DUNPHY & HILDRETH’S STOCKMAN’S LEDGER DOCUMENTING THEIR COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES AS CATTLE RANCHERS
DUNPHY & HILDRETH’S STOCKMAN’S LEDGER DOCUMENTING THEIR COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES AS CATTLE RANCHERS
DUNPHY & HILDRETH’S STOCKMAN’S LEDGER DOCUMENTING THEIR COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES AS CATTLE RANCHERS WITH EXTENSIVE HOLDINGS IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, MONTEREY COUNTY.
(California – Stockmen) DUNPHY & HILDRETH. San Francisco, 1858-1862. (23) 180 pgs. Suade covers with leather spine labels and gilt lettering. Folio. Condition consistent with age, overall in vg cond.
The first 24 pages are an alphabetical listing of Dunphy & Hildreth clients and the page on which their accounts can be found. Amongest the clients listed are the Eldorado Mkt; Mountain Shop & Co.; Greenwich Mkt; Salsipuedes Ranch; Clipper Mkt; Metropolitan Mkt; Union Restaurant; Oregan Mkt; Jefferson Mkt, etc. In total 320 clients accounts are listed each with their company name, cash and expense accounts of both of the partners.
William Dunphy (1829-1892) was of Irish decent and arrived in San Francisco on Dec. 27, 1849. Previous to his arrival in San Francisco, he had fought with Jack Haye’s Regiment of Texas Rangers in the Mexican American War and on the discovery of gold came to California. Although he was successful with gold mining, he quit after 30 days and became a cattle dealer and raiser with extensive holdings in the San Joaquin Valley, Monterey County and Nevada. By 1881, his firm, with partner Thomas Hildreth, was one of the largest in ranching operations in the West. Dunphy owned ranches in Elko, Eureka and Lander Counties, Nevada, covering about 200,000 acres and at times there were as many as 30,000 head of cattle and herds of horses on his pastures. He also owned another ranch of 12,000 acres in Monterey County. He helped establish the Dunphy & Hildreth slaughter house of San Francisco, while purchasing large parcels of San Francisco real estate.
Dunphy & Hildreth acquired a ranch in the San Joaquin Valley and established the Dunphy & Hildreth slaughterhouse in San Francisco. From their they began to look for business opportunities in the Nevada frontier where they settled on NE Nevada’s Boulder Valley where they turned their cattle herd loose on the open range.
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Throughout the 1850's and 1860's, Dunphy and Hildreth continued to expand their land position. Not above "bending" homesteading regulations, Dunphy used his Irish emigrant contacts back in California to file homestead claims, which they in turn sold to Dunphy after receiving title.
By putting together their acquisitions of homestead and railroad lands, Dunphy & Hildred were able to block up one of the largest pieces of private land in Nevada, thereby gaining control of vast acres of open range to run their cattle on.
In 1881, Dunphy acquired Hildreth’s interests and continued to expand and improve his empire. By the time of his death in 1892, Dunphy controlled about 200,000 acres in Elko, Eureka, and Lander counties, Nevada and ran as many as 30,000 head of cattle, shipping them to his packing plant in San Francisco.
An important California ranching ledger providing an inside view of ranching in the years just prior to the Civil War.
Sources: Society of California Pioneers
Millard, Bailey - The San Francisco Bay Region – Vol. 3, Pgs. 276-279
Genealogy Trails History Group
Fresno State Library
New York Times – 9/19/1892