“We Are Like Spoiled Children Who Are Accustomed to Having Everything Their Own Way”: Some History of Leonard J. Rose, 1827-1899, Part Seven

by Paul R. Spitzzeri

Our deep dive into some of the history of L.J. Rose, the proprietor of the Sunny Slope Ranch in the San Gabriel Valley, famous for its citrus, grapes and wine and horses, takes us to the year 1884 and another in a long line of famous visitors to a place that drew many tourists to the property, beautifully situated at the base of what were then known as the Sierra Madre Mountains.

General Winfield Scott Hancock was stationed in southern California for about two-and-a-half years before the outbreak of the Civil War and was close to “Port Admiral” Phineas Banning of Wilmington. The latter named a son Hancock and had a light steamship christened as the “Ada Hancock” for the officer’s daughter (an 1863 boiler explosion killed many, including Banning’s chief clerk, Thomas H. Workman, nephew of Homestead owners William Workman and Nicolasa Urioste.)

Hancock had a distinguished wartime service, including at Gettysburg, and was responsible for supervising the hangings of those found guilty of involvement in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. His postwar service found him in several departments throughout the country, and, while a supporter of the Union, he was also a popular Democrat, who was considered for presidential election nominations in 1868 and 1876, before becoming the standard-bearer in 1880 and losing the former Union Army General James A. Garfield.

Hancock’s party visited Sunny Slope after a tour at “Lucky” Baldwin’s Santa Anita and the New Year’s Day edition of the Herald recorded that Rose’s “winery and distillery were gone over with some minuteness.” Highlighted was “the gigantic scale of Mr. Rose’s operations” including the note that 114,000 gallons of brandy were manufactured the prior year and “enormous quantities of wine, both white and red.” It was added that the brandy, “if made up into wine, would have footed up 570,000 gallons.” Hancock, however, was equally taken by the horse-breeding element and Rose pointed out that a rather homely mare produced colts sold for $24,000.

About a week later, Charles Stern, Rose’s partner for nearly a decade, made his annual visit, which had the added vantage of escaping the cold winters of the east, and he was praised for his superior managerial abilities. The firm of Stern and Rose, the Herald of the 9th noted, crushed 12 million pounds of grapes the prior year, but, despite the large scale of manufacturing, it was said the duo were having trouble meeting the demand of eastern customers.

Consequently, the company took to buying the wine of other regional producers, including from Anaheim and competitor James de Barth Shorb’s San Gabriel Wine Company. Echoing previous comments from Rose and others in the Golden State, Stern told the paper that he expected that too much planting of grapes meant that “the vineyard business may be overdone for a while.” It was important, he emphasized, that “people of means, who can hold and grade their wines and brandies, [should] go into the business of growing grapes,” to stabilize the situation. Sunny Slope had 875 acres in its vineyard and Rose “is adding to it every year” including more of the foreign grapes, like Berger and Blue Elbe, that were staples there.

In his report as Los Angeles District representative for the state horticultural commission, Rose, at the start of 1884, observed that planting of vineyards tripled since the organization was established four years prior following the ratification of the state constitution. Prices of land jumped from $10 to between $50 and $100 an acre and homes with adjacent vineyards were found where sheep recently grazed, while better railroad service meant that cars were “taking our wine, our oranges and our wheat to the four corners of the earth.”

Grape yields in 1883 were lessened by a hot June, the hottest ever known, but the famous climate mitigated major losses by the the time the fall harvest ensued and Rose commented “the fact is that we are like spoiled children who are accustomed to having everything their own way.” Remarkably yields led to a false feeling of inevitability, so any decline meant that “we make as great an outcry as if we were ruined.” He estimated but a 10% decline from the prior year and some 55 million pounds of fruit harvested, though the commissioner was hesitant to estimate figures on how much brandy and wine were produced. He ended by noting that the region was “teeming with life and energy, new people, new hopes and new homes.”

