Ostrich-Farming at Los Angeles, Californ…

C.19th engraving of a California ostrich farm.

California got its first flock in 1883 when English naturalist Charles Sketchley opened a farm near Anaheim. In 1885, Sketchley partnered with landowner J. Griffith and moved the herd to Griffith’s Rancho Los Feliz, now Griffith Park’s Crystal Springs picnic area. Then in 1885  Edwin Cawston chartered a ship to take fifty of some of the best obtainable ostriches in the world from South Africa to Galveston, Texas. From there, the ostriches endured a treacherous train journey to South Pasadena, California. Out of the original fifty, only eighteen survived. Cawston bounced back from the loss of over half of his stock and the Ostrich Farm eventually boasted over 100 ostriches from the original batch. The Cawston Ostrich Farm became a premier tourist attraction for many years. The farm closed in 1935.

From the original edition of The Graphic.