Justinian Caire and Santa Cruz Island: The Rise and Fall of a California Dynasty

by Frederic Caire Chiles, Marla Daily (Foreword)

One of the fabled Channel Islands of Southern California, Santa Cruz was once the largest privately owned island off the coast of the continental United States. This multifaceted account traces the island’s history from its aboriginal Chumash population to its acquisition by The Nature Conservancy at the end of the twentieth century. The heart of the book, however, is a family the story of French émigré Justinian Caire and his descendants, who owned and occupied the island for more than fifty years. The author, descended from Caire, uses family archives unavailable to earlier historians to recount the full, previously untold story. Justinian Caire and Santa Cruz Island opens with Caire’s early life as a San Francisco businessman and his acquisition of Santa Cruz Island, where he created a ranching kingdom based on sheep, cattle, and wine. Frederic Caire Chiles examines the business practices of the Justinian Caire and Santa Cruz Island companies, documenting the island’s economic ups and downs and the environmental impact of ranching in those days. Above all, he looks at the family’s daily life on the island from the mid-nineteenth into the twentieth century. This epic contains tragic elements, as well. What began as a profitable ranch and an idyllic retreat ended in the family divided by bitter litigation and the forced sale of the island. Family diaries and letters enable Chiles to tell the story of an intensely private clan and its struggle to hold an island dynasty together. The history of Santa Cruz Island has never been told so thoroughly or so well. Replete with intimate portraits and high drama, this California story will move readers as it informs them.

244 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2011

Reviews

[Marieta Grissom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fifth and final book I purchased while visiting the Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center in September. I have enjoyed reading all of the books and learning so much more about the islands. My final three books have all been about Santa Cruz Island, which we visited on a day trip.

This book presents an interesting, well-documented history (not a page-turner, but close) of the long Caire family ownership of the island and the circumstances of losing control. Family in-fighting and greed can spell disaster in so many ways. Fortunately, the author doesn't stop with his family's loss of the island but continues to bring the reader up-to-date with the current circumstances, helping readers to better understand today's relationship between the Nature Conservancy and the National Park Service on the island.