Highland Cattle roamed the highlands of Scotland from time immemorial, developing naturally as a self-sufficent, majestic animal and pure breed.  They epitomize the Celtic culture: strong, hardy, tenacious and prepared to last.  They are one of the oldest registered breed of cattle known but they remain virtually unchanged from their wild state.  Unlike most modern cattle they are not created by combining breeds.  Highland Cattle were used for beef and dairy needs, their thick hides made excellent leather and they could also be used as beasts of burden. 

 

Brought up by the North Sea coast of Scotland, they had to adapt to very harsh conditions and sparse feed.  Consequently, they are a browsing breed that is much less finicky about what they eat.  All domestic animals need some amount of care, that includes Highland Cattle, however, their calving ease, mothering ability and generally pleasant nature make them sought after for small farms.  

 

They were brought to the U.S. in the 1800's and a registry was started here in 1948.  There are only about 5,000 head of full sized Highland Cattle in the U.S. with a strong showing in Washington and Oregon.  Most owners have just a few head to help keep small acreage’s grazed and cleaned up.  They really are very social and bright.  Bright is not always good because that often means clever.  It also means they are great to watch.  They spar, play, talk and really keep your interest.  When mature, usually the girl's horns go up, the boy's horns go forward and the steer’s horns go straight out to the sides.  From the front, the newborn calves look just like an Ewok from Star Wars!

 

Blue Dawn Farm in Oregon purchased its first Highlands in 1990.  Their interest in Miniature Highland Cattle began in 1992 as they noticed that small cattle were easier to handle and seemed to have a more desirable impact on their land.  They also seemed to have greater market appeal.  Trembath Mountain Ranch is the successor to BDF.  TMR is located about 45 minutes east of Sacramento, CA.  If you would like to visit TMR, give us a call at (209) 245-6973.

 

People are frequently curious about where mini cattle come from.  Our feeling is that the Highland breed was much smaller for hundreds of years, prior to about 1820, than they are today.  Why they were subsequently bred larger is not a simply answered question but since others have answered it in the past, we’ll re-print what they said and then give a summary. 

 

From “Breeding and Improvement of Farm Animals”

Robert Bakewell of Dishley (1725 – 1795), had the imagination to picture the future needs of a growing population in terms of meat and set about creating a low-set, blocky, quick-maturing type of both sheep and beef.  He also worked with the heavy Blackhorse, shortened his back, brought him closer to the ground, replacing height and weight with activity and strength.  Bakewell paid little or no attention to fancy points but bred for animals that would weigh heavily in the best joints and show efficient feed conversion and quick maturity.

 

His success was largely due to three factors.  (1) He had a definite aim in mind and bred for it consistently.  Joints preserved in pickle hung from his walls, and skeletons of his most famous animals adorned his halls.  (2)  Bakewell divorced himself from the common practice of crossing breeds, which tends to dissipate good qualities, and adopted in its place the practice of “breeding the best to the best” regardless of relationships.  This meant a considerable amount of inbreeding, a practice generally taboo in the England of that day.  (3) Finally, he let for fancy prices, rather than sold, his males; in other words, he got his neighbors to “prove” the transmitting abilities of his sires for him.

 

He was very successful in his efforts.  How great was the change can be seen in the weights of animals at the famous Smithfield Market.  In 1710, beeves had averaged 370lb.; calves, 50lb whereas in 1795 they were 800 and 148 respectively.

 

To Bakewell above all other men belongs the credit for loosening the shackles that held animals back.  Using the crude principal of “like begetting like,” he molded animal inheritance into a preconceived pattern through close breeding and selection.  This system, then as now, leads to purity or homozygosity.  When other breeders adopted Bakewell’s methods, the foundations of our modern purebreds were laid.

 

From “The Drove Roads of Scotland”

Relatively small prices were quoted in the Scots cattle trade, at least up to the end of the eighteenth century.  The size of the beasts of these days must be borne in mind. 

 

In his Analysis of the Statistical Account written about 1825 Sir John Sinclair quotes Bakewell, the great English breeder, as having said that he wished he had laid the foundations for his breed of cattle with Kyloes or West Highland cattle as being perfect in all but size; and all the evidence goes to show that the animals driven from the Highlands to England throughout the eighteenth century were indeed small. 

