Craw was born in Ayr , South Ayrshire , Scotland where he trained in horticulture . He worked in the Royal nurseries at Ascot and at Martins and Son , Cottingham before he moved to California in 1873 and worked as a horticulturist there . After two years in San Diego , he worked at the Wolfskill orange groves in Los Angeles and became a member of the Horticultural Commission of California . From 1890 he worked in the port of San Francisco as a quarantine officer to prevent the entry of potential pests . In 1904 he quit his California position and took up a position as superintendent of entomology to the board of agriculture and forestry in Hawaii where he established quarantine procedures . His position in California was taken up by E.M. Ehrhorn . Craw died of kidney failure at Wawona in the Yosemite valley at the home of his sister . His papers were destroyed in fires following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Alexander Craw