Rancho El Molino 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

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

granted 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 ...

in 1833 to John B.R. Cooper. The grant was officially confirmed by Governor

Nicolás Gutiérrez Lieutenant Colonel Nicolás Gutiérrez was twice acting governor of the northern part of ''Las Californias'' (what had previously been Alta California) in 1836, from January to May and July to November. Gutiérrez served two short terms as ...

in 1836. "Molino" means "mill" in Spanish, and the name refers to Cooper's sawmill. The grant extends south from Russian River along Atascadero Creek, and encompasses present-day Forestville.

History

Captain John Bautista Rogers Cooper married General Vallejo’s sister Encarnacion in 1827. At the direction of Governor Figueroa in 1835, General Vallejo began construction of the Presidio of Sonoma to counter the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n presence at

Fort Ross Fort Ross (, , Kashaya: ) is a former Russian establishment on the west coast of North America in what is now Sonoma County, California. Owned and operated by the Russian-American Company, it was the hub of the southernmost Russian settlemen ...

. To extend the settlements in the direction of Fort Ross, Cooper was granted Rancho El Molino in 1833. Cooper constructed a water power-operated commercial sawmill in 1834. Cooper also provided recommendations to Vallejo for grantees for the nearby

Rancho Cañada de Jonive Rancho Cañada de Jonive was a Mexican land grant in present day Sonoma County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to James Black. The grant encompassed the town of Freestone. History At the direction of Governor José Figueroa in ...

Rancho Cañada de Pogolimi Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California ** List of California Ranchos * Ranchos, Buenos ...

, and

Rancho Estero Americano Rancho Estero Americano was a Mexican land grant in present-day Sonoma County, California given in 1839 by Governor Pro-tem Manuel Jimeno to Edward Manuel McIntosh. The rancho takes its name from Estero Americano. History At the direction of ...

. 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 Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...

, 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, Cooper filed a claim for Rancho El Molino 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 he received the legal

patent 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 sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

in 1853. Cooper’s daughter Ana Maria married German Hermann Wohler in 1856. Herman Wohler came to California in 1848 and became active in real estate. He served one term in the California State Legislature of 1855. Cooper gave the newlyweds near Forestville. Herman later opened an office in San Francisco from which he managed his properties, including farm lands in Sonoma County. After Hermann Wohler's death in 1877, the central were sold to Raford Peterson and his partner Charles Farmer, whom Peterson later bought out. When Captain Cooper died in 1872, he left a large landed estate to his wife, Maria G. Encarnacion Vallejo Cooper, his son J.B. Henry Cooper, his two daughters Ana Maria Wohler and Amalia Molera, and his friend G.H. Howard. He directed the sale of his share of Rancho El Molino to pay his debts.

Historic sites of the Rancho

Cooper's Sawmill was constructed in 1834 and destroyed by floods in the winter of 1840-41.Cooper's Sawmill (California Landmark 835)
/ref> It was the first water power-operated

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

used for commercial purposes in the state of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Redwood Sequoioideae, commonly referred to as redwoods, is a subfamily of Pinophyta, coniferous trees within the family (biology), family Cupressaceae, that range in the Northern Hemisphere, northern hemisphere. It includes the List of superlative tree ...

lumber was the primary wood used at the sawmill. Its power came from

Mark West Creek Mark West Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 9, 2011 stream that rises in the Mayacamas Mountains of Sonoma County, California, United States. Tributarie ...

. The sawmill was destroyed by a

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

in early 1841.

References

{{California history El Molino El Molino