California Silk Center Association

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The California Silk Center Association was a short-lived 19th century company in the U.S. state of California which encouraged silk culture. It founded what is now the city of Riverside, California. [1] [2] The association was established in November 1869 in Los Angeles, but after the death of its president and only expert in sericulture, Frenchman Louis Provost, in 1870, the silk-growing scheme was abandoned. By then the superintendent of the company had purchased about 5,500 acres (2,200 ha) in the vicinity of Rubidoux Rancho, with a further expansion of 3,169 acres (1,282 ha) already arranged. A number of mulberry trees had been planted to provide nourishment for the silkworms. [1]

U.S. state constituent political entity of the United States

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names.

California State of the United States of America

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 8.8 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

Silk fine, lustrous, natural fiber produced by the larvae of various silk moths, especially the species Bombyx mori

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors.

Contents

Background

To encourage silk culture in California, the Legislature, in 1865-66 [3] (another source states 1867), passed an act giving a bounty of $250 for every plantation of 5,000 mulberry trees two years old, and one of $300 for every 100,000 merchantable cocoons produced. This greatly encouraged the planting of trees and the production of cocoons. [4]

California State Legislature state legislature of the U.S. state of California

The California State Legislature is a bicameral legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legislature convene at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The California State Legislature is one of just ten full-time state legislatures in the United States.

History

The California Silk Center Association was formed with a large capital on paper. The association bought 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) which now form part of Riverside. It was the intention of the association to found a colony there of silk growers and silk weavers. Sixty families were reported ready to locate on the colony grounds as soon as negotiations were completed. Prevost, the leader of the group, died shortly after the purchase was made, and the colony project died later. At first, the profits from the seri-culture fad were large, not, however, from the manufacture of silk, but from the sale of silkworm eggs. When the industry was launched, eggs sold at ten dollars an ounce and the worms were good layers. One seri-culturist reported a net profit of US$1,000 an acre made in sixty days from the sale of eggs. Another realized US$1,260 an acre in a single season. The net profits from his three acres of trees and cocoons exceeded the net profit on his neighbor's 10,000 acres of grain. With such immense returns from such small investments, it is not strange that the sericulture craze became epidemic. Mulberry plantations multiplied until the bounties paid threatened the state treasury with bankruptcy; [4] in 1867 [3] or 1868, the law was repealed. [5] Out of the hundreds of thousands of bounty-bought cocoons, only one piece of silk was known to be manufactured, and that was a flag for the State Capitol. Counting bounties paid and labor lost on a non-producing industry, indirectly that flag cost the people of the commonwealth not less than US$250,000. [4]

Riverside, California City in California

Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. Riverside is the county seat of the eponymous county and named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire and in Riverside County, and is located about 55 miles (89 km) east of downtown Los Angeles. It is also part of the Greater Los Angeles area. Riverside is the 59th most populous city in the United States and 12th most populous city in California. As of the 2010 Census, Riverside had a population of 303,871.

California State Capitol

The California State Capitol is home to the government of the U.S. state of California. The building houses the bicameral state legislature and the office of the governor. The grounds of the capitol form the Capitol Park.

The dry year of 1869-70 prevented the planting of mulberry plantations. A writer in the Overland Monthly of 1869 noted: "It is almost startling to think that from a calling so apparently insignificant we may be able to realize in a short time a larger sum and infinitely greater gains than from one-half of all our other agricultural productions in the State." Prevost died in April 1870. With the increased supply, the price of eggs declined until it was all supply and no demand. Then the seri-culture epidemic came to as sudden a stop. The worms died of starvation and the bounty-bought mulberry plantations perished from neglect. Of the millions of trees planted, all died. [4] The Silk Center Association sold its land holding to Judge John W. North's Riverside Colony. [6] The experiment failed, but not because California was unsuited to silk culture. The defects were in the seri-culturists, not in the soil or climate of the State. There was no concert of action among the producers. They were scattered from Siskiyou to San Diego. There were not enough producers in any one place to build a factory, and not enough weavers in the country to manufacture the raw silk produced; nor could capital be induced to invest in silk factories. [4]

John Wesley North (1815–1890) was a 19th-century pioneer American statesman of national reputation. He was the founder of the cities of Northfield, Minnesota and Riverside, California, where John W. North High School and the John W. North Water Treatment Plant are located and named after him. He also received a Presidential appointment to Nevada's highest court, the predecessor of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.

Siskiyou County, California County in California

Siskiyou County is a county in the northernmost part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 44,900. Its county seat is Yreka and its highest point is Mount Shasta.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 An Illustrated history of southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of their prospects, also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day (Public domain ed.). Lewis Publishing Company. 1890. pp. 462–. ISBN   978-5-87987-880-6.
  2. ↑ Jefferson, Alison Rose (2007). Lake Elsinore: A Southern California African American Resort Area During the Jim Crow Era, 1920s--1960s, and the Challenges of Historic Preservation Commemoration. ProQuest. pp. 58–. ISBN   978-0-549-39156-2.
  3. 1 2 Matsui, Shichirō (1927). The History of the Silk Industry in the United States. Silk Publishing Company. p. 76.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Historical Society of Southern California (1911). The Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly (Public domain ed.). Historical Society of Southern California. pp. 146–.
  5. ↑ Angel, Myron (2002). History of San Luis Obispo County, California; with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers. Howell-North Books. pp. 231–. ISBN   978-5-88230-126-1.
  6. ↑ Historical Society of Southern California; Pioneers of Los Angeles County (1904). Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California and of the Pioneers of Los Angeles County (Public domain ed.). George Rice & Sons. pp. 150–.

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