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Cattle Barons and Land Owners

Fred Bixby of Rancho Los Alamitos: Rancher, Banker and Civic Builder

A University of California graduate who turned a family land grant legacy into a diversified ranching, land and banking business.

Who Was Fred Bixby?

Fred Hathaway Bixby (1875-1952) was a California rancher whose business reached well past the cattle pen. According to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, he ran five ranches and also operated land companies and banks, which made him as much a manager of land and money as a stockman. The museum's Hall of Great Westerners entry records his induction in 1958.

He was the son of John William Bixby, a member of the family that had built large holdings around Long Beach in the nineteenth century. His own path started in a classroom: he graduated from the University of California in 1898 and then went directly into the livestock and ranching business.

Rancho Los Alamitos: The Home Ranch

Bixby's base was Rancho Los Alamitos, on the outskirts of Long Beach. He lived in an adobe house that the museum dates to 1778. The ranch was originally about 30,000 acres, and under his management it produced beef cattle, draft horses, mules, hogs, grains and feed. That list shows a working farm economy, not a single-product cattle outfit.

The land had a long chain of owners before the Bixbys. A Long Beach newspaper history traces it to a 300,000-acre Spanish grant to Manuel Nieto in 1784, then to John Temple in 1843, then to Flint, Bixby & Co., which bought it from Temple in 1866 for $20,000. A Signal Tribune account of the family adds that the Bixbys raised sheep, which helped them through drought, and that the combined family land reached about 54,000 acres in the 1870s.

The Cojo and Jalama Ranches

Bixby also looked up the coast. Wikipedia's article on the Bixby land companies says he acquired the Cojo Ranch in Santa Barbara County in 1912, land that had once been part of Rancho Punta de la Concepcion. In 1937 he bought the neighboring Jalama Ranch and joined the two as the Jalama-Cojo Ranch, also called the Bixby Ranch. His family sold the property in 2007.

Holding ranches in more than one part of the state spread the weather and market risks of a single valley, though the sources I reviewed do not describe how he moved cattle between them.

The Key to Bixby's Success

The documented record points to scale, variety and institutional involvement. He did not rely on one commodity, one property or one source of income, and he stayed close to the groups that shaped California agriculture.

The sources I reviewed say little about hardship or controversy. They do show that the land came to the family through a chain of Spanish, Mexican and American era ownership, which is the background of nearly every large California ranch.

  • He ran several kinds of livestock and crops at once: beef cattle, draft horses, mules, hogs, grains and feed.
  • He held five ranches, so no single drought or price slump controlled his whole operation.
  • He ran land companies and banks next to the ranches, adding income that did not depend on cattle prices.
  • He served as a director of the California Agricultural Society under five governors, which kept him inside state policy conversations.
  • He trained first: a University of California degree in 1898 before he entered the business.

Beyond the Ranch: Civic Work and the Rose Bowl

The museum credits Bixby with helping to organize the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, an unusual line on a cattleman's record. Serving as a director of the California Agricultural Society under five governors shows a leader trusted across changing administrations. For a rancher with banking and land interests, that kind of public role also kept him well connected to the people who bought, financed and regulated land.

Legacy and Where to Learn More

The museum inducted Bixby into the Hall of Great Westerners in 1958, six years after his death. The old ranch house and grounds at Rancho Los Alamitos were named a California state historic landmark in 1988, according to the Signal Tribune history, and the site is the best place to see the setting where he worked.

Readers who want more cattle country stories can browse the ranching section of farm.FM, or start with a farm.FM story on California ranch history.

Timeline

  1. 1784Spanish grant of about 300,000 acres to Manuel Nieto, the later source of Rancho Los Alamitos
  2. 1866Flint, Bixby & Co. buys the ranch from John Temple for $20,000
  3. 1875Fred Hathaway Bixby is born
  4. 1898Graduates from the University of California and enters ranching
  5. 1912Acquires the Cojo Ranch in Santa Barbara County
  6. 1937Buys the Jalama Ranch and joins it to Cojo
  7. 1952Bixby dies
  8. 1958Inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners
  9. 1988Rancho Los Alamitos named a state historic landmark

Frequently asked questions

Who was Fred Bixby?

Fred Hathaway Bixby (1875-1952) was a California rancher who ran five ranches plus land companies and banks, based at Rancho Los Alamitos near Long Beach. He was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners in 1958.

What did Fred Bixby raise at Rancho Los Alamitos?

Beef cattle, draft horses, mules, hogs, grains and feed, according to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. The ranch was originally about 30,000 acres.

Did Fred Bixby help start the Rose Bowl?

The museum says he helped organize the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. It lists the role among his civic contributions beside his service with the California Agricultural Society.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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