The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-09-20
'OWNER F1AGGIN" MAN OF
SILENCE AND ACCOMPLISH N1ENTS

w. ID. Carr, his active partner in tho
Kern county deal took up their cause.
A Kern county Judge was found who
decided for the ranchers, but the Su-
preme Court decided for the old Eng
lish riparian law. Then Haggin took
II to the Legislature. II became a po-
ltical issue and irrigation at last OBJ
tanned legal authority and regulation.
What that meant TO California then
and has meant since only those who
have seen the miracles Of cultivation in
the Golden State can tell. We delight
in California fruits and cereals, but II
e. we'll to know that TO James r. Hag-
gin. the silent man, the great and early
success Of irrigation Is largely due.
Thousands upon thousands of ranchcrs
blessed him then. and II the later gem
Grafton forgcts 1t while enjoying water
rights in a score Of States. let us lay 1t
up in his honor now. Orchards, vine-
yards. alfalfa lands sing his praise in
their own sweet scented song from the
oregon border TO San Diego.
The day of the bonanza kings was
in the sky and Haggin let nothing
promising in the mining line escape him
for all his concern In the land and it's
produce. Macksy and Fair aud Flood
mansions as consequence Of their
buying up the great Comstocls lode
| He did not conflne his ventures to Cali
| fornia. Not trusting himself to Judge
OF distant properties he employed ex-
| pcrts TO examine all promising offerings
When he bought he bought outright.
| II was in this way that he made the
! fortune of George Hearst. who on his
share of these buyings became a million
| alrc himself and afterward a Senator Of
| the United states rich enough 10 let his
| son. William Randolph Hearst buy the
San Francisco Erdmincr as ono let's
his offspring buy toy or the Grownup
| boy p yacht.
What mines came under the Haggin
| sway II would take columns to tell. His
interest In the great Homestake mine
| he sold for 50 600. 900. HIS holdings IN
| the great Anaconda mine perhaps the
richest copper mine In America. would
be difficult, to value. In the Alaska Com
merCial Company his holdings were like
wise enormous. I'm all over a hundred
mines were owned in greater part nv
| himself and hts partners. Productions
! was hts atm not speculation in the
| miues on tho stock market, That meant
wages for labor not for stock tape
| handles
| Often II was necessary to make stag
| gcring expenditures to put the enter
prises on n paying basis The Cerro de
| Pasco mlncs in Peru, AZ an altitude Of
| $4,000 feet In the Andes. which produce
| millions Of pounds ~ copper per year.
are case IN point. Their potential
value was sufficiently proved to him
| They showed great values over q wide
area. but far only corner OF the
property not more than five acres out
OF many square miles had been worked.
! The mining difficulties at that altitude
are very great. For years the balance
was on the wrong side. II was neces-
! sary to build railroad ninety miles
long costing 5000 a mile. lie paid for
II and never troubled the other share
holders. In all. outside his purchase
share he put IN personally $1,000 900 TO
make good and the copper bars are
coming monthly by the shipload.
What his mining properties total Il
would be hard to calculate. II IL not
able that the last venture was under
taken by him when he was over 10
| years OF age.
| Let us go back 10 his lands There
he set the harvests blooming. He cut
his Kern county holdings up into
workable ranches leasing some and
running others himself. His wheat fields
were large enough to supply all Cali
fornia with -four: his sheep herds were
the largest on the coast and his sales
Of hops were greater than those OF any
other man in the Union.
The Sacramento tract became his
playground. with his former partner,
Latham. and the brilliant but unfor-
tunate william g. Ralston he had taken
up coaching as a pastime in San Fran
cisco, hut when Latham's fortunes
fell with a crash and Ralston passed
} out SO tragically the sport lost It's
| attractions for him. Thenceforth his
pleasure was TO be in raising thorough
bred horses on scale larger than any
! other man on the footstool.
II was somewhere in the early 80:
that he began IN earnest. Hitherto he
had raised trotting horses. Clydesdsles
Percherons. Normans and Cleveland
bays. but that was now reiegated &c