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When Mary Olsen Rydberg grew up on a ranch adjacent to the present day site of California Lutheran University, there were fewer than 300 households in the Conejo Valley, the closest school was seven miles away and going to town meant taking a perilous daylong journey to Oxnard.
Rydbergís family, the Olsens, were good friends and next-door neighbors of the Pedersons ñ whose son Richard donated his land for the establishment of CLU. Her childhood memories and family history give fascinating insights on life in the Norwegian colony long before the University was founded.
In 1886 Rydbergís grandfather, Nils Olsen, left his home in Ura, Norway, to find prosperity in California. Settling initially in Santa Barbara, he and four friends from his hometown yearned for a better life ñ a life that revolved around owning their own land and becoming successful farmers. So when land became available in the northern section of the Conejo Valley, Olsen, Ole Neilson, Ole Anderson, Lars Pederson and George Hansen happily pooled their resources and purchased the property. They then drew lots to see which parcel each family would receive.
A Hard Life
TOP: Rydberg identifies structures and streets on the neighboring Olsen and Pederson ranches, now the site of California Lutheran University.
BOTTOM: Land and buildings donated by Richard Pederson to build a Lutheran college on the West Coast. |
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The industrious families quickly fell to work, but life proved to be challenging on the isolated ranches. ìMy grandparents had 10 children, and seven died of unknown causes,î Rydberg recounts. ìAll of their children were born on the ranch, and Mrs. [Karn] Pederson was my grandmotherís midwife. She delivered my father, Oscar.î
The landscape, mostly barren of trees and vegetation, was cleared to allow more acreage for farming, but the eucalyptus trees that border Campus Drive were planted by the early settlers because they grew quickly and provided good firewood. Initially, the Pedersons and Olsens grew mostly hay, which they sold in Oxnard or shipped out of Hueneme. Later, the Pedersons planted orange trees and raised chickens, and the Olsens planted apricot trees.
Getting out of the ìwest countyî proved to be dangerous, and many lost their lives, horses and wagons trying to haul their crops over the Potrero Grade to Hueneme. ìThe Potrero grade was too narrow and steep,î Rydberg recalls. ìYou had to tie the back wheels of the wagon, so they wouldnít turn, and let the horses drag the wagons down the hill. After one accident in which Mr. Hansen hurt his back, he had to be in bed for a year.î
The families decided they needed to build an alternate, safer route to the coast. Offering to donate the labor, the landowners convinced the county to provide $60 for dynamite. The result was the Norwegian Grade, which begins at the north end of Moorpark Road and drops into the Santa Rosa Valley.
Although shorter and safer at the time than the other existing grades, Rydberg remembers it as being narrow and scary. ìYou think itís bad now,î she exclaims, ìyou should have seen it then.î
In the early days, the day-to-day chores on the ranches were set aside two to three times a year when traveling salesmen or a visiting preacher stopped in the valley. There was no church in the Conejo, so weddings and baptisms had to be performed in Hueneme or Santa Barbara. Oxnard and Ventura were where the pioneers did their shopping, but these outings were few and far between since traveling to the distant cities was arduous.
In 1901 a fierce epidemic hit the area, and several people died, including Lars Pederson and George Hansen. The hard life, coupled with a water shortage, eventually defeated three of the pioneers ñ Anderson, Mrs. Hansen and Neilson, who sold their properties to the Olsens and Pedersons and left the area.
The Olsens now owned 443 acres stretching from east of Moorpark Road to the cliffs west of Campus Drive. The Pedersons, their only neighbors, owned 200 acres located near the middle of the Olsen holdings and later purchased an additional 300 acres.
Education a High Priority
Norwegians have always had a high regard for education, and Rydbergís father, Oscar Olsen, is a good example. When he was 7, he started school in Moorpark to learn English. Despite his young age, he walked the seven-mile trek alone to school each day
Once Olsen learned English, he transferred to Timber School in Newbury Park, where he met his future bride, Theresa Kelley. He later returned to Moorpark School where he graduated from the eighth grade.
The nearest high school was located in Ventura, so to continue their childrenís education, 10 local parents pitched in $10 each and hired a teacher from Fresno for a year. After the teacher left, Olsen attended high school in Ventura taking the train each weekend and boarding with a friend of the family during the week.
Following two years of high school, Olsen began farming the family land on the Conejo. In 1921 he married his childhood sweetheart, and they moved to the most western portion of the ranch (located west of Campus Drive, on both sides of Olsen Road, encompassing, the area where the residence halls now stand). This is where they raised their four children: Rydberg, second to the youngest, who lives in Oxnard; Arthelia Honerkamp, now deceased; Jean Thompson and Neil Olsen, both of Paso Robles.
The Olsens and Pedersons helped to construct the first Santa Rosa School (located just over Mt. Clef Ridge). Nils Olsen was one of the first trustees. By the time Rydberg started elementary school in 1938, she was able to attend a new two-room schoolhouse. Her classmates included neighbor Janet (Pederson) Reeling and her cousin Gerry Olsen.
Commitment to education continued to be a priority with the families, and in 1959 with the generous donation of his 130-acre farm, Richard Pederson, a 50-year-old bachelor, brought to reality the 75-year-old dream of establishing a Lutheran college in California.
Too Many People
About the same time Pederson donated the land for California Lutheran University, construction began on a 700-unit housing tract east of Moorpark Road between Olsen Road and Avenida de los Arboles. Oscar Olsen began to feel hemmed in, his daughter recalls, so he sold the property and bought a ranch in Paso Robles.
ìBut he couldnít bear to sell it all and kept five acres and his home [near the intersection of Olsen and Campus Drive], and we used to come and have picnics here.î
Although none of the Olsen land was sold to CLU initially, eventually the University did buy much of it. The last five acres were purchased from the Olsen children in the late 1980s.
Reminders of these Conejo Valley pioneers remain at CLU ñ the existence of the University itself, the names of surrounding streets, the titles of buildings ñ but, most of all, it is their indomitable spirit, their commitment to education and their drive to overcome all odds that is their greatest legacy.
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