Rancho Camulos

No state plaque stands at Camulos; two others do. The Park Service's plate of 2000 names the house a National Historic Landmark as the setting of Ramona. A second bronze credits Governor Juan Alvarado's 1839 grant of Rancho San Francisco to Antonio del Valle, casting its size as 48,815 square acres, and records a rival claim by Jacoba Feliz, dismissed in 1857. Neither says who built the house Ygnacio del Valle began in 1853; the ranch's own panel credits Tataviam and Mexican workers with its adobe bricks.

What the plaque says

Rancho Camulos has been designated a National Historic Landmark This residential complex possesses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America. Ygnacio del Valle established Rancho Camulos in 1853, on part of a Mexican land grant of former mission lands. Rancho Camulos was the setting for Ramona, an 1884 novel that generated national interest in the history of Hispanic settlement in California. August Rubel purchased the property in 1924 and preserved the significant historic features of the site. Ygnacio del Valle estableció en 1853 el Rancho Camulos en lote de tierra donada por el gobierno mexicano procedente de las antiguas tierras de la mision. Rancho Camulos fue el escenario de Ramona, novela de 1884, que generó interés national en los asentamientos hispanos en California. August Rubel compró la propiedad en 1924 y preservó el significativo patrimonio histórico del lugar. 2000 National Park Service United States Department of the Interior Governor Juan Alvarado Granted the Rancho San Francisco on January 22, 1839, to Antonio del Valle, including 48,815 square acres. Jacoba Felz filed a claim against this grant, which was dismissed June 8, 1857. The Del Valle family chose Camulos as their home, which later became known as the "Home of Ramona."

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mentryville and Pico Canyon — 8.5 mi
  A company town in a canyon, and a mile and a half further up the road, the well that started the California oil industry.
• Pioneer Oil Refinery — 14 mi
  The first commercially successful refinery in the West, built in 1876 to take the crude coming down the pipeline from Pico Canyon.
• The Cascades — 16 mi
  The concrete chute where the Los Angeles Aqueduct arrives, and where forty thousand people watched the Owens Valley come south in 1913.
• St. Francis Dam Disaster Site — 16 mi
  The dam failed just before midnight on March 12, 1928, and the flood ran fifty miles down the canyon to the sea.

More markers nearby

• Warring Park — 2.1 mi
• Well, CSO 4 (Pico 4) — 7.7 mi
• Mentryville — 8.5 mi
• Rancho San Francisco — 9.0 mi