Wine in the Bogue Valley: Peter Britt and the Beginnings

In his authoritative A History of Wine in America: From the Beginnings to Prohibition,

author Thomas Pinney states:

In and Washington, the history of winegrowing is practically a reversal of what happened in most other states. Usually men tried to grow in regions where they would not succeed; In Oregon, especially, but in Washington as well, Vinifera m\\ grow more or less unaided, but there were few who made the effort to grow it. Thus, though the possibility was always there and though it was pretty clearly recognized in theory, no significant commercial winemaking developed in the Pacific Northwest until the second half of the twentieth century. The story of the region before that time is an irregular chronicle of isolated experiment.1

In this work Pinney goes on to devote only one paragraph to the history of

winegrowing in southern Oregon and writes nothing at all about the . We will see

however that one of the "isolated experiments" was being carried out by Peter Britt of

Jacksonville who demonstrated that could grow successfully there, and in so

doing he gave impetus to a small but significant nineteenth and early twentieth century

industry which anticipated the development of modern winegrowing in the area.

The botanical genus Vitis includes the true grapes Euvitis and the Muscadiniae ? Both

these subgenera include species of winegrapes. Vitis Vinifera, the old world species is native to

Asia Minor south of the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea in the vicinity of historic Armenia and from there it has been disseminated throughout the world in the temperate zones. 3Over ninety

per cent of the world's wine and nearly all of the premium wines are from varieties of this species. The New World , predominately North American, are used in winemaking but with less success than with Vinifera, as we will see. Vitis Labrusca east of the Rocky Mountains and Vitis Californica in and southern Oregon are two of many varieties. Hybrids of

Vinifera with native grapes have become important in production in eastern America.4

Grapes are most successful between 34 degrees and 49 degrees north and south

latitude but there are microclimatic exceptions.3 They are adaptable to a wide variety of soil types 6and are susceptible to a number of pests and microbial invasions.7

The history of wine making in America is that of trying to produce "Old World

Wine"from Vinifera. Virtually all attempts were doomed to failure and it was not until it was

recognized that native varieties could succeed best against the climate and the endemic diseases that there was a chance for winemaking in the East. With the colonization and

development of California, the Vinifera grapes were seen to flourish and the foundations of a

new industry were established.8

The Mission grape was the original variety of California, so named for having been

planted and disseminated with the California Missions. The grape was a variety of Vinifera but the origin of it was unknown. The had been brought to the New World by the Spanish about two hundred fifty years earlier and its parentage was obscure. After secularization of the

California Missions in 1833, cuttings of the old vines were used to propagate new vineyards in the vicinity of the old ones, thus the vine eventually spread to all of the regions of the state where was attempted. After the Phylloxera epidemic late in the century the Mission

assumed a much diminished role, but by this time many European varieties had been imported

and had adapted well to California conditions. 9The Zinfandel is another grape of mysterious

origin whose arrival and development in California constitutes another history altogether.

Following the decline of the Mission the Zinfandel assumed an importance it has yet to relinquish. Produced as a varietal and as generic Claret, it had replaced the Mission as the most

widely planted red grape in the state.10

The discovery of gold in California in I 848 was a transforming event in the history of

the state and for that of viticulture. As the population increased and the search for gold

widened, the culture of the grape followed in lockstep.11 While the 49ers began to exhaust the

mines of the Sacramento River and tributaries they began to move northward to other river

valleys between California and Oregon.12 Oregon's Rogue Valley was not exactly

undiscovered. It was thinly occupied by aboriginal indigenous peoples who were hostile to the

intrusion of the whites. By I 846 it had been traversed by the Applegate Party, blazing a trail

from the Willamette Valley to Fort Hall, Idaho.13 By I 850,a few families had settled in the

Valley as a result of the Congressional Donation Claims Act of I 850 which granted citizens or

declared foreigners 320acres per person or 640 acres for a married couple.14

Gold was discovered at Rich Gulch near present day Jacksonville around January of

1852, and within several months over one thousand miners were at work in the vicinity.

