This cache tree is dedicated to the man who was part of the crew who planted this orchard back in 1915 - Russell Adams. Mr. Adams was married to a friend of mine, Mazie Townsend Adams. I never had the opportunity to meet him as Mazie and I became friends in 1981, a year after he had passed away.
Mazie kept records of her husband's memories of early Atascadero. I believe these orchards are some of the trees mentioned in those records. I have seen old orchards throughout Atascadero, so when the developers selected this plot of land for their obligatory open space, I knew I would be placing a cache here. I wanted to bring attention to the age of these orchards and to tell just a bit of Mr. Adams' involvement. He was a laborer who helped lay the foundation of this "Colony of Atascadero" which E.G. Lewis began in 1914.
Mr. Adams was born in the 1890 in Nebraska and moved to Arroyo Grande with his parents and siblings when he was 20 years old. He took a job at Port Harford running a steam shovel to assist in the building of the Pacific Coast Narrow Gauge Railroad. It was 1910 and his wages were $2.25 a day. The Bob Jones Trail (see GC1AK1N - Mother Tree) follows the same rail-bed that Adams helped build over 100 years ago. As part of the crew, he stayed in the Marre Hotel (which used to be located at the Harford Pier where the Port San Luis Harbor District offices are now.)
The Colony of Atascadero began in February 1913 when an agreement was signed between J.H. Henry and E.G. Lewis. Lewis’ company had just agreed to purchase 23,000 acres of Mr. Henry's Asuncion Ranch (see, GCMZH7, "J.H. Henry Ranch - 1896 to Present"). Mr. Adams attended the deed celebration which was held on July 4, 1913. The celebration that day was to commemorate the Colony Holding Company's final payment made to J.H. Henry. The day the deed was handed over to Mr. Lewis and his company, Mr. Adams was a strong 23-year-old man who was ready to go to work.
Part of E.G.'s plan for the community was to charter a holding corporation which was to represent public ownership of all vacant lands, water, oil, mineral rights, and utilities. The promoters, financiers and the purchasers of the subdivided plots were all to share the profits with the holding company held in charge of all institutions in the entire community. The plan called for the cost of civil construction and the raw land to be pro-rated into the location and desirability of each lot, thereby coming up with a selling price. The orchard lots were to be handled in the same way, with the cost of planting, water and two years' care of the orchard added into the purchase value. All general improvement costs were to be provided for in advance, thus eliminaitng taxes and the squandering of public funds through politics.
With regard to the trees planted near this cache, the Colony Holding Company had specialists test the soils throughout the colony and plot the locations where specific kinds of fruit trees would be especially likely to grow. Mazie wrote that the westerly side of El Camino south was planted with peaches, covering most of the land from Curbaril Avenue to Santa Margarita creek. Pears were planted on the opposite side of the El Camino clear to the railroad and beyond. The whole area on the west side of Portola Road from the Atascadero Creek to the north was in apricots and peaches. Apples and pears were planted in the Graves Creek area clear to the north end of the Colony (Graves Creek is the one at the edge of this park.)
Mr. Adams' first assignment consisted of assisting the surveyors - that work began in the summer of 1913 and lasted for two years. Mazie's notes reflect that Russell worked planting trees in 1915.