Rancho Valle de San Felipe 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 San Diego County, California given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Felipe Castillo. The grant was located in the San Felipe Valley in the

Laguna Mountains The Laguna Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System in eastern San Diego County, southern California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately . The mountains have long been inhabited by the i ...

east of present-day Julian.

History

The three square league Rancho Valle de San Felipe was granted to Felipe Castillo in 1846. On his death in 1848, Castillo left the land to his four children (brothers, Loreto, Manuel, and Refugio, and sister Elena). The heirs sold the rancho to John Forster in 1850. John Forster (1815–1882), born in England, came to California in 1833. In 1837, he married Ysidora Pico, sister of Pío and Andrés Pico. John Forster was the grantee of

Rancho de la Nación Rancho de la Nación was a Mexican land grant in present-day southern San Diego County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to John (Don Juan) Forster. The grant encompassed present-day National City, Chula Vista, Bonita, Sunnys ...

and later owner of the

Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores was a Mexican land grant in present-day northwestern San Diego County, California given by governor Juan Alvarado in 1841 to Andrés Pico and Pio Pico. The grant was located along the Pacific coast, and enc ...

. 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 Valle de San Felipe was filed with the Public Land Commission 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 John Forster in 1866. Forster sold Rancho Valle de San Felipe to François Louis Alfred Pioche (1818–1872), a San Francisco financier. In 1890 (40 years after the sale to Forster), Castillo's daughter unsuccessfully claimed one fourth of the grant.

San Felipe Station

San Felipe-Butterfield Stage Station 2012-09-30 20-45-16

The lands of the rancho near what is now

Scissors Crossing Scissors are hand-operated shearing tools. A pair of scissors consists of a pair of metal blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles (bows) opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutti ...

, was used by travelers as a rest stop on the

Southern Emigrant Trail :''The Southern Emigrant Trail should not be confused with the Applegate Trail, which is part of the Northern Emigrant Trails.'' Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, Southern Trail and the Butterfield Stage ...

to recover from the crossing of the Colorado Desert. From 1857 as a water and rest stop by the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line. Later it was San Felipe Station, a major stage stop on the

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service i ...

, being the headquarters for the Mail Agent in charge of the twelve stage stations between

Warner's Ranch Warner's Ranch, near Warner Springs, California, was notable as a way station for large numbers of emigrants on the Southern Emigrant Trail from 1849 to 1861, as it was a stop on both the Gila River Trail and the Butterfield Overland Mail stag ...

and

Fort Yuma Fort Yuma was a fort in California located in Imperial County, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. It was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861 and was abandoned May 16, 1883, and transferred to the Department o ...

. San Felipe Station was located 10 miles southeast of Warner's Ranch and 18 miles northeast of Vallecito Station. The station served as a storage depot for up to 48 tons of barley and 36 tons of hay for the desert relay or swing stations. The surrounding meadows were used for replacement stage horses for the other stations to graze and recover before being returned to service. A harness maker, to repair or make new coach harness for the stagecoaches, two coaches and drivers were also stationed there. It also had a cook and a hotel keeper to provide food and beds for the hungry or weary traveler and living quarters for the staff and their families. From 1861 to 1865 in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

it was a military outpost of the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

called Camp San Filipe, a rest stop on the road between California and Fort Yuma and the

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and New Mexico Territories.Historic California Posts: Camp San Filipe; California State Military Department, The California State Military Museum, from militarymuseum.org website accessed October 26, 2013
/ref> After the war, later stage lines from California to Arizona used the station from 1867 to 1877, before the railroad reached Fort Yuma making the stage route obsolete. The site of the San Felipe Station is located on private property just west and a little north of Scissors Crossing.

External links

Location of San Felipe Stage Station, from TopoQuest view of USGS Map: Earthquake Valley, CA

References

{{California history, state=collapsed Valle de San Felipe Valle de San Felipe San Felipe Station San Felipe Station San Antonio–San Diego Mail Line 1846 establishments in Alta California Stagecoach stops in the United States

History

San Felipe Station

See also

External links

References