434 MENDOCINO COUNTY 



OPENING ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE MENDOCINO COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION, AT WIL- 



LITSVILLE, SEPTEMBER SEVENTEENTH, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND 



SEVENTY-EIGHT, BY THOMAS L. CAROTHEKS, ESQ. 



Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen: It is with pleasure 

 that I appear here to-day to assist you in the inauguration of the 

 Mendocino County Agricultural Association. As a citizen of Mendo- 

 cino County, identified with its varied interests and its welfare, and 

 that of its people being my welfare, I should and do feel it an honor 

 and a privilege to assist in my feeble manner in inaugurating a 

 society that we all know will add so materially to the prosperity of 

 our beautiful and famed county and its people of all classes, callings, 

 trades, and professions. 



The experience of all people, and particularly those of California, 

 has shown that nothing is so conducive to the prosperity of the 

 masses as the holding of fairs at stated periods, when and where the 

 products of the husbandman, the works of the artisan, and the high 

 perfection of stock breeding can be exhibited to an admiring public, 

 their respective exhibits placed in competition with one another, 

 their merits and demerits canvassed by skilled judges, and thus those 

 engaged in these various pursuits reap the advantages attending the 

 occasion, and profit by the knowledge gained and competition with 

 one another. 



I rejoice that Mendocino has waked out of its state of lethargy, and 

 following in the wake of its sister counties, has determined that the 

 people shall know that it has resources second to none, and that its 

 products will compare with those of the remainder of the State, and 

 that in stock raising and in the quality of its live stock, it will not 

 permit any superiors. 



We all know that the commencement of such enterprises is attended 

 with a great deal of labor and some considerable expense. An agri- 

 cultural society has been mooted and talked about in this county for 

 years. But it has been left to the zeal and untiring efforts of the peo- 

 ple of Little Lake Valley and vicinity to start the ball that is now 

 rolling so beautifully, and to make annual fairs in our midst a reality, 

 and to be the instrumentality through which our good people can 

 gather together, bringing with them the products of their genius, 

 industry, and toil, that they may be exhibited for the criticism of 

 the skilled and for the mutual benefit of all. All honor to the peo- 

 ple of Little Lake; and the people of the remainder of the county 

 owe them a debt of gratitude for their zeal and enterprise which they 

 can never repay. 



Mendocino County, with its area of 3,816 square miles, and its pop- 

 ulation of 12,000 souls, assumes an importance in our young and 

 growing State that is by no means insignificant. It stands about 

 eighth in wealth among the counties of the State. When we con- 

 sider the fact that there are fifty-two counties in California, and that 

 about forty-four contain less taxable property than Mendocino, we 

 may at least ask ourselves why cannot we afford a county fair once a 



