HISTORY AT POINT LOBOS 83 



County supervisors. Most of the lots of Carmelito (but not all) were pur- 

 chased by Allan. 



Allan, who made his home at his ranch house at Point Lobos from 1897 

 until his death in 1930 at the age of 70, was born in Pennsylvania. His 

 first job, when 12 years old, was as a mule driver in a Pennsylvania coal 

 mine. He worked for an education, and was graduated from the University 

 of Illinois in 1884. Later he became a race track architect and constructor. 

 In some of this activity he was associated with Lucky Baldwin, notably in 

 building the early Santa Anita track. Allan came to California to build the 

 Ingleside track and he also constructed tracks at Tanforan and Emeryville, 

 in the San Francisco Bay region, and Ascot Park, Los Angeles. He was an 

 elder in the Presbyterian Church. Besides managing his holdings here, 

 Allan was a banker and head of a fish canning company. 



During the Allan regime, dairying and a limited amount of farming 

 were part of the economic background of the Point Lobos area. Across the 

 road from the Reserve there stands a dairy operated by Allan heirs. Fruit 

 trees remain about some of the old houses. Lumbering, on a very small 

 scale, had some part in the activities of the neighborhood. Gibson Creek, 

 forming the south boundary of the Reserve, gets its name from a Mr. Gib- 

 son, who hauled redwood posts out of that canyon, above the part now in 

 state ownership. 



As Carmelito Cove offers deep water and is the only good landing place 

 for several miles along the rugged coast (it had been reputed the haunt 

 of smugglers in old Spanish times), rum runners, during the prohibition 

 era of the twentieth century, made some use of that cove and even built a 

 road to facilitate their landings of contraband cargo. Below the quarry are 

 the remains of one of the rum-running boats, silent witness to the prowess 

 of the United States Coast Guard. 



lender the Allan ownership. Point Lobos was maintained intact, without 

 further subdivision. Visitors had resorted to the Point for outings even 

 as early as the Mexican regime ; and now they came in increasing numbers 

 to see the famous cypress trees and the scenic shore. A toll-gate was estab- 

 lished, carriages and automobiles paying toll for admission. Care of the 

 cypress trees became a primary concern of the owners. Artists and scien- 

 tists resorted to the Point, as did thousands of other lovers of nature. With 

 the development of motion-pictures, a number of producing companies 

 came here "on location" — the first in 1916. 



The proposal that Point Lobos should be made a public reserve was 

 broached at the time Carmelito was laid out. The subdividers, as has been 

 noted, marked the outer cypress-crowned headland Point Lotos Park. Later 

 it was declared bv some that this property had been given to the public 

 at that time— 1891. 



Dr. David Starr Jordan, in an official report of 1880, informed the Gov- 

 ernment that the Carmel Bay area, including Point Lobos, was in his opin- 

 ion the most picturesque spot on the Pacific Coast. Early in the present 

 century a meeting was held in the little museum at Pacific Grove, with a 

 number of scientists and Sierra Club members present, and the preserva- 

 tion of Point Lobos and Cypress Point as national parks or reserves was 

 discussed. 



In August, 1909, G. Frederick Schwarz, noted forester who had made 

 a study of the Monterey cypress groves, wrote to A. M. Allan suggesting, 

 "You might perhaps see your way clear to add your beautiful cypress 