 

An early commentary on the weight of cattle is contained in an 1798  contract for the supply of meat for the Navy, in which it was stipulated that the carcasses should not weigh less that 5 cwt., and it should be noted that this referred to animals already fattened for killing.  Even as late as 1816 a contract for meat for ships in the Downs stipulated only for a weight of 4 cwt., while a provision in a contract of 1823 requiring a weight of 6-7 cwt. is noted as unusual. 

 

Culley in 1786 says that the weight of West Highland cattle in general is from 20 to 35 stone, and an Agricultural Survey of Dunbartonshire made about 1794 refers to the cattle in the north of the country as weighing only 11 – 14 st. fat.  Sir John Sinclair in his survey of the northern Counties in 1795 refers to a Highland bull weighing 250lb. as compared with a Bakewell bull of 400lb. 

 

The cattle of South-west Scotland appear to have reached higher weights, at least by the end of the eighteenth century.  The Statistical Account for Kirkcudbright mentions weights of only 20-30 st., but Webster in 1794 speaks of Galloway cattle at five years old weighing 40-50 st., and Arthur Young writing about 1818 puts the average weight in the same district as 40-60 st., with some up to 70 st. 

 

Contemporary estimates of the weight of cattle must, however, at least till well into the nineteenth century be accepted with caution, for in some cases this was reckoned in Dutch stone of 22lb.  It appears also that in parts of Central Scotland the stone used contained 16lb. of 22oz. each, while at Smithfield a stone of 8 lb appears to have been one time in use. 

 

The average weight of cattle sold at Smithfield is reported as having increased by more that 100 percent between 1710 and 1775, and the Aberdeenshire cattle breeder Williamson stated in the early years of the nineteenth century that during his time the average weight of cattle produced in Aberdeenshire had, form better feeding, more than doubled. 

 

Youatt, writing in 1834, stated that after careful inquiry he had arrived at the conclusion that the average weight of a fat bullock sold at Smithfield at that time was approximately 6 cwt.

 

James Macdonald’s General View of the Agriculture of the Hebrides, 1811.

Strangers, on visiting the Western Isles, cry out against the folly of the people in keeping cattle of a small breed; when by changing it for the Irish, or the Lowland Scotch, they might greatly enlarge the carcases of their stock.  But this this is often a rash opinion.  The great question in Herbridian grazing and rearing is, what breed will best answer the land and climate, and what size can be most easily and securely raised at the smallest expense? 

 

Heavy cattle cannot seek their food in bogs and marshes, leap over ravines, rivers, and ditches, or scramble through rocks, and in the faces of cliffs and precipices, like the present breed, which is almost as active and nimble as a Chamois goat; nor can the poor Herbridian tenant afford to breed any stock which is not proof against the inclemency of his rains and storms all the year round. 

 

It is infinitely safer for him, therefore, in the present imperfect state of his agriculture, and perhaps even at all times, and in all circumstances of his country to rear too small, that too large a breed of cattle; and to improve his indigenous, hardy, excellent species, that to import from other districts such breeds as may be indeed profitable for their for their circumstances and climate, but, which would probably perish in the Hebrides, without more attention being paid to them that, in his situation, he can conveniently afford.

 

A moderate size is accordingly preferred by all skillful graziers, i.e. bollocks or stots, which fattened at the age of five, weigh 30-36 stone avoirdupois, and heifers which weigh, at the same age 24-30 stone. 

 

A  description of the cattle of Argyll as taken from John Smiths General View of the Agriculture of the County of Argyll, 1798.

 

The most profitable breed of cattle, and that which is found to be best suited for Argyllshire is the true West Highland breed.  It was for some time considered as an improvement upon this breed to cross it with cattle brought from Sky.  But from superior breeding, and greater attention in rearing, the native breed of Argyllshire is now of much greater size than that of Sky.

 

The form most wished for is, to get them short in the legs, round in the body, straight in the back, and long in the snout.  They are of various colours, black, dun, and brown; but the black is the most common, and the most run upon.

 

When in good condition, and from three or four years old, when they are commonly sold off, the carcase may weigh from 360 to 400 lb. avoirdupois.  But such as are brought to better pasture as in England, may be brought to weigh 560 lb. or more. 

