In 1872, two partners from Santa Barbara looking to turn loss into profit, John Edwards and Howard W. Mills purchased de La Guerra’s share of the 49k acre Rancho el Conejo parcel.
H.W. and his wife Carolyn Freeman, bought the portion that stretched from Hidden valley to Agoura, and they named it, “Triunfo Ranch”.
Edwards purchased the other half of the parcel of what is known today as Thousand Oaks, and parts of Newbury Park. Egbert Newbury is the other notable purchaser, the founder of Newbury Park. (Someone worth Googling)
The thousands of remaining acres were sold off precipitously to a handful of families, including Mills and Edwards.
Will the Mills family live out a happy ending on the Triunfo Ranch in the Conejo? You will have to wait until tomorrow’s post to find out!
A somber and mysterious tune plays in the background…
Further notes:
That same year the U.S. surveyors office had completed and issued a patent for the 48,671 acres of the “Rancho El Conejo”.
Twenty years earlier, 1850, California had sought out and been admitted to the United States as the 31st state. The broad chain of possession and title to the area we call Westlake Village has now gone from the Chumash Nation, to Spain, Mexico, and ultimately, the United States.
Pic: Maulhardt, J. W. (2010). Conejo Valley. United States: Arcadia Publishing Incorporated.