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43-460: The point was granted as a part of Rancho El Sur in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Juan Bautista Alvarado . Point Sur was a notorious hazard to navigation. The 725-ton steamer USS Ventura was the fastest ship in Goodall, Nelson & Perkins’ fleet; she could do thirteen knots. On Tuesday, April 20, 1875, she set sail from San Francisco with 225 passengers and 500 tons of freight. In dense fog

86-605: A Monterey County supervisor and managed Rancho Bolsa del Potrero y Moro Cojo between present-day Castroville and Tembladero Slough. He later moved to San Francisco while continuing to own the ranch. J.B.H. Cooper and his wife Martha had four children: Alice, John, Abelarde, and Alfred. J.B.H. built a new home on Rancho El Sur for his family but died on June 21, 1899, soon after its completion, and before he could live there. Martha Brawley Cooper received 2,591 acres (1,049 ha) of her husband's 7,000 acres (2,800 ha) estate. By 1904, she had added 900 acres (360 ha) to her share of

129-433: A business man from Carmel-by-the-Sea, purchased the northern 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) from John B. H. Cooper's widow, Martha Cooper Hughes (née Brawley) Vasquez, for about $ 500,000. On November 28, 1931, he announced that he had arranged to lease the remaining 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) from her. The ranch was partitioned into fifteen lots by 1892. The Native American trail along the coast had been improved over time by

172-640: 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. On March 12, 1871, John B.R. Cooper's 40 year old son John B.H. married 18 year old Martha Brawley,

215-507: A cousin of Abraham Lincoln , at the San Carlos Cathedral . After John B.R. Cooper's death in 1872, the ranch was divided into four parts: son John B.H. Cooper received the northern-most section. John B.R. Cooper's widow Maria Encarnación Vallejo received section two of the land. Their two surviving daughters, Anna Maria de Guadalupe Cooper and Francisca Guadalupe Amelia Cooper, received sections three and four. John B.H. Cooper became

258-581: A house and pens." Mexican Governor José Figueroa granted Rancho El Sur comprising two square leagues of land (8,949.06-acre (36.22 km )) on the Big Sur coast to Juan Bautista Alvarado (1809 -1882) in 1834. Cooper was apparently involved in managing the ranch as early as 1834, when he negotiated an agreement with Job Dye to permit him to raise mules on the property. In 1840, Alvarado traded ownership of Rancho El Sur to Captain John B. R. Cooper in exchange for

301-766: A lightstation in the remote area. Other ships lost in the area include the 493 tons (447 t) S.S. Los Angeles (originally USRC Wayanda ), which ran aground in 1894, the Majestic in 1909, the Shna-Yak in 1916, the Thomas L. Wand in 1922, the Babinda in 1923, the Rhine Maru , the Panama and the S. Catania in 1930, and the Howard Olson in 1956. John Bautista Henry Cooper , who owned

344-737: A member of the Portolá expedition , named the point "Morro de la Trompa" because it looked like a rock in the shape of a trumpet. The name "El Sur" (meaning "The South") was first applied to a land grant named Rancho El Sur given by Governor José Figueroa to Juan Bautista Alvarado on July 30, 1834. The name of the rock was shortened to Moro Rock, until the U.S. Coast Survey renamed it Point Sur in 1851. Point Sur State Marine Reserve and Marine Conservation Area are marine protected areas offshore from Point Sur Lighthouse. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems. Rancho El Sur Rancho El Sur

387-440: Is rather surprising. It is still almost in a state of nature, but roamed over by thousands of cattle. The ranch buildings consist of old sheds and tumble-down adobes peopled with geese, chickens, hogs, calves, and Mexicans of all ages and conditions. Cooper's daughter, Amelia, married Spanish engineer Eusebio Joseph Molera in 1875. Their son Andrew Molera and his sister Frances inherited the 4,800 acres (1,900 ha) ranch. Andrew

430-521: The two-lane road from Monterey to the Big Sur Village was completed in 1927, children could attend school at a school house on Highway 1. In the 1940s, children from the lightstation were assimilated into Big Sur's larger school. The coast off Point Sur Lighthouse was the location of the sinking of the United States Navy airship USS  Macon  (ZRS-5) in 1935. The Lighthouse Service

473-524: The California missions. Acting Mexican president Valentín Gómez Farías , a liberal reformer, appointed José María de Híjar and D. José María Padrés to lead a group of 239 colonists to establish secular control of Alta California. Híjar, a wealthy landowner, was appointed governor to replace Figueroa, and Padrés, an army officer, was appointed military commander. The colonists were farmers and artisans, and were volunteers carefully selected by Farías. His objective

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516-636: 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. A report in the Monterey Daily Express on June 9, 1911, reported that there

