William Wolfskill (1798–1866)[1] was a cowboy and agronomist from Los Angeles, California, who was highly influential in the development of California's agricultural industry in the 19th century. Arguably his greatest contribution to agriculture was the Valencia orange,[2] which quickly became the most popular juice orange in America and led to the naming of Orange County, California. He was one of the wealthiest men in Southern California for his time, and owned large tracts of land throughout Southern California which were used for everything from sheep grazing to orange groves.
Early California settler John Bidwell includes him in his recollection of people he knew in early Los Angeles: "Los Angeles I first saw in March, 1845. It then had probably two hundred and fifty people, of whom I recall Don Abel Stearns, John Temple, Captain Alexander Bell, William Wolfskill, Lemuel Carpenter, David W. Alexander; also of Mexicans, Pio Pico (governor), Don Juan Bandini, and others".[3]
References
- ^ Iris Wilson Engstrand (1965). William Wolfskill, 1798-1866: Frontier Trapper to California Ranchero. A. H. Clark Co.. http://books.google.com/books?id=7fM8AAAAIAAJ.
- ^ "Valencia Sweet Oranges". Citrus Trees Online. http://www.citrustreesonline.com/valencia-sweet-oranges.asp. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
- ^ John Bidwell: "First-Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849-1900," Library of Congress Historical Collections, "American Memory": John Bidwell (Pioneer of '41): Life in California Before the Gold Discovery, from the collection "California As I Saw It."
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