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La Casa del Rancho La Liebre (The House of Jack Rabbit Ranch) is located at the far northwestern corner of Los Angeles County. It is a half mile south of State Route 138, approximately ten miles east of Interstate 5. Edward F. Beale, a Mexican War hero and Civil War General, built the adobe in the late 1850s in Bear Canyon. The adobe casa was the administrative headquarters of nearly 300,000 acres of sprawling ranch land that expanded over both Los Angeles and Kern Counties.
In 1836, young Edward Fitzgerald Beale joined the United States Navy at the age of fourteen. This career choice would bring him to California ten years later. In May of 1846, the Mexican War began and the U.S. Congress, an American warship, was approaching the coast of California, which was a Mexican province. Commodore Robert F. Stockton was the commanding officer of the flagship of the U.S. Pacific squadron, while a twenty-four year old Beale was the midshipman. In August 1846, "Fighting Bob" Stockton landed in San Pedro and marched on Los Angeles, taking the sleepy pueblo without force. Stockton left Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie in command of a small garrison to hold the pueblo and set sail for Northern California. A few weeks later, the citizens of Los Angeles rebelled against Gillespie and forced the garrison out of town. Stockton's conquest of California would not be complete unless he could rein in unruly Los Angeles.
Beale was at the Battle of San Pasqual where he fought under General Stephen W. Kearny of the United States Army. Prior to the battle, Stockton sent Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie and a small party from San Diego to meet General Kearny and his First Dragoons who were approaching from the east. Beale was a member of Gillespie's party. On December 6, 1846, General Andres Pico, while leading his Californio (Spanish Californian) forces, inflicted heavy casualties upon American troops on a rainy, muddy battle field near today's Escondido, California. The Americans camped at a high ground position atop a site called Mule Hill. Here, the beleaguered troops were surrounded by Pico's men. Kearny needed reinforcements from Stockton who was in San Diego.
Beale, Kit Carson, and a Delaware Indian named Andre, volunteered to sneak away and send for assistance. Under the cloak of darkness the three men took off on foot, crossing enemy lines and traversing passes held by the Californios, then onto San Diego over thirty miles away. The trio removed their shoes in order to be stealthy, running barefoot through cactus needles and sharp jagged stones. Carson and the Indian guide were accustomed to the adverse conditions due to years of rugged foot travel that toughened their feet. But, Beale was a sailor, not a trailblazer, so his feet became badly bruised and lacerated. The three messengers split up so as to increase their chances for at least one to reach Stockton. All of them made it, but Beale collapsed when he reached the guards at the commodore's camp. He was carried the rest of the way and was able to deliver Kearny's message for help.
Stockton forwarded reinforcements to Kearny causing the Californios to scatter. The combined troops marched back to San Diego where they would convalesce and regroup. After a few weeks, Stockton and Kearny joined forces and launched a large land assault from San Diego in order to recapture the rebellious pueblo of Los Angeles. After two minor skirmishes east of the pueblo, the triumphant Americans took Los Angeles for the last time in January 1847. No doubt that Beale was part of that final invasion.
In February 1847, Beale was sent back east to Washington D.C. with correspondence. Later that year, he was called to testify at the famous court martial of Lieutenant Colonel John C. Fremont. Fremont caught the ire of General Kearny during the California campaign and was charged with insubordination. Beale returned to California only to go back east with gold deposits from the 1848 Marshall strike at Sutter's Mill. He also carried the newly ratified California Constitution to Washington D.C. Beale left the navy in 1851.
In the early 1850s, cattle and horse thieves ran rampant in the northern part of Los Angeles County. Highway robberies were frequent in the Tejon Pass region. Local Indians were blamed for most of the thefts. In November 1852, Beale was appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs for California and Nevada. Approximately twenty miles north of present-day Lebec, California, he established the San Sebastian Reservation in southern Tulare Valley. It was the first Indian reservation in California, comprising of displaced Native-Americans from Inyo, Kern, and Tulare counties. Following the establishment of the reservation, the cattle and horse thefts declined. Within two years, San Sebastian grew to a population of about 2,600. Beale worked alongside Indian families in cultivating and improving the land. He also taught them trade skills to make them self sufficient. Beale served in this capacity until 1854. After Beale left, the reservation was mismanaged and ended in failure. The San Sebastian Reservation site is declared State Registered Landmark #133.
