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MAGNIFICENT NEW STOP FARM Walter T. Wells Building Thorough-; bred Ranch on Lavish Scale. Purchases Six Mares in England Which Artf In Foal to Noted Stallions Due in the United States Soon. LOS ANGELES, Calif., Dec. 7. Another new thoroughbred nursery is being built in the San Fernando section, on a magnificent scale. The breeding establishment is under construction on a 1,000-acre tract in the foothills, two miles north of Marwyck Ranch. The haras will be known as Rancho Oro Primero. Walter T. Wells, senior partner of Wells-Janes Production Company, is the owner of the property and the most recent recruit into the fast-growing list of thoroughbred breeders in California. Leo H. Aseltine, a ranch employee of Well3 for a number of years, has been appointed manager of the ranch and Russ McGirr, well known western trainer, has been engaged to condition the string of horses which will be campaigned over the California circuit. It is understood that Wells has had no previous experience in the thoroughbred horse sport, but has owned and operated a large ranch in Northern California for several years which specialized in the production of stock horses and cattle. Wells fell in love with racing at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park and determined to combine a country home and thoroughbred nursery on the tract of land in the rolling hills. PURCHASES ENGLISH MARES. Recently, Wells returned from a trip through Europe, in the course of which he visited several world-famous breeding centers. While in England he purchased six choice brood mares in foal to successful stallions. Captain Cecil Boyd-Rochefort and Mr. Greenway, prominent trainers and horsemen in England, assisted Wells in selecting the mares. The six English brood mares are due to reach New York soon, by steamer, and are expected to arrive at Marwyck Ranch early in December. The matrons will be quartered at Marwyck until Rancho Oro Primero is completed early next summer. It is understood that they will be bred back to The Nut and Saxon, the two stallions which hold court at the Marx-Stanwyck establishment. Building activity at Rancho Oro Primero has been under way for some time. The outside fence encircling the property is almost completed. Construction experts declare this outer fence has no equal in all America. Instead of using the usual one-by-six plank fencing, Wells specified three-by-six timbers. These heavy pieces are being bolted, not spiked, to quartered posts, all of which are hand-hewn. PICTURESQUE BUILDINGS. The ranch buildings will be picturesque and in keeping with early California architecture. "Shakes" will be used as a motif wherever possible. The roofs will be of shakes shingles, and many of the exterior walls will be covered with the shakes, shingle fashion. All of the lumber for the fences and buildings will be cut and milled at Wells ranch in Northern California. Rancho Oro Primero is beautifully located. The thoroughbred section has been laid out in a canyon, about 200 acres in extent. A modern sprinkling system will be installed to provide green grass the year around in the paddocks, similar to the one used with such marked success at Marwyck Ranch. Many miles of roads have been constructed on the ranch, encircling much of the hilly part of the property. Several of the buildings are already under construction or are staked out. The main ranch house will be built on a prmontory overlooking the entire thorough bred section of the ranch, while the guest quarters and the homes for the ranch tendants are to be built nearby on the sides of the hills.