559-625: The Híjar-Padrés Colony in Los Angeles, which briefly rebelled against his rule. Many of the communities that had developed around the twenty-one missions became secular pueblos (towns). Most of the towns kept their previous mission names. In the case of Mission Santa Cruz , Figueroa considered changing the town name to Villa Figueroa, but the change was never put into effect. In 1833, the Mexican Congress passed legislation to secularize

602-583: The Híjar-Padrés colonization plan. This was the first book published in California. Francisco García Diego y Moreno , who later became California's first bishop, reported that Figueroa was "greatly agitated on account of the disturbances that the colonists caused", and set out on a strenuous voyage in 1835 to calm the political turmoil. He sailed from Monterey to San Francisco, and with very little rest, on to San Diego and then he returned to Monterey in June, 1835, and

645-677: The Molera Ranch near the Big Sur River and to Pfeiffer Resort in Sycamore Canyon. Three years later it was extended to about 2 miles (3.2 km) to Post Summit . In 1897, Harold W. Fairbanks and Maynard Dixon traversed the coast over a two-week period. They wrote: A Spanish grant is located about the mouth of the Sur river. The greed of the Spaniards leading them to this almost inaccessible spot

688-645: The Point Sur State Historic Park. The state park used some of the facility's housing for a period. The facility is open for guided tours on weekends. On February 3, 2017, the California Historical Resources Commission nominated Naval Facility Point Sur for the National Register of Historic Places . It was chosen in part because Point Sur NAVFAC is one of the last remaining Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) facilities, and

731-515: The afternoon of 29 September 1835. As he had requested, his body was preserved, and sent to Santa Barbara by ship where it arrived on 27 October. He was buried in a crypt beneath Mission Santa Barbara . Rumors circulated after his death that he had been poisoned. The following year, Diego reported to the Mexican government that Figueroa had shown symptoms of apoplexy in his final months, and that blood clots had been discovered in his brain when his body

774-486: The beachfront property in trust until the state of California could finance the purchase of the land. She died in 1968. She 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. The state bought

817-580: The homesteaders and ranchers. They improved it until wagons could travel the road from Monterey to Big Sur in less than a day in 1900. It remained impassable in wet weather. The road (now known as the Old Coast Road ) was improved by local residents and routed through Rancho El Sur, inland about 1.25 miles (2.01 km) to the meeting of the North and South Forks of the Little Sur River , and then south through

860-476: The missions in trust for the original inhabitants of the region. On 4 August 1834, Figueroa issued a 180-page proclamation setting out a plan for secularization of the missions, which was far more favorable to the native peoples than was the Híjar-Padrés plan. On 7 March 1835, a small group of the Híjar-Padrés colonists launched a brief rebellion against Figueroa in Los Angeles . Although the rebels took control of

903-692: The more accessible and readily farmed 22,000-acre (89.03 km ) Rancho Bolsa del Potrero y Moro Cojo north of present-day Castroville in the Salinas Valley . 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

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946-613: 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. Alvarado filed a claim for Rancho El Sur on May 14, 1834 in which he stated that he had first petitioned for a provisional grant on August 12, 1830, and repeated his petition on February 26, 1831. He stated that he maintained "at this time ... more than three hundred head of large cattle and nearly an[sic] hundred horses, all my own property, and have built

989-590: The news to Figueroa. The Morelos arrived in San Diego on 1 September 1833, and La Natalie in Monterey on 25 September. As the horseback courier had preceded them, Híjar learned to his consternation that he had no official powers. Figueroa objected to the colonization plan since he believed that at least half of the mission lands should be turned over to California natives, as had been the Crown's stated intention. The Franciscan missionaries had been charged with administering

1032-603: The north, while José María de Echeandía ruled Southern California from Los Angeles and San Diego. Both men deferred to Figueroa, and the government of Alta California was united. Figueroa oversaw the initial secularization of the missions of Alta (upper) California , which included the expulsion of the Spanish Franciscan mission officials. His government issued many Mexican land grants for former mission lands, although these had originally been intended to be held in trust for Mission Indians . He also had to deal with

1075-458: The only one remaining on the West Coast. The land formation later known as Point Sur is visible at sea for 10 miles (16 km) and was first mentioned in the logs of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1552. Sebastian Viscaino visited the area in the early 1600s, and his 1603 map names the promontory "Punta que Parece Isla" (meaning "Point that looks like an island"). In 1769, explorer Miguel Costansó ,

1118-481: The portion of Rancho El Sur surrounding Point Sur , sold to the United States .5 acres (0.20 ha) of land on the rocky summit of Point Sur for $ 5 and the right-of-way for $ 1,495 (or about $ 51,000 today) as recorded on November 9, 1889. In 1888, Joseph Post won a government contract to build the road from the coastal road his father W.B. Post had built to Point Sur, where the lighthouse would be built. Point Sur Lighthouse opened on August 1, 1889. The station

1161-417: 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 [River] on the Cooper grant." In 1928, Henry C. Hunt,

