Rancho La Liebre Adobe

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"La Casa del Rancho La Liebre (The House of Jack Rabbit Ranch) is located at the far northwestern corner of Los Angeles County. It is a half mile south of State Route 138, approximately ten miles east of Interstate 5. Edward F. Beale, a Mexican War hero and Civil War General, built the adobe in the late 1850s in Bear Canyon. The adobe casa was the administrative headquarters of nearly 300,000 acres of sprawling ranch land that expanded over both Los Angeles and Kern Counties.

"In 1855, Beale purchased Rancho La Liebre for a mere three cents an acre. The 48,799 acre rancho was originally granted to Jose Maria Flores on April 21, 1846, by Governor Pio Pico. Flores was the commander and chief of the Mexican forces in California during the Mexican War. Flores nearly lost his entitlement to the rancho when the U.S. Land Commission declared the grant to be fraudulently obtained. The Land Commission contented that Pico back dated many of the land grants he issued and that Rancho La Liebre was granted while California was under American control and no longer a part of Mexico. However, Flores won an appeal and kept the title.

"Rancho La Liebre was named as such because of the abundance of jack rabbits in the area. The rancho was mostly comprised of mountainous terrain. It was in the northwest part of the Los Angeles County and lay to the west of Antelope Valley. By the time Beale acquired La Liebre, he had married Mary Edwards and had a son named Truxtun. Beale built an adobe home for his wife on the rancho. This sturdy and roomy adobe house was constructed in Canon de las Osas (Bear Canyon) at the western edge of Antelope Valley. Beale ran sheep on the rancho with Robert S. Baker, who would later become one the founders of Santa Monica, California. Their flocks grew to over 100,000 head. After obtaining possession of La Liebre, Beale allowed Don Andres Pico and his son, Romulo, to graze their own flocks of sheep at the southeast part of the rancho. This was the same Andres Pico, who was Beale's enemy at the Battle of San Pasqual. The two men became friends and eventually business associates."

Read more here: www.laokay.com/halac/RanchoLaLiebre.htm

This historic adobe is currently not open to the public.