Beale recognized a need for a military installation to patrol the perilous Tejon Pass and to protect the San Sebastian Reservation. In August 1854, Fort Tejon was established at the north side of pass. It became the headquarters for the First Dragoons of the U.S. Army. At its peak, there were over twenty adobe buildings at the fort. The name Tejon, which is Spanish for "badger", is derived from an 1806 Spanish exploration party that found a dead badger in the area.
In 1855, Beale purchased Rancho La Liebre for a mere three cents an acre. The 48,799 acre rancho was originally granted to Jose Maria Flores on April 21, 1846, by Governor Pio Pico. Flores was the commander and chief of the Mexican forces in California during the Mexican War. Flores nearly lost his entitlement to the rancho when the U.S. Land Commission declared the grant to be fraudulently obtained. The Land Commission contented that Pico back dated many of the land grants he issued and that Rancho La Liebre was granted while California was under American control and no longer a part of Mexico. However, Flores won an appeal and kept the title.
Rancho La Liebre was named as such because of the abundance of jack rabbits in the area. The rancho was mostly comprised of mountainous terrain. It was in the northwest part of the Los Angeles County and lay to the west of Antelope Valley. By the time Beale acquired La Liebre, he had married Mary Edwards and had a son named Truxtun. Beale built an adobe home for his wife on the rancho. This sturdy and roomy adobe house was constructed in Canon de las Osas (Bear Canyon) at the western edge of Antelope Valley. Beale ran sheep on the rancho with Robert S. Baker, who would later become one the founders of Santa Monica, California. Their flocks grew to over 100,000 head. After obtaining possession of La Liebre, Beale allowed Don Andres Pico and his son, Romulo, to graze their own flocks of sheep at the southeast part of the rancho. This was the same Andres Pico, who was Beale's enemy at the Battle of San Pasqual. The two men became friends and eventually business associates.
In the mid to late 1850s, Beale was the Surveyor General for the government. He surveyed and mapped territory in the northern part of Los Angeles County and throughout the southwest. Like his friend, Kit Carson, he had become a famous pathfinder. He explored the Death Valley area with Carson, and while doing so, he thought how the use of camels would greatly enhance desert travel in the this region. Beale submitted his innovative idea to Jefferson Davis, who was the Secretary of War. Davis agreed with Beale and on May 3, 1855, he persuaded Congress to allocated $30,000 to import camels to be used by the army in the Southwest.
On May 14, 1856, the first shipment of camels from Smyrna (Turkey) and Alexandria, Egypt arrived by ship at Indianola, Texas. Major Henry C. Wayne was in charge of the newly created Camel Corps. Beale, who had by this time accepted a commission as an Army lieutenant, was selected to transport twenty-eight camels from Texas to Fort Tejon. Beale must have been anxious to test his theory about using camels in the Arizona and California deserts. During this first camel drive, Beale proved that camels could carry twice as much as mules at two times the speed, and travel great distances without stopping for water. Along the way, Beale was assigned to survey a route from Fort Defiance, New Mexico to Fort Tejon, via the Colorado River and through the Mojave Desert. When the camels crossed the Colorado, Beale found that they could swim. The historic U.S. Route 66 roughly follows the path created by Beale and his camel train. In 1857, they reached Fort Tejon, which had become the new headquarters for the Camel Corps.
Later, Beale drove camels into the Sierra Nevada Mountains to see if they could tolerate cold climates and high altitudes. He found that these "ships of the desert" were able to adapt well to the treacherous mountain paths and adverse weather conditions. Beale used camels to navigate through arid lands again when he surveyed a route from Fort Defiance to Fort Smith, Arkansas. He continued to explore and survey a great deal of the Southwest and the Rocky Mountains regions. The camel experiment was a success and a request was made for a thousand additional camels, but Congress was consumed with an impending Civil War. The camel project was suspended for two years and finally disbanded in 1863. Fort Tejon was deactivated the following year.
In 1859, Fort Beale was established in the Mojave Desert by Major James Carleton. The fort, which now lies in ruins about twenty-five miles northwest of Blythe, California, was so named because of Lieutenant Beale's extensive exploration and camel experimentation in the area.
