INTRODUCTION
Dairying has been a major industry in California
for many decades. Its beginning was humble, its growth phenomenal.
The intent of this brief history is to present the significant
aspects of the practice of dairying through 1910. This history
does not concern itself with the processing of milk products nor
with the distribution of milk products in the marketplace. Instead,
it is directed towards the dairy farm itself and the production
of milk at that level. Each segment presented could easily be
expanded into separate essays. The documentation within allows
for further investigation.
The New World had no dairy cattle, which prompted
European settlers to bring their own stock. This provided them
with meat, cheese, milk, hides, and tallow. The cattle were generally
scrubby and virtually useless for milk in the modern sense. Spaniards,
whose culture was transported to California, were accustomed to
wine for drink and olive oil for cooking and therefore saw no
need to develop specialized dairy stock. Milk was available though
if need be from the sturdier cows in the herd.1
MISSIONS
The Jesuit priest, Eusebio Kino, introduced cattle
to Baja California in 1679 as part of the missionary effort to
establish mission settlements. When the Jesuits were expelled
from the New World in 1767, the Dominicans replaced them in Baja
California, and the Franciscans began their work in Alta California.2
In a March 13, 1773 letter, Serra noted, "There is nothing
in greater abundance in the countryside around San Blas than herds
of cows."3 This supply
of cattle would soon swell into scores in the decades ahead as
mission and rancho herds grew to thousands. These herds would
later support trade in hides and tallow in the 1830s, primarily
with Boston merchants.4
Milk became a blessing to missionaries in time of
need. Supplies were lacking at Mission San Carlos (Carmel). Serra
wrote on August 18, 1772, " . . . milk from the cows and
some vegetables from the garden have been [our] chief subsistence."5
Again in 1774 at the Mission San Carlos, Franciscan missionary
Francisco Palou wrote, "For eight months milk was the manna
. . . meals consisted of a gruel made of garvanzos or beans ground
to flour with which milk was mixed."6
But there were better times at the missions as the
mission settlements prospered and the herds grew. At Mission San
Gabriel in 1776 Father Font observed, "The cows are very
fat and they give much and rich milk, with which they [Mission
Indian women] make cheese and very good butter."7
By 1830 the missions had 500,000 head of cattle, some of which
were dairy stock.8
SPANISH RANCHOS
In 1775 Juan Bautista Anza brought 1,000 head of cattle from Mexico which was the beginning of the large rancho herds. In the 1820s, 50,000 to 80,000 hides were shipped annually at a cost of $2 per hide.9 With secularization of the missions in 1834-1835, by 1846 there were 813 land grants in California which had enormous heads of cattle.10 Dairying was rare and its practice crude as can be seen in this real if not somewhat humorous attempt to acquire milk as recorded by William Dane Phelps in 1841.
You would be amused at their manners of milking their cows in this country. I noted them several times while at St. Leandry [San Leandro]. In the morning they send a boy with a horse and lasso in search of animals (that are left to roam at pleasure over the plains except when they want milk). Their cows and oxen are all we should call wild with us, but the tamest of their cows have to be caught with the never failing "lasso" and dragged to a tree, where they are firmly secured by a rope around the horns. Their legs are tied together, and an Indian sitting down on each side succeeds in extracting milk while the poor creature is nearly strangled.11At the Yorba rancho in the Santa Ana Valley, dairying was more formalized where 50-60 cows are milked daily.12 American William Heath Davis, while traveling through California in the 1840s, complained of not finding milk for his coffee at the ranchos but did note that fresh cheese was available but had to be eaten quickly or it would spoil.13 In 1851 Davis invested in dairying by buying from Emigdio Vega of Los Angeles "700 head of tame milch cows, many of them with suckling calves, and 50 head of cabesteros [beef], for $7,000."14
AMERICAN CONQUEST
With the arrival of Americans in California, dairying
took a new turn in its evolution. The Americans brought with them
their need for milk, cheese, and butter, and they also brought
the family cow to service these needs. While the husband was at
the mines, the wife milked the cow and sold fresh milk and butter
to the miners for sizable profits.15
This was the beginning of mountain dairies which would grow in
size in the succeeding years. Their success can be seen in this
excerpt:
In the U.S. Patent Office report for 1851, Phillip Lynch of
Ophir, Placer County, reports on December 3 of that
year: "About October 1, 1851, I bought two American
cows fresh with young for $400. These cows have averaged
12 quarts each per day which I have sold at 50 cents
per quart, totaling $720 for the two months. These cows
I have fed on hay at $80 per ton, meal at $8 cwt and
potatoes at $4 per cwt, at a cost not over $100 for the two
months. I would not sell my two cows for $1,000."16
CALIFORNIA DAIRY REGIONS
The climate of California varies widely throughout
the state. Dairy practice varies as well because of this phenomenon.
