GC4JQ08 Spooner Ranch House (Traditional Cache) in California, United States created by DarkZen

This cache has been archived.

DarkZen: Grabbed the cache out of the high weeds~~this area is no longer receptive to hiding! Thanks to all who visited. Archiving.

GC4JQ08 ▼

A cache by DarkZen Message this owner

Hidden : 8/12/2013

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

We wanted to point out the Visitor Center, Spooner Ranch House and the Islay Campground here at Montaña de Oro State Park so we left a pill bottle to mark the spot.

In 1901 Henry Cowell of San Francisco acquired a note of indebtedness on the Hilliard property and took control of the ranch. It was sold by Cowell's widow to Alden Spooner Jr. in 1902.

Spooner built the tunnel-chute and warehouse shortly after leasing the property.

The Spooner family successfully farmed, raised cattle and operated a dairy until 1942. During the Spooner occupation, and until their internment following the onset of WW II, Japanese tenant farmers and their families lived on the ranch and grew crops on the coastal terraces. There was a school (Pecho School) in the area just south of the cove for the children of these families. In 1942, Spooner sold the property to to O. C. Field.

According to the Natural History Association of San Luis Obispo Coast, the land that now makes up Montaña de Oro State Park was used largely for grazing sheep until 1892. Then Alden B. Spooner Jr. leased, and later purchased, the land around Islay Creek.

Among other agricultural uses, Spooner developed a creamery. Goods were transported to and fro via coastal steamers that tied up along the wharf at the southern end of Spooner’s Cove.

His northern neighbor, Alexander S. Hazard, also farmed and ran a dairy. It was Hazard who planted the hundreds of eucalyptus trees still growing along Pecho Valley Road at the north end of the park. Hazard had hoped to market the long straight lumber as the need for timber increased, but the stringy wood was not acceptable.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Hcuvyyhaqreebpxf

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)