Vaca Adobe or Vaca Dugout is a former settlement in what was then

Tulare County Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. ...

, now

Kings County, California Kings County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. The population was 152,486 at the 2020 census. The California Department of Finance estimated the county's population was 152,940 as of July 1, 2019.http://dof.ca.gov/Forecastin ...

. It was located at a stopping place on the eastern route of the

El Camino Viejo El Camino Viejo a Los Ángeles ( en, the Old Road to Los Angeles), also known as El Camino Viejo and the Old Los Angeles Trail, was the oldest north-south trail in the interior of Spanish colonial Las Californias (1769–1822) and Mexican Alta Cal ...

about 3 miles north of the site of what is now

Kettleman City Kettleman City is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kings County, California, United States. Kettleman City is located southwest of Hanford, 54 miles (88 km) south of Fresno, at an elevation of , and sits only about 1/2 mile north of the 36th p ...

close to the shore of

Tulare Lake Tulare Lake () ( Spanish: ''Laguna de Tache'', Yokuts: ''Pah-áh-su'') is a freshwater dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States. After Lake Cahuilla disappeared in the 17th century ...

. The adobe at the site was known as the Vaca Dugout, and was built in 1863 by vaqueros Juan Perria and Pablo Vaca. William N. Abeloe, Mildred Brooke Hoover, H. E. Rensch, E. G. Rensch, Historic spots in California, 3rd Edition., Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1966 William N. Abeloe, Mildred Brooke Hoover, H. E. Rensch, E. G. Rensch, Historic spots in California, 3rd Edition, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1966; p.137
/ref> In 1863, California was in the midst of the severe 1863-64 drought that would kill most of the

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

in the southern part of the state. Tulare Lake and the tules marshes around it were one of the few places cattle could get feed and water. The adobe was the headquarters for the vaqueros who were tending the herds in the vicinity.

References

Former populated places in California Former settlements in Kings County, California San Joaquin Valley El Camino Viejo 1863 establishments in California {{KingsCountyCA-geo-stub