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CALIFORNIA RANCHOS DATABASE | |
Number of Cards | 28 |
Card Description | One
card each on 17 representative ranchos throughout the state; One card
each on 11 different areas of rancho life |
CALIFORNIA RANCHOS
An Introduction
BEFORE
THE RANCHOS
For
hundreds of years, the land that is now California belonged to the many groups
of Indians who lived along the Pacific Ocean coast, in the river valleys,
and in the mountains. The earliest
history of California is the history of these first Californians.
Only
a few Europeans visited this western part of the American continent before
1750. In 1542 Juan Rodríquez Cabrillo
sailed into what is now San Diego Bay and claimed the land for Spain. Sir Francis Drake sailed along the coast near
San Francisco Bay in 1579, and claimed the land for England. An exploring party led by Sebastián Vizcaíno
came in 1602, visiting and naming San Diego Bay, Santa Barbara Channel, Monterey
Bay, and other places. After this,
it was more than 160 years before other visitors came to the area.
By
the mid 1700s, the rulers of Spain (who controlled what is
now Mexico, then known as New Spain) decided that they also wanted to control
the land to the north, California. They
sent an expedition headed by Gaspár de Portolá and Father Junípero Serra to
establish Spanish missions. The 21
missions built from San Diego to Sonoma between 1769 and 1823 brought about
major changes in California.
In
1821 Mexico won its independence from Spain.
This meant that Mexico, rather than Spain, was now in control of California.
The government in Mexico was no longer interested in supporting the
missions. In 1833 they decided that all mission lands
should be transferred from the Catholic Church to the pueblos (towns).
This transfer was called "secularization," and it was the
end of the mission period in California.
It
was also the beginning of the "golden days" of the rancho period.
THE
RANCHO PERIOD
About 8,000 B.C. |
People
first come to what is now |
1542 | Juan Rodríquez Cabrillo
explores |
1579 | Sir Francis Drake
sails near |
1602 | Sebastián Vizcaíno explores the |
1769 | First Spanish
mission established |
1784 | First land use permits for ranchos given by Spanish Governor Fages |
1822 | Mexico controls California; |
1833 | Missions secularized; more rancho |
1847 | United States takes control of |
1850 | California becomes a state |
The
rancho period may be said to span almost one hundred years, from the 1780s
when the first big land concessions were made, to the 1880s when the last
of the ranchos was sold to subdividers. About
500 private land grants were given by Spanish or Mexican governors between
1784 and 1846.
The
"golden days" of the rancho period were the years from 1833 through
1846. During these years, the people
of the ranchos were the leaders of California's political and social life. The "golden days" has been known as
a time of fiestas and laughter, of great wealth and much leisure time for
enjoying life.
By
the end of Mexican rule in California in 1846, the ranchos covered 10 million
acres and stretched from San Diego in the south to Shasta County in the north.
Individual ranchos ranged in size from less than 4,000 acres to nearly
50,000 acres.
SPANISH
LAND USE PERMITS
The
lands that were held by each of the Spanish missions were actually "concessions,"
land given for a limited time to be used in a certain way, and to be given
back later. The rulers of Spain considered
that they "owned" all of the land in
California, and were only allowing the Catholic Church to use certain parts
of it for the missions.
The
Spanish governors in California had the authority to grant land permits to
individuals. These were use permits,
and did not mean that the individuals owned the land. However, these first use permits are commonly
called "land grants."
The
first use permits were granted by the Spanish governor Pedro Fages in 1784.
By 1822 about thirty use permits had been given, mainly in the Los
Angeles area. These early land grants
were given to soldiers in recognition of their military service.
The permits were intended to be for disabled soldiers, but it seems
that being a friend or relative of the governor was more important than any
disability.
Rules
for the granting of land use permits under the Spanish governors stated that
the land granted must not take any land from Indian rancherías (communities)
or the missions, and must be four leagues (12 miles) or more from any pueblo
or presidio (fort). The land
was to be used primarily for grazing cattle.
MEXICAN
LAND GRANTS
When
Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821, the Mexican government wanted
people to settle in California. To
encourage settlement, they offered land.
Mexican
colonization laws passed in 1824 and 1828 allowed the grants of title to the
land. This meant that the person receiving
the land actually owned it, rather than just being allowed to use it. Many of the people who had received use permits
from the Spanish governors now applied for Mexican grants for the same land,
to make sure that they could keep their land.
From
1822 to 1846, hundreds of rancho land grants were given to individuals by
the Mexican governors. Mexican law
stated that the grants could not exceed eleven leagues (a "square league"
contained about 4,500 acres). Actually,
most of the ranchos were five leagues (about 22,500 acres) or less. Some families, however, managed to get several
adjoining grants so that they formed very large ranchos of 300,000 acres or
more.
The
ranchos were located mostly along the western part of California, following
the line of the missions. The northernmost
rancho grant was in what is now Shasta County, along the Sacramento River.
The
missions were secularized (land taken from the Catholic Church by the government)
between 1834 and 1836. This meant that
mission lands were then available to individuals. Many people asked the governor
to give them land. Between 1834 and
1842, more than 300 ranchos were granted, mostly from lands that had been
used previously by the missions.
The
plan for the missions had been that the land would be given back to the native
people, the Indians who had lived there before the Spanish came. For the most part, this did not happen. A few Indians were given grants of mission lands,
but most of these lost their land to Mexican ranch owners who traded liquor
or sacks of goods to the Indians in exchange for their land.