Rancho Agua Caliente 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

Alameda County, California Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Al ...

granted in 1836 by Governor

Nicolás Gutiérrez Lieutenant Colonel Nicolás Gutiérrez was twice acting governor of the northern part of ''Las Californias'' (what had previously been Alta California) in 1836, from January to May and July to November. Gutiérrez served two short terms a ...

Antonio Suñol Don Antonio María Suñol was a Spanish-born Californio businessman, ranchero, and politician. Suñol served two terms as Alcalde of San José (mayor) and was one of the largest landowners in the Bay Area. He is the namesake of the town of Suno ...

and confirmed in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Fulgencio Higuera. The name means "warm water" and refers to the warm springs located in the foothills a short distance south of

Mission San José Mission San José may refer to: *Mission San José (California), a Spanish mission in Fremont, California * Mission San Jose, Fremont, California, a neighborhood *Mission San Jose High School, a high school in Fremont, California *Mission San José ...

. The grant is just south of present-day Fremont.

History

Fulgencio Higuera (1799–1878), was the son of Jose Loreto Higuera (1778–1845), grantee of

Rancho Los Tularcitos Rancho Los Tularcitos was a Spanish land concession in present day Santa Clara County, California given in 1821 to José Loreto Higuera by the last Spanish governor of Alta California, Pablo Vicente de Solá. The land grant was confirmed by Mex ...

, and grandson of Ygnacio Anastacio Higuera, who came to California with the

De Anza Expedition Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding fa ...

. His brother Valentin Higuera was the grantee of Rancho Pescadero. In 1820, Fulgencio Higuera married Maria Clara Saturnina Pacheco. In 1836 Fulgencio Higuera was granted the two square league Rancho Agua Caliente, formerly Mission San José land. In 1845, Higuera married Maria Celia Feliz. 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 Agua Caliente 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 Fulgencio Higuera in 1858. Higuera gradually sold off his holdings in the 1850s. An attorney, Abram Harris, purchased the southern portion of this land in 1858 and established what briefly became known as Harrisburg. In 1850, Clement Columbet bought , and developed a resort and one of the state’s first wineries. However, the resort did not survive the

1868 Hayward earthquake The 1868 Hayward earthquake occurred in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States on October 21. With an estimated moment magnitude of 6.3–6.7 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''), it was the most recent large ear ...

Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American industrialist and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 8th governor of California from 1862 to 1863 and represented California in the United States Se ...

bought the property in 1869 and founded

Leland Stanford Winery Leland Stanford Winery was a winery located in the Santa Clara Valley AVA, in Fremont, California, United States. The winery was founded by Leland Stanford in 1869. The vineyard was planted by Stanford's brother, Josiah Stanford. The winery was o ...

at the corner of Stanford Ave and Vinyard Ave, in what is now Fremont. Thomas W. Millard, who had come from New York to California in 1853, bought a large portion of the Rancho in 1855.''Millard vs Hathaway'',Reports of cases determined in the Supreme Court of the state of California, Volume 27, pp. 119–148, Bancroft-Whitney Company

Historic sites of the Rancho

*Galindo Higuera Adobe. *

. This winery was founded in 1869 by Leland Stanford, and operated by his brother Josiah Stanford. The restored buildings and winery are now occupied and operated by Weibel Champagne Vineyards.

References

{{California history, state=collapsed Agua Caliente (Higuera) Agua Caliente History of Fremont, California Agua Caliente