El Sur Ranch
Both the ranch and the park originally comprised the Rancho El Sur land grant given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Juan Bautista Alvarado.
His plans were protested by Big Sur residents whose efforts persuaded the California Coastal Commission to deny his permit.
In 1997, after being denied a permit to build a 200-room hotel at the mouth of Little Sur River, he agreed to a conservation easement covering the western-most parcel of land, at a cost of $11 million to California taxpayers.
Hill has sought to increase water drawn from the wells to levels that according to one conservation group might harm endangered steelhead trout.
Before the arrival of Europeans, the land was occupied by the Esselen people, who resided along the upper Carmel and Arroyo Seco Rivers, and along the Big Sur coast from near present-day Hurricane Point to the vicinity of Vicente Creek in the south.
The Spanish forcibly assimilated the Indians, requiring them to labor in the mission fields, while feeding them an inadequate and foreign diet.
[13] The native population was further decimated by diseases for which they had no immunity, including influenza, measles, tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and dysentery, which wiped out 90 percent of their people,.
[15] Spanish Governor José Figueroa granted two square leagues (totaling 8,949 acres (36.22 km2)) of land named Rancho El Sur in 1834 to Juan Bautista Alvarado, who later traded it to his uncle Juan Bautista Rogerio Cooper in exchange for Rancho Bolsa del Potrero.
[18] Their son John Baptist Henry Cooper helped his father with the cattle business on Rancho El Sur.
[19] Martha (Brawley) Cooper received 2,591 acres (1,049 ha) of her the land, and over time bought the remainder from her husband's two sisters.
He was the founder of Del Monte Properties and with his wife Jane Selby (née Hayne) owned the El Sur Ranch.
[24] His son Louis W. Hill bought considerable land in Pebble Beach, California when it was first developed by the Pacific Improvement Company with the intent to attract the wealthy.
The elder Hearst had nurtured an ambition to buy large areas of the Big Sur coast at one time.
In 1967, the ranch was subject to a precedent-making trespassing appellate court case prosecuted by Leon Panetta's brother, Joseph R.
[32][33] When Cortlandt died in Monterey[34] on March 28, 1978, his only child James inherited the approximately 7,100 acres (29 km2) ranch and other family properties while he was still in college.
He contracted with a San Francisco architectural firm to develop a plan for the property that would produce income but keep it undivided and devoted to cattle ranching.
He later submitted a revised plan to Monterey County for a 100-room hotel in three or four buildings and a 200-seat restaurant, plus 98 private home sites situated so they could not be seen from Highway 1.
[7]: 171 The fight over Hill's development rights played a role in tightening rules in the Big Sur Local Coastal Plan.
This was almost half of the $25 million set aside by a 1988 parks bond initiative (Proposition 70) to preserve Big Sur land.
[40] It gave Hill a one-time tax credit of $4.5 million, the difference between the prior market value and the value after the ability to develop the land was removed.
[41][42] Hill still has the right to develop the remaining 3,450 acres (1,400 ha) within the strict limitations imposed by the Big Sur Land Use Plan.
The cattle graze on natural grasslands in the mountains on the east side of Highway 1 during the winter, spring, and summer, until the pasture is no longer suitable.
The cattle are then relocated to eleven fenced and irrigated fields totaling 267 acres (108 ha) on the west side of Highway 1.
In 1928, after Harry Hunt bought the land, he began raising alfalfa, barley, corn, potatoes and carrots using water diverted from the Big Sur River.
[35] Hill has supplied studies that contradict the state's findings, and has been engaged in ongoing litigation and negotiations with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
[54] Hill privately donated over $100,000 to buy and refurbish a surplus MRAP for use by the Del Rey Oaks and neighboring police departments.
To prevent the Condors from ingesting lead, Hill has also instructed his employees to use copper bullets when protecting the cattle from predators.
The legal argument established a method by which the courts could require land owners to allow public access to their property.
