Adventures of a Pioneer. III

ADVENTURES OF A PIONEER.

EMBRACING THE STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS OF A LONG AND BUSY LIFE.

BY HON. JOHN M. HORNER, OF PAAUILO, HAWAH.

III.— WEALTH IN CALIFORNIA FARMING.

In the beginning of January, 1850, my brother William came to me by the way of Panama, consuming six months time on the journey. By the blessing of heaven he escaped the cholera on the isthmus; his shipmates died by the dozens. He escaped starvation and perhaps a violent death, by a fair wind springing up and waft- ing them safely into Atapulco, at the critical moment when the ship's company were about to turn cannibals and cast lots to decide who should be eaten first. He afterwards heard that since he was more fleshy than others of the company, they were going to make the lot fall on him. My brother had also been bred on the farm, was young, (about twenty-one) ambitious and very industrious. I received him as a partner in my business. We worked and flourished together dur- ing the next four years, perhaps as no other farmers ever flourished before in the United States, in so short a time. My experience, my location, my estabhshed business, our skill and industry, to_ gether with the property I had acquired, all became capital in our hands. We worked them to the utmost of our ability, knowing that we were almost the only farmers in the territory that year. We knew, too, that there would be a good sale for all the produce we could raise. Fortune is said to knock at least once at every man's door. We looked upon this time and opportunity as the knocking at our

door; she found us at home. We opened the door and bade her welcome, thankfully accepting her offer. We extended our fence, inclosing about five hundred acres. Farming what we could, we let to two tenants a part of our land to be worked on shares, the teams, seed, and tools' being supplied by us. Our crop this year was comparatively large, and the soil being virgin, the product was of good quality. We bought out our ten. ants at harvest time, paying them over thirty thousand dollars for their share of the crop. Our gross sales this year approximated one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Our onions sold for forty dollars per cental; to- matoes, three hundred dollars per ton; potatoes, one hundred and fifty dollars per ton; and other things in proportion. This crop was not grown and cared for on flowery beds of ease; help was scarce until harvest time; the fencing was obtained at great ex- pense and labor, as in 1849. As in that, so it was this year. Some parts of the fence were weak, and had to be guarded; my brother and self did the guarding. Help being plentiful in the was gathered without loss. fall, this crop We established a com- mission house in San Francisco, under the firm name of J. M. Horner & Co., to sell our own and others' produce. This move- ment served us a good purpose in this and other years. Thus ended our farming venture of 1850. This year we purchased one hundred acres of land at the landing, on the Alameda river, and laid out the town of Union City upon it. We made extensive preparations for increasing our business in 1851. We bought some excellent farming land near Union City, fenced, built upon, and farmed it, in addition to improving our home farm, which was ten miles away. We bought teams, (horses, mules and oxen which had crossed the plains) imported agricultural implements from the eastern states, and iron fence and wire from England, for fences. By this means, miles of fencing was quickly, but not cheaply, constructed, as each mile cost over one thousand dollars. This year our crops were large, and a ready market was found for all we raised, though at reduced prices from former years, since farmers had multiplied. We secured by purchase the steamer

ADVENTURES OF A PIONEER. 667

Union to carry our produce to market. This year our gross sales amounted to two hundred and seventy thousand dollars. During- the fall of this year, Professor Shelton, a botanist, held, in San Francisco, the first agricultural fair ever held in California, to which I was the largest contributor. Some months afterwards I received the following letter and a silver goblet (the largest premium) from the professor:

— Jno. M. Horner, Esquire: Although you were recently presented with the accompanying testimonial of the public appreciation of your efforts to develop the agricultural resources of California, yet I cannot refrain from adding my individual congratulations to those so universal- ly accorded by our fellow citizens; if it be but to assure you that I heart- ily participate in them, and fully recognize your right to the title of pioneer in this branch of public industry. Sir, it is true that the pre- mium was not awarded by me personally, nor by those who could be in- fluenced by any preferences I may have indicated, but I have the con- sciousness of knowing that Messrs. Fremont, King, Snyder and Saunders, whose pleasing duty it was to select the most worthy of the candidates for the honor, did nothing more than to echo the public voice in present- ing you with this goblet. Take it, then, sir, no less as the evidence of the public esteem, than as proof of my individual regard; keep it as a memento of successful enterprise, and as a pledge of private friendship. And believe that no member of your family, however remote may be his generation from our own, but will recognize it as an honorable token of the worth of his ancestor, with more pride and pleasure. Sir, very truly. Your friend and obedient servant, C. A. Shelton. San Francisco, 30th March, 1852.

