Page 35 - LLR-Exploration II

Rancho Corral de Piedra
Rancho saw rise and fall of cattle
Dan Krieger
Figure 17: California mustangs
Figure 18: 1847 Fandango in California
dust as payment for the beef, he could live as lavishly as most of his Californio neighbors and relatives. He
greatly enlarged the Villavicencio Adobe, adding verandas and patios. His fandangos soon rivaled those of
Joaquin Estrada at the Santa Margarita Rancho.
Notes:
Jose Maria Villavicencio is
There were cattle and horses on the more than 1,000 hills
of the Rancho Corral de Piedra during the 1840s and ’50s,
but this paradise was short-lived. Pedro Salas’ ancestor!
Many of us drive through the vast rancho granted in 1841
to José María Villavicencio as we travel south over Orcutt History of horse breeding
Road or Highway 227. Today, much of the land is
vineyards. But in the rancho’s heyday, horses and cattle Jose Maria Villavicencio
were king.
The Corral de Piedra, or “Stone Corral,” had been one of name use for patios
the richest rancherias of Mission San Luis Obispo. The
large herd of California mustangs, later owned by Capt.
William G. Dana at his Rancho Nipomo, were first bred in
the stone corrals of the Edna Valley.
The thousands of head of cattle, once prized only for the _________________
value of their hides, became California’s most important
food commodity as the world rushed into the Mother _________________
Lode during the Gold Rush. _________________
José María’s ample herds of cattle delivered by ship to San _________________
Francisco or driven overland to Stockton brought as much _________________
as $200 a head. With saddlebags heavily laden with gold
_________________
_________________
_________________
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