Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1886-06-18
A WONDERFUL FARM.
"Lucy Baldwin'S" Great
Ranch in California.
A Princely Domain, Fourteen Miles Long
Containing $1,000 Acres,

containing oo,OOO Acres
A letter from California to the st.
Louis Globe Democrat says: Lucky |
Baldwin's possession from the control OF
mines on the Comstock have gradually |
grown until now he has half dozen
great enterprises under full Roadway.
lie owns the largest and finest hotel in
San Francisco, with the single exception
Of the Palace, and which contains the
atre within it. He has fine summer
hotel on Lake Tahoe, and he has shrewd-
ly bought up large strip of the shore Of
this beautiful lake, which in a 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
one 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 $1,000 acres. He shears
thousands of sheep every year, raise
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 large quanti-
ty of wine.
The men who are boarded on the ranch
get 81 Il day, aad the few Chinese who
remain not over dozen, all told-get
ST 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 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 and children can be counte 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 ],
f. Fulby, a shrewd, energetic Californian
vviaos.sroSys wheat tsgroSving errl fr.aae ga,
: ture SO thoroughly that he is terror t
all incompetent hands, and who keep
his small army of worhmen under regula
military discipline. Judged by the re-
SUITS his management is the best of an,
chat | saw in the southern country.
The wine celler is always an object OF
curiosity to the average tourist, but ever
though one enjoy, 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 lusty 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 pilei high with them
ten years old. All tn, latest machinery
for distilling is here, and the place is in
charge of 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 Dakota wheat grow
er. Beyond the wheat farm the visitor
comes to the Puento sheep ranch, com
prises about 80, O0) acres of g ntly roll
ing foothil land reaching back to the
, mountains. The old Scotchman, named
, Cameron who has cared for sheep all his
life, gong from Scotland to New aland
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 party of friends at
the 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
"Therc will be ma killing of the sheep on
the Sawbath, aud Baldwin had to send
to town for his meat
BALDWIN is engaged in splitting up a
portion of the ranch into small tracts oil
from twenty acres upward and selling
them to Los Angeles people for summer
villas and to Eastern people who wish a
winter home in one of the most beautiful
valleys of southern California. A rail
road will be completed through the
( ranch this fall, and then one may reach
the city of Los Angeles in fifteen min
utes. The only drawback to rapid set
tlement OF the ranch is the price charged
for the land. With perpetual water
right, $3.50 per acre is asked for unim-
proved land. The majority of those
who buy this land will be wealthy peo-
pie, who can afford to spend from slo,
600 to $50, 600 in laying out and lmprov-
ing place.
Room to Rent.
EtIIod n +orr;I,Io sbocL1 4bis maWnin'