Kings County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
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BLOWERS, CASSIUS M.
 
     This pioneer farmer and business man, whose ranch is three miles northwest 
of Hanford, Kings county, Cal., has come to his present prominence only after a 
struggle in which he wrung success out of situations that to many another man 
would have spelled ruin. When he first saw Kings county, in 1874, it was a 
desert, sandy and practically worthless, but irrigation, which he long 
advocated, has resulted in its reclamation. The land, then worth next to 
nothing, is now valued at $250 an acre and upward. 
 
     To the student of history genealogy is a fascinating pursuit and it is to 
be regretted that the lack of printing in the earlier ages rendered an 
interesting work so difficult. Cassius M. Blowers is descended from an 
Englishman, John O. Blowers, his grandfather, who early settled Crawford county, 
Ohio, where he pre-empted government land on which he died in his eighty-fifth 
year. Not only was he a pioneer farmer, but he was a pioneer preacher of the 
Methodist faith, who often discoursed to the people of Bucyrus. His son, Lemuel 
Lane Blowers, born on the pioneer�s Ohio farm, came to California in 1850, 
making the trip overland. For a time he mined on the American river, but in 1854 
he took up land in Yolo county, where he died in 1855. He had married Caroline 
Foster, of Ohio birth, and she had died in 1849, leaving five children, of whom 
Cassius M., born December 20, 1845, was the fourth. The boy was about four year 
old when his mother died and between nine and ten years old when his father 
passed away, aged thirty-eight years. 
 
     When Mr. Blowers was ten years old he was brought to California by his 
uncle, R. B. Blowers, who became a pioneer fruit grower in this state and grew 
the first California raisins. The boy lived on his uncle�s ranch near Woodland, 
Yolo county, then began business for himself, teaming to Nevada and the mountain 
district when he was but fifteen years old. 
 
     His next venture was as a farmer in Yolo county, but in 1874 he transferred 
his interests to Kings county, where he has since lived. He bought a railroad 
land claim for $600, but the land was a waste of desert sand, unfit for 
cultivation. In doing so he was planning for the future and he soon became one 
of the promoters of the Lower Kings river, Last Chance and People�s irrigation 
ditches, which were completed in 1877. Then Mr. Blowers sowed his land to wheat 
and the next year he set out a few vines. In 1883 he shipped the first raisins 
which were boxed in Tulare county, which then included the present Kings county, 
and he originated the system of employing fruit cutters at piece prices instead 
of on salary. At that time there were but three canneries in the state, San 
Jose, San Francisco, and Sacramento. All had been paying day wages for 
employees, and Chinese and white workers were intermingled in one large room. In 
1886 Mr. Blowers went to Sacramento and induced the management of the cannery 
there to try piece work, which was done. The orientals were separated from the 
whites and so successful was this method that it has been generally adopted by 
all fruit growers throughout the state. 
 
     In his home ranch Mr. Blowers has two hundred and forty acres, forty acres 
devoted to vines, seventy to peaches, apricots and other fruit, the remainder to 
grain and alfalfa. He owns also a stock and alfalfa ranch of two hundred and 
fifty acres in Kings county, formerly in Fresno county prior to the annexation, 
and a fruit, vine and alfalfa farm of eighty acres near Lemoore. 
 
     The marriage of Mr. Blowers, January 19, 1875, united him with Miss Susie 
McLaughlin, and their eight children were born on the home ranch in Kings 
county. Hubert Lane is operating a ranch of thirty acres not far from his 
father�s. Russell M. is farming and growing fruit on thirty acres of land given 
to him by Mr. Blowers. Olive G. married George Blowers, who is the proprietor of 
a machine shop in San Francisco. Francis is ranching on fifty acres of land 
given him by his father. Bessie, who died in 1905, was the wife of Fred Arthur, 
who is farming in Kings county. Mary, Ralph and Viola Susan are members of their 
parents� household. Mr. Blowers has long taken an active part in the affairs of 
the Raisin Growers� association and has been for about a quarter of a century 
president of the Last Chance Ditch corporation. Politically he is a Republican. 
His interest in school affairs impelled him to fill the duties of school trustee 
about twenty years, and his public spirit, many times tried, has not been found 
wanting. 
 
SOURCE:  History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical 
Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 Pp 298-301
Transcribed by: Craig A Hahn