William Welles Hollister
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William Welles Hollister (1818-1886) was a California rancher and entrepreneur.
In 1854 he led the first large trans-continental sheep drive, bringing 10000 merino sheep from Hanover, Licking County, Ohio. The plan was to supply miners during the gold rush with plentiful meat. Although only about a thousand sheep survived, Hollister was able to make a considerable fortune when wool prices spiked during the Civil War, and purchased Rancho San Justo in San Benito County, California, in an area now known as Hollister, California. He remained there 14 years before selling his part of the Rancho San Justo and moving his sheep south to Santa Barbara, California, settling at the Rancho Dos Pueblos, purchased from the estate of Nicholas Den in 1862, which became known as glen annie.
During the 1870s, William Hollister made many contributions to the Santa Barbara area including helping to finance and develop Santa Barbara College, the Arlington Hotel, the local newspaper, Stearns Wharf, and the Lobero Theater.
