In 1850, a California rancher brought 45 sheep to San Miguel Island; by 1862 there were 6,000, and after grazing denuded the island the last 148 were eliminated in 1966
Sheep grazed on San Miguel Island prior to 1850, but the ranching period expanded greatly when California pioneer George Nidever made his home on the island in 1850. Once, on a remote island battered by fierce winds and surrounded by the Pacific, there existed a peculiar ranching empire. San Miguel Island, now part of California’s…