In the early days of Ventura, the economy was based on cattle. They could be sold only for their hides and tallow (fat), which were used by Americans for the booming New England shoe business. It was a modest living for local ranchers, who traded hides—called “California banknotes”—for goods that were hard to find in old California.
This all changed with the great Gold Rush of 1849. People came from all over the world to try their luck in the gold fields of Northern California. So many arrived that they consumed nearly all the food sources in the area. Suddenly, there was a market for beef—a market that would pay in gold for meat.
Local ranchers, with their vaqueros (many of whom were Native American Chumash), drove cattle north and became wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. Some Yankees, seeing the wealth of the ranchers, came south to try their luck as merchants, setting up peddlers’ wagons and traveling from adobe to adobe selling goods to the newly wealthy. It was hard work because the ranches were so spread out, but the profits were great and well worth the effort…