What happens
Jose Maria Verdugo, a corporal in the service of the King of Spain, falls in love with Maria de la Encarnacion after seeing her on the old road to Monterey. Together they plan a home on a fertile valley, and Jose petitions the governor for permission to graze cattle there. Over the years the Rancho San Rafael grows, and Jose's family defends its boundaries against trespassers. Later, the rancho passes to Jose's son Julio amid the upheaval of the American conquest, and mounting debts threaten the estate. The episode is from the Romance of the Ranchos series, aired on September 7, 1941, with Frank Graham as the wandering vaquero narrator.
Southern California, from the 1770s Spanish mission period through the American conquest and the sale of Rancho San Rafael in the late 1800s, with the Glendale area as the present-day backdrop.
Characters: Jose Maria Verdugo, Maria de la Encarnacion, Carlos, Julio Verdugo, Teodoro Verdugo, Governor Pedro Fages
Listen for: Jose's petition to the governor and the letter granting permission to keep cattle, and the sheriff's visit to Julio Verdugo about the mortgage debt.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.