Descendant of Fort Ross owners returns keys in time for Heritage Day Unlocking history

For 30 years, John C. Benitz had two thick iron keys in a small wooden box on his desk, one labeled "main gate" and the other "Russian chapel."

He was the fourth generation of Benitzes to possess the keys, and he realized even as a child in Argentina that they were no ordinary hand-me-downs, that they were the keys to historic Fort Ross.

His great-grandfather, William Otto Benitz, also known as Wilhelm, was one of the early and most successful owners of the remote North Coast outpost, ranching some 17,000 acres after the Russians left.

"When old William Otto left the fort in the 1860s," Benitz said, "he took the keys to the gate and chapel with him."

After moving with the Benitz family to Argentina, England and Canada, the keys have found their way back to the fort, where John Benitz said they rightfully belong.

The keys are being displayed today at the fort's annual Cultural Heritage Day. They were presented to rangers three weeks ago during a Benitz family reunion that drew 106 direct descendants of William Otto Benitz.

"I always had those keys and always felt they didn't belong to me but to the state of California," said John Benitz, who lives in Chatsworth, Ontario. "Seeing how the fort has gone through such a terrific revival, when we had the Benitz party, I took them there."

Rangers at Fort Ross State Historic Park said they were surprised by the existence of the keys, since there are no locks at the fort, nor records indicating the fort was ever locked.

Supervising Ranger Heidi Horvitz said the keys have been studied by state archaeologists, and given the Benitz family history, there is no reason to doubt their authenticity.

"We don't have any of the hardware and no one ever talked about the fort being locked or even lockable," Horvitz said. "I sent them to state archaeologists and they are of the era."

The fort was established in 1812 by the Russian-American Fur Co. as an outpost to hunt sea otters and as a trading base. When the sea otters became scarce in 1841 and the resident Russians proved unsuccessful at farming, the Russians sold the fort to John Sutter.

Sutter moved most of the movable goods at the fort to his own fort in Sacramento, and German emigrant William Benitz, one of Sutter's ranch managers, became the owner by 1845.

By 1867, however, Benitz had sold off his land and taken his fortune, his wife, Josephine, and 10 children briefly to Oakland and then to Argentina, where he established another ranch.

John Benitz said William died shortly after moving to Argentina, but the family prospered there, establishing a number of ranches.

"My grandmother got those keys and kept them and before she died gave them to my mother. We had a little museum in the house, in a little room in the house. I always remembered the keys," Benitz said.

Horvitz said the keys have added importance because there are few artifacts left from the Russian occupation.

Everything was either taken back by the Russians, carted away by successive owners or lost, Horvitz said.

"We have things from excavations - coins, some hinges, some metal pieces. From the graveyard we have buttons and there are some earrings, a few personal items. But most of everything else is re-created," Horvitz said. The keys, she said, "are irreplaceable."