Point Lobos

Western Gull at S Shore Trail

A Harbor Seal

Brandt's Cormorant colony

Western Gull

The original Point Lobos Ecological Reserve was created in 1973. It has become "one of the richest marine habitats in California." Divers may not take any fish or mollusks within the reserve.[2] The Point Lobos marine protected areas provide shelter to a wide range of fish, invertebrates, birds, and marine mammals, from those that rely on the near-shore kelp forest to those that inhabit the deep waters of the Carmel Submarine Canyon.[13]

In 2007, the California Department of Fish and Game expanded the ecological reserve and renamed it as the Point Lobos State Marine Reserve and Point Lobos State Marine Conservation Area. A no-take zone was extended from the east side of Monastery Beach to the mouth of MalPaso Creek.[14] They were two of 29 marine protected areas adopted during the first phase of the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, a collaborative public process to create a statewide network of marine protected areas along the California coastline.

Point Lobos SMR covers 5.36 square miles.[15] The SMR protects all marine life within its boundaries. Fishing and take of all living marine resources is prohibited.[16]

Point Lobos SMCA covers 8.83 square miles.[15] Harvest of all living marine resources is prohibited in the conservation area except the recreational and commercial take of salmon, albacore, and the commercial take of spot prawn.[16]

As specified by the Marine Life Protection Act, select marine protected areas along California's central coast are monitored by scientists to track their effectiveness and learn more about ocean health. Similar studies in marine protected areas located off of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands have already detected gradual improvements in fish size and number.[17]

Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado granted Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito, two square leagues of land, in 1839 to Marcelino Escobar, Alcalde (or mayor) of Monterey, Alta California. The grant was from the south side of Carmel River, including Point Lobos, 11 miles (18 km) south to Palo Colorado Canyon.[25][26]

Two of Escobar's sons, Juan and Agustin, obtained possession of the rancho shortly afterward, and sold it on August 26, 1841 to Doňa Maria Josefa de Abrego, who held power of attorney for her husband José Abrego to buy and sell land. She paid $250, one-half in silver, and one-half in gold, or about three cents per acre.[20][22]

Ownership of Point Lobos was later complicated by the fact that when Juan and Augustin Escobar sold the rancho to Josefa de Abrego in 1841, they didn't obtain permission from their multiple brothers and sisters. The siblings later contested the sale.[20]

Under somewhat mysterious circumstances, on January 16, 1843, Maria Abrego deeded the rancho to a group of about 10 soldiers from the Monterey Presidio. Records confirm the soldiers paid nothing, and a legend attached to the transfer says a gambler lost a rancho in a card game. Her husband was known for his gambling habit.[20] On June 7, 1844, the soldiers turned the Rancho over to their superior officer, Colonel José Castro, former Governor Alvarado's brother-in-law.[14]

After the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded California to the United States. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. But the Land Act of 1851 required owners to prove their ownership. Castro filed a claim on February 2, 1853,[20] but grew impatient with the outcome and sold the land in 1854 to Joseph S. Emery and Abner Bassett for $700, leaving to them the legal fight for ownership.[14][27] The commission denied Castro's claim on August 28, 1855.[28] Castro died in 1860.[28] Emery and Bassett appealed the court's ruling. Bassett died in 1874, leaving his undivided one-half interest to his wife and eight children. Their half of the rancho was appraised at $15,000.[20]

In 1880, a lawsuit was filed in United States District Court to resolve the conflicting claims of more than two dozen putative property owners and squatters. On June 5, 1882, subject to confirmation of the original claim by Castro, the judges divided Escobar's original land grant into 34 parcels.[22] Later that year, Castro's original claim was validated by the court. The title was confirmed on December 24, 1885, and President Grover Cleveland signed the land patent on May 4, 1888, 35 years after Castro's initial filing.[29] All of the 34 claims from the 1880 lawsuit were invalidated as a result.

In 1851 a Chinese sailor, Quock Junk, ran aground at Point Lobos. He was rescued by members of the Ohlone tribe. He was later joined by four or five other Chinese families who built cottages at Whaler's Cove. They became the first commercial fishermen at the point.

On September 22, 1853, the Point Lobos lighthouse was linked by telegraph to San Francisco. The link was primarily used to transmit maritime and weather information.[30] From 1854 to 1858, a granite quarry was operated at what was later named Whaler's Cove. The granite was used to build the Old Monterey Jail, San Francisco Mint, portions of Fort Point, and buildings on the Navy's installation at Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

In 1862, Antonio Victorine, a Portuguese whaler from the Azores, arrived at Point Lobos, following the whale population. About fifty to seventy family members lived at Whaler's Cove. The men spotted whales from Whaler's Knoll and then rowed off shore about 1 mile (1.6 km) in 24-foot boats to harpoon the whales. They towed the whales back to Pt. Lobos to flense and harvest the blubber. They then towed the carcasses back out to sea.[31][32]

Headstock of the Carmelo Land and Coal Company mine in upper Malpaso Canyon, south of Carmel, California, in 1895.

