California Biographies Source: History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California by: C M Gidney - Santa Barbara. Benjamin Brooks - San Luis Obispo. Edwin M Sheridan - Ventura Volumes II - Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL., 1917 This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm GEORGE G. CRANE. Among the pioneers in the development of the great fruit industry of California one of the first names and most prominent to be encountered is that of George G. Briggs. A brief account of his activities in this line would not be out of place here. George G. Briggs, who crossed the plains in the fall of 1849 and settled upon a piece of land upon the Yuba River, three miles above Marysville. Instead of going to the mines as the majority of emigrants did, he attempted to raise vegetables and farm products for those that went into the mines. But owing to the climatic difference between the Eastern states and the Pacific Coast his venture would not have been very profitable had it not been for the lucky circumstance of meeting up with an emigrant who was coming to the mines after a passage around the Horn. This emigrant had a goodly supply of watermelon seed which he had secured in one of the ports of Chile on his voyage up the coast. This supply of seeds Mr. Briggs purchased of him at the rate of $10 a pound. He had sufficient amount to plant ten acres, which yielded one large crop which readily sold at about $5 a piece. For the next few years he was known as the "Melon King" of California. In 1852 he concluded to try and see if fruit would do well and ordered from eastern nurserymen some 500 or .more fruit trees of different varieties, but owing to improper packing and the long ocean voyage he succeeded in getting to grow but about 150 trees out of the shipment; these were largely peach. In a couple of years the peaches bore a few, which decided him to go largely into the fruit business. He then went East and purchased a large consignment of fruit trees, superintended their packing, brought them over successfully and set out an orchard of 200 acres, and when the orchard came into bearing he dominated the California market for some years. In 1862 he sold his fruit interests to his brothers and purchased a tract of land in the then suburbs of Oakland and retired from business ; but his active nature would not permit him to be idle long, and in as much as he had sold his fruit interests to his brothers, he concluded one could raise raisins in California as well as in foreign lands. So he purchased a large tract of land at Davisville and planted some 400 acres of raisin grape vine; and also a large tract of land at Winters, putting out there a large vineyard of the same grape. He had gathered all the information possible from books read regarding the industry, and when his vine- yards came into bearing dried his grapes upon trays and prepared and packed them for market, shipping a carload in 1869 to Chicago. But they were turned down as improperly cured and unfit for market. This was a severe blow, but he tried another year, making such changes as he thought necessary, and shipped another carload, which was again turned down, thus entailing a heavy loss ; as he could see no climatic reason nor fault in quality of fruit, he called one of the brothers to take charge of his affairs and he went over to raisin-producing districts of Europe to see if he could find the reason of his failure. His judgment convinced him that in quality of fruit and adaptability of soil and climate California was in many respects more favorable for the industry than the European sections. But the proprietors of the industry were loath to show him or to explain to him the process of curing and preparing for market; so selecting one of the largest and best vineyards, he disguised himself and hired out to work as a common laborer in the fields and packing house, thus getting a perfect knowledge of the process. He then returned and had no further trouble in curing and marketing his product. He could rightly be named the "Father" of the raisin industry of California. He died on January 1, 1885, possessed of over a thousand acres of bearing vineyard in various parts of the state and two or three thousand acres of vineyard land in the vicinity of Fresno, which he pronounced to be the raisin center of the Pacific Coast. In the winter of 1861 and 1862 he became owner of Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy in Ventura County, and it was his enterprise which sub- divided and put that land on the market for individual settlement and led the way in making it an important fruit section. The name of George G. Briggs is mentioned at the beginning of this article because it .serves to introduce another pioneer fruit grower and rancher whose career has been of notable importance in this section of California. This is Mr. George G. Crane, a nephew of the George G. Briggs above mentioned. George G. Crane has had a career of versatile experience not only in California, but elsewhere. Born in Sharon Township of Medina County, Ohio, July 7, 1835, he is of very old American ancestry. His first paternal ancestor settled in Massachusetts from England in 1654. His maternal ancestor, also from England, settled in the same vicinity in 1621, and many of his descendants were born and reared in or near Dighton, Massachusetts. Mr. Crane's mother was Louisa (Briggs) Crane. She was born in Ontario County, New York, in 1815, a daughter of Thomas Briggs, a native of Massachusetts, and she was a sister of the pioneer fruit man, George G. Briggs. In 1855, George G. Crane came out to California to assist his uncle, Mr. Briggs, in putting out a zoo-acre orchard, which supplanted a small orchard, which had just begun bearing, near Marysville. Mr. Crane assisted his uncle in setting out an orchard of ioo acres near Oroville and another of 200 acres on the Sacramento River, near Knight Landing. This work in connection with some of the pioneer orchards of California kept Mr. Crane busy for three years. He then returned to his native county in Ohio, and in 1859 married Adeline Huntley. Mrs. Crane, who is now deceased, was born in Granger Township of Medina County in 1836. Mr. and Mrs. Crane had two children: Amy, the widow of E. E. Huntley of Saticoy, and Abbie, wife of L. W. Andrews, an attorney of Los Angeles. After his marriage Mr. Crane bought a farm in Ohio and lived there for ten years. Selling it, he moved to Cass County, Missouri, and six years later went to Denver, Colorado, where he became identified with the wholesale fruit business, shipping from California from forty to fifty carloads of fruit every year from Marysville and Sacramento, California, to eastern markets. While This was a very profitable business, he suffered much loss during the drought in California in 1877, and that decided him to abandon the fruit business. His next ventures were in the mining region of the Black Hills in Dakota. There, in company with others, he succeeded in locating and developing what are known as the Trojan group of mines near Dead- wood, and in 1883 he and his associates sold these mines. In the same year Mr. Crane moved with his family to Saticoy, Ventura County, with his son-in- law, E. E. Huntley, he bought Subdivision II of the Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy, containing 135 acres, upon which he and his daughter, the window of E. E. Huntley, still reside. He utilized this land for the raising of lima beans, while the orchard of walnut trees which he set out, were growing to maturity. Mr. Crane has a fine orchard of Santa Barbara soft shell walnuts. He has been one of the leading figures in this industry of Ventura County, and assisted in the organization of the Saticoy Walnut Growers' Association. He was also one of the early stockholders of the People's Lumber Company, and for years has been vitally interested in the subject of water supply and has used both time and means to perfect a reliable source of water for his community. Besides his home ranch Mr. Crane owned eighty acres west of Pasadena, and that land has very promising possibilities for grape culture. In politics Mr. Crane is a democrat.