At the onset of the Civil War, Beale headed east to fight for the Union, where he attained the rank of Brigadier General in the Federal Army. When he returned to California, he began collecting huge ranches north of Rancho La Liebre. In 1865, Beale purchased Rancho El Tejon from Don Ygnacio del Valle and John (Juan) Temple. The 97,616 acre ranch extended from Fort Tejon to the southern Sierra Nevadas. After Fort Tejon was abandoned, it was included in this massive ranch. The same year he purchased Rancho El Tejon, Beale bought the Rancho de Castac, which began at the northwestern corner of Los Angeles County near Castac Lake and was set between Rancho La Liebre and Rancho El Tejon. Rancho de los Alamos y Agua Caliente was added to the Beale ranches, also in 1865. This 26,626 acre ranch, (only 234 acres of which are in Los Angeles County), was purchased from Agustin Olvera and his business associates. The majority of this ranch was within Kern County. In all, Beale's ranches exceeded an overwhelming 297,000 acres, but it was Mrs. Beale, an excellent businesswoman, who was said to be the mastermind of the Beale land empire.
In the 1850s, travel over the San Fernando Pass, also known as Fremont's Pass, was a laborious task due to the steep terrain. In 1854, Phineas Banning deepened the mountain pass by thirty feet in order to improve freight traffic from Los Angeles to Fort Tejon. Although Banning's excavation work made things easier for wagon trains and the coaches of the Butterfield Stage Lines, it was still not good enough. In 1863, Beale recruited a team of soldiers from Fort Tejon and brought them to Fremont's Pass with digging tools. The soldiers dug a ninety foot deep cut into the mountain creating a more negotiable grade. This enhanced gateway through the pass became known as Beale's Cut. Beale loaned $2,000 to A. A. Hudson and Oliver P. Robbins to construct a toll house on the north side of the pass. Two-thirds of the tolls paid were given to Beale. From 1863 to 1911, this was the principle route via La Liebre Mountains connecting the San Fernando and San Joaquin valleys. In 1911, the improved Ridge Route bypassed the road through Beale's Cut. Later, Interstate 5 replaced the Old Ridge Route. Beale's Cut can still be found by travelling north for one mile on old Sierra Highway from Interstate 5. From here, a hiking trail heading northeast for a quarter of a mile will lead directly through the cut.
In 1865, Beale went into the crude oil business with Andres Pico. Ten years prior, Pico found petroleum deposits in Pico Canyon, northwest of the San Fernando Valley. Beale, Pico, and others formed the Los Angeles Asphaltum and Petroleum Mining District, the predecessor of Star Oil Company. On June 24, 1865, they established the San Fernando Mining District and in August of that year they acquired the Mammoth Claim for $300. Robert S. Baker was also a partner in this joint oil venture, which by now controlled petroleum mining interest from Santa Clarita Valley to the San Fernando Valley. By the end of the year, Beale, Pico, Baker, formed the Star Oil Company, along with Sanford Lyon, Juan and Francisco Forester. The company built a refinery, the first in California, and in January 1869 began drilling for oil in Pico Canyon. Later, Beale, Baker, and Pico formed the Los Angeles Petroleum Refinery Company building a refinery at Lyons Station in 1874. Unfortunately, they were unable to produce a smokeless burning kerosene and the Star Oil Company dissolved. The defunct company was revitalized under different management and eventually evolved into the Standard Oil Company.
By the 1880s, Edward F. Beale moved back east and settled in Washington D. C. At one time he was the United States Minister to Austria-Hungary. He died on April 22, 1893. Bealville, California, which is east of Bakersfield, is named after this famed war hero, pathfinder, and land owner. In the ensuing years the majority of Beale's California land interest have remained intact. In 1936, the former Beale ranches were consolidated under the Tejon Ranch Company, of which the Chandler family of Los Angeles were primary shareholders. Harry Chandler was the publisher of the Los Angeles Times newspaper. Today, La Casa del Rancho La Liebre is on private land owned by the Tejon Ranch Company. The adobe is not open to the public and written permission is needed to enter ranch property.
Rancho La Liebre Adobe
Tejon Ranch Company
State Route 138
10 miles east of Gorman, Ca.
This lengthy single story adobe casa stands at 13980 Elizabeth Lake Road. It was situated along the old stage road, which ascended from San Francisquito Canyon. It was the home of Miguel Ortiz, who was employed by General Edward F. Beale as a muleteer. Ortiz built this adobe home on land given to him by Beale. It was part of Rancho La Liebre and was approximately eighteen mile southwest of Beale's adobe hacienda. At one time, Miguel Leonis owned land in the Elizabeth Lake region. In the 1870s, the area was frequented by the bandido, Tiburcio Vasquez. This house is a private residence and not open to the public.
La Casa de Miguel Ortiz
13980 Elizabeth Lake Road
Elizabeth Lake, Ca.
(Private residence)
Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County © 1997 John R. Kielbasa
Unless otherwise noted, photos © 2001-2004 LAokay.com