Sierra
County
Biographies
HENRY DOTTA
Henry
Dotta, a leading dairy farmer of the Sierra Valley, is the owner of a well
improved farm of seven hundred and twenty-eight acres lying at the upper end of
the valley, which he has managed for a number of years with marked
success. He was born in Canton Ticino,
near the St. Gotthard Tunnel, in Switzerland, on the 17th of July,
1883, and is one of the ten children of Valeno Dotta. Like many Swiss peasants, the father owned a sawmill, containing a gangsaw.
Henry
Dotta, a leading dairy farmer of the Sierra valley,
is the owner mained (sic) at home until 1902. Several of his older brothers, whom he never
knew, had preceded him to America, settling in the Sierra Valley of California,
and Raffaele Dotta, a cousin of his, now lives in this section of the
state. Henry Dotta sailed from Havre,
France, and landed at New York City in March, 1902. From there he crossed the continent by rail
to Reno, Nevada, thence travelled with horses to the Sierra Valley. Soon afterward he went to the Clover Valley,
where he obtained work on dairy farms, working out steadily until 1924, when he
bought his present place, which is the old Ed Hamlin farm, settled in 1860, and
later known as the Bonta ranch. It originally
contained seven hundred and forty acres, but is now twelve acres less in
size. During the construction of the
Western Pacific Railroad he secured work with the surveying crew and was
connected with the construction of the road from Clairville to Beckwith about
two years. Mr. Dotta now operates his
place as a stock and dairy ranch, on which he keeps fifty milch cows and one
hundred and forty head of other stock, including registered Durham bulls. His main barn has a capacity of three hundred
tons of hay, while the stock barn will hold one hundred and fifty tons. He has a well equipped creamery, in which he
uses a Millatte cream separator, driven by power from a water wheel. This separator, which is of Belgian make, he
regards as the best in the world. Mr.
Dotta raises fifty calves a year and from twelve to fifteen hogs on the skim
milk. He has a number of apple, pear and
Siberian crab trees, all of which do well in this locality. The ranch is located at the head of the
Sierra Valley and is on a creek which forms the headwaters of the Feather River
that empties into the Sacramento River.
The ranch is a place of wondrous beauty, nestling up to the pine covered
mountains. Mr. Dotta has shown himself
worthy of public esteem and has taken out his first citizenship papers. He is a hard worker and an excellent business
man, and the success which has crowned his efforts is well merited.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Wooldridge,
J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley California,
Vol. 3 Pages 223-224. Pioneer Historical Publishing Co.
Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Sierra County
Biographies