Rancho Jurupa was a Mexican land grant in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States, that is divided by the present-day counties of Riverside and

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

. The land was granted to Juan Bandini by Governor Juan B. Alvarado in 1838. Located along both banks of 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 throug ...

in southern California, the rancho included much of the land in the present day city of

Jurupa Valley Jurupa Valley ( Serrano: ''Hurumpa'') is a city in the northwest corner of Riverside County, California. It was the location of one of the earliest non-native settlements in the county, Rancho Jurupa. The Rancho was initially an outpost of the M ...

, as well as the downtown area in the city of Riverside.

History

"Seven leagues of grazing land: a little more," is how the "then almost worthless, but now invaluable," tract known as Jurupa Ranch came into being on September 28, 1838, through a grant made from Juan B. Alvarado (then Governor of California) to Juan Bandini (1800–1859). Riverside historians, have proposed that the original seven square league (approximately ) Rancho Jurupa land grant was significantly smaller than the area eventually recognized by the United States. They argue that Pachappa hill, the southeast marker of the Rancho Jurupa, was originally the name of another hill, today known as Mount Rubidoux, and that one of the early owners of Rancho Jurupa reassigned the name Pachappa to the current day Pachappa Hill in order to expand the property of the Rancho.

Rancho Jurupa (Stearns)

In 1841 Abel Stearns (1798–1871) married Bandini's daughter Arcadia. 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 ...

, 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, Juan Bandini filed a claim for the major portion of the grant in 1852, and was confirmed by the US District Court in 1855. In 1857 Juan Bandini sold this portion of the grant to his son-in-law, Abel Stearns. Stearns received a US

land patent A land patent is a form of letters patent assigning official ownership of a particular tract of land that has gone through various legally-prescribed processes like surveying and documentation, followed by the letter's signing, sealing, and publi ...

for this portion of the original Rancho Jurupa grant in 1879.

Rancho Jurupa (Rubidoux)

In 1843, Bandini sold approximately 1½ square leagues (6,750 acres)of the original Rancho Jurupa grant to Benjamin Wilson. A year later, Wilson sold this property to Isaac Williams, grantee of

Rancho Santa Ana del Chino Rancho Santa Ana del Chino was a Mexican land grant in the Chino Hills and southwestern Pomona Valley, in present-day San Bernardino County, California. It was granted to Antonio Maria Lugo in 1841 by Mexican Alta California Governor Juan Bauti ...

, and James Johnson. Williams and Johnson then sold the property to Louis Robidoux (1796–1868), in 1849, and it eventually became known as the Robidoux ranch. Robidoux (generally spelled "Rubidoux" in the Riverside area) had previously bought Rancho San Jacinto y San Gorgonio from James (Santiago) Johnson in 1845. After California was ceded to the United States, a claim for Rancho Jurupa was filed by Louis Robidoux 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 Robidoux received a US patent for this portion of Rancho Jurupa in 1876. Report of the Surveyor General 1844–1886
In November 1869, the California Silk Center Association was formed for the purpose of growing

silkworm The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of '' Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically ...

s, and

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 ident ...

trees,

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...

fruits, and grapes; it purchased over of the Rubidoux Rancho for its enterprise.

References

External links

Map of Rancho Jurupa
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

{{coord , 34.000, -117.340, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title Jurupa Jurupa Jurupa History of Riverside, California Geography of Riverside, California Jurupa Valley, California Jur

History

Rancho Jurupa (Stearns)

Rancho Jurupa (Rubidoux)

References

Further reading

External links