There are foggy coastal valleys and hot inland temperatures. Rainfall
is heavy in some parts of the state and light in others. As a
result, California can be divided into four dairy regions.
One region would be the area north of San Francisco
Bay to the Oregon border, which includes the land along the coast
and the interior coastal valleys. Because of the demand for dairy
products in San Francisco, this region was the first to blossom
into a viable dairy center. There is plenty of rain normally in
that area to provide extensive natural pasturage.
A second dairy region would be the lower coast south
of San Francisco Bay to San Diego. The climate in this area is
not a damp as the northern region, and the temperatures are mild.
The farther one goes south, however, the quicker the grasses dry
after spring growth. Dairies in this region stock more hay and
irrigate pastures to keep a supply of feed for dairy cattle.
The third region would be the vast central valley
which is arid but has moderate winters. Irrigation and the storing
of hay for winter feeding is absolutely essential. The final region
centers of the mountain valleys which are found throughout the
eastern part of the state. In this region, there is snow and rain
during the winter with the summers being moderate to hot in temperature.
Natural pasturage is available from spring to fall, but the stock
must be sheltered during the inclement winters especially during
the stormy periods.
Generally speaking, in comparison with other dairy
regions in the United States, California had better dairying conditions
because of its mild and arid climate. Dairy stock can exist out-of-doors
for most of the year.17
CALIFORNIA DAIRY CATTLE
The first cattle brought into California were scrawny
Mexican stock and were used primarily for meat, hides, and tallow.
Dairying was an incidental practice. With the Americans came the
family cow, as noted earlier, which was predominantly of the Jersey
breed.18 To feed the hungry
miners with meat, shorthorns were driven in from Texas. This breed
was better suited for dairying than the Mexican stock, but it
still was primarily a meat animal.19
What was desired at the time was sturdy stock which could be used
for butchering as well as for dairying. Devons and Durhams were
introduced with this in mind in the early 1850s, followed in the
early 1860s by Alderneys and Ayrshires. As the urban population
grew there came a greater demand for dairy products. The Jersey
became the dominant breed by the 1870s. They produced more butterfat,
which was a boon to butter and cheese production.20
The 1880s saw wide introduction of the Holstein-Friesian
which soon became the leading dairy breed in the state. It gave more
milk and was a larger and stronger animal than the Jersey. With
the Holstein and Jersey the true dairy cow had arrived.21
Soon dairies were selectively breeding stock from proven sires.22
The U.S. Census in its agriculture survey records
that in 1860 there were 210,000 dairy cows in California, rising
to 307,000 in 1900. By 1910, there were 382,000 head. The central
valley itself had 101,000 dairy cows in 1860 and 163,000 head
in 1910. The central valley region usually had the most dairy
cows, followed by the lower coastal region, then the northern
coastal region and finally the mountain valleys. Sonoma, Humboldt,
Alameda, San Luis Obispo, and Los Angeles counties contested with
the central valley counties of Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus,
Fresno, and Tulare for having the most dairy stock.23
The State Statistician reported that in 1869 a dairy
cow cost an average of $50.31, while beef stock was $27.86 a head.
A dairy cow in 1910 cost and average of $38.40 while beef cost
$20.10 a head.24 The
lower average cost was because of the increase in the total number
of dairy stock.
An article in the San Francisco Alta California
in 1862 noted that a dairy north of Stockton had 150 milk cows.25
The Overland Monthly in 1870 reported that there were an
"estimated one thousand dairies in California containing
from twenty to one hundred cows each." The article went on to record that the Shafter and Howard dairy in Marin County had 3,500 cows. The Steele Brothers in their two dairies in San Mateo and San Luis Obispo counties had 700 head each, and the Chamberlin
dairy in the San Joaquin Valley had 600 head.26
Another article in Alta California in 1873
had this to say about a dairy in Salinas: "A recent visit to C.S.
Abbott's model farm and dairy of 13,000 acres with 1,500 cows . . .
