Warner's Ranch

The bronze grants 44,322 acres and never says who was living on them. Kupa, the Kuupangaxwichem village at the hot springs, sat inside the 1844 grant. When the owners moved to evict, the argument that won was that no Indians had been there in 1844. Warner himself had sworn otherwise in 1893, at eighty-five. The Supreme Court ruled against the village anyway, and on May 12, 1903 agents and forty-four armed teamsters marched the Cupeño forty miles to Pala.

What the plaque says

Warner Ranch House In 1844, Gov. Manuel Micheltorena granted 44,322 acres to Juan Jose Warner who built this house. Gen. Kearny passed here in 1846; Mormon Battalion in 1847. First Butterfield stage stopped at this ranch on Oct. 6, 1858 enroute from Tipton, Mo. to San Francisco; 2600 miles, time 24 days. This was the southern overland route into California. State Registered Landmark No. 311 Marker placed by San Diego County Board of Supervisors and the Historical Markers Committee. Erected 1964

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Borrego Springs — 18 mi
  A dark-sky town ringed by state park, with 130 metal beasts loose in the desert around it.
• Anza-Borrego Desert State Park — 23 mi
  Six hundred thousand acres of badlands, slot canyons, and palm oases, and the biggest state park in California.

More markers nearby

• Chapel of Santa Ysabel (Site of) — 7.7 mi
• Camp Wright — 13 mi
• Oak Grove Stage Station — 13 mi
• San Felipe Valley and Stage Station — 14 mi