1895 Citrus Colony Cricket Team, Rocklin, California

Moses Andrews of Auburn started Placer County’s citrus industry when he planted a seedling citrus tree in 1871. The region was well suited to citrus. It was below the extreme cold of the mountains but high enough in the foothills to ripen earlier than other citrus regions in California, giving these fruits a head start for shipping back east by rail. This was the beginning of the Penryn/Loomis/Rocklin citrus industry.

Joel Parker Whitney was a local citrus and grape grower who had traveled to Europe and had an affinity for English country life. He decided to build a colony for people who shared his love of that life. The Citrus Colony was born. Twelve wealthy families arrived from England and built homes, a clubhouse, tennis courts, and even a cricket field.

'Pictured above is the Citrus colony’s 1895 cricket team, which was unbeaten in the State of California. They were also the 1898 champions of the state.

Eventually, the fruit prices started to drop as the depression of the 1890s worsened, and the colonists’ lack of farming experience began to take its toll. Eventually, some colonists headed back to England while others ended their farming careers for other ventures. The Colony went bankrupt in 1905.

More information about Placer County’s Citrus Colony can be found here.

Tobacco growing in Placer County

This photo shows the Whitney Ranch located in the today’s City of Rocklin. Joel Parker Whitney arrived in San Francisco in 1852 at the age of seventeen. Starting in 1855, Parker’s father and brothers began acquiring land in the Rocklin area and building a sheep ranch that they named Spring Valley Ranch. Eventually, the farm would cover some 128, 400 acres of land.

Whitney’s ranch included sheep and a wide variety of agricultural products, and as the above photo indicates, tobacco. During the 19th Century, there was a push to grow tobacco in California, where the climate was so conducive to producing so many different crops. The absence of summer rain was notable as late rains would harm the plant, which happened more frequently back in the southeast, and the southern US, where summer showers were a regular occurrence. This article below is from the Pacific Rural Press, Volume 50, Number 1, 6 July 1895, talks about the exciting future for tobacco growing in California.

Pacific Rural Press, Volume 50, Number 1, 6 July 1895

It appears that the growing of tobacco in California was a happening thing during the late 19th Century. Why it never took off, with most being grown in the southern United States, I don’t know.