Jack London’s Natural World

by Connie Kale Johnson of West Sacramento, CA

By 1903, Jack London had experienced and achieved more than most people at the age 27. He had met the challenges of a young boy on the streets and wharfs in San Francisco – sailed the Sea of Japan – traveled to Alaska to seek a fortune – returned broke but rich in adventures. Wherever Jack traveled, he possessed an innate curiosity and insight about the natural environment that surrounded him. Events from these ventures would produce such books as the classic The Call of the Wild that launched his career as a world famous author.

Now, Jack had reached a place of frustrations in his personal life that eventually led to a divorce and created a lack of direction. When he returned from Korea as a war correspondent, one of his editors, Ninetta Eames, invited him to spend time in the countryside of Glen Ellen to think about his future. Little did Jack London know that when he boarded the passenger train in Oakland and traveled through the Valley of the Moon in Northern California that his life would change in unexpected ways.

He couldn’t help but notice all of the abandoned farms with nothing but weeds growing out of the soil when he made these trips back and forth from the city to the peaceful country. Jack had experienced the importance of living off the soil when he was a young boy. It was apparent to him that the property in the valley had been over used and worn out. London learned that it had started in the early years with the Indians that roamed the valley floor. This was followed by General Vallejo’s troops from Mexico and then the immigrants that came west for the Gold Rush and had to settle for farming as a livelihood until it wouldn’t yield a crop – now most of the soil stood bare.

After London and his companion dog, Brown Wolf, settled in a tent cabin near Wake Robin Lodge owned by Ninetta Eames, Jack selected a spot under a tree by the rushing Sonoma Creek that he called “Wild Water.” He used a wide board to create a desk where he would daily write on his current novel Sea Wolf. Charmian Kittridge, Ninetta’s niece and Jack’s close friend, encouraged him to join her in the afternoons for horseback riding and together they explored the trail on Sonoma Mountain. While on one of these rides, they discovered the abandoned Hill Ranch nestled amongst the rolling hills and trees. The search for direction in his life became clearer – Jack had found his home.

After purchasing the ranch in 1905, London wrote to his publisher in New York…

“There are 130 acres of the most beautiful primitive land found anywhere in California. There are great redwoods on it, some of them thousand of years old – in fact, the redwoods are fine and magnificent as any to be found anywhere outside tourist groves. Also there are great firs, tanbark oaks, maples, live oaks, white oaks, black oaks, madrone and manzanita galore. There are canyons, several streams of water, many springs, … I have been over California off and on in my in my life, for the last two months I have been riding all over these hills … I must say that I have never seen anything like it.”

Jack and Charmian were married and settled in at Wake Robin Lodge while they made plans to build their stone home and new stone horse barn on the Hill Ranch. London’s circle of friends had a difficult time accepting his choice of a country ranch over what the city had to offer. They doubted London’s existence in country living and he responded,

“But I’m not going ranching. The only cleared ground on the place will be used for growing hay for a couple of riding horses, a couple of farm horses, & a couple of cows. If there is any left over, of course I can sell it – and that would be like finding money.”

Jack had developed a concern for the preservation of natural resources and it became deeper the more he observed the abandon farms throughout the valley and hillsides. London, who was known to fight for public causes, studied the current plight of farming properties nation wide called “land skinning” that occurred during Teddy Roosevelt’s term of presidency. The primary cause for this was because pioneers were leaving the farm for the suburbs to become a part of the Industrial Revolution. At this same period of time, Jack London’s, The Call of the Wild, had become a world-wide classic novel. Roosevelt took issue with the validity in the animal behavior that Jack described in his stories and accused the author of being a “Nature Faker.” London found it ironic that the destruction of nature’s worn-out or abandoned soil on farms in the United States wide was occurring under Roosevelt’s presidency and yet he would publicly denounce him as a “nature faker” based on the contents of his books. This did not dampen Jack London’s respect and passion for the environment on Sonoma Mountain. He proved this by wanting to maintain the natural beauty, when he staked out the area by a grove of redwoods for his stone house to be built.

