Rancho Cañada de los Nogales was a

Mexican land grant In Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California, ranchos were concessions and land grants made by the Spanish and Mexican governments from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an indu ...

in present day

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

given in 1844 by Governor

Manuel Micheltorena Joseph Manuel María Joaquin Micheltorena y Llano (8 June 1804 – 7 September 1853) was a brigadier general and adjutant-general of the Mexican Army, List_of_governors_of_California_before_1850#Mexican_governors_of_California_(1837–47), gover ...

to José Maria Aguilar. The name means "canyon of the walnut trees" and refers to stands of California Black Walnut trees. The grant extended along the east bank of the

Los Angeles River The Los Angeles River (), historically known as by the Tongva and the by the Spanish, is a major river in Los Angeles County, California. Its headwaters are in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and it flows nearly from Canoga Park ...

opposite

Rancho Los Feliz Rancho de Los Feliz was a Spanish land concession in present-day Los Angeles County, California purportedly given in 1795 by Spanish Governor Pedro Fages to José Vicente Feliz, although there is no deed or other record.. The land of the gra ...

, and encompassed present day Cypress Park, Mt. Washington and Highland Park. The grant adjoined

Rancho San Rafael Rancho San Rafael was a Spanish land grant in the San Rafael Hills, bordering the Los Angeles River and the Arroyo Seco in present-day Los Angeles County, southern California, given in 1784 to Jose Maria Verdugo. Geography The rancho include ...

to the north.

History

José Maria Aguilar was a Los Angeles official, and married Maria Ygnacia Elizalde. Their son

Cristobal Aguilar José Cristóbal Aguilar (1816 – April 11, 1886) was a Californio politician and journalist, who served three terms as Mayor of Los Angeles, the last Hispanic to hold the office until 2005, with the election of Antonio Villaraigosa. He was ...

(1816–1883) was a prominent Los Angeles politician and

Mayor of Los Angeles, California The mayor of Los Angeles is the head of the executive branch of the government of Los Angeles and the chief executive of Los Angeles. The office is officially nonpartisan, a change made in the 1909 charter; previously, both the elections and ...

. José Maria Aguilar was granted the half square league Rancho Cañada de los Nogales in 1844. 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 jurisdicti ...

of California to the United States following the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

, the 1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Villa de Guadalupe, Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo. After the defeat of its army and the fall of the cap ...

provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Cañada de los Nogales 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 the California State Lands Commission to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican l ...

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 ...

to José Maria Aguilar in 1882. Aguilar sold the Rancho to Los Angeles lawyer Lewis Granger in 1853. Lewis C. Granger came from

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

to Los Angeles in 1850. He was a partner, with Jonathan R. Scott, who owned

Rancho La Cañada Rancho La Cañada was a Ranchos of California, Mexican land grant in the San Rafael Hills and Crescenta Valley, of present-day Los Angeles County, California, given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to a Mexican schoolteacher from Los Angele ...

, in the law firm Scott & Granger. In 1854 Granger traded Rancho Cañada de los Nogales to J.D. Hunter in exchange for a Hunter's brick home in Los Angeles. In 1855 Granger bought of Rancho San Rafael along the Los Angeles River from the Verdugos. In 1857 Granger moved to

Oroville Oroville may refer to: * Oroville, California, United States * Oroville, Washington, United States ;Other uses * Lake Oroville, in Butte County, California, USA * Oroville Dam, in Butte County, California, USA * Oroville Municipal Airport, in Butt ...

. Jesse Divine Hunter (1806–1877), born Kentucky, married Keziah Brown (–1889) in 1825. Hunter came to California in 1847 as Captain of Company B in the Iowa Volunteers which soon became known as the

Mormon Battalion The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. The volunteers served from July 1846 to Jul ...

. Captain Hunter stayed in California after his discharge in 1847. He was appointed U. S.

Indian agent In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the U.S. government. Agents established in Nonintercourse Act of 1793 The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the Un ...

for southern California and moved to San Luis Rey. In 1852, Hunter was living in the Mormon settlement of

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the 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 census, making it the List of ...

.John F. Vurtinus, 1979, "The Mormon Volunteers:The Recruitment and Service of a Unique Military Company," ''The Journal of San Diego History'', Summer 1979, Volume 25, Number 3 After the Mormon settlement in San Bernardino was abandoned, Hunter moved to Los Angeles, where he became a brick manufacturer and businessman. In 1854, he moved to Rancho Cañada de los Nogales. In 1859 Hunter bought the southern tip of Rancho San Rafael, adjacent to Rancho Cañada de los Nogales. In 1882, Keziah Hunter sold Rancho Cañada de los Nogales to developers George W. Morgan and Albert H. Judson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rancho Canada de los Nogales History of Los Angeles Ranchos of Los Angeles County, California