Jose Bolcoff was the original settler and first European to claim title and live in what was to later become known as Scotts Valley. He was born around 1794 in Petropavlosk-Kamchatsky, a village on the Kamchatka Penisula in Siberia which served as a main port of depature for Russian fur hunters sailing for Alaska.

About 1815, Bolcoff jumped ship on the Monterey Bay shoreline. Obtaining a cattle brand, records showed Bolcoff was both raising cattle and growing wheat. It is not known exactly where these activities took place, but it can be surmised that he was ranching on what would be granted to him by governor Figueora in 1833, Rancho San Agustin. It should be noted that Bolcoff could not own land along the coast for the Russians were still considered a threat with their colony at Ft. Ross.

Becoming a Mexican citizen in 1833, Bolcoff moved his family to his 4,400 acre land grant building, an adobe casa historians speculate was located near present day Kings Village Shopping Center. This Rancho was 5 miles North of Santa Cruz on the old Indian trail to Santa Clara.

The 1830’s saw the arrival of more foreigners, mostly English sailors and American fur trappers, to the Santa Cruz/Branciforte area. One fur trapper was Joseph Ladd Majors. While near death, he was baptised at Mission Santa Cruz in 1838. He recovered and would fall in love with and marry Maria de los Angeles Castro. Majors became Bolcoff’s brother in law in 1839. The newlyweds Joseph and Maria de los Angeles moved to Rancho San Augustin.

This area had springs (Spring Lake today) creeks, lush with grass lands for cattle grazing; woodlands of oak, laurel, madrone, bay and redwoods covered the hillside and nestled along the streams. The climate was as we know it today: beautiful.

Jose Bolcoff, “El Ruso”, the restless entrepreneur, relinquished his interest in the Rancho San Augustin, selling and accepting $400 from Joseph Ladd Majors who was now called Don Juan Jose Mechacas. On March 26, 1841, Rancho San Augustin was granted to Don Juan Jose Mechacas by Governor Alvarado along with the abandoned Rancho Zayante.

Bolcoff tried his luck at prospecting during the gold rush. He did not do well. He opened a mercantile store in San Jose. He didn't do well, returned and lost his Rancho to back taxes in the 1850’s. On March 9, 1866 Bolcoff died and was buried at the Catholic Cemetery at Our Lady of Help of Christians Church on East Lake Blvd, in Watsonville.

A special thanks to Scotts Valley Historian Marion Dale Pokriots for her detailed research on the life of Juan Antonio Bolcoff, published in the Santa Cruz County History Journal #3, 1997.