The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1872-08-28

shoemaker, "a miller, several mer-
chants, bookbinder, poet (oi
course), four or FIVE musicians, q hat
ter, some tcamstcrs, hotel-kecper,
and others; not a farmer, among
them all, pray notice. Moreover
and this [ say with certain degree
of hesitation-there is some reason
to believe that the members of the
company were not even eminently
successful in their callings. They
were not getting rich. in San Francis
CO, where most of them lived. Sew
eral of them had money ahead, but
most of them, | judge from what i
hear, were men ready enough to bet
ter their fortunes, but to whom il
would have been impossible to buy a
ready made farm of even twenty
acres.
Well, it was agreed to divide the
II, ,65 acres into so 20 acre lots, and 30
house-lots in the village, leaving some
lots for school houses and other public
buildings, IA in number. The first
contribution or payment toward the
common stock bought the land
Thercupon Mr.. Hansen was, very
wisely, chosen Resident Manager,
and the shareholders quietly went on
with their pursuits in San Francisco,
taking care only to pay up the calls on
their stock as they became due. 1t
was the managers duty, meantime,
to go on with the Improvement of the
lots. This he did with hired labor
Indians and Californians. He dug a
main ditch seven miles long, to lead
the irrigating water over the whole
area, and $50 miles of subsidiary
bitches, and % miles of feeders to
these. He planted on each 20 acre
lot s acres in vines $4,000 vines) and
some fruit trees. He fenced each lot
with willows, making 81 miles ofOut-
side and 35 miles inside fencing.
These willows are now topped for
firewood, and as they grow rapidly
they give a very fresh and lovely
green to the aspect of Anaheim. This
done, he continued to cultivate, prune
and keep up the whole place. At the
end of three years, in 1860, all the
assessments were paid each stock
holder had paid 81 200, and division
Of the lots was made. This was
done by kind of lottery. All the
lots were viewed, and assessed at
their relative value, from 81, 400 to
5000, according to situation, &c.-
When a lot was drawn, if it was
valued over 81 200 the drawer paid
the difference if less, he received the
difference. Thus he who drew a
81 400 lot would pay 5000 ; he who
drew $500 lot would receive 5000
additional in cash. When all were
drawn, there was sale of the effects
of the company-tools, horses, &c. :
and on balancing the books it was
found that sum remained on hand
which suificed for dividend of over
500 to each shareholder. | be-
lieve the actual cost of the lots was
but 1880 For this each had 2G
acres and town lot l50x 200 feet,
with 5000 bearing grape vines and
some fruit trees.
Then the owners broke up at San
Francisco and came down to take
possession. Lumber for building was
bought at wholesale for so families
q school-house was quickly erected /;
shop-keepers flocked in and bought
the town lots !; a newspaper was be-
gun; mechanics of different kinds
were attracted to the colony and the
colonists themselves had at once about
them all the conveniences for which,
had they settled singly, they would
have had to wait many years. Now,
it must be remembered that these col
onists were not even farmers or gar
deners by trade. Only one had ever
made wine. They began as green
hands; some of them borrowed money
to make the Improvement, and had to
pay heavy interest. They had to
build their houses, and make their
gardens, and support their families.
/ want to give you briefly the results
of the experiment lst There was a
struggle for some years, but in this
early time, everybody tells me, they
all had enough to eat, good school
for their children, music and pleasant
social amusements, and they were
their own masters 9. Only one of
the original settlers has moved away /;
and the Sheriff has never issued an
execution in Anaheim. 8. The prop
erty which cost 81 ,0S0, is now worth
from $4,000, to $4,000, and / do not
believe more than one in ten of the
colonists would have been worth to-
day, had they remained at their
trades in San Francisco, any money
at all. 4. There are no poor in Ana
heim 5. 1t is the general testimony
that the making of wine and brandy
has not caused drunkenness among.
the colonists. when you sec a
drunken man in our town it will be
an Indian or an Irishman," said sew
eral people to me. 6. | have not
doubt that the moral standard of the
people has been greatly improved.
Their children are well trained the
men are masters of their own lives :;
they have achieved independence, and
what to an average New York me-
chanic would seem the ideal of for
tunate existence. The average clear
income from their vineyards, which
now contain mostly sixteen acres, is
about 81 900 per annum. Some few
fall below this, but most of them go
above. They have besides this, Of
course, their gardens, which here
yield vegetables all the year round
their ehickens-in short the greater
part of their living. They live well !;
it is land of fplenty and to me, who
how painful and unpleas-
ant is the life of q mechanic or arti-
san in New Y York, it was a delight to
see here men and women who had re-
deemed themselves, by their own ef-
forts, from this drudgery and slavery.