It lies at an elevation of 1,512 feet (461 meters), west of the head of Romero Creek and the Santa Clara County line, about a mile north of Hagerman Peak.
[1][2][3] Before the ranch existed, in the early 1850s, this location on a rolling plateau of grassland and oak groves was called Estación Romero and was a major station for the gang of Joaquin Murrieta along La Vereda del Monte, that followed what is now the course of County Line Road from San Antonio Valley to where the ranch is located today.
It was located close by to the north of Pacheco Pass a major trail between the San Joaquin Valley and the coastal counties.
At that time the lands along that trail were not settled except for a few scattered ranchos and was ideal for robbing and murdering unwary or poorly armed isolated individuals and small groups of men returning from the goldfields.
Also a brush and pole corral for the holding of stolen horses was located nearby in Bull Heads Canyon[5] where they were kept until they could be added into a passing drove on La Vereda at early daylight.