CELEBRATE! : ORANGE COUNTY’S FIRST 100 YEARS : CREATING A COUNTY : A ROSTER OF THE RANCHOS

Vast rangeland was opened to private ownership when the newly formed Mexican Republic passed the Secularization Act in 1833. Mission property was confiscated, and any eligible Mexican citizen (native or naturalized) could petition Mexican governors for large grants of land. In addition to being a Catholic, an applicant had to show an ability to raise crops or cattle and to occupy the property. Of 700 grants made or reconfirmed throughout California between 1833 and 1846, 20 were either all or partly within today’s Orange County borders. They were:

1. Rancho Boca de la Playa

“Mouth of the beach,” the most southerly rancho in the county, was granted to Emigdio Vejar by Mexican Gov. Pio Pico in 1846. Vejar, who had been a “judge of the plains” (authorized to dispense justice in rural areas) in the Los Angeles area in 1838, was justice of the peace in San Juan Capistrano in 1844 and 1845. In 1869, he sold the 6,607-acre rancho to Juan Avila. It eventually was acquired by Juan Forster, an Englishman who became a Mexican citizen and a major regional landowner, second only to Abel Stearns.

2. Rancho Bolsa Chica

The 8,107-acre “little pocket” or “bay” was granted to Joaquin Ruiz in 1841 by Mexican Gov. Juan B. Alvarado. Formerly part of Rancho Las Bolsas, Rancho Bolsa Chica eventually was bought by Abel Stearns, a Massachusetts native who became a naturalized citizen in Mexico before coming to Los Angeles as a trader in 1829. Through marriage and land purchase, Stearns became the largest landowner in Southern California.

3. Rancho Canada de los Alisos

Bounded by mountains on the northeast, the “glen of the alders” was granted in 1842 to Jose Serrano by Gov. Alvarado. Supplemented by a later grant from Gov. Pico in 1846, the Serrano property swelled to 10,668 acres. Serrano had been a judge of the plains in Los Angeles in 1835. Dwight Whiting acquired most of the rancho in the 1880s, and it became the Whiting Ranch.

4. Rancho Canon de Santa Ana (sometimes called Canada de Santa Ana)

Taking its name from the Santa Ana River, the 13,328-acre rancho was granted in 1834 to Bernardo Yorba by Mexican Gov. Jose Figueroa. Yorba was one of four sons of Jose Antonio Yorba, a soldier in the Gaspar de Portola expedition that set out from San Diego in 1769 in search of Monterey Bay. Bernardo Yorba eventually acquired land that extended his holdings from Riverside County to Newport Bay.

5. Rancho La Habra

This rancho, whose name meant low pass in the mountains or valley (possibly derived from a low pass through the Puente Hills crossed by the Portola expedition), was partly in what is now Los Angeles County. It was granted in 1839 to Mariano R. Roldan by Manuel Jimeno on behalf of the Mexican nation. The acreage is not known. Roldan had been an auxiliary alcalde, or judge, in the Los Angeles district in 1836 and later had served as a judge of the plains. Andres Pico acquired the land, and it was later sold to Stearns.

6. Rancho La Puente

Only a small portion of “the bridge” was within what is now Orange County. The 48,790-acre rancho was granted in 1845 by Gov. Pico to John Rowland and William Workman--trappers who had brought a party of Americans to California from New Mexico in 1841.

7. Rancho Las Bolsas

This rancho was part of a vast Spanish concession given to former soldier Manuel Nieto in 1784 by Spanish Gov. Pedro Fages. Las Bolsas was created when Nieto heirs asked for a partition of the larger grant. Gov. Figueroa gave the land in 1834 to Catarina Ruiz, the widow of one of the Nietos. By the time the United States Land Commission was formed in 1851 to consider the claims of rancho owners, Las Bolsas ownership was in dispute. Ramon Yorba and Jose Justo Morillo each claimed a half-interest. Stearns later became full owner. The acreage of the rancho is not known.

8. Rancho Lomas de Santiago

The 47,266-acre “hills of St. James” was granted in 1846 by Gov. Pico to Teodocio Yorba, son of Jose Antonio Yorba. It later was acquired by James Irvine Sr. in deeds dated 1868 and 1876.

