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THE late 1800s was an active time for the San Diego business community;
new industries were being established at an amazing rate. One such
enterprise was commercial beekeeping. Most of the beekeepers were local
businessmen interested in developing the San Diego economy and increasing their
personal fortunes. The experiences of E.W. Morse were typical of those who chose
to become involved in this new industry.
In 1849 Ephraim W. Morse came to California to seek his fortune in the gold
fields. Due to poor health, he relocated to San Diego and entered the mercantile
business. Twenty years later Morse was instrumental in establishing the banking
community in San Diego. His economic activities continued to expand and he
became involved in most local enterprises to some degree, including the
beekeeping industry.1
E.W. Morse first became acquainted with beekeeping through
articles in the San Diego Union and from conversations with fellow
businessmen. On September 30, 1874 the San Diego Union published the
initial financial statement of an apiary that had been operating since 1871. The
figures showed a $7,500 return on a $2,000 investment in the business.2
Morse read this article and after further investigation into the local honey
industry, he was convinced of its stability and economic potential. He began
collecting information on beekeeping from businesses throughout the United
States and in February 1875 Morse proceeded with what he referred to as his
Honey Adventure.3
In a letter to J.S. Harbison, the leading beekeeper in San Diego, Morse
expressed an interest in purchasing forty stands of bees and
asked Harbison to please notify him of the price and place of delivery within a
day of two.4 Impatient to begin this new career, Morse went ahead without an
answer from Harbison. On February 26 he gave his apiary manager, Alexander
Smith, a check for $50 to purchase seven stands of bees. One week later, he
bought an additional thirty-one hives for $248.5 After moving the bees to the
Oak Glen Apiary in Fallbrook, Smith reported the loss of ten stands, leaving him
a total of twenty-eight stands of live bees.6 From February 6 to May 12 Morse
spent $750.41 to establish his apiary. He realized his first income on May 12
with a sale of honey to local merchants for $11.307
Morse had figured that a $500 investment would yield a $1200
return for his first year in beekeeping.8 However, as with any new business,
Morse encountered expenses and problems that could not have been
predicted in his original cost projection. Some of these expenditures were
minimal, such as the $2.66 school tax paid to the Poway District and the $20
spent to have an outhouse hauled to the bee ranch.9 The bills from the local
sawmills for hives and related equipment were more substantial, totaling more
than $500 in his first year of operation.10 During his first thirteen
months of business, Morse invested $1,281.30; his income for that same period
was $92.25.11
Morse's first manager, Alexander Smith, was a local
business acquaintance. Smith had some background in beekeeping and Morse trusted his
judgment in running the apiary. He would offer suggestions to Smith, but usually
tempered his comments with the phrase, "do what you think is best."12 For the
first two years Smith spent most of his time and much of Morse's money on
building up the apiary and his living quarters at the ranch. By June 1877 he had
acquired a total of one hundred hives through purchase and natural increase.13
Morse was enthusiastic about his new venture and tried to
make the two and one-half day trip to the Oak Glen Apiary about once a month. He
usually brought out supplies and spent his time discussing new ideas in
apiculture with his manager. In the four years Smith ran the apiary, Morse never
refused any of his numerous requests for supplies or money. Although Smith was a
competent beekeeper, he seemed to lack some of his employer's enthusiasm. When
asked to keep a record of the flowering bee plants in the area, Smith ignored
the request.14 Morse also suggested that Smith visit a nearby apiary owned and
operated by George Merriam.15 He repeated the suggestion several times in his
correspondence, but Smith made no mention of having gone to see either Merriam or his hives.
Morse was aware of Smith's waning enthusiasm. In a letter to
Rufus Morgan, a beekeeper in Bernardo, Morse wrote that he "will sell or rent
soon, as the party in charge has 'Arizona Fever' and will probably leave."16
Morse's prediction was correct and by February 1879 Morse was without a manager
for his Oak Glen Apiary. Upon Smith's departure, Morse contracted the services
of Rufus Morgan as his new beekeeper.