Jacksonville became a permanent settlement and for a short time was the largest and most

prosperous city in Oregon.'' As in California the gold sources were eventually depleted but an

agricultural infrastructure had emerged to replace it. The early history of farming in the valley was primarily that of wheat, due to local demand and geographical remoteness.16

The foundation of agriculture in the valley was favorable climate and fertile soil. The climate is midway between the wetness of the Willamette Valley and the dryness of California.

The annual rainfall averaged twenty-eight inches in Medford, twenty in Ashland, and twenty- seven in Jacksonville, with a growing season of I 70-1 80 days.17 Temperature extremes were

rare, thus the climate was similar to that of California, allowing for the differences in latitude.18 The soil was generally dark and alluvial derived from disintegrating sandstone and other rocks

with organic material from decomposing vegetation. This loamy humus and alluvial material

constituted soil of the richest kind for agriculture.19

Because of the equable and benevolent climate the Rogue Valley has been referred to

as the Italy of America. When Peter Britt arrived in Jacksonville on November eighth, I 852,20

at the beginning of a severe winter, with snow already capping the surrounding hills, it seemed

to him, more like his ancestral home in Switzerland.31

Peter Britt was thirty-three years old when he arrived in the Rogue Valley, and he was

to remain there until his death in 1905. He became a prominent citizen and involved himself in

a number of vocations and avocations including, miner, packer, civic leader, vintner,

apiculturist, meteorologist, horticulturist, financier, and land investor. "Above all he was the

Photographer of the Siskiyous and his legacy included the first photograph of

23and thousands of portraits and everyday scenes, which are a permanent part of the historical

record of Jackson County and Southern Oregon. While his contributions as a photographer are

permanent, his viticultural and enological efforts were important and he should be credited for

his contributions to those fields.

Peter Britt was born March 14th, I 8 19 in Obstalden, a village on the south shore of the Walensee, fifty kilometers southeast of Zurich in the German- speaking region of

Switzerland. Raised in a farming family he rejected a career in agriculture and trained as an artist. 24Success in that profession was predicated upon obtaining portrait sittings and thus regional travel was a requisite. Britt was known to have traveled to Germany and Austria and possibly to France.23 It is likely that without leaving his village he would have been exposed to the culture of wine at an early age. Switzerland had a long and intense history of wine production, which reached a peak in I 884, prior to the epidemic of Phyloxera, the vine louse that decimated vineyards throughout Europe.26

By the I 830s,the Swiss economy was depressed and emigration, particularly to the

United Stated was a fact of life. After the death of his mother, the Britt family prepared to leave for America and the Swiss Colony at Highland Illinois, arriving there in June I 845.27

The Highland Colony had been established in I 83 I as an agricultural community and once organized, artisans, skilled workers and professionals were solicited to immigrate and settle there. 2sUpon arrival, the Britt family was able to purchase farmland nearby. By the mid

I 840s, the Swiss Colony had introduced commercial farming, penetrated the St. Louis market and become the largest in America.29At the same time grape growing and winemaking were flourishing in the Midwest, particularly in the German speaking settlements. The Highland

Swiss had originally brought vines from Switzerland, Germany and France but all of the plantings had failed. Then in I 843, five acres were planted in Catawba grapes purchased from

Cincinnati, and by I 847, "excellent wine was being produced."30

After arriving at Highland, Britt set about pursuing his career as a portrait artist and apparently was successful but as in Europe it was necessary to travel in the region to obtain commissions. In his travels it is quite likely that he would have came into contact with other

German speaking settlements in the Mississippi and Missouri Valleys in the vicinity of St.

Louis.31

Two of these were wine-growing communities. One at Belleville, Illinois, very near

Highland, had been settled by German immigrants and had established vineyards and winemaking.32 Another was the Colony at Hermann, Missouri, west of St. Louis. German immigrants for the purpose of growing grapes and winemaking, had established the town in I 8 30.Failing at first with Vinifera, they turned to cuttings of native grapes from Cincinnati and made their first wine in I 846.33Residing at Hermann, from I 836 to 1881, was the legendary George Husmann who planted his first vineyard there in I 847. He later taught viticulture at the University of Missouri, published extensively, and was an important figure in the battle against Phylloxera both in Europe and California.34 Although there is no documented evidence that Britt ever visited either of these communities, it is difficult to avoid making a temporal and contextual connection.

