Happy Valley home has rich history

The historic monte vista ranch

About one mile west of the intersection of Happy Valley Road and Palm Avenue on the south side of Palm Avenue in Happy Valley stands an historic house and well-known olive ranch.

This olive ranch won the grand prize at the prestigious Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, bringing it to the attention of the world.

But its history goes back much further.

In 1887, Samuel Alexander arrived in Happy Valley and began purchasing land. By 1900, he had purchased 1,400 acres. He also built a two-story brick house beside today's Palm Avenue. Olive trees eventually surrounded the house. Today, this house is a landmark.

Alexander began planting olive trees in 1897 and by 1898, he had 135 acres of olive trees in wide rows. Peaches and other stone fruits were planted between the olive trees. Sadly, Alexander died before the olive trees produced.

In 1913, entrepreneur and widow Freda Ehmann purchased the Alexander Ranch, which had grown to 1,740 acres. She moved into the two-story brick house, established the Ehmann Olive Co. and renamed the ranch the Monte Vista Ranch.

Under Ehmann's ownership, the ranch thrived. It was her olives that won the grand prize at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

Disaster struck the olive industry nationwide in 1919 when rumors spread that people were dying of "olive poisoning" (botulism). Even though Ehmann's olive business was never connected to the panic created by the botulism scare, it took the heart out of her olive business. In the 1920s, the Ehmanns sold their ranch and olive business to West Coast Orchards.

Today, the beautiful old brick house and many of the olive trees remain on the now historic Monte Vista Ranch. Also still standing are many of the original palm trees planted along Palm Avenue and near the house. Since the olive industry in Happy Valley slowed to a trickle, many parcels of the ranch were sold, and today ranch-style homes have been built on the land where the orchards once grew.

Dottie Smith is the author of "The Dictionary of Early Shasta County History," a former instructor of Shasta County History at Shasta College and former curator of the Shasta College Museum.