San Francisco, so that the products of our soil can be profitably transported to a larger and better market, then we will take our rank as one of the first producing counties of the State. We should all strive to have this much desired and needed ultimatum reached—that is, communication by rail with deep water.

        "In conclusion, I will say that every citizen of the county should lend his aid to the Mendocino County Agricultural Association—representing agriculture, and art so beneficial to us all—for it cannot help be the means of benefiting us as a county and people. That it may succeed in all its anticipations is my earnest wish, and I hope that of all present."

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.