Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-11-01
Baldwin's California Ranch.
Correspondence Boston Journal. ]

Let US tell the story of a California
millionaire who has in Los Angeles
County ranch of surprising beauty and
of fabulous value. In 1875 Mr.. E. J.
Baldwin bought the Santa Anita ranch,
comprising $500 acres, and lying twelve
miles from Los Angeles, for twenty-five
dollars an acre; with the passion which
seizes western land proprietOrs, he has
added from time to time till the planta-
ton has reached 10000 acres, and be-
come one of the most productive to be
found in America. A portion of these
lands are rented for one-fourth Of the
crop In the sack, and the yield is as three
to one on the Atlantic coast, with one
half of the labor. He cuts the alfalfa
six to eight times yearly, yielding on
the average fifteen to sixteen tons to the
acre. Potato lands are rented, yielding
the sum of one hundred and thirty dol
lars per acre to the proprietor as his
rental -Four thousand acres have just
been laid out into forty-acre lots, with
water carried to each plat, which are sold
to the smaller farmers at the rate of one
hundred dollars an acre, In striking con-
trast to the landed proprietors in the
old world, who hold on to every acre.
One million dollars has been expended
on the adjoining home ranch, and land
IN some of the adjacent colonies is sold
at three hundred dollars an acre.
The rapidlty of growth Is seen in these
facts relative to the Baldwin ranch: He
has $4,000 orange and lemon trees,
mostly producing 1000 pomegranates,
5000 English walnuts, 2,00G soft-sheIled
almonds, $500 peaches, 1000 pears,
1000 apricots, 1000 figs, 500 japanese
persimmons, with bananas, camphor,
pepper, etc. Coffee and tea plants, al
ready in a thriving condition, give
promise Of success, making new China
on our western coast. Aside from this
may be found the sugar cane and vast
variety of ornamental trees. The
Eucalyptus, that marvel of the Pacific
coast, set out seven years ago, are al
ready seventy feet high and fourteen
inches in diameter. An artificial lake,
with two miles of pipe and with ca
pacity of one hundred million gallons,
| the banks Of which are made as beauti-
full with flowers and fragrant shrubs as
the far-famed gardens celebrated in east
ern poetry. From the vineyards last
year thirty thousand gallons of brandy,
and one hundred thousand gallons of
wine we're manufactured. But this not
all. Think of single farm produc-
| ing such immense crops, and, In addi-
ton, feeding two thousand sheep, the
same number of COWS and pigs, one hun
dred Clydesdale mares and twenty-three
thoroughbreds. The celebrated stall
lions Rutherford and Grinsted, costing
$40, 900 each, with two or three mares
of equal value, are stabbed here. Mr..
Baldwin expended 100000 aside from
the cost of the land before receiving any
income. He has not yet put his bran
dies and wines upon the market, or but
little, as his ambition is to offer an arti-
Gle which shall acquire age, and thus
exceed in value imported wines. An
immense amount is invested in machin-
cry, and an army of workmen is needed
to carry on the affairs of the ranch. Mr.
Baldwin is yet young man, and aside
from this immense establishment has
built the Baldwin Hotel in Ss2: Fran
cisco, and expended in it's construction
and furnishing over So, 500, 900, and he
has also an elegant hotel at Lake Tahoe.