About twenty years ago he commenced with three cows . . . They
employ some fifty hands at about $30 a month.27
THE DAIRY MARKET IN CALIFORNIA
During the time period under discussion, the San Francisco Bay area was the biggest market for dairy products in the state, followed by Los Angeles.28 The Alta California
in 1858 reported:
The butter and cheese shipped from Petaluma now form a very considerable portion of the freights and San Francisco market depends upon this valley for its supplies of these articles . . . The supply is, however, but a fraction of the demand, and large quantities are yet shipped here from the Eastern ports.29
The Overland Monthly in 1888 reported that
San Francisco consumed milk produced from about 10,000 cows. Seven
to 8,000 of there were kept in the suburbs of the city.30
Though the city's demand was being met locally, diseased milk
would be a recurring problem because of the existing filthy dairy
environment (which will be discussed later).
BUTTER AND CHEESE
In 1850 California produced 705 pounds of butter
and 150 pounds of cheese. Butter production rose to 16 million
pounds by 1880 while 3.7 million pounds of cheese was produced.
In 1910 there were 52.5 million pounds of butter being produced
and 43 million pounds of cheese.31
These figures show the dramatic rise of the dairy industry in
California as an important ingredient in the state's agricultural
economy. It wasn't easy though.
It took some time to wean urban Californians form
eastern butter and cheese. As Professor E.J. Wickson at the University
of California wrote, "The prejudice for Eastern cheese .
. . is a serious obstacle and prevents the local producers from
securing even the best of the local trade."32
He urged that California producers make "some effort to give
their product the form and character of the popular Eastern and
European cheese."33
As dairying and processing practices modernized, California cheese
met the local need and then exportation of the product began.
Overland Monthly recorded in 1890 that San Francisco had
an average of 24,000 weekly receipts for California cheeses and
300 weekly receipts for eastern cheeses.34
California also produced its own distinctive cheeses
such as "Monterey Jack." David Jacks, a Scottish immigrant,
owned several dairies in the Monterey area. He developed a cheese
based on a Swiss method. It was a cheese of "high moisture,
fast curing, soft cheddar-type . . . [which] had a distinctive
flavor of its own." By the 1890s it was being shipped east.35
THE CREAM SEPARATOR
During the 1880s and 1890s dairying in California
was transformed from a provincial industry to a scientific and
modern one. It came about with the introduction of the cream separator,
refrigeration, irrigation, the milking machine, and extensive
planting of alfalfa.
The cream separator was first used in the United
States in 1879.36 At first
it was powered by steam and soon by hand, which altered dairying
dramatically.37 Prior
to the development of the cream separator, separating cream from
milk was done by placing milk in shallow pans and allowing the
cream to rise to the top. The cream was skimmed off and processed,
and the skimmed milk was fed to hogs or calves.
In using the new cream separator, milk was fed into
a bowl traveling at 6,000-7,000 rpms. The heavy particles found
in the milk, usually manure or flies, were thrown at the top part
of the bowl followed by the lighter particles of butterfat. The
butterfat escaped through a tube while the skimmed milk below
flowed out through another tube.38
With the introduction of the hand separator by Carl
Gustaf De Laval of Sweden, dairymen could separate cream from
milk at home rather than taking it to the creamery or separator
stations. This relieved the dairymen from having to transport
the skimmed milk back to their farms from the creamery or separator
stations. Centralized creameries were soon located near the dairies,
and dairies were established farther out in the countryside.39
The De Laval hand-powered cream separator had competition
from the brand Victoria, but the Victoria was much more difficult
to crank, thus leaving the De Laval the preferred one.40
The hand separator proved to be very economical. It cost $100,
and by not transporting milk to and from the creamery there was
a savings of 1 1/2 cents per pound. Cleaning the separator took
little time and was easier than washing milk cans.41
The cream was cleaner as the foreign particles were thrown clear
of the cream and milk. The cream coming from this process had
a finer quality, was sweeter, and made better butter as there
was less acid in it.42
Larger dairies took their milk to the creameries
or separator stations. By 1896 all creameries in California had
separators. The Guadalupe Creamery of Santa Barbara County had
six motor-driven De Laval separators and processed 60,000 pounds
of milk a day. The Diamond Springs Creamery in Humboldt County
processed a high of 40,000 pounds with four motor-driven separators.
Most creameries reported handling 10,000 to 20,000 pounds of milk
a day.43
There was concern that the hand separator was beyond
the average intelligence of most dairymen and wives. One writer,
in his column, "Mr. Moody Answers Questions," in the
Creamery Journal of July 1897, argued to the contrary.
