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their way through life, live soft-handed all their days, and dying full of 

 years we strain ourselves to build them public monuments, when in truth 

 the sole return they make to the earth for all its fruits they have eaten 

 without earning, is the fertilizing effect of their carcasses. 



You may look on these men till you tire. They are not the great men 

 of California, whose memories deserve preserving, nor the men who should 

 be first honored with the lifted hat. Our great men are those who are 

 patiently developing the marvelous resources of the State, who are study- 

 ing the ways of Nature, and watching the cunning hiding places of her 

 stores. Many of these men may be named, and many of whom the world 

 has not heard are worthies in the same list. 



When Southern California was a poor cattle pasture, Rose, of San 

 Gabriel, went to that wilderness, cherishing the tastes of his German birth- 

 place. It was thirty }^ears ago that he took the southwestern trail, through 

 perils that are now amongst the ancient history of New Mexico and Ari- 

 zona. His dream was of a land of corn and wine, and it became fact when 

 his first grapes were trodden into wine by the Indians, amongst whom he 

 made his home. He pioneered that new Los Angeles, proved the higher 

 utility of a California " cow county," and showed others how the name of 

 that part of our State could be sent around the world on the fame of its 

 oranges, its figs, trees, and vines. 



Ellwood Cooper, of Santa Barbara, is another of the great men of this 

 State, for he has proved the possibility and the profit of olive culture. He 

 has shown that our soil and climate will produce olives as rich in oil and 

 flavor as any that were kissed into perfection by the soft air of Palestine on 

 the slopes of the Mount of Olives, where the Savior rested and overlooked 

 Jerusalem, where he was soon to be hailed as the Son of David. Ellwood 

 Cooper added a new commercial utility to the industries of this State, and 

 his genius has produced olive oil so excellent that the product of ancient 

 orchards on the slopes of the Mediterranean finds no sale in competition 

 with it, though offered at less than half its price. What he has done at 

 Santa Barbara can be repeated along seven hundred miles of the Coast 

 Range on lands kindly to the olive, but otherwise of doubtful utility. Let 

 all Californians honor this gentleman, whose genius and energy have 

 located here one of the oldest industries of the earth. 



Another great Californian is dead. He served his country bravely in 

 battle, it is true, but his title to greatness is not only in his record as a 

 soldier. Naglee, of San Jose, gave his sword to his country when she needed 

 soldiers, but his fame rests upon his being the first experimenter to prove 

 the ultimate and maximum excellence of our vintage, and give a perma- 

 nent commercial fame to our vineyards, b} r proving that California is the 

 peer of France in brandy production. With no guide but his genius, 

 focussed upon one subject, he hunted brandy in the chemistry of the soil, 

 guarded its transmutation into the sap which is the blood of the vine, traced 

 it from the vine to the leaf, and thence to the fruit and its distillation, and 

 in the perfected spirit caught the blush and bouquet of the grape, and 

 made it sweet with the aroma of Nature's cologne. This prince of spirits 

 has withstood the tests of hard judges in competition with the brandies of 

 Europe. With a tithe of the work and toil of perfecting it, he could have 

 packed primaries, purchased nominations, and had his name inscribed 

 amongst Senators. But he chose the pursuit that practically benefited his 

 State, by adding to its materialities; therefore lift your hat to the memory 

 of the man who beat France with California brandy, and convicted cognac 

 of adulteration. 



