"A mixed blessing..."

- Image of cattle grazing at the Gianone Bros. Dairy, near Swanton, circa 1910.
- Mission La Exaltacion de la Santa Cruz, religious and agricultural colony that spawned ranching traditions - consecrated in 1791
- Despite its successful agricultural yields, the Mission's main purpose failed as many natives perished and few were successfully converted to Christianity
- Ohlone deaths numbered at around 1,250 in the first quarter century
- Santa Cruz had the lowest conversion numbers of natives among all of the California Missions

"Pastoral grace, cattle economy..."

Don Jose Joaquin Castro and Don Antonio Rodriguez
- Castro given the Rancho San Andreas in 1833
- Rodriguez given the Arroyo del Rodeo 1834
- These two grants amounted to the entire middle section of today's SC County
- On each tract was a family home, traditional adobe; corrals for branding cattle
- Land was entirely used for pasture

"Riatas, rodeos & the buckaroo..."

Image of Tom Arano, the last vaquero to work cattle in SC County
- The vaquero was the original herdsman and forerunner of the buckaroo, not the cowboy
- vaquero and buckaroo rode territories in the far west, while cowboys didn't appear until after the Civil War in the Rockies and the Gulf of Mexico
- The vaqueros who rode to Alta California were Catalonian, and brought the art of "La Jineta"
- Characteristics of the vaquero were completely unique to California
- "The vaquero prided himself on a bridal hand, and always rode a stallion, since it was considered an earmark of poverty to ride a mare."
- Rodeo the last tribute the American west has made to Californio culture
- Rodeo, derived from "rotate," meaning "to gather"
- Californios treated as second-class citizens once the US took over, changing the economy and the importance of land used for herding and agriculture