Blossoms into Gold (2009 book)

Blossoms into Gold, subtitled "The Croatians in the Pajaro Valley", is a book by Donna F. Mekis and Kathryn Mekis Miller, published in 2009 by Capitola Book Company. The subtitle succinctly summarizes the book's subject. Chronology:

• Late 1860s: First Croatian immigrants to the Pajaro Valley.
• Most Croatian immigrants came from the Adriatic coastal region centered on the capital city of Dubrovnik.
• Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time.
• The first arrivals were sailors and fishermen who "jumped ship" in American ports, including San Francisco.
• Croatian religion was primarily Roman Catholic.
• Early Croatian immigrants identified themselves as "Slav", "Slavonian", or "Austrian".
• During the Gold Rush after 1848, some Croatians already living in San Francisco became wealthy by supplying goods to gold seekers.
• After completion of the transcontinental railroad, Croatians and other European immigrants came to northern California primarily by train from East Coast ports.
• In 1868, C. Grelovich was reported to be the owner of the Washington Restaurant in Watsonville (Pajaronian, Jan. 25, 1868).
• The book credits Marko Rabasa (p.49) with starting the Croatian move into the apple industry in 1876, the same year that the Santa Cruz Railroad was completed all the way to Santa Cruz. Rabasa was not a grower himself, but a wholesaler. See Martin, p.111.
• Other prominent family names among early arrivals: Scurich (photo of apple packing business, page 73), Marinovich, Lettunich (photo of apple packing business, page 77), Strazicich, Sresovich, Rilovich (photo of apple packing crew, page 78), Borich (photo of apple wagon, page 82), Stolich (photo of apple packing crew, page 83)

Persons profiled include