Saturday, April 2, 2011
Corn - Old Silo - circa 1916
Another photo of ranch hands using Mogul 8-16 tractor to load old silo. This time corn. Erwin Hall on right.
Valley Panorama from above Hall ranch house
Not sure when different things were built on ranch. The new concrete silo is finished, but
cow barn only has the slab floor poured. My guess is around 1919.
You can see 90th St W crossing Elizabeth Lake Rd (line of trees) on left side of photo. To right
and above the big barn is the orchard on far side at Elizabeth Lake Rd & Bouquet Canyon.
[Scroll to the right, very wide photo]
cow barn only has the slab floor poured. My guess is around 1919.
You can see 90th St W crossing Elizabeth Lake Rd (line of trees) on left side of photo. To right
and above the big barn is the orchard on far side at Elizabeth Lake Rd & Bouquet Canyon.
[Scroll to the right, very wide photo]
The Ranch Hands - circa 1920
A hard working lot, posing for a photo, before the day begins on the Hall ranch.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Horse Barn at Ranch
Horse barn on right, and think tool shed directly ahead. Mogul 8-16 tractor between them.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Jack K. & Cliff in front of Ol Bull - 1918
Of course that is no bull. Little farm humor on the part of the 4 Hall boys. Cow barn to left.
Tool shed, Bunkhouse - 1924
Photo is poor quality, but good labeling on back by my dad.
Tool shed on left, bunkhouse on right. Cook house at end of lane, out of picture. Ranch house is past the right side of photo under trees. Cliff feeding the chickens.
Tool shed on left, bunkhouse on right. Cook house at end of lane, out of picture. Ranch house is past the right side of photo under trees. Cliff feeding the chickens.
Hall Barnyard - 1917
Jack K. and Cliff feeding the pigs in front of the Horse Barn. Tractor on left of photo.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Barn and Silo on Bouquet Canyon Rd.
This is a zoom in on barn and silo that is in the panorama photo of my first post. I believe both are still standing. To the right and behind the house on left is a windmill. I do not think this was part of Leona Valley Ranch, but was just east of it.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Leona Valley Subdivision
The subdivision of the Leona Valley Ranch started in 1922. That phase of the subdivision was for properties that had roads and water (either had water or was in an area known to be practical for drilling a well).
At some point before 1924, Frank established Leona Valley Subdivisions.
Below letterhead for that company.
In 1927 Farm Home Builders was incorporated and the next phase that required new roads and water system was started. To that end Farm Home Builders took out a loan for $45,000. In the boom times of the Roaring Twenties the project and big loan seemed like a grand idea. However a few years later in the depression amid bank lawsuits it proved to be the beginning of a very painful chapter.
Below a Farm Home Builders promotional letter by Frank Hall.
At some point before 1924, Frank established Leona Valley Subdivisions.
Below letterhead for that company.
In 1927 Farm Home Builders was incorporated and the next phase that required new roads and water system was started. To that end Farm Home Builders took out a loan for $45,000. In the boom times of the Roaring Twenties the project and big loan seemed like a grand idea. However a few years later in the depression amid bank lawsuits it proved to be the beginning of a very painful chapter.
Below a Farm Home Builders promotional letter by Frank Hall.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Barnyard winter 1921
"See, I told you we are not far enough south for the winter."
Winter snow, geese and cow barn in back.
Winter snow, geese and cow barn in back.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Leona Valley in White - circa 1917
A few inches of snow blanket the valley. Not sure where this is, think it could be looking across valley from out by ranch house. No date on this one so putting it around 1917 as other snow photos have circa 1917 on them.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Frank and Marguerite Hall
Frank was born in Alameda, CA in 1880. Marguerite was from upstate New York.
Prior to purchasing the ranch, Frank was in the oil business in Santa Maria, CA. Very successful for the first few years with great wells, a small refinery and the first gas station in town. His search for more oil yielded a number of dry wells and with production from his good wells slowing down, a farm sounded like it would keep four growing boys fed, and busy. From then on he limited his oil activities to a sideline of buying and selling oil leases.
Frank and Marguerite had four sons, they were ages 3-10 when they bought Leona in 1913. The boys all had fond memories of growing up on the Ranch and wouldn't trade their life there for anything.
He built up the dairy operation on the ranch which required quite an outlay for equipment. The dairy by 1921 had 50 cows and 37 calves to expand the herd. The dairy was shutdown in 1924 when the family moved to LA for better schools for the youngest two boys. When the older of those two graduated high school in 1926, I believe the dairy operation was restarted and ran until 1930 when the depression ended hope of making the dairy succeed. From family letters the Ranch also had a cattle operation while Frank ran it.
