The Spanish mission system completely changed the landscape with the introduction of cattle, horses and sheep as grazing animals and the conversion of perennial grasslands to pastures of annual non-native plants. Henry Miller was the epitome of the livestock culture that built upon Spanish agricultural designs. These practices relied upon domesticated herds to supply food for a burgeoning population. Livestock ranching dominated the local scene early on with much of land area in southern Santa Clara County controlled by Miller and families such as the Murphy’s and the Coe’s. Of the 834,568 acres within Santa Clara County, nearly 254,000 acres are classified as rangeland. In 2021, only 15,545 acres were actively designated as grazing lands. From the days of the Cattle King, the number of livestock animals has dropped to below 5,000 head. Miller and Lux once claimed to pasture more than one million head of cattle and sheep in California, primarily in the Central Valley, during the late 1800’s. Today, much of our local grazing lands are owned by agencies such as Santa Clara County Parks and the Open Space Authority. Modern management plans are concerned with the preservation of habitats for native wildlife and plants, securing water sources, amongst other objectives. Although oftentimes protected from development, many grazing areas that are important grassland or oak savanna landscapes, are threatened by the exclusion of fire and the invasion and spread of non-native weeds. Land managers increasingly recognize the advantages of livestock grazing to maintain grassland habitat, promoting the reduction of exotic plants, and reducing fine fuels and wildfire risk. Cattle grazing in particular has been shown to reduce the growth of non-native grasses and help tip the balance toward the establishment of native forbs and grasses. The buildup of dying and dead non-native grasses creates a unique problem – a thick layer of thatch. When combined with community concerns about prescribed fires, land managers are faced with a conundrum. Non-native grasses produce huge amounts of thatch each year and livestock grazing has become an essential tool to address this dilemma. The reintroduction of native wildlife such as tule elk presents other related management issues including predator control and fencing requirements. Cattle grazing not only supports beef production, it provides an important strategy for conserving open space lands and preserving biodiversity. Hay production is still an agricultural pursuit in South County, although on a much smaller scale than when Henry Miller travelled through his ranches. Miller would harvest and store vast quantities of hay as means of avoiding the lack of forage particularly during drought years Ranchers today are still challenged during prolonged dry spells to source livestock food at cost factors that allow them to remain economically viable.
By: Mike Monroe
More of yesterday and today cattle and hay
The Blaettler family and the firm of Blaettler Accountancy have been dedicated supporters of the Miller Red Barn restoration project. 🌾 One aspect of Gilroy's rich agricultural heritage has been the prevalence of dairy farming 🧀 and local butter and cheese production. 🐮 A series of posts will now explore this history. 📜 The focus throughout will be upon the Blaettler family dairy that operated from 1917 until 1965 off of Day Road East. 🛤️
To set the stage, a quick review of the introduction of cattle in California:
Cattle were imported into California through the Spanish mission system. 🇪🇸 🐂 Longhorn cows and steers arrived in Mexico during the 1520's serving primarily as a source of meat, hides, and tallow. 🍖 Christopher Columbus was reported to have picked up Iberian Longhorn cattle from the Canary Islands during his second voyage to the New World in 1493. 🗺️ The cattle were deposited at the island of Hispaniola, today's Haiti and Dominican Republic. 🏝️
Milk products, including butter and cheese, could be obtained from domesticated Longhorn cows, but the work was certainly dangerous and unsanitary. ⚠️ 🧈 Longhorn cattle are a hearty breed that will forage on a variety of plant material - grasses, leaves, even poison oak 🌿 and prickly pear cactus. 🌵 Cattle and other livestock animals, such as goats 🐐 and sheep 🐑, forever changed the landscape of California as native perennial plants gave way to imported annual grasses, especially wild mustard. 🌾
Longhorn cattle were able to thrive on barren land 🌍 where other breeds would not be able to survive. Their casual gait allowed them to walk with minimal effort, traveling great distances in search of feed and water. 💧
Henry Miller, and his Miller & Lux outfit, brought new breeds of American cattle to California, including Angus 🐂 and Herefords for meat, and Holsteins for his dairy farm at Bloomfield. 🧑🌾 🐄 Angus originated in Scotland, Herefords from England, and Holsteins from the Netherlands and Denmark. 🌍
