Rancho La Sierra (also called "La Sierra de Santa Ana") was a

Mexican land grant The Spanish and Mexican governments made many concessions and land grants in Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish Concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an inducement for ...

in present-day

Riverside County, California Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...

, United States. In 1846 Governor

Pio Pico Pio may refer to: Places * Pio Lake, Italy * Pio Island, Solomon Islands * Pio Point, Bird Island, south Atlantic Ocean People * Pio (given name) * Pio (surname) * Pio (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer * Pio (footballer, born 1988), B ...

issued the grant to Vicenta Sepulveda. The rancho includes the present-day city of Norco, and the western end of

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

History

Maria Vicenta Sepulveda (1816–1907) was a daughter of Francisco Sepulveda, recipient of the

Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...

land grant. Vicenta married Tomas Antonio Yorba (1788–1845) in 1834. Tomas was a son of José Antonio Yorba, the grantee of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana in present-day

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

. Tomas, along with some of his brothers, pastured animals on lands east of their father's Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, and in 1834 his brother

Bernardo Yorba Bernardo Yorba (August 20, 1800 – November 28, 1858), was a prominent Californio landowner, public figure, and one of the wealthiest men in early 19th-century California. Yorba also served as alcalde (mayor) of Santa Ana. The city of Yorba ...

requested, and was granted,

Rancho Cañón de Santa Ana Rancho Cañón de Santa Ana was a land grant in present-day Orange County, California given by Mexican governor José Figueroa in 1834 to Bernardo Yorba. The name means "Canyon of Santa Ana". The grant included present-day Yorba Linda. Histor ...

. Tomas and Bernardo continued to pasture lands even further east, in an area they had named ''La Sierra''.Lech, pp. 46–47. In 1845, after Tomas had died, Bernardo applied for four square leagues of the La Sierra lands. Nine days later Vicenta Sepulveda, then a widow and going by her maiden name, also applied for some of the same La Sierra lands. On June 15, 1846 Governor Pio Pico granted the east half of the lands, Rancho La Sierra (Sepulveda), to Vicente Sepulveda, and the west half,

Rancho La Sierra (Yorba) Rancho La Sierra (also called La Sierra de Santa Ana) was a Mexican land grant in present-day Riverside County, California, United States. In 1846 governor Pio Pico issued the grant to Bernardo Yorba. The grant lay between Rancho Jurupa and R ...

to Bernado Yorba. Vicenta married Jose Ramon Carrillo (1821–1864) in 1847. With the

cession The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdictio ...

of California to the United States following the

Mexican-American War Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexicans, Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% ...

, the 1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...

provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho La Sierra was filed with the

Public Land Commission The California Land Act of 1851 (), enacted following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the admission of California as a state in 1850, established a three-member Public Land Commission to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican la ...

in 1852, and the grant was

patented A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

to Vicenta Sepulveda in 1877. In 1858, Vicenta Sepulveda de Carrillo bought Rancho Valle de San Jose.

Abel Stearns Abel Stearns (February 9, 1798 – August 23, 1871) was an American trader who came to the Pueblo de Los Angeles, Alta California in 1829 and became a major landowner and cattle rancher and one of the area's wealthiest citizens. Early life Stear ...

purchased Rancho La Sierra, but was forced to sell after the drought of 1863. The rancho passed through several owners including the San Jacinto Land Company. It was purchased by James W. Long in 1908. Long formed the Orange Heights Water Company and began developing the area in 1910. Through several acquisitions Willitts J. Hole (1858–1936), a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

businessman, purchased much of the original Rancho, eventually owning more than .Klotz, pp. 228–230. Hole continued to use the land as a ranch, which became known as the ''Hole Ranch'', and he built a large mansion on the property. He later began subdividing the property for various developments. In 1922, he sold of the land to the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

. In 1942, the U.S. Army purchased of the ranch from the Hole estate, and set up

Camp Anza Camp Anza was a United States Army installation, in what is now Riverside, California, during World War II. Construction began on July 3, 1942, and was completed on February 15, 1943. The camp was named after Juan Bautista de Anza, an early explor ...

, a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

disembarkation facility. The North Corona Land Company bought some of the property 1921 after it was established as a subdivision of the Corona Land Company for citrus growing. The name Norco is an abbreviation of the North Corona portion of the company name. Norco was incorporated as a city in December 1964. Also in 1964 the city of Riverside annexed the rest of the original Rancho La Sierra lands.

Etymology

Translated from Spanish into English ''"La Sierra de Santa Ana"'' means ''"The mountains of Santa Ana"''. According to Bernardo's petition for the La Sierra lands, the Yorba brothers had used this name as early as 1825. The name distinguished the higher elevation ''La Sierra de Santa Ana'' lands from Bernardo's ''Cañón de Santa Ana'' lands, both positioned beside the

Santa Ana River The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, before cutting through ...

. Western Riverside continues to be referred to as ''La Sierra'', with four separate city neighborhoods beginning with the name. After the Seventh-day Adventist Church purchased a large section of the land they opened the ''La Sierra Academy'', today known as

La Sierra University La Sierra University (La Sierra or LSU) is a private, Seventh-day Adventist university in Riverside, California. Founded in 1922 as La Sierra Academy, it later became La Sierra College, a liberal arts college, and then was merged into Loma Lin ...

Historic sites of the Rancho

*Hole Mansion. Arthur Benton designed the rustic bungalow, built on the site between 1912 and 1915 for Willits J. Hole.#44 Hole Mansion
Landmarks of the City of Riverside

References

Bibliography

* Gunther, Jane Davies. ''Riverside County, California, Place Names; Their Origins and Their Stories'', Jane Davies Gunther, 1984. LOC Catalog Number 84-72920. * Klotz, Esther H. and Joan H. Hall. ''Adobes, Bungalows, and Mansions of Riverside, California, Revisited'', Joan H. Hall, 2005. . * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sierra (Sepulveda) California ranchos Ranchos of Riverside County, California

History

Etymology

Historic sites of the Rancho

See also

References

Bibliography