The subdivision of the ranch was started in 1922 and he was still selling lots in the 1950's. He worked with different real estate companies, formed his own, and tried different promotions. The Great Depression when land was not selling, also brought lawsuits from banks over title of land. With court cost and loans to pay, Frank among other odd jobs to raise cash, would scour the desert around Palmdale for shotgun shells then sell the brass to scrapyards. He also would make huge batches of tamales and sell them to the Van de Kamps restaurant on San Fernando Rd in Los Angeles, think he was living in Glendale at the time. His signature feature was a whole large olive in the middle of the tamale.
Marguerite and Frank having been separated for some time divorced in the 1940's, she went to live with the youngest son Clifford.
Frank and Marguerite Hall - circa 1912
Prior to purchasing the ranch, Frank was in the oil business in Santa Maria, CA. Very successful for the first few years with great wells, a small refinery and the first gas station in town. His search for more oil yielded a number of dry wells and with production from his good wells slowing down, a farm sounded like it would keep four growing boys fed, and busy. From then on he limited his oil activities to a sideline of buying and selling oil leases.
Frank and Marguerite had four sons, they were ages 3-10 when they bought Leona in 1913. The boys all had fond memories of growing up on the Ranch and wouldn't trade their life there for anything.
He built up the dairy operation on the ranch which required quite an outlay for equipment. The dairy by 1921 had 50 cows and 37 calves to expand the herd. The dairy was shutdown in 1924 when the family moved to LA for better schools for the youngest two boys. When the older of those two graduated high school in 1926, I believe the dairy operation was restarted and ran until 1930 when the depression ended hope of making the dairy succeed. From family letters the Ranch also had a cattle operation while Frank ran it.
The subdivision of the ranch was started in 1922 and he was still selling lots in the 1950's. He worked with different real estate companies, formed his own, and tried different promotions. The Great Depression when land was not selling, also brought lawsuits from banks over title of land. With court cost and loans to pay, Frank among other odd jobs to raise cash, would scour the desert around Palmdale for shotgun shells then sell the brass to scrapyards. He also would make huge batches of tamales and sell them to the Van de Kamps restaurant on San Fernando Rd in Los Angeles, think he was living in Glendale at the time. His signature feature was a whole large olive in the middle of the tamale.
Marguerite and Frank having been separated for some time divorced in the 1940's, she went to live with the youngest son Clifford.
During Would War II, Frank started building furniture from wood scraps. The largest pieces were 1x3 inches by a few feet long, but the majority were smaller than 1x1 inch and up to 4 feet long. The wood was the scrap pieces left over from making packing crates used by Lockheed in Burbank, CA to ship war equipment. He would laminate the pieces together to make dressers, tables and chairs. He must have built a 100 of each. After the war he moved to Ripon, CA and married Alice J Howell. They built the Ripon Motel single handed and furnished it with his furniture. He lived there until he passed on in 1958.
Frank and Marguerite Hall - circa 1912
Young's Ranch and view of Valley - 1927
This is looking east from near Leona Ave and 107th St West. The white house on right is Young's Ranch house. I hear the area where photo is taken from, is Bright Ranch property.
On left of photo where the dark crease intersects the orchard on far side of valley is junction of Elizabeth Lake Rd and Bouquet Canyon Rd. Thanks Alice for solving this one.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Close up of Leona School House
I hear they are in process of restoring the school house. So here is a close up to help out, even with some Photoshop magic quality is not that good, but you can make out major features. This an enlargement of photo in a previous post, which was made from a tiny print so not much detail to start with.
Barnyard farm equipment. circa 1920
Photo is a little fuzzy. Crawler tractor in front of building, upper left. Irrigation pipe lower right, with Mogul 8-16 tractor behind it. The light colored building behind 8-16 tractor is tool shed. Dark building far right is bunkhouse. This equipment was for planting, growing and havesting feed for dairy. The dairy itself required milking equipment and chillers.
Store and gas station. Leona Valley late 1920's
At corner of Elizabeth Lake Rd and 90th St W. It is now a feed store.
Thanks, Peggy for the information on this photo.
The historical doc link at beginning of this blog has the following. 1924 saw the start of the Leona Store, Mr. and Mrs. Nolenberger built it and ran it for a short while, later owned by Ralph and Evelyn Schwartz.
Also I find the 1920 Census has a Herman and Mary Nolenberger in Leona Valley, expect the same, so they were living in area before the store. That corner lot (Lot 46) was part of Frank's 1922 subdivision and may have been one of the first lots to sell, sometime between 1922 and 1924.
