Rancho Laguna Seca 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

Monterey County, California Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county (United States), county located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 439,035. The count ...

given in 1834 by Governor

José Figueroa José María Figueroa (1792 – 29 September 1835) was a Californio politician and military leader. He was a General and the Mexican Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835. His ''Manifesto'' (1835) was the first book published in Calif ...

to Catalina M. Munrás. "Laguna Seca" means "Dry Lake" in Spanish, referring to the seasonal lake,

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

. The grant was east of present-day

Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...

History

The half square league grant was made to Catalina Manzanelli de Munrás who was the wife of Esteban Munrás (1798–1850) a Monterey trader, amateur painter, and grantee of Rancho San Vicente. Catalina Manzanelli de Munras was also grantee of Rancho San Francisquito. 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 Laguna Seca 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 Catalina Munrás in 1865.

Geography and drainage

On the property a prominent ridge of terrain exists that extends in an east-northeasterly direction to eventually reach

Fort Ord Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay on the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, ...

.''Seaside Quadrangle'',

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

, 1947, photorevised 1974 On the south side of this ridge, drainage and groundwater flow is to the south. Surface water flows into the Carmel River, which parallels

State Route 68 The following highways are numbered 68: Australia * Channel Highway (Tasmania) * NSW (Multiple routes) Canada * Alberta Highway 68 * Manitoba Highway 68 * Ontario Highway 68 Chile * Chile Route 68 Greece * EO68 road India * National H ...

. A series of surface drainage ditches and gullies run south from the higher terrain of Fort Ord to join this flow. Berwick and Canada de la Ordena Canyons also exist on the south and southeast portions of the Laguna Seca Ranch. Berwick Canyon almost borders the eastern side, , while Buckeye Canyon parallels the eastern border less than off the ranch to the east.

References

{{California history

Laguna

History

Geography and drainage

See also

References