In 1874, a seam of low grade bituminous coal was found in upper Malpaso Canyon, southeast of Pt Lobos.[33] On September 6, 1888, shortly after the patent for Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito was approved, almost all of the owners banded together to form the Carmelo Land and Coal Company. In exchange for shares in the company, they sold their interest in the land for $1.[22] A mine was dug into the mountain near Malpaso Creek, and the coal was transported on ore carts via a tramway to a dog-hole port at Coal Chute Point, opposite the Chinese settlement at Whaler's Cove. The deep water allowed the workers to use the chute to deliver the coal directly to coastal steamers.[21][20]

In 1890, Emory and Bassett's heirs subdivided Point Lobos into 1,000 parcels. They begin selling lots for $25 to $50 for a new town they initially named Point Lobos City, but later renamed Carmelito.[21] The lack of a bridge across the Carmel River and two national economic recessions during the 1890s combined to severely restrict sales.[23][14] The outer portion of the point was reserved as the Point Lobos Park.[20]

In 1897, Alexander MacMillan Allan, a successful engineer from Pennsylvania, was hired to improve the coal mine operation. When he found the coal mine could not produce a profit, he purchased 640 acres (260 ha) of Point Lobos from the Carmelo Land and Coal Company in 1898. Marine biologist Gennosuke Kodani was already harvesting abalone from the area, a valuable delicacy in Japan. Allan partnered with him to build the Point Lobos Canning Company, which they operated until 1928.[34] Allan decided to move the remainder of his family from Oakland to Point Lobos.[35]

Label from a can of abalone produced by the Point Lobos Canning Company in 1905.

Allan added a sand and gravel mining operation to the Abalone cannery. In 1899 he had a narrow gauge railroad built from nearby San Jose Beach to Coal Chute Point to transport sand for shipment by sea to glass manufacturers in Alameda. Sand mining continued through 1954.[23][21] Allan established the Point Lobos Dairy at the mouth of San Jose Creek which was operated from 1903 until 1954.[14] He also became a successful race track architect and built the Santa Anita, Tanforan and Bay Meadows race tracks.[35][36] One member of the family sold a portion they inherited to form the Carmel Meadows subdivision.[35]

In 1899, Allan and his wife Satie, who grew to appreciate the natural beauty of the point, were concerned about the increasing number of visitors. People had been visiting the point for many years to see the rare Monterey Cypress trees and enjoy the scenic coastline. The Allan family put up toll gates, prohibited camping, and charged visitors 50 cents a vehicle (about $10 today) to enter the point. Allan bought many of the residential lots that had been subdivided and later got the entire subdivision removed from the county record.[37][22][23][14]

Scientists reported to the government that the Carmel area including Point Lobos was the "most picturesque spot on the Pacific Coast." In 1925, Point Lobos figured prominently in discussions for inclusion in the new state park system. Members of the Sierra Club and the Save the Redwoods League discussed preserving Point Lobos and Cypress Point as national parks or reserves.[20] Duncan McDuffie of the Save the Redwoods League hired the internationally known landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to research Point Lobos and report on the areas most noteworthy of preservation. Olmstead's report described Point Lobos as "the most outstanding example on the coast of California of picturesque rock and surf scenery in combination with unique vegetation, including typical Monterey cypress."[38] Point Lobos gained the attention of the newly established California State Park system, who considered taking the land using eminent domain. Allan initially resisted the idea of making the land a public park.[35][39] The family persuaded the state to wait until Allan died.[4]

On February 8, 1933, three years after Allan's death, the Allan family sold 348 acres (141 ha) to the State of California for $631,000 (equivalent to $10,685,475 in 2021). The state promptly set about erasing evidence of human intrusion on the land, removing man-made structures like the abalone cannery, the railroad used to haul sand, and a number of homes and shacks, excepting a single Whalers Cabin.[4] The Allan family donated an additional 15 acres (6.1 ha) to the state of cypress-covered headlands at the western tip of the point as a memorial grove to Alexander and Satie Morgan Allan. The state added another 48 acres (19 ha) in 1975, expanding the reserve to almost 400 acres (160 ha).[40]

At the beginning of World War II, a U.S. Army Coastal Defense Squad used the Whalers Cabin at Whaler's Cove for its headquarters. From 1942 to 1944, the cove was the site of a 4th Air Force Long-Range Radar site. Tents were set up to accommodate 90 men below Rat Hill. In July and August 1943, the U.S. Army established a training school for the 543rd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment, 3rd Engineer Special Brigade, at Whaler's Cove at Point Lobos. The unit found that the cove was an ideal harbor for anchoring and maintaining their boats. The unit was later involved in 62 landings in the southwest Pacific.[41][42][43][14]

The Allan family retained the land to the east of Highway 1. Eunice Allan Riley, one of Alexander's three daughters, repurchased the last subdivided lots in the 1950s.[36][14][23] In 1960, 750 acres (300 ha) underwater acres were added as the first marine reserve in the United States. The marine reserve was designated an ecological reserve in 1973, and in 1992, was added to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the largest in the nation.[23][40]