HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE 91 



Fair of 1859, Colonel E. D. Baker, one of the noted 

 orators of the period, said : "The time will yet come 

 when the ditches which traverse the whole mineral 

 regions of California will be more valuable for agri- 

 culture than they ever have been for gold finding." 



Although the mining interests may be credited 

 with engendering at least a part of whatever indus- 

 trial buoyancy and adventure California had beyond 

 the endowment of other new western states, her agri- 

 culture suffered at one time from a perversion of the 

 spirit of adventure just as did legitimate mining 

 itself. In the third decade (1870-1880), California 

 reached a notable over-supply of grain and other 

 staple products and exportation of them was wholly 

 in the hands of speculators. The opportunity to get 

 rich quick seemed to many farmers the outlet from 

 their financial difficulties and many of them threw 

 themselves into it. Many of the first generation of 

 California farmers went out on this tide. They had 

 neither resolution nor capital to handle their lands 

 either in new lines of production or in subdivision 

 and sale. Others supplied these essentials and Cali- 

 fornia entered on a new era of agricultural develop- 

 ment which brought the State to its current achieve- 

 ments. The sad lesson was well learned. During 

 the last forty years farmers have not largely invested 

 in mining, either in its producing or gambling phases, 

 as the soil and its products have shown superior 

 attractions. On the other hand, large fortunes made 

 in mining have been securely and profitably placed 

 in farming lands and enterprises in production. 