The above letter is copied here, as a partial confirmation of my own statements.*

• John M. Horner, of San Jose, and George Q. Cannon of San Fran-^ Cisco, have conferred a great favor upon Utah, by sending cuttings of choice varieties of apple, pear, grape, gooseberry, etc., etc., to Governor Young who will see that they are carefully treated. Will Brothers Cannon and Horner and others forward cuttings and young trees of choice varieties by every seasonable mode of conveyance?. — Extracts from Deseret News, March, 1856.

€68 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

We extended our agricultural operations in 1852, by purchas- ing more farming lands, fencing and placing tenants upon such as we did not wish to use ourselves. These tenants worked on shares. After planting was over, I sent my brother back to New Jersey, on business, and he brought back with him my father and mother and all their children and grandchildren, two of my wife's sisters, and a brother, and some other young people, some twenty-two ,

souls. He arrived home safely, in the fall, and in time to take the

place he had left in the firm of J. M. Horner & Co., to sell our large crop now ready for market. We continued our energetic and prosperous career, buying more lands and farming them our- selves, or letting them to tenants, until our potato crop reached the enormous quantity of twenty-two million pounds, in 1853. We had also in that year fifteen hundred acres of wheat and barley, besides cabbages, tomatoes and onions in quantities. California had not only supplied herself with vegetables this (1853) year, for the first time, but she produced a large surplus which could not be sold, and was never sent to market.

Flouring mills not being sufficient in California at this time, we built one at Union City, with eight run of burrs, at a cost of eighty-five thousand dollars, and ground our grain and that of others. Another agricultural fair was held in 1853, in which most of the first premiums were awarded to me. A fifty-dollar silver pitcher, for best flour in competition with seven other mills; a twenty-five dollar silver goblet, for largest variety of vegetables ; and several smaller premiums were awarded me for best vegetables of differ- ent kinds. We equipped and ran a stage line in connection with our steamer, as far up the valley as San Jose, twenty-five miles. Thus completing a through passenger from San Francisco to San line

Jose. We opened sixteen miles of public roads, mostly through our own land, and fenced the larger part on both sides. These roads have never been changed, save to narrow them to sixty-six feet. We had fenced them one hundred feet wide, in- tending them for shade trees on both sides. Money and other values increased rapidly in our hands, and, having more confidence in banks of earth than in money banks, we seldom permitted our deposits in the latter to exceed, at any one

ADVENTURES OF A PIONEER. 669-

time, thirty thousand dollars, before we started some enterprise, or invested in real estate. However, the unsettled state of land titles rendered investments in land almost as hazardous as deposit-

ing money in commercial banks, as we found to our cost. The United States opposed all land titles, and requested proof of their genuine- ness to be made before its land commissioners, reserving the right of appeal to its district court, in the event the commissioners de- cided against the government; and to appeal again to its supreme court, if the district court decided against it. Thus years of costly law suits, and in some cases ruin to owners of land titles, inter- vened before final settlement. We suffered from the law's delay in settling titles, and from squatters keeping from us, by force, a goodly portion of our lands, being encouraged to do so by the gov- ernment; for as long as the government withheld final confirmation^ the squatter continued to hold possession, however good the title. We suffered more mentally and financially during these years from' the above named causes, than from all floods and four-footed ani- mals in former years. When I arrived at the mission, all the mission land outside of the buildings and a small vineyard, was believed to belong to the Government, and was placed temporarily in the care of a Cath- olic priest, as agent. To him I applied for, and did rent, a small piece of land, but when I commenced work upon it, I was met by an Indian who claimed the ownership or the right to use that land. Upon inquiry of those supposed to know, I was satisfied he held a right there; but had no papers. So after that, I dealt with him, instead of with the priest. I finally bought his claim for six hun- dred dollars, and raised my first paying crop upon this land. Before my second crop was harvested, a merchant living near, brought to me a map of this land and what was claimed to be a provisional grant by Mexico to another civilized Indian. This annoyed me, but as there were no records within reach, and, rather than risk a law suit, as I had a valuable cropgrowing upon the land, I acknowl- edged his claim, and paid him seven thousand dollars for it. I had to borrow the money to do it. This was the first money I had ever borrowed. I returned it in a few months. The Indian, before selling to the merchant, had reserved a life-time right of occupancy, but as he only wished to use a small

piece of the land, there was no conflict between us. After a few years, he wishing to leave, I bought his life-right for six hundred

