i82 ELDORADO 



hundred thousand dollars. The olive industry in the 

 Ignited States is almost entirely confined to California, 

 and has become quite an important branch of oii: lio 

 liculture. The first olive trees were planted in Cali- 

 fornia when the Spanish "fathers," under Junipero 

 Serra, located the first mission at Old San Diego in 

 1769. There were some three hundred trees planted 

 at that time, and they still bear a full crop of fruit 

 (-■very year. From that orchard nearly all the olive 

 trees now growing in California were propagated. Un- 

 fortunately but few of the old pioneers that laid the 

 foundation of all these industries are now living to 

 witness the magnificent results of their labor and sacri- 

 fices. Their mantels, however, have fallen upon many 

 noble sons and daughters, who can be depended upon 

 to perpetuate the institutions and industries, and up- 

 hold the honor of this imperial State, aided by the in- 

 creasing population from the older States, who are of 

 exceptional intelligence and enterprise. 



The largest and most productive grapevine in the 

 world is in California, at Montecito, Santa Barbara 

 county. In 1765 Senora Dominguez, then a little girl, 

 was making a journey on horseback towards her home. 

 She had in her hand, for a whip, a grapevine. After 

 riding awhile she observed the vine was budding in her 

 hand, and, upon her arrival at home, she planted it. It 

 grew and today is fresh and vigorous, although it has 

 entered its second hundredth ^ear. From this single 

 sprig has grown a stem one foot and a half in diameter, 

 with innumerable branches and ofT-shoots covering an 

 area of one hundred and twenty feet in length, eighty 

 feet in width and producing four tons of grapes an- 

 nuallv. This vine and its product were for almost a 