Early settlers in Gilroy crossed the Plains and the Sierra 🏞️ with cattle as they began new lives and farms in Pleasant Valley. 🚜 Milking Shorthorn cattle, which provided both quality meat and milk, were also a favorite breed for the pioneers. They also served as draft animals. 🐄 💪
There are over 250 breeds of cattle recognized throughout the world 🌎 serving both the dairy and meat trades. Female cattle are called cows after they have given birth to a calf. 🐮 Heifers are female cattle that have yet to give birth. Male cattle are either bulls 🐂, which have not been castrated and become mates for cows, or they are raised as steers for meat production. 🥩
Today, California is the nation's leading milk producer 🥛 and home to approximately 1.7 million cows. 🐄 Nearly 90% of the cows live in San Joaquin Valley with only a couple of small local dairies remaining. 🏞️ The five primary dairy breeds are Holstein-Friesians, Jersey, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, and Ayrshire. 🐄 🧑🌾 The Blaettler family raised mostly Holstein cows because of their large milk output. 🥛 🌾
By: Mike Monroe
Continuing the introduction about dairies in Gilroy… 🐄 When the Spanish military and missionaries arrived in Monterey in 1770, a supply ship soon followed with Longhorn Mexican cattle. 🛳️ Then the Anza Expedition of 1776 brought both families 👨👩👧👦 and cattle to settle in the Bay Area. People and cattle were dispersed to Mission Carmel, the Monterey Presidio, the new missions soon to be established at San Francisco (Yerba Buena) and Santa Clara, as well as the new pueblo of San Jose (1777). 🌍
By 1800, it is estimated that cattle herds throughout California numbered in excess of 74,000 animals. 🐄 Expanding dramatically during the next 30 years, and with Mexico now in charge of California, nearly 500,000 cattle were roaming the state 🏞️, but only a small portion of those were intended for milk production. 🧀
By 1795, Spanish law provided soldiers with two milk cows upon retirement. 🐄🐄 While Longhorn cows were virtually useless for milk production early on, the missionary priests quickly trained Native men to handle cows for limited milk and cheese output. 🧑🌾 In 1772, when supplies from Mexico were sparse, Junipero Serra wrote: "milk from the cows and some vegetables from the garden have been the primary source of subsistence." 🌾
In 1841, a ship's captain named William Dane Phelps wrote this story after witnessing cows being milked near today's San Leandro:
🐎 "You would be amused at their manners of milking cows in this country. They send young men with a horse and lasso 🧑🌾🐄 to catch somewhat tame cows, tie their legs, and milk them into pottery vessels."
Mexican families did make fresh cheese, often called "Queso del País" or "Queso Blanco," 🧀 but it had to be consumed quickly before spoiling. Butter and cheese weren’t sold commercially until after the Gold Rush.
📝 Stay tuned for the next installment, where we'll highlight the development of the first dairies in Pleasant Valley (now Gilroy) in the 1850s. 🌾 By 1897, the Gilroy Advocate reported that Gilroy had gained a reputation as the leading cheese producer in Santa Clara County, per the State Dairy Board. 🏆
By: Mike Monroe
The Blaettler family from Switzerland 🇨🇭 arrived in Gilroy in 1917, settling upon a 200-acre parcel along Day Road. 🌾 The land had been used for pasturage and hay production by the Murphy family, who had purchased Rancho San Francisco de las Llagas from Carlos Castro in 1848. The Murphys had been early prospectors in the Sierra goldfields, ⛏️ quickly turning their riches into land acquisitions. Murphy relatives from Ireland 🇮🇪, including the Fitzgeralds and O'Tooles, were beneficiaries of the land purchases as well.
The Murphy family claimed the land when the first official surveys were completed in 1857. 🗺️ The Blaettler Dairy would be located at the boundary between three Mexican/Spanish land grants: Solis, Las Animas, and Las Llagas – with Day Road and today's Santa Teresa Boulevard as the approximate borders. The 1857 map estimates the Rancho Las Llagas acreage at more than 22,000 acres. 🏞️ The Murphys soon recognized that the cattle business would be very lucrative during the Gold Rush, especially with the availability of abundant pasturage and significant water resources on their land. 💧
The Blaettler family were not the first to engage in the dairy business. That distinction belongs to the Reeve family. 🧀 The Henry Reeve (1815-1891) family crossed the Plains in 1853 from Ohio 🌾, and settled on a 300-acre parcel in 1854 about a mile south of the developing village of Gilroy. Two sons, Oscar and Henry Jr., opened a dairy and soon developed a cheese factory. 🏭 Many pioneering families included dairying as an economic component of their farms, and would benefit immensely with the arrival of rail transportation 🚂 in 1869.
