Rancho Carbonera was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Cruz County, California given in 1838 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to William Buckle (Bocle). The grant was north of present-day Santa Cruz between the

San Lorenzo River The San Lorenzo River is a long river whose headwaters originate in Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains and flow south by southeast through the San Lorenzo Valley before passing through Santa Cruz and emptying into Monterey Ba ...

and

Branciforte Creek Branciforte Creek is a long watercourse in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. Branciforte Creek rises on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains and discharges to the San Lorenzo River, which in turn empties into the Pacific O ...

. The southern section of

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is a state park of California, United States, preserving mainly forest and riparian areas in the watershed of the San Lorenzo River, including a grove of old-growth coast redwood. It is located in Santa Cruz Coun ...

is within the Rancho.

History

The Englishman William Buckle (1803–1859), captain of the whaler "Daniel" in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, came to California in 1823. He moved with his brother, Samuel Buckle (1795–1872), to

Branciforte Branciforte, originally named Villa de Branciforte, was the last of only three secular ''pueblos'' founded by the Spanish colonial government of Alta California. The pueblo was established in 1797 on the eastern bluff of the San Lorenzo River, fac ...

. He married Maria Antonia Castro. He was naturalized as Jose Guillermo Bocle, but had many aliases - Bocle, Boc, Bocle, Bucle, Thompson, and Mead were a few names he used. William Bocle claimed one-half square league Rancho Carbonero in 1838 and built a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

there. William and his brother, Samuel, changed their names to Thompson. He was one of the foreigners arrested in the 1840 Graham affair. 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 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% of Mexica ...

, 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 Carbonera 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 ...

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 William Buckle in 1873. A boundary conflict between Rancho Carbonera and the adjoining

Rancho Cañada del Rincon en el Rio San Lorenzo Rancho Cañada del Rincon en el Rio San Lorenzo was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Cruz County, California given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena, and confirmed in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico, to Pedro Sainsevain. The name mean ...

went 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 1894. ''California Powder Works v. Davis'', U.S. Supreme Court, 151 U.S. 389 (1894)
/ref>

References

{{California history Carbonera Carbonera Carbonera