By the mid I 840s, realizing that portrait artistry was about to be overtaken by daguerrian photography, Britt decided to train in that medium and apprenticed himself to J. H.

Fitzgibbon at St. Louis in I 8 4 7.35 Following his training he returned to Highland, practicing that art until his departure for Oregon in I 852.36

Gold was not the lure to the West for Peter Britt but after the death of his father and having attained citizenship, there was no longer any reason to remain in Illinois, so in the spring of I 852 he left on the .37

The arrival of Britt in Jacksonville coincided with the onset of a most severe winter.

Somehow he managed to establish a dugout cabin and studio space on land near the edge of the settlement where he opened his Daguerrian Gallery for business.38

The severe weather of I 852-53 demonstrated the vulnerability of the remote mining camp as essential supplies ran out and flour and salt were weighed against gold. By I 853 a supply route had been blazed to the newly opened port at Crescent City, California, where coastal steamers and sailing ships from were met by pack trains from the valley.39 The pack train era was a colorful one in the history of southern Oregon and the historical impact of it cannot be underestimated. The opening of the supply trail presaged an

6 economic, social and political re-orientation of Jacksonville from the Willamette Valley to San

Francisco.40 Peter Britt recognized the potential economic impact of the new supply route and

was quick to capitalize on it by outfitting his own pack train. The route to the coast over the

mountains followed more or less that of present day Highway 199 and took about ten days

one way. Each of his twenty-six mules carried about two hundred pounds of supplies. Packing

tariffs were high compared to shipping costs, but Britt preferred to buy the goods outright and

resell at Jacksonville, realizing substantial profits. His net worth increased significantly during

his packing years. By I 856 he was ready to leave this dangerous and hazardous business

behind and return to his studio.41

Significant changes had taken place in Jacksonville. Mining activity had declined, and

agriculture was on the ascendancy. The town had evolved into a permanent community with the construction of many brick and frame buildings and hostilities with the Rogue Indians had

ended after several years of bloody warfare.42 Agriculture began to diversify into other crops such as tree fruits, berries and grapevines as the economic and social situation changed.

The planting of the first grapevine would have depended on the availability of cuttings or rooted . In the Willamette Valley the first known grape vine was raised from seeds from England planted about I 824 at , but the first vine propagated from cuttings was planted by pioneer nurseryman Seth Lewelling at Milwaukie in I 847, a Labrusca

brought from Iowa on the Oregon Trail.43 At the same time the viticulture of California had

expanded widely during and after the gold rush. Cuttings for vineyards were available from either or both of these areas. Because of the established supply route to San Francisco in the

I 850s, it would have been practical to order from nurseries in that area. Since Britt was in the pack train business from I 853 to I 856 he would have had access to almost any products from the south arriving by coastal steamer from San Francisco.

Peter Britt is credited with planting the first grapevine but this has never been authenticated. According to an article in the Portland Oregonian in 1907:

...he [Britt] had arrived in Jacksonville in the fall of I 852, being one of the pioneers of the old mining town and noted the vigor of the wild grapes about here, and he determined to give the tame grapes a trial.He got his first grapes from California in I 854 or 1855. They were the old Mission grapes and they grew so well that he later got in other varieties and for the fifty years to the time of his death in October I 905,Mr. Britt carried on the work of demonstrating what were the best grapes for this soil and climate arrd in that period he grew over two hundred varieties of American and European grapes. Vines were had from Mr. Britt for every vineyard inihe Rogue Valley.44 This report may have been biased as Britt had been sending boxes of grapes to the editors of the Portland Oregonian on an annual basis for some time. The Oregon Sentinel reported a visit to the garden of Peter Britt on September29, I 866,stating that:

It is now magnificent with its many blooming flowers and trees and vines loaded with ripening fruit. Mr. Britt has successfully demonstrated the problem that a first class quality of wine can be manufactured here.45

This report specifically mentions wine although we have no evidence before this of wine being produced. Miller stated that Britt produced wine by I 858 but does not document it satisfactorily.46 Thus it seems clear that Peter Britt was growing grapes and making wine between I 854 and I 866. Whether he was the first to do so is still uncertain but there are no known records of other persons who may have been involved in that activity.

