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• Lillie Langtry: The Days I Knew
• Because I Loved Him: The Life and Loves of Lillie Langtry

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Welcome to Paradise

California! What a magnificent combination of climate and beauty. I took heed of Horace Greeley's advice to "Go West" and indeed not only went in that direction but purchased a part of it as well.

I am thankful that things went so well during my early tours of the United States. My income was abundant, allowing me to exercise some business endeavors that with less funding might have not been possible.

It was during my second season that I had my first glimpse of the West Coast and California in particular. The land was perhaps the most beautiful I have ever seen and the glorious climate made the place a paradise on earth. It did not take me long to decide to purchase some property in this wonderful part of the world. It would be a place, perhaps, that I could escape to and simply rest and enjoy the scenery. And, admittedly, it would not displease me if I were to turn a tidy profit on the sale of the property at some propitious moment in the future.

I was fortunate to have such an eminent personage as General Barnes, who was a lawyer of high repute, searching out the ideal piece of land for me to purchase.

Perhaps my heart took charge of my head, because the land I eventually decided upon was truly a gamble as an investment, but, as I was making money "hand over fist," as they say, it seemed not unwise to take the chance. Besides, General Barnes advised me that there was a distinct possibility that a railroad would be passing through the ranch property, thereby notably increasing its value and potential. (I should insert here what, in reality, I found - a few hundred yards of abandoned grading and a prediction that work on the rail line would never be resumed. Writing this long after the fact, I must sorrily admit the prediction came true.)

But, be that as it may, I undauntedly went ahead with the purchase of 6500 acres of land in an area well Southeast of San Francisco and relatively close to Sacramento. The acreage comprised of two arable farms with good ranch houses and a vineyard and cottage, all well-stocked and in working order. Upon my acquiring the property, it became known as "Langtry Farms," which name it retains to this day.

My eight month U.S. tour ended in San Francisco, where I spent two weeks. All of my spare time was devoted to the purchase of furniture for one of my newly acquired ranch houses. Keep in mind this was all done sight unseen, but though I had not actually visited the place, my taste in furniture would not be altered after seeing it, so it was not as difficult a task as it might have seemed.

I disbanded my company of actors and decided, at long last, to not only visit the ranch but to take a much-needed vacation there. The ever efficient Beverly took charge of getting the furniture shipped to the ranch and in company with a group of friends, with much anticipation, we proceeded in the direction of the property.

We were all eager for an early start, and by sunrise we were riding my private railroad car, the Lalee, on our way to what I originally thought was a gigantic lake. Later, I was informed it was actually the Pacific Ocean which had formed what is called San Francisco Bay. Our whole train with the exception of the engine was ferried across the bay in about an hour to the city of Oakland. From there we proceeded to the end of the line, a small village called St. Helena. The nearest major town was Sacramento, which lay in a beautiful valley some 80 miles to the Southeast.

To my surprise, we found a situation which I must secretly admit pleased me: the St. Helena depot was crowded inside and out with people who had come only to see me. Autograph seekers, presents of flowers, fruit and candy and offers of hospitality were the order of the day. The wonderful Californians were now dearer to my heart than ever!

Out of the crowd came Beverly, looking like a fish out of water in his proper English-butler apparel. He had come to meet us with two private stagecoaches which, he informed me, I owned - he had commandeered them from my newly acquired ranch and each coach was pulled by a team of six reliable horses and driven by very determined-looking drivers.

But my devoted fans - I could not bring it upon myself to leave them so soon after arriving and so I signed more autographs than I could count and invited them to an impromptu tea aboard the Lalee. Finally, it was time to go, and here I was, the "Jersey Lily," many thousands of miles from home on the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel, about to take my first stagecoach ride in the Wild West!

I had not realized how long the trip would be. Seventeen miles over a corkscrew road, up a mountain and thence into the valley below - this was the journey that lay ahead before I would finally see my long-anticipated new property. The exact location of the ranch is in Lake County and it is formed by a fertile plateau of arable and grass land in the Howell Mountains. The road, if I dare call it such, was rough and narrow, and the springs of the coaches being made of leather tongs provided less than a smooth ride. But this was the West, my friends, and we were soon to be an integral part of it. The beauty of the rivers and gorges, flanked by an abundance of green trees, made every bump and thump well worth it. And, as we descended the mountain and got our first panoramic view of my property, it could only be described as a dream of loveliness.

It was early July and vast masses of ripe golden corn waved in the light summer breeze. Here and there, enormous ageless evergreen oak trees stood like welcoming sentinels to our eager party. It was, without exaggeration, an entrancing sight to behold. In the distance, on the far side of the land, I could see mountains that reminded me of the Swiss Alps - hazy and blue. Numerous cattle ranged near them and, Beverly later informed me, the distant mountains were the boundary of my land and the cattle were mine. As we continued to drive closer and closer to the heart of the property I became all the more enchanted. There were vineyards, then peach orchards laden with fruit. I had, indeed, made a good choice of land to purchase.

We finally came upon the house. It was exactly what one would want in such a setting. Built entirely of wood, it was not pretentious by any stretch of the imagination, but it was fairly roomy and stood rather high on piles. There was no garden, but, instead, one side had a fenced area which I later learned was used to corral and punch horses and cattle after a round up. A crowd of nonchalant lounging cowboys, picturesquely clothed in red or khaki flannel shirts and leather bead-embroidered trousers, some on ponies, others on foot, loitered near the front door. They looked askance at me, still in my quite proper city attire, but welcomed Beverly as if he were an old friend. As we were all quite exhausted from our stagecoach ride, we quickly went inside.

