Tejon Ranch Facts and History

Encompassing 422 square miles (nearly 270,000 acres), Tejon (tuh-hon) Ranch is the largest single piece of contiguous private property in California.
In 1772, Spanish Captain Don Pedro Fages became the first European to set foot on the lands of what is now Tejon Ranch. Fages later became governor of California under Spanish rule.
Tejon gets its name from Lt. Francisco Ruiz who called the region El Tejon, meaning “the badger,” after his soldiers discovered a badger at the mouth of the canyon during an 1806 expedition. He also named a separate canyon Canada de las Uvas (Grapevine Canyon), because of the abundance of grapevines found there.
Rancho el Tejon (Tejon Ranch) was established in 1843 through a Mexican land grant.
In 1854 Fort Tejon was established by the First Dragoons at the recommendation of the eventual owner of Tejon Ranch, General Edward Fitzgerald Beale, who was then serving as Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Over the next decade, Fort Tejon grew to become the third largest settlement in Southern California.
Tejon Ranch is comprised of four Mexican land grants, all purchased by Beale and his family from 1855 - 1866. The four grants are: Rancho el Tejon, Rancho la Liebre, Rancho los Alamos y Agua Caliente, and Rancho de Castac. Total purchase price was $90,000.
Tejon Ranch’s cattle brand, the Cross and Crescent, was first recorded in Kern County in 1868. The brand’s origin has been traced back to 997 A.D. Spanish conquistadors brought the brand to Mexico. It was then transferred to cattle, which carried the brand to Tejon Ranch.
Beale died at the age of 72 in 1893. The Ranch then passed on to his son, Truxtun Beale.
The Beale family is responsible for several landmarks in Bakersfield. In 1900, the Beale Memorial Library opened in Bakersfield. It was the first free library in Kern County. In 1904, Truxtun Beale presented the city of Bakersfield with the Beale Clock Tower, a 64-foot clock tower located at the intersection of Chester and 17th Street. It was heavily damaged in a 1952 earthquake and was later rebuilt at the Kern County Museum.
In 1912, a group of Southern California businessmen, led by Harry Chandler and Moses H. Sherman, purchased Tejon Ranch from Truxtun Beale.
Tejon Ranch Company was incorporated in 1936, with shares in the company trading over the counter.
In 1939, Tejon Ranch donated land to the State of California to establish the Fort Tejon State Historical Park.
The early 1960’s saw a great deal of construction activity on Tejon Ranch. In 1963, construction began on the eight-lane freeway that would become Interstate 5 through Tejon Ranch. Construction began in 1965 on the A.D. Edmonston Pumping Plant, the largest pumping facility on the California Aqueduct. It lifts water almost 2,000 feet up and over the Tehachapi Mountains into Southern California. At peak capacity, the plant pumps almost 2 million gallons a minute through 10 miles of pipeline that have been tunneled through Tejon Ranch.
In 1991, Tejon Ranch became home to “The Umbrellas,” a temporary work of art created by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. More than 1,700 yellow umbrellas were displayed on Tejon Ranch and other private and government-owned land for 18 days while a similar number of blue umbrellas were on display in Japan.
In 1999 Tejon Ranch initiated three new development projects:
- Tejon Industrial Complex (entitled and under construction) – a 1,500-acre commercial/industrial center.
- Centennial (in planning and entitlement process) – a sustainable new town community in Los Angeles County.
- Tejon Mountain Village (in planning and entitlement process) - a remarkable, environmentally sensitive mountain resort community.
In 2007, at the urging of condor experts, Tejon Ranch Company announced a ban on the use of lead ammunition on the Ranch. Tejon Ranch operates California’s largest and finest private hunting program.
In 2008 Tejon Ranch Company and top environmental resource groups — the Sierra Club, NRDC, California Audubon, Planning and Conservation League and Endangered Habitats League — announce landmark agreement to protect as much as 240,000 of Tejon Ranch for future generations. The agreement, which would conserve 90% of the Ranch, would be the largest public-private conservation partnership in California history.