Peter Britt was married in I 86 I to Amalia Grob a childhood friend and a son Emil was born in I 862. A daughter Amalia was born in I 8 6 5.47With domestication by marriage and paternity Britt launched a number of other related ventures. He had expanded planting on his property to include fruit and nut trees, ornamental plants and flowers. He was credited with planting the first orchard in the Valley and was considered the father of the southern Oregon fruit industry.48 In order to improve pollination of his vines and fruit trees he became involved in bee keeping, eventually marketing the honey regionally.49 In addition to his horticultural activities, Britt had a keen interest in the local climate and began to make observations on it soon after arriving in the valley, but did not start a weather diary until I 859. He continued his observations under the aegis of the Signal Corps after I 870 as a volunteer civilian observer an activity that Emil Britt would continue until I 949.His observations formed the basis of climate information on the Rogue Valley that is still utilized.30

Peter Britt started as a home winemaker and kept expanding. He eventually enlarged his cellar and increased his wine storage capacity to three thousand gallons.51 In November

1873 he received a letter from the United States Internal Revenue (Service) at Placerville

California, Which stated:

I received a letter the other day from my old partner Bowe, requesting me to write you in regard to your liability to pay a retail and wholesale License for selling wine of your own making. I will enclose the decision of Comm. Douglas on the subject. Please show this to the Col. there. Signed J.W.B.Dierksen.

The following was enclosed:

If selling wine away from the place of manufacture is regarded broker (sic), a vintner who sells wine made from grapes not exclusively of his own growth is subject to special tax therefor whether selling such wine at the place where made or elsewhere."Very Respectfully, J.W. Douglas, Comm.

Quoted from the Internal Revenue Record Customs Journal of Sept. 20,1 873,by

yours, A.J.Kennedy.52 Britt appealed to his friend of the Oregon Supreme Court ,one of his customers,stating that he was only growing grapes and making wine and occasionally selling to his neighbors. He denied being in the wine business. Having apparently lost his case, sometime later he began to advertise his endeavor as Valley View Vineyard.He purchased more land north of Jacksonville and by I 880 this vineyard covered fifteen acres.53

Such was the beginnings of commercial winemaking in the Rogue Valley, a home wine maker caught by of the Internal Revenue Service. As a commercial enterprise Britt must have enjoyed some success as he filled orders from local bottlers and saloon keepers, travelers on the stage route from Oregon to California, and even from the Willamette Valley.Through his friend

Father Francis X. Blanchet he supplied wine to much of the Oregon Diocese.54 As his commercial winery evolved, Britt began to expand the vineyard operation. He acquired and planted many new varieties including Vinifera from California and Labrusca from the east. As his son Emil began to assume a greater role in the winery detailed diaries were kept on varieties planted and on daily vineyard and winery operations. A comprehensive inventory taken in

I 887 indicates that many European varieties had been planted, including; Cabernet

Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Charbono (I 885), Johannisberger Riesling and Mataro (I 885),

Malbeck, Petite Sirah and Franc Pinot (I 887), Semillon and, Sauvignon Blanc (I 887), and others.55 By I 89 I .Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Traminer had been added.56 The importance of these entries cannot be underestimated since they establish precise dates for the introduction of premium Vinifera in the Rogue Valley. The Franc Pinot for example is the noble Pinot Noir, the primary red wine grape of Burgundy and of the modern industry in the Willamette Valley.57

By I 890 a number of new vineyards had been planted in the Rogue Valley.The

Southern Oregon State Board of Agriculture published a report in that year describing in detail

io the vineyards in the area. Just north of Jacksonville on a southeast-facing slope of red clay soil, were three vineyards. The largest was that of Col. J. N.T. Miller, at twenty acres, the state's largest, and planted to Miller Mission, Sweetwater and twenty other varieties not yet bearing.

