Imperial (213 page)

Imperial County farm statistics, 1982—Division of Agricultural Sciences (1982), p. 129.

Doings of the Bass brothers—DeBuys and Myers, p. 165.

Celestino Rivas—Interviewed in Calexico, 2003. Lupe Vasquez was present and introduced me.

Imperial County has
fewer farms in 2002 than in 1959—Information from same source as table immediately above. Of course this number was always subject to immense fluctuation over the decades, with corresponding affected average acreage—the latter being a much less meaningful figure anyhow than a median would have been, since farm fallowings, failures and abandonments cannot alter the size of other farms, unless those bankrupt acres promptly get amalgamated into somebody else’s holdings. Unfortunately, for much of the valley’s irrigated life, medians were in short supply.

Addendum to previous note: In 2001 the IID’s fact sheet on Valley agriculture listed 6,200 “farm accounts,” of which more than 2,000 were owner-operated and the rest tenant-operated.

Kay Brockman Bishop—Interviewed on her ranch near Calexico, December 2006.

The following figures (Census Bureau [1974], p. 1-1) express farm-size trends in California during this period:

Here are slightly different statistics from the
California Agricultural Directory 2004-2005
, p. 108:

134 . We Now Worry About the Sale of the Fruit Cocktail in Europe (1948 -20 03)

Epigraph: “The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism . . .”—Herbert, p. 330.

“Science in the Agriculture of Tomorrow”—USDA Yearbook series (1950-1951), pp. 1-2.

“The kind of year farmers pray for”—
California Farmer
, January 4, 1975, p. 45 (“Freestone Report”).

Editorial on peaches—
Sacramento Bee
, Saturday, July 5, 2003, “Opinion” section, p. B6 (“Just too peachy: Why 14.5 million tons of fruit are rotting”).

California pear prices and “It behooves every grower . . .” (emphasis mine)—
California Farmer
, April 5, 1975, pp. 31-32 (“Pear growers must fight for marketing orders”).

“We now worry about the sale of the fruit cocktail in Europe.”—Ibid., p. 40B (“Growers urged to listen more to urban concerns”).

135 . The Water Farmers (1951 -2003)

Epigraph: “In the first place, we might look into the American’s greed . . .”—
Annals of America
, vol. 12, p. 592 (Hugo Münsterberg, “The American Passion for Money Explained,” from
The Americans
, 1904).

Alice Woodside’s remarks—Interview of February 2004, Sacramento.

Proportion of irrigated farms, 1959—California Department of Agriculture (1965), p. 9.

San Diego rainfall, 1883-84 and 1960-61—Pryde, p. 103. The unrounded figures given are: high of 25.97 inches in 1883-84, low of 3.46 inches in 1960-61.

Rousseau: “Easy to see, from the very nature of agriculture. . .”—Op. cit., p. 3365 (Appendix to
On the Origin of Inequality
).

Robert Hays: “As the increasing population of the seacoast cities in California . . .”—Tout,
The First Thirty Years
, p. 410.

Paul S. Taylor: “What is agricultural land today is urban land tomorrow.”—UC Berkeley. Bancroft Library. Paul S. Taylor papers. Carton 4. Folder 4:11: “Fight For Water.” Typescript: “HEARINGS BEFORE THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON URBAN PROJECTS, Volume 2, Testimony of Paul S. Taylor, July 5, 1967, San Francisco.” Page number cut off on Bancroft’s photocopy, possibly p. 235.

El Centro statistics, 1970—Imperial Valley Directory (1970), pp. viii-ix (courtesy El Centro Chamber of Commerce). The same source records IID’s gross acreage as over 900,000, “of which 430,398 acres are actually cultivated croplands.”

Head-lettuce statistics, 1974—Census Bureau (1974), p. III-12. For the other two types of lettuce, Imperial’s 8 farms approximate San Diego’s, but the former’s acreage is much larger.

The boomers of 1922—See final citation to the chapter “Twenty Thousand in 1920.”

Broccoli statistics, 1974—Census Bureau (1974), p. III-11.

Asparagus holdings and difficulties of the Irvine Company, 1971—California State Archives. Department of Food and Agriculture. Bureau of Marketing. Marketing-order files, 1941-1971. Box 1. State of California, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Marketing. Proposed Marketing Order for California Asparagus Research, as Amended. Tuesday, August 10, 1971, beginning 10 o’clock, a.m. Stockton, California (testimony of James R. Manassero of the Irvine Company, 13042 Myford Road, Santa Ana, California). P. 18.

A resident of Holtville:
“The crops in the Valley are only 1/27 . . .”—Imperial Valley Press
, vol. 103, no. 22, Thursday, June 5, 2003, p. A4, “Voice of the People” column (Philip Ricker, “Farmers losing their grip on I.V.”).

Footnote: Kay Brockman Bishop—Interviewed December 2006 on her ranch just west of Calexico. Terrie Petree was present.

Ray Heckman: “an even flow of corn into the Los Angeles market”—California State Archives. Department of Food and Agriculture. Op. cit. Box 4. State of California, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Markets hearing on proposed marketing order for Coachella Valley green corn. Wednesday, April 9, 1947, 10:15 o’clock, a.m., Coachella Valley Water District Building, Coachella, California. P. 7.

Norman Ward: “A more orderly flow of melons to the consuming public.” California State Archives. Department of Food and Agriculture. Op. cit. Box 3. State of California, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Markets hearing on proposed marketing order for winter lettuce. Wednesday, December 17, 1958, beginning ten o’clock, a.m., El Centro, California. P. 142.

