Dec. 24, 2019

Dec. 24, 2019

Liz Writes Life

This is the last column I will be writing -- this year. Ha, ha, thought you were rid of me, but I plan to continue writing into 2020. A big “thanks” to those who read my column!

I don’t recall ever wondering what I would be doing in the year 2020. Always thought it was a long way off. I do remember wondering about 2000 – if life would be like the 1960s cartoon “The Jetsons.” We do have video phone calling, but we are not yet flying our cars although some people do drive pretty darned fast and most everyone seems to be in a hurry!

So, in wondering what I should write about on this ending-year of a remarkable technological and world-wide-politically-overwhelming decade (unless you consider 2020 the real end of the decade), I found a tabloid-sized “Orchard and Farm” section of “The Sunday San Francisco Examiner” on my shelf. It was dated Dec. 17, 1922. Don’t have the faintest idea where it came from. Nope, no sticky-note with an answer hanging on it. Darn.

Yep, it is quite interesting thinking of life nearly 100 years ago in California. I checked Wikipedia on the internet and found a tidbit about 1922. It was also deep in politics and pointing of fingers. The “Teapot Dome” scandal was a bribery involving the administration of U.S. President Warren G. Harding (R-Ohio) from 1921 to 1923. Secretary of Interior, Albert Bacon Fall, had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming and two locations in California to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. U.S. Senator Thomas J. Walsh (D-Montana) investigated the sensational situation and screamed foul.

After all the dust settled, Interior Secretary Albert Fall was convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies and was the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison. Interestingly, no one was convicted of paying the bribes. The Teapot Dome scandal was considered the greatest scandal in American politics until Watergate by the Richard Nixon administration in 1972.

I won’t go into our current political raging and House impeachment in WA. D.C. We get enough of that through our multiple sources of news and social media, which was not available in 1922.

I was a bit surprised to find on the front of the “Orchard and Farm,” Miss California standing on a ladder, in a not-sexy dress, in a corn field. The script on the bottom-half of the full-page photo said: Hello Missouri! Come west if you would be shown. Guess, California was already boasting its agriculture industry.

The font size of the print in “Orchard and Farm” was pretty small. Even with reading glasses, I had to read slowly. Overall, I was impressed with how the articles and ads expressed scientific and nutritional advances. Yes, making money with a quality product was the theme.

An ad on the full-back page by Sperry Baby Chick Scratch claimed the importance of saving as many baby chicks as possible with its feed. Losing chicks meant you were losing money.

Actually, poultry was a main feature throughout the newspaper. Mammoth Poultry Ranch “de Luxe” was featured on three pages, including one page with five photos. The farm also grew fruit trees for shade and photos showed cages, a new type of poultry house and flocks in large pens. The business admitted it focused on both show chickens to improve the breeds and the “utility” for egg production. The California White Leghorn breed was featured in several articles and ads.

Persimmons were growing in popularity and an article discussed pollination, varieties and other problems that were still being worked out.

One article discussed, “What Peaches Shall I Plant?” It compared both old and new cling varieties. It states that clings, when canned, possessed quality superior to the freestone variety. But, as one housewife (me), who has canned both – give me freestone any day – just add a bit more sugar or honey!

Grapes and creating new varieties were of major importance. R.B. Holcomb, a Tulare vineyardist, discovered a principle that was expected to revolutionize grape growing. (I couldn’t find the secret principle in the article). One photo showed (difficult to see the water in black and white) “an irrigation scene in the great San Joaquin Valley, where the grape has created millions of dollars in new wealth.” And an elongated purplish-black “lady finger” variety was said to have unusual sweetness. I ate my first one two weeks ago at a Christmas brunch. Huh, took me a long time to try it!

Ghirardelli’s ground chocolate advertised on a quarter-page. Yep, 97 years later, I have a can of Ghirardelli’s on my shelf. A Thomas Orchard and Vineyard Fertilizer Drill was advertised by Dixon, Griswold & Co. Another ad was for “Oronite Shingle Oil” by the Standard Oil Company of California. Kow-Kare was sold in general stores and claimed to increase milk production by the Dairy Association Co. There was a U.S. Army & Navy Goods Store at 213 S. Main St. in Los Angeles selling a number of items, including wool shirts, wool blankets and raincoats. The type font was so tiny, I could hardly read it.

One half-page ad was by Southwest State Bank. It was “now established” at the Los Angeles Union Stock Yards and in position to do a general live stock financing and banking business. “Affiliated with this bank is the SOUTHWEST CATTLE LOAN COMPANY of Los Angeles.” John L. Knorpp was president.

The center double-page feature article was titled: New Stock Yards Create Great Central Market for the Entire Southwest. Photos featured men looking at a group of hogs, a woman showing a Southdown lamb and cattle in feedyards. The first paragraph said it all about this growing industry: The new Union Stockyards, representing an initial investment of $350,000 by the executives of the Chicago Union Stockyards and Transit Company, and associates, opened auspiciously November 1, at Los Angeles with receipts of 77 cars of livestock and with top prices on the opening day of 9 cents for cattle, $13.25 for sheep and $11.50 for hogs. (I believe the 9 cents for cattle was 9 cents per pound as I found an article on the internet that said in July the price averaged 7 cents per pound).

I didn’t discuss the lifestyle of 1922. Most rural folks used outhouses and may not have had running water in the home or electricity for the lone bare light bulb hanging in the kitchen or living room. Yep, 2020 isn’t too bad as far as conveniences and lots of available food goes!

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past year can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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