Adobe workers residence

The adobe sat under a cluster of oak trees right at the bottom of the sphinx ranch - (the east corner of Craig and New York today) and just above the Crank property line - what has become New York drive separating them today.  In a precipitous state of existence by the time the Allens became its owner, it lasted until they sold the property to developers in the early 1900's.  Above it ran an orderly set of Orange seedlings planted by William Allen and his sons. As managing the grape plantings became intricate, the Chinese workers who had worked on the railroad were trained in the work of the vineyards and and they lived onsite in the Adobe.

Their work was to trim and save cuttings from thousands of vines. When harvest time came, nature's hard won bounty had to be picked and crated to be sent off to L.J. Rose's winery for pressing and fermentation and bottling. They would crate and transport the loads down to his Santa Anita ranch. Cuttings would be saved just so and then retrieved before spring and planted and irrigated. Irrigation flumes needed constant attention and clearing and again, this fell on their strong backs to execute. Rose also was a supplier of cuttings for new varietals and when William is done, he will have planted over 20 different grapes, mostly for wine but some for the table to boot! A photo of the Crank ranch and some of the vine artisans doing the work of the season lends perspective as to the immensity of the task at hand.

It was difficult labor under a hot summer sun or driving winter rainstorm and the adobe can't have provided great comfort.