Why Wheat?

Wheat was brought to California from Mexico and was first grown by padres during the mission period and later by settlers. With the Gold Rush and associated increased demand for food, Lake County farmers benefitted from the state’s wheat boom, which began when the Crimean War disrupted Russian grain exports, creating a wheat shortage in Australia and New Zealand. International demand for locally grown wheat further skyrocketed when the Civil War impeded Midwest grain production and export. By the late 1860s, 80 % of California’s wheat crop was being shipped to the European grain exchange in Liverpool, England. The ballast of sailing ships returning to the U.S. were filled with bricks that were used for construction throughout California and Lake County.

Production increased quickly and by 1888, wheat was harvested on 3 million acres throughout the state. With a production of 42 million bushels, California ranked second in the nation.

For local farmers, the two most common concerns were the price of wheat on the Liverpool exchange, and the cost of shipping it there. As wheat prices in Liverpool began to uncontrollably fluctuate in the early 1870s, California farmers turned their displeasure on the middlemen in the market, including the wheat brokers, railroad monopolies, shipping companies, and bankers charging exorbitant fees and interest.

After reaching a peak in the late 1880s, wheat production decreased as quickly as it had increased. Soil exhaustion leading to declining yields and low farm prices were the main reasons for the end of the wheat boom.