Farming the Upper Oso Lease

Farming the Upper Oso Lease. The Milo B. Stevens Family. , Today, a good day's catch at Lake Mission Viejo can bring in trout, sunfish, and bass. In the early 1900, the lands beneath Lake Mission Viejo yielded barley and black eyed peas. These crops were harvested, put into 100-pound sacks, and transported by eight-mule wagon to a warehouse in what was then known as El Toro and is now the city of Lake Forrest., The bottom of Lake Mission Viejo is the site of the original farmhouse of Milo B. Stevens, long-time leaseholder, and his family, who farmed 2,000 to 3,000 acres of land knows as the upper Oso Lease., The Upper Osos Lease included lands beneath and around Lake Mission Viejo, and bounded by the current landmarks of Alicia Parkway and Olympiad Road. These lease lands were part of the 52,000-acre ranch then known as Rancho Mission Viejo and owned by the O'Neil Family., Milo B. and Ella M. (Cook) Steven were married in 1907 and started farming the Upper Oso Lease in that year. Mr. Stevens owned the ranch house here and buildings., Mr. Stevens dry-farmed barley as a main crop, rotating with a crop of black eyed peas every third year to replenish the nitrogen in the soil. Crews of hired hands worked the land. Mules pulled the wagon and plow. Rent on the lease was one-quarter of the crop yields, and every fourth sack was placed in a separate pile for the land lord., Mr. Stevens farmed the Upper Oso Lease for more than 20 years, until 1928. Two of his four children were born on the ranch. Mr. Stevens then moved his family to Simi Valley to farm 60 acres he had purchased there. A series of subsequent tenants continued to farm the Upper Oso Lease until the 1970s.