by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Last week, the Homestead hosted a class from Occidental College in Los Angeles, with Assistant Professor Karla Peña bringing about ten students to do research in the Museum’s artifact collection regarding aspects of agriculture, including citrus, field crops, avocados and walnuts. We will be looking to have the students write a post for this blog based on their research and are thrilled to be able to have our collection be used for a project like this.
Further, the visit inspired this post because walnut growing was conducted by members of the Workman and Temple family at least as far back as the 1850s, with the earliest documentation so far being an account by John Quincy Adams Warren, who traveled through greater Los Angeles recording what he saw taking place on ranches and farms. At the half of Rancho La Merced occupied by Antonia Margarita Workman and F.P.F. Temple, Warren, who visited in 1860, wrote that the Temples had some
100 acres of which are inclosed to garden, vineyard, and agricultural purposes . . . Fifty acres are devoted to orchard and vineyard, the latter containing about 20,000 vines . . . [and in the orchard was] a large variety of fruit trees, pear, peach, plum, apricot, olive, figs, and [about 200] English walnut.
Twenty years later, when the Temples’ son, Francis, purchased the 75-acre Workman Homestead from “Lucky” Baldwin and had a map drawn of the property, the southwestern quarter adjacent to San José Creek, which had water year-round and from which irrigation ditches were constructed, was denoted as a walnut orchard and it is quite possible that his grandfather William Workman planted the trees there before the failure of the Temple and Workman bank and his suicide took place in 1876.
Near the Temple Homestead at La Merced, on the adjoining Rancho Potrero de Felipe Lugo, Francis’ brother, John, owned 130 acres largely planted to walnuts—this property is now the county-owned Whittier Narrows Nature Center. When another sibling, Walter, resided on the Temple Homestead in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he raised the crop and, after acquiring the Workman Homestead in 1917, he planted a large portion along the creek to walnuts.
With what was probably around three-quarters of a century of raising the nut (and at least some of the trees at the Homestead survived after Walter’s loss of the ranch in 1932, though for how long is not known), the Workman and Temple family were apparently among the earliest walnut growers in greater Los Angeles.
A Wikipedia page devoted to “Walnuts in California” states that the Spanish missionaries introduced the English walnut in the 18th century and that the first Anglo to plant the crop was Ozro W. Childs, a nursery owner and real estate developer whose farm was about where Main and 11th streets are now in the southern part of downtown Los Angeles. Yet, there are some earlier accounts to note from early Angel City newspapers.
For example, auctioneer and former Sheriff George T. Burrill advertised in the Los Angeles Star of 18 September 1852 that, on the 23rd, he was offering the contents of the store last owned by Mariano Bustamente, which included “a large assortment of Groceries and Dry Goods” among these being alcoholic beverages, [whale] sperm candles, clothing and linens, tea and walnuts. While it is possible the nuts were imported, it may also be that they were raised locally.
The 25 January 1855 edition of the Southern Californian ran an ad by Henry Dalton of the Rancho Azusa, north of Workman’s portion of La Puente, as he offered a real estate scheme akin to a lottery and among which was “ONE EXTENSIVE AND HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE VINEYARD, within fifteen minutes walk of the public square [the Plaza].” Amid 6,000 grape vines was “a magnificent Orchard of Apple, Pear, Peach, Orange, Walnut” and others, along with a house.
Three months later, another advertisement in the paper was taken out by Mark D. Brundige, who was holding a public auction on 9 June in front of the court house, located in an adobe structure on Spring Street between Temple and 1st streets, for a property that was “situated immediately on the road to San Pedro, and contains 30 acres, more or less, of the best tillable lands in the county.”
The property was live fenced (this meaning he used cactus or other plants for fencing), had ample irrigation, either existing zanjas which supplied water for domestic and farming purposes in town or canals that diverted water from them, and had “a valuable dwelling house, out houses, &c.” Moreover, Brundige informed readers that the tract had 6,000 grapevines, 225 each of apple and peach trees, 40 orange trees and 25 walnut trees in addition to apricots, figs, olives, pears, plums, pomegranates and shade trees.
The Star of 18 October [the end of the Gold Rush and stagnation in the market for cattle, which dominated the local economy may have led to all of these auctions and sales] featured an ad from Octavius D. Gass, an Ohio native who was a Gold Rush migrant and who settled in Los Angeles with Fenton M. Slaughter, later owner of the Yorba-Slaughter Adobe in the Chino Hills area. The ad stated that Gass was the town’s “water steward,” or zanjero, tasked with regulating those vital ditches.
