Rancho Tajauta, sometimes called Rancho Los Cuervos, was like a dwarf
among giants. It could have fitted into one corner of its neighbor, the
Rancho San Pedro, or been lost in the San Fernando, and yet it was no
small plot of ground. It extended from what is now Manchester Avenue on
the north to the north boundary of the Rancho San Pedro on the south and
between Central Avenue on the west and the Los Angeles River and Rancho
San Antonio on the east.
At the height of the cattle days there was only one house on the Rancho
Tajauta, a two-room adobe. Today it is estimated over 20,000 people live
within its boundaries, which include most of Watts and adjoining area in
the southerly part of Los Angeles—and a fourth of the rancho is yet to
be subdivided. The size of the rancho, however, was no criterion to the
number of its owners and changes in its title. Before California became
a state, its original owner, Anastacio Abila, died and left so many
heirs that it was necessary to divide the estate into seventieth parts
to properly partition it. These small interests in the rancho were then
traded in like second-hand Fords are today.
Phineas Banning, passing the rancho in his stage-coach and eyeing it
carefully for bandits, noticed the soil was excellent, visioned the
railroads that would cross it and bought many small interests. O. W.
Childs, famous for the water ditch which he constructed and for which he
received most of downtown Los Angeles in payment, likewise bought a few
interests. So did Don Mateo Keller, who owned the Rancho Malibu and
Francis Mellus of Mellus Row. And among the owners was the entire legal
fraternity of that day—A. B. Chapman, Andrew Glassell, A. Brunson and R.
M. Widney, all famous names in Southern California history. A $50 gold
slug, the common medium for exchange in those days when small change was
unknown, often bought an interest. Enrique Abila, one of the heirs of
Anastacio Abila, in addition to his own holdings, gradually acquired
many of the interests of the other heirs. He made his home on the rancho
and lived to see the city reach and surround him.
A little rancho was Rancho Tajauta, but a very active one.