Morse's enthusiasm for the beekeeping business was matched by
Morgan's. He had sent his gold watch to Morse for an appraisal and two weeks
later asked him to use it to purchase some bees. Morgan told Morse that he hoped
to "make his honey business a very profitable thing—much more so than I expected
before I arrived."17 Morgan visited Merriam's apiary that summer and reported to
Morse that he was very much pleased with the setup he saw.18 He realized that
Morse was short on capital and tried to work within that confine. He used the
barter system whenever possible.19 Local beekeepers had especially hard luck in
1879 and 1880. A severe drought during that period nearly devastated their
industry in San Diego County.20 Their lack of success and the injurious weather
conditions prompted Morse to tell Morgan that he was quite discouraged with the
bee business. "I have been putting money into it for five years," he complained,
"and getting nothing out—I need some little income to keep up my faith in the
business."21 An examination of Morse's ledger for this period reveals the reason
for his unenthusiastic attitude: his expenditures totaled $3.156.62 and his
income was only $698.47.22 Morgan refused to accept defeat and continued to
write letters of encouragment to Morse. Unfortunately, Morgan's career in
beekeeping was ended suddenly when he inadvertently ate poisonous mushrooms and
died in April 1880.23
Coming into the busiest season for honey production, Morse
had to find someone to run his apiary as soon as possible. After asking several
local beekeepers for recommendations, he engaged the services of Elden Lovett.24
Lovett was an experienced apiarist and the Oak Glen Ranch was most successful
while under his management. From the time Lovett took over until Morse sold the
apiary four years later, he spent $1,127.06 and received $547.99 as income.25 It
is possible that this relative success was due to the improvements made by
Morgan. However, the evidence seems to favor the conclusion that it was Lovett's
shrewdness and aggressive business practices that accounts for the decrease in
losses. During the nine years that Morse owned the Oak Glen Apiary he spent
$5,564.98 and took in only $1,338.71.26 He must have suffered a grave
disappointment since his original calculations had indicated a potential 150
percent return on the bee ranch within one year.
In the late 1870s Morse came into possession of another
apiary through nonpayment of a loan. This bee ranch, the Woodland Apiary,
included 272 stands of bees, forty cans of comb honey, two barrels of extracted
honey, one extractor and the buildings on the grounds. Morse estimated the value
of the bees alone at $1,860.60.27 Unfortunately, when his manager, C.J. Burleson,
took inventory of the apiary, the report was unfavorable. The bee population was
so low that Burleson was not sure the hives could be built up again. The lumber
was in poor shape and many of the combs in the stands were crooked, making it
difficult, if not impossible, to remove the honey. Eight of the beestands were
empty and of the two barrels of extracted honey, one was only half full.28
In addition to these problems, Burleson was a beekeeper of
questionable competence. After he had managed the apiary for sixteen months, the
number of full bee stands had dropped from 272 to 110. One month later, there
were niney-four left, and one month after that the inventory was further
reduced to seventy-eight.29 Morse seemed to have some reasonable doubts as to
Burleson's capabilities and urged him to visit Morgan at the Oak Glen Apiary to
"talk bees." As with most of Morse's suggestions, Burleson chose to ignore it
and never went to see Morgan.30
During the first year of operation Morse paid out over $1,100
(excluding the original debts) and received only $228.36.31 He was no doubt
discouraged by the experience and began to make plans to sell the Woodland
Apiary after two years of ownership. Morse sold the bees to Elden Lovett and
entered into a partnership with him for two more years before selling out
completely.32
Although individual success varied, all the beekeepers in San
Diego County were faced with a variety of problems. On the local level, Morse
had trouble obtaining properly cut lumber used to make hives. Within the first
month of business, he received a note from his beekeeper, Smith, saying that a
lumber order had been filled improperly. Two months later, Smith complained
again that "the millwork was very unsatisfactory."33 In
January of the following year, Smith and Morse were still having problems with
the local lumber companies; Smith reported that several pieces of hives were
missing in an order he had just received. Morse finally found a temporary solution by ordering
hives from George M. Wetherbee of San Francisco. Although he preferred to
patronize home production and manufacturers, Morse was unwilling to pay their
inflated prices.34
Morse continued to order some of his hives from Wetherbee,
having received a satisfactory product at a competitive price. However, after
three years of business with the merchant, problems arose. Rufus Morgan had sent
Wetherbee written instructions for a particular type of hive he wanted him to
build. When the finished hives arrived, the dimensions were off just enough to
cause problems for Morgan. Morse wrote to Wetherbee explaining the error and
never received a satisfactory reply from the San Francisco businessman.35 Since
lumber was, in many cases, the greatest expense in building and operating an
apiary, it is understandable that the quality and price of millwork was a major
concern for the beekeepers.36
Morse was confronted by another local problem, but this time
it was caused by the San Diego Union writers. He objected to the
terminology in newspaper articles used to describe the honey that was produced
by the county bee-men. In a letter to the newspaper, Morse explained that to use
the words "strained" or "liquid" when referring to honey depreciated its
quality. All honey was liquid, he wrote, including that which was sold in the
comb. Strained honey, obtained from broken or mashed up combs by partially
straining out particles of comb, dead bees and dirt, was of a poor quality. The
most common method for removing honey was extraction, a process whereby the
honey is centrifuged out of clean combs. Morse explained that "extracted"
was the preferred term for describing honey in the
bee journals.37 The problem apparently was solved since Morse did not raise the
issue again in any of his correspondence.
