Fresno County, for ten miles about Fresno, furnishes the best example
of the enormous increase in values which follows the conversion of
wheat fields and grazing land into vineyards and orchards. Not even
Riverside can compare with it in the rapid evolution of a great source
of wealth which ten years ago was almost unknown. What has transformed
Fresno from a shambling, dirty resort of cowboys and wheat ranchers
into one of the prettiest cities in California is the raisin grape.
Though nearly all fruits may be grown here, yet this is pre-eminently
the home of the raisin industry, and it is the raisin which in a
single decade has converted 50,000 acres of wheat fields into
vineyards. No other crop in California promises such speedy returns or
such large profits as the raisin grape, and as the work on the
vineyards is not heavy, the result has been a remarkable growth of the
infant industry. It is estimated that in this county, which contains
5,000,000 acres and is nearly as large as Massachusetts, there are
400,000 acres that may be irrigated and are specially adapted to the
grape. As the present crop on about 25,000 acres in full bearing is
valued at $6,000,000, some idea may be formed of the revenue that will
come to the Fresno vineyardists when all this choice valley land is
planted and in full bearing. And what makes the prospect of permanent
prosperity surer is the fact that nine out of ten new settlers are
content with twenty-acre tracts, as one of these is all which a man
can well care for, while the income from this little vineyard will
average $4,000 above all expenses, a larger income than is enjoyed by
three-quarters of the professional men throughout the country.
The raisin industry in California is very young. To be sure, dried
grapes have been known since the time of the Mission Fathers, but the
dried mission grape is not a raisin. The men who thirty years ago sent
over to Europe for the choicest varieties of wine grapes imported
among other cuttings the Muscatel, the Muscat of Alexandria, and the
Feher Zagos; the three finest raisin grapes of Spain. But the raisin,
like the fig, requires skillful treatment, and for years the
California grower made no headway. He read all that had been written
on the curing of the raisin; several enterprising men went to Spain to
study the subject at first hand; but despite all this no progress was
made. Finally several of the pioneer raisin men of Fresno cut loose
from all precedent, dried their grapes in the simple and natural
manner and made a success of it. From that time, not over ten years
ago, the growth of the industry has eclipsed that of every other
branch of horticulture in the State, and the total value of the
product promises soon to exceed the value of the orange crop or the
yield of wine and brandy.
It required a good deal of nerve for the pioneers of Fresno County to
spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in bringing water upon what the
old settlers regarded as a desert, fit only to grow wheat in a very
wet season. In other parts of the State the Mission Fathers had dug
ditches and built aqueducts, so that the settlers who came after them
found a well devised water system, which they merely followed. But in
Fresno no one had ever tried to grow crops by irrigation. When Fremont
came through there from the mountains he found many wild cattle
feeding on the rank grass that grew as high as the head of a man on
horseback. The herds of the native Californians were almost equally
wild. The country was one vast plain which in summer glowed under a
sun that was tropical in its intensity. As late as 1860 one could
travel for a day without seeing a house or any sign of habitation. The
country was owned by great cattle growers, who seldom rode over their
immense ranches, except at the time of the annual "round-up" of stock.
About thirty years ago a number of large wheat growers secured big
tracts of land around Fresno. At their head was Isaac Friedlander,
known as the wheat king of the Pacific Coast. Friedlander would have
transformed this country had not financial ruin overcome him. His
place was taken by others, like Chapman, Easterby, Eisen and
Hughes--men who believed in fruit growing and who had the courage to
carry on their operations in the face of repeated failures.
The great development of Fresno has been due entirely to the colony
system, which has also built up most of the flourishing cities of
Southern California. In 1874 the first Fresno colony was started by
W.S. Chapman. He cut up six sections of land into 20-acre tracts, and
brought water from King's River. The colonists represented all classes
of people, and though they made many disastrous experiments, with poor
varieties of grapes and fruit, still there is no instance of failure
recorded, and all who have held on to their land are now in
comfortable circumstances. Some of the settlers in this colony were
San Francisco school teachers. They obtained their 20-acre tracts for
$400, and many of them retired on their little vineyards at the end of
five or six years. One lady, named Miss Austen, had the foresight to
plant all her property in the best raisin grapes, and for many years
drew a larger annual revenue from the property than the whole place
cost her. The central colony now has an old established look. The
broad avenues are lined with enormous trees; many of the houses are
exceedingly beautiful country villas. What a transformation has been
wrought here may be appreciated when it is said that 150 families now
produce $400,000 a year on the same land which twenty years ago
supported but one family, which had a return of only $35,000 from
wheat. The history of this one colony of six sections of old wheat
land is the key to Fresno's prosperity. It proves better than columns
of argument, or facts or figures, the immense return that careful,
patient cultivation may command in this home of the grape. Near this
colony are a half-dozen others which were established on the same
general plan. The most noteworthy is the Malaga colony, founded by
G.G. Briggs, to whom belongs the credit of introducing the raisin
grape into Fresno.