Of the first thirty-five machines placed among farmers in our territory we have yet to hear from the first man who has had any difficulty whatever in doing first-class work with his separator in every particular. In many instances machines have been sent out and the farmer has set it up and started it himself without assistance of an expert, and they have had no trouble in handling them than they would in running a grind-stone.44
THE MILKING MACHINE
The introduction and widespread use of the milking
machine was slow. The first recorded attempt at inventing a machine
for milking was in 1819 which was followed by other futile attempts
in 1837 and 1854. It wasn't until 1878 that the first workable
milking machine was invented in New York. To be successful milking
machines had to cost-effective, easy to use, maintain, clean, and
not injurious to the cow. Most milkers welcomed the machine as
it freed them from the monotony and drudgery of milking by hand.
It also gave them valuable time to perform other duties.45
Studies were done at the various agricultural experimentation
stations, and they showed that milking machines were quicker than
hand-milking. If one increased the number of machines, there could
be vast savings of time. It was found that two men milking operating
four machines took the same time as three men milking by hand.46
It was found that milking machines must have the same suction
as a nursing calf. It was also discovered that the rubber cups
of the vacuum-driven machines actually relaxed the cow.47
Dairyingmen were concerned about the quality and
quantity of milk produced from milk machines. Much experimentation
was done. The results found that everything depended upon the
skill and technique of the milker.48
Some older cows held up their milk and had to have their udders
massaged as done when milked by hand. If cows were introduced
to the milking machines as heifers, no difficulty existed.49
Dairymen began to breed stock selectively to produce a cow whose
physiology was more conducive to machine milking.50
Concerning bacteria count, experiments proved that
care was needed in using and maintaining the machines. The cow's
udder had to be washed thoroughly to prevent the machine from
sucking up foreign matter. The equipment including the rubber
cups had to be steamed daily. If this kind of prevention was done
as a matter of routine, bacteria levels could be kept lower than
when milking by hand.51
Initial cost and installation of a milking machine
system with three units was about $500 with a cost of $89 annually
to maintain it.52 For
dairies with thirty or more cows, it was found that milking machines
could be economical. For large dairies, the savings vastly increased.53
ALFALFA
Close at the heels of the success of dairying in
California was the miracle plant, alfalfa. Alfalfa was grown in
ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Its name meant "horse fodder."
It came to be known as lucern or lucerne in France and England.
Alfalfa came to California from Chile in 1851 and was called "Chilean
clover."54 Forty
acres were planted in 1851 bye W.E. Cameron, who had a farm along
the Yuba River near the community of Marysville. By 1858 he had
270 acres in alfalfa.55
Alfalfa became particularly adaptable to California's climate
and soil. It does its best when irrigated.56
Dairymen fed their stock a variety of feeds, from
grains and grasses to cabbage, turnips and beets. It was found
that many of the latter gave milk and unpleasant taste. Beets
and potatoes produced milk that was flat and watery in texture.
Green cornstalks made the milk too sweet, and squash was too fattening.57
Articles on alfalfa first appeared in the Transactions
of the California State Agricultural Society during the year of
1872; others followed in 1878, 1887, 1892, 1894, 1903, and 1909.
Each article touched on planting techniques, soils, fertilizers,
harvesting, and many other useful topics important to the farmer.
In the 1872 Transactions, Nicholas Wyckoff of Yolo County
wrote positively about alfalfa including this comment, "For
milch cows it is superior to any other hay; it excites the secretions."58
E. Nason of San Benito County reported in the 1878 Transactions
that in 1877 he has a dairy of "thirty cows in poor condition."