Although problems in the production of honey were nearly
solved due to the innovative methods and inventions of J.S. Harbison, there
still remained two areas of concern for the beekeepers—transportation and
profitable marketing.38 Difficulties in shipping honey were due mainly to
the transportation monopoly of the Central Pacific Railroad. Morse was deeply
disturbed by this situation and expressed his anger on several occasions. He
wrote to his son in Massachusetts saying that he intended to send him some
honey, "but due to the increase in freight charges by the monopoly controlling
the Pacific Railroad and Steamship line, I found I could not do so reasonably. .
."39 In letters to business acquaintances back East, Morse complained about the
negative effects that the railroad had on the honey industry. The enormous
charges of the monopoly made it impossible to ship honey overland and the
Pacific Mail and Steamship Company, also under Central Pacific control, made it
no cheaper to ship by water.40
Aside from the exhorbitant rates
charged, the railroad and steamship companies were also guilty of careless and irresponsible treatment of
the honey. The Central Pacific refused to guarantee nonstop shipment, as they
did with fruit, thus creating a situation where the honey had to be loaded and
reloaded several times before reaching the East Coast markets. The Central
Pacific also refused to store the honey in its warehouses, which meant it had to
be hauled to other facilities and stored at the shipper's expense.41
In an article written for the San Diego Union, local
businessman C.J. Fox gave his analysis of the transportation problem. He told of
some steamship agents who refused to ship honey on the premise that the iron
ships would be damaged by any leakage that might occur. Fox found this to be a
"very frivolous excuse." He argued that the railroad should be able to guarantee
nonstop shipment, in hopes of decreasing the chances of damage to the packing
cases. And finally, Fox addressed the issue of dishonest and careless
commission men. He emphasized the need to find responsible agents and included
the names of some competent firms he had contacted.42
The other major area of concern for San Diego beekeepers was
finding a profitable market. The basic problem was that the San Diego bee-men
were not organized in their marketing practices and this caused poor prices for
wholesale honey. The large shippers would send their honey to various
commission houses in the East with orders to sell immediately and gave no
thought to the prevailing market conditions. By selling in small lots, the producers
created unnecessary competition. The disorganization of the bee-men gave rise to
similar problems in their home market.43
San Diego wholesale prices for honey fluctuated almost daily
because of the unsystematic manner in which the beekeepers shipped their product
to town. The local merchants based their prices on supply and demand and in the
summer months, when honey production was at a peak, the bee-men were forced to
sell at greatly deflated rates. Due to the unpredictable nature of the local
market, the decision to sell was made at a risk. In 1880, Morse wrote to Lovett
that "the San Diego merchants are paying 6€ for honey today. It seems we sold a
little too soon. Our judgment was not at fault in selling," he explained, since
"McDougall and Utt sold their whole crop for less than we did."44
The lack of organization in merchandising created other
problems for the beekeepers. By 1878, excessive shipments to San Francisco
eventually caused that market to be glutted. A businessman in the Bay Area wrote
to Morse saying he could do nothing with honey to the local market since every
commission house was full for the season and no sales were being made. Two years
later, the San Francisco market was still overstocked and the Southern
California beekeepers were told not to bother shipping their honey to Northern
California. Poor management also led to a glutting of markets on the East
Coast.45
The depression of the American economy in the 1870s created
one more problem for the beekeepers in San Diego County. Hoping to obtain higher
prices for their product, the bee-men had marketed honey as a luxury item. In
1877, Fox reported that the financial distress in the United States had caused a
poor market for luxury items and the sale of honey was dropping.46
One solution to both the transportation and marketing
problems came with the establishment of foreign markets. Morse sent letters of
inquiry to friends and businessmen throughout the world in hopes of finding new
markets, higher profits and better transportation. He reached his greatest
success through contacts in Britain and Germany. By his efforts, and those of
C.J. Fox, reliable commission houses were found in Hamburg, Liverpool and
Glasgow. Unfortunately, much of the honey was still being transported over
monopoly roads to New York, where it was then sent on for transatlantic
shipment. Morse hoped to solve this problem by shipping honey directly to Europe
on vessels that came to San Diego for cargoes of wheat. If this could be done,
then the services of the Central Pacific could be avoided completely.47
By mid-1870s, many beekeepers realized that the success of
the honey industry depended upon their ability to solve the problems they faced.