By: Mike Monroe
As previously mentioned, the Blaettler Dairy property was unique in the sense that at its southwestern corner was the convergence of three rancho grants - Las Animas (Spanish 1803), Las Llagas (Mexican 1834), and Solis (Mexican 1834). 📍 The modern-day intersection of Santa Teresa Boulevard and Day Road marks the point of convergence.
❓ Why did the three rancho properties meet at this intersection? Because there was a landscape feature that had been identified during the Anza Expedition in 1776. 🏞️ The landmark consists of several small, rolling hilltops known as the Lomitas de las Linares. 🍇 The Blaettler family planted grapevines in the 1920s on the gentle Lomitas hillsides and enjoyed a four-acre vineyard that provided wine for family and friends. 🍷
📚 An extensive article was written in the Spring 2017 issue of the San Diego History Center Quarterly about the Linares family. Traveling with the Anza Expedition in 1775 and 1776, the father of the family, Ignacio, at age 30, was a soldier who was accompanied by his wife and four children. 👶 The youngest child, Salvador Ignacio, was born on the trail. 🚶♂️
🗓️ Arriving in Monterey in early March of 1776, the group of colonists rested for three months until June. 🌊 Under the command of Lieutenant Josef Moraga, the caravan of families and animals traveled through San Benito near the future location of San Juan Bautista and then followed a route through the southern Santa Clara Valley. ☀️ Leaving the cool, foggy conditions of the Monterey Peninsula, the colonists experienced very hot June weather that caused fatigue and discomfort amongst the colonists, especially the families with children. 👨👩👧👦
As commander of the journey to San Francisco, Lt. Moraga filed a report after completing the "occupation of the port of San Francisco" that included the following passage about traveling through today's San Martin near the Blaettler Dairy:
📝 "In the valley, there appeared before us a herd of elk of which we were able to kill three. 🦌 The elk were very large and provided our company with an abundance of savory meat. 🥩 This fortuitous occasion relieved the general dissatisfaction of our party, especially amongst the young families. 👶 Before the hunt, as we made our way to the Arroyo de las Llagas de Nuestro Padre de San Francisco (the creek named in honor of the Wounds of our Father Saint Francis), the women and children were suffering great discomfort from the heat and poor food rations. The Linares family, the mother of which (Gertrudis Rivas Linares) was so overcome, as she cared for her young children including a newborn baby, that she stopped to rest at some small hills while the men hunted the elk" - the Lomitas. 🌳
The Anza Expedition colonists rested for two days at the crossing of "Las Llagas", refreshing themselves near the creek channel and the year-round, spring-fed pool (a "poza"). 💧 Both landscape features, "Las Llagas and the Lomitas de las Linares" are frequently identified on historic maps and in journal accounts. 🗺️
By: Mike Monroe
The early Gilroy pioneers, such as the Reeve family, recognized the potential for southern Santa Clara County to develop into a dairying region. 🧀 The reason for this was the extensive wetlands that formed at the convergence of Llagas, Pacheco and Uvas Creeks. 🌿 Most watersheds were, and still are, intermittent during the year, and cows need a steady year-round supply of water and forage to ensure consistent milk production. 🥛
The perennial San Felipe or Soap Lake basin fulfilled that need. 🗺️ The early maps highlight the major creeks and their tributaries coalescing at Soap Lake. The historic maps show that most of the properties along Pacheco Pass and Old Gilroy were shaped as elongated rectangles. 📜 During wet winters, cows would be pastured in the low foothills and later in the springtime, the cows would be driven to the receding waters of the Soap Lake wetland, actually willow swamps. 🌾
Just as with any agricultural endeavor - water is life. 💧 The Blaettler Dairy on Day Road was not close to Soap Lake, but the family was able to tap into the aquifer of the floodplain created by the flow of Llagas and Lions Creeks. While surface flows were not reliable, well drilling would provide consistent irrigation for the dairy and the production of feed crops - hay and corn. 🌽
Henry Miller, and his partner Charles Lux, were very astute businessmen. 📈 They knew that to survive in the livestock marketplace, well-watered pasture land was essential. During Miller's earliest journeys to acquire American cattle that had arrived from Texas, and were then rested in the San Joaquin Valley, he would travel through South County along the El Camino. 🚶♂️ Oftentimes, he would overnight in New Gilroy or in San Juan Bautista, before making the arduous trip over Pacheco Pass. 🛣️ The story has been recounted many times of Miller surveying the vast Soap Lake floodplain and contemplating his ownership of the land and the water rights - the future Bloomfield Farm. 🐑🌾
By: Mike Monroe