He had fifteen acres of alfalfa and by the winter, after feeding
the stock alfalfa during the year, he "had eighteen tons
of good hay stored away for winter use and his cows were in good
condition."59
By 1892, when irrigation was just expanding in California,
alfalfa was doing very well and prompted this comment in the 1892
Transactions:
Of all the modern forage plants none seem to be better adapted to general use and easy growth in our State as alfalfa . . . The price of alfalfa is generally good; from $8 to $12 per ton . . . Our dairymen would be at a loss without it.60In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, April 16, 1904, entitled, "Tulare Wants More Dairying," it was reported that:
Five or ten tons of cured alfalfa hay is a common yield in a season and affords liberal food for the support of one cow. This has a money value in the shape of milk and cream of $6 or $8 per month per cow under ordinary conditions. An income of $60 to $70 per year common among patrons of Tulare County creameries . . . Good alfalfa land can be bought for from $15 to $50 per acre, according to location, and on easy terms. The first year's crop often pays for the place.61
A promotional pamphlet by Santa Fe Railway, entitled
"Dairying in the San Joaquin Valley," made frequent
note of the benefit alfalfa had for dairying. One paragraph had
the caption "Ocean of Alfalfa."62
In the same pamphlet it was noted that one dairyman received $1,866.26
in creamery checks for one year and had all of his thirty acres
in alfalfa except two acres for a garden and buildings.63
In 1909 there were 484,134 acres of Alfalfa in California producing
1,639,707 bushels at a value of $13,088,530. Alfalfa had become
an important element in California dairying.64
The accounts which follows typifies the promise alfalfa
held for dairymen. A farmer and his wife stopped in Fresno seeking
a farm. They found that alfalfa sold for $4 a ton and butter
for 49 cents a pound. They bought a farm and soon a cooperative
creamery was formed. Before long there were six creameries in
the area with shipments to coastal cities at four times the local
consumption rate of dairy products. The account concluded, "What
had happened in Fresno is practically the case with every county
and every locality in California where irrigation has made alfalfa
cultivating possible." What started in Fresno in 1898 as
$300,000 a year butter industry rose to $3.5 million by 1908.65
IRRIGATION
Irrigation in California was first practiced at the
Spanish missions where crops of fruits and vegetables were watered
by small canals connected to meager diversion dams. Similarly,
ranchos used water for irrigation from streams, wells, or springs.
American settlement took place along streams or near springs to
utilize them for drinking water and irrigation. Pumps were used
to draw the water for consumption. In Yolo County J.C. Davis was
able in 1858 to hoist 600 gallons per minute with a steam pump
for household, stock, and crop use. He also had 250 milk cows.66
The potential irrigation held was seen by most everyone,
especially those in the central valley, as they saw at first hand
the effect of the Sierra watershed. In 1871 there were severe
floods that "swept away millions [of dollars] of property
and caused incalculable amount of suffering and loss of many lives."
A plan was needed to convert this destructive force into a positive
one which could irrigate millions of acres.67
The 1874 Transactions of the California State
Agricultural Society contained a plan or attack. In this issue
there appeared a six-page analysis of the cost of irrigation to
California farmers. It was determined that the total cost per
mile of canal would be $11,781, and cost to install an irrigation
system would be $10 per acre.68
There were 139,570 acres being irrigated in California by that
date. Los Angeles County had 23,740 acres under irrigation and
Fresno County had 2,700 acres.69
The report in the Transactions concluded that because of
cost and the legality of the placement of irrigation systems,
centralized government control would be necessary and investment
would be best in the hands of the government or private industry.70
When Americans took over California they brought
with them their tradition of English common law or riparian rights,
in which the landowners along watercourses (rivers or streams)
had rights to the water and others did not. This was challenged
in the California Supreme Court in 1886 in Lux v. Haggin, a monumental
case, in which the court ruled that others had the right to the
water as well. This ruling was followed by the Wright Irrigation
Act of 1887 which authorized the creation of special public irrigation
districts. Legal bickering continued, but soon there were a number
of districts.71 By 1915
there were fifty-seven irrigation districts in California, irrigating
29.2 percent of the acreage while private enterprise irrigated
64 percent of the acreage.72
The growth of irrigation and the breaking up of the
large ranchos can be seen by the statistics presented below. Alfalfa
played an important part in the expansion of irrigation, which
in turn made dairying profitable to small dairymen. In 1913 hay
and forage acreage rose to 26.3 percent of all crops irrigated
in California; alfalfa accounted for 75.7 percent of the acreage.73
From 1900 to 1910 irrigated acreage grew by 1,217,990 acres, and
increase of 53.3 percent.74
In 1860 there were 18,716 farms in California. By
1910 there were 88,197 farms. In 1860 there were 2,344 farms of
twenty to fifty acres, followed by 20,614 farms with the same
acreage in 1910. Between 1900 and 1910, some 7,504 farms of twenty
to fifty acres alone were added.75
The value of land through the same ten-year period increased from
$21.87 per acre to $47.16.76
The total number of milk cows through the same ten-year period
grew from 308,872 to 495,00 head.77
It was evident that dairying on small acreage with irrigated alfalfa
had taken hold. A Santa Fe Railway promotional pamphlet observed:
"An Alfalfa Paradise - Close to one hundred thousand acres
of alfalfa, not in old-time pasture, but irrigated and cut for
hay, is the boast of Stanislaus County."78
SANITATION
No discussion of dairying during this period would
be complete without taking into consideration dairy sanitation,
disease, and subsequent changes made to upgrade dairy standards.
