San Joaquin-Madera-Kings County CA Archives Biographies.....West, George January 12, 1830 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com June 1, 2010, 11:20 pm Source: California and Californians, Vol. IV, Published 1932, Pages 39 - 41 Author: The Lewis Publishing Company GEORGE WEST. The history of California viticulture will always form a great deal of the enterprise and widely extended activities of the late George West. What he did as a vineyardist was a powerful stimulus to the state's fundamental destiny and prosperity. George West was a man of magnificent vision, and it was his vision, his public spirited purpose and the practical evolution of his plans that meant more to Mr. West than his extraordinary individual achievements as a business man. George West brought to California many of the rugged qualities of the sons of New England. The family for many years had been manufacturers at Boston. His father, William Allen West, had the contract with the Government for making the first copper cent. George West was born at Taunton, Massachusetts, January 12, 1830, and had a common school education and a practical business training. In 1849 his brother, William B. West, had responded to the call of the Pacific Coast and had come in a sailing vessel around the Horn. George West followed him in 1850, leaving Boston in December, 1849, and traveling by the Isthmus route. For a time he remained in San Francisco and then joined his brother in the mines, but the mining industry did not attract him for long. Both the West brothers were pioneer American settlers in San Joaquin County, where in 1852, after having had a store at Campo Seco, they acquired the holdings subsequently known as the El Pinal Ranch. This was one of the first ranches in the valley to be fenced. The place was then several miles from the heart of Stockton. In the following year the West brothers embarked in the nursery business. Both of them had an inalienable love of growing things, and tinder their direction the ranch presented not only an opportunity for a practical business but an outlet for their passion for flowers, plants and other phases of horticulture. They imported seed for stock from a Boston house and in the following year brought out different varieties of trees and vines, including pears, apples and grapes. The Wests laid the foundation of their nursery business when few others in California took an interest in anything except the quest for gold, which had drawn thousands of people to the infant state. But when the mining fever abated and the exodus to the valley and the pursuits of agriculture began, the Wests were in a strategic position. Their business thrived and there was a demand for their nursery stock as far south as Riverside and San Diego. There was also a call for their grape vines and cuttings at points as far as Texas. Fifty varieties of grape vine, including the seedless Sultana, had been brought from Boston in 1852. From these importations were derived all the seedless Sultanas now in the state. The great Fresno vineyard district had its beginning through the stimulus of the West brothers, whose vision recognized that the raisin would one day afford a large and paying industry. A collection of Sherry grapes from Spain was added to the vineyard about 1868. The table grapes grown on the estate were eagerly sought by the commission men in San Francisco, and the brandies and wines made from the grapes there achieved fame far and wide. The first wine to be made on the home place was under a tree in 1858. In the early years the West brothers had to depend largely upon their own experience. They studied the old methods of viticulture as practiced by the Spaniards and Mexicans, but their ideals were far in advance of the old routine practices. In later years George West extended his acreage holdings, acquiring land in Madera County and at Hanford in King County until eventually George West and son controlled 14,000 acres of vineyard either by direct ownership or lease. George West was one of the early commercial wine manufacturers of California. In the making of wine he had certain high technical standards, but his main purpose can be summed up by saying that it was to make good wine. In line with that purpose he became dissatisfied with the possibilities of the wine grape as generally grown in most of the California vineyards, and he sent to Europe, importing to California the finest of the wine grapes from many historic and famous vineyards. In addition to the manufacture of wines he also made the noted West brandies. During the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 samples of the El Pinal brandies were specially commended by C. F. Oldham to the British Royal Commission. He and his son, Frank Allen West, labored hand in hand to develop what both believed would be an industry absolutely invaluable to the state. Both of them lived to see their vision realized. Their faith and enterprise enabled them to conquer numerous difficulties and discouragements. The California grape growing industry was threatened with almost complete destruction by the parasitic pest known as phylloxera, and when hundreds of acres in the West vineyards had to be replanted, Mr. West through his own experiments and the experiments of horticultural stations introduced the type of disease resistant vines, setting an example which has been almost universally followed by vineyardists. It was by no means solely a selfish or commercial motive that actuated George West in his viticultural enterprises. Fundamentally he loved to see growing things, and it was part of his loyalty to his beloved State of California that he should exert himself to develop what he believed would be an industry that would become one of the state's most important means of realizing its natural resources and one that would afford thousands of men profitable employment and bring in millions of dollars annually to the state at large. Mr. West at the time of his death had a winery with a capacity of 1,500,000 gallons, recognized as the largest in the state. In addition to the value of his individual enterprise he served as a member of the Viticultural Commission from 1880 until 1897, when the commission was abolished by legislation. Politically he was a Republican, and took a deep interest in political questions and problems. George West married in 1855 Miss Ellen King, who had grown up at Norton, Massachusetts. Her father, Dauphin King, was a sea captain who lost his life at sea. Mr. and Mrs. West were the parents of two children, Frank Allen West and Harriet R. West. Frank Allen West was a worthy son of a worthy father and devoted the best part of his life to the business of George West & Son. He was born in 1862 and died January 15, 1915. He had the same fine vision and the honorable business standards as his father, and was widely known for his devotion to the welfare of the community and state. To quote an editorial tribute published at the time of his death: "As a business man and head of a large and important industry, Mr. West was a prominent figure throughout the central part of the state. His counsel and advice in matters of concern were sought by men of large affairs and his far-seeing judgment and his loyalty, honesty and uprightness won for him a high place in their esteem." It was at the request of many influential citizens that he consented to serve as one of the highway commissioners entrusted with the expenditure of nearly two million dollars for the construction of a good road system. He became chairman of the commission, and wisely directed the road building program so that when completed it stood as a monument to his loyal public service. Frank Allen West is survived by his widow, Mrs. Birne Terry West, and by two children, Winifred Burney, now the wife of George M. Graves, of the diplomatic service, and Frank A., Jr. Harriet R. West, who was born in 1858, lives at Stockton and has found a great pleasure in preserving many of the horticultural beauties of El Pinal estate, some of them out of sentimental respect for her honored father. She was married in 1905 to Mr. Charles M. Jackson. Mr. Jackson was born in San Francisco, in 1855, and died in September, 1924. Mrs. Jackson has always interested herself in civic affairs, in social service and the work of the Red Cross, and is very prominent socially. While the county and state at large owe much to the West family, there is one institution that is particularly indebted to Mrs. Jackson, who, as a tribute to the memory of her father and brother, presented to the Pacific College its splendid hospital and infirmary. It is perhaps the largest individual donation and certainly one of the most useful made to the college equipment, and members of the faculty and student body have again and again expressed themselves by saying they would not know how to get along without this hospital. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/sanjoaquin/photos/bios/west1009gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sanjoaquin/bios/west1009gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 9.5 Kb