Fraternity-Testvériség, 2000 (78. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2000-10-01 / 4. szám
Page 8 TESTVÉRISÉG The Father of the Viniculture of California Ágoston Haraszthy (Futak, 1812. - Nicaragua, 1869.) Alexander Haraszthy, the first Hungarian who wrote his name into the economic history of the New World with his outstanding activity, boarded ship 160 years ago. On the 100th Anniversary of his death the then governor of California state (the future President of the U.S., Ronald Reagan) expressed his deep respect to the memory of “the father of the viniculture of California.” We don’t know much about his family or his youth. He finished elementary and secondary school at Futak and Újvidék, then studied law at the university in Pest. His county nominated him for service in the national guard in Vienna for a short time. Returning to the county of Bács, he received an assignment as honorary deputy-clerk and judge of the County Court. Through his mother’s family he had contacts with Lajos Kossuth. Owing to his political views, his professional position became uncertain, and he set off in 1840 - with the wish to gather information about the circumstances of a possible settlement in America. He arrived in New York, and from there - on the advice of some acquaintances - he left for the new State of Wisconsin. There he bought an estate and founded a new settlement (Haraszthy-falva, Sauk City today). He spent the winter there, then continued his journey. After wandering for many months on grounds hardly known by white men, he reached New Orleans. Passing through the eastern states, he went to New York. During the journey, he met, among others, the President of the Union, at Washington. He arrived home in Hungary at the end of 1841, where he wrote and published a two volume book on “Journey in North America” (Utazás Eszakamerikában. Pest: Heckenast, 1844). “The attempts to do justice to the greatness of the North American States,” the author wrote, “is doomed to failure in advance. Where one was hunting but a few years ago, a city may have sprouted. Where the visitor may have been looking at a swamp, a railway may be running now. The European never strops marveling at America, the enchanted land. The Hungarian is even more amazed, since he has been entertaining the illusion that his is a perfect country beyond whose boundaries life is intolerable. Nothing daunts the American and no impediments can halt him in carrying out his design. The boundless energy and self-assurance characterizing the American above all other nationals are truly breathtaking. He seems to live twice the span of others and to accomplish a hundred times more. Early he rises and without delay he begins his work. He reads his paper while having his breakfast, so as to waste no time. Lunchtime comes and all appear at the table at the sound of the gong. They sit down to eat, lose no time while talking and lunch is over in no more than twenty minutes. Nor are the state legislatures, courts and Congress exceptions. On the contrary, they dispatch their business with even greater speed. They meet from nine to noon, and continue after dinner sometimes as late as the midnight hour. The American is extremely thrift with his time, and nowhere in the world can one find so few idle hands.” After writing his book he sold his estate in Futak and moved to America with his family: his parents, his wife and his children. Thanks to his industry, his enterprising spirit and his knowledge of the language, he soon became one of the leading personalities of his new surroundings. The cultivation of hop initiated by him provided the foundation of the famous Wisconsin brewing industry. At the time of the gold rush, in 1849, he moved to California. First he became the sheriff of San Diego, then Member of Parliament for the county. Then he went on to San Francisco, where he became the director of the second goldprocessing factory and mint, nominated by the president. In addition, he founded - with his escaped Hungarian freedom- fighter friends - another private contractor factory. His successful activity in this line lasted till 1857. In Sonoma, not far from San Francisco, in the best fitting surroundings, he vigorously started large-scale viniculture. In 1851 he introduced cuttings of the Muscat Alexandria grape, which “founded California’s huge wine-growing industry,” in the words of the State’s official chroniclers. He also introduced the Zinfandel red wine grape and later imported two hundred thousand wine cuttings, including the most important European wine varieties. He founded Buena Vista (it used to be Széptáj, Belleview, but now the Spanish name is used) in Sonoma County, and from there the industry spread to Napa and Alameda Counties. Fortified sweet wines were to come from the great vineyards of the Lodi region, from Fresno and San Bernardino County. Hungary’s own Tokaj, the Pinot of Burgundy, Cabarnet of the Gironde, Riesling and Traminer of the Moselle and the Rhine were acclimatized to the region. Due largely to Haraszthy’s initiative, California was to produce most of the nation’s wine. He pioneered in an industry that was to have an investment of half a billion dollars and employ directly and indirectly some 125,000 persons. Half a million California acres were to be turned over to viniculture, second only to orange growing in the State’s agricultural economy. (See California: a Guide to the Golden State, American Guide Series. Sponsored by Mabel R. Gillis, California State Librarian. Books, Inc. Distributed by Hastings House, N.Y.) Haraszthy became California’s State Commissioner of Viniculture.