Jack hired an Italian stone mason to build the barn and house. He gave clear instructions that any trees that had to be cut down to make room for the house were to be used for lumber. The stone for the barn would come from his ranch and lava rock for the house from across the valley. He was so determined to use the building materials from his own property that when a friend challenged the availability of natural material, Jack replied,

“The stone barn is going up – even if they do have to rake the whole 130 acres for the stone. There won’t be enough stone left for a house – and that’s no joke.”

London soon discovered that the financial impact of the purchase of the Hill Ranch and his construction projects would require him to request from his New York editor the royalties from his books in advance. This method of payment was approved because Jack London had established himself as a world known author and was committed to writing no less than 1000 words every morning and was never at loss for a story idea to write. Jack worked closely with his publisher, George Brett, on the royalties. After discussing his current book, White Fang, Jack presented his new plans,

“… Oh, by the way, I’ve got another big project in view. After I have settled down and enjoyed my mountain ranch for about five years, it is my firm intention to build a boat about 40 feet long and go off on a several year cruise around the world. . . think of chance to write without interruption when I am between ports.”

With the plans for completing the stone house and the boat, that he had named the Snark, were underway, London continued the dedication to write every morning. The building projects were delayed because of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but eventually when the needed material were available again the construction of the boat and barn continued as Jack reported to a friend,

“… hand in hand with the building of the Snark, I have gone on with the building of the ranch in Glen Ellen. I have a magnificent barn on it, all paid for, and also thousands of dollars worth of improvements in the way of orchard, vineyard, wild trees (that I planted) fences, etc.”

In the spring of 1907, Jack and Charmian boarded the Snark with a crew of three and began sailing towards the South Pacific on their way around the world. During this period of time, Ninetta Emas served as his manager and at London’s request she began negotiations of the purchase of abandoned ranches. In 1908, the La Motte Ranch was purchased and the following year the Caroline Kohler Ranch and Fish Ranch were bought. This increased London’s property to 290 acres. The down fall to this was that the Kohler & Frohling Ranch separated their Hill Ranch from the rest of his property. Within the next year, while Jack was at sea, Ninetta followed his instruction and arranged to purchase the 700 acre Kohler & Frohling Ranch.

Before he left on his voyage, London had studied the layout of Ashbury Creek that flowed along his property line. It was apparent that the water from the creek had to be diverted in order to fill the water tank constructed for the stone home, he now referred as Wolf House. Even though Jack was at sea, the development on the ranch were still on his mind and he mailed the following instructions to his foreman Wiget,

“… Now, I have to run water to the house-site. Could you get a man to a level from the very head of the ranch on Ashbury Creek, to the house-site, and high enough to fill tanks at the house-site twenty feet in the air? At any rate, find out, first if the stream at the head of the ranch is higher than the housesite, and second, how much higher.”

Plagued with fever and multiple health problems, Jack London had to give up his dream of traveling around the world on the Snark. While London recuperated in Australia his thoughts focused on a plan to expanding the farming operations.

Once back in the beauty and peace of his ranch, Jack’s future as a farmer became clear to him. He remained committed to be self-sustaining and that whatever he built would last for future generations. In 1911, London purchased the 12 acres used as the K&F Winery that had several stone buildings built by Chinese stonemasons in the early 1800s. There was also a Cottage that could be restored so the London’s could live on their ranch. Jack had begun plans for how he wanted to develop the Beauty Ranch, but it would require him to spend more time writing and traveling to financially support the progress. He needed someone who would assure the success of the ranch progress and that would be his devoted and capable step-sister, Eliza Shepard. She agreed to become Jack’s ranch supervisor/manager and moved onto Fish Ranch with her son Irving until a home could be built near the Cottage.

When London purchased the 400 acres Freund Ranch in 1913, it gave him approximately 1400 acres and the restoration of buildings and soil began. Jack instructed Eliza to have the Italian stone masons begin on remodeling existing buildings and the construction of new shelters for his shire horses, dairy cow and a piggery – and be sure to use materials from the ranch with the exception of cement.

As time passed, it became necessary for him to spend more time away from the ranch on publishing business to finance the expense of operations and restoration of these bankrupted ranches. With Eliza capable management, his vision began to develop on what Jack often referred to as “the farm of good intentions.” London’s knowledge of farming had grown through the reading of available reference materials from University of California Agricultural department and related businesses could be the formation of a successful ranch.