 

 

In Summary

In this article we have tried to determine the size of Highland Cattle at around 1800.  Our best guess is that the bulls ran 300 to 500 lbs and the cows somewhat less.  Their size was seen as a necessity of their difficult environment. 

 

They were agile and hardy and could subsist in difficult times.  There also seems to be a precedent for the short leg.  The smallest of Highland Cattle seem to have come from the HebridesIslands and the Isle of Skye. 

 

Miniature Highland Cattle are the return of the crofters breed of 200 years ago.  We agree with Robert Bakewell – Highland Cattle are perfect   You only need them larger if you are going to drive them to market in London.

 

Sources

 

The following are some of the sources researched:

 

1.  “The Drove Roads of Scotland”, A. R. B. Haldane, c 1952, 1968, 1973 and 1995, House of Loachar, Isle of Colonsay, Argyll, Scotland

 

2.  “A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland”, Martin Martin, circa 1695, edited and introduced by Donald Mcleod

 

3.  “The Complete Grazier”, Fourth Edition, c 1816, Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, Paternoster Row.

 

4.  “Breeding and Improvement of Farm Animals”, Victor Arthur Rice and Fredrick Newcomb Andrews, c 1951, McGraw-Hill

 

5.  “The economics and ecology of extensively reared Highland Cattle in the Scottish LFA: an example of a self-sustaining livestock system”, Bignal, E.M., McCracken, D.I. & MacKay, A., c 1999, Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland

 

Notes

 

1.  A “Stone” (abbreviated as st.) is a unit of weight in Great Britain (14 pounds or 6.4 kilograms, in this day and age). However, when comparing the weights, be aware of this warning: 

“Contemporary estimates of the weight of cattle must, however, at least till well into the nineteenth century be accepted with caution, for in some cases this was reckoned in Dutch stone of 22lb.  It appears also that in parts of Central Scotland the stone used contained 16lb. of 22oz. each, while at Smithfield a stone of 8 lb appears to have been one time in use.” 

 

That means that a stone could weigh from 8 pounds to 22 pounds.  A good bet is 16 pounds per stone.

 

2.  Avoirdupois means 16 ounces per pound.

 

3.  CWT means “hundred weight” a unit of weight in the British Imperial System equal to 112 pounds (50.80 kilograms). Consequently, 4 cwt equals 448 pounds.  CWT in the US equals 100 pounds.

 

4.  A “Bullock” is defined as either a castrated bull (a steer) or a young bull.

 

5.  A “Stot” is defined as a young bull or ox, especially one three years old.

 

6.  Today’s Highland Cattle are descended from Kyloes, Highland Cattle and West Highland cattle – virtually all the same.  Kyloes are primarily black.  West Highland refers to the HebridesIslands to the west of Scotland as does the term the Western Isles.  They are a chain of islands that run south to north and conditions on those islands remained “primitive” longer than most parts of Scotland.

 

7.  A “Heifer” is a female that has not yet had a calf.  Females are generally bred between the ages of 18 months and 3 years. 

 

8.  A “Carcass” is the weight after the animal is gutted and skinned out.  It does not include head or hooves, either.  Typically the carcass weight is about 65% of the live weight.  Consequently, a carcass weight of 5 cwt (560 lbs) would equal a live weight of about 860 lbs.

 

"No one is going to sell you their best animals" stated a great northwest Highland Cattle breeder to my wife, Lin, and myself one day as we sat in the grass of his pasture.  We were brand new at it and he was just explaining how we would be treated as new breeders of these beautiful cattle.

 

We understood, frankly, because we could not have recognized a great animal anyway, so why would someone who worked hard to build a prime herd sell us their best?  Money?  Not usually.  Highland Cattle Breeders seldom are in it for the money.  Highland Cattle are a life style choice.

 

By getting to know the breeders and showing our cattle, we began to recognize what made up some of the best of each.  Luck plays a very small part in breeding great cattle.  Concentrating on the basics of good beef cattle bring the best results overall. These characteristics work for economics and the long term viability of the breed.  For miniatures the only difference is that we like them small.

 

Color, horn shape, ear shape and so on, if desirable only for esthetics, don't count for much in the long term health and viability of the breed.  However, breeders of miniatures will breed for esthetics because of the attention of the exotic and collectable buyers and the owner of a small acreage that likes an animal with eye appeal.

