BajaNomad

NEW PHOTOS from Jack Swords of historic Rancho La Presa

David K - 2-7-2005 at 06:46 PM

Jack sent me these pictures and GPS waypoints from La Paz of his return visit to old Rancho La Presa, very near Mision Dolores Chilla (La Pasion).

La Presa by Jack Swords

Rancho now abandoned???

Barry A. - 2-8-2005 at 09:55 AM

Great photos, David and Jack------

the rancho looks abandoned now----is this so? And if so, why? do you know?

Who owns the lands now?

What a wonderful, enchanting old building, and location. Barry

Rancho La Presa

Jack Swords - 2-8-2005 at 10:33 AM

Hola Barry,

The ranch is currently owned by a young man from La Paz. It has had a series of owners over its history (including possibly being an estancia of the nearby missions). Fascinating area including year round water, ancient rock walls, the old aquaduct, and a reported fumerole(sp?). The current owner wants to increase the plantings (watered from the rio with a pump) from those existing ones. He has a great respect for the place and has made some repairs. The caretaker has seen a lot over the years and has some interesting stories. One of which was the young family who purchased it in the late 90's to do "treasure hunting." Their 11 yr old daughted died and they moved back to the US. The girl's grave is just behind Fernando de la Toba's in a very ancient graveyard some distance from the hacienda. Still researching the exact history. David sure does a good job on putting these together.

Thanks for the info, Jack.

Barry A. - 2-8-2005 at 08:23 PM

That is one part of Baja (there are many) that I have never been into, but looks like it would be fasinating to prowl around. Lots of roads, none of which I have been on.

Many thanks for the La Presa mini-history.

Barry

David K - 2-9-2005 at 08:34 AM

For those who have yet to open the link to the web page, here's a tease...


David K - 2-9-2005 at 08:38 AM

How many ranchos have their own elevated aquaduct? See the other photos at the link in the first post of this thread...