Guejito: California‘s Last Rancho

On September 20, 1845, Jose Maria Orozco, a customs agent, boarded his horse-drawn wagon and headed north from Old Town San Diego to what is now Valley Center to claim a piece of land covering three square leagues, approximately 13,298 acres.

The property was a gift from the Mexican Governor of California, Pio Pico, who had handed out similar vast parcels to other friends and patrons. It was one of 800 so-called Mexican Land Grant ranches awarded during a romantic period of history known as the "Days of the Dons". Orozco named the place Rancho Guejito (pronounced wah-hee-toe).

Today, 162 years later, all but one of those 800 land grant ranches is gone, carved up for developments, shopping centers, housing tracts, and towns. That lone surviving historic parcel is Rancho Guejito.

Located off Lake Wohlford Road on the east side of Valley Center, Rancho Guejito — despite its vast size —