- Term
Miller & Lux
- Alternate Term
Miller and Lux
- Occupation/Role
ranchers
- Geography
California; Nevada; Oregon
- Date
active 1858-1964
- Remarks
Henry Miller (born Heinrich Alfred Keiser,1827-1916) and Charles Lux (1823-1887) were German immigrants who joined the California gold rush. In booming San Francisco they both worked as butchers to feed other gold rush migrants. Miller and Lux formed a partnership in 1858 and opened a meat-packing plant. They then began integrating their business, buying cattle herds and then attaining large quantities of land on which to raise their own cattle. They initially acquired land from Californios impoverished by American taxes and land policies. At its peak, the Miller & Lux company grazed 100,000 cattle in California's San Joaquin Valley, and controlled a total of a million cattle in three states, many of them bearing the famous Double H brand. The firm became the largest ranching enterprise on the Pacific Coast, and by 1900 it was the largest integrated cattle-raising and meat-packing company in the United States. Miller & Lux also built central California's largest irrigation system, which they used to raise farm produce. Miller ruthlessly sought to control water rights through bitter court and legislative battles, and his lawsuits helped to set important precedents in California's water laws. Miller pursued a twenty-year court fight against his partner's heirs following Lux's death in 1887. The partnership (between Miller and the heirs) was dissolved in 1900, though it retained the original name. Miller reorganized his portion as the Pacific Livestock Company prior to his death in 1916. The company continued to function until 1964.
- See Also