Rancho Huasna 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

San Luis Obispo County, California San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a County (United States), county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo ...

given in 1843 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 Isaac J. Sparks. The grant extended along the

Huasna River The Huasna River is a stream in the Central Coast region of California, and is a tributary of the Cuyama River. It is formed by the confluence of Trout Creek and Stony Creek, which originate along the crest of the Santa Lucia Range in the Los P ...

and the western slope of the

Santa Lucia Range The Santa Lucia Range (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Mountains is a rugged mountain range in coastal Central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than fro ...

, east of present-day Arroyo Grande and encompassing Huasna.

History

Isaac Sparks (1804–1867) was born in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. He arrived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1832, and by 1848 had established a large otter trapping and merchant business in Santa Barbara. In 1836, he married Maria De Los Remedios Josefa Eayrs (1813–1893), daughter of sea captain George Washington Eayrs (1775–1855). They had three surviving daughters: Manuela Flora Sparks (1846–1933) who married Irish sea captain Marcus Harloe (1833–1908) in 1866; Maria Rosa Sparks (1851–1933) who married Arza Porter (1838 –1899) in 1870; and Norberta Sallie Sparks (1854–1930) who married Frederick K. Harkness (1852–1905) in 1874. Sparks was granted the five-square-league Rancho Huasna in 1843 and bought

Rancho Pismo Rancho Pismo was a Mexican land grant in present day San Luis Obispo County, California, given in 1840 by acting governor Manuel Jimeno Casarin to José Ortega (probably a descendant or other relative of José Francisco Ortega). The grant exte ...

from José Ortega in 1846. He never lived at Rancho Huasna, preferring instead to be closer to his business holdings in Santa Barbara. Rancho Huasna was managed by the Englishman John Price, who later acquired Rancho Pismo from Sparks. 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, a claim for Rancho Huasna 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 Isaac J. Sparks in 1879. On Sparks' death in 1867, Rancho Huasna was divided among his three daughters: Manuela Flora Sparks de Harloe, Maria Rosa Sparks de Porter, and Norberta Sallie Sparks de Harkness. Huasna
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References

{{California history Huasna

History

See also

References