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The Ranching Era Bradley Sargent extended Rancho San Carlos' boundaries to every horizon, his legacy to The Preserve. This was a triumphant accomplishment for someone born "barefoot poor" on a New Hampshire farm in 1828. He left home at age ten, walking to Boston where he worked through his teens as a baker. The Gold Rush lured him and three brothers to California, where they prospered as cattlemen. In 1857 they purchased what is today The Preserve, combining Rancho El Potrero de San Carlos and Rancho San Francisquito into one. In 1876 they used a deck of cards to divide their empire, Bradley taking Rancho San Carlos and embarking on a political career. The Ranch stayed in the Sargent family for 65 years. |
 "The largest cattle operation here was a visionary family venture that assembled this vast parcel and kept it intact and undeveloped from the 1850s to the Roaring Twenties."
Mark Miller, Historian
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