San Luis Obispo County Biographies JOHN HENRY BARON von SCHRODER Submitted by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm JOHN HENRY BARON von SCHRODER, proprietor of the magnificent Eagle ranch described at length at the close of this sketch, is a native of Germany, the eldest son and heir to the estates and titles of the Von Schroder family. At the age of eighteen years, namely in 1870, he entered the Prussian army and served through the Franco- Prussian war of 1870- '71, in a regiment of Hussars. In 1880 he retired from the army, and in 1882 received the decoration of the iron cross for twelve years of distinguished service. From the Hussars he was transferred to. the Cuirassiers of the Guard, on which he served four years in Berlin and then changed to the Thirteenth Dragoons, of which regiment he is at present Premier Lieutenant d. R. After leaving the army he traveled during the greater part of two years in the South Sea Islands. It was in January, 1881, that he arrived in San Francisco, and directly afterward, while on a hunting tour in San Luis Obispo County, he " fell in love" with the Eagle ranch. The original settlers on this property were the family of Francisco Siquero. In 1876 A. F. Benton came into possession of it, and in 1882 the entire prop- erty of 2,400 acres was surveyed and was purchased by Baron von Schroder. Large game are still plentiful on this ranch, many bear and deer having been killed in recent years. The Baron married Miss Donahue, of San Francisco, and has two children. THE EAGLE RANCHO, eighteen miles from San Luis Obispo city, and six miles from Santa Margarita, is a work of large significance and even of great notoriety. A first thought on visiting the place is that it was a hearty lover of nature in her rugged fastnesses and her sweet soli- tudes who discovered and afterward appropriated this secluded domain, which has to a great extent been already redeemed from the wilderness. Making Santa Margarita station our starting point, and driving westward toward the Santa Lucia Mountains, we begin the easy ascent on a fine graded road up a little valley, crossing here and there a small brook of pure rattling water, and then winding in and out along the canons under great live-oaks, at every turn catching views and gleams of scenery long to be remembered. In less than six miles the outer rim of hills has been surmounted and a gradual descent of half a mile brings to view the beautiful basin of sixty or eighty acres, where appear the buildings, orchard, vineyard and garden of the home part of the Eagle Rancho. On the east side of the basin are the great wooded hills we have just crossed on our way in, and on the west two dark, chapparal covered mountains. Near the southern side of the base of the mountain are the ground and residence; and west of these, between the mountains, are the orchard, garden and vineyard. The residence of the Baron is on the crest of a handsome knoll containing about two acres and rising above the plain forty to fifty feet. The grounds are inclosed by a well-grown cypress hedge at the base of the knoll. "Within this circle of cypress about eight or ten feet is a low stone-wall, above which on the bank is another hedge of cypress; while between the wall and the outer hedge is a fine graveled walk, � a charming promenade quite concealed by the cypress. The sloping grounds around the residence are laid out in unique style. On the southeastern and northeastern sides are miniature forests of thickly set cypress, forming an impenetrable mass of interlacing branches, impressing the mind with a sense of seclusion and distance as if in the heart of a forest. The residence faces the north- west. The foregrounds are laid out in rose gardens, greensward, graveled walks and beds of flowers, at once graceful, simple and harmonious. In brief, the principal charac- teristic of the residence is its suggestiveness of tranquility in retirement. A wide veranda enveloped in clematis and climbing roses, finished with an ornamental roof, furnishes shade and shelter on the front and two sides of the house. Rooms, all on the ground floor, are numerous and ample. Rich and quiet furnishing renders the whole interior homelike and smilingly inviting, with the aid of piano, organ and harp. In the rear of the residence and about a hundred yards distant, in the point of a rocky spur from the mountain base, is the grotto, cut into the solid rocks about twenty-four feet wide, twelve feet high and forty-eight feet deep, and opening toward the valley and the residence. It is smoothly floored and wainscotted a yard high, with wide shelving to receive vases of antique pottery and of flowers, with bright matting, lounging and easy chairs of cool rattan and other means of luxurious delectation. A grove of choice forest trees from two hemispheres occupies the little space between the grotto and the residence, while a fountain plays in front of the grotto at the entrance to the grove. The water supply at the altitude of this ranch � some 1,500 feet above sea-level � was by no means sufficient for its many uses on the property; and it therefore became neces- sary to increase it largely and at the same have it pure. This was accomplished by piercing the mountain side near at hand by a tunnel at sufficient elevation to secure the desired pressure, only about 160 feet in depth being required to reach the water. The mouth of the tunnel was then walled up and the tunnel itself became an underground reservoir shut in from dust and sun. The largest prune orchard in the world is on this ranch, in another basin three miles distant from the residence. It contains 200 acres of thrifty trees five years old, being one year old when planted there. The soil is a fine, rich slate loam, mellow as a garden bed newly made, and is kept in a high state of cultivation under the care and superin- tendence of Mr. Benton, the competent, courteous and faithful manager of all the business and work of the Eagle Rancho. Ten tons of dried prunes were grown on these young trees three years after planting, which took the first premium over all com- petitors at the Mechanics' Institute Fair for 1889, as the " best French prunes raised in the State of California." Substantial buildings, with accommodations for the ranch men, are located in this part of the premises, and are for the exclusive use of the men who are employed in the great prune orchard and on work adjacent. Two and a half miles from the residence, on the headwaters of the Atascadero Creek, in a deep mountain gorge, are the picturesque and beautiful waterfalls which, with the great overhanging cliffs and gigantic leaning trees almost canopying the chasm, constitute one of the charms of the Eagle Rancho, and are made entirely acceptable by a delightful drive to the canon and a romantic walk through a great thicket of wild lilac. This spot is particularly refreshing during the hot weather of summer. A. fish-pond between the residence and prune orchard is an attractive feature of the place, and reveals ingenuity in its construction, location and general arrangement. The Baron proposes to stock this farm with choice fish. One of the most expensive and delightful improvements on this property is the system of beautiful drives, lined with trees of different varieties, the noble redwood being con- spicuous among them. They wind through romantic canons, over ridges and through the valleys, revealing new views and scenery at every turn. One of these climbs the moun- tain in the rear of the residence quite to the summit, an elevation of 2,500 feet above the ocean level, with a wide, easy grade, over which the team trots much of the way. It is the intention of the Baron to plant the pine and redwood trees all over the great chapparal hills or small mountains, which constitute a large part of the estate; and in time he will thus transform these wastes of chapparal into noble forests, making them an admirable range for game and adding a new element of beauty to the landscape. The chief purpose of this grand drive to the mountain top, as well as most of the other work now visible at different points throughout this grand retreat, is utilitarian mainly in a spirital sense. History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California - by C.M. Gidney, Benjamin Brooks, Edwin M. Sheridan, Vol I, II. -Lewis Publ. Co., Chicago, 1917.