first, they purchased a ranch in long beach called ranchos los alamitos -- ranchos lous sony kos -- los soritos. andived there with his wife he invited other of his bixby relatives to come down to the ranch as well as some of his wife's relatives. when the cousins the came down to help joseph xp was john bixby, a young man from maine -- joseph bixby was john bixby, a young man from maine. he was quite young when he was on the when he ranch, he was learning how to become a rancher and he met joseph bixby's sister-in-law, susan hathaway and he married susan hathaway. --t righteous los alamitos when ranchos los alamitos became available, john and susan purchased it along with partners including joseph bixby. -- theyame the first became ranchers in 1878 and purchased the ranch with harner's in 1881 -- partners in 1881. the bixby's had two children. after inheriting the ranch from their parents, the siblings tried to operate the ranch for themselves, but it did not work out so they divided the property between them. fred bixby inherited the ranch house and he continued to ranch here, ranging

ranches. that is all that is left. >> we are standing in that rancho los alamitos adobe ranch house. is, thewhere the adobe wall surrounding us right now are adobe walls. , he built this adobe, it is sort of an outpost of his huge acreage. it was not owner-occupied at the time. it was a 40 foot by 60 foot horses wheno house they were out here on this remote part of the holdings. over the years, the adobe was added to. there have been many owners, from the first spanish grantee --later's during the mexican two owners during the mexican period. the original adobe is completely encased in additions and there are additions in this direction where the bedrooms are in the main part of this bedroom is in the adobe, but the little sunroom was in addition from about 1909. over here, we have the library, also inside part of the original adobe. rather an agreement -- organic structure that grew to suit the families and cultures living inside it. right now, we are in the music room of the ranch house. this is a room outside of the adobe core. it was added to the house by john and susan bixby. bi

well, so they divided the property between them and fred bixby inherited the ranch house in the central part of rancho los alamitosnd he continued to ranch here. ranging cattle. cattle.ing he did not continue any sheep operation. fred bixby acquired other ranches throughout california and arizona and mostly was engaged in cattle ranching. however, he also had a soft spot for horses. particularly, big, draft horses which were detractors of those days. horses.champion he kept his stallions at this ranch and he kept the mares at the coast at point conception. he had quite a horse breeding operation going on in addition to it being a cattle ranch. we have two shire horses on the ranch today. only 7.5 acres left. at the time he passed away, he had, i beleive it was the largest shire horse breeding operation west of the mississippi. unfortunately, there were not any buyers of horses after he died. some were sold to other breeders, but most of the rest were just sold off, did not continue. the last bixby to live here at the ranch was fred bixby's wife and she passed away in 1961. their children -- they had four children

in a ranchoanding los alamitos adobe ranch house. we are in the court of the ranch house right now, which is where the adobe is. the walls surrounding us right now are adobe walls. manuelbe was built one owned the ranch house. he was the first grantee. he built the ranch house as an outpost of his huge acreage. it wasn't owner occupied at the time manuel nieto belted. it was decibel it. manuel ned to house -- ieto built it. used to house caballeros. from the first spanish grantee's two owners during the mexican kb the end the american period and everyone who live here added to it. so the original adobe is completely encased in additions. additions in this direction where the bedrooms are, the main part of this bedroom is in the adobe. but the little sun room out there was an addition from about 1909. over here, we have the library also inside part of the original adobe. but the room beyond it, the music room is outside of the adobe. it is a rather organic structure that just grew over the last 200 years to see to the families and cul