While the building on Wolf House and other ranch building continued, attention was also directed on raising crops. To Jack, one of the most important crops was the hay field that provided feed for his work horses that supplied the power to pull the farming equipment. He wanted to guarantee an adequate amount of water for irrigation and began the process of building a dam. Until then, he created a way to manage the flow of water from Ashbury Creek by installing a pipe to carry the water to desired location. When he was on a business trip Eliza had to make him aware of a problem in this system and he was quick to answer,

“What was the nature of the flood that flooded the alfalfa? Didn’t the pipe carry the water? Was the flooding from the reservoir? If so, until we have the dam completed and can send overflow down Graham Canyon, let the overflow run down the old channel through Hill Ranch. Or did the flood come from the adjacent slopes?”

Eliza continued to monitor the flow of water and the construction of the dam at the mouth of the natural sink up the mountain, where Ashbury Creek began near Graham Creek. The men used the ranch equipment and material that helped erect the other ranch building to construct a dam engineered to provide 7,000,000 gallons of water for irrigation. London felt that the storage of water would also provide the needed pressure for fire protection. For recreation, he asked Eliza to have a log bath house built and he arranged for catfish to be planted in the five acres of water.

The business portion of ranching didn’t interest Charmian but with the additional property she enjoyed her horseback rides over the many trails up to the dam and through the beautiful canyons that London used as settings for many of his books – Burning Daylight, Valley of the Moon, All Gold Canyon and Little Lady of the Big House. While she was visiting friends in the city, Jack wrote to her about the progress of the dam,

“… the lake’s full of water for my alfalfa and means more than life, more abundance of butter-fat from your little Jerseys, bigger Shire colts, heavier beef cattle, and the rest!”

In her Book of Jack London, which Charmian wrote after Jack’s passing, she shared Jack’s feelings about the natural world.

“I want to know that I left behind me a plot of land which, after the pitiful failures of others, I have made productive … can’t you see … In the solution of the great economic problems of the present age, I see a return to the soil. I go into farming because my philosophy and research have taught me to recognize the fact that a return to the soil is the basic of economics … I see my farm in terms of the world, and the world in terms of my farm.”

When Charmian questioned Jack if he felt in years to come that he would financially break even with the ranch project he responded,

“… it will never make money for me, because there is so much developing I want to keep doing, endless experiments I want to make.”

Jack began his first venture into experimental farming – growing of eucalyptus trees mainly for fire wood. In the mid-1800’s, the migration of settlers to California cleared the land of sturdy trees so that they would have a clearing to begin farming and build their homesteads. After the natural supply of trees diminished, there was a need to grow eucalyptus to be used for lumber. By the mid-1800s, the popularity faded away but the need returned again at the beginning of the 1900’s and there was another move to grow eucalyptus trees again for building material and fuel. London began his research with a letter to Edward J. Wickson, the Dean of the College of Agriculture, an acquaintance of his neighbor, Mr. Clark.

Dear Sir,
I live at Glen Ellen, a short distance from Mr. George Clark’s place. I think you know the soil and conditions here. I am anxious to get information, etc., concerning the planting of eucalyptus trees and legumes, adapted to this particular soil. Sincerely, Jack London

After careful study of the literature that he received from Wickson, Jack contacted Grant Wallace, proprietor of The Eucalyptus Agency in Monterey, California with the following order,

“… I am going to put in a slight experiment of seven thousand trees this fall. I want seven thousand FOREST RED GUM (E. Tereticornis). I want each tree potted separately in ten-inch carton. … I want eucalyptus not so much of the hardwood variety, but for fire burning purpose, also, I want eucalyptus trees that can grow in high dry soil.”

In a recent interview with I. Milo Shepard, Eliza’s grandson, he offered the following background information on why Jack classified it as “high dry soil”,

“The original was 1,400 acres – he bought seven ranches to make the one. However, as an agriculture entity, it was almost impossible to make money on it at that time.”

“The ranch itself had very little land on it that you could work because; you’ve got two running streams, two canyons. There’s a fifty foot waterfall. The canyons are 200 feet deep. The mountain was a volcano, a mud volcano that blew out on this side … so you have deep soils, and as it flowed, it eroded and you got these deep canyons, but you do have the flat plateau area that has about a couple of hundred acres on it, and that was the main property. … the rainfall helped provide a supply of underground water, plus this type of soil – clay soil or adobe soilgoulding – clay loam hold water, but they also release it to a plant.”

