Vaca Adobe or Vaca Dugout is a former settlement in what was then Tulare County, now Kings County, California

Kings County, California

Kings County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is located in a rich agricultural region. Kings County is also home to NAS Lemoore, which is the U.S. Navy's newest and largest master jet air station. The county seat is Hanford...

. It was located at stopping place on the eastern route of the El Camino Viejo

El Camino Viejo

El Camino Viejo à Los Angeles , also known as the Old Los Angeles Trail, established in 1820's, was the oldest north-south trail in the interior of Alta California...

 about 3 miles north of the site of what is now Kettleman City

Kettleman City, California

Kettleman City is a census-designated place in Kings County, California, United States. Kettleman City is located southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of 253 feet . It is part of the Hanford–Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,439 at the 2010 census, down from...

 close to the shore of Tulare Lake

Tulare Lake

Tulare Lake, named Laguna de Tache by the Spanish, is a fresh-water dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes in southern San Joaquin Valley, California...

. The adobe at the site was known as the Vaca Dugout, and was built in 1863 by vaqueros Juan Perria and Pablo Vaca. In 1863, California was in the midst of the severe 1863-64 drought that would kill most of the cattle in the southern part of the state. Tulare Lake and the tules

Tuleš

Tuleš is a village in the municipality of Aleksandrovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 496 people....

marshes around it were one of the few places cattle could get feed and water. The adobe was the headquarters for the vaqueros who were tending the herds in the vicinity.