Dos Pueblos
During the Mexican Territory Period (1822-46), the Isla Vista
mesa was an obscure portion of the 15,000-acre Rancho de los
Dos Pueblos, a Mexican land grant given to Nicholas Augustus
Henry Den in 1842. For some twenty years, Den was a successful
cattle rancher on a piece of land that stretched from Mascaltitan
Island to Las Llegas Canyon, and from the ocean up into the
foothills.
But in 1862, things suddenly changed. The heaviest rain ever
to hit California began in November and continued for over three
months. The runoff from the rain caused a major, permanent change
in the area by filling in the lagoon, creating what is now the
Goleta Slough. During the rain, Den became ill and died in early
1863. Following his death, there was a major reversal in the
weather, with the worst drought anyone could remember. By the
end of 1864, the majority of the cattle had died and the Den
heirs sold off most of their land, retaining only the Isla Vista
mesa. This was soon divided between two sons, and on the dividing
line was planted a row of eucalyptus trees. That row of trees
currently marks the boundary between the UCSB Main Campus and
Isla Vista and is often referred to as the "Eucalyptus Curtain,"
denoting the vast socio-economic differences between the campus
and community.
Early Economic Ventures
In the 1870s, whaling ships frequently camped just east of Main
Campus on what is now Goleta Beach County Park. The Den brothers
rented their ranch to the More brothers, who cut down the oak
forest on the mesa and sold the wood to the whalers, which was
used for boiling kettles of whale blubber. The consequence was
that the topsoil was lost and Isla Vista was left with only
blow sand. Another commercial venture of that period was the
mining of asphalt. The Alcatraz Asphaltum Mining Corporation
dug several underground shafts on the present Main Campus where
Snidecor Hall is now located. These operated until the turn
of the century when they were abandoned as both unsafe and unprofitable.
The land was then rented to farmers, but they had little success
due to the land's poor-quality topsoil and lack of adequate
water.
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