Alden Bradford Spooner II

                 Pecho Ranch  -  Buchon Landing
Alden Bradford Spooner II.  Born Sept. 9, 1851, Lorain, Lorain County, Ohio.  Died Nov. 9, 1926,  Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo Co.

1868 - Age 17 - Alden II accompanied his father, Rev. A. B. Spooner I, his mother Roxana Gillmore Spooner, and his 3 siblings come to San Luis Obispo Co. Ca.

The Spooner family take possession of 150 acres of government land, 3 miles up Torro Creek, north of the small settlement of Morro.  The Spooner's first home was a tent.  Within a month their house was ready.

1877 - After the death of his father Alden II rented the Torro Creek Ranch.

1879 - San Francisco - Alden II worked as a horse trainer and tried his hand at the livery business in San Francisco. 

Upon his return to Morro he operated a horse-powered scow on Morro Bay picking up produce from farms around the bay and transporting it to the wharf in Morro.  1896-1892 he served as the local roadmaster.

  
                Morro Rock
1888 - April - Morro - Married Mary Florence White.  Sired three boys, Quincy Gillmore (Mar. 28, 1882 - May 16, 1966), Carleton Ross (July 15, 1884, Nov.14, 1966), Alden B. III, (Feb. 15, 1889 - May 29, 1956).

1892 - Feb. - Alden Spooner II leased 2500 acres of the Cowell property in San Luis Obispo Co.  The acreage was bounded by the ocean, Coon Creek and Pecho and Islay Creeks.

1892 - March - Alden II moves his family to the Pecho.  The land was sown with wheat, barley, beans, and potatoes. 

1892 - Alden II and brother Quincy construct a landing on the south side of the Buchon Cove bluff.  The shaft consisted of a tunnel dug through the cliff.  A trestle extended over the rocks. At the end of the trestle was a 25 ft. movable apron that was raised and lowered by block and tackle.  Bales of hay, sacks of grain, and live hogs were slid down the chute on to the deck of a waiting schooner.
 

                 
                                       Pecho Landing
1892 - Oct - San Luis Obispo Tribune. "Pecho Landing.  A new shipping point has been created...It is at the mouth of Islay Creek.  Last Thursday the Steamer Bonita, piloted by Mr. D.A. Spooner...took on board 2500 sacks of beans and grain by means of a shoot.  The steamer will be back on the 12th for the rest of the cargo."  The barn on the bluff was built between 1892 and 1895.

1895 - Feb.11 - San Luis Obispo Tribune - "Spooner on the Pecho is one of the latest converts to start a creamery and is already purchasing milch cows..."

The cream separator was powered by a water wheel. Spooner built a mill dam about a mile up Islay creek.  Water was channeled through a flume to a water wheel that powered the separator and butter churn. The whey went through a pipe to the hog pen located in the creek below the creamery.

                  
                               Pecho Ranch Creamery
1895 - June 14th - SLO Tribune - "A.B. Spooner has constructed a wagon road at his own expense to the Pecho Springs.  These springs are noted for their medicinal virtues, being both hot and cold and charged with iron and sulfur."

1902 - July 28th - Agreement to sell between Isabella M. Cowell and A.B. Spooner.  "All that portion of the Rancho Pecho y Islay which lies north of the Canada de Diablo, containing 5,200 acres." "The price of said land is $38,000. (filed for record, San Francisco, Ca. July 30,1902)

1905 - A.B. Spooner buys Bernard Coll Ranch which adjoins his property north of Islay Creek.

1912 - A.B. and sons Quincy, Carlton, and Alden Jr. form the Pecho Land and Stock Co., Inc.

In later years A.B. Spooner II operated the Overland Automobile Agency in San Luis Obispo.  In 1926, at the time of his death, the Pecho Ranch consisted of nearly 9,000 acres.  His sons inherited the Ranch

             
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