Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-01-02

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crooked stick, and had obtained cradles to
cut his grain with instead of sickles and
butcherknives, and had introduced fan.
ming mill to clean his grain with, but still
tramped out his wheat and barley in cor
rails by driving his horses and mules over
it. Captain Suffers wheat field, which he
had inclosed by ditch, was located on the
north and eastern part of the present site
of Sacramento, and contained about 1000
acres. In lS47-S this field was nearly all
sowp to wheat, and he confidently expected
to harvest from it 40 bushels to the acre, or
40, 900 bushels OF wheat, with which he
expected to fulfill, in part, contract he
had with
THE RUSSIAN COLONY IN ALASKA.
There were Others also engaged in agri-
cultural pursuits in this section, among
which NAV be named baylor, Leidesdorff &
| Chamberlain and Murphy. Their surplus
wheat was also through General Suffer
sold to the Russians. In lS47 General
Suffer reported to General 81. w. Halleek,
then Secretary of State, that there was
raised that year in the section of the coun-
try east of the San Joaquin and Sacra-
mento rivers about IA 600 fanegas or GEN.
tails, but that he had no data of the
quantity of barley, corn, beans, peas, ETC.;
that the district contained population of
2S9 whites, II of whom were females
that there were in the district 20, 600
head of cattle, $500 horses, 70
mules, 1000 sheep and 1000 hogs
that there was one water power
fiouring-milI three horse-powe Touring
mills and one tannery in operation, and
that an additional water power Touring
mill and water-power sawmill would be
in operation within one month. This re-
port was dated December 20, lS47, and
the houring-mill and sawmill that were so
soon expected to be put in operation were
undoubtedly those that were then being
BUILT BY SUFFER-
Himself, respectively, at Brighton and CO.
Iona, but neither of which was ever COM
pleted. The agricultural and all other
| productive industries of General Suffer,
and OF nearly all others in the country,
were entirely suspended when the dis
covery of gold at Coloma was an estab.
lished fact and became public. Labor to
carry them on could no longer be secured
at any price, and those who were in the
country all made a stampede for the
mines. They were followed by the new
corners, who, in lS4S, began to come In
from all directions, and when the great
influx of lS49 and 1850 passed from the sea
to the mountains, nearly all evidences OF
cultivation of the soil had disappeared.
Being unacquainted with the early agri
cultural history of the country while in
| the possession of the mission or fFiar
| fathers, and having no knowledge OF the
| operations of Suffer and his compeers IN the
CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL,
| And noticing that vegetation of every de-
| scription on all the hills and plains dried
up early in June and became apparently
| worthless, the new population naturally
came to the almost unanimous conclusion
that the country was good for nothing for
| agricultural purposes. They came for
gold, and could see none of the other re-
| sources of the country. They came not to
stay, but to dig fortune from the mines
and return each to his own country to en-
| Joy it, Hence for a number of years all
the ordinary industrial occupations OF or
| ganized communities were unknown and
unthought of. Many of the homes and
| farms of the settlers of 1910 to lS47
were completely broken up, their stock
strayed and were to them lost, and
| they never after renewed the occupation
| and improvement OF their
| ABANDONED ENTERPRISES.
/ Such was the result, to very great extent,
even in the case of General Suffer- Among
all the early settlers in this immediate sec-
ton, Samuel Norris seems to have re-
NAMED the least disturbed by the new
turn that things had taken. Instead of
allowing the newcomers to drive Oft and
appropriate his cattle and other stock with
| IMMUNITY, he herded them the more closely,
and set himself about turning them to his
own profit. He fitted up his slaughter
houses and increased his facilities for turn
ing his stock into meat, and was soon en-
gagged in selling beef to the markets IN
Sacramento by the carcass and quarter, and
to the drovers and butchers at the mines
on foot / have in my possession, by the
courtesy of Fl. M. Larue, Mr.. Norris day
book from September, 1850, to 1858, from
which I am able to gather many interest
ing facts, which 1 shall use freely in these
"reminiscences. In 1850 Mr.. Norris sold
to Sacramento dealers beef at from s to 10
cents pound, the average being about
cents. At the same time the price OF
! calves was from SIG to SIS each.
THE PRINCIPAL DEALERS
In meat in the city at that time were the
City Market, the Peoples Market, and
Brownell Co. In October, 1850, MIR.
Norris purchased of Don Juan, Mexican,
|, l2l head of sheep at Sl3 head, and i'm.
mediately thereafter his GALES embraced
mutton, for which by the carcass 30 cents
pound, or $50 head for the sheep, was
charged. In the latter part of the year
1850 beef advanced to II cents pound,
and the first evidence of the sale OF pork is
contained in the following entry upon his
books:
JOHN BosLER, DR..
To 392 his beef, Observation-Disclosures. s47 o.
To one hog, 1855 lbs, 40 cents. l46 90
To two sheep. l01 lbs, so cents. .......... 50 %
From the fact that we find no sales of
grain made by Mr.. Norris in 1850, 1t is
pretty good evidence that he did not pro-
duce much The ruling wages paid to his
farm laborers during the year was $3.50 per
month.
FL. M. Larue this year farmed some land
on the Norris place, raising some vegetables
and some wheat and barley. The wheat
and barley he cut for hay and sold, some in
Sacramento at 500 per ton, and freighted
some to Georgetown, Ell Dorado county,
and sold it at $3.50 per ton. During this
year
MANY LOCATIONS WERE MADE
On both sides of the Sacramento river
from the head of Steamboat slough to
Fremont, but more perhaps for the pur-
pose of ckopping wood to sell to the steam
boats that were then navigating the river,
than as permanent settlements for culti-
walton. Wood was then sold readily on
the banks of the river at from $50 to S25
cord, and good chopper could make
from $50 to $40 day over and above all
expenses. A Runyon, E. F. Aiken, d.
2. Lufkin, Almond, and number OF others
whose names are not now remembered,
were among those who made such settle.
ments on the east bank OF the river, and
j. B. Green, De Gross & Howard, Michael
Gregory, Fred. Babel, Peter McGregor,
Samuel Conrad, Jonathan Little, David
and John Hoagland, j. w. Chiles, L. 81.
Irwin, George Griffith, G. 81. Cooley and
Wallace Cunningham were among the
pioneer settlers on the west side of the
river Nearly all OF these settlers en-
gagged more or less in the cultivation of
, vegetables for their own use, and some Of
, them made good business in supplying