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California History

In 1875 the Weekly Press wrote, "The del Valle horses. Supposedly he reinvested his winnings in the
mansion is a long substantial adobe with wings en- rancho but by 1900 he turned to raising mules.
closing three sides of a courtyard. To the rear is a The del Valles' success story was largely due to
large fountain in which there are many goldfish. intelligent efficient management and luck. The luck
Leading out of the gardens is an arbor of grape vines was that Ygnacio had acquired enough land in flush
now heavily loaded with luscious fruit. In this garden times to pay for conversion of the cattle ranch to
we saw pomegranate and orange and lemon trees full intensive agriculture. The del Valle brothers provided
of half ripe fruit and a tree which would have puzzled the efficient management. Reginaldo handled the
an expert to tell the variety, for it had apples, pears family's legal and financial affairs. Ulipano and
and quinces hanging from its limbs. In the large or- Joventino managed the wine and citrus industry.
chard are 4,000 almond trees . . . The improvements Reginaldo, the eldest son, was the leader of the
made by Don del Valle are one of a substantial family after his father's retirement and death in 1892.
character. His wine house, covering a cellar of the He engaged in a variety of real estate and business
same dimensions, is 132 feet long and 36 feet wide, ventures to supplement the family income. His legal
and is built of brick at a cost of $10,000 and is fur- maneuvers and political contacts undoubtedly
nished with all the modern improvements" . 13 Del helped. After he passed the bar exam in 1877, he
Valle's winery produced 40,000 gallons a year and bought Rancho J amacha and Rancho de los Caches
Camulos wines and brandies were well known in San Diego. 15 In 1886 he formed a partnership with
throughout Southern California ten years before Tom Temple, La Cronica's business manager, to form
Helen Hunt Jackson arrived. the California and Mexican Land Company. The
main transaction of this firm seems to have been the
marketing and selling of the family's Rancho
Temescal for $66,695. 16 In 1908 Reginaldo set up a
corporation to manage Rancho Camulos. Shares in
the company were to be held in trust and income
distributed to members of the family. The corpora-
In 1877 two local Ventura politicians reported that tion hired a new manager when Ulipano moved
"Comulos (sic) is evidently destined to become one away a short time later. 17
of the leading health resorts of the state. It is easily The image of a group of well educated Californios
reached in a very few hours from either the seaport at managing the affairs of a middle sized agribusiness
Ventura or the railroad at Newhall. The proprietor is corporation hardly squares with the Ramona
thinking of erecting a commodious hotel for the ac- characterizations of the California culture. But then,
comodation (sic) of the many visitors who, hearing of the novel was not intended to accurately portray
the far famed orchards and vineyards, come daily to Californio life in the late nineteenth century. More
visit them. " 14 important was the fact that readers of the book
In 1878 Ygnacio retired and turned the manage- thought that it did. This proved to be a boon to real
ment of the farm over to Joventino, Reginaldo's estate promoters during the 1880s.
brother. Later in 1886 Ulipano, the other brother, At first the del Valles didn't like the book. In the
took over. Ulipano got involved in raising race novel Senora Moreno, the matriarch of the rancho,

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