Half the crop was shipped to Portland and the remainder made into wine. Adjacent was the vineyard of Raphael Morat, planted with the same varieties, some of which was made into brandy. Also adjoining was the six-acre vineyard of Amile Barbe, of the same varieties, half of which was made into wine. Peter Britt's vineyard was very nearby but is reported having only five acres, planted as we have seen, to great many varieties, all of which was made into wine.

Several other vineyards were reported, including; Granville Sears, Conrad Lever, Dr. George de

Bar, Dr.Geary, Martin Last, C.D. Reed, Frank Lorraine and a few others.38

Col. J. N.T. Miller was born in Kentucky in I 826 and arrived in the Rogue Valley in

I 854. He was a farmer and stock grower.39ln an oral history taken in I 974, Fletcher Linn stated that Miller was a "pioneer of the 40s or early 50s. He had a fine vineyard mostly of blue

Mission grapes on the hillside back of his residence, covering thirty five or forty acres of hillside land from which he made fine wine and vinegar."60

It appears then, that by I 890 several others were making wine in addition to Peter Britt. There is no indication from the I 890 Report whether Miller, Morat and Barbe, were commercially licensed.and bonded. We have seen earlier that Peter Britt supplied cuttings to all the growers in the Valley and that would be consistent with the fact that they were all growing the Mission grape. The terminology"Miller Mission"is of unknown origin but it could have been a cultivar propagated by Miller. Also of interest regarding Col. Miller was the advice from

J.W.B.Dierkson.... of the Internal Revenue to "show this to the Col.there"(see entry,p..), assuming that he meant Miller.Perhaps Miller was also making wine at that earlier date, No

11 other reference to it has been found. Also possible, was that Miller and the others were selling grapes to Britt but such is not noted in the Report and there was no reference to that in any of the winery diaries reviewed.

The report concluded with a recommendation that suitable conditions for grape cultivation might be found in Josephine and Douglas Counties, where hill sites with east, south or west exposures, out of frost and wind ought to produce excellent grapes.61

Peter Britt died in I 905 but by that time prohibitionist sentiment was growing.

Although national prohibition did not take effect until 1919, many States had anticipated it and had voted to initiate it at the state level. Oregon was one of those and became dry in

1914, bringing to a close the " isolated experiments in southern Oregon.62

In the 1950s Richard Sommer became interested in winemaking while matriculating in

Agronomy at the University of California at Davis. Recalling vineyards at homes of both grandfathers in Oregon, he began a systematic search for the best site to establish a vineyard.

He found vines in Jacksonville, Medford, Grants Pass and Roseburg. Rejecting the Rogue Valley as too hot and requiring irrigation,he selected the Roseburg area for the climate, which is sufficiently warm to ripen the grapes, cool enough for slow fruit maturity in the fall and for adequate rainfall. He planted the first vineyard with Vinifera varieties in I 961 at Hillcrest

Vineyards and became the "fatherof the industry."63 Commercial grape growing would resume in the Rogue Valley but not until 1972 when Frank Wisnovsky revived the

Valley View name for his newly planted vineyard in the Applegate Valley west of Jacksonville, not far from where Peter Britt started it all.64

The development of viticulture in North America can in part be understood by the desire of the first Europeans to arrive in these regions to recreati Ittf own cultural identities. An important theme in the historical geography of viticulture is the translocation of cultural traits to the new location of the immigrants. In addition, one of the broad themes in the history of grape growing and wine production is the role of wine and the vine as symbols of both social and ideological importance. Ideology creates symbols and wine has always occupied a central symbolic role in European society.65

In this context the history of Peter Britt and his establishment of the vine in the Rogue

Valley becomes logical and almost inevitable. He was a man of many talents and in wine he found the common denominator. While it is still uncertain that he was the first viticulturist in the Valley, he was the most important figure in that industry. It is appropriate that his legacy is incarnate as the modern wineries of the Rogue Valley.

