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2000 2010 Welcome to the Annual Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo! As we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of what has become America’s Richest Two-Day Rodeo, WELCOME all of us at Rancho Mission Viejo are honored to have you join us. THE ROOTS OF RODEO rodeos which reenacted The roots of rodeo reflect the legacies of the the great stories of the land our family and I have been blessed to “Wild West.” own and manage since 1882. Dating back to In 1936, cowboy the Spanish and Mexican period of California leadership began to history and then to the early 1800’s when organize. Ultimately, Don Pio Pico, the last Mexican Governor of the Professional Rodeo California and his family owned this land, Cowboys Association there have been rodeos for as long as there (PRCA) was established have been cattle and “vaqueros” (or cowboys) to standardize rodeos here in south Orange County. and to establish and In the days of the great ranchos, to enforce rules and during the annual Spring roundups and regulations for the brandings, the “vaqueros” had the protection of rights opportunity to display their considerable and safety of both the From left to right: Rancho Mission Viejo’s Executive Vice President, Ranch Operations Gilbert Aguirre, horsemanship skills. In fact, the word cowboys and the animals. Alice O’Neill Avery, Melinda Moiso, and Tony Moiso, Rancho Mission Viejo President and “rodeo” was traditionally pronounced Today, from small Chief Executive Officer. “ro-day-oh” and comes from the Spanish towns across our nation all the way to is America’s Richest Two-Day Rodeo. As word rodear, which means “to surround.” the December national championship (The champion cowboys from across the nation After branding the cattle, often there Wrangler National Finals Rodeo) in Las Vegas, compete for a purse totaling more than would be time for competition during there are more than 600 PRCA rodeos. With $200,000, the top thirty money winners (as which the “vaqueros” demonstrated their more than 170,000 fans attending the of early August) in each rodeo event* will riding and roping skills. National Finals and approximately 13 million strive to win their share of the purse. As the viewers watching on ESPN, rodeo is now cowboys race to qualify for The Wrangler more popular and competitive than ever. National Finals Rodeo — only the top fifteen at season’s end will make it — the “big pay RODEO RETURNS TO RANCHO MISSION VIEJO day” afforded this weekend just might make In 2001, my uncle, Dick O’Neill, Gilbert someone’s dream of participating in the Aguirre, my family, and I decided to sponsor “NFR” come true. and to stage a PRCA-sanctioned rodeo on As you look around the stands and cheer our land to perpetuate the tradition of rodeo on your favorite cowboy, bucking horse, or here in urban south Orange County — and bull, please recognize all the hard work to pay tribute to the sport, to the heritage dedicated to making our Rancho Mission Following the Civil War, when cattle of the land, and to raise funds for local Viejo Rodeo such a great success. Our Rodeo herds began to spread out throughout the charities such as the Camino Health Center, is completely planned and executed by a West, American cowboys found themselves the Shea Therapeutic Riding Center, and very small group of volunteers, led by Gilbert working alongside the great “vaqueros” the R.H. Dana Exceptional Needs Center Aguirre. My family and I are proud to host and learning their skills. Over time, the (part of the Capistrano Unified School this event, and we are forever grateful to the large stockyards, which dotted the west, District). This year, as we celebrate our members of the Rodeo Committee for their became a place where cowboys would 10th anniversary as hosts, we are proud continued commitment to “making it happen.” challenge each other to see who was the to announce that our Rancho Mission So, welcome to the 10th Annual Rancho best. However, as time marched on and Viejo Rodeo will have distributed more than Mission Viejo Rodeo, to the Rancho Mission railroad stock cars replaced cattle drives, $1 million dollars to these charities. Raising Viejo Riding Park at San Juan Capistrano, the demand for cowboy labor declined; funds for charities at the rodeo continues to Rancho Mission Viejo, and to a weekend and shrinking wages were supplemented the ranching tradition of passing the hat of “Good Times”! through stock shows (sometimes called for charitable needs. rodeos). Soon, showmen such as “Buffalo We also are very proud to share that Bill” Cody organized elaborate shows and the Annual Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo * Due to the fact that a concrete slab under the Riding Arena’s dirt