On July 12, 1876 E.W. Morse, C.J. Fox, J.S. Harbison and several other bee-men
met in San Diego to discuss and formulate plans for a professional
organization.48 Two weeks later the San Diego Beekeepers Association
was formally established with the following objectives: to promote knowledge of
bee culture; to extend and improve the market for honey; to systemize and
cheapen transportation; to establish and maintain grades and trademarks that
shall be considered reliable; to provide safe
storage and careful shipment of the crops; and other objects as may be found
useful. Morse was elected president and Fox was vice-president.49
During his first three months as president of the Association, Morse signed
1,864 grading certificates, of which 1,600 had been used.50 In his annual
report dated February 2, 1877, Morse was optimistic about the activities of the
Association. Extensive correspondence had opened new markets in Europe and honey
had already been successfully shipped to Scotland. After seven months of
existence, the Association and its forty-five members had done things not
possible within an individual's capacity. The great need now was for cheaper
transportation. If rates could be reduced, Morse believed, then San Diego
beekeepers would prosper. He hoped to accomplish this through an
organized effort of the Association. He ended his report with the positive
prediction that the Beekeepers Association would be able to do much to help San
Diego County business interests.51
C.J. Fox served as the Association's agent and spent three
months on the East Coast trying to solve some of the problems in transportation
and marketing. In February 1877 he gave his first report to the Association
members. While in New York, Fox found a careful and thorough agent to oversee
the transfer of honey from the Central Pacific Railroad cars to warehouses. As
to the exhorbitant rates, the only hope Fox had for a reduction was that
conditions would improve as shipments increased. Until then, Fox surmised, San
Diego's superior honey-producing conditions would offset the freight costs in
shipping to the East. He also reported that the dealers appreciated the grading
system used by the Association. And finally, Fox felt that once the public
realized that extracted honey was as good and pure as comb honey, then the
advantages of organizing would become known.52
The San Diego Beekeepers Association and its members met with many
successes in the 1870s and 1880s. At the July 5, 1877
meeting, a commission was appointed to make an appeal to the Board of
Equalization for a reduction in taxes. During the same month, C.J. Fox invented
a new packing case that would allow honey to be inspected more readily. In
September, the Association made arrangements with a responsible commission house
in Hamburg, Germany for the sale of honey. The Association also rented a
warehouse in downtown San Diego to be used for safe storage of the honey.
Arrangements were made to organize future shipments, in order to avoid the
Hooding of any markets.53
The efforts of the San Diego Beekeepers Association were
vitally important in stabilizing the county's honey industry. It provided an
invaluable service to the bee-men by controlling and organizing those conditions
that would determine the success or failure of their enterprise. C.J. Fox best
summarized the benefits of having a professional association in his 1877 report
when he wrote, "by concentration of business through cooperation, we obtain
respect and consideration."54
Beekeeping in San Diego County continued to grow and became a
major industry by the late 1880s. The personal experiences of E.W. Morse serve
to illuminate the sort of problems and barriers that had to be overcome before a
successful enterprise could be realized. It was only through the tremendous
efforts and creative expertise of Morse and his fellow San Diegans that this
became possible.
NOTES
1. T.S. Van Dyke, The City and County of San Diego.
Illustrated and Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and
Pioneers (San Diego: Leberthon and Taylor, 1888), pp. 88-90; Biographical
File, E.W. Morse, San Diego Historical Society, Library and Manuscripts
Collection, San Diego, California.
