Tejon Ranch history

1846 – Mexican American War begins.

1848 – Beale, as a Navy lieutenant, first carries the news of the discovery of gold in California to Washington.

1849 – Beale marries Mary E. Edwards in the East.

In 1850, California became one of the few American states to go directly to statehood without first being a territory.

1853 – Early California bandito Joaquin Murrieta is said to have a silver and copper mine in the Tehachapi Mountains, which he worked with imported slave labor.

1854 – Fort Tejon is established by the First Dragoons at the recommendation of Beale.

In 1855, Edward Beale purchased Rancho La Liebre.

1858 – Butterfield Overland Stage establishes two stations on Tejon Ranch, one at Fort Tejon and one at the “Sink of Tejon” (Comanche Point). The route from Bakersfield to Los Angeles via Fort Tejon was 150 miles, and took 32-1/2 hours, according to the schedule.

1861 – Beale is appointed surveyor general for California and Nevada.

More than 2,000 native people lived on the land at that time, but in 1863, Beale bought Rancho El Tejon for private use, and roughly 100 Indians remained.

1865 – Beale purchases Rancho el Tejon and Rancho los Alamos y Agua Caliente, two of the four Mexican land grants that make up Tejon Ranch.

1866 – Kern County is established with Havilah as the county seat.

The ranch store, a large adobe structure built in 1867, stands near the house on the west, and a few hundred feet beyond is the main ranch bunk-house.

1868 – The Cross and Crescent is recorded in Kern County as a brand.

1873 – Bakersfield incorporates as a city.

1876 – President Ulysses S. Grant appoints Beale as minister to Austria-Hungary.

1879 – At the direction of Beale, Jose Jesus Lopez, Tejon Ranch sheep foreman and cattle boss for 50 years, makes legendary drive to Green River, Wyoming, starting with 17,000 sheep.

1880 – Beale returns to California and turns to raising cattle.

Before 1890, 14,000 acres had been acquired through the purchase of railway lands and different small pieces.

The only time in the history of the rancho, up to the time of the transaction just concluded, when the Beale family ever seriously considered selling the place, was in 1891, when the Santa Fe Railway all but completed arrangements to buy the greater part of the property.

1893 – Sequoia National Forest is created by proclamation of President Benjamin Harrison.

1895 – Community of Lebec is founded.

1899 – Oil is discovered in Kern County.

1900 – Beale Memorial Library opens in Bakersfield, the first free library in Kern County.

size: 12x8in Photo: Bakersfield, California 1901 :

Beale's wife, Mary E. Beale, died in 1904, since which time the rancho has been left practically in the hands of the superintendent, A.H. Bailey.

Beale's son, Truxtun Beale, sold the Tejon Ranch in 1912 to a syndicate of investors headed by Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler and land developer Moses Sherman.

1915 – The Ridge Route, considered at the time to be one of the most scientifically built mountain roads in the world, opens.

"In 1916 El Tejon Land Company of Kern County filed suit to evict the El Tejon Indians from the El Tejon Ranch, which the Indians owned under Spanish and Mexican laws that the United States had agreed to uphold under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

In 1917, some surviving Kitanemuk Indians lived on Tejon Ranch.

Greek Theater at Beale Park, circa 1920 Bakersfield, CA

1936 – A new three-lane road replaces the original tortuous Grapevine Grade on the Ridge Route.

1939 – Tejon Ranch donates land to the State of California to establish the Fort Tejon State Historical Park.

1943 – Tejon Ranch celebrates its 100th anniversary.

1952 – Major earthquake strikes with Tehachapi at its center.

1955 – Tejon Ranch’s board of directors authorizes an initial appropriation of $275,000 to build a headquarters and housing for ranch personnel at its current site across Interstate 5 from Fort Tejon.

1963 – Construction begins on the eight-lane freeway that would become Interstate 5 through Tejon Ranch.

1965 – Construction begins on the A.D. Edmonston Pumping Plant, largest pumping facility of the California Aqueduct, also known as the State Water Project, to lift water almost 2,000 feet up and over the Tehachapi Mountains into Southern California.

The Chandlers' Times Mirror Company sold its stake in 1997. It has been publicly listed since 1973 and most recently has been on the New York Stock Exchange.

1991 – The Umbrellas, a temporary work of art by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, opens along an 18-mile stretch of Interstate 5 between Gorman and the Grapevine.

1993 – Tejon Ranch marks its 150th anniversary.

1996 – Robert A. Stine becomes chief executive officer of Tejon Ranch Company.

The Chandlers' Times Mirror Company sold its stake in 1997.

1999 – The 51-acre Petro Travel Plaza opens at the junction of Interstate 5 and Highway 99, providing needed services to travelers and the trucking industry.

2000 – Construction begins on IKEA’s Western North American Distribution Center on an 80-acre site in the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center.

2003 – Tejon Ranch announces its vision for the future of the Ranch, which includes significant conservation, a continued commitment to historic ranching and farming operations and the environmentally sensitive development of a limited portion of the Ranch.

2007 – At the urging of condor experts, Tejon Ranch Company announced a ban on the use of lead ammunition on the Ranch.

The Conservancy was created as an independent nonprofit organization by the Tejon Ranch Conservation and Land Use Agreement, signed on June 17, 2008, by the Tejon Ranch Company.

2009 – Kern County Board of Supervisors approve Tejon Mountain Village.

2010 – California’s Wildlife Conservation Board approves funding for the purchase of conservation easements covering 62,000 acres of Tejon Ranch.

2012 – Caterpillar Inc. begins construction of a 400,000 square foot parts distribution center at the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center.

2013 – United States Fish & Wildlife Service approves Tehachapi Uplands Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan, which protects the California condor and 24 other plant and animal species on Tejon Ranch.

December 20, 2015 Frazier Park, California