Mr. Wallace responded to Jack London’s order offering the following advice on the variety of trees to plant and what to expect.

“… If you will set out say 200 of your broad acres to eucalyptus you will have a bonanza which will have most of the gold miners lashed to the mast.”

Even though companies were pressuring Jack with attractive offers, he stayed with his own management decision,

“I should stick to my original plan of planting these few thousand trees this winter, and trying them out the summer and winter next year, before I think of going in to larger scale. . . . a great deal of my ranch is wooded, and some of the clear space must be used for growing hay for my horses … I don’t care to rush blindly into it …”

London received a shipment with the information that it would cost him $1.75 per hundred and the trees are average 12 inches high, in boxes of 100 each and suggested that the distance apart be 12 x 12 feet for planting. The first planting would be on the La Motte Ranch. It would take 15 years before the trees could be harvested. After a few years of Jack’s trees growing, it was discovered the type of trees grown in California proved to be inferior and useless for oil or lumber. Some that knew Jack felt that this venture turned out to be a folly but to others it demonstrated London’s intensions to be an experimental rancher.

With the increase of activity on the ranch the dirt roads on the ranch were in need of improvement so London purchased a rock crusher for his men to use. This was the first of its kind to be built in the valley and was featured in the local newspapers. Jack used the rock from his ranch to make the gravel and used his shire workhorses to pull the equipment to improve the dirt roads. Even though the use of tractors had become common in the valley, Jack refused to use power driven equipment that would put men out of work.

There were times when London didn’t have enough hay or grain on his own property to feed his livestock and would have to purchase a supply from neighboring farms. This would eventually change as more ground was prepared to plant. Jack looked into the possibility of constructing silos that would advance his goal to be self-sustaining and drew plans for two silos. They were to be built between the piggery and the location where the cow barn was to be built. They would be constructed with hollow cement blocks that were stronger and cheaper than solid blocks. Each silo would be 12 feet around – 50 feet high and a solid cement floor that would go a foot up the wall to seal out moisture. London’s silos were the first cement silos in California.

Eliza and Jack had a special way of communicating by notes and the sharing of information through publication. Eliza had cut out an article on The Danger in Silage. She sent the article with a note drawing his attention to the importance of proper care for silage for horses feed – “it must be made of properly matured corn and well packed in an air-tight silo.”

Jack answered on the same note, “Yep – Horse silage must be put up right and fed right. No moldy silos!”

At the time the silos were finished Jack had a small amount of corn available for storage, so he invited his neighbor Mr. Clark to use the completed silo for his crop. The only engine driven equipment that London had on the ranch was the one used to operate an ensilage which chopped the corn and blew it up into the silo.

Jack had learned the importance of feed for all the livestock and was particular about the mixture fed to his Duroc Jersey hogs. He constructed a two story feed room in the center of the circular pig quarters. The two main grains were stored on the top floor where he had installed two ducts that extended through the top floor into the cement feed basin on the main floor. This design not only served a balanced meal, but with two doors in the building the person feeding didn’t have to walk as far – it was a one-man operation.

To assure the nutritional value of feed, Jack was aware that it would require prime condition of the soil. London’s determination to improve the productivity of the soil led him to use something he had studied while in Korea – it was a method of farming – terracing – as he called it, “farming on the level.”

He felt that by levels you would prevent erosion that would take away organic content. When questioned about this, Jack answered,

“The hillside are first ploughed along contour lines, and at intervals, depending on the slope of the land, balks, or small ridges, are thrown up … Rains are held back to sink into the soil instead of racing down the hillside, tearing out great gullies and carrying rich soil down the streams and into the ocean.”

“We have been letting our rich hillside go to waste, and by ignorant cultivation have increased erosion rather then preventing it … restore even impoverished hillsides and turn them into productive fields.”

