A Prominent (If Elusive) Saddleback Valley Pioneer

Not long after I started reading Joe Osterman’s histories of this area I began noticing frequent references to “the Miguel Erreca.” Also identified as the “lower lease” where his father and mother, , went to live as tenant farmers after marrying in June 1918, the Miguel Erreca was part of ’s expansive .

Located “little more than two miles from the Pacific Ocean . . . on a rise between the areas of the Salt and Aliso Creeks,” about seven miles away from El Toro, Joe also mentions this “southernmost of the Niguel leases” as being about where today's Laguna Niguel Regional Park is located.

As I continued to read about the Miguel Erreca, I learned that it was an excellent location for the dry farming so typical of the time.  Joe says that during his parents’ occupancy, “approximately 500 acres of the Miguel Erreca were planted in barley and 300 in blackeye beans.” Future El Toro & Before installments will be devoted to the agriculture of this area, which no history of the Saddleback Valley can or should ignore.  

But I confess that as I continued to read about the Miguel Erreca, I couldn’t help but wonder . . . Who was Miguel Erreca?

HOORAY FOR THE INTERNET!

Sometimes Joe identifies Miguel as the first tenant of that particular property; other times he mentions him as being one of the original Basque émigrés in this area. At that point, however, it's the end of the line, although many other Basque families, including the , are well-documented in Joe’s books.

So I did some checking around, and after a lot of Googling found a reference leading to a biographical entry in Samuel Armor’s 1921 History of Orange County.

What follows, then, is a slightly abridged version of that entry.

“One of the pioneer stockmen of Southern California, Miguel Erreca was born near Aldudes, Basses Pyrenees, on the line between France and Spain, August 10, 1854, a son of Juan and Marie Erreca, who were well-to-do farmers, owning a place of 500 acres, but both passed away before Miguel left that country. They had three children, two of whom grew up, our subject being the only one now living. His brother Juan came to California with Miguel and they were partners for eleven years, when Juan returned to France and died two years later.
 
“Miguel Erreca was brought up on the home farm, and this place he still owns in partnership with a nephew. Having heard good reports of splendid opportunities awaiting young men who were not afraid to work he came to California in 1873 and made his way by the Overland stage from Los Angeles to San Juan Capistrano, where he had a cousin, Bernardo Erreca, who was engaged in the sheep business.

CAPISTRANO CULTURE SHOCK

"[Miguel] arrived in the old mission town at one o'clock one February morning. The next morning he got up a little late and looked out to see what the place was like. He saw a band of vaqueros, all horseback; they had long whiskers and long hair that covered their ears and eyes and, as he says, looked like a band of goats. Big pistols were hanging at their sides and big knives in their belts. He was at first a little frightened but when he got outside and up closer he heard them talk Spanish and entered into conversation with them. They were half Mexicans and half Indians but all turned out to be good fellows.

“He lived eleven years in San Juan Capistrano among those people and found them square and reliable. After working two months for Chas. Landell he went to work for his cousin, Bernardo Erreca, and continued with him for seven years and six months. Bernardo Erreca had four partners, among them two Orroqui brothers; one of them is now dead, but the other, Juan Orroqui is still living and was one of Miguel's first bosses; he now resides on Garnsey Street, Santa Ana, eighty-two years of age and totally blind but Mr. Erreca still visits him and tries to bring him comfort and cheer in his unfortunate condition. 
 
FORTUNE AND MISFORTUNE

“After working for Bernardo Erreca for over seven years, Miguel and his brother purchased a half interest and they continued together successfully. Two years later they bought more sheep from Erreca's old partners and leased all of the Trabuco ranch and ran 20,000 head of sheep. About two years later Miguel and his brother bought Bernardo's interest and ran the whole ranch and flocks. They did well and their flocks increased. There was no market for the sale of sheep to speak of in Southern California at that time, so once every two years they would drive two flocks of about 2,500 head each to San Francisco and dispose of them, the entire trip and return consuming about three months. Sheep at that time sold from $1.50 to $2.50 a head, including the wool. Later on Miguel bought his brother's interest and continued business alone with his headquarters on the Trabuco ranch of 26,000 acres . . .  
  
“Mr. Erreca was offered the whole of the Trabuco ranch for $4.00 per acre and a banker in Los Angeles advised him to buy it and said he would furnish him the money and give him all the time he wanted, but Miguel was too conservative and would not risk it; but afterwards saw he had made the mistake of his life. A couple of years later Richard O'Neill bought the ranch and [Erreca], of course, lost the lease of it. Mr. Erreca then leased a part of the Irvine ranch, a tract 6,000 acres, which extended from Newport to Tustin: here he ran sheep for nine years and then sold out. Meantime, in 1883, he had purchased four acres on Hickey and Sixth streets, between Olive and Baker streets, Santa Ana, built a residence and made it his home. He then began farming on the James McFadden ranch and then leased land in various parts of Orange County. One year he had 3,700 acres in grain; one season he lost about $50,000 but he kept on and finally paid the debt one hundred cents on the dollar; he later farmed 1,700 acres on the Moulton ranch for seven years. In 1917 he quit farming and sold his outfit. He now makes his residence on his four-acre tract that he has set to Valencia oranges. 
 
A LAND OF GOLD AND SUNSHINE

“Mr. Erreca was married in Los Angeles, where he was united with Miss Marie Oronos, born in Bigorre, France, an estimable woman of a lovable disposition of whom he was bereaved on February 6, 1894. She left him two children: Juanita, a graduate of the Orange County Business College is now the wife of Lem Conkle, who resides with Mr. Erreca and she presides gracefully over her father's home and ministers devotedly to his comfort; Marcelina is the wife of Chas. Eckles of Santa Ana; Lem Conkle was in the United States Navy during the World War, serving overseas for eighteen months.

“Mr. Erreca is one of the oldest settlers of this section of California, is a highly respected man whose veracity and integrity have never been questioned. As a young man he was noted for his great strength, activity and endurance. In 1887 he made a trip back to his old home in France and had an enjoyable time but was glad to get back to the land of gold and sunshine.”

By now, of course, you’ve noticed the handsome photo of Miguel Erreca and his wife, Marie. Photography was terribly expensive in those days and most folks took considerable effort to dress for the event. So it appears with Miguel and Marie, who—it can be imagined—carefully planned what they would wear. Then upon arriving at the photographer's studio, they tentatively faced the camera, Miguel solemn and Marie displaying but a wisp of a smile, carefully holding those expressions until the cameraman told them they could relax.

At this time I do not know about Miguel Erreca’s later years—only that he died in 1939, and that his final resting place is at the Santa Ana Cemetery—but, as always, I welcome any additional information that readers of El Toro & Before might be able to provide.