WAR’S WAKE: You won’t see Orange County...
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WAR’S WAKE: You won’t see Orange County in PBS’ acclaimed Civil War documentary this week, but the war had an effect here: It made possible the massive Irvine Ranch. . . . At war’s end, cotton trade with the South was so disrupted that demand for wool skyrocketed. Four ranchers bought land here to graze sheep, and one, James Irvine, above, eventually bought out the others and wound up owning a fifth of the county’s territory. Irvine’s heirs later began development, most notably in the city that bears his name.
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