Fresno City is the center from which one may drive in three directions
and pass through mile after mile of these colonies, all showing signs
of the wealth and comfort that raisin making has brought. Only toward
the west is the land still undeveloped, but another five years promise
to see this great tract, stretching away for twenty miles, also laid
out in small vineyards and fruit farms. Fresno is the natural railroad
center of the great San Joaquin Valley. It is on the main line of the
Southern Pacific and is the most important shipping point between San
Francisco and Los Angeles. The new line of the Santa Fe, which has
been surveyed from Mojave up through the valley, passes through
Fresno. Then there are three local lines that have the place for a
terminus, notably the mountain railway, which climbs into the Sierra,
and which it is expected will one day connect with the Rio Grande
system and give a new transcontinental line. Here are also building
round houses and machine shops of the Southern Pacific Company. These,
with new factories, packing houses, and other improvements, go far to
justify the sanguine expectations of the residents. There has never
been a boom in Fresno, but a high railroad official recently, in
speaking of the growth of the city, said: "Fresno in five years will
be the second city in California." This prediction he based on the
wonderful expansion of its resources in the last decade and the
substantial character of all the improvements made. It is a pretty
town, with wide, well-paved streets, handsome modern business blocks,
and residence avenues that would do credit to any old-settled town of
the East. The favorite shade tree is the umbrella tree, which has the
graceful, rounded form of the horse chestnut, but with so thick a
foliage that its shadow is not dappled with sunlight. Above it is an
intensely dark green, while viewed from below it is the most delicate
shade of pea green. Rivaling this in popularity is the pepper tree,
also an evergreen, and the magnolia, fan palm, eucalyptus, or
Australian blue gum, and the poplar. All these trees grow luxuriantly.
It has also become the custom in planting a vineyard to put a row of
the white Adriatic fig trees around the place, and to mark off ten or
twenty acre tracts in the same way. The dark green foliage of the fig
is a great relief to the eye when the sun beats down on the sandy
soil. Leading out of Fresno are five driveways. The soil makes a
natural macadam, which dries in a few hours. Throughout the year these
roads are in good condition for trotting, and nearly every raisin
grower is also an expert in horseflesh, and has a team that will do a
mile in less than 2:30. The new race course is one of the finest in
the State. Toward the west from Fresno has recently been opened a
magnificent driveway, which promises in a few years to rival the
Magnolia ave. of Riverside. This is called Chateau Fresno ave. It has
two driveways separated by fan palms and magnolias, while along the
outer borders are the same trees with other choice tropical growths,
that will one day make this avenue well worth traveling many miles to
see. This is the private enterprise of Mr. Theodore Kearney, who made
a fortune in real estate, and it is noteworthy as an illustration of
the large way in which the rich Californian goes about any work in
which he takes an interest. Probably the finest avenue in Fresno is
the poplar-lined main driveway through the Barton vineyard. It is a
mile in length, and the trees, fully fifty feet high, stand so thickly
together that when in full leaf they form a solid wall of green. The
vineyard, which is a mile square, is also surrounded by a single row
of these superb poplars.
A visit to one of the great raisin vineyards near Fresno is a
revelation in regard to the system that is necessary in handling large
quantities of grapes. The largest raisin vineyard in the State, if not
in the world, is that of A.B. Butler. It comprises 640 acres, of which
a trifle over 600 acres is planted to the best raisin grapes. Butler
was a Texas cowboy, and came to Fresno with very little capital. He
secured possession of a section of land, planted it to grapes; he read
everything he could buy on raisin making, but found little in the
books that was of any value. So he made a trip to Spain, and inspected
all the processes in the Malaga district. He gathered many new ideas.
