Butte County
Biographies
GEORGE W. GRIDLEY
GEORGE W. GRIDLEY.--The interest which attaches to the biography of California pioneers is not that of curiosity, but a visible expression of the gratitude which all men feel towards those forerunners of civilization in the far West. Of these very representative citizens mention is due the late George W. Gridley, in honor of whom the town of Gridley, Butte County, was named. He was born in New York, but when a small child his parents moved to Galena, Ill., where he was reared to young manhood. In 1850, he undertook to drive some sheep and cattle across the plains to California, and although he lost every head, he, himself made a safe arrival and settled on the land where the town of Gridley now stands. He was engaged in the stock business in 1852 and had cleaned up ten thousand dollars, with which he returned to Illinois and bought three thousand head of sheep and drove them across the plains. His loss again was heavy, but he arrived with six hundred head and that started him in business. At that period the land was unsurveyed government land, but in due time he was able to prove up on it and make a permanent home.
The establishment of the post office at Gridley’s ranch in 1862, was practically the beginning of the town. Later on when the railroad was constructed through the place, Mr. Gridley made a trade, with the railroad company, of the town-site for ranch land west of the town. He increased his holdings from time to time and at one time was the largest taxpayer in Butte County, owning something more than thirty thousand acres which extended from Nelson to Durham. He raised sheep on a large scale, having over twenty thousand head at one time. As a dealer in wool, he was one of the leaders in the state, buying and selling on commission. It was no uncommon thing to pay sixty cents per pound for wool in the pioneer times. He shipped wool to New York City in car-load lots. Another of his specialties was raising fine saddle and driving horses. When he secured the land it was covered with timber and underbrush, but by persistent efforts Mr. Gridley brought the land under cultivation and made it very profitable as a stock and grain ranch.
In the days of railroad building, Mr. Gridley was associated with the Fairs, Huntington, Senator Stanford, and other prominent characters of the time. He made large amounts of money but, like many of the upbuilders of that early period, lost the greater part of it. In all movements for the upbuilding of California he always did his share, many times to the detriment of his pocket-book. The home ranch, where he died on March 9, 1881, comprised about nine hundred sixty acres and was all developed from virgin soil.
George
Gridley was united in marriage, in Illinois, with Helen Orcutt, born in that
state, where her oldest child was also born. She joined her husband in
California, coming via Panama and riding a mule across the Isthmus and arriving
here in 1855. There were ten children born to this worthy couple, seven of whom
grew to maturity: Charles E., deceased; Mrs. Flora B. Harris, deceased; Samuel
E., in Idaho; Louis M., in Santa Rosa; George W. Jr., deceased; Clarence D. and
Asahel M., of Gridley. Mrs. Gridley died at Gridley, on August 1, 1901. After a
long and useful life Mr. Gridley passed to his reward mourned by many friends.
Transcribed by Vicky
Walker, 1/11/08.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 617-618, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Vicky
Walker.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies