Native Americans Archaeological evidence shows that the Esselen lived in Big Sur as early as 3500 BC, leading a nomadic, hunter-gatherer existence. The tribes also used controlled burning techniques to increase tree growth and food production.
Spanish exploration and settlement The first
Europeans to see Big Sur were
Spanish mariners led by
Juan Cabrillo in 1542, who sailed up the coast without landing. When Cabrillo sailed by, he described the coastal range as "mountains which seem to reach the heavens, and the sea beats on them; sailing along close to land, it appears as though they would fall on the ships". When they attempted to explore further south, the scouts found their way blocked by "the same cliff that had forced us back from the shore and obliged us to travel through the mountains".
Spanish ranchos Along with the rest of
Alta California, Big Sur became part of
Mexico when it gained independence from
Spain in 1821. But, due to its inaccessibility, only a few small portions of the Big Sur region were included in land grants given by Mexican governors
José Figueroa and
Juan Bautista Alvarado. It was located in upper Carmel Valley along Tularcitos Creek. ; Rancho San Francisquito
Rancho San Francisquito was a land grant given in 1835 by Governor
José Castro to Catalina Manzanelli de Munrás. She was the wife of
Esteban Munrás (1798–1850), a Monterey trader, amateur painter, and grantee of
Rancho San Vicente. The grant was located in the upper
Carmel Valley, inland and east of Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito. ; Rancho Milpitas Rancho Milpitas was a land grant given in 1838 by governor Juan Alvarado to Ygnacio Pastor. When Pastor obtained title from the
Public Land Commission in 1875,
Faxon Atherton immediately purchased the land. By 1880, the James Brown Cattle Company owned and operated Rancho Milpitas and neighboring Rancho Los Ojitos.
William Randolph Hearst's Piedmont Land and Cattle Company acquired the rancho in 1925. In 1940, in anticipation of the increased forces required in World War II, the U.S. War Department purchased the land from Hearst to create a troop training facility known as the
Hunter Liggett Military Reservation. ; Rancho El Sur On July 30, 1834, Figueroa
granted Rancho El Sur, two square
leagues of land totalling 8,949-acres (3,622 ha), to
Juan Bautista Alvarado. The grant extended from the Little Sur River to what became known as Cooper Point. Alvarado later traded Rancho El Sur for the more accessible
Rancho Bolsa del Potrero y Moro Cojo in the northern Salinas Valley, owned by his uncle by marriage, Captain
John B. R. Cooper. About one-half of Rancho El Sur is still an operating cattle ranch. ; Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito In 1839, Alvarado granted
Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito, also about two square leagues of land totalling , to Marcelino Escobar, a prominent official of
Monterey. The grant was bounded on the north by the Carmel River and on the south by Palo Colorado Canyon. In 1848, two days after the discovery of gold at
Sutter's Mill, Mexico ceded California to the United States as a result of the
Mexican–American War.
First survey During the first survey of the coast conducted by the U.S. Coast Survey in 1886, the surveyor reported:
Homesteaders The first known European settler in Big Sur was John Davis who in 1853 built a cabin near the present-day site of the Mount Manuel Trail trailhead. He became a Mexican citizen, converted to Catholicism, and was given a Spanish name at his baptism. He married Native American Encarnacion Vallejo and acquired considerable land, including Rancho El Sur, on which he had a cabin built in April or May 1861. The Cooper Cabin is the oldest surviving structure in Big Sur.
William B. Post arrived in California in 1848 and was the foreman of the Soberanes Ranch when he built a single-room cabin in 1867. His son added to it in 1877, when the family moved there full-time. The Post House is a historic landmark and is on the grounds of the Ventana Inn resort.
