Monday, November 22, 2010

San DiegoZoo #3


S.D. Zoo-3, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

(John D. Spreckels, left, and Dr. Wegeforth)

To pay off the loan to Buck for the elephants, Wegeforth approached John D. Spreckels, one of San Diego’s most prominent businessmen and a noted philanthropist. Spreckels jokingly remarked that he would pay for them provided they were whiter elephants than some of his other business deals. The clever and resourceful Wegeforth bought a keg of white powder and had the elephants covered with it. When they were finally shown to Spreckels, he was so delighted with the joke that it not only paid for the elephants, but also for their compound.

Posted by Buckles at 11/22/2010 05:02:00 AM

2 comments:

B.E.Trumble said...

Spreckels made a fortune in among other things, the sugar business -- and like Wm Randolph Hearst bought vast acreage on the Central California Coast. Spreckels land speculation promoted the Salinas Valley as the salad bowl of the world. In 1910 600 acres of lettuce was under cultivation around LA. By 1918 19,000 aces of Crisphead (iceberg) lettuce came out of Salnas. Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck got his first job working on the Speckels Ranch, and used it as the setting for Of Mice And Men. Many years later Steinbeck returned to agricultural innovations associated in part with Spreckles when he wrote East of Eden.

25 November, 2010 14:00
Buckles said...

I read where Steinbeck, while riding in an elevator up to his apartment, was cornered by a young writer who bombarded him with questions, concluding with, "Could you help me with a title for my book?"
Steinbeck asked, "Are there any drums in your book?"
"No."
"Are there any bugles in your book?"
"No"
"There's your title, "No Drums!, "No Bugles!"

25 November, 2010 14:41

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