Rancho San Jacinto Sobrante 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 ...

given in 1846 by Governor

Pío Pico Don Pío de Jesús Pico (May 5, 1801 – September 11, 1894) was a Californio politician, ranchero, and entrepreneur, famous for serving as the last governor of California (present-day U.S. state of California) under Mexican rule. A member of ...

to María del Rosario Estudillo de Aguirre. The Rancho San Jacinto Sobrante grant was of the surplus or "sobrante" of Jose Antonio Estudillo's Rancho San Jacinto Viejo and Miguel Pedrorena's

Rancho San Jacinto Nuevo y Potrero Rancho San Jacinto Nuevo y Potrero was a Mexican land grant in present-day Riverside County, California given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Miguel Pedrorena. At the time of the US Patent, Rancho San Jacinto Nuevo y Potrero was a part of San ...

. The grant encompassed present day

Lake Mathews Lake Mathews is a large reservoir in Riverside County, California, located in the Cajalco Canyon in the foothills of the Temescal Mountains. It is the western terminus for the Colorado River Aqueduct that provides much of the water used by the ...

. At the time of the

US patent Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited ...

, Rancho San Jacinto Sobrante was a part of San Bernardino County. The County of Riverside was created by the California Legislature in 1893 by taking land from both

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 ...

and San Bernardino Counties.

History

María del Rosario Estudillo was the daughter of José Antonio Estudillo, grantee of Rancho San Jacinto Viejo. José Antonio Estudillo was appointed administrator and majordomo at

Mission San Luis Rey Mission San Luis Rey de Francia ( es, Misión San Luis Rey de Francia) is a former Spanish mission in San Luis Rey, a neighborhood of Oceanside, California. This Mission lent its name to the Luiseño tribe of Mission Indians. At its prime, ...

in 1840. Three grants, comprising over of the former Mission San Luis Rey lands in the San Jacinto area were made to the Estudillo family: Rancho San Jacinto Viejo to José Antonio Estudillo in 1842;

to his son-in-law,

Miguel Pedrorena Don Miguel de Pedrorena (c. 1808–March 21, 1850) was a Spanish-born Californio ranchero, merchant, and a signer of the Californian Constitution in 1849. He also served briefly as acting Alcalde of San Diego (mayor). Life Miguel Pedrorena was b ...

, in 1846; and the five square league Rancho San Jacinto Sobrante to his daughter, María del Rosario Estudillo, in 1846. María del Rosario Estudillo was married to José Antonio Aguirre (1799–1860). Before she died, Aguirre had been married to María del Rosario's sister, Francisca Estudillo, eldest daughter of José Antonio Estudillo. José Antonio Aguirre owned one-half of Rancho El Tejon. In 1853, José Antonio Aguirre bought Rancho San Jacinto Nuevo y Potrero from the estate of Aguirre's brother-in-law Miguel Pedrorena. With the cession 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 San Jacinto Sobrante 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. In 1854, the Commission found that María del Rosario Estudillo de Aguirre was entitled to five square leagues of land. The US District Court in 1855, however, held that the claimant was entitled to eleven square leagues, if so much should be found within the sobrante, and to all that was found therein if it were less than that amount. An appeal taken to the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

in 1863, affirmed the eleven square leagues, and the grant was patented to María del Rosario Estudillo de Aguirre in 1867. Soon after the 1855 District Court decision, the grant was purchased by a group mostly connected with the US Land Office - including Upson, the Surveyor General, Edward Conway, the chief clerk in his office, and Thompson, the deputy who was directed to make the survey, and Joseph H. Wilson, the Commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington. It was alleged that the location of the grant was moved to make it contain valuable

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

ores not within its limits if fairly surveyed. In 1888, the United States unsuccessfully sought to have the US Supreme Court declare the patent void based upon the grounds of a fraudulent survey by persons who the beneficiaries thereof. ''United States v. San Jacinto Tin Company'', U.S. Supreme Court, 125 U.S. 273 (1888)
/ref>

References

{{California history, state=collapsed San Jacinto Sobrante San Jacinto Sobrante San Jacinto Mountains 1846 establishments in Alta California

History

See also

References