 

Cute sells, but the basics of good confirmation (how the animal physically is set up to survive and produce) must stay with any viable breed.  Examples of how lack of attention to these basics can backfire can be found in the purebred dog world.  Some dog breeds lost popularity because the dogs went downhill on confirmation and were no longer desirable.

 

Working on the ground floor of a breed like Miniature Highland Cattle has it's pitfalls also.  I bought many small Highlands and I would like to say that they all had great confirmation, but that is not true.  At this point in my Miniature Highland project, I want animals of small size, so I focus on a small frame and a short lower leg.  But if the animal has beautiful eyes (as seen in the 1800's pictures) or if it was a color I didn't have,  I added it to the herd even if I did not like the confirmation.  These were long term marketing decisions but they fly in the face of good beef confirmation. It may take some long term work and culling to bring good confirmation back to parts of a herd.

 

Miniature Highland Cattle should be judged solely on beef characteristics but when it comes time to sell in the exotic market, emotion is king.  Alpacas sell for 5 times, or more, than their very close cousin, the Llama.  Alpacas are smaller, handle easier and eat less but esthetically they are simply more beautiful and this gives them the edge to sell for much more.  So if the underlying requirement for long term, good confirmation is followed to keep the breed on the straight and narrow, esthetic points can be pursued to some degree.

 

I have a number of small brood cows, but my jump start is from using a good small bull.  I put the bull to my big cows and they all produced a calf, in spite of a 10" height difference between my bull and biggest cow.  Just like people, 50% of the genetics come from each parent, so a small bull can really give you a jump start even with your existing full size cows.  Finding a small cow is great, but because the bull is 50% of your entire herd genetics, finding a small bull with small genetics is the important part.

 

You might have read literature on small cattle and know that cattle on subsistence farms 100 or more years ago were small, not large.  They had to be small because no one had today's supplements, medications, feeds, squeeze chutes , panels, electric fences, etc. that large cattle require.  Small farm families then lived in very close proximity to their livestock and big was not necessarily better.  Breeds were "improved" in the late 1800's and early 1900's by making them larger to carry more meat, but the genetic of that small cow can be reawakened with the right combination.  Consequently, small to small usually throws small and small to large can often throw small.  I tried it and was very pleased with the number of small animals I could produce.

 

Small animals can be found but it is a bit of a crap shoot unless you can see a height pattern in the parents and usually those records were never kept by breeders of large cattle.  Cattle can be small simply because of stunting.  Stunted cattle do not necessarily have any genetic that reproduces small.  However, a "runt" can be a different story because this animal has been small from birth and is very likely to carry that small genetic.

 

During the last decade it has really been fun to ferret out sources that can help me understand how to reduce height and enhance eye appeal.  Other mini cattle breeders are an obvious source as are the breeders of other miniature species.  Dr. Dick Gradwohl, who breeds mini cattle, and who has founded a number of new breeds, loaned me a copy of  "The Basis of Line Breeding" by J.H. Lents.  This has great information, from a layman, about breeding in general.   Dick gives a copy away every time he sells an animal to a new breeder.  This is an excellent way to get people to a common basic level of understanding.

 

My County Agriculture Extension Agent spent quite a bit of time with me and gave me other resources and leads.  He also gave me the analogy of a rib eye steak that just about fills a dinner platter as a reason why smaller cattle are becoming desirable again.  If you don't even know the basics of genetics, refer to a middle school science text book and read the chapters on heredity and genetics.  Just watching 3 or 4 generations of families at church will point out possibilities!

 

How do you know a breeder is correct?  How do you know a bad animal from a good one?  Well, when I asked my friend how I could start understanding the value of houses, he said "go look at a hundred of them".  The same applies to the cattle breeders or cattle and you can find them at fairs, shows, association meetings and at their farms. Lin and I have had fantastic Sunday drives and found wonderful new friends by simply trying to look at a hundred of them.

____________________

Rick Sanders has had Miniature Highland Cattle since 1992.  He and his wife owned Blue Dawn Farm in Portland, Oregon.  In 2003 they moved their cattle to their new Trembath Mountain Ranch in Fiddletown, California.  Rick founded the International Miniature Highland Cattle Association, Inc.(IMHCA) and can be reached at P.O. Box 22, Fiddletown, CA 95629, 209-245-6973 or rsanders@integritydm.com.