Even though, Jack had hay and corn on the Beauty Ranch, he had an interest in a food source used on a cattle ranch in Hawaii. It was spineless cactus. Many ranchers felt that the plant contained too much fluid to be nutritional for livestock to eat. When London contacted a professor at the University of California Agricultural department, he received a warning from the expert that he would be feeding nine pounds of water with every scant pound of nourishment. But with Jack’s adventurous side and the satisfactory results he witnessed in the cattle in Hawaii, he continued to consider this experiment. While he and Charmian took a four horse trip up the Pacific Coast, the ranch’s future remained on his mind and he wrote Eliza with this request,

“… Do your best by the spineless cactus. My heart is set on making a showing of it.”

The London’s returned from their four horse trip and moved from Wake Robin Lodge to the cottage on what Jack now called the Beauty Ranch. Jack contacted Luther Burbank, a specialist in the field of horticulture and plant breeding in Santa Rosa. In the beginning, when London started to build Wolf House, he had contacted Burbank and asked his advice on what to plant in the family orchard. He received a hand-written letter back listing the following suggestion: pears, plums, peaches, walnuts, raspberries, blackberries, quince, pineapple, oranges, lemons, apricots, grapes and apples. London also ordered prune trees that Burbank had developed so he could begin a small orchard.

Even though they lived only 30 miles apart, London and Burbank had little contact. It was said that they had opposite personalities – Jack outgoing and Burbank reserved. The other main difference was that Burbank believed in cross-breeding and London supported purebreds. Jack and his friend Edward Larkin arranged for an appointment to visit Luther Burbank’s Experimental Gardens in Santa Rosa to discuss the possibilities of spineless cactus for cattle feed. After their meeting Jack agreed to plant an experimental field of spineless cactus as a test. The sample patch did grow to Jack satisfaction. When he wanted to buy enough to plant a field of spineless cactus, London discovered that the originator of this plant lived in Europe and would not permit Burbank to publicly sell the spineless cactus. Jack dropped the idea of spineless cactus mainly because after he cut his first cut it took too long for it to reproduce itself and continued to rotate his field planted with hay – grain – vetch and corn.

London kept to the original pledge made when he purchased his first ranch in the Valley of the Moon in 1905, that he would restore the worn-out soil. Jack combined the knowledge gained from reading to design a means of collecting waste material through the cleaning methods used in the livestock buildings to create natural fertilizer. The structure of the piggery, horse and cow barns and manure pit, not only facilitated an efficient method of required care for his livestock but was time saving for the work men.

Jack designed a manure pit to be 14 feet wide with 30 feet long walls 16 inches thick and 3 ½ feet high built out of rock that would come from the area around the pit and a solid cement floor. The estimated cost of this building was $89.80 – excluding cost of tin roof. The opening between the walls and roof provided proper ventilation and chemical sprinkled on top for preservation. This was located between the two horse barns to save time when the handlers cleaned the stalls. The used straw bedding from the cow barn was added to material in the manure pit. It had the ideal moisture and plenty of micro-organisms for composting to occur.

London was the first farmer in the area to use a manure spreader drawn by horses. It was a common practice for a farmer to either burn their manure and used straw or haul it off their ranches and dump it into holes or locations out of the way. Jack would not permit any thing to be hauled off his property and created a way to put it back into the soil.

He also became aware of the value in liquid manure and developed a unique plan to utilize this natural fertilizer. When the floor of the cow barn was washed the waste flowed through a pipe to a cement holding tank. The liquid manure was released from the tank and flowed through a pipe into a tank on a wagon that was pulled by shire workhorses and spread on the fields. Jack had strict rules on the daily cleaning of the pig apartments and had drain pipes installed to carry the waste by gravity flow down the knoll onto the ground. When neighboring ranchers would cast doubt on what London was doing, he was quick to share,

“The Chinese have farmed for forty centuries without using commercial fertilizer. I am rebuilding worn-out hillside lands that were worked out and destroyed by our wasteful California pioneer farmers. I am not using commercial fertilizers. I believe the soil is our one destructive asset, and by green manures, nitrogen – gathering cover crops, animal manures, rotation of crops, proper tileage and draining I am getting results which Chinese have demonstrated for forty centuries.”

