1965 Dudley Pictorial Map of the Spanish and Mexican Ranchos of Ventura County, California

This is a 1965 Leavitt Dudley pictorial map of Spanish and Mexican ranchos in Ventura County, California. The Spanish and Mexican governments granted these ranchos to individuals or groups of individuals as rewards.

A Closer Look

All 19 original Spanish- and Mexican-era ranchos are illustrated and identified. The oldest of the 19 ranchos is Rancho Simi, a Spanish land grant granted to Santiago Pico in 1795. The next oldest, Rancho El Conejo, was a Spanish land grant granted to Jose Polanco and Ygnacio Rodriguez in 1803. The other 17 were granted in the 1830s and 1840s. The El Camino Real runs along the coast and was part of a 600-mile route that connected 21 Spanish missions in California. The mission in this region, Mission San Buenaventura, is illustrated, as are the house on the Rancho Camulos (which was carved out of the Rancho San Francisco in 1853) and the Olivas Adobe, an adobe structure on the former Rancho San Miguel that is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Other decorative vignettes illustrate Spanish dancers and migrants, ranchers, and a conquistador overseeing a priest blessing a Native American.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by Leavitt Dudley and published by the Title Insurance and Trust Company Ventura in 1965. We note a single cataloged example in OCLC, which is part of the collection at the University of California Berkeley. An example is also part of the David Rumsey Map Collection.