When German Quiroga learned, in 2021, that his great-great-grandparents’ homestead in Lochiel was being sold to a relative, he remembers feeling relieved that the property, that had been in his family since the 1880s, was going to stay in the family.
Unfortunately, for the descendants of Antonio and Catalina De La Ossa, that relative was Liz Gutfahr.
The property is owned by the Double D Cattle Company that lists as its address P.O. Box 37, Tumacacori, the same address listed for Elizabeth Gutfahr on other holdings in the county. Quiroga confirmed that Gutfahr, a De La Ossa descendant, is the current owner.
Gutfahr bought the family homestead and 138 acres at 1879 Duquesne Rd. in Lochiel for $580,000, according to the County Assessor’s website. She also purchased 0.9 acres across the road at 9 Lochiel Rd. that includes the family cemetery and chapel, which was at one time part of the diocese of Tucson before being deeded back to the family.
The past is present in Lochiel, located almost 20 miles south of Patagonia in the San Rafael Valley. A dirt road slows you down as it bends around to the east after almost taking you across the border to Mexico. The soil is sandier than further north in the valley, and there are more cows and horses than houses. The chapel sits on a rise overlooking Lochiel and down into Mexico. The cemetery holds the remains of generations of De La Ossa descendants, including Army veteran Antonio De La Ossa (1889–1984) and Navy veterans Ramon De La Ossa (1946–2020) and Antoinette De La Ossa Tews (1950–1982).
A giant cottonwood stands guard over the old one room schoolhouse, built sometime before 1905, that Quiroga and many volunteers have worked for years to restore. Across the road, in front of the entrance to the chapel, stands another huge cottonwood. Both trees are old enough to have witnessed Quiroga’s ancestors ranching and raising their families.
But now the property is in danger of being bought by a stranger. On August 20, the judge overseeing the civil lawsuit brought against Gutfahr by Santa Cruz County gave permission for her properties to be sold to help recover at least some of the $38 million that Gutfahr allegedly stole from the county coffers during her tenure as county treasurer.
It is not clear when these two parcels will be sold, or whether or not they will be put up for auction. Quiroga, who serves as the president of the Patagonia Museum Board of Trustees, which he worked to create, said he has asked in the past that the family form a trust to protect the chapel and the cemetery. He, of course, would like to see the land stay in the family. “Maybe the universe will smile on us,” he said, “and we’ll figure something out.”
