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Piru, a part of the 14,000 acres of the Piru Fruit Rancho, is situated near the base of the mountains where the Piru Creek and the Santa Clara River meet. It is the upper end of the Santa Clara Valley, in the eastern section of Ventura County. The name Piru was derived from the grass or reeds what grew in the Piru River which were used for basket weaving by the Piru Indians, members of the Haminot tribe. The property, which was patented by the Temescal Land Grant, was purchased in 1887 form the Del Valle brothers by David C. Cook of Elgin, Illinois, the proprietor of a large religious publishing house in the United States. This was quickly followed by the founding of the town Piru City, as it was once called, owned and controlled by Mr. Cook. When David C. Cook brought the Piru Fruit Rancho in 1887, he acquired with the land a valuable water right, allowing him to appropriate the waters of the Piru Creek for irrigation purposes. The water system, consisting of 30 miles of pipes, flumes and canals had been planned in order to properly irrigate the mammoth orchards extending from Piru City, westward a distance of one and a half miles, and up the Piru Canyon, a distance of six miles.