1204-605: The ranch. After her son Alfred died in an automobile accident on September 2, 1913, his two siblings assigned their interest in the estate including his share of the Rancho to their mother, Martha. John B. H. Cooper's sister Francisca Amelia 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

1247-526: The ranch. This article incorporates public domain content from United States and California government sources. 36°18′00″N 121°50′24″W  /  36.300°N 121.840°W  / 36.300; -121.840 Jos%C3%A9 Figueroa José María Figueroa (1792 – 29 September 1835) was a Californio politician and military leader. He was a General and the Mexican Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835. His Manifesto (1835)

1290-473: The rancho land plus an additional 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of resale homestead land was divided into two major parcels. The southern 4,800 acres (1,900 ha) became the Molera Ranch, later the foundation of Andrew Molera State Park . The northern 7,100 acres (2,900 ha) form the present-day El Sur Ranch . Before the arrival of Europeans, the land was occupied by the Esselen people, who resided along

1333-513: The remainder of the land east of Highway 1 from her estate soon after. Lots one through thirteen now comprise the El Sur Ranch . The 7,100 acres (2,873 ha) El Sur Ranch straddles Highway 1 for 6 miles (9.7 km) 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

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1376-519: The ship ran onto rocks just north of Point Sur. The ship's commander, Captain George John Fake, was a veteran mariner. He had navigated the route between Monterey and San Francisco for several years. But this was his first trip from Monterey to Southern California. While he was drunk that night, the absence of a light contributed to the tragedy. The sinking of the Ventura became the impetus for building

1419-478: The town hall, the revolt promptly collapsed. Its leaders were arrested. When word of the failed coup reached Figueroa, he had Híjar and Padrés arrested. Híjar and his closest associates were ousted from California, although many of the colonists stayed and became productive citizens there. In 1835, Figueroa published in Monterey, California his manifesto defending his administration and explaining his opposition to

1462-404: 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

1505-614: Was "already ailing". Although he was initially able to continue his work, he felt weak and did not recover. He participated in the session of the territorial assembly that convened on 25 August, but informed that body on 27 August that he needed to take a leave of absence for health reasons, appointing José Castro as interim governor. Beginning 6 September, he was confined to his bed and on 22 September, he resigned, appointing José Castro as his successor. On 27 September, he wrote his last will, asking that his body be preserved and buried at Mission Santa Barbara . Figueroa died in Monterey on

1548-522: Was "good demand for the Spanish cheese all over the state." "It is not believed that the cheese is made in any other section of the state. Cheese was manufactured on the ranch from about 1918 to 1931. 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

1591-522: Was a 8,949.06-acre (36.22 km ) 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 (4.0 km) over the coastal mountains and south along the coast past the mouth of the Big Sur River to Cooper's Point. In about 1892,

1634-546: Was absorbed into the Coast Guard in 1939, and Point Sur Lighthouse became the property of the Coast Guard. The lightstation was automated in the late 1960s, and in 1974 ceased to have a light keeper. Point Sur State Historic Park was established in 1986. In 2000, the nearby Naval Facility Point Sur , except for one building retained by the U.S. Navy, was transferred to the California State Park system. It became part of

1677-471: Was preserved after his death. There were also persistent rumors that his body was not buried in Santa Barbara. In 1912, his casket was opened, and the body was consistent in that it was in a Mexican military uniform. The size of the skeleton matched Figueroa's small stature, no more than five feet, two inches tall. Early 20th-century historian J. M. Guinn wrote that "He [Figueroa] is generally regarded as

1720-652: Was the first book published in California . Figueroa was a Mestizo of Spanish and Aztec ancestry, and was proud of his Indian background. He had served as a military officer on the Sonoran frontier. He achieved the rank of brevet brigadier general . Figueroa was appointed governor of Alta California in 1832, and arrived for duty in January 1833. Due to political turbulence, Alta California had two rival acting governors at that time. Agustín V. Zamorano held office in Monterey in

1763-438: Was to modernize and strengthen Mexican rule over California, as a bulwark against the growing influence of Russia and the United States. While the colonists were traveling north to Alta California on two ships, president Antonio López de Santa Anna took full power, and revoked Híjar's appointment as governor, thereby allowing Figueroa to continue in that post. A horseman traveled for 40 days from Mexico City to Monterey to bring

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1806-425: Was very obese and died of a sudden heart attack in 1931. Frances inherited his portion of the land. In 1965, almost 100 years after her family gained title, she sold 2,200-acre (890 ha) of the original land grant west of Highway 1 to The Nature Conservancy with the intent it become a state park. She stipulated that the park should be named Andrew Molera State Park in honor of her brother. The conservancy held

1849-412: Was very remote and was necessarily self-sufficient, as most supplies had to be brought in by ship. Lighthouse employees and their families had their own vegetable gardens. Children stayed with local ranchers during the week to attend school, returning home on weekends, or stayed with distant relatives. In 1927, a schoolteacher was assigned to the lightstation to teach the six children who resided there. When

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