Late season downpours struck in February and there was widespread flooding in greater Los Angeles, but at Sunny Slope “the Storm King has left his impress [only] upon a few acres,” though on newer sections “the lately set out vineyards in that fecund valley are in splendid feather and will begin, under the most favorable auspices, a long and prolific career.” In mid-March there was relief that the South Los Angeles (now the Florence-Graham area) vineyard of Remi Nadeau was not as damaged as previously feared and he intended to add 400,000 vines to the 2 million he already was cultivating and the Herald asserted that he was “in the front rank as the greatest viticulturist in the world,” at least in sheer volume.

Second to Nadeau in quantity of vines was Leland Stanford, who was previously mentioned here as a visitor to Sunny Slope and whose Vina ranch in Tehama County was immense but not quite as voluminous as that of Nadeau. The paper continued that “Mr. L.J. Rose has more bearing vines than any other man in California, but not so many planted,” with the latter pegged at a million and the former at 600,000.” Shorb, when his work was finished, was expected to have 2 million vines, while Lucky Baldwin and Edward L. Mayberry, another San Gabriel district viticulturist, each had about 600,000 vines and were adding to that number. In all, it was anticipated that 5 million vines would be planted in Los Angeles County for the year.

Citrus growing definitely took a back seat to the Sunny Slope vineyard during these years, though the Chicago Tribune (Stern and Rose had a major office in the Windy City and Rose spent much of his early life in the Land of Lincoln) of 26 April, noted that the 1882-1883 season (oranges matured and were harvested in the winter) “was the heaviest ever known in California.” The problem was that there was so much fruit that it had to remain on the tree while growers struggled to get oranges marketed (the invention of the refrigerated boxcar, moreover, was a decade or so away).

So, with this condition, “the trees expend their energies in holding the fruit, and there is in consequence a lack of blooming for the new crop and many of the blossoms fail to perfect the fruit, hence a light crop the succeeding season.” Rose was held out as an example, with the Tribune reporting that, in 1881-1882, there were 40,000 boxes of oranges shipped from Sunny Slope, but the 1883-1884 season produced only a quarter that amount. This was for the Valencia, while the Navel fared better because “it is a light bearer and never produces a crop so large as to affect the succeeding season’s crop” as much. Moreover, the Navel was a better fruit and so was picked and sent to market sooner.

The same paper, in its 29 July edition, reported that Rose sold Sunny Slope, said to be “probably the finest in California,” for $750,000, though a buyer was not named. Stated to be 2,000 acres of “well-watered land,” the ranch’s orange crop was sold for $16,000, a good 45% less than earlier in the decade—this demonstrating the problem of a smaller yield as noted above. The grape yield was 1,800 tons on about 1,000 acres of vineyard.

This rumor, however, proved to be unfounded and L.J. Rose, Jr., his father’s biographer, did not mention it, though he wrote that “it was during this year, 1884, that the first [well, second] boom started in Los Angeles” and “speculation [on land] was rampant.” In his reckoning, the junior Rose stated that “paper profit money was so easily counted the tendency was to overbuy, and there was a sorrowful day of reckoning when the bubble burst about two years later.” It does seem, though, that he was off on his dates, as the great Boom of the Eighties was generally from 1886 to 1888. In any case, L.J., Jr was handling much of the administration and another son Harry the wine production of Sunny Slope.

Because of the heavy rains during the prior winter and following fog conditions, it was not surprising to see the Herald of 10 August report mildew was reported in the vineyards of Rose and many of his neighbors, including Baldwin, Mayberry, Margaret Hereford Wilson (widow of Benjamin D. of Lake Vineyard), James F. Crank, California Governor George Stoneman, and others. Sulphur treatments were ongoing, “but the effect of the mildew will be to reduce the yield quite materially.” The malady was considered rare “and may not rise again in a century,” but “all vineyardists should be prepared to meet it whenever it appears.”

