Basic HTML Version
64
winter
|
spr ing
with offices and living spaces for the manager, overseers, and guests. There
was also a bunkhouse for the help and large stock stables, created with the
best sanitation in mind. In September, George Coles reported that four of
the thoroughbred horses were in Los Angeles training for the races and five
milk cows and three bulls were at the State Fair.
No sooner was the Ontare Rancho underway than Underhill purchased
5,260 acres of land 1½ miles south of Los Alamos from Doctor J.B. Shaw
in spring 1886. This land bordered on the route of the Pacific Coast
Railway whose terminus at the time was Los Alamos.
In 1887, the Pacific Improvement Company, a subsidiary of the
Southern Pacific Railroad, offered Underhill $125,000 for the Ontare
Ranch whose water rights they wanted for their planned subdivision of
Hope Ranch. He accepted and moved the ranching operation to Los
Alamos.
Ranch hands constructed a large stable with extensive sheds and an
enormous barn that included a carriage house in its center. Underhill
designed a two-story clapboard ranch house, and he planted an arboretum
of cypresses, black locusts, eucalyptus, pines, palms and almond trees
while taking care to preserve the ancient specimens of live oak. His
livestock in 1887 included 300 head of cattle, 60 thoroughbred mares,
four principal stallions, and several Clydesdales and Hambletonians. The
ranch land abounded in wild game and the hunting dogs did not need to
travel far to find deer.
Elizabeth Eaton Burton wrote, “Now that he had invested so heavily in
lands out West, he decided to spend most of his time here, and his ranch
became a hospitable center for all his friends.”
As one of those friends, Elizabeth remembered that the fun of the whole
expedition to El Roblar “consisted in driving over there in a four-in-hand
with Frank Underhill on the box seat. It took us all day, with several
relays of horses, to travel some sixty miles. But as we always had pleasant
company and a delicious picnic luncheon, followed by a siesta in the heat
of the day, what cared we how much time it took to reach our destination?
“The Ranch, a great tract of land extending over low wooded hills, is
centered around barns and corrals and an L-shaped ranch house with
covered porches. These covered porches were much needed, for the climate
was hot and dry so that we sat in their shade and did not venture out in
the middle of the day.
“Naturally there were rodeos when the branding took place, and these
were usually festive occasions, when all the native Mexicans turned out to
show their prowess….When Frederic Remington came up, a rodeo with
all its gay accompaniments of the barbecue, music and dancing was staged
during his stay and all sorts of games were organized. I remember one
which got rather out of hand, but proved to be a great success. The men
began by using the hoses around the house to souse each other, warming
to the watery battle until soon they all looked like drowned rats, while we
women rushed up to the second story for safety, splitting our sides with
laughter.
“At night, around a fine big fire (for it grows very cold there after
sunset) we often played games or held a law court and tried men for horse
stealing. Over this we had many good laughs, for our ‘district attorney’
was full of clever repartee and the ‘judge’ was not far behind him. So
convincing were they, that the foreman of the ranch, a rather simple soul,
Herminia Carmelita
Claudina Dibblee
Underhill (photo
courtesy of Santa
Barbara Historical
Museum)
The Underhill-designed clubhouse at Bartlett Polo Field was remodeled into a
residence after the Depression put an end to polo fields in Montecito
(photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)