The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-23
hODJESKA'S COLONY
Story of California Experiment o
the Great Actress.
IT ENDED In DISASTER
CoLoNIsTs WERE CLEVER, BUT
IGNORANT OF FARMING.
They Were Actors, Writers, and
sculptors and Though to Find An
Idyllic Home In the Shadows of
the Sierras-Sienkiewic One Of
the Number.
CNew York Evening Post.l

New York Evening Post)
Los Angeles, Gala few of the
American residents in southern Cali
fornia are particularly interested in
the news that Henryk Sienkiewicz, the
author of Quo Vadis' and with Fire
and Sword is to come to the United
States, and, perhaps, to cross the con-
tinent and visit some of his old-time
friends and neighborS on the ranches in
Los Angeles and Orange counties. The
novelist lived in this country nearly
two years-in 1885, 1877 and 1878. Many
people remember him personally and
many more remember the Utopian CO.
operative agricultural colony that ne
and Nine Helen Modjeska and Mich
ael Kroschiki labored to establish in
| the beautiful Anaheim valley that
stretches from the foot of the Sierras
| to the Pacific shores in southern Cali
| fornia.
There were thirty three in the colony
I -twenty-four young men and nine
women, who came with their husbands
Henrky Sienkiewicz was among the
bachelors, and one of the youngest.
Every one in the colony had some
means and a few, like Count Bozenta
/ and his wife, Nine. Helen Modjeska,
had some $1,000 or $4,000 they had
saved from professional labors in Eu-
rope. Every one in the colony was
genius of some sort. That is what
brought them together. Several We're
painters, four were actors, two were
Sculptors, one an engraver and dozen
were editors and literary people. Their
idea was that here in the semi-tropics,
along the shores of the mighty Pacific,
and with the inspiration of the snow
capped Sierras, they might lead an
idyllic existence. They believed that
what had been done in Greece and
Italy, amid a climatic environment
similar to that of southern California,
might be duplicated in this land of
fruits and flowers. The real estate
pamphlets which they had read from
cover to cover in their homes in far off
Poland had assured them that in the
fertile soil of southern California crops
grew themselves when the. simple
planting was done. They imagined they
they might live easily from the product
of their broad alfalfa fields, their olive
and orange groves, and that the col
ony's herds of cattle and flocks of sheep
out among the foothills and mountains
would annually yield sufficient revenue
to maintain the whole colony in any
event.
Henryk Sienkiewicz was about "a
when he lived in the Polish colony at
Anaheim, and had made something of
a reputation as a short story writer in
the newspapers at CracOw, Poland. He
devoted his time almost wholly to writ |
ing Gin his native tongue, of course) |
while at Anaheim. Several of his
charcoal Sketches were written at
that time. a number of the old-time |
ranchmen in the valley still remember |
him clearly. He was an expert angler |
and he was often seen fishing in the !
wonderful trout streams in the can |
yons of the San Gabriel mountains. |
Several ranchmen who were employed |
about the Polish colony tell of how, |
day after day, they used to see Sienkie- !
wicz seated at a table in the shade of !
the pepper trees fitfully writing and !
cigarettes.
Nine Helen Modjeska was the
leader in the colony. She had weaTfed |
of the stage in Europe and all her girl
hood love for farming came back in
the colony. Vladscot, whose odes and
lyrics have since become universally.
known in Poland and Russia, was in
the colony, and Michael Kroschiki,
who is among the foremost Polish
painters, and his wife and child, were
there also. 1t was as notable an as
of genial, artistic, philosophic
and brilliant men and women as ever
lived in u single colony in America.
EverybOdy-even the plain, practical
DID ranchmen, who had no idea of art
and literature-liked the Poles and
watched the colony with interest.
The colony was organized in Cracow
N the early summer of 1876 and the
members spent the season in preparing
or permanent removal to America. The
treasury held about $4,000.
Count Bozenta and Nine. Modjeska
put in the savings of several years
and the younger. Unmarried men, as
contributed all their petty
savings. The colony rendezvoused at u
Berlin and sailed from Bremen, reach
ng New York in the last days of the
Centennial exposition at Philadelphia.
Probably no more eXpectant, enthusi-
lstic people ever landed at New York
All were beaming at having exchanged
he harassing political conditions of
Poland for free America. They were
ull of plans and We're restless to begin
ife in their cooperative colony. They
lad a box full of architectural plans
or their houses and a wagon load of
lewly bought books on agriculture and
LOCATING THE COLONY.