A July auction of Sunny Slope horses was held in Chicago on 11 July and the Tribune briefly noted that these were to include “the finest colts and fillies . . . that any man ever bred” and were to be offered “without reserve or by-bidding,” this latter meaning no bidding by an agent of the owner and auctioneer to artificially inflate prices. The Herald of 21 September stated that Rose had success in Sacramento races, where his steeds Rajah and Kismet, sired from the aforementioned Sultan, “made the best trotting time ever recorded for youngsters of their age.”

On 13 October, the fifth annual fair of the Sixth District Agricultural Association, the president of which was William H. Workman, opened at Turn Verein Hall in Los Angeles with Rose giving the keynote address. In it, he reflected on the multifold changes since the formation of the organization and added that, nearly a quarter century ago, when he came to the region, the locations of Alhambra, Pasadena, Pomona, Ontario, and Riverside “were waste places and unoccupied, where sheep, cattle and fleet wild horses roamed at will.” He described, somewhat poetically, the untouched beauty of so much of greater Los Angeles with the eye of a naturalist and romantic.

Rose’s unbounded enthusiasm for California and greater Los Angeles became more practical when it came to his observation that railroad improvements, such as the Southern Pacific’s southern route to New Orleans, realized in 1883, “doubled all values in Los Angeles county in the past five years.” New markets meant higher prices for “wheat, wine, wool and other products” shipped throughout the United States and in Europe and bringing desired imports to the region.

At the end of the year, Rose wrote the Herald of the ongoing problem of adulterated wines with the paper of the 17th including his statement that “this is a matter that will have to be pushed by the grape-growers and the people who wish fair-dealing.” Temptation was strong, in terms of profits, for those who traded in the nefarious evil, but a law against adulteration was badly needed and the paper was encouraged to assist in spreading the word about the issue.

The year 1885 was notably quieter for Sunny Slope and Rose than the prior twelve-month period—in fact, L.J. Rose, Jr. recorded his marriage at the start of that year and discussed some of Sunny Slope’s horses and racing achievements, but otherwise skipped the year entirely in his biography of his father. What he did not earlier in the manuscript was that, in 1882, Rose, Sr. was in San Francisco and met J.E. Bowe, who’d visited the ranch earlier and “was greatly impressed with its magnificence.”

Rose, Jr. wrote that Bowe was sure he could sell the ranch to British capitalists and “prevailed on Father to give him a year’s option at $750,000, subject to a commission of 10%,” this to exclude the horses and wine inventory. This was in 1882-1883 and it may be that the late July 1884 report mentioned above and for that sale amount was connected to Bowe’s efforts—moreover, the younger Rose may have had the dates off as he looked back close to a half-century when he wrote his biography.

After the completion of the 1884-1885 orange harvest season, the Times of 21 May reported on the yields of the leading quartet of growers in the San Gabriel district. “Lucky” Baldwin headed the list with 60,000 boxes picked, while Alfred B. Chapman, co-owner with his brother William, of a property (now including the Chapman Woods community) adjacent to Sunny Slope, was not far behind at 50,000. Rose had 30,000 to his name and James de Barth Shorb, who put in enormous effort and resources into his San Gabriel Wine Company, was a distant fourth at 7,000 boxes.

On 1 December, the Herald noted the formation of the Southern California Orange Growers Association, which issued stock to 17 persons, including Margaret Wilson, the Germain Fruit Company of Los Angeles, Shorb, and William H. Workman. The paper added that “the stock already subscribed represents a great many oranges,” including those 7,000 boxes from Shorb, 2,000 from Workman, between 10,000-15,000 from the Germain firm, Mrs. Wilson’s 10,000, the same from Chapman and about 20,000 from Rose, with the latter two ready to subscribe.

This was said to be true of Baldwin, good for 20,000 boxes and Governor Stoneman, so that it was asserted that two-thirds of the crop of the various members were to be under the Association’s control. When elections were held several days later, Rose was elected treasurer having joined the board of directors, as well, while Workman was one of three members of the executive committee.