Jack’s reputation as an experimental farmer drew the attention of a group of business men, as the eucalyptus trees had done. He was approached to endorse a JACK LONDON GRAPE JUICE because he had a vineyard, even though he did not make grape juice. By this time, it became apparent that Eliza was beyond the times in having a keen business sense and was assertive as a manager of all the affairs involved in the ranch. Jack was on a trip when she was approached by the director of THE JACK LONDON GRAPE JUICE COMPANY to sign a contract. Eliza had the power of attorney but still consulted an attorney and informed Jack of the requested transaction. He was quick to write his response,

“Dearest Eliza,
When these papers are sent to you to sign, please be sure, even though you have consulted a lawyer, that in no way am I to be financially responsible for any losses, damages of bills The Grape Juice Company may incur. If the papers do not make me clear in everyway … have them make out new papers that will make it clear.”

The business men lost interest and the company was never formed.

At the beginning of 1915, Jack was not feeling well and in need of a rest. He and Charmian took a trip to Hawaii, but London had not left the business of the ranch behind. He wrote a lengthy letter to Eliza with the instructions for her to visit Timm’s Dairy in Dixon, north of Glen Ellen in the Sacramento Valley. He listed (31) detailed questions for her to ask regarding the general care and routine for these cows. His concern for proper feeding was still of importance and he had included the following questions regarding silage:

– Is there a difference between the strength of odor of hay silage and alfalfa silage and corn silage?

– In Timm’s silaging of alfalfa and other hays find out what quanyity of water he uses in processing of filling silos.

– Go over diary plans we have filed, for measurements of stalls, etc. and write to authorities such as Agriculture Press, University of California.

While still on the Island, Jack received a letter from a friend crediting Jack for his own intellectual growth because of his writings that got this person thinking for himself. London replied,

“… your present letter has penetrated my armor and touched my heart – – – no matter how much I succeeded or failed my wrestling with the soil, I could die with the sure thought, namely: THE LAND IS BETTER FOR MY HAVING BEEN.”

This commitment by London was soon to be put to test. Jack was aware from the beginning when he purchased the Hill Ranch that the Ashbury Creek was vital to farming and placed great importance on the utilization and conservation of this natural resource. He made a careful study of the available water sources and how best to utilize the natural flow for the ranch. When he purchased the Fish Ranch and LaMotte Ranch, Jack acquired the rights to the water in Graham Creek that border these properties. Chauvet had a lease on the water rights on the Kohler & Frohling Ranch for his business in Glen Ellen, but when Jack purchased the ranch the water rights became his.

The first water dispute was brought to his attention by Charmian’s Aunt Ninetta and Edward Payne, her second husband. As in other family business affairs, disagreements can rise. In this case, it caused an estranged relationship when there was a “gentlemen’s agreement” to piping water from the creek across property to the desired destination. Edward made the choice to deal with this business matter through correspondence. After lengthy letters discussing the situation, Jack replied,

“… One thing is most clear to me, and that is, under the circumstances that all this personal matter must be kept out of the Fish Ranch water situation. The only way to handle it is to handle it impersonal and business-like, technical manner, …”

This was not to be the last problem involving the creeks for Jack but he didn’t expect that the issue of “water rights” would have to be settled in a court of law. While London’s were in Honolulu in June 1916, the Payne’s continued contesting their water rights through correspondence. Jack wanted to be sure of his use of Graham Creek and wrote to Eliza with instructions to have a hired man work on verifying the use of the water to assure he was within his rights.

“Dear Eliza,
… Have Kinsman immediately set to work and thoroughly gauge the water-flow of Graham Creek below the last intake, which would be the Wake Robin intake. Also, gauge what we take out and run into our lake.
… What I want to know is how much waste water flows down out of Graham Creek and into Sonoma Creek in the dryest of season I want the gauge of water thoroughly continued until fall, so that it can be presented in court if necessary, and I want to establish a use-right for myself for the water that otherwise runs to waste.
I do not want to work a hurt on the people living on Graham Creek, but I don’t want to lose the water that would otherwise run out into San Pablo Bay.”

On July 6, 1916, neighbors, including Edward and Ninette Payne and Henry Chauvet, had obtained an injunction against Jack London’s diversion of water from Graham Creek.

