Rancho El Sur


Rancho El Sur was a Mexican land grant in present-day Monterey County, California on the Big Sur coast given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Juan Bautista Alvarado. The grant extended from the mouth of Little Sur River inland about 2.5 miles over the coastal mountains and south along the coast past the mouth of the Big Sur River to Cooper's Point. In about 1892, the rancho land plus an additional of resale homestead land was divided into two major parcels. The southern became the Molera Ranch, later the foundation of Andrew Molera State Park. The northern formed the El Sur Ranch.

History

Before the arrival of Europeans, the land was occupied by the Esselen people, who resided along the upper Carmel and Arroyo Seco Rivers, and along the Big Sur coast from near present-day Hurricane Point to the vicinity of Vicente Creek in the south. The native people were heavily affected by the establishment of three Spanish Missions near them from 1770 to 1791. The native population was decimated by disease, including measles, smallpox, and syphilis, which wiped out 90 percent of the native population, and by conscript labor, poor food, and forced assimilation. Most of the Esselen people's villages within the current Los Padres National Forest were left largely uninhabited.

Spanish grant

Mexican Governor José Figueroa granted Rancho El Sur comprising two square leagues of land on the Big Sur coast to Juan Bautista Alvarado in 1834. In 1840, Alvarado traded ownership of Rancho El Sur to Captain John B. R. Cooper in exchange for the more accessible and readily farmed Rancho Bolsa del Potrero y Moro Cojo south of present-day Castroville in the Salinas Valley. Cooper married Maria Jerónima de la Encarnación Vallejo, the daughter of his uncle Ignacio Vicente Ferrer Vallejo, in 1827.
When Mexico ceded California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. But California passed the Land Act of 1851, which required grantees to provide legal proof of their title. Cooper filed a claim for Rancho El Sur with the Public Land Commission in 1852 and he received the legal land patent after years of litigation in 1866.
Cooper never actually lived at the ranch, but various family members and ranch workers continuously occupied it from 1840 onward. In the 1850s Cooper landed smuggled goods at the mouth of Big Sur River to avoid the heavy customs charges levied by the Americans at Monterey.

Next generation

After John B. R. Cooper's death in 1872, the ranch was divided between his widow Maria Encarnación Vallejo, their son John Bautista Henry Cooper, and their two surviving daughters, Anna Maria de Guadalupe Cooper and Francisca Guadalupe Amelia Cooper. John B. H. Cooper became a Monterey County supervisor and managed Rancho Bolsa del Potrero y Moro Cojo between present-day Castroville and Salinas. Later in life he lived in San Francisco while continuing to own the ranch. On March 12, 1871, 40 year old John B. H. Cooper married 18 year old Martha Brawley, a cousin of Abraham Lincoln, at the San Carlos Cathedral. They had four children: Alice, John, Abelarde, and Alfred. He built a new home on Rancho El Sur for his family but died on June 21, 1899, soon after its completion. Martha Brawley Cooper received of her husband's estate and over time bought the remainder from her sons and daughter.
John B. H. Cooper's sister Francisca had married Eusebius J. Molera, an engineer and architect born in Spain, on March 28, 1876, in Vallejo, California. She retained her share of the rancho she inherited from her parents. The marriage between the Cooper and Molera families left a legacy marked by their names on notable places throughout the region, including the Cooper-Molera Adobe in Monterey.
Francisca and Eusebius Molera had a son and daughter, Andrew and Frances. Andrew built up a successful dairy operation. His Monterey Jack cheese was especially well-liked. Andrew and Frances maintained a residence for most of their lives on Sacramento Street in San Francisco. The census record records their occupation as "farmer" and, indicative or their relative wealth, recorded the presence of a cook and maid living with them. During the time the Cooper family owned the land, they managed it as a cattle ranch and dairy, employing Hispanic and Indian vaqueros. They supported a school and community center. Big Sur pioneer Sam Trotter wrote about attending the "big dance Saturday night at the Cooper hall near the mouth of Big Sur on the
Cooper grant."

Family sells property

In 1928, Henry C. Hunt, a business man from Carmel-by-the-Sea, purchased the northern from John B. H. Cooper's widow, Martha Cooper Hughes Vasquez, for about $500,000. On November 28, 1931, he announced that he had arranged to lease the remaining from her.
Andrew J. Molera owned property in the Castroville area, and encouraged farmers to grow artichokes in 1922. They have become a major crop in the Salinas Valley. Andrew was very obese and died of a sudden heart attack in 1931. His sister Frances, granddaughter of Juan Bautista Roger Cooper, became the sole owner of the property. She arranged in 1965, almost 100 years after her family gained title, to sell of the original Cooper land grant to The Nature Conservancy. She stipulated that the park should be named Andrew Molera State Park in honor of her brother. She died in 1968. The conservancy held the beachfront property in trust until the state of California could finance the purchase of the land. She also added provisions to the sale requiring that the land remain relatively undeveloped. When the California state park administration began to propose considerable development for the park, the Nature Conservancy threatened to revoke the sale arrangement, and the state backed down.

Modern use

The ranch was partitioned into fifteen lots by 1892. Lots one through thirteen now comprise the El Sur Ranch. The first road, now known as the Old Coast Road, was constructed by local residents and routed through Rancho El Sur, inland about to the meeting of the North and South Forks of the Little Sur River, and then south to the Molera Ranch. Three years later it was extended to the Post Ranch. In 1897, Harold W. Fairbanks and Maynard Dixon traversed the coast over a two-week period. They wrote:

Andrew Molera State Park

Cooper's daughter, Amelia, married Eusebio Joseph Molera in 1875. When their son Andrew Molera died, his sister Frances, granddaughter of Juan Baustista Roger Cooper, inherited the land. In 1965, almost 100 years after her family gained title, she sold of the original land grant to The Nature Conservancy, which held the property in trust until the state could finance the purchase of the land. She stipulated that the park should be named Andrew Molera State Park in honor of her brother.

El Sur Ranch

The El Sur Ranch straddles Highway 1 for from the mouth of the Little Sur River to Andrew Molera State Park. It has been owned by the Hill family since 1958, who run a commercial cow-calf operation with about 450 head on the ranch.

Historic structures