2. E.W. Morse, Letter Books, 1870-1884, 12 vols., San Diego
Historical Society, Library and Manuscripts Collection, 5:87. (Hereinafter
cited as Letter Books).
3. Letter Books, 5:190-365, passim.
4. Letter Books, 5:316-17.
5. E.W. Morse, Day Book, 1871-1879, John W. Allen
Collection, Mandeville Department of Special Collections, Central University
Library, University of California at San Diego, pp. 117-18. (Hereinafter cited as Day Book.).
6. Alexander Smith to E.W. Morse, March 15, 1875, Morse
Letters, Box 2, San Diego Historical Society, Library and Manuscripts
Collection. (Hereinafter cited as Morse Letters).
7. E.W. Morse, Ledger, 1869-1884, John W. Allen Collection,
Mandeville Department of Special Collections, Central University Library,
University of California at San Diego, p. 162. (Hereinafter cited as Ledger).
8. Letter Books, 5:248.
9. Day Book, pp. 118, 134.
10. Day Book, pp. 124-26, 135, 140, 144, 166.
11. Ledger, pp. 162-64.
12. Letter Books, 7:32.
13. Alexander Smith to E.W. Morse, June 7, 1877, Morse Letters.
14. Letter Books, 7:336, 416.
15. Letter Books, 9:101, 321, 359.
16. Letter Books, 9:278.
17. Rufus Morgan to E.W. Morse, March 19, 1879, April 1,
1879, Microfilm Collection, San Diego Historical Society, Library and
Manuscripts Collection, Reel 6. (Hereinafter cited as Microfilm Collection).
18. Rufus Morgan to E.W. Morse, June 14, 1879, Microfilm Collection.
19. Rufus Morgan to E.W. Morse, January 30, 1879, Microfilm Collection.
20. San Diego Union, February 27, 1880, March 4, 1880.
21. Letter Books, 10:318.
22. Ledger, pp. 162-65, 246-47.
23. Letter Books, 10:419.
24. Letter Books, 10:379-80.
25. Ledger, pp. 247-50.
26. Ledger, pp. 162-65, 246-50.
27. Letter Books, 9:202; Day Book, p. 259.
28. C.J. Burleson to E.W. Morse, September 3, 1878, Morse Letters.
29. C.J. Burleson to E.W. Morse, January 24, 1880, February 18, 1880, March 25, 1880, Morse Letters.
30. Letter Books, 9:351, 10:274, 317, 355.
31. Letter Books, 10:224.
32. Letter Books, 11:79.
33. Letter Books, 5:330; Alexander Smith to E.W. Morse, May 3, 1875, Morse Letters.
34. Alexander Smith to E.W. Morse, January 12, 1876, Morse Letters; Letter Books, 7:533.
35. Rufus Morgan to E.W. Morse, February 14, 1879, Microfilm Collection; Letter Books,
9:570-72, 574, 592-93.
36. Day Book, pp. 119-207, passim.
37. Letter Books, 11:379-80.
38. San Diego Union, February 6, 1877.
39. Letter Books, 7:411.
40. Letter Books, 9:280-81, 7:650, 8:215, 11:98.
41. San Diego Union, February 6, 1877.
42. San Diego Union, November 21, 1880.
43. Letter Books, 7:777; San Diego Union, February 6, 1877.
44. Letter Books, 9:95, 11:31.
45. C.B. Culver to E.W. Morse, September 17, 1878, Subject
File, Honey, San Diego Historical Society, Library and Manuscripts Collection. (Hereinafter cited as Honey
File); San Diego Union, November 21, 1880; Letter Books, 7:749.
46. San Diego Union, February 6, 1877.
47. Letter Books, 9:573, 12:444.
48. San Diego Union, July 12, 1876.
49. Statement of Objectives, Honey File.
50. Letter Books, 7:777.
51. Letter Books, 8:20-23; San Diego Union, February 3, 1877.
52. San Diego Union, February 6, 1877.
53. San Diego Union, August 15, 1876, July 6, 1877, July 13, 1877, September 10, 1877.
54. San Diego Union, February 6, 1877.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS are from the San Diego Historical Society's Title Insurance
and Trust Collection.