1 Thomas Pinney, A History of Wine in America: From the Beginnings to Prohibition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 420. 2 A.J. Winkler, J.A.Cook, W.M. Kliewer and L.A.Lider, General Viticulture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974), 16. 3 Winkler, General Viticulture, 1. 4 Harm Jan de Blij ,Wine: a Geographical Appreciation^ Towanda, New Jersey: Rowman and Allenhead 5 Winkler, General Viticulture, 58. 6 Winkler, General Viticulture, 71 7 Winkler, General Viticulture, 439. 8 Pinney, Wine in America, preface xv. 9 Charles L. Sullivan,/! Companion to California Wine: An Encyclopedia of Wine and Winemaking From the Mission Period to the Present (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 217. 10 Sulhvan, Companion, 7-8. 11 Pinney, Wine in America, 258-61. 12 Alan Clark Miller, Peter Britt: Pioneer Photographer of the Siskiyous (Thesis MA, Trinity College, 1972) 19. 13 Wilham Pierce Tucker, The History of Jackson County Oregon (Thesis.MA, University of Washington 1931), 26. 14 Tucker, History of Jackson County, 150. 15 Tucker, History of Jackson County, 33. 16 Albert G. Walling, History of Southern Oregon Comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas,Curry and Coos Counties (Portland, Oregon: A.G.Walling,1884), 316. 17 Tucker, History of Jackson County, 152-154. 18 Walling, History of Southern Oregon, 319. 19 Walling History of Southern Oregon, 315. 20 Miller, Peter Britt, 18. 21 Miller, Peter Britt, 20. 22 Millet, Peter Britt, 75. 23 Miller, Peter Britt, 64. 24 MiUer, Peter Britt, 2. 25 Miller, Peter Britt, 3. 26 Hugh Johnson, Story of Wine (London: Mitchell Beazley, 1989), 394. 21 MiUer, Peter Britt, 6-1. 28 Miller, Peter Britt, 5. 29 MiUer, Peter Britt, 7-8. 30 Norman C. Bettis, The Swiss Community of Highland, Illinois a Study in Historical Geography (Thesis MA Western Illinois University, 1968), 113. 31 MiUer, Peter Britt, 9. 32Pinney, Wine in America, 185. 33 Pinney, Wine in America, 176. 34 SulUvan, Companion to California Wine, 157. 35 MiUer, Peter Britt, 10-12. 36 Miller, Peter, Britt, 13. 37 MiUer, Peter Britt, 15. 38 MiUer, Peter Britt, 21. 39 MiUer Peter Britt, 23-25. 40 Miller, Peter Britt, 24. 41 MiUer, Peter Britt, 25-27. 42 MiUer, Peter Britt, 27. 43 Pinney, Wine in America, 421. 44 The Portland Oregonian, September 30,1907,2:2. 45 The Oregon Sentinel (Jacksonville) September29, 1866.3:1. 46 MiUer, Peter Britt, 76. 47 Miller, Peter Britt, 31 -32 48 Miller, Peter Britt, 82. 49 MiUer, Peter Britt, 80. 50 MiUer, Peter Britt, 80-82. 51 MiUer, Peter Britt 77. 52 Letter to Peter Britt November 8,1873,Southern Oregon Historical Society, Medford, Oregon. 53 MiUer, Peter Britt, 76-77. 54 MiUer, Peter Britt, 78. 55 Ledger, Valley View Winery, 1885-87. Southern Oregon Historical Society, Medford, Oregon. 56 Ledger, Valley View Winery, 1887-91. Southern Oregon Historical Society, Medford, Oregon. 57 Jancis Robinson, Vines, Grapes and Wines (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1986), 86. 58 The Resources of Southern Oregon, The Southern Oregon State Board of Agriculture, Salem, Oregon, 1890,51. 39 WaUing, History of Southern Oregon, 505. 60 Reminiscences of Fletcher Linn, Memories of Some of the Pioneer Families of Southern Oregon. Southern Oregon Historical Society, Medford, Oregon, 1974. 61 Resources of Southern Oregon, 52. 62 Paul Pintarich, The Boys up North (Portland, Oregon: The Wyatt Group, 1997), 3. 63 Pintarich, Boys, 17. 64, Michael Wisnovsky, Personal Communication, to Autiior, May 1999. 65 TimUnwin, Wine and the Vine (London: Routledge, 1991),6-10.