Читать книгу History of Fresno County, Vol. 3 - Paul E. Vandor - Страница 29

A pioneer of the Mount Olive district. Fresno County, and one who has made a decided success of his life work, is found in the person of Hans Hansen, who has always been ready and willing to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate than himself and to give valuable advice as well as encouragement to the home-seeker and home-maker. A native of Denmark, he was born at Bornholm, March 6, 1845, a son of Hans and Ingburg (Kofoad) Hansen. They were parents of eight children and Hans is the only member of the family now living. He was educated in the public schools of his native land and was reared to hard work from a lad, so that when he struck out in the world for himself he was able to handle almost any kind of a job where strength was a requirement.

In 1872, Mr. Hansen came from his home place to the United States and for two years worked in Iroquois and La Salle counties, in Illinois. His one desire was to come to California and when he had made enough money to defray his expenses he immediately made what he considers the best move he ever made during his life. He came to Fresno County and the first two years he chopped wood, then he bought a team and did a general teaming business; in fact, for fifteen years he was busily engaged in that occupation and fortunately made money. He hauled the brick for the first school house, and for part of the court house, in Merced County, and from there he went to Bakersfield and hauled the brick for the first court house in Kern County. So well did he do the work he set out to do that his services were always in demand and he was kept unusually busy.

Mr. Hansen bought his first land. 320 acres in the Wahtoke district, in 1901. For a good many years he was a large grain farmer, right in the location where he now makes his home. He also raised cattle and hogs in the foothills of the mountains, where he had about 6,000 acres of range land. He continued as a stockman for about nine years. He is now (1919) raising grain, fruit and alfalfa. He owned forty acres of good land in Tulare County which he sold at a good profit. He now has eighty acres that he intends to put in vines and trees, also another eighty nearby that he is developing for a home place.

When Mr. Hansen settled in this section of Fresno County there were but three houses between his place and Reedley, and the latter was just started and he little thought that it would grow to its present size in so short a time. Ever since he has been in the county he has helped to promote all enterprises for the building-up of his section of the county and for the betterment of social and moral conditions. He is a booster for all cooperative associations among the ranchers and fruit-growers, believing them to be the salvation of the producers. He has fostered every movement of the raising-rowers and now is a stockholder in the California Associated Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc. A friend of education, he helped organize the Mount Olive School district, and served for nine years as a trustee. When the time came for starting a bank in Reedley, Mr. Hansen came to the front and helped organize the Reedley National Bank, in which he is a stockholder; also helped organize the Farmers and Merchants Bank, now the First National in Reedley. In politics he supports the Republican candidates but he has never aspired to any office.

Mr. Hansen is a practical rancher, using the most up-to-date machinery and implements to carry on his operations. He reads the best literature on the live topics of the day relating to viticulture and horticulture and his advice is very often sought in these 'matters, for his experiences have been varied and in all his operations he has met with good results. He spent the summer of 1889 in Europe, visiting his old home and other places of interest on the Continent, but was glad to return to the land of sunshine and gold, and the county of the raisin and the peach. Mr. Hansen is a young-old man, easily taken for one-half his age. He makes and retains his friends, and when Hans Hansen says a thing is so it is considered to be so, for he is a man whose word is as good as his bond. He looks back upon a life well-spent and forward to the future without fear, for he has done his part in the making of this commonwealth.