Ranches+in+California

__Ranches in California__
In Esperanza Rising, she moves to a ranch in California because she no longer has a house. In alta California, their were many ranches because the soil was good for farming. One place that Esperanza could have been at is Point Reyes, California. It is full of open pastures and rolling fence lines. It is very peaceful and calm there also. In 1849, the Gold Rush brought in many professional capitalists, agriculturists, merchants, and laborers. They were brought along the San Francisco Bay. Little did the ranchers know, the expensive coastal land was just a byproduct to the burning, weeding, and purning of harvesting. The butter, of all things, was the most sold product of Point Reyes because the people would say, "out on the grass on monday, on your table on sunday." Producing milk and cheese was also very big! There were not enough cows. So when there was such a demand for dairy products, there were about 100-250 cows per ranch.

Life at Point Reyes goes back about 8,000 years ago. First the indians, then the Europeans, then the ranchers. The workers were given redwood cabins and worked in farms and on the fields. The ranchers had redwood homes, and had barns with it. For the workers, life wasn't so bad.