A condensed history of Rancho Dos Pueblos
The Chumash, original inhabitants of the Gaviota Coast, occupied two villages - Mikiw and Kuyamu - atop the bluffs to either side of the mouth of what is now known as Dos Pueblos Creek. On the 16th of October, 1542 two ships commanded by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo anchored in the waters below these two villages, only weeks after his discovery of California in San Diego. According to history books the explorers were greeted by groups of Chumash canoes paddling out to exchange fish and chia sage flour for colored textiles and Venitian beads, but Cabrillo declined invitations to come ashore and his ships stayed only overnight setting sail at dawn the next morning. It would be 227 years before the Chumash would have another direct contact with European explorers.
In 1768 King Carlos III of Spain ordered the protection of Baja and Alta California from takeover by Russian otter hunters spotted in the area, and this Spanish mission was to be led by inspector general José de Gálvez. The plan laid out by Gálvez involved three objectives: to build presidios at strategic points along the coast to keep potential invaders at bay, establish a chain of Catholic missions to save the souls of the native population, and to colonize the country by offering subsidies of free land.
Gálvez ordered two expeditions - one by land and one by sea - northward from San Diego in search of the Bay of Monte Rey, previously discovered as a good harbor by Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602. The land expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá left San Diego in mid-July of 1769 and arrived at the beach at the mouth of Dos Pueblos Creek on August 21st.
Rancho Dos Pueblos was eventually granted by governor Alvarado to an Irish immigrant named Nicholas Den, the first medical doctor in the Santa Barbara area, and over the following generations the land was subdivided first between family heirs and ultimately multiple times over and over as the resulting smaller ranches were bought and sold over the years.
Following the dynasty of Nicholas Den came financier John Williams, whose dream to recreate Naples, Italy on the west coast of California died when he did. Then came oilman Herbert Wylie, who stripped the Casa Grande to its bones and rebuilt it a hundred yards west of its original site. After Wylie was Samuel Mosher of Signal Gas and Oil company, who owned the property from 1943 to 1977 and turned it into a botanical showcase featuring the now separate Dos Pueblos Orchid Farm. After Mosher’s death, Rudolf Schulte purchased the property having made his fortune in medical devices, and it became his family compound. The chirimoyas lining the frontage road which can be seen from highway 101, are one of Schulte’s lasting touches on the ranch.
As the newest stewards of this cultural, historical, and environmental treasure, Dos Pueblos Institute is driven to restore and protect environmentally sensitive areas and the historical facilities of the ranch to as close as possible to their original condition. This restoration and resource protection work will serve as a continuation of the species rehabilitation and sustainable agriculture currently underway on the ranch, and a jumping off point for the institute’s work going forward in the fields of research, preservation and education.
