by Lisa Robinson
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At the foot of Ben Lomond Mountain there was once a remarkable ranch – Kader Idris, meaning “Chair of Idris” or “Giant’s Chair,” and named for the giant warrior poet of Welsh legend – the peak named for him in Wales.
The ranch was between Ben Lomond and Felton at Glen Arbor, and the ranch house still stands today.
Originally called the Ordway Ranch, it was re-named Kader Idris by Judge David D. Bowman. It was Bowman who planted orchards of apples and pears, vineyards, and strawberry fields, and who was the first in the San Lorenzo Valley to established a herd of 100 Angora goats. But why goats? Because, as Bowman stated in 1905 in a lengthy article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the tillable land was covered with timber and underbrush “constituting the natural food for goats…practically all the underbrush, oak, madrone, hazel, willow, alder, sagebrush, and manzanita are found on the goat’s regular bill of fare. For desert he has poison oak, blackberry briars, fern and tar weed, with any other old thing that grows between and that he may be able to masticate for an occasional relish.” Bowman suggests that the Ben Lomond area could be home to at least 30,000 Angora goats.
In 1907, the Kader Idris Vineyard Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $50,000. Over twenty acres of phylloxera resistant grapevines were planted.
Bowman, who served this region as a justice of the peace, attorney, and county supervisor was to become State Assemblyman Bowman in 1912. He remarked on returning from the Sebastopol fair in 1911: “I went out and took a walk amongst my own young trees bending beneath their loads of luscious apples reflecting the glory of the clear mountain sunshine on their sun-kissed cheeks, I gave a sigh of content, for after all ‘there is no place like home’.”
In November that year, his orchards produced a second “freak crop” of Bartlett pears, the buds for the second crop had come out in June. Bowman had planted the Bartlett pears – and in an incredible coincidence, it was in 1921 that the ranch was purchased by William Herbert Bartlett and his wife Flora.
The Bartletts renamed the ranch the Glen Arbor Orchards and they quickly became active in the farming community. In 1922, William was elected to be the Farm Center director but had to resign two years later because of ill health. He died soon after.
His widow Flora continued to operate the orchards with various managers for many years. She also owned the Glen Arbor Produce Market and Food Shop which carried a complete line of groceries, fresh butter and eggs, and homemade pastries. The store was located adjacent to the orchard together with an Associated Oil service station.
In 1949, Flora recalled: “I have seen my place change from a farm with poultry, cows, hogs, work horses with sleds and wagons for the orchard work, transformed partly into a subdivision of fine homes with businesses on the highway.”
Bartlett pears from the orchard were still being advertised for sale in 1951