This beautiful Plaza and its Sculptures are dedicated to a man who became known as "The Cattle King", a prominent Gilroy resident. With hard work and time not only was this immigrant rancher eventually the largest private land owner in U.S. history, he also founded the community of Los Banos here on the other side of Pacheco Pass from the South Valley.
He came to San Francisco in 1850 with $6 in his pocket in search of a better life for himself. He soon found work as a butcher and from that job he developed a knowledge of cattle. It was not long when he began to acquire land here in the San Joaquin Valley and thus began his own cattle empire. He saw the opportunity for having a railroad extend through his properties in the San Joaquin Valley and took full advantage of this for the easier transportation of cattle to the East Coast market as well as all up and down the West coast. Having the railroad near his headquarters helped establish the town of Los Banos. By 1900 he and his partner had become the largest integrated cattle raising and meat packing enterprise in the United States which secured his position as California's Cattle King.
There are many reminders of this man here in town as well as in Gilroy and up at Mount Madonna where he had a summer home. Near Bloomfield ranch (at one time the location of his large home) in Gilroy you can still see his 3 concrete silos near the intersection of Hwy 101 and Hwy 25. There have been books written about this prominent California businessman.
In order to log this Virtual Cache, after visiting this location please message me through the geocaching link the answers to the following 4 questions and post a picture. Answers can all be found on the two plaques or around the back of the sculpture. Please DO NOT post answers to the questions in your log.
1. Who was the Cattle King ?
2. What Country did he immigrate from ?
3. What College Foundation helped make this plaza possible with their donations?
4. Name of the sculptor
5. Please post on your website log a picture of yourself (if you like) or at least showing your GPSr or a paper with your geocaching name on it with the sculptures showing in the background.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.