The Rancho Pecho y Islay grant was a strip of coastal plain along the Pacific Ocean that ran from Islay Creek to Pecho Creek and up that creek to the summit of the Irish Hills to the "boundary with the land of Don Victor Linares." It includes the southern part of Montaña de Oro State Park and the site of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant.[3][4]
History
Rancho Cañada de Los Osos (northern portion) was granted in 1842 by Governor Alvarado to Víctor Linares, and Rancho Pecho y Islay (southern portion) was granted in 1843 by Governor Micheltorena to Francisco Badillo. In 1844, John (Juan) D. Wilson and James (Diego) G. Scott bought Rancho Cañada de Los Osos from Linares and Rancho Pecho y Islay from Badillo. In 1845, the two ranchos were combined, thus forming Rancho Cañada de Los Osos y Pecho y Islay.[5]
Captain John Wilson (1797–1861), a Scottish-born sea captain and trader, came to California in 1837 with his business partner, James Scott (?-1851), also a native of Scotland.[6] In 1837, Wilson married María Ramona Carrillo de Pacheco (1812–1888),[7] widow of José Antonio Romualdo Pacheco, who was killed at the Battle of Cahuenga Pass in 1831. Carrillo was a daughter of María Ygnacia López de Carrillo, the grantee of Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa, and María's sister married General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.[8] María Ramona Carrillo de Pacheco was also the grantee of Rancho Suey. Wilson and his business partner, James Scott, owned Rancho Los Guilicos in Sonoma County and Rancho El Chorro and Rancho Cañada de los Osos y Pecho y Islay in San Luis Obispo County. Wilson alone also bought Rancho San Luisito and Rancho Huerta de Romualdo. In 1845, Wilson moved his family from San Luis Obispo to Rancho Cañada de los Osos y Pecho y Islay, built an adobe home, and lived there until his death in 1860.
The rancho was inherited by Wilson's wife, Ramona Carrillo Wilson and their daughter, Ramona Hilliard (1839–1912), who married Frederick Hilliard (1822–1890) in 1862. Ramona Carrillo Wilson died in 1888. In 1891, Ramona Hilliard sold the southern portion of the Pecho y Islay ranch to Luigi Marre (1841–1902), and continued to operate the northern portion as leased land. Alden Spooner Jr. first leased in 1892. In 1901, Henry Cowell of San Francisco acquired a note of indebtedness on the Hilliard property and took control of the remaining Pecho ranch. In 1902, Alden Spooner Jr. bought it from Cowell's widow.
Historic sites of the Rancho
Wilson adobe. Built by Captain John Wilson in 1845. Located on Los Osos Valley Road near its intersection with Turri Road.[12][13][14]
Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco
Martha Voght, "Scots in Hispanic California", The Scottish Historical Review, Vol. 52, No. 154, Part 2 (Oct., 1973), pp. 137–148, Edinburgh University Press