Early California dairying existed in squalor which is understandable,
given the times and lack of scientific knowledge at that point.
As dairying increased so did interest in its practice, especially
as science in the latter part of the nineteenth century began
to look into the condition of human and causes of disease.
In the 1880s and 1890s state officials and others,
who were concerned about public health, became more alarmed daily
as to the impurities that were being found in milk. Milk, being
a nutrient, was considered especially beneficial to children.
Milk looked pure because of its white color, but it was a deception
as it could carry bacteria which would cause a variety of disease,
namely, tuberculosis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid, and
sore throat. It was pointed out in the San Francisco Call,
June 21, 1891, "that thousands of lives, particularly those
of children, have been lost in this city by the use of bad milk."79
Later in the same article it noted that:
Dairies should not be allowed
within the city limits, as they generally locate in hollows where
the water supply is tainted, bad and full of bacteria, and they
are near slops and filth and disease of all kinds . . . some
system of State inspection, something similar to that in vogue
in England, should be adopted.80
Quite often dairy stock located near cities were
fed distillery swill, brewery slops and garbage of all kinds which
produced poor milk. There was widespread ignorance of cleanliness
required to operate a dairy. This was so stated in the 1894 Transactions
of the California State Agricultural Society: "Many people
. . . have little or no idea of the scrupulous cleanliness that
must be observed and practiced in all things connected with dairy."81
Besides bad feed and water, unkempt corrals and barns, filthy milking
equipment, dirty clothes used by milkers and improper cooling
and handling of milk often caused diseased milk.
A report was filed by Dr. Thomas Bowhill of San Diego
County in 1888, wherein he found milk cows with a disease similar
to anthrax. The stock came from Mexico.82
This could have been bovine tuberculosis, which soon caused a
great scare not only in California but throughout the United States.
The California State Dairy Bureau felt that all cattle should
be mandatorily inspected. But because of the sheer number of cattle
with the disease (50 percent was the estimate), farmers complained
that they would be put out of business if they had to slaughter
those infected.83 But
because of the serious nature of the disease, an inspection law
was put in place. Not only were the cattle to be inspected but
dairy facilities and equipment as well. The law was needed to
provoke dairymen to clean up their herds, facilities, and methods
of handling milk.84
At first there wasn't enough money budgeted for statewide
inspection.85 However,
inspections still went forth as best they could. In the 1911 report
of the California Dairy Bureau there appeared a lengthy list of
fines imposed on dairymen for an "unsanitary dairy."
Fines ranged from $10 to $40.86
A checklist card was used during inspections which covered everything
form barns to the cleanliness of the milker's clothing.87
The duty of the Dairy Bureau was "to enforce the law preventing
the sale of milk or milk products from diseased cows or from an
unsanitary dairy, or factory of dairy products."88
This was the beginning of the modernization of dairies
in Californial. Instead of wooden structures, it was advised that
dairy buildings should be constructed with cement and steel and
constructed so as to insure easy cleaning. The reports of the
California Dairy Bureau contained blueprints of structures to
help dairymen in this process.
Dairying had come a long way from the early days
of milking cows at a mission, or carrying out dairying in a mountain
shanty, or in the hallow of an urban setting. The proper stock
had to be developed. Feeding needed to be cost-effective and healthy.
Land had to be available at a decent price and needed to have
an irrigation system to provide water for pastures and alfalfa
fields. Machinery had to be invented to improve the quality of
dairying and speed up the process. Proper sanitary dairy techniques
had to be implemented to provide a healthy product. It was an
evolving process which has not ended even today.