King’s metaphor: grapes as water—California State Archives. Department of Food and Agriculture. Op. cit. Box 1. State of California. California Department of Agriculture. Public Hearings: May 2, 1967. Location: Coachella, California. P. 50; the two phrases separated by ellipses have actually been reversed.

Photograph of “a parade!”—ICHSPM photograph, cat. #P191.44.8 (IVDA photo).

“Imperial is TOO HOT . . .”—Paul Foster reports (2007) (“Imperial Color Commentary”).

136 . Coachella (1975)

Epigraph: “Welcome to the Coachella Valley . . .”—Glenn, prefatory note.

“The wildest dreams of men in the first 40 years of this century have been exceeded . . .”—Nordland, p. 2.

Coachella acreage increase, 1940s-60s—Nordland, p. 61.

Agricultural income of Coachella Valley, 1975—
California Farmer
, April 5, 1975, p. 12 (“West Coast News Notes: Southern California”).

“This 1973 aerial view . . .”—Laflin,
A Century of Change
, 2nd full-page photo following entry for 1976.

137. The Imperial Idea (1950 -2000)

Epigraph: “He was fast becoming that most tragic yet often sublime sight . . .”—Jackson, pp. 35-36.

Alice Woodside’s memories—Interview of January 2004, Sacramento. Edith Karpen was present.

The two airlines of Imperial County—
Imperial Valley Press
, Inland Empire edition, 1974, pp. 42-44 (Nancy Meher, “High flying hopes view airport as ever-soaring Valley economic asset”).

The gazetteer from 1985: “Principal economic base: market gardens, cotton, sugar beets, alfalfa, gypsum quarries.” —
California Gazetteer
, p. 135.

Powers and duties of the Agricultural Commissioner—As described in his annual report, 1954; Imperial County Agricultural Commission papers. This marks the end of B. A. Harrigan’s era and the beginning of Claude M. Finnell’s.

Richard Campbell’s remarks—California State Archives. Department of Food and Agriculture. Bureau of Marketing. Marketing-order files, Box 3. State of California, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Markets hearing on proposed marketing order for winter lettuce. Wednesday, December 17, 1958, beginning ten o’clock, a.m., El Centro, California. Pp. 353-54, 373, 356, 400.

“Public assistance came to be highly valued . . .”—UC Berkeley. Bancroft Library. Paul S. Taylor papers. Carton 5. Folder 5:17: “National Reclamation in the Imperial Valley: Law vs. Politics, Final Draft, 1981.” P. 4.

The two U.S. Supreme Court decisions that weakened property control against collective-bargaining agents—
Republic Aviation Corp v. NLRB,
324 U.S. 793 [65 S. Ct. 982] and
NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox Co.
, 351 U.S. 105 [76 S. CDt. 679].

Simon Bale’s interrogation in
Nickel Mountain—
Gardner, pp. 153, 181-86.

Excerpts from
Vandenberg—
Oliver Lange, pp. 45, 122-23, 104, 126, 146.

Kay Brockman Bishop—Interviewed in 2006 on her ranch near Calexico.

Description of the family in the pumpkin field—California State Archives. Olson Photo Collection. Accession #94-06-27 (238-387). Box 2 of 7. Folder 94-06-27 (331-343): Farms and Farming. Photo #94-06-27-0334. Caption: “Farms C-3250.”

“Nihilism . . . is the recognition of the long
waste
of strength . . .”—Nietzsche, p. 12 (November 1887-March 1888).

Richard Brogan—Interviewed in Calexico, April 2004.

Imperial Valley’s agricultural subsidies, 1965—“Imperial Valley, Notes, Drafts.” Unnumbered small white sheet. clipped to yellow sheets, dated 1979. Yellow sheet: “Imperial Valley, California. Paul S. Taylor, memo 1978.” P. 2.

The document from 1949 concerning Conrad C. Caldwell et al.—AHMM, Chata Angulo collection, box no. 132, labeled “Col. Villarreal, L:1-27,” folder, “Lote No. 23, Col. Villarreal, Archivero #7, Gaveta b; 1949.

José López—Interviewed in Mexicali, 2003.

The man in Colonia Santo Niño—Interviewed in 2004. Terrie Petree interpreted.

138 . It Seems Like the Money Is Being Taken by Somebody (2003)

Lupe Vásquez—Interviewed in Calexico, 203.

139 . Chávez’s Grapes (1962 -2006)

Epigraph: Proclamation of the Delano grape workers—
Annals of America
, vol. 19, p. 48 (source:
El Malcriado
).

Tale of Jim Holcomb and aside on “Civil Rights Marches”—Reed, pp. 167, 169.

“INDEPENDENT GROWERS KEEP WORKERS HAPPY”—
California Farmer
, January 4, 1975, p. 28.

Tale of the lemon workers’ strike—Ibid., p. 17 (“Combatting the boycott”).

UFW’s falling-out with CML—The UFW accused the Confederation of Mexican Laborers of being scabs, while at a rally at San Luis Río Colorado the CML replied that UFW used violence against them. Same article.

The growers’ counter-measures—Ibid., January 4, 1975, p. 12 (“UFW loses Mexican support”).

Case of the man who is irrigating onions on Good Friday—California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978- 1984. Case GF. Court of Appeal.

“Among the results of delay by Mexican-Americans . . .”—UC Berkeley. Bancroft Library. Paul S. Taylor papers. Carton 5. Folder 5:41: “Perspectives on Mexican-Americans, Final Draft w/Footnotes, 1973.” Typescript, “Perspectives on Mexican-Americans,” pp. 6-7.

Edith Karpen’s memories—Based on an interview in January 2004, Sacramento, California. Alice Woodside was present.

Delmira Treviño: “I will
not
follow in my mother’s footsteps . . .”—Hart, p. 45.