Lewis Deck, of Redlands, is a native of the “Keystone” State. His father, Henry Deck, was one of the pioneers of Waukeha County, Wisconsin, and had a family of nine children, of whom our subject is the oldest. He left home at the age of fifteen, and went to New York, and from there by the Panama route to California, in 1857. He had the measles while on board the vessel, and when he got on land had not money enough to buy his dinner. He first worked in the vegetable gardens at Marysville, for $20 a month. After this he mined in both quartz and placer mines from 1862 to 1883, all along the coast, but principally in Nevada, and some in Mexico. No man in Southern California, perhaps, has had a more varied experience, nor can they give a fuller history of early mining days than he. He made and lost many fortunes, but in 1883 gave up mining and turned his attention to horticulture. He is a true pioneer and has an extended knowledge of the world.
