The Last of the Prune Pickers, A Pre-Silicon Valley Story, Table of Contents

The Last of the Prune Pickers

The Last of the Prune Pickers
A Pre-Silicon Valley Story

by Tim Stanley

Table of Contents

Dedication	3
Map of Santa Clara County Vicinity	5
Poem: Of Plums and Prunes	7
Acknowledgements	8
Preface	11
Contents	12
PART I
A Short Agricultural History
Presented in an Uncommon Way

1. Beginnings	17
2. The Rise and Fall of the Missions	22
3. The Californios	28
4. The Americans	36
5. The Tidal Wave	42
6. The Wheat Farms	50
7. Red Rocks, Lumber, Oil, and Straw	53
8. From Rancho to Farms	60
9. The Garden of the World	67
10. Orcharding	75
11. Olives, Grapes, and Berries	88
12. Market Challenges and the Sunsweet Story	93
13. Diary of a Cannery Worker	98
14. The End of an Era	102

PART II
The Story of One of the Last Farms

15. Early Days of the Farm	110
16. Growing Up on the Farm	116
17. Cock Sure and Turkey Milk	122
18. A Drunk Cow and a Kleptomaniac	124
19. A Moo at the Door and the Mayor's Dog	127
20. 'Cots	130
21. The Old Farmer	133
22. Picking Prunes	136
23. You Shouldn't Have Gone Along	140
24. Clean-up	145
25. The White Truck	148
26. Harmony	152
27. The Bucksaw and the Man-Killer	155
28. Other Work	158
29. Sheep	162
30. Chipper	168
31. The Whizzin' Machine	172
32. The Help	176
33. The Business Formula	182
34. The Decommissioning	186
35. When the Cat's Away	190
36. The Trailer Incident	192
37. Eat All You Want	196
38. Free Pipe	198
39. Solitude	200
40. "But Mom, It's My Home!"	202
41. Transitions	204

Epilogue	209

Appendix I: Modern Harvesting	212
Appendix II: Santa Clara County Land Grants Chart	214
Appendix III: Pitman Farm Plot Plan or Map	216

Photo Credits	220
Bibliography	222
Notes and References	225

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