Olive Trees
Olive trees were planted on the east end of Santa Cruz Island under the direction of Justinian Caire in the 1880s. Caire’s intent was to make maximum use of the island’s resources. By 1917 olives were still being harvested, and by 1922 picking was abandoned. [See letter book. 1922 abandoned. See Symes.]
Map of the Historic Olive Grove, Smugglers Cove, Santa Cruz Island
Olive Information from SCI Company Historic Records at Santa Cruz Island Foundation 
In the News~
July 9, 1891 [LAT]: “The olive growers. They meet at San Francisco and organize…The following officers were elected: Elwood Cooper, Santa Barbara, president; John Bidwell, Cuico, vice-president; Justinian Caire, San Francisco, treasurer; B. M. Lelong, San Francisco, secretary…The association will be known as the Olive Growers’ Association of San Francisco…”
July 22, 1892 [SBMP]: “Olive Growers. The Association in Annual Session at San Francisco. President [Elwood] Cooper Re-Elected. San Francisco, July 21. The convention of olive growers opened here today, Ellwood Cooper presiding. In his annual address he urged the necessity of additional legislation for the prevention of the adulteration of olive oil... At a meeting of the directors, Ellwood Cooper was elected President, Frank Kimball Vice-President, Justinian Caire of San Francisco Treasurer, B. M. DeLong of San Francisco Secretary.”
1905: “Grapes, olives, wine, poultry, sheep and wool are shipped in large quantities…” [Sunset Magazine, Another Treaasure Island by Heatherwick Kirk, 1905 (239)
February 14, 1917 [SCICo]: “At Scorpion there are but two men and the cook. They are engaged in picking olives at Smuggler’s and repairing fence.”
July 3, 2017: “ ...Such studies may appear purely academic; however, they can also address more timely questions and assist in characterizing cultivars. For example, a 2010 study in California made genotypic comparisons between historic olive plantings in Santa Barbara, CA and at Santa Cruz Island, CA. The study elucidated that the olives on Santa Cruz Island, planted in the late 19th century are different than other historic olive plantings in Santa Barbara, CA. Olives planted at the Santa Barbara Mission in the late 18th century are the ‘Mission' cultivar, whereas those on Santa Cruz Island (Figure 3) are generally ‘Redding Picholine.' Interestingly, the olives on Santa Cruz Island are thought to have been planted for oil production, but there are no historic reports of harvest or sale of a crop. Additionally, the Santa Cruz Island olives have become somewhat invasive on the island due to their propensity to establish from seed. As a result of genotypic analysis of these populations and the fact that ‘Picholine' makes an excellent rootstock due to its ease of propagation from seed, it is hypothesized that the ‘Picholine' variety was intended as a rootstock, but the grafts never took. Consequently, maturation of a ‘Picholine' orchard may have just been an accident, a mistake, or simply bad luck. The completion of this local population genetics study may have helped explain the unsolved mystery of the historically unharvested trees on Santa Cruz Island. [Fichtner, Elizabeth. California Olives and the Mystery of Santa Cruz Island Topics in Subtropics blog: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=24204]”
