Introduction
Revised 03/22/07
In 1913, forty-nine year old
Lester G. Loomis sold his Los Angeles home and moved his
family to the remote wilderness of the San Gabriel
mountains above the city. He had discovered the location of
his homestead in 1891, and had been traveling to the area
for years, hunting for deer and prospecting for gold that
he knew was nearby.
This site tells the story of Captain Loomis and his
family's Loomis Ranch homestead. I began researching the
life of Captain Loomis in October, 2005, and that research
continues today. I have been amazed at the amount of
information available about the life of Lester Loomis,
testimony to the impact he had on those who knew him and
knew of him.
The first edition of this site was posted on November 17,
2005; the first update was on November 24, 2005. This
latest edition is a major revision of the entire site,
containing much of the information that I have gathered
over the past year. See "What's New" for an overview of the
latest material.
If you are not familiar with Captain Loomis and his Ranch,
you can find a quick introduction in the article "A Visit
to Loomis Ranch", by Bob Gregg. A more detailed article can
be found in "The Last Homestead", written by Odo Stade in
1938 shortly after the death of Captain Loomis. Additional
information is available on the other pages of this site,
including many historic documents and photos. Throughout
the site you will find portions of text highlighted in
green. These are hypertext links to other pages - simply
click on them to view the related document.
Many individuals have contributed to the development of the
historical information on this web site. I would especially
like to thank Bob Gregg, Richard Clark, the Inglewood Park
Cemetery, the Sierra Club-Angeles Chapter, and the Sierra
Madre Public Library Historical Archives for their help.
All provided information and encouragement during this
project.
If you would like to submit historical recollections,
documents, or photos to this electronic archive, please see
the Contributions section.
For more information about this project, please contact:
Steve Thomas
steve@loomisranch.org
925-672-5247 (voice)
925-672-2822 ( fax )