Butte County
Biographies
ARTHUR H. MAHON
A. H. MAHON.—It would be difficult
to find a man more emphatically in accord with the true western spirit of
progress, than is A. H. Mahon, who has built up a ranch that is
reputed by those in his community to be the best in that vicinity. Mr. Mahon is
a native son, born in Sutter County, near Nicolaus,
on March 16, 1875. His father, Roger Mahon, was born in Ireland and
came to Clinton County, Iowa, when a young man. He married Mary J. Walker,
a native of Iowa. He was engaged in the stock and butcher business, until a fire
completely destroyed their property. In 1861, with ox teams, and driving a band
of horses and cattle, he set out across the Indian-infested plains for
California. The journey was beset with many hardships and dangers, but Mr.
Mahon had the true courage of the pioneer. At one time he stood guard for three
nights continuously, without rest, and often at night they lighted no fires at
all for fear of attack. At length they arrived in California, and bought a
ranch eight miles below Nicolaus, Sutter County,
where Mr. Mahon engaged in raising stock for sale, growing his own hay and
feed. He had three hundred fifty head of cattle and one hundred head of horses
and mules. The enterprise was very successful and he soon became the owner of a
five-hundred-acre ranch, which he farmed, besides leasing other land. In 1902
Mr. Mahon died, and Mrs. Mahon has leased the place and now resides
in Sacramento.
A. H. Mahon received his education in the
public schools, and worked with his father, until the age of twenty-one, when
he leased the home farm and engaged in the dairy business. Meeting with well
deserved success, in five years he was able to purchase one hundred sixty acres
on the Feather River. Here he raised alfalfa and continued his dairying, also
the industry of the manufacture of cheese. His cattle were Holstein and Durham
stock, and he milked from sixty-five to seventy-five cows, which produced from
one hundred to one hundred fifty pounds of cheese per day, which he sold in the
market in Sacramento. After twelve years of successful dairying, Mr. Mahon
sold his ranch and moved to Chico. He purchased twenty acres of the Bidwell
tract, planted alfalfa and again engaged in dairying, but four years later he
changed to horticultural pursuits and set out twenty acres of Nonpareil,
Peerless and Drake almonds; and he has set out an orchard of twenty acres to
prunes. Mr. Mahon’s ranch is well improved, with an electric pumping
plant, and three thousand smudge pots with a fifteen-thousand-gallon oil
capacity. They have a fine residence; and the Buena Vista Almond Farm, as it is
called, is one of the places of interest and beauty in this section.
Mr. Mahon married Miss Jennie M. Miller,
born in Sacramento, and they have two children: Mabel Adelia,
a graduate of Chico high school and now a student at the Chico State Normal;
and Hazel Olga, a senior in high school. Mr. Mahon is one of the original
stockholders and a director in the People’s Savings and Commercial Bank. He is
a member of the California Almond Growers’ Association, in which he serves as a
director. Mr. Mahon served as school trustee in the Vernon district in
Sutter county. At the convention of the Knights of Pythias, at Redding, in 1917, Mr. Mahon was a
delegate; he is a member of Chico Lodge, No. 69,
I. O. O. F.; and is a member and Past Chancellor Commander of
the Knights of Pythias in Chico.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
01 November 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1289-1290, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies