From the album 'Southern Emigrant Trail'
Music and lyrics: John Malcolm Penn, ©Radio Flyer Music
For more information: [email protected]

After arriving in California, Jonathan Trumbull Warner worked as a clerk and in the Mercantile Business in Los Angeles, later becoming a Mexican citizen changing his name Juan Jose Warner.
Warner had always kept an eye on the beautiful valley he had passed through on his way to Los Angeles in 1831. The Spanish land grant known as Valley De San Jose had been made to Pio Pico in the 1830's, but Pico had abandoned the northern section because of Indian troubles. In 1844 a petition for the entire San Jose valley was filed by Juan Jose Warner and governor Micheltorena approved the petition and made a grant on November 28, 1844.
While on the ranch Warner was discribed by historian Benjamin Hayes as “half-Californian, garbed in trousers broad at the bottom so that he seemed half sailor."
During his rich and varied life Warner served San Diego County as State Senator and Supervisor, started a weekly paper in Los Angeles, represented Los Angeles County in the State Assembly, and later practiced law. At the age of 88, Juan Jose Warner passed away at the home of his daughter on April 11, 1895.

Warner's Ranch is California State Historical Landmark #311. Plaque Inscription: In 1844, Governor Manuel Micheltorena granted 44,322 acres to Juan José Warner, who built this house. General Kearny passed here in 1846, and the Mormon Battalion in 1847. The first Butterfield Stage stopped at this ranch on October 6, 1858, on its 2,600-mile, 24-day trip from Tipton, Missouri to San Francisco, the southern overland route into California.

Lyrics:
WARNER’’S RANCH
Born in Connecticut he headed West, at the age of twenty-four
From the banks of the Mississippi, to the hills of Californ
With Jedediah Smith he made his way, in 1831
Jonathan T. Warner, for the California sun

They made the Yuma crossing, though in New Mexico Jedediah lay
Pushed on through the desert, to the 'Valley de San Jose'
"Someday I'm gonna live here", said Warner "If by chance"
"This Spanish land they'll grant to me, I'll call it Warner's Ranch"

Chorus - In Southern California, in the hills where the green grass sways
All along the Southern emigrant trail, there's a wonderful ranch they say
Come ye weary travelers inclined to sing and dance
Sing of good old Jonathan, the song of Warner's Ranch

In the village of Los Angeles, he decided to change his name
So when Anita Gale married him she married Juan Jose
He remembered the green valley he passed through years before
And from Mr. Pico got a grant for the land, in 1844

He served the state as senator, and was assemblyman there too
He owned a newspaper and practiced law, but what he really wanted to do
"I want to be on the ranch in my baggy pants, fresh coffee in my mug"
"Selling hickory shirts to the travelers and tobacco by the plug"

Chorus - In Southern California, in the hills where the green grass sways
All along the Southern Emigrant Trail, there's a wonderful ranch they say
Hickory shirts a dollar, coffee fifty cents a pound
Bathe in the mineral hot springs, no finer place around
200,000 people by the ranch they would pass through
Kit Carson, then the 49'ers, and the Butterfield stage line too
Come ye weary travelers inclined to sing and dance
Sing of good old Juan Jose, the song of Warner's Ranch