ABSTRACT
On January 24, 1848, nine days before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded the present southwestern United States and ended the Mexican War, gold
1 INTRODUCTION
The Ranch House at Warner’s Ranch is a landmark in the history of the American West. The location is associated with Mexican exploration, the frontier period in U.S. American westward migration, the California Gold Rush, the first transcontinental overland mail lines, and pioneer cattle ranching. The Ranch House is located in the broad, relatively flat San José Valley (Valle de San José), which is situated in the mountains in the northeastern portion of San Diego County, California. Since the late 1840s the area has been commonly known as Warner’s Ranch after Jonathan Trumbull Warner, who lived in the valley during the 1840s and early 1850s when it was an important camping stop on the Gila Overland Trail to California. Warner operated a store and trading post at a fork in this trial from 1849 to 1851. In 1857 the current ranch house was constructed by the Carrillo family. By the late 20th century the ranch house still stood, but the location of Warner’s store and trading post had been forgotten.
