Why Spooner’s Cove Important In The Prohibition Story Of SLO County?

Pecho Ranch & Stock Company, The Doghole Port, And Smuggler’s Cove

In 1892, Alden Spooner, Jr., leased and then purchased ranchland on the bluffs now known as Montaña de Oro State Park. The family owned the property, now referred to as the Spooner Ranch, for almost 50 years. Alden Spooner built the home that is now used to share the local history, past and present, with the visitors to the area.

The dogchute at Spooner’s Cove.

Alden focused on agriculture. He planted grains and beans, and raised dairy cattle, hogs, and sheep. Alden’s sons founded the Pecho Ranch & Stock Co. and operated a 150-cow dairy. The dairy was considered one of the finest on the California Coast. It was known for its rich butter, which was sold in “the butter trade” from Santa Barbara to Monterey.

The Pecho Ranch operation built at least 18 outbuildings, including barns, stables, sheds, and a creamery with a water wheel to generate power. A large warehouse was built on the bluff to house the goods to be shipped to market. The Spooners also built a small wharf, which became known as Buchon Landing.

Smuggler’s Cove

From the mid-nineteenth century to the turn of the twentieth century, the ranchers and farmers adapted to the rugged marine environment. The coast had few roads and no railroads, so the most cost-effective way to move shipments was by the sea. Generally, wharfs were rarely built along the coast since they were easily damaged by stormy seas and were costly to maintain. Goods were shipped from small coves nestled among the bluffs. They became known as “doghole” ports. These ports became centers of economic activity for the small “doghole” schooners who could maneuver in tight spaces.

Today, doghole ports are part of the California State Parks system. The cove you can see from the window of the Spooner home is now called Spooner’s Cove. During Prohibition, the cove became known as “Smuggler’s Cove.” It was a beautiful place to sunbathe, but a dangerous destination at night.

Transporting Goods from the Bluffs to Doghole Schooners

Alden Spooner II and his brother built their cliffside loading chute near their warehouse on the bluff. This landing, known originally as Buchon Landing, was where schooners could moor to load or unload their produce or animals. At Buchon Landing, a wooden chute with cables angled from the coastal bluff into the small cove below. Dairy products slid down from the bluff top to the hold of a “doghole” schooner below.

Chutes were set up with the nature of the land and sea. The most basic of chutes worked a lot like a slide.

Prior to 1900, trough chutes, known also as apron or slide chutes, were the most common method of shipping cargo on the Central Coast. They were used when there was sufficient water depth to allow a vessel to anchor or moor near a cliff. This type of chute was made of a wooden A-frame supporting a wooden trough held in place with cables. From the frame, a long arm projected out over the water, known as a swing apron. Wooden pulleys and wire cables raised and lowered the apron as products slid down the chute from shore to ship using gravity. A movable plank at the end of the chute could be raised or lowered from shore or by the moored schooner, which regulated the speed at which materials were moved down the chute.

The Prohibition Decades: Japanese Tenant Farmers in the 1920s and 1930s

Japanese tenant farmers leased land on the coastal bluffs of the Pecho Ranch during the years between World War I and World War II. According to the California State Park website, seven Japanese families have been recorded as living near Coon Creek. They farmed beans, artichokes, and abalone. The vegetables were transported by truck to the Produce Market in downtown Los Angeles. Sometimes, bootlegged liquor was hidden among the produce. These stories have been verified by the descendants of the owners of the Produce Markets.

During the Prohibition Era of 1920-1933, Spooner’s Cove became known as “Smuggler’s Cove.” The Wine History Project of San Luis Obispo County is archiving the oral and written history of this era. Most of the “booze” made inside San Luis Obispo County was consumed within the county. However, hard liquor was shipped from as far away as Canada to the Central Coast so it could be transported by truck to Los Angeles and distributed to a network of bootleggers, smuggling dens, and hidden speakeasies.

The large boats arrived from the north and moored out in the Pacific Ocean beyond the U.S. territorial limit of three nautical miles (5.6 km) wide. Small boats were used to transfer the cargo of illegal liquor under the cover of darkness to the shore. The newly obtained liquor would be loaded on trucks and may also have been hidden among the produce harvested at Montaña de Oro. It was a successful operation, with no raids or arrests made, according to our research to date.

The trucks moved slowly eastward along a trail from the Coon Creek area on the Bluffs. According to an article of October 26, 2019, by John Lindsey, Gary Manninen of Atascadero is quoted saying that his father Fred participated in moving the liquor in a journey over a rugged and challenging dirt road to the Froom Ranch near today’s California Highway 101. This rough trail that started at Coon Creek Canyon climbed over the Irish Hills to the Froom Ranch. It was cut just wide enough to allow the Ford Model-T that carried the liquor to make the journey. This location in western San Luis Obispo served as a safe house for storing illegal booze until it could be picked up and driven to Southern California. The Central Coast was the main north-south traffic corridor to Los Angeles.