Trembath Mountain Ranch Terms of Sale

CONDITIONS

Registration:  Some animals 42" or under at age 3 may be registered as Miniatures.   Trembath Mtn. Ranch will pay transfer fees where applicable.  Cattle from Trembath Mtn. Ranch breeding must be DNA tested to determine Sire and registration possibilities.  DNA fees and registration fees are not included for unregistered or untested animals.

 

Artificial Insemination:  Males are sold under the condition that they not be used for artificial breeding, i.e.: their semen cannot be collected except by TMR and the buyer agrees to make the bull available for collection by TMR.

                       

Steers:  Males sold as steers must not be used for breeding and the buyer agrees to have them "steered" if that has not already been done.

 

 

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

Trembath Mtn. Ranch, their agents and employees cannot guarantee the conception rate, temperament, height, quality or any characteristic of cattle or miniature cattle.  When you are dealing with nature there can be no guarantee.  Trembath Mtn. Ranch has no control over the manner by which or circumstances under which cattle purchased are used or the breeding of same.  SAID ORGANIZATION MAKES NO EXPRESS WARRANTY OF ANY KIND AND HEREBY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSES OR USES.  Further, Trembath Mtn. Ranch nor their agents nor employees shall be responsible for any injury, damage or loss caused by the use of cattle or miniature cattle or for any damage or loss due to any difficulties in the connection therewith.  This disclaimer of warranty applies to any animals of any breed sold to any purchaser.

 

I love talking about mini Highlands because they have been such an important part of our lives for the last 12+ years.

 

We started in 1990 with regular size Highlands to keep the blackberries and other invasive weeds (Scotch Broom, etc.) in check.  We had never had cattle and responded to an ad in a newspaper that simply read "Blackberry eating beef for sale".  We found out how hearty they were and decided to buy all six.  That they were Highlands was incidental to us because we did not know a steer from a heifer from a cow, etc., but we loved their appearance.

 

I can't think of a better breed to start with than Highland Cattle, because they have such heartiness and fewer birthing problems.  They have been bred to be hearty and survivors in inclement conditions.

 

Our focus changed to minis early on.  We showed these cattle with our kids (10 to 12 years old at the time) as part of their personal development.  The kids spent the first part of their summer taming the new calves down for showing in late summer.

 

The important thing about "tame" cattle is to always remember that they don't think like you and that they out weigh you considerably and when a cow is in season, the bulls are randy.  Cows with new calves can also be tricky.

 

Having said that, I would say that their disposition is not USUALLY flighty or aggressive (but like people, some are).  I had a bull that was raised by a 10 year old girl and he used to follow me like a puppy, but I always tried to make sure I could see him.  He was such a great guy we could even ride him.  But don’t let that mislead you.  Only you can make a determination, and that must be over a period of time.  Also, just like kids, as they grow older their personalities and interests change.  Your buddy the bull may see you in a different light if he thinks you might get in his way when the heifers are batting those huge eyelashes.

 

These animals play, and believe me, they can play rough with each other and that could follow with people.  I think all cattle breeders would have stories about aggressive or excited animals.  We have had 3 or 5 aggressive animals, out of 150 or so, that have been ours during the years.  They go in the freezer unless there was extenuating circumstances.

 

So, are they friendly?  If you spend time with them, they will be dependent upon you and will usually like your company (especially if a reward is there).  I feed 40 of them in the pasture in the evening and they all have horns.  I have my head down cutting strings and they never bother me.  They are usually doing a little pushing and shoving with each other, so I remain aware of where they are.  I just love being around them because they are ancient.  It is a privilege to be in the pasture with them at sunset.  They really get frisky at twilight!  They butt heads and chase and frolic (not all, but some).  They are very social amongst themselves.

 

Bottle fed babies are the easiest to tame.  The older they get, the more difficult it becomes.  However, most can be approached over time and treats get their attention.  I know of a 10 year old girl who made a strong friendship with her bull calf with little powered doughnuts (some vet somewhere is going to email me a missile on that one) and he stayed that way for the 3 or 4 years I had him.  We typically feed our cattle inexpensive cow hay, but I always keep a few bags of “Cob with Molasses” around to get their attention.  I can move my herd a half a mile just following my ATV with some hay and treats in it – much easier than trying to “drive” them in a direction.

