Rancho Rincon del Diablo 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

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

given in 1843 to Juan Bautista Alvarado. The name means "the devil's corner" or "the devil's lurking place". The rancho lands include the present day city of Escondido and

Rincon Del Diablo Rincon del Diablo is a community in San Diego County, California. Because it predates Escondido and other geopolitical boundaries, it does not necessarily correspond to present day definitions. Western and northern parts of the community contain ...

History

Alvarado, a native of San Diego, received the three square league Rancho as a land grant after the area fell from the auspice of the

Mission San Diego de Alcalá Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá ( es, Misión San Diego de Alcalá) was the second Franciscan founded mission in The Californias (after San Fernando de Velicata), a province of New Spain. Located in present-day San Diego, California, it w ...

. Alvarado, built a large adobe house overlooking Escondido and raised cattle on his land. Both Juan Bautista Alvarado and his wife died in the early 1850s. 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 The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, 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 Rincon del Diablo 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 the heirs of Juan B. Alvarado in 1872. The Alvarado children did not want to settle in the area and each sold their shares of the Rancho to a

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

judge named Oliver S. Witherby. It took him about a decade to acquire all of the land. He farmed extensively and increased the size of his cattle and sheep herds. In the early 1860s Witherby began mining gold on his property and formed the Rincon del Diablo and Escondido Mining Company. By 1868, Witherby was already short of money and sold his Rancho to Edward McGeary and the three Wolfskill brothers. They changed the predominantly cattle ranch into a sheep ranch with John Wolfskill as the resident manager. For many years a part of the Escondido Valley was known as Wolfskill Plains. During their 15-year ownership the size of the rancho was increased to by the purchase of a "squatter's" . In 1883, a group formed the Stockton Company and purchased Rancho Rincon del Diablo. A year later these landowners transferred their interest in the valley to the Escondido Company. They planted a large vineyard of Muscat grapes that required little irrigation. The Escondido Company's ownership of the valley did not last long. In 1886 they deeded the area to the Escondido Land & Town Company, which set to work subdividing the land and planting more vineyards and citrus groves. Devil's Corner and Oliver S. Witherby By Leland G. Stanford
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References

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Rincon del Diablo Rincon del Diablo is a community in San Diego County, California. Because it predates Escondido and other geopolitical boundaries, it does not necessarily correspond to present day definitions. Western and northern parts of the community contain ...

Escondido, California Rincon