The Opelousas courier., 1883-12-01
GREAT CALIFORNIA RANCHES.
sra Description of Them by q Lady
"A Principally ina Itself.

Sra phfc Description of Them by q Lady
"A Principally Ina Itself.
In her graphic illustrated article in
the Century, on Outdoor Industries
in Southern California" H. Fl. de-
scribes one of the great ranches as fol
lows: The south California statistics
of fruits, grain, wool. honey, ETC., read
more like fancy than like fact, and are
not readily believed by n unacquaint
ed with the country. The only way to
get a real comprehensive and intelli-
gent acceptance of them is to study
them on the ground. BY a single visit
to a great ranch one is more enlighten-
ed than he would be by committing to
memory scores of equalization board
reports. One of the very best, if not
the best, for this purpose is Baldwin's
ranch, in the San Gabriel valley. 1t
includes a large part of the old lands
of the San Gabriel Mission, and is ].
principality in itself.
There are over a hundred men on its
payroll, which average $4,000 a month,
Another $4,000 does not more than
meet its running expenses. 1t has
$1,000 worth of machinery for its
grain haryests alone. 1t has a dairy
of forty cows, Jersey and Durham, one
hundred and twenty horses and mules,
and fifty thoroughbreds.
Ii is divided into four distinct es-
tatas, the Santa Anita, of $4,000 acres.
Puente $4,000, MERGED 10000, and the
Pet 'ero $4,000. The Puente and Mer-
ced are sheep ranches, and have 20,
600 sheep on them. The Potrero ID
rented out to small farmers. The San,
ia Anita is the home estate. On it are
the homes of the family and of the la
borers. 1t has fifteen hundred acres
Of oak grove, four thousand acres in
grain, FIVE hundred in grass for hay
n hundred and fifty in orange or.
chards, fifty of almond trees, sixty Of
walnuts, twenty-five of pears, fifty OF
peaches, twenty Of lemons, and five
hundred in vines, also small orchards
of chestnuts, hazel nuts and apricots
and thousands of acres of good pastur-
age.
From whatever side one approached
Santa Anita in May, he will drive
through a wild garden-asters, yellow
and white, scarlet pentstemons, blue
larkspur, monks-hood, lnpines, white
and blue, gorgeous golden csch.scholt
zia, alder. wild lilac. white sage-all in
riotous towering.
Entering the ranch by n of the
north gates, he will look southwark
down gentle slopes of orchards and
vineyards far across tho valley, thu
tints growing softer and softer, ant
blending more and more with eact
mile, till all melt into a blue or purple
haze. Driving from orchard to or
chard, down half mile avenues through
orchards skirting seemingly endles.
stretches of vineyard, he begins tx
realize what comes of planting trees
and vines by hundreds and tens o.
hundreds Of acres, and the equaliza
ton board statistics no longer appear
to him even large. It does not seen
wonderful that Los Angeles county
should be reported as having sixty-twt
hundred acres in vines, when here OF
one mans ranch are five hundred
acres. The last equalization board re
port said the county had 1851 LII
orange and 41,250 lemon trees. II
would hardly have surprised him to bt
told that there were as many as thai
in the Santa Anita groves alone. The
effect on the eye of such huge tracts
planted with a single sort Of tree, is tt
increase enormously the apparent size
of the tract the mind stumbles on
the very threshold of the attempt t.
reckon its distances and numbers. and
they become vaster and yaster as theJ
grow vague.