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The early history of Rancho Santa Fe is a tumultuous one. It is a microcosm of the conflicts that erupted between Mexican and American settlers, as well as the native people of North America. One of the most definitive accounts of this period is Historic Ranchos of San Diego, (1969) written by Cecil C. Moyer and edited by Richard F. Pourade.
The area that is now Rancho Santa Fe was originally the San Dieguito Rancho, 25 miles north of San Diego. Ranchos were formed by large land grants made by the Mexican governor of Alta, or upper, California. In 1845, the Mexican governor officially granted the 8,824 acres of grazing land in the San Dieguito Rancho to the Osuna family.
The history of the period swirls with action and sometimes is difficult to clearly describe. Historians even disagree on the meaning of San Dieguito; some say it means “little San Diego” and thus is derived from San Diego’s namesake, St. Didacus de Alcalá [Didacus is the “Latinized” version of Diego]. Others argue it was named after St. James the Lesser, one of the apostles, whose name translated in Spanish to Diego.
The Juan Maria Osuna adobe is located on an estate property on Via de la Valle behind a large gate. The property contains several other buildings and is a private residence.
The story begins with Don Juan María Osuna, the first alcalde, or mayor, of San Diego. He held the position in 1834 and went on to become justice of the peace in 1839, according to Moyer. Osuna’s history is an interesting one. He was a revolutionary and the son of a Spaniard who rode a mule from La Paz in Baja, California. His Spanish father later married an Indian woman.
One thing is clear from all the accounts: Osuna was an imposing figure in early San Diego political dealings. He was administrator of the San Diego mission—after the missions were secularized in 1834. The family’s power grew when his daughter, Felipa, married Don Juan María Marrón. Marrón was the grantee of Agua Hedionda Rancho, 13,311 acres stretching from the Pacific Ocean to near present-day Vista, and from Carlsbad south to Encina Canyon.
Osuna died at 66 in 1851; he was buried in Old Town.
A century ago, three million eucalyptus trees were planted by the Santa Fe Railroad Company in an unsuccessful attempt to raise trees for use in railroad ties.
Mexican-American War divides the family
Osuna’s two sons, Leandro and Ramón, fought with the Mexican forces at the Battle of San Pasqual in 1846 during the Mexican-American War, sparked by the U.S. government’s annexation of Texas. Reports say Leandro killed Capt. Benjamin Moore of the U.S. forces in hand-to-hand fighting. Meanwhile, Felipa’s husband Marrón supported the U.S. forces, putting him at odds with many of his friends and in-laws. |
The Leadro Osuna adobe is located on Via de Santa Fe and was built circa 1831.
In The Silver Dons, Pourade writes of the heavy cost the Marróns paid for their support of the Americans. When Marrón tried to visit his wife while carrying a white flag in 1846, he was taken into custody but eventually given a pass to his rancho.
After nearly being shot, Marrón was lucky to lose only the horses and cattle from his rancho.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo made the Osunas U.S. citizens in 1848.
And suffering was no stranger to the inhabitants of the San Dieguito Rancho. Leandro Osuna, who inherited the San Dieguito Rancho, had a brutal temper. Rumors held that Americans Indians poisoned his food because of his harsh treatment of them.
After languishing for a few days in agony, Leandro killed himself in 1859 at his home in Old Town.
Leandro Osuna’s son Julio then took the reins of the rancho. Members of the Osuna family lived on the rancho until 1906—but their hold was slipping. The family only owned 200 acres at that time.
Scenes of the Juan Maria Osuna adobes.
Photos: Library of Congress
Planting eucalyptus trees by the millions
The Santa Fe Land Improvement Co., part of Santa Fe Railroad, bought most of the original land-grant area and changed its name to Rancho Santa Fe.
The railroad planted 4,000 acres with three million eucalyptus seeds and seedlings, hoping to use the mature trees as railroad ties, according to Pourade, writing in Gold in the Sun (1965). However, eucalyptus wood proved unsuitable as railroad ties, but the plantings were the beginnings of the eucalyptus forest so recognizable as part of present-day Rancho Santa Fe.
Progress would have to wait for Col. Ed Fletcher, an early San Diego developer and W.G. Henshaw. The two owned the water rights east of the rancho. They formed the San Dieguito Mutual Water Co. and completed Hodges Dam in 1917. This provided the resources necessary for residential building and opened the flood gates for Rancho Santa Fe’s period of modern
development.
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