One of the most valuable suggestions was in regard to prunings and
keeping the vine free from the suckers that sap its vitality. When he
returned from this trip and passed through Los Angeles County he saw
that the strange disease which was killing many hundred acres of vines
was nothing else than the result of faulty prunings--the retention of
suckers until they gained such lusty growth that their removal proved
fatal to the vine. His vineyard is as free from weeds and grass as a
corner of a well kept kitchen garden. The vine leaves have that deep
glossy look which betrays perfect health. When my visit was made the
whole crop was on trays spread out in the vineyard. These trays had
been piled up in layers of a dozen--what is technically known as
boxed--as a shower had fallen the previous night, and Mr. Butler was
uncertain whether he would have a crop of the choicest raisins or
whether he would have to put his dried grapes in bags, and sell them
for one-third of the top price. Fortunately the rain clouds cleared
away. The crop was saved and the extreme hot weather that followed
made the second crop almost as valuable as the first.
The method of drying and packing the raisin is peculiar and well worth
a brief description. When the grape reaches a certain degree of
ripeness and develops the requisite amount of saccharine matter a
large force is put into the vineyard and the picking begins. The
bunches of ripe grapes are placed carefully on wooden trays and are
left in the field to cure. The process requires from seven days to
three weeks, according to the amount of sunshine. This climate is so
entirely free from dew at night that there is no danger of must. The
grape cures perfectly in this way and makes a far sweeter raisin than
when dried by artificial heat. When the grapes are dried sufficiently
the trays are gathered and stacked in piles about as high as a man's
waist. Then begins the tedious but necessary process of sorting into
the sweat boxes. These boxes are about eight inches deep and hold 125
pounds of grapes. Around the sorter are three sweat boxes for the
three grades of grapes. In each box are three layers of manila paper
which are used at equal intervals to prevent the stems of the grapes
from becoming entangled, thus breaking the fine large bunches when
removed. The sorter must be an expert. He takes the bunches by the
stem, placing the largest and finest in the first grade box, those
which are medium sized in the second grade, and all broken and ragged
bunches in the third class. When the boxes are filled they are hauled
to the brick building known as the equalizer. This is constructed so
as to permit ventilation at the top, but to exclude light and air as
much as possible from the grapes. The boxes are piled in tiers in this
house and allowed to remain in darkness for from ten to twenty days.
Here they undergo a sweating process, which diffuses moisture equally
throughout the contents of each box. This prevents some grapes from
retaining undue moisture, and it also softens the stems and makes them
pliable.
From the equalizing room the sweat boxes are taken to the packing
room. Here they are first weighed. The first and second grades are
passed to the sorter, while the third grade raisins are placed in a
big machine that strips off the stems and grades the loose raisins in
three or four sizes. These are placed in sacks and sold as loose
raisins. The higher grades are carefully sorted into first and second
class clusters. After this sorting the boxes are passed to women and
girls, who arrange the clusters neatly in small five pound boxes with
movable bottoms. These boxes are placed under slight pressure, and
four of them fill one of the regular twenty pound boxes of commerce.
The work of placing the raisins in the small boxes requires much
practice, but women are found to be much swifter than men at this
labor, and, as they are paid by the box, the more skillful earn from
$2 to $3 a day. It is light, pleasant work, as the room is large, cool
and well ventilated, and there is no mixing of the sexes, such as may
be found in many of the San Francisco canneries. For this reason the
work attracts nice girls, and one may see many attractive faces in a
trip through a large packing house. One heavy shouldered,
masculine-looking German woman, who, however, had long, slender
fingers, was pointed out as the swiftest sorter in the room. She made
regularly $3 a day. The assurance of steady work of this kind for
three months draws many people to Fresno, and the regular disbursement
of a large sum as wages every week goes far to explain the thrift and
comfort seen on every hand.
The five pound boxes of grapes are passed to the pressing machine,
where four of them are deftly transferred to a twenty pound box. The
two highest grades of raisins are the Dehesa and the London layers. It
has always been the ambition of California's raisin makers to produce
the Dehesa brand. They know that their best raisins are equal in size
and quality to the best Spanish raisins, but heretofore they have
found the cost of preparing the top layer in the Spanish style very
costly, as the raisins had to be flattened out (or thumbed, as it is
technically called) by hand. In Spain, where women work for 20 cents a
day, this hand labor cuts no figure in the cost of production, but
here, with the cheapest labor at $1.50 a day, it has proved a bar to
competition. American ingenuity, however, is likely to overcome this
handicap of high wages. T.C. White, an old raisin grower, has invented
a packing plate of metal, with depressions at regular intervals just
the size of a big raisin. This plate is put at the bottom of the
preliminary packing box, and when the work of packing is complete the
box is reversed and the top layer, pressed into the depressions of the
plate, bears every mark of the most careful hand manipulation. Mr.
