Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-09-11
A LOVELY RANCH.
The Home OF the Democratic CaDdt.
date for co TernOI OF California.
San Francisco Call.

@Ca OoLbOb DCO N4AC uOuoC uuIll Won
are right upon it, so completely is If
covered with Towering vines and sur.
rounded by semi-tropical trees and
plants. This quaint old house would he
painfully plain were it not almost com.
pletely EMPOWERED in a garniture of
flowers. Although not pound of paint
has been used, or even the simplest effort
at artificial decoration has been attempted
on the old house, no habitatiOn is more
gloriously beautiful than this vine
covered house at Los Robes. Roses
of snowy whiteness lay in matted pro
fusion upon the eastern roof, mingling
and blending with blooded roses
upon the very comb or apex
of the building-roses of delicate
pink and of lemon hue, roses
Of brilliant carmine and the palest SAT-
from tint, roses of all shades mlngling
and entwined with profusion of honey
suckle red, white and orange, hello
tropes of blue, and jasmine of purest
white. Here over the old weatherbeaten
porch droop vines and flowers known
only to the semi-tropics hanging in luxu-
rant festoOns. There is that most mag
nlncent OF all Southern creepeTs, the Gu
rlous :. Passion flower, so generally rev
erenced by the Spanish Catholic peas
antry, this, too, entwined with the dark
green leaves of the hard English ivy.
Gen. StOneman's home is a home of
roses. Such is Los Robes, the home of
the Democratic nominee for Governor.
The domestic life of General Stone
man is similar to that of almost any
Southern California vine-grower. He
gives a personal supervision to the cult
walton and management Of his VINEYARDS
and orange groves. Rising regularly at
a specified hour, winter or summer. he
breakfasts with his little family. and NAV
be seen shortly afterward out in the vine.
yards, attneded by his major dOmO direct
ing the WOrkmen, and at times taking a
full hand himself. By this close personal
supervision of his plantation General
Stoneman has succeeded in making the
handsomest and best vineyard in Los
Angeles county. While standing beside
beautiful, noisy, babbling brook, which
| rushes over its bright pebbly bed in front
of the house, General StOneman related
brief but interesting "Reminiscences of
his early days. He said, as he pointed
with his pruning shears toward
piece of rising ground toward the
Sierras: Right down there, at the
foot of that hill, just where you
see that grove of live oaks, is where l
was encamped with a squadron of dra-
goOns about thirty-three years ago l
was quite a young man then, and had
| recently made march across the con
tinent to assist General Kearney and
Commodore Stockton to make a con
quest of California. was Lieutenant
of the First Dragons then, and my com
| pauy had been ordered out from Los
Angeles to San Gabriel mission on a lit
| tie business connected with some of
| Colonel FremOnts volunteers, who were
camped at the mission. 1t was then |
| first saw this piece of land aud fell in
love with it. 1t was wild, open. gray
ely land, and bore little resemblance to
what you see now. Young as | was
this was thirty-three years agO-I re-
solved to make my home here. 1t was
more than twenty years afterward before
was able to carry out my determine
ton, but did 50 at last, and here ex
pect to live and die"
1t is little more than ten years since
| General StOneman and his family took
| up their abode at Los Robes At that
| time it was a wilderness of scrub oaks.
| cactus and sagebrush. He had about
| Sc, 900 capital, and with this ne pro
| ceeded to carve him out a home. He
owns about six hundred acres of land
little more than half of it in Guilt
walton. He has about two hundred
acres of Mission grapes, which are I'M
| surpassed for vigOr and beauty in the
| world. He has large orange and lemon
| orchard, some of the trees nearly twenty
years old, which were planted by the
former owner of the place. His orange
groves are as handsome and prolific as
any in the South. A notable popularity
IN the ranch life of General Stoneman is
his treatment of his employees. He
seems to have adopted a real old
fashioned patriarchal system. His
| ranch hands are mostly natives
| born upon the place, and all are what re
commonly termed "CalifOrnians. Tn.
like most large rancheros in that region,
General StOneman never has employed
Cinnamon to work his vineyard and fruit
orchards. Instead of this he keeps up
at least three little villages or groups of
cottages located near springs of water in
different portions of the ranch In these
cottages reside the thirty or forty men
and boys with their families. He allows
each family a plot of ground to grow
their vegetables, such as potatoes, fri
| joles. peppers and melons, and furnishes
employment to the heads of each family
the year 70 md His hospitality is pro
verbal through all that region, and his
"latch string" is always out