IRA P. CLARKE
Chicken Farmer
BIIO- Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: POWERS, HOWE,
one of those who has done
much to dvelop new industries, and thus demonstrate the great and
varied capabilites of this region, is the gentleman whose name heads
this sketch, a man of originality, enterprise, and push, who does not
feel it incumbent upon him to follow in the old and worn grooves in
which the first comers have moved so many years. His ranch , of
forty-seven acres, occupies a picturesque location, distant from
Mayfied about two and a half miles by the county road. He has the
most complete chicken farm on the Pacific Coast, while leghorns being
his principal fancy, though he breeds simply for egg qualitites. His
hatchery has a capacity of 5,000 eggs per month, while the brooding
department has a capacity for turning out 4,500 chicks in one
month. This business is one which requires much experience and
attention and a a slight difference in these respects means either a
profit or loss of hundreds of dollars in a very short time. He has now
brought this department of his business to such a state of perfection
that it has become the source of a large and steady income. He
has five acres of orchard, and raises a variety of fruit for family
use. Another important feature of this place is the strawberry
industry. He has ten acres of land planted to this lucious fruit,
and during the first year of the growth of the vines, raises onions
between the rows. Besides supplying the family table, he sold
enought from this tract to average $800 per acre. This fact alone
demonstrates the ability in management, and the care and attention
bestowed. For irrigating purposes he has a engine of four-horse
power, which pumps 250 gallons of water per minute and uses 1,800 feet
of flume.
Mr. Clarke is a native of Canada, born at Brighton, Northumberland
County, June 12, 1850, his parents being Robert C. and Jane (Powers)
Clarke. At the age of sixteen years he went to Elkhart, Indiana,
and in 1866 commenced railroading on the Michigan Southern and Northern
Indiana Railroad, now the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. One
year later he removed to Shelbina, Missouri, and entered the employ of
the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, in which he continued until
1872, when he went upon the Walbash road. In 1877 he removed to
Carson, Nevada, and was for five years on the Virginia City and Truckee
Railroad. He then came to California, and railroaded on the
Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge and on the Central Pacific, until coming
to his present location in 1883. It had long been his desire to
enter into his present business, and he experimented for a time
in San Francisco, at chicken-raising, previous to coming to Santa Clara
County.
Mr. Clarke was married, in San Rafael, to Miss Catherine F. Howe, a
native of Madison, Wisconsin. They have one child, Ira Howe
Clarke, Mr. Clarke is a menber of the United Order of Honor at
San Francisco. In politics he is a Republican.
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. p. 640-641
Transcribed by cdf
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT
SANTA CLARA COUNTY HISTORY - THE VALLEY OF HEART's DELIGHT