Agriculture’s importance in Siskiyou County took hold in the last two decades of the 19th century. One early operation was the Alex Parker cattle and stock ranch, nine miles from Callahan, Calif., and 19 miles from the nearest railroad station.
The owner, Alexander Parker, soon made his name known in the cattle industry.
Parker had arrived in Siskiyou County nearly broke. An enterprising young man, Parker began acquiring land, planting a large, productive orchard, strawberry vines, and berries. Soon the ranch totaled 1,500 acres of meadow and grazing land. Stock hands helped gather an immense hay crop in the summer for winter feeding to some 2,000 to 3,000 head of cattle.
In spring, snowmelt fed the brooks and streams that crossed the open fields. It was at this time that cowboys drove the cattle into the forest lands, where they grazed until late fall before being driven to the railroad stockyards for shipping to market.
Parker also had a valuable placer mine on the South Fork of Scott River and was the senior partner in the Alex Parker & Sons Mercantile established in 1881 at Etna.
Source: Jones, J. Roy. Saddle Bags in Siskiyou. Happy Camp, CA, Naturegraph Publishers, Inc., 1953, pp. 228-229.
