Santa Cruz Island is the largest privately owned island off the Continental United States. The island encompasses 96 square miles or about 62,000 acres and is approximately 22 miles long. For comparison, it is over four times the size of Manhattan (22 square miles) or Bermuda (19 square miles), and is larger that the District of Columbia (61 square miles). It lies about 22-25 miles off the adjacent mainland coast of Santa Barbara, California. . In 1987, 9/10ths of the island passed to The Nature Conservancy with the death of its owner, Carey Stanton. The remaining 1/10th is owned by the Gherini family, the great grandchildren of Justinian Caire. In February 1997, the Gherini holdings will pass to the National Park Service for inclusion in the Channel Islands National Park.
Santa Cruz Island is the most topographically diverse of
the Southern California Islands. It is rough and mountainous with deep canyons,
and large areas of flat land are limited. Much of the northern shore is bold
and rugged, with cliffs dropping to the sea and intersperses with small pocket
beaches at the mouths of canyons. Longer stretches of beach are found along
the western and southern shores. A large central valley is nestled between
two mountain ranges for much of the island's length. Access into this valley
is through a narrow, winding, stream filled canyon, three miles long. Picacho
Diablo, at 2434 feet in elevation, is the highest point. Several other peaks
surpass the 2000 foot mark on the island's north side.
The entire island has a Mediterranean climate. Cool, rainy winters and warm, dry summers. Due to the island's large size and varied topography, a number of microclimates exist. The coastal areas are mild throughout the year. Temperatures rarely rise above 85 degrees or below 35 degrees. However, the central valley may reach over 100 degrees or drop to 20 degrees in the winter.
The geology of Santa Cruz Island varies greatly. The oldest rocks are schists and other metamorphosed sedimentary rocks of pre-Cretaceous period, intruded by Cretaceous and Jurassic quartz diorites. These are found on the island's south side. The northern side of the island contains primarily Miocene volcanic rocks. Limited Pleistocene deposits are particularly well developed at Potato Harbor and on the island's east end.
Santa Cruz Island has an Indian history dating back over 10,000 years. The Indians called the island, Limu. The University of California, Santa Barbara estimated that there are as many as 3000 sites or middens on the island although many are considered to have been temporary. The indian occupants of the island were skilled mariners who traded with the other Channel Islands as well as the mainland villages.
The history of european man on Santa Cruz Island began on October 13, 1542 with the arrival of explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. Journal of his expedition indicate that although Santa Cruz Island was sighted, no one is known to have landed upon the island. During the next two and a half centuries, at least four separate expeditions visited Santa Cruz Island.
The 1769 expedition led by Gaspar de Portola for the King of Spain was the first to claim ownership of the island. The expedition was divided into two parts: the land expedition led by Portola and Fray Junipero Serra, and the sea going exploration led by Juan Perez. On board ship with Juan Perez was a franciscan priest. At a place now called Prisoner's Cove the priest is said to have gone ashore and to have forgotten his walking staff which was topped with an iron cross. The staff, given up for lost, was returned the next day to the priest by some Indians. From this incident the island is said to have been named, Isla de Santa Cruz--Island of the Holy Cross.
During Spain's ownership of Santa Cruz Island, Chumash Indians continued to live on the island, though in decreasing numbers. By 1807 however, measles had spread among the Indians, greatly reducing their numbers. by 1814 the majority of the island Chumash had been removed to the mainland.
The Mexican Era in California began in 1822 with the belated notice of the independence of Mexico from Spain in 1821. In 1839, Governor Alvarado of California conveyed to Andres Castillero the Island of Santa Cruz. With this grant, Castillero became the first private owner of Santa Cruz Island, a position he was to hold for 18 years. During Castillero's tenure the island became one of the most admired sheep ranches in California.
In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican War and after a long legal battle the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed Castillero to be the rightful owner. In 1857, Castillero sold the island to William E. Barron of San Francisco who continued the ranching enterprise begun by Castillero.
In 1869, Barron sold the island to ten men from San Francisco who formed the Santa Cruz Island Company. One of these men, Justinian Caire, was to emerge as Santa Cruz Island's sculptor of the future.
Justinian Caire was born in France in 1827. He came to California
in 1851 and established a successful hardware business in San Francisco.
With the success of his business he was able to diversify his investments
and by 1880 had acquired all the stock in the Santa Cruz Island Company.
In that same year, Caire arrived for the first time to the island.
Under Caire's direction, buildings including ranch houses, bunk houses, barns, wineries, a chapel, blacksmith shop and saddle shop were constructed.Full time employees included masons, carpenters, painters, vaqueros, dairymen, a wagon maker, vintners, sheep shearers and a sea captain and sailors to run the Company's 60 foot schooner Santa Cruz built in 1893.