9. Rancho Los Alamitos

“Little cottonwoods” (or willows) was part of the larger 1784 Manuel Nieto concession. Los Alamitos was created during the partitioning and in 1834 was granted by Gov. Figueroa to Juan Jose Nieto. The acreage is not known. It was later acquired by Stearns.

10. Rancho Los Coyotes

Rancho Los Coyotes also was created during the breakup of the Manuel Nieto concession and was given to Juan Jose Nieto in 1834. Stearns later added it to his holdings. Its acreage is not known.

11. Rancho Mission Vieja or La Paz

The 46,435-acre rancho was granted to Antonio Estudillo in 1841 by Gov. Pico under the name Rancho La Paz (“the peace”), but Estudillo failed to meet conditions of ownership set by Mexican law. He sold it to Augustin Olvera in 1845, who sold it to Forster two days after the title was confirmed. The rancho’s name was changed to Rancho Mission Vieja (“old mission”).

12. Rancho Niguel

Rancho Niguel was granted to Juan Avila in 1842 by Gov. Alvarado. Avila was a judge of the plains and later justice of the peace in San Juan Capistrano. Lewis F. Moulton acquired the 13,316-acre rancho in the 1890s, and it became Moulton Ranch.

13. Rancho Potrero los Pinos

This was one of three small pastures in what is now Cleveland National Forest called the “Potreros of San Juan Capistrano,” granted in 1845 to Forster by Gov. Pico. The other two potreros are now in Riverside County. The size of the three in an 1866 title was 1,167 acres.

14. Rancho Rincon de la Brea

Only a small portion of “corner of the tar” extends into Orange County from the north. The rancho was first owned by Gil Ybarra of Los Angeles, a former town council member who received the grant in 1841 from Gov. Alvarado. Its size is not known.

15. Rios Tract

This seven-acre parcel of land was within the boundaries of Rancho Boca de la Playa. It was granted to Santiago Rios by Mexican Gov. Manuel Micheltorena in 1843. Rios was justice of the peace at San Juan Capistrano in 1842 and 1843.

16. Rancho San Joaquin and Rancho La Cienega de las Ranas

Given to Jose Andres Sepulveda in two grants by Gov. Alvarado in 1837 and 1842, the title for the two ranchos gave the combined size as 48,803 acres. The ranchos were named “pocket of the St. Joaquim” (an early name for Upper Newport Bay) and “swamp of the frogs,” an area of marshlands that once extended from Newport Bay to Red Hill. Sepulveda reportedly had been involved in politics, but became known as a hospitable rancher who owned fast horses. His ranchos later were joined with Lomas de Santiago and a portion of Santiago de Santa Ana to form the Irvine Ranch.

17. Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana

The 35,970-acre “St. John’s Canyon of Santa Ana” was granted in 1837 to Juan Pacifico Ontiveros by Alvarado. Ontiveros was an early-day resident of Los Angeles who had served in the Spanish army.

18. Rancho Santa Gertrudes

Only the northeasterly tip of the rancho is within Orange County. It was part of the 1784 Nieto concession. Nieto lived on this rancho southwest of what is now Whittier. After the breakup of the concession, Figuero granted the rancho to Josefa Cota de Nieto.

19. Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana

The rancho took its name from two Portola expedition campsites that were named for two saint’s days, St. James (Santiago) and St. Anne (Santa Ana). Jose Antonio Yorba, a retired sergeant of the presidio in San Diego, who had been a Portola party corporal, was granted the ranch land in 1810.

20. Rancho Trabuco

Named for a blunderbuss lost by a soldier in the Portola expedition. A third of the rancho was granted in 1841 to Santiago Arguello by Gov. Alvarado. Arguello, who had held several public offices in San Juan Capistrano, San Diego and Los Angeles, sold his interest to Forster two years later, and Forster obtained the additional two-thirds of the rancho from Gov. Pico, giving him a total of 22,000 acres.

Source: The Title Insurance and Trust Co. of Los Angeles, incorporated in 1893, now known as Ticor Title Insurance Co. of California.