The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-01-05
Butter-Making in the Sierras.

A correspondent of the Ddilg EUeRing
Bulletin, of San Francisco, writing from
Truckee, furnishes that paper with the
following interesting description of but
ter-making in the Sierras:
The eastern slope of the mountain
produces annually 800 tons of butter of
unsurpassed flavor and richness. Orange
County and Western Reserve butter |
know are not equal to it. Scattered
about at short intervals on the tribu-
taries of the Truckee River, between it
and the summit, are valleys of greater
or less extent where about half of this
amount is made, and much the finer half;
the rest comes from Sierra Valley, and
is coarser, and of slightly inferior
flavor. The season usually extends
from June to October. The present,
however, has been little longer, owing
to the light snowfall of last winter, but
the lack of moisture in the pasture has
been more than an offset to that adj
vantage. About twenty dairymen drive
their cows from the vicinity of Folsom,
where they winter pastures, to their
summer quarters here and back in the
fall About 1000 cows are MIXED,
averaging 100 pounds of butter each.
The lives these people lead are pc
culiar. Their winters are occupied
with their fences and the usual repairs
necessary on ranch. Their pilgrim
age begins while piles of snow are plain
ly visible from their doors Then prog
ress is always slow and often laborious.
Violent storms frequently overtake
them, especially on the downward Jour
ney. They reach their destination to
find fences, houses and barns crushed
by the winters SHOWS. When repairs
have been made, and their summer
work systematized, their labors are by
no means light. Nosunrise ever catches
them asleep. Every man must have
his twenty cows MIXED and ready for
nice feed before he gets his breakfast.
The calves are then fed, the milk strained
or skinned, and every second day the
big churn has to be turned over and over
for an hour or two. During the middle
of the day the hands get a few hours
leisure while the boss is on the way to
the railroad with his produce, or on his
way home with flour and groceries.
The living on the ranch is very good.
The incest milk is always free A year
ling bullock or fat pig furnishes the
choicest meat. The housewife is always
good bread baker, and we all know
what nice bread, good butter, tender
steak and bowl of sweet milk are to
a hungry man. Nothing can be nicer,
particularly when partaken of in this
pure air, which gives the most dyspeptic
a good appetite, Fruit and vegetables
are harder to get, and most of the ia
bles are supplied with preserved or
canned, instead of fresh, articles. Moth
ing of the kind grows anywhere above
us, owing to the frosty nights. Icicles
hang to the troughs and collect on the
edges of ponds nearly every night in
the season. 1t is certainly healthy
life-though children are often attacked
by ague during the winter, but it dis
appears quickly when they leave the
valley. Their buildings are usually
very good. They must be strong to bear
the strain of the snow, which sometimes
falls to a great depth. Several excellent
places-former stage stations before the
overland route was built-do duty now
as homes for dairymen and their en-
ployes. The ranches usually consist of
200 or 800 acres, and from that up to
600. One net capable of supporting at
least seventy-five cows cannot be made
profitable. Usually about 100 acres are
found together, and that is, perhaps,
the average.