Gass later moved to what became Las Vegas, Nevada (and is sometimes called the “Father of Las Vegas“) and was married to a niece of General and President Ulysses S. Grant ended up losing his holdings there and returned to this region, residing in Pomona and Yucaipa, as well as engaging in Baja California mining, though he died in Bryn Mawr, near Redlands. In his ad, Gass offered
105 acres of the most desirable agricultural land in this vicinity, situated about two miles from this City, on the SAN PEDRO ROAD, which advantage keeps it free from dust, as a westerly wind continually blows throughout the day.
In this location, south of Brundige’s place and south of Adams Street and west of Figueroa Street, and which had a “never failing well of excellent water,” Gass planted “sage, thime [sic], asparagus, &c” as well as “300 Thrifty Peach Trees, 25 English Walnut Trees, [and] 25 Apricot Trees all of which comprise an orchard of six acres, and is enclosed with a live fence.”
In its 26 January 1856 issue, the Star commented on “Fruit and Shade Trees,” telling readers that “now is the time for planting out trees, and every one who owns a rod of ground should improve it.” It added that “a fine variety of tropical trees and plants can be obtained in this city” including those best suited for local conditions and at good prices, while it noted that “Mr. O.D. Gass has some fine Peach, Apricot and English Walnut trees for sale cheap.”
Also mentioned was William Stockton of a tract near Mission San Gabriel, who had “superior Grape Vines,” currants and “choice grafted Pear Trees,” while Dr. Shaw was, importantly, said to have just returned from Central America (perhaps as filibustering by William Walker in Nicaragua was underway) with orange and mangrove trees, as well as coffee plants “which are in excellent condition and should receive the attention of our gardeners.” This led the Star to conclude, “there is no lack of material to be obtained by those who wish to improve their grounds with Fruits, Flowers and Ornamental Trees.”
The 4 October edition of the paper published a “County Statistics” piece with information from the deputy county assessor and, while it was apparently not complete, it did provide some useful detail about what was taking place in Los Angeles County. This included about 3,800 acres devoted to field crops, almost three quarters of which was planted to corn, with north of 300 acres of wheat, almost 700 to barley and over 50 to oats.
Remarkably, no detail was provided about livestock, but it was reported that there were 65 vineyards with not quite 440,000 vines, 80% of which were old, bearing ones. The largest vineyards, though no owners were stated, comprised 27,000, 20,000 and 18,000 vines, respectively, and it was estimated that well north of 5 million pounds of the fruit were derived from the total number.
Lastly, under the heading of fruit trees, the Star observed that there were well above 13,000 peaches, 3,000 pears, 1,838 apples, 1,800 currants, 1,378 apricots, 1,061 pomegranates and 1,000 raspberries, while the eighth highest total were for walnuts, at 678 trees. Orange trees, which became so dominant by the end of the century, totaled just under 300, while there were only 19 lemon trees and this citrus fruit also became prominent in later decades.
The paper’s 22 November edition provided an update for the full report sent to the Surveyor General’s office and there were considerable additions. For example, with field crops, corn was above 4,000 acres and barley was north of 3,500 (this latter a considerable difference), while wheat was almost 450. Livestock totals were also included, with nearly 70,000 wild cattle, over 20,000 sheep, nearly 8,500 wild horses and not quite 2,800 broken ones, 1,000 hogs and 883 work oxen.
The account also remarked that,
Our horticulture from the decay it wore since taken out of the control of the missionaries,” with the secularization (closing) of the missions some two decades prior, has taken new life, and the new hands which preside over it are laboring (with success) to bring it back to its former luxuriance and excellence . . .
The updated totals included close to 600,000 bearing grapevines and 134,000 recently planted ones. Bearing peaches totaled almost 3,400, but young ones amounted to close to 50,000, while mature orange trees included only 151, but there were 4,200 young ones. Similarly, bearing apples and apricots were 460 and 700, respectively, but young trees totaled 1,600 and 1,920. There were just above 1,300 bearing pear trees and about 1,000 newly planted ones and pomegranates were 340 and 1,014. As for walnuts, the totals were 806 bearing and 151 young trees.