PHOTOS Photo #1 Milking time at Stockton State Hospital in 1901. Milking is being done by hand on what appears to be the only Jersey cow in the milking string. The others are stout beef stock -- not ideal for good milk production. The barn is airy, allowing for good ventilation, but the straw and manure on the floor is not good sanitation practice. This and following illustrations courtesy of the Haggin Museum, Stockton. Photo #2 A herd of Jerseys on the Lafferty Ranch in the San Joaquin Valley, c. 1910. In the background there is a stack of alfalfa and silos with corn silage. This herd is in good condition. Photo #3 A hay press in San Joaquin County, c. 1910. Alfalfa hay is fed into the press where it is bailed and then stacked. Bailed hay is less bulky, easier to transport, and preserves better. Photo #4 A herd of young Holstein cows walking along a lane on the Riverside Dairy near Stockton, c. 1910. The type and size of the buildings in the background was untypical for the warm San Joaquin Valley. Photo #5 A herd of Holsteins at a pasture in San Joaquin Valley, c. 1910. Scientific breeding of milking stock was not in full practice at this dairy as yet as seen by the varying markings on the cows. The valley oak provided shade in the hot summers, and the haybarn in the distance was typical for the Central Valley. NOTES 1 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry, Dairying in California, by E. J. Wickson (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1896), p. 5. 2 Ibid. 3Antoine Tibesar, O.F.M., trans. and ed., Writings of Junipero Serra (4 vols., Washington, D.C.: Academy of American Franciscan History, 1966), I:321. 4E.J. Wickson, Rural California (New York: Macmillan, 1923), p. 214. 5 Zephyrin Engelhardt, Mission San Carlos Borromeo (Carmelo): The Father of the Missions (Reprinted: Ramona, CA: Ballena Press, 1973), p. 35. 6Ibid., pp. 41-42. 7 Edith Buckland Webb, Indian Life at the Old Missions (Los Angeles: Warren F. Lewis, 1952), p. 180. 8 Ellsworth C. Smith, "The Dairying Industry in California," Overland Monthly, 43 (April 1904): 268. 9 Robert E. Jones, The Beginning of Dairying on the Pacific (Berkeley: University of California, 1930), p. 2. 10 Lawrence J. Jelinek, Harvest Empire: A History of California Agriculture (San Francisco: Boyd & Fraser, 1979), p. 18. 11 William Dane Phelps, Alta California, 1840-1842: The Journal and Observations of William Dane Phelps (Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark, 1983), p. 131. 12 Robert Glass Cleland, The Cattle on a Thousand Hills (San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 1951), p. 53. 13 William Heath Davis, Seventy-Five Years in California (San Francisco: John Howell Books, 1967), p. 27. 14 Ibid., p. 249. 15 Wickson, Dairying in California, p. 6. 16 "Dairy: An American Gift to California," Pacific Rural Press, 92(September 1916):289. 17 Wickson, Dairying in California, pp. 8-13. 18 R.G. Sneath, "Dairying in California, Overland Monthly, 11 (April 1888): 288. 19 "Dairy: An American Gift," p. 289. 20 Ibid., p. 313. 21 Sneath, "Dairying in California," p. 288. 22 Wickson, Dairying in California, p. 15. 23 University of California, College of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station, Berkeley, CA, Dairy Products, by Edwin C. Voorhies, Bulletin No. 154 (Berkeley: University of California Printing Office, October 1931), p. 14. 24 California State Board of Agriculture, Statistical Report of the California State Board of Agriculture for the Year 1913 (Sacramento: State Printing Office, 1914), pp. 39-40. 25 "Dairy Farm Near Stockton," Alta California, November 7, 1862, p.1, col.6. 26 Henry De Groot, "Dairies and Dairying in California," Overland Monthly, O.S., 4(1870):358-359. 27 "Dairy in Monterey County," Alta California, April 12, 1873, p. 2, col. 3. 28 Wickson, Dairying in California," p. 28. 29 "The Dairy Business, Alta California, February 12, 1856, p.2, col.2. 30 Sneath, "Dairying in California, p. 390. 31 California State Board of Agriculture, Statistical Report of the California State Board of Agriculture for the Year 1915 (Sacramento: State Printer, 1916), p. 64. 32 Wickson, Dairying in California, p. 27. 33 Ibid., p. 29. 34 F.E. Sheldon, "Dairying in California. II," Overland Monthly, Ser. II, 17(May 1891):450. 35 Ralph Selitzer, The Dairy Industry in America (New York: Dairy Field, 1976), p. 63. 36 John T. Schlebecker, A History of American Dairying (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1967), p. 25. 