covering does not allow for a horse’s safe footing as it repeatedly moves through Anthony R. “Tony” Moiso its cloverleaf pattern around barrels, Barrel Racing is not featured at the Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo. President and CEO, Rancho Mission Viejo Rancho Mission An Timeline Viejo Past, Present Open Space and Guiding and Future Legacy Principles WHAT’S 2 4 6 INSIDE: Rancho Mission Stewardship Viejo Raises $1 and 3 Million for Charity 5 Community TAKE CARE OF THE LAND... Make Your HANDSHAKE (1920s-1950s) Your BOND (1882-1910s) The story of Rancho Mission Viejo began Viejo and Rancho Trabuco in south in a deal struck with a handshake Orange County. Collectively, the ranchos between fellow Irish immigrants James totaled more than 200,000 acres and were Flood and Richard O’Neill, Sr. acclaimed by many as “the greatest of all Flood, a former carriage- California ranchos.” Flood maker turned saloon keeper, provided the money to eventually became known purchase the ranches while as one of Nevada’s “Silver O’Neill, offering his skills Kings,” when he and partners as a cattleman as his sweat gained control of the equity, agreed to work out Consolidated Virginia Mine, his half as resident manager. perhaps the most profitable Under O’Neill’s tenure, Jerome O’Neill of all the famed Comstock the cattle herd was upgraded As hard-driving as his father, Jerome expanded Lode’s silver deposits. and expanded, the land improved, the Ranch’s agricultural operations and its cowherd, O’Neill was a hard- row crops were introduced, and increasing it to 25,000 head. In 1923, the sons working and well-respected the Ranch became home to of Flood and O’Neill consolidated their second cattleman born in County Orange County’s biggest wheat generation friendship through the establishment Cork, in the heart of Ireland’s fields. In 1907, just twenty five of a corporation known as the Santa Margarita dairy country. During the years after the original Company. Sadly, just three years later, both sons mid-1800s, O’Neill was the Richard O’Neill, Sr. partnership was formed died, just two days apart. Jerome’s beneficiaries owner of a small meat market near the between his father and O’Neill, James L. included his sister, Mary O’Neill Baumgartner, and her family, as well as Jerome’s younger docks of San Francisco. When Flood bought Flood, son of the “Silver King,” made good brother, Richard Jr., and his family. O’Neill’s beef for his saloon, it was there on his late father’s handshake promise and that the two men met and forged a lasting conveyed an undivided half interest in the By 1939, the Santa Margarita Company had friendship. great Ranch property to O’Neill. Just four dissolved. Richard Jr. retained the Rancho Mission In 1882, Flood and O’Neill became months later, declining health caused O’Neill Viejo and Rancho Trabuco parcels in south Orange equal partners of the Rancho Santa to deed his interest to one of his two sons, County while the Floods and the Baumgartners Margarita y Las Flores in north San Jerome, who took the reins of the Ranch took the San Diego portions. As fate would have it, Diego and its adjoining Rancho Mission and led it into a new direction. just three years later, representatives from the U.S. Navy arrived at the family Ranch house and took possession of the San Diego portions to establish today’s Camp Joseph H. Pendleton. What remained (1960s-Today) of the historic Ranch totaled 52,000 and was Planning for the FUTURE under the control of Richard O’Neill, Jr., his wife, Marguerite, and their two children, Alice and Richard By the 1960s, urbanization had found its Jerome. The family united its holdings under the way to the borders of Rancho Mission Viejo. name Rancho Mission Viejo and began branding In response to the demands of Orange cattle with the O’Neill family’s new “Rafter M” County’s rapidly expanding population, the brand, which endures today. O’Neill family and its partners established In 1943, upon the Mission Viejo Company and embarked on the death of her husband, family’s first development, the 10,000-acre Richard, and with the planned community of Mission Viejo. ranch lands held in Serving as an officer of Mission Viejo trust, Marguerite O’Neill Company and overseeing the family’s ranching stepped forward to operations was Marguerite O’Neill’s grandson, lead the family. A fifth Anthony R. “Tony” Moiso, fresh out of Stanford generation Californian, University and the U.S. Army. In 1972, upon Richard J. O’Neill and Tony Moiso “Daisy,” as she was called, thwarted the sale of Mission Viejo Company and its remaining undeveloped land, Tony accepted several attempts by the the responsibility of daily managing the remaining 40,000 acres of Rancho Mission Viejo.

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