By the end of 1856, the Star proclaimed that “among our facts, we have a climate unsurpassed in any country or clime” because “the genial rays of our almost tropical sun,” the term “semi-tropical” soon came into vogue, “produce in abundance the fruits of the most favored regions.” The grapevines were such that “our grapes astonish, by their size and delicious flavor” and it was added that “besides these, we have lemons, oranges and olives” and all kinds of deciduous fruits “and walnuts.”
The “Dr. Shaw” mentioned above was Joseph Shaw, whose place for about a quarter-century until his death in March 1881, was on San Pedro Street near Adams, but extended at one time west to Figueroa and north to Jefferson. A native of Boston, Massachusetts and another Gold Rush migrant, Shaw, in his daughter’s 1936 obituary, was said to have imported plants and trees from Nicaragua (where William Walker’s filibustering state briefly held sway.)
These included oranges that he planted in his South Los Angeles tract, as well as in San Gabriel, and the article called him the “founder of the Southern California citrus industry,” a title usually attributed to William Wolfskill, who planted oranges in his orchard closer to town in 1841 during the Mexican period. In any case, it is notable that a grandson, Clarence E. Weber, was a noted citrus grower in La Verne and well-known with the California Fruit Growers Association.
In the Star of 14 February 1857, Shaw advertised, in English and Spanish, to “Rancheros” that,
The Subscriber, having in his Nursery a variety of choice FRUIT TREES, such as the Peach, the Apricot, the English Walnut, and the Central American Sweet Orange, would be glad to exchange for one year old heifer Calves, from ten to fifty, for which a good price will be paid.
Also, to exchange immediately for one cow and calf. Now is the time to set out Fruit Trees.
Come on!
Nine months later, Shaw took out an ad for his Los Angeles Nursery, which looks to have been the first formally named of these establishments in the Angel City (in late 1854, Dr. William B. Osburn, who had many interests and vocations in town, imported a great many fruit and ornamental trees from a nursery in his home area of Rochester, New York, this being an innovation locally—these did not include walnuts, those he did import almonds). By 1860, Childs was operating his own Los Angeles Nursery.
In a feature in the 24 October 1857 edition of the Star, William Wolfskill was feted for his 45,000 grape vines, some dating to 1825 and most planted since 1838 and it was added that he “has a small orange orchard, in prime bearing order” and which had 2,000 trees planted earlier in the year. The account added, “he has quite a number of lime and lemon trees, as well as a large and beautiful grove of bearing walnut trees” along with apple, apricot, fig, peach and pear trees, while an attached nursery included 4,000 orange and lime trees, mostly the former, and citrons in what was adjudged “the most valuable [property of its kind], probably, in the county.”
As the 1850s came to an end, it is notable that exports processed by the forwarding merchants, Phineas Banning and company and John J. Tomlinson and Company, included small number of walnuts sent by steamer to San Francisco. The Star of 17 March 1860 published another “Statistics of the County” article which observed that, for 1859, there were more than 11,000 acres cultivated, a jump of close to two-thirds from the prior year, about 20-25% each in barley and wheat, both overtaking corn, which accounted for about an eighth of the total. Wheat alone leapt from about 500 to 2,500 acres, though barley dropped from more than 4,200 to 2,400.
With livestock, there were almost 40,000 head of cattle, 31,000 of sheep, 16,500 of horses and 8,000 chickens and 2,000 hogs. Slaughtering for the year involved 4,100 cattle, 5,000 sheet and 1,000 hogs and mules. There were also relative small numbers of donkeys, goats, turkeys, ducks and geese.
Among horticultural products, there were almost 2.6 million grapevines, 14,000 peach trees, 4,000 oranges, 2,500 apple trees, 1,500 apricots, 1,200 fig trees, 1,100 olives and 1,000 walnut trees, so the latter basically grew by just a small amount of about 40 trees. Still, amid the dramatic increases in agricultural production, walnuts had a fairly substantial presence and would grow, especially after floods and droughts from 1861 to 1865 devastated the cattle industry and citrus, grapes and wheat rose to ascendency.
The 14 July issue of the Star, under the heading of “Our Necessities,” promoted the increase in olives for oil and “the more extensive growth of almonds, [and] walnuts” along with cotton, flax, sugar and tobacco, so that “this community, with a little more industry and enterprise, could become one of the richest, and most independent on the face of the globe.” We’ll look to return to the subject of walnut-raising in our region, so keep an eye out for that.