Back to the Rancho

Their names still appear on deeds and maps. The large cattle ranches of the San Fernando Valley have provided community names--Encino and Tujunga, for instance--that are still used today.

In 1834, the San Fernando Mission, along with other California missions, was secularized, and mission lands became public property. The Mexican government divided the lands among Indians, others who already were living in California and new Mexican settlers, by giving out land grants. There were six major grants in the immediate area of the Valley, including the 17,000-acre Las Virgenes rancho, largely in what is now Ventura County, which was awarded to Miguel Ortega by King Philip of Spain.

The process was not without controversy. Mexican Gov. Pio Pico was criticized for granting land to his friends, including taking $14,000 from Eulogio de Celis for Rancho Ex-Mission de San Fernando. Pico defended the grant, saying he he made it “under and by virtue of my authority as governor and for the purpose of providing means to carry on the [Mexican-American] war.”

When California became part of the United States in 1850, Mexican land grants were recognized, but proving them in court was often a difficult task.

The U.S. Land Commission was organized in late 1851 to determine who owned what land. Claims were filed and those successful were issued a patent.

As late as 1874, the majority of the San Fernando Valley, or 131,295 acres, was in the hands of just eight owners or groups of owners.

Life on the Ranchos

It was a lifestyle vastly different from today’s: no electricity, no running water, no quick way to get from one end of the Valley to the other. But owners and workers of the Valley’s several ranchos in the 19th century made a life for themselves raising cattle for the hide and tallow trade. Water for irrigation was in short supply until the Los Angeles Aqueduct opened in 1915.

Rancho el Encino (about 4,460 acres)

Once an Indian village, Rancho el Encino was granted in 1845 by Gov. Pio Pico to three Indians called Ramon, Francisco and Roque. A petition for Rancho el Encino was presented to the U.S. Board of Land Commissioners in 1852, in which Don Vincent de la Ossa claimed he had purchased one-third of the property in 1849. Unable to pay his taxes, Ramon sold the final portion in 1857 to de la Osa, who paid $9.33 for 312 acres. De la Osa’s widow sold Rancho el Encino in 1867 for $3,500, a little more than the assessed valuation, to James Paul Thompson, sheriff and tax collector of the county and also the widow’s son-in-law. Future owners included Eugene Garnier, Gaston Oxarart, Simon Gless and Domingo Amestoy, whose family owned the property for 55 years, until 1945.

Rancho Ex-Mission de San Fernando (about 117,000 acres)

The largest of the Los Angeles County ranchos occupied most of the San Fernando Valley. Following the secularization of the missions, the property was leased to Andres Pico and Juan Manso in 1845 for $1,120 a year. Gov. Pio Pico acquired the land and sold it for $115,000 in 1869 to the San Fernando Valley Homestead Assn., headed by Isaac Lankershim and Isaac Newton Van Nuys. In 1874, Sen. Charles Maclay, George K. Porter and B.F. Porter purchased the northern half of the rancho, or about 57,000 acres for $115,000.

Rancho el Escorpion (about 1,100 acres)

Also a former Indian village, Rancho el Escorpion became a horse and cattle ranch in 1834. Gov. Pio Pico made the land grant in 1845 to three Indians named Urbano. Joaquin Romero, a Mexican, bought a share in July 1849. Their claim was upheld in 1854 by the U.S. Board of Land Commissioners. But the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles appealed the decision, which was later upheld in federal court and dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1871, Basque immigrant Miguel Leonis became the sole owner of El Escorpion. The property later became known as Platt Ranch when Los Angeles dairyman George E. Platt bought it in 1912 for $180,000.

Rancho Providencia (about 4,064 acres)

Acquired by land grant in 1843 by Commandante J. Castro, Luis Arenas and Vincente de la Osa, its name means “divine providence.” In 1851, de la Osa sold the 4,064 acres to Alexander Bell and David W. Alexander for $1,500, less than 35 cents an acre. In 1853, Dona Verdugo, whose family had been granted nearby land many years before, transferred part of the ranch to her daughters. They in turn sold the rancho for $1 an acre to Antonio F. Coronel of Los Angeles. Coronel bought the rest of the rancho and sold it to James Lick of San Francisco.

Rancho Tujunga (about 6,600 acres)

In 1840, the Mexican government issued the land grant to two brothers, Pedro and Francisco Lopez. They deeded it in 1845 to an Indian, Miguel Triunfo, who had been employed at San Fernando Mission. The transfer was a trade, not a sale; Triunfo owned Rancho Cahuenga, which the Lopez brothers desired. The 388-acre rancho included Campo de Cahuenga, near what is now Universal City, where in 1847 the Articles of Capitulation were signed, ending the Mexican-American War in California. Triunfo sold Rancho Tujunga in 1850 for $400 to three men. Francisco Lopez, who had owned the rancho before, bought a half-interest, and David W. Alexander and Francis Mellus, both Los Angeles merchants, took the other half-interest.

Rancho San Francisco (48,829 acres)

In 1839, Gov. Juan B. Alvarado granted Rancho San Francisco to Antonio Seferino del Valle, who had been assigned a few years earlier to inventory the property of the San Fernando Mission. After his death in 1841, his wife, Jacoba, and son, Ignacio, fought over the inheritance. A judge decided the property should be split among the two of them and her children. Ultimately, San Francisco businessman Henry Mayo Newhall purchased the rancho in 1875 for $90,000, or about $1.84 per acre. A year later, he deeded over a right-of-way to Southern Pacific to lay tracks and a depot site for the town to be called Newhall. The old rancho encompasses the majority of today’s Santa Clarita Valley.

Sources: “The San Fernando Valley Then and Now” by Charles A. Berchell and Larry D. Fried, “The San Fernando Valley Past and Present” by Lawrence C. Jorgensen, “Ranchos Become Cities” by W.W. Robinson, “History of the San Fernando Valley” by Frank M. Keffer, “El Escorpion--From Indian Village to Los Angeles Park” by Chester G. Cohen, and “Santa Clarita--Valley of the Golden Dream” by Jerry Reynolds. Researched by STEPHANIE STASSEL/Los Angeles Times