The ground floor was comprised of a large living room, into which the house-door directly opened. A dining room and kitchen were to the rear. A staircase from the former led to a galley running entirely around it, on to which doors of the bedrooms opened, no space being wasted in halls and passages. Beverly had seen to it that dinner was served without keeping us waiting and I must say the early start and events of the day had built up a healthy appetite in all of us. We were served trout, beef and quail, all from the ranch and prepared by Indian squaws from the nearby reservation. There were no white servants, male or female, to be found in this remote location. I found it interesting that during the time I was on the ranch the squaws came in relays, working only long enough to earn two or three days' pay. Then, they would spend the money on whatever needs they may have had - women are typical the world over, are they not?

My love of horses was not the only encouragement I needed to get up at daybreak, quickly eat breakfast, and then, dressed cowboy style in shirt, breeches and long moccasins as protection from rattlesnakes, gallop about on a cowpony, exploring every corner of the land. It was my desire to turn the ranch into a first class stud farm where we could raise race horses of the highest quality. To that end, I engaged an overseer who had managed Haggin's well known stud farm in the East. We found some fine pasture land and he advised me to purchase and import an English stallion named Friar Tuck, by Hermit. He was also anxious to buy some brood mares and it was his plan to sell the offspring for a large profit. The good fellow meant well, but the progeny were not successful in their racing endeavors in California nor elsewhere, and my experiences as a horse breeder proved to be quite costly.

But I had more than enough to take my mind off the lack of success with my race horses. I planned to build several roads on the property which would be lined with eucalyptus trees. Gardens galore for all purposes would be added and the house would be redesigned to make it a really comfortable one. "Liberty" seems to be a favorite word of Western folk and my cowboys, of every nationality imaginable, including Chinese, walked in and out of my house in search of whatever they needed. Indians from the reservation rode over the property at will from dawn to sunset, with rifles slung on their backs, shooting the game and fishing the trout. Some of the neighboring ranchers, out of the kindness of their hearts, shot my deer out of season and presented them to me in token of welcome. Squatters annexed cows clearly marked with the brand of the ranch. This was basic communism at its best!

Wildlife, of course, abounded on the ranch and several times I found a fawn, which I later learned was tame, wandering around the house. It was not bashful about lying on my bed with its forelegs crossed around my ever-so-patient cat's neck. There were black bears in the mountains, hares, rabbits and partridge-like crested quail. We all took part in the interesting process of corralling the different herds of cattle and the round up of the horses. Viewing the livestock at close quarters was particularly interesting and we counted eighty horses of all sizes, ages, and shapes, plus many mules.

Another one of my dreams for the ranch was to make wine there and who better but a Frenchman to take charge of that? I engaged Monsieur Gascon from Bordeaux for that job and I am convinced he made better wine than any ever vinted in California. But a new law which put all liquor into bond for several years spoiled the sale of the bottles which featured my picture on the label.

There was also a sulphur spring on the property which we intended to develop and a quicksilver mine which we thought we had discovered, but I did not have the time necessary to develop their possibilities and turned over this chore to my manager. The one drawback of the area was the multitude of rattlesnakes, but soon after putting an advertisement on the ranch house offering a reward of a dollar per head, I found long rows of the detestable vipers laid along the front fence, ticketed with the names of the various heroes who had done them in, so I imagine they were soon considerably diminished. I noticed that many horses bore traces of rattlesnake bites on their fetlocks, but I never heard if it was ever fatal to them.

We had another, and in those parts a more unusual, pest to deal with, though not such a dangerous one as the snakes. Black pigs had been allowed to roam about and had thrived and increased to such an extent that they became as savage as wild boars. There must have been hundreds of them and they wrought such havoc to the corn that the cowpunchers had to be commandeered to deal with them, which they did by means of a lasso, and for that they got to keep the pig as well as a dollar reward for each.

I now confess the truth to a rumor that has been prevalent for many years. Yes, Freddie Gebhard was with us on our visit to the ranch. And, yes, Freddie did purchase the adjoining property, on which he built a very utilitarian lodge some few hundred yards from my ranch house. But we did not escape to the ranch for hidden "trysts" at unannounced intervals, as has been so widely rumored. The fact is that circumstances beyond my control prevented me from enjoying my ranch as much I had hoped I would.

While I owned the property for some years, I only visited it one time, for a fortnight, I am sad to say. The following two summers after I purchased the property my work required me to be in London. Finally, I made plans to visit the ranch once again, where my brother and sister-in-law had preceeded us. While we were on our way there a most unfortunate railway accident changed our plans.

Still convinced that the ranch would breed superlative racing stock, I had invested largely in some thoroughbred mares that had been good winners at Monmouth Park, Saratoga, Long Branch and other Eastern race courses. While being shipped West, the train on which they travelled was derailed and fell down a steep slope. Luckily there was no loss of human life, though many passengers were injured, among them the groom in charge.

I rushed to the scene of the accident and was glad to find that I could be useful to the overworked doctors by helping to nurse the injured, but I was so disheartened by the accident that I canceled my visit to the ranch and we all sailed for England instead. I continued to own the property for several years afterwards, but finally sold it for about half the price I paid for it.

Was the ranch my paradise lost? Perhaps. But fate decreed I was to see it only that one time. I often think of "Langtry Farms" and what might have been.