As Justinian Caire carefully planned the island's future,
he developed a great variety of agricultural and ranching endeavors suitable
to the island's climate and terrain. Sheep numbering 50,000 by 1890, were
raised for wool, meat, hide, and tallow. Agricultural pursuits included the
planting of alfalfa and hay, in addition to garden vegetables. Trees planted
included olive, pear, fig, orange, apple, lemon and peach. Caire's most extensive
agricultural endeavor, however, was that of the development of the Santa
Cruz Winery. Over two hundred acres of the central valley were dry farmed
with Zinfandel, Reisling, Burgundy, Muscatel and Grenache grapes. The wine
was shipped to San Francisco where it was bottled. No bottle of Santa Cruz
wine is known to survive today.
In 1897, Justinian Caire died, having transferred all of the stock in the Santa Cruz Island Company to his wife Albina. She in turn transferred part of the stock to her children. Beginning in 1910, extensive litigation within the Caire family followed, and by court order, in 1925 the island was divided into seven tracts. Tracts 6 and 7, comprised of the eastern 10% were awarded to Caire daughters Amelie and Aglae, which today remain owned by Caire descendants. The remaining 5 tracts of land were reunited in the Santa Cruz Island Company, whose assets were put on the market in 1927 where it remained unsold during the Great Depression.
In 1937, Los Angeles businessman Edwin Stanton purchased the assets of the Santa Cruz Island Company. Because the sheep remaining on the island had become feral, emphasis was instead placed on cattle, and polled Herefords were introduced.
The ranch life continued on much in the same manner as it did under Justinian Caire. The schooner Santa Cruz, although modified, continued to provide transportation for workers, supplies and cargo until December 6, 1960 when she was totally destroyed at Prisoner's Harbor in a severe northeaster.
Edwin Stanton's son, Carey, was barely a teenager at the time of his father's purchase in 1937. After being graduated from Stanford University, and then Stanford University School of Medicine and working in internal medicine and pathology for about ten years, Carey Stanton returned to work and live on Santa Cruz Island in 1957. Edwin Stanton died in 1963, and management of the island passed to his son.
In 1978, Carey Stanton entered into an agreement with The Nature Conservancy due to his concern for the future of the cultural and natural resources of the island. The island was to pass to The Nature Conservancy in the year 2008 or in the event of Dr. Stanton's death.
In 1985, Dr. Stanton established the Santa Cruz Island Foundation
to protect and preserve his historically important personal possessions and
to promote research and discussion on all of the California Channel
Islands. In 1987 Carey Stanton died at the Justinian House on Santa
Cruz Island. He is buried in the small cemetery surrounding La Capilla de
la Santa Cruz del Rosario, a small chapel built by Justinian Caire. Mass
has been celebrated in the chapel on an irregular basis for over a century.
The Santa Cruz Island Foundation currently holds mass at the chapel each
May 3rd, which is the Feast of the Holy Cross.
In November 1996, the U.S. Congress executed a legislative taking enabling the purchase of the remaining 10% owned by the Caire descendants. In February 1997, that portion of the island will become part of the Channel Islands National Park. The western 9/10ths owned by The Nature Conservancy will remain a privately owned in-holding within the boundaries of the Channel Island National Park.
Feral sheep and pig on Santa Cruz Island continue to be hunted as a game animal. The exact date of introduction of the animals is unknown but best estimates place it around the 1850s. There are approximately 3000 sheep and 1000 or more pig remaining on the island.
There are only four native terrestrial mammals
which occur on the island: the Santa Cruz Island fox (Urocyon littoralis
santacruzae), the spotted skunk (Spilogale gracilis amphialus),
the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus santacruzae), and the western
harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys megalotis santacruzae).
There are 10 birds which are Channel Island subspecies or races. They include: Allen's hummingbird, western flycatcher, horned lark, Santa Cruz Island jay, Bewick's wren, loggerhead shrike, orange-crowned warbler, house finch, rufous-sided towhee and the Catalina quail (introduced). There are many other land and marine birds which make there home on the island.
Due to the large size, and topographic and geologic complexity of Santa Cruz Island, this island supports a wide variety of plant communities. Coastal strand, coastal bluffs, valley and foothill grasses, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, island and oak woodlands, pine forests, southern riparian woodlands, and marsh communities are all present. Introduced cultivated plants occur as well.
There are over 650 different plants on Santa Cruz Island, including both native and introduced species. Forty two of these plants are endemic to the Channel Islands and 9 are endemic to Santa Cruz Island in particular.
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For further information regarding the Santa Cruz Island Foundation or the history of the California Channel Islands email us or contact us at:
Santa Cruz Island Foundation
1010 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara, Ca. 93101
(805) 963-4949
Copyright 1996
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