This is the so-called chicken ranch, which is the only Hemet residence that is commonly heard of by Barks' fans. Clara and Carl officially moved there in November, 1942, when he quit Disney to start a new career as a chicken farmer. It is a little known fact that he had actually bought the property a couple of years earlier. Officially, Barks always mentioned the address as being PO Box 193 - a reference he kept for many years when he moved around in the area - but the small ranch was situated on Ramona Drive, an address and a place that has long been gone. As a matter of fact the residence is shrouded in history's veils (see more HERE).

The photos rendered are the only ones connected to the ranch. In 1951, when Carl divorced Clara, he was so fed up with bad memories that he simply tore up all the photos taken at the place except for the ones above. The first one is Barks' 'official' photo that he kept for publishing. The second one, showing part of the chicken coops in 1943, comes from his personal files and has never been published before (apparently, Barks overlooked it at his 'destruction session'). The third photo is another 'official' press photo, in which the duckman was asked to hold an atypical bird in his hands...

When the couple broke up the residence at Ramona Drive (that had not been functioning as a chicken ranch for years) was sold, and Barks began a somewhat nomadic life as he lived in various places in the San Jacinto area. Nothing is known about his short-time whereabouts except that he, at one point, lived a couple of years in an apartment in a remodeled sub-divided warehouse.
This was not a happy time for Barks. He was alone and trying to pick up his life, and to top it all he had conflicts with inconsiderate and annoying neighbours; at one side a couple played loud music, and upstairs an alcoholic woman was knocking empty bottles about every night. This firsthand knowledge of the negativity of living in an apartment was later used in the 10-pager WDCS178 'Neighbour Trouble', from where the panels above are collected.

Towards the end of 1952 Barks relocated to a rented cottage near an orange grove outside Hemet. The owners of the attached ranch were Donald and Nancy Robinson and they had three children, who, sometime in the first half of 1953, received an original, inked drawing each. Only two of them are known to exist today; Greg Robinson received a copy of the front cover for U$04, and Timmie received a copy of the front cover for WDCS0495. It becomes quite clear that the art was indeed original, when you compare especially the latter drawing to the actual, published front cover (Scrooge's and Donald's looks and head sizes, Scrooge's gestures, as well as the pirate's spring and dagger).

From now on things got considerably better for Barks. He had met Garé, who became his third and dearly beloved wife in 1954, and he was able to invest in a more lasting residence. The house, bought in 1953 or 1954, was located at Poppy Drive in East Hemet south of San Jacinto, and Barks took two series of exterior photos (summer and winter), some of which are shown here.

In 1964 or 1965 the couple moved to West Washburn Avenue in San Jacinto north of Hemet, and this was the last relocation in the San Jacinto Valley area. The street number was 152 at the time but a year later it was changed to 165. Still, Barks kept his modest business cards - simply reading Artist for vocation - and only changed the street number by hand.

Before Clara and Carl moved to the San Jacinto Valley area he was employed at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Hollywood. The couple lived in this house on Riverton Avenue just 5 kilometres (3 miles) west of the studios.