Early history Archaeological investigations indicate that Santa Cruz Island has been occupied for at least 10,000 years. It was known as
Limuw (place of the sea) or
Michumash in the
Chumash language. The
Chumash people who lived on the island developed a highly complex society dependent on marine harvest, craft specialization, and trade with the mainland population.
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo first observed the island in 1542, later estimated to be inhabited by 2,000 to 3,000 Chumash on the three northern Channel Islands, with 11 villages on Santa Cruz. In 1602,
Sebastián Vizcaíno led the last Spanish expedition to California. His map named Santa Cruz Island the
Isla de Gente Barbuda (island of the bearded people). Between 1602 and 1769, no recorded European contact with the island existed. Finally, in 1769, the land-and-sea expedition of Don
Gaspar de Portolà reached Santa Cruz Island. Traveling with him were Father
Juan González Vizcaíno and Father
Francisco Palóu. Father Palóu wrote of Father Vizcaíno's visit to the Santa Cruz village of Xaxas, that the missionaries on the ship went ashore and "they were well received by the heathen and presented with fish, in return for which the Indians were given some strings of beads." The island was considered for the establishment of a Catholic
mission to serve the large Chumash population. When
Mission San Buenaventura was founded across the channel in 1782, the slow religious conversion of the Santa Cruz Chumash commenced. Beset by diseases such as
measles, the Chumash declined in numbers until 1822, when the last Chumash left the island for mainland California missions. confirmed by the
US Supreme Court in 1860. The grant was patented to Andrés Castillero in 1867. that sold equipment to miners and by 1886 Caire had acquired all of the shares of the Santa Cruz Island Company which he and his colleagues had founded in 1869. He then implemented his vision of building a self-sustaining sheep and cattle ranch, vineyard, and a nut and fruit grove operation on the island. Main Ranch was augmented with nine other ranches, Prisoners' Harbor, Christy, Scorpion, Smugglers, Forney's Cove/Rancho Nuevo, Poso, Buena Vista Portezuela, and Sur Ranch. In 1885, he operated the largest private telephone system in the US then. A post office operated from 1895 until 1903, while there were 110 workers on the island in 1889. The operation received water from four springs, El Pato, Gallina, The Dindos, and The Peacock, which fed into a reservoir, tanks, and dams. The vineyard was planted in 1884, and by 1895, the winery was maturing from the vineyard. depicting Santa Cruz Island Justinian Caire's will stipulated that his two sons, Arthur and Frederic, were to be executors of his will and continue managing operations with little change. However, Justinian signed over to his wife Albina, who had all shares in the Justinian Caire Company and Santa Cruz Company the year before he died in 1897. His sons continued a successful livestock, winemaking and ranching industry on the island after his death, at least until Albina distributed Santa Cruz Island Company shares amongst her children between late 1910 and early 1911. The Gherini Family operated a commercial sheep ranching business that persisted for several decades. At its peak, the Gherini ranch managed several thousand sheep annually, supplying wool and meat to markets on the mainland. They maintained a base of operations at Scorpion Ranch, where a shearing shed, corrals, and other ranch buildings were established. The Gherinis continued ranching on the island until the late 20th century, ultimately selling their remaining land to the federal government in 1996 as part of the island's transition to public ownership. The last of the 10,000 sheep on the island were removed by 1999. The Nature Conservancy rapidly liquidated the cattle operation and ended the ranching era on the island. The time taken to eradicate pigs on Santa Cruz Island was about half that taken on a neighboring island of similar size (
Santa Rosa Island)
Other uses have revived their cultural practice of crossing from
Channel Islands Harbor to the island in a journey via
tomol, a wooden plank boat. Santa Cruz was a base for
otter hunters, fishermen, and
smugglers. The Channel Islands often provided smugglers and
bootleggers with convenient yet isolated hideaways to store their goods. One such area is known today as Smugglers Cove. George Nidever recalled hunting otter at Santa Cruz in the winter of 1835–36. Working from a base camp at
Santa Rosa Island, he and two others obtained 60 skins that season. Fishermen encamped on the island, trading fish for other goods from passing boats. Several movies were shot on the island, including
Peter Pan and
The Rescue. The
Richfield Oil Corporation acquired an exploration lease in 1954 but did not find oil.
UC Santa Barbara established a summer geology class in 1963, and the Santa Cruz Island Field Station in 1966. The Santa Cruz Island Hunt Club operated from 1966 until 1985, beginning as a sheep and pig hunting during a rifle season and an archery season. The United States military began to use Santa Cruz Island during
World War II, and has constructed and maintained strategic installations on the island. Like all of the Channel Islands, Santa Cruz Island was used as an early warning outpost for observing enemy planes and ships during World War II. During the
Cold War a communications station was installed as a part of the
Pacific Missile Range Facility. This station remains in operation, although not at the levels of use seen in the 1950s and 1960s. ==Wildlife, plants, and climate==