William Wolfskill

He had earned money for land in a decade as a fur trapper near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had become a Mexican citizen.

Wolfskill was highly influential in the development of California's agricultural industry in the 19th century, establishing an expanded viticulture and becoming the largest wine producer in the region.

One of the wealthiest men for his time, he expanded his holdings, running sheep and cultivating oranges, lemons and other crops.

When they arrived in Southern California in early 1831 (using the trail Jedediah Smith had mapped across the Mojave Desert), Wolfskill and Yount went to the coast to hunt sea otter.

[5] As a naturalized citizen of Mexico, Wolfskill was allowed to own land and bought a parcel where downtown Los Angeles later developed.

In May 1842 Wolfskill was awarded a large land grant in that area that developed as Winters, California in what is now Yolo County.

[6] His younger brother John joined him, and they named the property Rancho Rio de los Putos, after a nearby creek.

Wolfskill's neighbor, friend, and business rival in the tiny pueblo of Los Angeles, was French immigrant Jean-Louis Vignes.

It then had probably two hundred and fifty people [referring to non-Native Americans only], of whom I recall Don Abel Stearns, John Temple, Captain Alexander Bell, William Wolfskill, Lemuel Carpenter, David W. Alexander; also of Mexicans, Pio Pico (governor), Don Juan Bandini, and others.