Rancho Rio de los Molinos 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
Tehama County, California given in 1844 by Governor
Manuel Micheltorena to Albert Gallatin Toomes. "Rio de los Molinos" means "River of the Mills". The long narrow grant extended along the east side of the
Sacramento River
The Sacramento River ( es, RÃo Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento†...
from
Dye Creek
Dye Creek is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed March 10, 2011 watercourse in Tehama County, California, United States, that is a tributary to the Sacramento River. Dye ...
on the north, to Toomes Creek on the south, and encompassed present-day
Los Molinos.
History
Albert Gallatin Toomes (1817–1872) was born in
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
and came to California via
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
with the
Workman-Rowland Party in 1841. He moved to
Monterey
Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...
where he married Maria Isabel Lorenzana (1822–1878) in 1844. Toomes and Robert Hasty Thomes became partners in a carpentry business in Monterey. They built a house in Monterey for Governor pro tem Manuel Jimeno. Toomes arrived in the area in the company of Thomes (
Rancho Saucos),
William Chard (
Rancho Las Flores
Rancho Las Flores was a Mexican land grant in present-day Tehama County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to William Chard. The name means "ranch of the flowers". The grant was on the west side of the Sacramento River a ...
), and Job Francis Dye (
Rancho Primer Cañon o Rio de Los Berrendos). Toomes five square league grant was directly across the Sacramento River from the five square league grant Rancho Saucos of Thomes.
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 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 Rio de los Molinos was filed with the
Public Land Commission in 1855, 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 Albert Gallatin Toomes in 1858.
Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886
References
{{California history, state=collapsed
Rio de los Molinos
Rio de los Molinos
Rio de los Molinos