Adobe days : $b being the truthful narrative of the events in the life of a California girl on a sheep ranch and in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles while it was yet a small and humble town; together with an account of how three young men from Maine in eighteen hundred and fifty-three drove sheep and cattle across the plains, mountains and deserts from Illinois to the Pacific coast; and the strange prophecy of Admiral Thatcher about San Pedro harbor — John Shaqi
Adobe days : $b being the truthful narrative of the events in the life of a California girl on a sheep ranch and in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles while it was yet a small and humble town; together with an account of how three young men from Maine in eighteen hundred and fifty-three drove sheep and cattle across the plains, mountains and deserts from Illinois to the Pacific coast; and the strange prophecy of Admiral Thatcher about San Pedro harborBixby Smith, Sarah
History
Adobe days : $b being the truthful narrative of the events in the life of a California girl on a sheep ranch and in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles while it was yet a small and humble town; together with an account of how three young men from Maine in eighteen hundred and fifty-three drove sheep and cattle across the plains, mountains and deserts from Illinois to the Pacific coast; and the strange prophecy of Admiral Thatcher about San Pedro harbor
Bixby Smith, Sarah
Agriculture -- California; Bixby Smith, Sarah, 1871-1935 -- Childhood and youth; Ethnic groups -- California; Frontier and pioneer life -- California -- Los Angeles; Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Biography; Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History; Mines and mineral resources -- California; Real estate development
On Friday the 30th they crossed the mountains through Cajon Pass, and
on New Years Day, the scribe to whom we are indebted for the detailed
account of this long, long journey was the guest of the Hollisters
at San Bernardino for dinner. Father told me they celebrated by
having doughnuts. It is evident that the two trains came in together,
sometimes one ahead, sometimes the other. I make note of the fact of
their traveling in company because I have seen it stated in print that
Col. Hollister was the first to bring American sheep to California. I
am pleased to be able to offer this contemporary witness to the fact
that there are others to share the honor. Mention is made of the sheep
of Frazer, White and Viles, and McClanahan as well as of Col. Hollister
and Flint, Bixby & Co., all of whom shared the hardships of the trail
those last days of 1853.
The San Bernardino into which they came after their long trip across
the desert was a Mormon colony which had been founded three years
earlier.
After spending the New Year at San Bernardino the herds that we have
followed across the plains moved on to the “Coco Mongo” ranch and
vineyard.
This was apparently a current spelling as it occurs in official
government documents. It is a word of Indian origin meaning a sandy
place. The first grape vines which still surprise the passer-by with
their growth in seemingly pure sand had been planted some ten years
before this. The old winery stands just north of the Foothill Boulevard
between Upland and Cucamonga.
The next drive took the men and sheep across the valley to the Williams
Ranch, the Santa Ana del Chino, and after a night there they moved on
to San Gabriel, which they reached the evening of January seventh.
The entry of the journal for January ninth would indicate that new
comers seventy years ago were as impressed by orange trees, as are the
tourists of today:--“A beautiful scene at sunrise. There had been a
light flurry of snow during the night which stuck to the orange leaves
and to the fruit, which, when lighted by the clear morning sun made a
most beautiful contrast of colors tropical and arctic.”
On that date they moved over to the ranges of the Rancho San Pasqual
where they had been able to rent pasturage. This is the site of the
present city of Pasadena. Here they camped for the remainder of the
winter.
“The only incident out of the ordinary routine of camp life for two
months,” says Dr. Flint, “was the birth of a son to Mr. and Mrs.
Johnson.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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