Salad Bowl of the World · Episode 6 of 14 · 22 min
Swiss-Italian, Portuguese, and the Families
The family names on the Highway 101 packing sheds belong to immigrants who first milked cows. Ticinese Swiss-Italians and Azorean Portuguese rented land from the 1880s, building a dairy herd of more than twenty-five thousand cows by 1924 before the postwar collapse pushed alfalfa ground into vegetables. The episode also tests the folk belief that Swiss-Italians married into land-grant families, finding they got ground by working, renting, and buying.
Who's who
- Bautista SilacciSwiss-Italian immigrant who bought the Moss Landing dairy he worked at
- Alberto TresconyItalian-born tinsmith who bought Rancho San Lucas for cash in 1862
- Andrew J. MoleraLandowner whose 1921 artichoke experiment began the Castroville industry
- Andrea D'Arrigo+1 more episodeSicilian-born produce merchant; co-founded D'Arrigo Brothers and the Andy Boy label
- Stefano D'Arrigo+1 more episodeSicilian-born produce merchant; co-founded D'Arrigo Brothers
- Bruce Church+2 more episodesFounder of a major grower-shipper firm, starting in 1926
- Marilyn MonroeCrowned Castroville's first honorary Artichoke Queen in 1948
- Carol Lynn McKibben+1 more episodeHistorian, author of an academic history of Salinas
Where it happens
- Gonzales, California+2 more episodesDairy capital of the county, with an evaporated-milk plant
- Castroville, California+2 more episodesArtichoke center near Mulligan Hill
- Moss Landing, California+3 more episodesSite of the dairy Silacci worked and then bought
- Salinas, California+7 more episodesHome of the California Rodeo, first held in 1911
- Chualar, California+2 more episodesPortuguese Nunes family planted here in the early 1930s
Timeline
- 1862By one local history, dairying begins near present-day Spreckels with about 500 cows.
- 1887Bautista Silacci buys the Moss Landing dairy where he had worked.
- 1921Andrew Molera has one acre of artichokes planted near Mulligan Hill.
- 1924More than 25,000 dairy animals are counted in Monterey County.
- 1927The D'Arrigo "Andy Boy" label is trademarked.
- 1948Marilyn Monroe is crowned Castroville's first honorary Artichoke Queen.
Still debated
The dairy herd's size and timing vary by source, with the 1925 soil survey weighted most. Accounts conflict over the month Monroe was crowned, and some wrongly call Molera an Italian immigrant when he was California-born.