GEORGE W. GARDNER
Fruit Grower/Fruit Drying
Hamilton District
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: BENNETT,
is the owner of a very desirable property on the San Jose and Los Gatos road, at Orchard Homes, in the Hamilton District. His orchard covers forty-five of the forty-eight acres which compose his ranch. He purchased the land in 1880, it then being part of a barley field, and in bad condition, having been cut up byoverflows of the Los Gatos Creek. Mr. Gardner found it necessary to spend several months in leveling the ground before tree-planting could be commenced. Now all is in condition for irrigation from Los Gatos Creek. During the winter of 1880 he set ten acres with a variety of cherries, apricots, and prunes, while the rest of the forty-five acres was planted during the following winter. At present about twelve acres are in prunes, twenty-eight acres in apricots and peaches, and five acres in cherries.
Mr. Gardner's skill in horticulture is shown by his returns from the apricot crop of 1887, which consisted of 100 tons, and sold for about $3,000.
He has made his ranch his place of residence ever since his purchase of it, at first keeping bachelor's hall. He was united in marriage, in January, 1884, with Miss Lottie M. Bennett.
His fine residence was erected in the autumn preceding his marriage, and his drying establishment was built in the spring of 1886. In order to meet the increase in this branch of his business, Mr. Gardner enlarged the building in 1887, in which year he cured about 300 tons of fruit. A successful horticulturist, and the possessor of a thrifty fruit-ranch with its pleasant home, and all its appropriate surroundings, Mr. Gardner may well be considered fortunate.
The subject of our sketch dates his birth in Nashua, New Hampshire, May 16,
1859. When about one year of age his parents removed to Southern Indiana, and
later, when he was about four years of age, to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin; there
they lived until they came to this county, in April, 1873. His father, William
Gardner, now lives on Delmas Avenue.
Pen Pictures From The
Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated.
- Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
Pg. 432
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT