Packtrip of 1916

Raymond Bisconer was a prominent Tulare County, California rancher who lived a lifetime full of adventure and enterprise. He spent his youth in the backwoods of Tillamook County, Oregon until, at age 11, his family moved to Tulare County, California in search of a better life for the boy. There he took advantage of the profound changes and opportunities emerging in the developing 20th century West. As a young man he worked summers in California's Sierra Nevada mountains and winters in the emerging automotive industry in Tulare while he studied law via correspondence courses. When the United States entered the first world war in Europe in 1917, Bisconer served as Sergeant with the famous 91st Division. Upon his return he married Tularean Bernice Benson, and after the depression, real estate and land development interested them. They prospered in ranching, farming and the development of thousands of acres of land, including the consolidation of cattle ranches in Kaweah near Three Rivers. They also established a charming residence at the home ranch on Elk Bayou Oaks southeast of Tulare which became the center of family life for their three children, Reynold, Andrea and David, and later twelve grandchildren. It was there that Bisconer passed away peacefully in 1983 at the age of 89 with Bernice at his side. Today, Bisconer leaves a legacy of many great- and great-great-grandchildren. The Packtrip of 1916 is one of many memoirs Bisconer wrote in his twilight years.