HISTORY AT POINT LOBOS 81 



An agreement had been reached, then, between those who claimed por- 

 tions of the Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito. Only the confirmation of 

 the Castro claim remained in the way of those claimants having the por- 

 tions which the}' claimed. As yet, with the exception of Gregg and the 

 squatters, there seemed to be only undivided interests. 



The Castro appeal was finally won, in 1882, in the case of "The United 

 States of America versus Joseph S. Emery, Nathan W. Spaulding, with 

 the will annexed of Ahner Bassett, as successors in the interest of Jose 

 Castro, deceased, the claimant herein." The title was confirmed on Decem- 

 ber 24, 1885, and the patent was signed by President Grover Cleveland 

 on May 4, 1888. 



During much of this period of litigation. Point Lobos was a center of a 

 picturesque maritime industry. Carmelito Cove, though small, offered a 

 base of operations for whaling, which began there in 1861 or 1862. Some 

 20 Portuguese used the cove as their base. Whalers Knoll, above the old 

 quarry, was used to sight the whales. When captured and killed, a whale 

 was brought to the derricks and tackles in the cove, where it was cut up 

 in the water. Iron caldrons set in stone were used in boiling the whale oil. 

 The lurid flames and smoke of the quays, the shrilling of seagulls, the 

 shouting of men, and all the attendant excitement were in marked contrast 

 to the peaceful locale — the small frame cottages of the whalers; the pigs 

 and goats and cows browsing roundabout, and the neat little gardens, w^hich 

 were planted mostly to corn and pumpkins. Today, all that remains of 

 the whaling industry, which was abandoned about 1884, is the hulk of one 

 of the whale boats, the derrick rings in one of the rocks, a 90-foot whale 

 skeleton, two of the iron caldrons, one of the whalers' cottages, some evi- 

 dence of old oil spilled upon the ground, and a stone wall used as pro- 

 tection from the wind upon the lookout knoll. 



Shortly after the signing of the patent pertaining to Rancho San Jose 

 y Sur Chiquito, by President Cleveland, those who claimed the rancho, with 

 the exception of Gregg and the squatters, banded together and on Septem- 

 ber 6, 1888, sold their interests to the Carmelo Land and Coal Company, 

 a corporation, for the sum of $1. They, of course, held shares in the 

 company equivalent to their interests in the land. Thus, for the first time 

 in almost half a century, the Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito, including 

 Point Lobos, came under one ownership. 



In the early 1880 's it was determined that the hills back of the Point 

 contained coal deposits, considered valuable. The forming of the Carmelo 

 Land and Coal Company in 1888, by the owners of the Rancho San Jose y 

 Sur Chiquito, marked the beginning of an extensive development. A rail- 

 road already had been built, which connected the mine with the county 

 road, and a coal chute was added by which the coal could be transferred 

 from the road to the north side of Carmelo Cove. The annual report of 

 the State Mineralogist in 1890 tells us that more than 720 feet of the coal 

 mine tunnel had been retimbered, and that the coal in three distinct veins 

 varied in thickness from two to nine feet. A hoisting engine, built at the 

 cost of $10,000, was to be used in bringing the coal to the surface. Chinese 

 laborers were emploj^ed to do the actual coal mining. 



Because of the expense of operation, and market conditions, the coal 

 mine was idle by 1896, and has remained so, for the most part, to the 

 present day. 



