A team of eight horses pull three wagons layered with sacks down an unpaved street in Sacramento about 100 years ago. Captioned "Hauling Wheat in California, Sacramento," this penny postcard's subjects could have been on their way from one of the local flour mills to the train or barge that would spread the bounty yielded from the Sacramento Valley. Wheat was first grown in the area by Captain John Sutter in 1841, in part to pay what he owed for livestock and equipment taken from Fort Ross. The wheat was initially harvested by hand using knives and sharpened barrel staves. The grain was separated by horses who ran around the enclosure where the cut stalks were laid.
