The record-union., 1893-03-24

HucH dSlOHlSneO, anu 50 ucIlBnteu VIII
the place that he remained until l started
for the States in October, and l don't
know how much longer.
When the March rains set in the barley
commenced growing, and continued
growing until it reached hight OF about
nve feet, and made rs good a crop as one
would wish to see. There were no
threshing- machines in this country then,
so we cut our barley just before 1t was
ripe for hay, and baled it in hand-power
press which was made upon the ranch.
We sold the hay to teamsters on the road
for three cents pound. Alter this every
body said: "Oh, yes, We see you can
grow barley, but you
CAN'T RAISE WHEAT"
So, in order to test the matter, we in
the winter of 1851 sent to San Francisco
and bought a sack of beardless Chile
wheat, which weighed 153 pounds, and
sowed it upon two or three acres of new
ground. The next harvest we threshed
l7o bushels OF wheat from this sack OF
seed. Many of the heads measured seven
inches in length.
Governor Bigler procured sheaf of
this wheat to exhibit at the World's air
in New York in 81. This no doubt was
the first agricultural product which Cali
fornia ever exhibited at a worlds falr.
We also set out an apple orchard IN the
spring of 1852, but the grasshoppers de-
StroVed it the following summer. Ihe
foregoing is what the writer knows about
farming in California in early days.
Kip was elected TO the Legislature in
September, 1851, and took his seat on the
Sth of January following, when John
Bigler was inaugurated Governor. Kip
was on the ranch but little after this.
When l returned with my wife from the
States, on the Sth of January, 1888,
found the crops upon the ranch mostly in
and growing nicely.
THE TOWN OF HoBoKEN
Was then just starting, and by the time l
recovered from the Panama lever, which
l had contracted on shipboard, the flood
had subsided so much that il was posSl-
ble TO reach Front street in the city with
good team. So | bought hay from
schooners on the Sacramento River AMI
started a hayward in Brighton. l had
the bulk of the hay trade during the re-
mainder of those stirring Hoboken times,
and was in the swim along with the rest.
In the summer of 1854 l harvested q
large crop of wheat, and in company
with William Hodgkins built and ope-
rated a steam Touring mill on the ranch.
We ran the mill about two years, Oft and
on. 1t proved Improbable, on account
OF the sharp competition with which we
had 10 contend in the city, and also with
Edward Stockton's mill in Folsom,
which was started on the completion of
the railroad to that place, in 1856. Hodg-
kins sold his interest in the mill about
this time, and it changed hands number
OF times, and was finally bought by Will
lam Jones in 1858 or '59, and we removed
the mill TO the Sacramento Valley Rail
road, short distance east OF what IS now
known as Brighton Junction. We ope
rated the mill one or two years with sue
cess, when it was burned.
MORMON ISLAND WEDDING.
Edward Suffron, mentioned above,
spent the winter of 40 at Mormon Island.
lie had written an account of a wedding
that took place there that winter, which
probably was the first marriage ever
solemnized in Sacramento County. Sut-
from was master of ceremonies, and the
wedding was written up in good shape,
covering three or four pages of foolscap
paper. l heard him read it a number OF
times, and will relate what little 1 re-
member. The bride was the landlady at
one of the hotels in Mormon Island, and
everybody was invited to the wedding.
The house was packed with wedding
guests. When the bride and groom had
taken their places upon the floor, the
officiating clergyman made the usual an
nouncement.
III there Is anyone present who knows
of any legal reason why these parties
should not be joined in wedlock, to now
make it known, or ever after hold their
peace.'
a tall, red-shirted miner in the farther
corner of the room arose and said:
There hasn't none of US got id
word to say; Elder, go onr'
And the Elder proceeded with the cere-
mony, at the conclusion of which the
whole party sat down to bountiful sup
per of bacon and beans, with all the
"delicacies" which the country then
afforded.
There were no canned fruits nor vegeta-
bles in those days. The first that [ recol-
lect seeing of the kind were some boiled
canned potatoes, which we bought in the
spring of 1851. Suffron, who was civil
engineer, was elected or appointed City
Surveyor of Sacramento in the winter of
81, and held the office for year or more.
at the expiration of which time he re-
turned to his home in Elmira, n. Y.
BRIGHToN's LIVELY DAYS.
When first settled in Brighton it was
a lively little town. Teaming was yerv
brisk on the road. There were four hotels.
including Captain Paxton's China cot
tage, within distance of less than one
mile, and all were doing good business.
The Pavilion Hotel, which stood about
midway between the others, was a large.
three-story frame building, containing
over sixty rooms, 1t was built in 40 to
accommodate the visitors to the race
course, and was burned down in the fall of
'02, while | was absent In the States. So
rapidly did it burn that there was moth
ing saved-not even the change in the till
and there was no insurance upon the
property. 1t belonged, at the time of the
fire, to Kip x Petit and g. w. Colby, we
having bought it only a few weeks before
it burned.
The fire started from can of lard ig-
hitting, which the colored cook had placed
upon hot kitchen stove. The other
hotels closed in the latter part of 1850,
when the travel shifted to the back-road,
The first structure OF any kind ever
erected on the Jackson, or ''back- -road,r
as it was then called, known as
THE MAGNOLIA,
Was tent put up by Edward Green, or
"Uncle Ned,n as his friends called him.
in the winter of 1851, and kept as u saloon
and refreshment-stand upon land then
claimed by a. b. Hawkins. 1t stood
some rods west of the hotel now known
as the Magnolia, or Five-mile House.
year or more he fell sick and was taken
to the city, where he soon after died. At
ter his death the tent was removed and a
frame building erected by Chas Wright,
who named it the Magnolia.
THE FIRST PLANK ROAD.
Colonel Kip was one of the projectors
of the celebrated Brighton plank.road. 1t
was the first plank road ever built in
California. Kip was a stock holder, and
also superinten the construction of
the road. The road was built in 1858, and
extended from the city limits through
Brighton to Patterson's American Fork
House, distance of nine miles, and il
was used until worn out by travel. John
NJ. Rhodes, pioneer Sacramento banker,
was treasurer and cashier OF the Plank
Road Company. Mr.. Rhodes now resides
in Lassen County, and is hale and hearty,
enjoying the fruits of busy and we'll