 

When they are eating, I try to touch them, usually around their tail head for starters and then work down the back of their leg.  That is how a pro showed me how to do it.  When we show them, we scratch their tummies, with a hooked show stick, to make them relax (works with me, too!)

 

Most people just want to go right for that cute face and Highlands don't like that, especially with strangers.  We had a 2 year old bull in a pen and I just put my hand toward his face to see what he would do.  He shook his horns at me a bit.  Then he shook his horns at me more and the third time he popped my hand up, but not hard.  We were communicating.  My experience is that you can learn the signals about when they feel threatened, and then respect those signals.  Usually they will shake their head if they want you to back off.  Back off a bit and that may solve the problem.

 

After you have their trust, some will let you scratch them behind their horns.  I've never had problems, but my wife was chased off once and my son was sent under the fence by a cranky old cow with a new calf.

 

These small Highland Cattle are closer to a human’s size and seem to me to be less aggressive.  They are definitely much easier to handle when we medicate and measure twice a year, when things can get a bit dicey.  If you only have a few animals to inoculate and/or medicate, etc., you can snub them up in a corner with a halter or horn rope and give them any necessary shots in the fore shoulder area (or have the vet do it!).  You can immobilize the kicking by tying a hoof back.  One time, to get a new calf started nursing, we tied mom at the head and then around her midriff to the fence and then let the confused little guy and nervous first mom bond in safe circumstances.

 

Processing our herd of 40 or 50 animals takes two people most of the day and then we have to post all the records, etc.  When many cattle are being processed there can be some loud bellowing and shoving from fear of the unknown, and that puts the others on edge.  It is a time to always be careful: don’t reach in quickly; don’t get close to the back end if possible; remember that they can often kick faster than you can react (they can kick to the side and when the kick to the rear, they can kick just about as high as their back);  don’t lean over their head;  don’t hesitate to use additional ties, etc. to keep you both safe. 

 

With some exceptions, running after cattle on foot is a great way to get exercise, but not to get them to do what you want.  Those pokey, hairy old critters can turn electric in an instant.  I think that sometimes they like to play “chase” and they can just about always win.  In general, if you can walk behind, and few feet to one side of a cow, you will be in her blind spot and she will move away from you.  As you switch sides, she will turn in the opposite direction.  For excellent advice on handling animals, check out Dr. Temple Grandin’s website at http://www.grandin.com/index.html (also one of our “favorites” on our main page.  Temple really knows cow think!

 

I am not a schooled professional when it comes to livestock, but I have personally not had anything more serious than one bruise.  It might stem from my viewpoint of the intelligence of cattle.  I don’t glorify them, but I admire their intelligence and realize that they think in a very different way.  They are not dumb.  Respect, awareness, treating them well and letting them know who the boss is, works in the long run.  But you never know.  You and I have bad days and so do they.

 

History of TrembathMountain Ranch

 

Prior to European contact, the residents of the area were Plains Miwok Indians.  They lived in the river drainages of the Cosumnes and MokelumneRivers, in present day Sacramento, Amador, and San JoaquinCounties.  Even after the intrusion of the Gold Rush, the Miwoks remained in the area and this included a Round House close by Fiddletown. 

 

Although no evidence of Miwok presence on Trembath Mountain Ranch exists, they led a subsistence existence that included the harvesting of acorns all over this area.  But major changes were to come with the discovery of gold.

 

On the other side of the world, back in the Bronze Age, some 1800 years BC, the Tinners were at work in Cornwall, at the far southern tip of what would some day be part of England.  Tin, blended with the copper ore from Ireland, was turned into bronze, and from bronze, utensils and weapons were forged.  Tin had a hundred uses.  In Europe, the largest deposits were in Cornwall. 

 

In the twelfth century, a code of laws was drawn up for the Tinners that established the Tinner as his own master and gave him a unique position of independence amongst his fellow men.  He was not a serf, servant or hired laborer, so was not bound to a master or piece of land.  As a free artisan, the Tinner could take a lease or “set” from any landowner, sharing with him a portion of the tin found.

 

The start of the nineteenth century and the industrial revolution saw a boom in Cornish tin.  Cornwall was also the largest copper-producing district in the world.  Mining and the economy in Cornwall, however, were always an "up and down" proposition.

