L. W. Currey, Inc.

(California; San Joaquin County; Lodi) Easton, Eldridge & Co., Auctioneers. GRAND EXCURSION TO, AND AUCTION SALE NEAR THE FAMOUS TOWN OF LODI. "THE EARLIEST AND MOST LUSCIOUS FRUIT BELT IN THE WORLD." A LOCALITY OF MOST WONDERFUL RESOURCES AND BEAUTY. SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY ... SATURDAY APRIL 16, 1892 WHEN WE WILL SELL AT AUCTION BY ORDER OF J. S. MOSELEY, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF THE LODI ORCHARD COMPANY, AT 2 O'CLOCK P. M., ON THE PREMISES, THE UNSOLD PORTION OF THE LODI ORCHARD COMPANY'S HOLDINGS IN THE "HOME RANCH" OF HON. R. C. SARGENT, ADJACENT TO THE THRIVING TOWN OF LODI, AND TWO MILES FROM SARGENT'S LANDING FOR STEAMERS ON SYCAMORE SLOUGH AND FOURTEEN MILES FROM STOCKTON. 2000 ACRES ... IN CHOICE SMALL FRUIT FARMS OF 10 ... ACRE TRACTS AND UPWARDS ... [caption title]. San Francisco: Easton, Eldridge & Co., 1892. Broadside, 10.5x34.5 cm (4 1/8 x 13 1/2 inches). Broadside advertising the sale of the unsold portion of the the Lodi Orchard Company's holdings in the "Home Ranch" of Hon. R. C. Sargent on April 16, 1892. Ross C. Sargent (1821-1903), a New Hampshire-born California Forty-niner, was a prominent pioneer resident of San Joaquin County. Sargent and his brothers were major players in reclamation of swamp and overflowed lands in the San Joaquin Delta under legislation known as the Arkansas Act. At the time of his death in 1903, R. C. Sargent was the largest landowner in San Joaquin County and left the largest estate ever probated in the county. See Alan M. Paterson, Rand F. Herbert and Stephen R. Wee, HISTORICAL EVALUATION OF THE DELTA WATERWAYS: FINAL REPORT, prepared for the State Lands Commission, December 1978. "In 1849, in company with his two brothers J. L. and J. P. Sargent, he started overland for California, arriving on October 13, 1849. For a year and a half they engaged in mining, merchandising and teaming in Placerville, but in 1851 came to San Joaquin county, pre-empted land and started farming. From that time he began increasing his holdings by purchase and by reclamation of the rich overflowed land so that he became one of the largest landholders in the county, his holdings reaching in the neighborhood of twenty-five thousand acres. Mr. Sargent used up-to-date methods in farming and has been notably successful. He invested heavily in different manufacturing enterprises in the county and also in city property in Stockton. As the years have passed, these holdings have grown enormously in value, and at the time of his death, June 15, 1903, he left an extremely valuable estate" (Irvine, HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA: ITS RESOURCES AND PEOPLE, VOLUME I [1905]). The millionaire's death led to scandal regarding a young maiden lady who lived in the octogenarian's household, but that's another story ... In the winter of 1892 R. C. Sargent's 17,000 acre "Home Ranch" was subdivided and sold to farmers and fruit raisers, the Lodi Orchard Company acquiring 2000 acres (San Francisco Call, March 4, 1892 [volume 71, number 94]). Auction announcements similar to, but not the same, as this handbill appeared in issues of the San Francisco Call and the Morning Call in April 1892. Folded in half; creased, mild stains, a good copy. (#167630).

Price: $650.00