Living and Working on the Irvine Ranch

Living and Working on the Irvine Ranch. Irvine Ranch Historic Park. Planting, cultivating, harvesting crops and maintaining livestock on the spewing Irvine Ranch was no easy task. The success of the ranch was due in large part to the workforce of superintendent foremen, vaqueros and farm hands who performed the day-to-day hard labor that kept operations running smoothly , The Ranch's Mess Hall, Bunkhouse and foremen's cottages are enduring reminders of the agricultural industry's labor hierarchy. Ranch superintendents and foremen were granted modest family homes onsite. As one foreman noted the Irvine Ranch was "a darn fine nice place to live.” Laborers and migrant workers-the lowest paid ranch employees-likely had a much different experience, living in communal dormitories with little privacy. , In 1905, average monthly wages for workers on Irvine Ranch ranged from $8 for a ranch hand, $30 for a vaquero (who had to provide his own saddle and blanket), $40 for cook, $50 for a blacksmith and up to $75 for cattle foreman. , Apart from the buildings' practical uses as employee housing and dining hall, each preserved structure reflects elements of the Craftsman and Colonial Revival architectural styles of the early 20th century. Noted Orange County contractor Chris McNeill, whose company constructed Santa Ana's Old Orange County Courthouse, also built the Irvine Ranch Mess Hall (pictured below) and the Bunkhouse.