Alisal, or El Alisal (The Sycamores), was a

Californio Californios (singular Californio) are Californians of Spaniards, Spanish descent, especially those descended from settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries before California was annexed by the United States. California's Spanish language in C ...

settlement located on the lands of the Rancho Santa Rita near the site of an Indian ranchera, around the Francisco Solano Alviso Adobe, called ''El Alisal'' (The Sycamores), one of the earliest houses built in the

Livermore Valley The Livermore Valley, historically known as the Valle de San José (Valley of San José), is a valley in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region. The city of Livermore is located in the valley. The valley became known as "Liver ...

in 1844. Note that even though the database and plaque use the word "sycamore", the English translation of the Spanish "aliso" is "alder". Alisal, nicknamed "The Most Desperate Town in the West", was one of the settlements located along the trail called ''

La Vereda del Monte La Vereda del Monte (Spanish for "The Mountain Trail") was a backcountry route through remote regions of the Diablo Range, one of the California Coast Ranges. La Vereda del Monte was the upper part of La Vereda Caballo, (Spanish for "The Horse Tr ...

'' that was a haunt and refuge of bandits and desperados in the era following the beginning of the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

. Main Street shootouts were not uncommon. Banditos such as Claudio Feliz and

Joaquin Murrieta Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (sometimes misspelled Murieta or Murietta) (c. 1829 – July 25, 1853), also called the Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a Mexicans, Mexican figure of disputed historicity. The novel ''The Lif ...

would ambush prospectors on their way back from the gold fields and then seek refuge in Alisal. In the 1860s and 1870s Procopio, Narciso Bojorques and others took refuge there.John Boessenecker, Lawman: the life and times of Harry Morse, 1835-1912, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1998, p.4, 26-28, 30, 32-33, 57, 59, 76-77, 81, 88, 159 During the period of the railroad boom in the late 1860s, Rancho Santa Rita was sub divided. In 1869 J.W. Kottinger and J.A. Neal each laid out and plotted a subdivision for a new town called Alisal, situated about five miles south of Dublin. By 1878 the village was an unincorporated town of about 500 people. Alisal was later included within

Pleasanton, California Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the Amador Valley, it is an upscale suburb in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 79,871 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...

that was founded in 1894.

Notes

Alisal Livermore Valley Former settlements in Alameda County, California Populated places established in 1844 1844 establishments in Alta California {{AlamedaCountyCA-geo-stub