dollars. While planting our 1850 crop, one Juan B. Alvarado and one Andrew Pico, both ex-governors of California, under Mexico, sent an agent who presented to me a title or grant from the Mexican government to these gentlemen, of the whole ex-mission tract, containing thirty thousand acres, including my farm, which I had bought three times already, and wanted to sell me the whole. In submitting these papers to lawyers, for their examinations, their opinion was that the grant was good. So there was no alternative for us but to leave, rent, or buy. After considerable hesitancy on our part, enquiry, and negotiation, we, in connection with George B. Tingly, a lawyer, and E. L, Beard, a farmer on this mission land, bought their claim for forty-nine thousand dollars, for which we gave our joint notes to be paid at some future time. When the notes matured, neither Mr. Tingly nor Mr. Beard were able to meet their share of these obligations. I reluctantly paid the money. Mr. Tingly deeded to me his share of the property, Mr. Beard offered to deed me his share, but I permitted him to retain it. He afterwards returned to me the money I had advanced for him. Some time after, this grant was confirmed by the United States Land Commission, and an appeal taken to the United States District Court. While this title was being adjudicated, the squatters took possession of much of these lands, particularly those inside of our fences, which were not cultivated. We realized nothing from these lands, excepting from such parts as we had under cultivation. We had fenced them at great expense, and were paying yearly five thousand dollars taxes. Confirmed grants in the lower court, with good fences, did not constitute either ownership, or possession, ac- cording to the squatter's creed of justice and law. Their creed appeared to be ''the good old plan, let those take who have the power, and those keep who can." No squatter would buy, however cheap the land, as long as he could take by force all the well- fenced land he wanted, without cost to him, even the taxes on the land he occupied were paid by the owner of the title.

What was further observed, the closer these squatters could

ADVENTURES OF A PIONEER. 671

get to San Francisco, the better they liked it; and if the land was surveyed and staked into streets, blocks, and lots, the better, as then they could and did sell lots cheap to innocent parties. We purchased nineteen hundred and fifty acres of a confirmed grant of excellent land bordering on Alameda River near Union City, and paid for the same fifty-eight thousand five hundred dol- lars. We raised our heaviest crops on these lands, fenced and farmed them, ourselves or by tenants. The above comprises all our purchases of real estate, in what is now Alameda county, Califor- nia. The extent of our property in Santa Clara county was valued at nine thousand dollars. This property was received by us to settle a debt. In San Francisco county, we paid two hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars for five thousand two hundred and fifty acres of land adjoining the city of San Francisco, and expended nearly eight thousand dollars upon it in surveys, fences and other improvements. One thousand and fifty acres of these lands we surveyed and staked into streets, blocks, and lots, extending the streets of San Fran- cisco over it. It is now, and has been for over thirty years, a part of that flourishing city. The above includes all our real estate, and the price which we paid for it, which was purchased by us in Cal- ifornia up to and including 1854. Our personal property consisted of steamer Union, costing eighteen thousand dollars; a flouring mill, costing eighty- five thousand dollars; a stage line, warehouses, farm houses, stables, out-houses, thirty miles of fencing, costing nine hundred dollars per mile, farming tools, and livestock of good quality, and sufficient in number to enable us to plant and harvest our large crops in good season. The above includes all the real estate and personal property, owned by us in California, in 1854, save it may be a large crop then upon the land. From the above showing it may readily be conjectured, that I was a man of note, at that time, or at least a man of liberal means, in so young a state as California then was, and among so few people as it then contained. By the blessing of Heaven, we had produced this wealth from the soil of a new and untried country, and no charge was ever made that we had acquired any part of it

by speculation, or by overreaching our neighbors in trade. So the credit due us was readily granted by all acquainted with the cir- cumstances. We not only produced the wealth above referred to from the elements; but at least double that amount had been pro- duced, which we paid for labor, material and other expenses. After 1849, good farm laborers commanded seventy dollars per month with board. Mechanics were proportionately high. We employed many of all classes; some employed by us saved their earnings, and thus laid the foundation for the fortunes they afterwards acquired. The position I held in the community at this time made me much sought after as an indorser of notes, a signer of bonds, and a loaner of money to the impecunious. As I had been raised in purely a rural district of New Jersey, and was unacquainted even in theory with the "tricks of trade," the unwise course of endorsing notes, or loaning money without adequate security, had never en- tered my head. I loaned and endorsed freely, hoping to do good thereby. I have no recollection of refusing any one asking for an accommodation, or requesting his notes endorsed, up to 1854. Our worldly prospects at this time were bright, and our prop- erty was ample to gratify every wish, and was yearly increasing. As I nor my brother ever drank strong drinks, smoked, gambled or dissipated in any way, no cloud of doubt ever crossed our mental visions, that our property should not always continue to increase, as we attended strictly to business. Our crops were large this year. We viewed them as ample to pay every indorsement and every obligation we had out, as well as to pay the expense of harvesting and marketing them. Our prop- erty was unencumbered, large, and our farming in full operation.

(to be continued).