Louis Rubidoux
| Louis Rubidoux | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1796 St Louis, Missouri |
| Died | 1868 |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Louis Robidoux |
| Occupation | Rancher, Politician |
Louis Rubidoux (1796–1868, born Louis Robidoux) was an early European settler in the area of modern-day Riverside, California, United States. He was son of Joseph Robidoux III and Catherine Marie Rollet. He arrived in California in 1844. He bought Rancho San Jacinto y San Gorgonio from James (Santiago) Johnson in 1845, and a portion of the Rancho Jurupa from Benjamin Wilson in 1849. Rubidoux became a successful rancher. He built the first grist mill in the area, operated a winery, and became one of San Bernardino County's first three supervisors. The town of Rubidoux and Mount Rubidoux in Riverside County, California are named for him.
Louis Rubidoux was born in St. Louis, Missouri on July 7, 1796. As a young man, Louis Rubidoux, was one of many French Canadians who worked as fur trappers and mountain men in northern New Mexico. He did not get along so well with Charles Bent, one of the most formidable businessmen in Taos at the time. Since the 1830s, Robidoux —accompanied by New Mexicans Lorenzo Trujillo, Hipolito Espinosa and Santiago Martinez—had made treks from New Mexico to California in order to trade New Mexican blankets for California horses. New Mexicans had established a colony of over 150 families between 1840 and 1850. California ranchers Lugo and later Juan Bandini with the help of Lorenzo Trujillo and Santiago Martinez, had recruited the New Mexicans from Abiquiu—in exchange for land—to help fend off marauding Indians from taking their horses. However, Robidoux did not settle in California until 1844. At the time—accompanied by his New Mexican wife and their recently born infant daughter as well as his namesake nephew Luisito—he came through Sonora to live at Agua Mansa near today’s Colton in the Riverside-San Bernardino area. Benjamin Davis Wilson of Tennessee, a fellow fur trapper in Taos, a couple of years before had accompanied John Rowland and William Workman in their 1841 trek from Taos—through Abiqiui-to settle in Agaua Mansa.
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