37 Ibid. 38 T.R. Pirtle, History of the Dairy Industry (Chicago: Monjonnier Brothers, 1926), p. 84. 39 Schlebecker, A History of American Dairying, pp. 27-28. 40 Delaware College, Agricultural Experimental Station, Hand-Power Cream Separators, by C.L. Penny, Bulletin No. 17 (Newark: June 1892), 11. 41 "Mr. Mood Answers Questions," The Creamery Journal, n.v. (July 1897):10. 42 F.E. Shelton, "Dairying in California. I," Overland Monthly, Ser. II, 17(April 1891): 344. 43 Wickson, Dairying in California, p. 22. 44 "Mr. Moody Answers Questions," The Creamery Journal, n.v. (July 1897): 10. 45 Kansas State Agricultural College, Agricultural Experiment Station, Milking Machines, by Oscar Erf, Bulletin No. 140 (Manhattan, KS: October 1906), p. 1. 46 University of Nebraska, Agricultural Experment Station, Milking Machines, by A.L. Haecker and E.M. Little, Bulletin No. 108 (Lincoln: December 7, 1908), p. 72. 47 D.S. Burch, Dairy Farming (Philadelphia: Penn Publishing Co., 1912), p.73. 48 Erf, Milking Machines, p. 61. 49 Haecker and Little, Milking Machines, p. 73. 50 Ibid. 51 Ibid. 52 Ibid., p. 9. 53 Ibid., p. 70. 54 George Stewart, Alfalfa-Growing in the United States and Canada (New York: Macmillan, 1926), p. 20. 55 Wickson, Dairying in California, p. 116. 56 Ibid., p. 117. 57 Sneath, "Dairying in California," p. 291-292. 58 California State Agricultural Society, Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society During the Year 1872 (Sacramento: State Printer, 1873), p. 473. 59 California State Agricultural Society, Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society During the Year 1878 (Sacramento: State Printer, 1879), p. 154. 60 California State Agricultural Society, Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society During the Year 1891 (Sacramento: State Printer, 1892), p. 24. 61 "Tulare Wants More Dairymen," San Francisco Chronicle, April 16, 1904, pp. 13-14. 62 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway System, Colonization Department, Dairying in the San Joaquin Valley, California (Chicago: 1913), p. 7. 63 Ibid., p. 25. 64 California State Board of Agriculture, Report for 1915, p. 73. 65 California State Agricultural Society, Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society During the Year 1906 (Sacramento: State Printer, 1907), p. 18. 66 California State Agricultural Society, Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society During the Year 1858 (Sacramento: State Printer, 1858), pp. 235-236. 67 California State Agricultural Society, Report for 1872, p. 25. 68 California State Agricultural Society, Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society During the Year 1874 (Sacramento: State Printer, 1875), p. 307-313. 69 Ibid., p. 224-225. 70 Ibid., p. 312. 71 Jelinek, Harvest Empire, pp. 55-56. 72 California State Board of Agriculture, Report for 1915, p. 183, 190. 73 California State Board of Agriculture, Statistical Report of the California State Board of Agriculture for the Year 1913 (Sacramento: State Printing Office, 1914), p. 147. 74 California State Board of Agriculture, Report for 1915, p. 188. 75 California State Board of Agriculture, Report for 1913, p. 22. 76 California State Board of Agriculture, Report for 1915, p. 27. 77 Ibid.,p. 64. 78 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway System, Dairying in the San Joaquin Valley, p. 26. 79"How Milk is Supplied in San Francisco," San Francisco Call, June 21, 1892, p. 9. 80 Ibid. 81California State Agricultural Society, Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society During the Year 1894 (Sacramento: State Printer, 1895), p. 136. 82 California State Agricultural Society, Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society During the Year 1888 (Sacramento: State Printer, 1889), p. 228. 83 California State Dairy Bureau, Third Report . . . from October 1, 1898 to October 1, 1900 (Sacramento: Superintendent of State Printing, 1900), p. 28. Also subsequent reports: The Fourth Report (1900-1902), p. 13; The Fifth Report (1902-1904), p. 17. 84 U.S. Department of Agriculture, National and State Dairy Laws, compiled by R.A. Pearson. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1900), p. 38-39. 85 California State Dairy Bureau, Ninth Report . . . 1911-1912 (Sacramento: Superintendent of State Printing, 1912), p. 7 86 California State Dairy Bureau, Tenth Report . . . 1913-1914 (Sacramento: Superintendent of State Printing, 1914), p. 45. 87Ibid., p. 7. 88 California State Dairy Bureau, Sixth Report . . . 1904-1906 (Sacramento: Superintendent of State Printing, 1907), p. 7.