May Perry, considered the founder of the present museums department, spent her life attempting to preserve the history of Placer County. She wrote many articles such as the one featured here. However, she left to our imagination where some of these places were located. To the best of our knowledge, we have tried to clarify some of the locations, but for others, must leave them as written. The information for her references were from The Placer County Leader, Placer County Republican, Placer Herald and Mr. Mark Beecker & Wm. Lofland and her own observations.
The following article (edited) was published in the Placer County Historical Society publication The Placer Nugget.
It is claimed that Feodor Charles Closs was the Pioneer in the Olive Industry in this County. He was born in Stuttgart in Wurtemberg, Germany in 1851. He was educated in one of the leading Universities of Germany with a complete course in Agriculture and Forestry. He came to California for his health about 1884. In 1885 he purchased 40 acres of land from the Dr. Pillsbury ranch and by 1867 had 26 acres under cultivation and was grubbing about 12 more. He even had a stump puller and filled in some of the deep ravines.
In 1886 he set out 500 olive trees and Feb. 1887, 1,000 more. He also planted 1,000 grape vines and many trees of various varieties. Most of the olives were of the Picholine variety. It was claimed that this variety was larger than the Mission, easily cultivated, ripened more evenly and usually two months earlier than the Mission. The crop was less difficult as well and less expensive to harvest.
He named his ranch "The Quisiana." When the olives came into bearing he built a modern (for that time) olive mill and made olive oil. In 1887 he built a nice home and was engaged to marry but the engagement was broken and so he never lived in his new house. To-day (1960) there are many of the olive trees left on what is now known as Merry Knoll and part of the property and the nice home built in 1887 by Mr. Closs is the property of our Dr. Max Dunievitz. (Near the corner of Nevada Street and Mt. Vernon Road.) There are very few of the olive trees on his property but many of other varieties. The other buildings used in the olive industry are all gone. He died July 13, 1897 in the County Hospital and was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Auburn. After his death, Dr. Pischel and F. W. Dohrmann of San Francisco took over the property. A Mr. R. C. Williamson was the manager. By 1900 the pickling and oil plant was really operating. Mr. Williamson experimented with grafting several of the oak trees with the Mission Olives but it was not a success. The 1900 crop was light, only about ten tons. When gathered, the olives were placed in trays made of laths to keep them from heating. This way they could be kept for several months. Before they were run through the crusher, they were cleaned by a windmill that took out the leaves and refuse. From the crusher the pulp was put in a warm vat, then on mats made of sea grass, then by means of hydraulic pressure the oil was extracted. This process was repeated about three times, then the pomace thrown away. The oil was then removed and the oil run off. This process was also repeated and the final "settlings" being in 100 gallon tanks occupied several weeks, after which the product was filtered and bottled or canned ready for market.
The making of olive oil was slow work and required knowledge and skill to be successful. At that time their plant was said to be one of the best in the State. They also had an excellent oil cellar. Their output for 1900 was between 700 and 800 gals. of olive oil and about 250 gallons of pickled olives
Other Olive Orchards
In 1887 there was a large olive orchard on the famous Whitney Ranch in Rocklin and many of the trees are still there.
In the fall of 1888 a Mrs. Emily Roberson purchased the Clark Ranch in the Edgewood District. Evidently there was a bearing olive orchard for she named it the "Olivine Ranch" and soon started to manufacture olive oil. It has been told that the olive trees came from Jerusalem. In 1900 her crop was a failure but she bought many tons of olives and estimated that she would have between 1,000 and 1,200 gallons of oil and nearly 3,000 gallons of pickled olives. She paid $40 per ton for the olives. She used the Arrastre System in crushing the olives (a system similar to that used in Europe) and extracted the oil by a Beam Press. The rest of the process was about the same as that used on the Closs Ranch.
Another busy plant at that time was at the F. Birdsall ranch. The plant was modern and the process similar but the machinery was quite different. They used a hand press operated by a compound lever, also a hand operated crusher. In 1900 their crop was also light and their output was only about 125 gallons of oil. Their olives were also the Picholine variety. They made olive oil ‘till about 1954 and still process olives. The orchard is still bearing heavily and many acres. (This operation was in the Aeolia Heights area. Many of the trees are still there, even though many new homes have been built in the area.)
Also in 1900 W. A Hughes had a large olive orchard on the Point now known as Robie Point and many of the trees are still there. They are a very long lived tree. In Penryn opposite the Sicily Mine are two old olive trees Mr. Barter obtained from Italy about 1865.
(Angelo Orsi also had an olive orchard in the Roseville area.)
In 1900 there was the Heredia Colony olive orchard. They were the Nevadillo Blanco variety, large and juicy with a nice flavor. The manager stated that he could clear $10,000 a year from a ten acre plot. The olive oil industry was at its height in Placer County in the early 1900's. There are still many olive trees scattered throughout the county.