Butte County
Biographies
TALMAGE E. LOSEE
TALMAGE E. LOSEE.—A stalwart and
wide-awake young horticulturist, who is making a specialty of almonds, is Talmage E. Losee,
popularly known as “Tal,” who was born at Ord, Valley
County, Nebr., on October 23, 1888, and came to California in 1900
with his father’s family, settling near Chico, Butte County. Here his father,
Herbert Losee, has been more than ordinarily successful
as a farmer, becoming, in fact, one of the leading almond growers of the state;
so that he is today regarded as an authority on almond culture. He conducts a
nursery in connection with his horticultural establishment; and while yet a
mere boy, Talmage learned there how to graft, prune,
plant and care for almond trees.
Talmage Losee now owns forty acres of excellent river-bottom land
near East Biggs, which he bought in 1911, after having widely searched for a
place where conditions were just right for almond culture. He has a fine young
almond orchard of ten acres, and has wisely planted the remaining thirty acres
to alfalfa. He has also dug a large well, which furnishes a never-failing
supply of water both for his stock and for irrigation purposes. He has
installed a pumping plant with a six-inch centrifugal pump, run by a
fifteen-horse-power electric motor, and with a twenty-foot lift. He has
constructed irrigation ditches, and uses galvanized iron pipes even for
irrigating his alfalfa. He also has a nursery where he propagates choice fruit
trees; and since he takes great care in furnishing only trees of the best
strains and the greatest vitality, his stock and enterprise have met with great
favor. In addition, Mr. Losee has a number of
high-grade Holstein cattle (milch cows and heifers)
and raises some choice hogs. With such a beginning, it is only a question of a
few years before young Mr. Losee’s fame as an
agriculturist will be widely known, thus perpetuating the celebrity of his
highly-honored father.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
04 November 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Page 1297, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies