Rancho Petaluma Adobe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Contents 1 Description 2 History 2.1 Mexican-American era 2.2 Native American tenants 2.3 Decline of 1846-1910 3 References

[edit] Description

The Petaluma Adobe ranch house was the largest privately owned adobe building ever built in California. It was two stories high, built in a quadrangle roughly 200 by 145 feet, two buildings surrounding an open courtyard patio. The eastern building no longer exists so it is only half its former size now. It took 10 years and thousands of local adobe bricks to make.^[1] It was detailed with imported glass windows in the downstairs dining room, interior fireplaces, planked floors, a low sloped shingled roof, and a 2 story wooden veranda that encased and protected the adobe walls. The combination of wood and adobe is unique to Mexican-American architecture.^[2].

[edit] History

[edit] Mexican-American era

In 1834, Governor José Figueroa granted General Vallejo the lands of Rancho Petaluma. In 1836, General Vallejo began construction of the ranch house in 1836, investing an estimated $80,000 in men, materials and years to complete. His younger brother Salvador Vallejo directed most of the construction. Between 1836 and 1839, at least 2000 Native Americans were employed at the ranch construction to make bricks, haul lumber, construct, cook, farm, make tools, tan hides and tend a large herd of cattle.

From the ranch, the General 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. He left daily management to his mayordomo (manager or foreman) Miguel Alvarado, who resided at the ranch.

In its operational days between 1836 and 1857, the Rancho Petaluma employed up to 2000 of the remaining Sonoma County Native Americans. Quickly, the cattle ranch became one of the largest Mexican-American owned ranches of the north bay and a social-economic center of Northern California.

The ranch included a tannery, smithy, and grist mill. It had over 12000 head of cattle, one quarter slaughtered each year for the main exports of hides and tallow sent via river boats on the Petaluma River down to the San Francisco Bay. The export of hides and tallow was its main income source, a very lucrative business in the Mexican-American era, while much of the meat was wasted. Vallejo made an estimate $18,000 to $24,000 each year on hides and tallow. Necessities and other products such as candles, soap, 1000’s of wool blankets, boots and shoes for military troops under Vallejo’s command, and saddles were manufactured by native artisans in shops. ^[3]

In 1844, Governor Pío Pico deeded to General Vallejo 66,000-acres on behalf of the country of Mexico, in a grant called the Rancho Soscol, adding and extending the ranch lands considerably, 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.

[edit] Native American tenants

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 (the Sonoma Mission) 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 and tenants. Many constructed huts of tule reeds and lived beside the ranch. In payment for working on the ranch as ranchers, cattlemen, artisans and servants, the Natives received some protection, 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.^[4]

[edit] Decline of 1846-1910

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 in his absence, John C. Frémont requisitioned and stripped the ranch of its horses, cattle and grain reserves for his California battalion. Many of the natives, his main labor force, had fled from the incoming gold rush settlers. Thereafter the ranch declined in value and profitability for Vallejo every year. The University of California considered purchasing it for a campus site in 1856. Vallejo sold the building and 1,600 acres to William Whiteside for $25,000 circa 1857who sold it to William Bliss. The southeast half of the adobe deteriorated and the Bliss family could not afford all the repairs.^[5]

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

1. ^ Department of Parks & Recreation 1987:8.
2. ^ Department of Parks & Recreation 1987:10
3. ^ stats and numbers from Department of Parks & Recreation 1987:12, 26.
4. ^ Silliman, 2004:55-58.
5. ^ Department of Parks & Recreation 1987:18, 32.

• Department of Parks & Recreation. ‘’Petaluma Adobe: Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park’’. Sacramento: CA: California Department of Parks & Recreation, 1987.
• 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.