Is This Possible In Northern California? (Los Angeles, San Francisco: college, living in, agriculture)

[RiWrites]

I was reading an interview of actor Perry King who was on the tv series Rip Tide etc. He said he owns a 500 acre cattle ranch in Cool California in El Dorado County. Now from what I understand this is near Sacramento and Grass Valley. Let me know if I am wrong.

With all the building going on in Northern California is it still possible to have a
500 acre ranch? I am not that familiar with the area and would like to ask people who live there if this is possible. I have heard of ranches this big in Texas because there isn't much development in large parts of the state. But in California? I know the late actor Clint Ritchie had a 60 acre ranch in Grass Valley but 500 acres just seems to big.

I am curious because when you talk about big ranches you don't think of California.

[wburg]

500 acres is less than one square mile, so 500 acres is fairly small by cattle ranch standards.

Huge expanses of California are agricultural, and the Sacramento and San Joaquin valley is about 42,000 square miles, roughly the size of the state of Tennessee. El Dorado County is into the foothills east of Sacramento and south of Placer County (where Grass Valley is.) California is the #1 dairy state in the nation, and produces more than half the country's fruit and vegetables. We also produce a lot of rice, much of it for export to Asia.

I suppose if you're not from California you might not be aware of our big ranches and agricultural regions, but anyone who lives here and drives through the Valley, or the foothills, or many of the smaller valleys throughout the state (most of which have some kind of agriculture) it's pretty obvious unless you never leave the cities. But going between them typically involves passing through some agricultural country.

[DMenscha]

I can think of 8 ranches of 500 acres or larger within 15 miles of me.

BTW Cool is on highway 49 south of Auburn on the South side of the American River and probably about 30 miles south of Grass Valley.

[RiWrites]

Unfortunately, when I lived in California, I lived in Los Angeles. I never had the chance to go up North. I wish I had because I hated living in Los Angeles.

Thanks for the info. I was never good at figuring out acreage.

[wburg]

Egg on my face...Grass Valley is in Nevada County, not Placer. A bit farther north.

Los Angeles had cattle ranches once...it was once called the "Queen of the Cow Counties," and ranches owned by Los Angeles Californios supplied beef to 49ers in northern California, back when San Francisco and Sacramento were the two biggest cities in the state. Orange County's name came from its massive citrus orchards. There is plenty of agriculture in southern California too...although I imagine if you were in Los Angeles you might not notice it--just leaving town takes quite a while. It's a big state.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by RiWrites

Unfortunately, when I lived in California, I lived in Los Angeles. I never had the chance to go up North. I wish I had because I hated living in Los Angeles.

Thanks for the info. I was never good at figuring out acreage.

Not to worry. It's sometimes difficult to visualize. I partially worked my way through college in southern California in the '60s working ofnthe remaining 40,000 acres of what had originally been a 200,000 acre cattle ranch. We still ran 5,000 head of cattle.

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by RiWrites

I was reading an interview of actor Perry King who was on the tv series Rip Tide etc. He said he owns a 500 acre cattle ranch in Cool California in El Dorado County. Now from what I understand this is near Sacramento and Grass Valley. Let me know if I am wrong.

With all the building going on in Northern California is it still possible to have a 500 acre ranch? I am not that familiar with the area and would like to ask people who live there if this is possible. I have heard of ranches this big in Texas because there isn't much development in large parts of the state. But in California? I know the late actor Clint Ritchie had a 60 acre ranch in Grass Valley but 500 acres just seems to big.

I am curious because when you talk about big ranches you don't think of California.

It's really a pity that when most people think of California, they think of big cities. I suppose we Californians make the same mistake thinking of New York, another state that is predominantly rural and agricultural but is overshadowed by a huge and prominent metro.

I encourage you to spend some time north of Sacramento and get a feel for the "other" California - the small towns, farms, ranches, forests and fields. Glenn County, for example, is a vast expanse of countryside the size of Rhode Island - but with only 28,000 people! Stop at a local cafe at 6 or 7 in the morning, listen to the local farmers, and note the accents. You might think you are in Texas or Oklahoma. It ain't Baywatch up here.

[WesternPilgrim]

FYI - the largest ranch in California is the Tejon Ranch at 270,000 acres.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Tejon is huge. There are many ranches in the 1000 to 5000 acre range throughout the state.

[KidBlue]

I wondered what happened to Perry King.

My aunt lived in Cool for many years (on 10 acres, not 500!). It's very pretty rolling foothills with lots of oaks outside of Auburn near the Salmon Falls area. There are many large ranches in the Cool area and other areas around Placerville, Auburn, Diamond Springs, Latrobe, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Plymouth, and Jackson (plus others). Cool is nice because it is a little farther out and is still relatively affordable.