Los Angeles County
Biographies
FRED L. FOSTER
FOSTER, FRED L., Secretary, The Alfalfa Farming & Dairying Company, Los Angeles, California, was born in Concordia, Kansas, October 27, 1881, the son of Roseland Lusk Foster and Charlotte Liween (Johnson) Foster. He married Lulu May Hare at Kansas City, Missouri, September 16, 1903, and to them there have been born three children, Paul L., Myrtle L. and Myron L. Foster. He is of British blood, his father having been of English-Irish descent while his mother’s family, an old one of Scotland, traces back in direct line to the time of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Mr. Foster’s father was a cattleman in Kansas and when the boy was about six years of age, moved the family home to the western part of the State, where he acquired a ranch sixty thousand acres in extent. Mr. Foster attended the public schools of Winfield, Kas., and was graduated from the high school there in the year 1897. He then entered St. John’s Lutheran College at Winfield, Kansas, and was graduated in the class of 1899 with the degrees of A. B. and M. A.
Upon completion of his studies Mr. Foster entered the employ of Stafford & Albright, a real estate and abstract firm of Winfield, as stenographer, and remained in that employ for about eight months. He then took charge of the abstract department of Johnson Brothers, of the same place, and remained with them until the early part of 1900.
Leaving the abstract business, Mr. Foster went to his father’s cattle ranch, then in Oklahoma, and took charge of the property during the spring round-up, but left in June of the same year (1900) and became associated with the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company, as Assistant Manager of the office at Kansas City, Mo. This branch of the company handled all of its business west of Kansas City, which amounted approximately to a million and a half dollars annually, and Mr. Foster held office until the latter part of 1905.
Upon resigning his position with the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company, Mr. Foster went to Leavenworth, Kas., as Assistant to the Treasurer of the Great Western Manufacturing Company, and held this position for about two years. He then went into the mining business, taking up the management of several properties owned by his father in the locality known as the Quapaw reservation in the Indian Territory. This held him for about a year and upon the sale of the properties in 1908, he transferred his home to Los Angeles, where he has since made his headquarters while operating in various business enterprises.
His first important venture in the Southwest was in Mexico. As the representative of a syndicate of bankers he went to Mexico City and visited various other parts of the republic, buying up large tracts of land for colonization purposes. The Madero revolution of 1910 interrupted his work, however, and Mr. Foster returned to the United States after passing through several thrilling experiences as the result of the condition of war then existing. Before he left Mexico, Mr. Foster acquired a large amount of farming land and retained about 52,000 acres, awaiting the settlement of the troubles there.
In 1911, Mr. Foster helped in the financial organization of the Pacific Coast Mail Order House, said to be the largest concern of its kind (co-operative) in the world. This company has since taken its place among the important commercial institutions of Los Angeles and has met with an unusual amount of success. Following the launching of this concern, Mr. Foster also aided in financing the Western Underwriting & Mortgage Company, of San Diego, California.
Mr. Foster, in the Summer of 1912, took up the organization of the Alfalfa Farming & Dairying Company, a mutual farming corporation capitalized at $1,000,000, and stated to be the largest farming concern of its kind in existence. The company entered actively into business in June, 1912, and since that time has acquired a large amount of land, including the Hansen Ranch, at Corcoran, California, a property celebrated as one of the greatest alfalfa ranches in the world. In addition, the company operates a string of alfalfa and dairy farms extending from San Francisco to Corcoran, California.
Aside from his business operations, Mr. Foster takes an active interest in social and civic affairs in Los Angeles and is a member of various organizations, including the Los Angeles Athletic Club, Gamut Club, and the B. P. O. Elks.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 461,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2010 Joyce
Rugeroni.
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