Another organization established late in 1885 was the California Fruit Union, which incorporated in mid-November with a quarter million dollars worth of stock issued in shares of a dollar each. There were nine directors, with Horatio P. Livermore, whose father made a fortune in logging and building dams near Folsom, where the state prison was later built, and the family being developers of a major section of Oakland, as president, while Rose was another of the directorate.

The 29 December edition of the paper cited Rose’s report that “his orange crop this year is very light—not more than two-thirds of what it was a year ago,” though the fruit was “of very superior quality, both [?] as to size, color and flavor.” The proprietor of Sunny Slope extended his opinion that “this is generally true of the crop in Southern California.”

As for the vineyard and wine-making element, very little of note was recorded in newspaper accounts during the year. In June, he briefly was cited for his recommendation of foreign grapes (Grosser Blauer and Tannat) for local vineyardists to consider planting,” but on the 1st of July, a surprising announcement was made by Rose to grape-growers, in which he stated,

Believing that it may be of some benefit, for your future guidance, I take this mode of informing you that we will not buy grapes this season . . . I know the hardship it will work for you to have to prepare for wine making, and it is only after trying in every possible way to do otherwise that at last I have to give it up for circumstances that are beyond control.

He did not explain what the situation was, but continued that “we offer the wine house and distillery in Los Angeles for sale, and will sell it for what it cost us.” He suggested an association of grape growers acquire the bargain and the current superintendent, Sanderson, was recommended to anyone who wanted to keep him employed there. Empty wine pipes and puncheons were offered and Rose concluded that he “would take pay for packages, if desired, in grapes, delivered at San Gabriel, and at the market price.”

Not satisfied with this abrupt explanation, the Los Angeles Mirror of Independence Day went to Sanderson’s house for more details. He stated “it was not due to any general depression in the wine and brandy industry” as “trade has never been better with us,” but the Stern and Rose partnership expired in a year’s time and the two “have now a large stock of wine and brandy which they wish to dispose of before dissolving.” He clarified that Rose would continue to make wine from his own grapes at Sunny Slope, but the former Tarbox distillery was to be sold.

The stark suddenness of the announcement can be compared to the remarks, as paraphrased by the Times of the following day, that Rose gave at the state viticulture convention in Los Angeles on 17 November, relating to the persistent problem of insect infestation—recall also his exchange with Luther M. Holt about red scale, discussed earlier in this post. A rather remarkable transformation was seemingly effected from the ebullient booster of his industry, his ranch, his region and his state as he addressed the question only briefly:

He spoke rather despondingly as to the results of his labors in trying to eradicate the scale bug . . . Mr. Rose then excused himself from the convention, as he had been absent some time in San Francisco, and found it necessary to get back home.

This summary is hardly conclusive as to Rose’s general state of mind, but one wonders if the impending dissolution of Stern and Rose, the borrowing of money from Alexander Weill and John W. Mackay, and any other number of possible personal and professional issues, including for the latter, a heavily capital-intensive business subject to many problems that could create serious financial issues, brought a serious level of stress to the Sunny Slope owner.

We can also hearken back to a comment made by Rose, Jr. early in this post, namely that his father was “always inclined to be a plunger” which reflects ambition, drive, initiative, but also high levels of risk. This included another project launched in 1885 as Rose established the subdivision of Lamanda Park, largely due to the construction of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railway, recently discussed in a post here.

Combining the first letter of his first name with the name of his wife Amanda, the tract was briefly discussed in the Times of 28 November as “being actively pushed by L.J. Rose,” who dismantled some of the extensive and expensive fencing he’d installed for streets being laid out. A well, a Kerckhoff and Cuzner lumber yard, a park and a tract office were mentioned, as well as the construction of the station for the railroad and a barn and livery and feed stable.

Next comes part eight as we move to the great boom of 1886-1888, after the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe completed a direct transcontinental railroad link to greater Los Angeles in late 1885, so check back with us for that.