Horse Barn and farm implements
In the middle of the photo is a horse drawn reaper. Can see cutter bar raised at angle to left, could be used to cut milo maize.
Might have been pulled by a tractor also.
Cherry Orchard on southeast corner of Leona Ave and 107th St W
Darrell Hall planted this cherry orchard. On the north side of road was a large pear orchard.
On aerial photos I do not see any sign of pear trees, and most of the cherries have been removed.
For many of the early lots sold, owners hired Darrell to plant trees for them. Sometime in 1940's he opened a nursery business in Lancaster. Darrell also ran the Water Company for a number of years.
- photo circa 1930
Milo Maize (Sorghum) to feed dairy cows - about 1927
This photo is part of the sales brochure which I believe was made in 1927. The dairy was in operation from about 1915 - 1924 and from 1926 - 1930.
Orchard - about 1927
Think this orchard is out towards Lonesome Valley Rd. Can anyone verify location?
The trees look like apples.
Dairy farm - about 1918
Cow barn to left, silo on right. This silo is concrete and replaced earlier wooden one.
From Google maps looks like this barn and silo are still standing.
Valley with barn and silo in background - about 1918
Cows grazing on floor of valley. In background barn and concrete silo, Hall ranch house to right in trees.
The silo and low barn to the right are still standing, the tall barn on left of silo does not appear on google maps now.
Gooseberries in Pear orchard 1928
I guess because of dry farming these trees are spaced farther apart, then gooseberries can be planted in between.
View from old ranch house front porch in 1927
What would view look today. Below is google view with red X showing where house is, view above is to north.
South end of 90th St W looking north
View north from ranch house area in 1927. Street is now named 90th St W.
Below is a recent aerial photo of ranch house area. At bottom middle of photo is the south end of 90th St W. The silo and cow barn towards top of photo are easy to spot. Ranch house just to right and above end of road. The palm trees are bigger that you see in the next newer post.
Below is a recent aerial photo of ranch house area. At bottom middle of photo is the south end of 90th St W. The silo and cow barn towards top of photo are easy to spot. Ranch house just to right and above end of road. The palm trees are bigger that you see in the next newer post.
Silo on Leona Valley Ranch for dairy operation
Before 1918, maybe 1916. Silo blower and vibrating hopper is belt driven (6" wide leather belt) from a Mogul 8-16 tractor. Feed would be loaded in to hopper and be blown into top of silo. Guess it was first in area, as writing on back, says it was the talk of the area.
By 1918, this wooden silo was replaced by a concrete silo. Don't know if it was in the same location.
International Harvester
Mogul 8-16 Tractor
The Mogul is rated at 8 drawbar (pulling a load) horsepower, and 16hp on belt pulley.
Engine is kerosene powered. One cylinder with 8" bore x 12" stroke, rated at 400 RPM.
It had one forward and one reverse gear. Speed: 1.5 miles per hour.
Total weight was about 5000lbs.
The sale price of Mogul was $695 FOB, Chicago, IL
Mogul 8-16 began rolling out of Chicago factory in 1914 until 1917.
Simple and easy to operate, it was also easy to maintain and repair.
It was best selling tractor in 1915 & 1916 with over 5000 sold in each year.
By 1918, this wooden silo was replaced by a concrete silo. Don't know if it was in the same location.
International Harvester
Mogul 8-16 Tractor
The Mogul is rated at 8 drawbar (pulling a load) horsepower, and 16hp on belt pulley.
Engine is kerosene powered. One cylinder with 8" bore x 12" stroke, rated at 400 RPM.
It had one forward and one reverse gear. Speed: 1.5 miles per hour.
Total weight was about 5000lbs.
The sale price of Mogul was $695 FOB, Chicago, IL
Mogul 8-16 began rolling out of Chicago factory in 1914 until 1917.
Simple and easy to operate, it was also easy to maintain and repair.
It was best selling tractor in 1915 & 1916 with over 5000 sold in each year.
 |
Silo being loaded with silo blower driven by Mogul 8-16 tractor |
| Below is a photo from Flickr by Bhachgen from a Tractor Show where you can see the drum used to drive the leather belt for the silo blower. Clicking on photo will take you to his site and can see larger version. |
Panorama of Valley 1927
The barn and silo in upper left of photo is on Bouquet Canyon Rd, can just make road out in front of them. The Hall ranch house area is labeled in middle of photo. A red "X" marks the Leona Valley Schoolhouse, it is behind the trees and just bell tower sticks above. The photo was taken along Elizabeth Lake Rd near 75th St W. Thanks Alice for the help.
Photo is very wide, scroll to right to view all of it.
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