San Luis Obispo County History

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit 
or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations 
desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain 
the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of 
the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to 
their own work.

Source:
A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Santa Barbara,
San Luis Obispo, and Ventura, California
by Yda Addis Storke
Published in 1891 in Chicago by the Lewis Publishing Co.


HORTICULTURE AND VITICULTURE. 

While San Luis Obispo County has a wide reputation for its dairying interests, its large 
cattle interests, and capabilities as a grain county, it stands second to none in adapta- 
bility for fruit-raising. A fruit-raiser is not confined to any one particular kind of fruit, 
but if that is his ambition, may raise nearly every known species, peculiar to either 
northern or southern California, the soil, climate and topography of the county combining 
advantages which few counties or other countries possess. The finest qualities of apples, 
pears, peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, prunes, olives, figs and oranges, and all kinds 
of nuts, � in fact all fruits, as well as berries of all varieties, grow in abundance with but 
ordinary care. 

East of the Santa Lucia Range, a large section of the country is specially suited to 
fruit culture; notably around Creston, Templeton, Paso Robles and in fact all of the 
Salinas basin and the San Jose Valley. 

In the valley around the city of San Luis Obispo, the fruit-raiser reaps a rich reward 
for his labors, especially with nuts, oranges, lemons, figs and olives, the latter being a 
very remunerative fruit and growing luxuriantly. The southern portion of the county 
is well adapted to all fruits; especially must the valley of the Arroyo Grande be named, 
and it would be hard to say that one portion of the county is better than another for 
general fruit-raising. 

There is a large market for the fruit-grower, both at home and abroad, and now that 
the railroad traverses the county the Eastern market opens its doors for the reception 
of our fruits. 

With a full-grown, bearing orchard, the profits are sure and large, fruit always being 
in demand, and the finer the quality, the greater the return. 

Within three years after setting out the orchard, the grower will commence to reap 
his reward, increasing of course as the years roll around. With olives, walnuts and oranges, 
it takes somewhat longer, it being about seven years before the walnut is in full bearing, 
about six for the orange, and from five to seven years for the olive. 

There is one never failing, ever increasing market for the raiser of fruit; namely, the 
canning industries growing continually on this coast, which are making the raising of 
fruit a very profitable industry. 

At no far distant day this county will assuredly take a high rank as a grape and wine 
producing section of the State; a large area of the hill land of the county is peculiarly 
 adapted for the grape, favored with soil and climate for every species of this luscious 
fruit. Heretofore the mission grape has been more largely cultivated than any other 
and the success attained with that variety has induced local viticulturists to try the other, 
favorite species and with marked success; Black Prince, Flame Tokay, Muscat, Black 
Hamburg, Black Morocco, Zinfandel, Riesling and Frontignan flourishing wherever 
planted. The raisin and wine industries are rapidly increasing, and, the profits being large, 
they are bound to increase still more, as there is much room for settlers who wish to engage 
in this pleasant and profitable business. The principal home market for wines is of course 
San Francisco, where there is a heavy demand by the large houses which supply the East 
with California wines, so rapidly growing in favor. 

To show what success San Luis Obispo County vineyards have attained we quote the 
following from an article on the subject prepared by Mr. P. H. Dallidet, Jr., entitled 
�Specific Instances: " 

" From the information acquired through that and other sources in the last twenty years 
in the county, I am of the opinion that the wealth of San Luis Obispo County can and 
will be greatly increased by the planting of vineyards, because of the certainty and abund- 
ance of their returns. I will endeavor to give facts in a few cases of people living at con- 
siderable distances from each other in the county, and any one desiring the full parti- 
culars can write to them for further information, and I have no doubt that they will be 
pleased to give it. Mr. W. N. Short, in the neighborhood of Temblor Ranch on the 
eastern border of the county, has a young vineyard which surprised him by the num- 
bers of bunches each vine yielded on the fourth year, the bunches filling well and berries 
growing to perfection. On the Temblor and Cuyama ranches, fifty miles apart on the same 
belt, there may be found trees and vines growing without attention that do wonders 
in the way of yield. Mr. Gillis, near Adelaide, told me three years ago, that his two- 
year-old vines. Muscats, and wine grapes, bore from ten to thirty pounds each, berries 
very large and sweet, with a beautiful bloom on them. His place is thirty miles from 
San Luis Obispo in a northerly direction. On W. S. Hinkle's farm some three miles 
from this city are some ten vines in arbor form, that were literally purple with grapes 
of the Mission variety every year from the year 1860 to 1882, yielding three to five tons 
of grapes annually. Mr. Dolores Herrera, near Pozo, planted some vines near his house 
that have borne very well, but said Mr. Herrera, I had a few cuttings left over after 
planting my vineyard; so I thought I would experiment, and I therefore set them out on a 
dry-looking hill about half a mile away from the house, and left them there to live or die 
as they chose. After some months I saw they grew nicely: so I pulled up some of them and 
left the others till the next year. When my grapes were ripening, I thought of the hill 
vines and went to see if they were yet alive, when imagine my surprise on finding from 
three to five bunches on each little vine, each bunch weighing from a half to three-quarters 
of a pound of the finest white grapes I ever tasted. Pozo is thirty miles east of us and 
forty miles from the ocean. Mr. E. W. Howe, near Morro, has a very nice little vine- 
yard which yields good crops of thirty pounds and upwards to the vine. 

" F. Guillemin, just over the mountain to the east of us, has a small vineyard set out 
after the manner of his country, that is, the vines from two to four feet apart, which 
bear from five to fifteen pounds each, and of part of Ms crop he makes a light wine 
which connoisseurs pronounce to be equal to the famous petit vin dn Jurat of France. 

" Mr. Hasbrouck has some twenty acres or more of vines at the Ranchita which are 
growing very nicely. Mr. Henry Ditmas, of Musick, has some boxes of raisins made by 
him on his place that were equal in point of size, color and taste to the best San 
Bernardino raisins. 

" Mr. P. H. Dallidet, Sr., has a vineyard from four to twenty years of age, and he has 
taken from his oldest vines, which at seven years of age had had good care, as high as 
twenty pounds to the vine, and out of eight acres of grapes made one season 6,300 
gallons of wine. 

" Hon. Frank McCoppin, Dr. W. W. Hays, E. W. and Hon. George Steele, J. P. Andrews, 
Goldtree Bros., W. H. Taylor and E. A. Atwood, all have fine young vineyards and or- 
chards. Besides these gentlemen who are largely interested, there are a great number 
of persons who have from one acre and upwards in full bearing who all say that vines 
are a success with only moderate attention. Out of perhaps 150 persons who have vine- 
yards, I know of but two that irrigate, and that because they have an abundance of 
water which would otherwise be entirely wasted. As it is, they get a good growth of 
wood, whether at the expense of quantity in fruit is a question, but certainly, at the ex- 
pense of quality. Of the persons named above only Mr. Guillemin irrigates. 

" Having observed closely the yield of grapes for a number of years past, I can say 
without fear of exaggeration that vines of full bearing age will yield an average one year 
with another of thirty pounds to the vine.