The Early Days of the Ranch
Before the Spanish missionaries, this region was utilized by the native Ohlone Indians, who lived in the watershed for thousands of years. The Portola Expedition, which crossed Wilder Creek on October 18, 1769, was the first group of non-indigenous people on the land. Establishment of the Santa Cruz Mission in 1791 caused major upheaval in the area. Soon people from every culture and from every corner of the globe would become part of the change.

During the Spanish era, padres kept the mission cattle on the land, which were used for beef, hides, and tallow. When Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, the process of dividing the region into land grants began. A Russian-born fur trader turned Mexican national named Don Jose Antonio Bolcoff obtained Rancho Refugio, which included the land of present-day Wilder Ranch, on behalf of his wife Maria Candida Castro and her two sisters. The Castros were daughters of Joaquin Castro, who in 1776 came from the Santa Cruz Valley in Arizona with the Anza expedition, the first civilian settlement expedition to Alta California. One of the Bolcoff's adobe buildings, built c. 1840, still stands behind the Victorian home on the Wilder grounds. Among other business speculations, the Bolcoff family was the first to use the land as a dairy farm, selling some milk, butter, and cheese.

A Dairy Farm
In 1846, Moses Meder, his wife, and daughter traveled around Cape Horn in the USS Brooklyn and arrived in San Francisco. As part of the wave of early American settlers, Meder moved to Santa Cruz County and made a living building lumber mills and giving small loans on properties. Bolcoff took advantage of both services from Meder, and soon was unable to pay his debts. In 1856, Meder foreclosed on Bolcoff. He moved his family onto the ranch in 1859, which he then continued to develop, building a home and several barns.

The promise of riches and opportunity must have been the motivation that brought D.D. Wilder across the Sierra in 1853 and Levi K. Baldwin through Panama in 1858. Both found their fortune in the dairy barns of Marin, rather than in the gold fields of the Sierra foothills. By 1871, they decided to move their operation to Santa Cruz and purchased what was left of the former Rancho Refugio.

Wilder and Baldwin held the ranch in partnership until 1885. Both families lived in town, and a tenant dairy rancher lived on the ranch and milked the cows. In 1885, the partnership was dissolved, and the Wilder family moved onto the ranch. The Wilder family lived on and worked their land for the next 84 years. They were innovators in the dairy industry, and as technologies changed they were quick to incorporate them. They continued and expanded the dairy operation, and Wilder butter was soon known to be of the highest quality in the markets of San Francisco. Five generations of Wilders lived on the ranch through the years, along with workers from Portugal, Sweden and China, as well as immigrants from other countries. However, by the 1930s, the dairy had become unprofitable, so the Wilders switched to cattle ranching (the original ranching use started by the Spanish missionaries), quarterhorse breeding, and leasing agricultural land.