Butler used this plate for the first time this season, and found it a
success, and there is no question of its general adoption. Every year
sees more attention paid to the careful grading of raisins, as upon
this depends much of their marketable value. The large packing houses
have done good work in enforcing this rule, and the chief sinners who
still indulge in careless packing are small growers with poor
facilities. Probably the next few years will see a great increase in
the number and size of the packing houses which will prepare and
market most of Fresno's raisin crop. The growers also will avail
themselves of the co-operative plan, for which the colony system
offers peculiar advantages.
Geometrical progression is the only thing which equals the increase of
Fresno's raisin product. Eighteen years ago it was less than 3,000
boxes. Last year it amounted to 1,050,000 boxes, while this year the
product cannot fall below 1,250,000 boxes. New vineyards are coming
into bearing every year, and this season has seen a larger planting of
new vineyards than ever before. This was due mainly to the stimulus
and encouragement of the McKinley bill, which was worth an
incalculable sum to those who are developing the raisin industry in
California. Besides raisins, Fresno produced last year 2,500,000
gallons of wine, a large part of which was shipped to the East. The
railroad figures show the wealth that is produced here every year from
these old wheat fields. The dried fruit crop last year was valued at
$1,123,520; raisins, $1,245,768; and the total exports were
$8,957,899.
The largest bearing raisin vineyard in Fresno is that of A.B. Butler,
who has over 600 acres in eight year-old vines. The pack this year
will be fully 120,000 boxes. As each box sells for an average of
$1.75, the revenue from this vineyard will not fall far below a
quarter of a million. One of the finest places in the county is
Colonel Forsythe's 160-acre vineyard, from which 40,000 boxes are
packed. Forsythe has paid so much attention to the packing of his
raisins that his output commands a fancy price. This year he wanted to
go to Europe, so he sold his crop on the vines to a packing house,
receiving a check for $20,000. These, of course, are the great
successes, but nearly every small raisin grower has made money, for it
costs not over 1½ cents per pound to produce the raisin, and the price
seldom falls below 6 cents per pound. Good land can be secured in
Fresno at from $50 to $200 per acre. The average is $75 an acre for
first-class raisin land that is within ten miles of any large place.
It costs $75 an acre to get a raisin vineyard into bearing. In the
third year the vines pay for cultivation, and from that time on the
ratio of increase is very large. Much of the work of pruning, picking,
and curing grapes is light, and may be done by women and children. The
only heavy labor about the vineyard is the plowing and cultivating.
Fresno is a hot place in the summer, the mercury running up to 110
degrees in the shade, but this is a dry heat, which does not enervate,
and, with proper protection for the head, one may work in the sun all
day, without any danger of sunstroke.
The colony system, which has been brought to great perfection around
Fresno, permits a family of small means to secure a good home without
much capital to start with. Where no money is paid for labor, a
vineyard may be brought to productiveness with very small outlay. At
the same time there is so great a demand for labor in the large
vineyards, that the man who has a five or ten acre tract may be sure
of work nearly all the year. In some places special inducements have
been held out to people of small means to secure a five-acre vineyard
while they are at work in other business. One colony of this sort was
started eighteen months ago near Madera, in Fresno County. A tract of
3,000 acres was planted to Muscat grapes, and then sold out in five
and ten acre vineyards, on five years' time, the purchaser paying only
one-fifth cash. The price of the land was $75 an acre, and it was
estimated that an equal sum per acre would put the vineyard into full
bearing. Thus, for $750, or, with interest, for $1,000, a man working
on a small salary in San Francisco will have in five years a vineyard
which should yield him a yearly revenue of $500. From the present
outlook there can be no danger of over-production of raisins, any more
than of California wine or dried fruits. The grower is assured of a
good market for every pound of raisins he produces, and the more care
he puts into the growing and packing of his crop, the larger his
returns will be. For those who love life in the open air, there is
nothing in California with greater attractions than raisin growing in
Fresno County.--_N.Y. Tribune._
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