The Opelousas courier., 1886-07-31
A WONDERFUL FARM.
"Lucy Baldwin,so Great
Ranch in California;.
a Princely Domain, Fourteen Miles long,
Containing $1,000 Acres.


Louis Globe Democrat says: Lucky
Baldwin's possession from the control of
mines on the Comstock have gradually
| grown until now he has a half a dozen
great enterprises under full Roadway.
He owns the largest and finest hotel in
San Francisco, with the single exception
of the Palace, and which contains a the
atre within it. He has q fine summer
hotel IN Lake Tahoe, and he has shrewd-
ly bought up a large strip Of the shore of
this beautiful lake, which in few years
will be sought after for villa sites. Fin
ally, he owns the great Santa Anita ranch,
near Los Angeles the breeding place Of
the string of swift-footed flyers with
which he goes East to contest for the
prizes on the chief racing circuits, and
n of the best general fruit and stock
ranches in the State. This pr.ncely
domain extends fourteen miles east and
west and twelve miles north and south,
and embraces So, 600 acres. He shears
thousands of sheep every year, raises
wheat enough to charter entire ships for
conveying it to Liverpool, and makes
more brandy than any one else in the
State, besides turning out a large quanti-
ty of wine.
The men who are boarded on the ranch
get 81 a day, and the few Chinese who
remain-not over a dozen, all told-get
81 a day and board themselves. What
adds to the likeness to the Southern
plantation is the appearance of young
darkies driving carts or herding stock.
These are members of a colony of North
Carolina negroes whom Baldwin brought
out here from their old homes two years
ago. He paid their fares and made a
contract with them to work for him
for a term of years. He built them
neat houses, and here are installed the
ten families comprising about sixty mem
bers. They have made excellent hands
in the field and the orchard, because the
women aud children can be counted on
for good work in cultivating and pick
ing fruit.
The man who has charge of all the
practical details of this huge place is J.
r. Fulby, a shrewd, energetic Californian,
who knows wheat growing and fruit cu.-
ture so thoroughly that he is a terror to
all incompetent hands, and who keeps
his small army of workmen under regular
Military discipline. Judged by the re-
salts, his management is the best of any
that I saw in the southern country.
The wine ccller is always an object of
curiosity to the average tourist, but even
though one enjoys the companionship of
the manager and the hospitality of the
ranch, it is very dangerous to sample
California wines. There is so much
strength in the juice of these Iusty grapes,
even when mellow with age, that unless
one is a seasoned vessel the chances are
that he will be overcome before he knows
it. The cellar is piled high with them
ten years old. All tn, latest machinery
for distilling is here, and the place is in
charge of a French expert, of lifelong
experience in wine and brandy making in
his native country.
After one has seen the orange groves,
the orchards, vineyards, and the other
features of the home place, he is prepared
to extend his observations to the great
wheat and sheep ranches on the Santa
Anita. You may drive for miles through
fields where the wheat is now knee high
and shows an even stand which would
delight the eye of a Dakota wheat grow
er. Beyond the wheat farm the visitor
comes to the Puento sheep ranch, COM
prises about 80, 900 acres of gently roll
ing foothiiI land reaching back to the
mountains. The old Scotchman, named
Cameron, who has cared for sheep all his
life, gong from Scotland to New Zealand
and from New Zealand coming here. He
is a man of wide information, and he
seemed liked an anachronism in this free
and easy California life, for he adheres
TO the Calvinism In which he was bred.
An example of the rigid insistence upon
his creed was furnished last summer
when Baldwin had a party of friends at
che ranch. The supply of meat ran out
and the millionaire sent over to old Cam
eron to slaughter four sheep. The an
sWer was returned in broad Scotch:
ssThere will be hi killing of the sheep on
the Sawbath, 2 and Baldwin had to send
to town for his meat.
BALDWIN is engaged in splitting up a
portion of the ranch into small tracts of
from twenty acres upward and selling
them to Los Angeles people for summer
villas and to Eastern people who wish q
winter home in one Of the most beautiful
valleys of southern California. a rail-
road will be completed through the
ranchthis fall, and then one may reach
the city of Los Angeles in fifteen min
utes. The only drawback to rapid set
Element Of the ranch is the price charged
for the land. With perpetual water
right, $3.50 per acre is asked for unin-
proved land. The majority of those
who buy this land will be wealthy peo-.
ple. who can afford to snen1 from &105-