Butte
County
Biographies
WILLIAM R. DRURY
William
R. Drury has traveled extensively and is thoroughly appreciative of
California’s advantages and attractions as a place of residence. He is alert to its business opportunities and
is well known as the proprietor of the Pleasant View Nursery near
Oroville. Of New England ancestry, he
was born in Massachusetts, April 21, 1863, and is a son of James R. and Mary
(Rowe) Drury. The father was long
identified with building operations in the Bay State and his father had
previously engaged in the same line of business in Boston, both attaining
prominence in that field of activity.
William
R. Drury was reared and educated in the east, there remaining until 1889, when
he responded to the call of adventure, and during the ensuing three years was
in various states of the west. In 1893
he arrived in Los Angeles, California, and later in the same year proceeded
northward to San Francisco, where he remained for some time. As a commercial traveler he visited the
principal cities of California, Washington and Oregon, and has been a salesman
in various lines most of his life, except for a brief interval devoted to
ranching in Washington. Tiring of that
line of work, Mr. Drury decided to enter a more profitable field and embarked
in the nursery business, which has since claimed his attention. Located about a mile from Oroville, his ranch
commands a fine view of the beautiful snow-capped mountains of the Sierra
Nevada Range. His tract of fourteen acres
on the main paved highway between Chico and Oroville is surrounded by land
owned by the Associated Realty Company of Los Angeles, a corporation which has
sold farms in the Oroville district to hundreds of families from the south, and
these new settlers are devoting their energies to growing oranges and
olives. They are rapidly promoting the
development of this district, which is noted for its fine oranges. They are always the first on the market and
bring the highest prices at Thanksgiving and during the Christmas
holidays. A twenty-inch water line runs
on one side of Mr. Drury’s property and there is a twelve-inch line on the
other side, thus ensuring a plentiful supply at all times, and the water rates
here are very cheap as compared with those in other parts of California. Mr. Drury has appropriately named his place
the Pleasant View Nursery, and has every modern facility for the advantageous
conduct of the work. He handles all
trees adapted to this district, such as olives, oranges, etc., as well as
selected plants, and is very ably assisted by his wife, who knows the stock
well and gives in invaluable assistance.
He is courteous to all customers and seldom loses one, as he will meet
all fair competition. Methodically and
efficiently managed, the business has grown rapidly since its inception and the
Pleasant View Nursery is today classed with the largest and best in this part
of the Sacramento Valley.
Mr.
Drury was united in marriage to Miss Katherine Druruth and they have a family
of four children. Mr. Drury erected a
substantial modern home on his ranch, which is situated at a high
altitude. It is near the famous Feather
River and when leisure permits he indulges in his favorite sport of trout
fishing. His success as a nursery man
has been founded upon carefully matured plans, unremitting application and
close study of everything pertaining to his line of work and there is no phase
of the nursery business with which he is not thoroughly familiar. He has a wide acquaintance and is the possessor
of those qualities which inspire confidence, esteem and friendship.
Mr. Drury has been around the world
nine times and is an expert botanist having been with the government from 1893
until March, 1898. He has seen almost
every country on the globe while with the biological survey of the United
States Government, locating bases of operation, etc. He tried to get into the Spanish War as a
soldier but owning to an operation of previous date he was rejected—but joined
the transport service later. His knowledge
of botany at all times enabled him to know where the ship was bound, and an
interesting incident happened while they were on their way to Japan--as Mr.
Drury studying the rocks and plant life knew they were on their way to Japan
and placed many bets with the boys on the boat that Japan would be their
destination. The officers thinking there
was a “leak” on board or some double crossing officer, gave Mr. Drury the third
degree and threatened to put him in irons--but he was finally able to show that
his knowledge of plant life, etc., gave him the knowledge, which made him place
bets on their final destination. He was
honorably discharged in San Francisco in 1903.
He has done some propagating work with plant life and developed the
Lonicnera, belonging to the honeysuckle variety, which he named the Pride of
Oroville, also the canna bulb, named Oroville, and full rights to produce and
sell have been sold to an eastern nursery.
Mr. Drury has many interesting stories to tell of his experiences while
in government work being an interesting talker on most any subject of the day.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 421-423. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies