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The Marstons: A California Family - Part 10
Chester Gunn - Gold Mines to Apple Pies
By Robin Lakin
January/February 2024
 Chester Gunn at age 22 in San Francisco in 1863. Courtesy SOHO |
 Chester and Lizzie Gunn's home and apple ranch in Julian. It appears to be a rather modest house for a family with nine children, one of them visible in the yard in front of the porch. Courtesy of Records of a California Family, a book edited and published by Anna Lee Marston |
 Chester Gunn with the founders of the Vista Irrigation District c. 1926 (Chester is in the back row, second from right). Courtesy of Vista Press |
The next time you drive to the backcountry for a slice of warm apple pie or a cup of hot cider, why not pass the time by sharing the tale of Anna Lee Marston's adventurous brother, Chester Gunn, and his prolific orchard?
Chester was 7 years old in 1850 when the Gunns arrived in Sonora, California, a dangerous mining town worthy of a dime novel, and an enticing place for a fearless boy like Chester. He was accidentally shot in the face by a playmate. He also lost one of his fingers while feeding hay through a neighbor’s threshing machine. Made of tough stuff, Chester was a real-life example of “true grit.”
Trained as a machinist in San Francisco, Chester worked in the Nevada mining industry prior to arriving in San Diego in 1869 with his brother, Douglas. The lure of gold brought him to Julian, where he became an engineer at the Owens Mine that same year for seasonal mining work.
During the winter, he was an agent for Wells Fargo's Julian office, and personally established a Pony Express mail service from Julian to San Diego. He made one trip per week, traveling alone, no matter the weather conditions, and using shortcuts and trails that wagons could not navigate.
In 1873, Chester discovered two new sources of gold: apples and a new teacher at the Banner school, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Anna Kelly. Lizzie escaped a one-room school full of children when she married Chester later that year. The couple moved to a ranch a mile north of Julian, planted the region’s first apple orchard, and produced 9 children, enough to fill the school Chester whisked Lizzie away from. His orchard was the largest and best producer of apples in the county.
A public servant, Chester was the Deputy County Assessor and served on the Board of County Supervisors from 1889 to 1892, and was a founding member of Vista Irrigation District in 1923. After moving to San Diego in 1908, he went into real estate with his brother-in-law, Charles Kelly.
Chester passed away in 1928 at age 84, having lived long enough to see automobiles travel from Julian to San Diego in three hours, rather than the entire day it took him on horseback. According to his sister, Anna Lee Marston, Chester Gunn was “always a helper of others, gentle and kindly in spirit, and generous in his judgements.”
Read the rest of the ongoing The Marstons: A California Story History Series.
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