 

Times were good when Benedict Trembath (born 1824) married Ann Eddy (born 1826) on September 7, 1845 at Sithney Parish and resided at CrownTown in that parish.  Their families had lived for unknown generations in Cornwall.

 

Mary Trembath (born May 15, 1846) was the only child of Ben and Ann and she was able to attend private school.  In 1861, she married Joe Thomas, also of Sithney Parish, who was the youngest of 9 children born of Richard Thomas and Ann Sarah.  Joe’s father died early and Joe had to go to work in the mines when he was about 10 years old.

 

The mining boom reached its peak by the early 1860’s, and then the bottom began to fall out of the market.  Mines closed down and thousands of miners found themselves out of work.  There was no alternative to starvation but mass emigration.  A third of the mining population left Cornwall before the end of the century, taking their skill to America, South Africa, Australia, and other mining centers around the world.

 

In 1866, Ben and his son-in-law, Joe, left their families in Crown Town and traveled to New York, then to the Isthmus of Panama, where they crossed by train, boat and walking, to the Pacific coast, then to San Francisco on a steamer, up the river to Sacramento and then to Amador City, where they both went to work as highly desirable “Hard Rock” miners from Cornwall.  They began work in the “Little Amador Mine” and would not see their family until they could afford to bring them to their new home in AmadorCounty.

 

Five years later, when a strike was declared at the mines (this was known as the Amador War and the state militia had to be called in July of 1871), Ben and Joe took this opportunity to go back to England to bring their wives and children to their new home.  Joe returned with his wife and two of their children aboard the SS Nevada, shipping out of Liverpool, England, and stopping at Queenstown, Ireland.  They arrived at the Port of New York in September, 1871. 

 

Joe and Mary Thomas, and their six year old son, crossed the Atlantic Ocean in Steerage with 570 others (another 60 people had cabins), then traveled west from New York to Sacramento, by way of the newly completed trans-continental railroad. They arrived in AmadorCityOctober 4, 1871.  Ben and Ann Trembath followed with their eldest grandchild, Mary Anne Trembath Thomas, in 1872.

 

In the mid 1870’s, Mary Thomas opened a popular boarding house for miners in AmadorCity and many boarders were “Cousin Jacks” from Cornwall.  In 1877, Mary and Joe started a general merchandise store, and were able to give up mining. Ben Trembath became a U.S. citizen that same year.  In 1880, Mary and Joe bought 400 acres of ranch property in New Chicago, just outside Drytown where Ben and Ann Trembath lived.  Ben Trembath died on August 15, 1883

 

Around the 1890’s, Mary and Joe bought a number of other properties including the 440 acre “Dunbar place” on October 23, 1889 for $8.00 per acre.  Lucian A. Dunbar had owned it for three years.  In addition to their other ventures, Joe cut and hauled timbers for the Bunker Hill mine, and others, using 12 to 16 mule teams. 

 

By the 1890's, times became difficult again as mining slowed in the area.  Then the Thomas store, two of their houses, a big barn and sheds burned down.  They also had their safe blown and money and jewelry stolen.  About 1895, the mines failed and they were left with worthless checks and I.O.U.’s from property sales and merchandise transactions and had to start selling pieces of land to keep going.

 

Ann Trembath had been able to help Joe and Mary Thomas purchase the Dunbar in 1892 by carrying the mortgage.  She died on July 31, 1899.  Ben and Ann Trembath are buried in the Thomas plot at OakKnollCemetery, in the community of Bunker Hill, just north of AmadorCity.

 

Their grandson, Benedict Trembath Thomas, helped operate the ranch for the Thomas Estate Company (incorporated by the family in 1910) until the 1930’s when it was leased out.  The Fancher families, also cousins of Cornish descent, were excellent stewards as leaseholders.  They ran cattle, cut timber and fire wood on “the Dunbar” for over 60 years.

 

Trembath Mountain Ranch today is owned by Rick and Lin Sanders.  Their children are seventh generation descendants of Ben and Ann Trembath.

 

 “TrembathMountain” is named in honor of Ben and Ann who stood by their daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren all their lives, giving time, love and financial support.  By doing so, they also gave all their descendants an irreplaceable heritage in AmadorCounty and America.