Michael Pfeiffer, wife Barbara Laquet, and four children arrived in Big Sur in 1869 to settle on the south coast. After reaching Sycamore Canyon, they found it to their liking and decided to stay. They had six more children later on. Another important pioneer-era historic resource is the Swetnam / Trotter House, a late 19th-century dwelling located at the mouth of
Palo Colorado Canyon. After the passage of the federal
Homestead Act in 1862, a few hardy settlers were drawn by the promise of free 160-acre (65 ha) parcels. After the claimant filed for the land, they had gained full ownership after five years of residence or by paying $1.50 per acre within six months. Each claim was for 160 acres, a quarter section of free government land. Homesteader John Junge built a one-room redwood cabin in 1920. The
John Little State Natural Reserve straddling the mouth of Lime Creek preserves the original 1917 cabin of conservationist Elizabeth K. Livermore. Many other local sites retain names from settlers during this period:
Bottcher,
Cooper's Point, Gamboa,
Anderson, Partington, Dani, Harlans, McQuades, Ross, and
McWay are a few of the place names.
Industrial era and gold rush . The local industries provided more work and supported a larger population than it does today. Jobs included harvesting lumber and tanoak bark,
gold mining, and
limestone processing. From the 1860s through the start of the twentieth century, lumbermen cut down most of the readily accessible
coast redwoods. Redwood harvesting further inland was always limited by the rugged terrain and difficulty in transporting the lumber to market. Redwood was cut in large amounts for use onsite in limestone kilns. Two companies operated large-scale limestone extraction and processing. The Monterey Lime Company operated near Long Ridge, east of Bixby Creek, and the Rockland Lime and Lumber Company operated a kiln at what later became known Limekiln Creek in the south. William F. Notley was one of the first to harvest the bark of the Tanbark Oak from the
Little Sur River canyon. The tanbark was harvested from the isolated trees inland, left to dry,
corded, and brought out on mules or hauled out on "go-devils". The go-devil was a wagon with two wheels on the front, while the rear had rails for pulling. A point on the Palo Colorado road is still nicknamed "The Hoist" because of the very steep road which required wagon-loads of tanbark and lumber to be hoisted by block and tackle hitched to oxen. The old block and tackle on a beam is still mounted between mailboxes. The trip from Monterey to the Pfeiffer Ranch usually took all day by wagon. If the road was in bad shape, the stage driver only took a lightweight spring wagon. The rough road ended at the Pfeiffer Resort on the
Big Sur River. It could be impassible in winter. Notley constructed a
dog-hole port at the mouth of the Palo Colorado River, and a small village grew up from 1898 to 1907 around at what is known today as
Notley's Landing. Bixby built a sawmill on his property, and to get the lumber and lime to market, built a similar doghole port at the mouth of what was then known as Mill's Creek, today as Bixby Creek. Only the foundations of the doghole ports remain today. The town boasted a population of 200, four stores, a restaurant, five saloons, a dance hall, and a hotel, but it was abandoned soon after the start of the twentieth century and burned to the ground in 1909. Miners extracted about $150,000 in gold (about $ in ) during the mine's existence.
Lightering was used to transport freight to and from the beach. A large crowd gathered to receive supplies from and to load butter, honey, beans, wool, hides, and other products onto the ship. In the late 1800s, the Ventana Power Company operated a sawmill near present-day Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. They began planning to build a dam on the Big Sur River just downstream of the confluence of Ventana Creek and the Big Sur River. They hoped to sell the electricity to the City of Monterey. They built a diversion channel along the Big Sur River, but the 1906 San Francisco earthquake bankrupted the company and they abandoned the project. The stonework from the diversion channel is still visible. Few other signs of this brief industrial period are visible. The rugged, isolated terrain kept out all but the sturdiest and most self-sufficient settlers. Travelers who ventured south of the Post Ranch rode horseback along trails that connected the various homesteaders along the coast. The 1900 Monterey County voting register indicates 61 male voters in the Big Sur area. The majority (47) were either farmers or ranchers. Other trades included a gardener, apiarist, fruit grower, woodsman, laborer, lighthouse keeper, blacksmith, surveyor, miner, and teamster. Lumber-related occupations include bark peelers, woodchoppers, and wood overseers. == Geography ==