London had learned over the years that whatever he said or did would be brought to the public’s attention from time to time. There were those in the news media that were quick to elaborate on what they viewed as a contradiction between his political views and practice. A reporter of an Oakland paper was quick to report on the pending water rights law suit with the following title and lead:

GLEN ELLEN PROFIT IN WATER FIGHT
Jack London’s Neighbors say Noted Socialist Novelist Intends to Divert Waters of Creek to Fill Artificial. Assert That Supply for Village and Country Homes Will be Entirely Shut Off. Compare Professions and the Deeds

The lengthy article included the reporter’s opinion of Jack’s early years with the Socialist Party and his current wealth and recognition as an author and that Jack, “gives a fresh cause for accusations of incompatibility between theory and practice,” and makes references to his being the author of The People of the Abyss and Revolution. At no time did the report include comments by London.

When asked about controversy over the lake and dam during a recent interview with Eliza is grandson, Milo Shepard, he offered his understanding of the situation concerning Graham Creek water rights.

“It was a wet area, and London just put in a rock dam across it … he had water from Graham Creek to replenish the lake and keep it full. The dam had a hatch through the middle of it that they closed and then diverted water into the lake. During the night and early in the morning it opened up and let water go down stream.

One morning no one went up and opened that up so the people down below didn’t have any water, and they sued London. This happened just weeks before his death, while he was on the stand – Jack had to defend himself when the opposing attorney claimed that Jack was not a farmer.

The judge never made a final decision on the amount of water that could go into the dam but said that London deserved the water. Jack went to each farmer and invited them to dinner and a ride to the dam. Once they had seen how the water was controlled they agreed that London was within his rights.”

Jack London had purchased his first ranch in 1905 and had shared with a close friend, “I am not a farmer.” But by 1916, London had expanded both the acreage and method of developing a successful agricultural operation with the state-of-the-art methods and shelter for his purebred livestock on the Beauty Ranch. He was well aware that he alone could not have accomplished this without the dedication and abilities of his step-sister Eliza Shepard. It was said so sincerely when he presented her with the first copy of his book on boxing titled, Abymal Brute, with the inscription;

“Time! Ring and Gong! And here we are, you and I, fighting side by side to subdue the land & make two blades of grass grow where one grew before.”

Even with the disappointment of Wolf House burning down days before they were to move in – the death of his Champion Shire, Neuadd Hillside and the stress of the water right’s trial, Jack’s vision to build for the future remained strong. The night before his passing at the age of 40, Jack talked to Charmian and Eliza about his plans to build a store for the workmen and families and a school for their children.

Irving Shepard had taken an active part in working on the ranch when he was very young. After Jack London’s death on November 23, 1916, Eliza continued to manage the ranch when Irving went into the Navy during World War II. He returned in 1920 and began to operate the ranch. The future would bring new challenges and when the depression came it required some changes. When the management of the property was passed on to Irving Shepard and family, they operated with some of the basic methods of farming established by London.

The proper utilization of the natural resources continues on with Irving’s son, Milo Shepard and his sons, who are now in the 2008s successfully operating a vineyard on the Shepard Ranch where Jack had restored the wornout soil a hundred years ago. It had long been a desire of Jack’s to leave the countryside a better place for generations to come. With a visit to the Jack London State Park in Glen Ellen, California, you’ll agree this has been accomplished and that Milo Shepard and his sons have answered the question that taunted Jack shortly before his passing when he asked his wife Charmian,

[… and we may never know what he asked. Due to some sort of error, the last phrase of the last sentence of this article didn’t make it into the Journal and we don’t have any of the original material to try to fill it in. – Editor]

//captions

Jack London writing on Sea Wolf outside by “Wild Water.”

The last apple tree in the family orchard on way to Wolf House.

Back of Cottage and Oak tree with terraced Shepard vineyard.

Stone horse barn and manure pit on Jack London State Park.

Vineyard on the Shepard Ranch with terracing.

Shepard Vineyard and stone wall of carriage house with Sonoma Mountain.

A grove of eucalyptus trees on the ranch.

Larkin – Burbank – London inspecting the experimental spineless cactus at Burbank’s plant farm.

Jack London’s experimental spineless cactus planted next to the equipment building.

A field of corn by carriage and guest house.

Hay raised on a terraced field.

Jack and his dog Possum inspecting the building of a silo.

London’s only power driven equipment to be used to chop and blow silage into silos.

The two completed hallow block silos.

A close up of the manure pit in its current condition.

The pipe funnels that carries the feed from the top floor to be mixed for feeding on the bottom floor.

Cement holding tank for liquid manure from cow barn.