Steele Brothers' Dairy Ranches

This was Quiroste country, and after 1791 its people were brought into Mission Santa Cruz, where many died. The Steeles leased the ground from Loren Coburn in 1862. The firm the bronze calls brothers was four Steeles, a cousin among them, and two partners named Gushee and Wilson, and it lasted ten years. Its 3,850-pound cheese of 1864 sold for $2,830 for the Union Army's Sanitary Fund. The big dairy barn here came later, on a daughter's ranch, built from the timbers of a destroyed wharf. The latest photographs, from 2016, show the bronze unmounted on a porch floor.

What the plaque says

Steele Brothers' Dairy Ranches Beginning in the 1850's the Steele brothers pioneered one of the first large-scale commercial cheese and dairy businesses in California. They extended their operations from Point Reyes to Rancho Punta de Año Nuevo in 1862. This 7000 acre ranch consisted of five dairies extending from Gazos Creek to Point Año Nuevo. For a century the Steele brothers' dairy ranches were of major importance in California's agricultural development. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 906 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation, in cooperation with the Año Nuevo Interpretive Association, October 16, 1982

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Portolá Expedition Camp at Gazos Creek — 4.4 mi
• Pigeon Point Lighthouse — 6.5 mi
• The First State Park — 6.9 mi
• First Congregational Church of Pescadero — 10 mi