The Gaines and Brown Families of Carbon Canyon, Part Six: Flying Cow Ranch Photos

Thanks again to Joyce Harrington, who generously shared many photographs from the Gaines and Brown families, who lived in the Carbon Canyon/Olinda area for many decades from about the 1900s onward.

Past entries in this series included a couple of views of the Gaines family home on their Flying Cow Ranch in what is now the Olinda Village community on the Brea side of the canyon.

The home stood on what is today's Hollydale Mobile Home Estates property on the south side of Carbon Canyon Road, though the ranch extended north into the Olinda Village subdivision.  Edward F. Gaines used the ranch to pasture livestock and Joyce's photos include a number of great images of the ranch property.  He died in 1956 and less than a decade later, Olinda Village was developed.

So, today's entry highlights more of those snapshots, with the first being a view, of an unknown date, but perhaps in the 1910s or 1920s,  taken looking northwest towards the Gaines ranch house and framed nicely among some trees.

 

Among the gentle rolling hills sloping gradually downwards towards the photographer and, behind that person, the confluence of Carbon and Soquel canyons, is a man with a team of horses.  Presumably, he and the animals are grading the land or preparing it for planting crops.

In the distance are two stands of trees, the Gaines ranch house, what looks like a water tower, and an outbuilding.  In between the trees and further off is the distinct sharply pointed peak of a hill that can easily be seen today at the west end of the Olinda Village tract.

The second photo, perhaps from about the same time as the first, shows a pair in a buggy pulled by two horses and a group of four persons seated on the front steps and porch of the Gaines house.  Behind the house is a portion of the sloping hills in what is now the Olinda Village area.  Presumably the photo shows Gaines and his wife, Fannie Atwater, along with family and/or friends.

Finally, there is an image of a barn, horse and a man behind the animal on the ranch, again maybe from the time of the other two.  In 1939, a devastating fire burned down the barn; destroyed Edward Gaines' original and restored stagecoach, which he used for parades and other events; and killed some of his prize horses.

There are more photos from Joyce's collection to be posted, so check back for more soon.