Rancho Petaluma Adobe
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Rancho Petaluma Adobe is the name of a historic ranch and adobe ranch house that was owned and constructed by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo from 1834 to 1857, constructed at the time when the Northern California was part of Mexico. In Spanish, the term Rancho Adobe means a ranch house made with adobe brick walls.
This ranch has been preserved by the Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park as a state and National Historic Landmark. The Rancho Petaluma Adobe is located on Adobe Road on the east side of present-day town of Petaluma, California.
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[edit] History
[edit] Mexican-American
In 1834, Governor José Figueroa granted General Vallejo the Rancho Petaluma. In 1836, General Vallejo began construction of the ranch house. There he lodged soldiers who kept peace in the region, and conducted ranch business. His family often used the Petaluma Adobe as a summer home, while he resided in the neighboring town of Sonoma, California. Cattle ranching was the main business, while necessities such as as candles, soap, blankets, shoes, and saddles were manufactured by native artisans in shops. The ranch included a tannery, smithy, and grist mill.
Adding and extending the ranch considerably, Governor Pio Pico on behalf of the country of Mexico deeded to General Vallejo 66,000-acres in 1844, in a grant called the Rancho Soscol. This land was to reward Vallejo's military services. Rancho Soscol extended the lands of Rancho Petaluma south down to the San Francisco Bay, and southwest to present-day city of Vallejo, and includes the region of present-day town of Petaluma.
In its operational days between 1836 and 1857, the Rancho Petaluma employed up to 2000 of the remaining Sonoma County Native Americans. Quickly, the ranch became one of the largest Mexican-American owned ranches of the north bay and a social-economic center of Northern California.
The fate of the ranch turned in 1846-1848 when the United States and Mexico went to war: General Vallejo was imprisoned for his position in the Mexican military, and John C. Fremont requisitioned many of the ranch supplies and horses. Thereafter the ranch declined in value and profitability for Vallejo.
[edit] Native American
After the Spanish missions in California were secularized in 1834, many Native Americans of the region, the Suisunes, Coast Miwok and Pomo, sought employment on the large ranches of Northern California. The Rancho Petaluma as the largest ranch employed the majority of the Native Americans in the County. Many Native Americans were recruited as ex-neophytes of the disbanded Mission San Francisco Solano in the town of Sonoma who needed a new employer and were trained ranch people already, others were employed after being captured by force during military skirmishes. Some natives joined from military and political alliances with Vallejo, and others because it was social-economic center especially as a place of seasonal work. In a patron arrangement that recalls the preceding mission system, many of the natives turned over all of their own cattle to Vallejo, in exchange to become a part of the ranch as the worker force. In payment for working on the ranch as ranchers, cattlemen, artisans and servants, the Natives received daily food and clothing. However unlike the Mission Indians, the Natives at the ranch were not expected to be Roman Catholic or follow strict Catholic practices (Silliman, pages 55-58).
In 1910, the Petaluma Adobe was deeded to the Native Sons of the Golden West. In 1950, the ranch was transferred to the State of California.
[edit] References
- Silliman, Stephen. Lost Laborers in Colonial California, Native Americans and the Archaeology of Rancho Petaluma. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8165-2381-9.
- Sonomanet: Parks and Recreation in Sonoma County. Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
