Montaña de Oro ("Mountain of Gold" in Spanish) is a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

in Central Coastal California, six miles southwest of Morro Bay and two miles south of

Los Osos Los Osos (Spanish for "the bears") is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in San Luis Obispo County, California. Located on the Central Coast of California, Los Osos had a population estimated to be 16,533 in 2019. Histo ...

. It consists of 8,000 acres (32 km²) of cliffs, seven miles of shoreline, sandy beaches, dunes, coastal plains, streams, canyons, and hills, including the 1,347-foot (411 m) Valencia Peak. The park has many hiking, mountain biking, equestrian trails and horse campsites, as well as a primitive

campground A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for camping, overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight u ...

located across from Spooner's Cove, a popular beach. The Bluff Trail is an easy and popular trail along the scenic coast. Trails lead to the summits of Valencia Peak, Oats Peak, and Hazard Peak.

Native Americans

Five hundred years ago, when Europeans first arrived on the California's central coast, they found it inhabited by the Chumash and

Salinan The Salinan are a Native American tribe whose ancestral territory is in the southern Salinas Valley and the Santa Lucia Range in the Central Coast of California. Today, the Salinan governments are now working toward federal tribal recognition f ...

people. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 of them lived in small villages spread over a territory which extended from Morro Bay south to Malibu. Although the Chumash depended heavily upon the sea, they also drew on many other sources for food, clothing, and shelter, and were part of a large trading network. The Spanish Explorers who visited the Montana de Oro area in 1542 recorded that the Indians were attractive, friendly people who paddled out to greet them in canoes. In 1769, Don Gaspar de Portola marched his troops north from San Diego to establish new territory for the king of Spain. With the beginning of the Mission period, many died from European diseases to which they had no immunity.

History after 1842

The property rights for Montaña de Oro State Park land area changed hands several times after California became a territory of the United States. Part of the park was the

Rancho Cañada de los Osos Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities * Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos A ...

that Victor Linares had been granted on December 1, 1842 by Governor

Juan B. Alvarado Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo (February 14, 1809 – July 13, 1882) was a Californio politician that served as Governor of Alta California from 1837-42. Prior to his term as governor, Alvarado briefly led a movement for independen ...

. The rancho lay west of San Luis Obispo in the Los Osos Valley. Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco.
/ref> Victor Linares sold his rancho to James Scott and John Wilson who also bought the adjacent

Rancho Pecho y Islay Rancho Pecho y Islay was an Mexican land grant in the Irish Hills, Montaña de Oro State Park and Diablo Canyon Power Plant in present-day San Luis Obispo County, California. History Rancho Pecho y Islay was granted in 1843 by Governor Manuel M ...

in the

Irish Hills Irish Hills is an area of land located roughly in southeastern Jackson County and northwest Lenawee County in Southeast Michigan. It was named after the numerous Irish immigrants who settled there from 1830 until 1850. Today it is known thro ...

to the south of their Los Osos rancho and combined them in a new 32,431 acre grant,

Rancho Cañada de los Osos y Pecho y Islay Rancho Cañada de los Osos y Pecho y Islay was a Mexican land grant in Los Osos Valley and the southern Estero Bay headlands, in present-day San Luis Obispo County, California. The grant consists of Rancho Cañada de Los Osos (''Valley of th ...

from Governor Pio Pico in 1845. It was used mostly for grazing sheep until 1892, when Alden B. Spooner, Jr., leased the land he later purchased around Islay Creek. He brought in dairy cattle, hogs and other agriculture. His two sons founded the Pecho Ranch & Stock Co., and built a ranch house, a complex of barns, a creamery, stables, sheds, and a waterwheel for power. On the south bluff of Spooner's Cove they utilized a warehouse with a long chute that led down to a wharf and a loading boom to service coastal steamers. The land just to the north was owned by Alexander S. Hazard, who also raised crops and maintained a dairy. Hoping to cash in on California's growing need for timber, he planted hundreds of eucalyptus trees, turning Hazard Canyon into a prospective lumber farm. Unfortunately, eucalyptus proved unsatisfactory for commercial use. In the early 1940s, a flood scoured Hazard Canyon, and in 1947 a grass fire burned up the coast from Diablo Canyon, destroying much of what had been the Hazard dairy buildings. However, Hazard's legacy, the stands of eucalyptus trees, remains. Rancher Oliver C. Field bought the land in the early 1940s, but sold it to Irene McAllister about ten years later. In 1965 the property was purchased by the State of California for a state park, and it was decided to keep the name McAllister had given it: "Montaña de Oro". On April 24, 1965, Rancho Montaña de Oro was dedicated as a California State Park after it was purchased out of the Rancho Montaña de Oro, Inc. bankruptcy proceeding under the Park acquisition program that Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown had launched and managed to fund.

Gallery

File:Submarine rock, Mt. de Oro.jpg, Submarine Rock, Montaña de Oro coast File:Spooner Ranch House living history.jpg, Spooner Ranch House living history program, 2005 File:Flower in Monatan De Oro.JPG , ''Aloe arborescens'' File:Roiling sea in Montana de Oro State Park.webm , Roiling surf File:Mdoblufftrail.jpg, Northward view of Spooner's Cove via Bluff Trail, with Morro Bay in the distance. June 12, 2021

Marine protected areas

Morro Bay State Marine Recreational Management Area and Morro Bay State Marine Reserve and Point Buchon State Marine Reserve and Marine Conservation Area are marine protected areas offshore from the Morro Bay area. These marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.

References

External links