Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990. 1875, 1872, 1864, 1862, 1850s, 1828,
Chapter 1: Santa Monica's North Beach (1875-1907)
"One of the visitors to the Santa Monica area in 1872 was a wealthy San Francisco merchant named Colonel Robert S. Baker. He made his fortune in the sheep ranching business in Kern County's Tehachapi Mountains and had come south to investigate Southern California's booming wool industry. He arrived by steamer at the Shoo Fly Landing, a small pier several hundred yards south of the present pier, near what is now the foot of Pico Blvd. The pier was used for loading shipments of "asphaltum" that was brought overland by wagon from Henry Hancock's Rancho La Brea tar pits. The tar was bound for San Francisco and its roofing and ship building trades.
"Col. Baker found the nearby grassy mesa of the San Vincente Ranchero perfect for sheep raising. The 30,000 acre tract had been granted to Francisco Sepulveda by the Mexican governor in 1828. It was a large ranch that extended south from Marquez and Reyes property to the La Ballona Rancho marked by the stream bed at Pico Blvd., from the Ocean east to Westwood Village, and into the mountains. Like most ranches at the time, it was virtually unused since the drought of 1862-1864 killed off most of the cattle."