Rancho Pescadero 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

Stanislaus County Stanislaus County ( ; ) is a county located in the San Joaquin Valley of the U.S. state of California. As of 2023, its estimated population is 564,404. The county seat is Modesto. Stanislaus County makes up the Modesto metropolitan statistic ...

and

San Joaquin County, California San Joaquin County ( ; , meaning " St. Joachim"), officially the County of San Joaquin, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 779,233. The county seat is Stockton. San Jo ...

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 Valentin Higuera and Rafael Feliz. The grant extended along the west bank of the

San Joaquin River The San Joaquin River ( ; ) is the longest river of Central California. The long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada and flows through the rich agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francis ...

from north of Tracy and

Banta Banta Soda, or Banta (Hindi: बंटा), also Goli Soda or Goti Soda and Fotash Jawl, is a popular carbonated lemon or orange-flavoured soft drink sold in India since the late 19th century in a distinctly shaped iconic Codd-neck bottle. The ...

in San Joaquin County to

Del Puerto Creek Del Puerto Creek, originally Arroyo de La Puerta (Creek of the Door) is a tributary of the San Joaquin River draining eastern slopes of part of the Diablo Range within the Central Valley of California, United States. The Creek enters the San J ...

and Rancho Del Puerto in Stanislaus County on the south, and encompassed present-day Grayson. The name ''pescadero'', which means "fishing place" in Spanish, originated from a popular San Joaquin River fishing spot of the indigenous

Yokuts The Yokuts (previously known as MariposasPowell, 1891:90–91.) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. Yokuts ...

near present-day Mossdale.

History

Valentin Higuera and Rafael Feliz were granted the eight square league Rancho Pescadero in 1843. Valentin Higuera (1809-) was the son of José Loreto Higuera, grantee of Rancho Los Tularcitos In 1829, Valentin Higuera married Maria Margarita Sais (also spelled Saens or Saez) (1811-1850). Valentin's brother, Fulgencio Higuera, was the grantee of Rancho Agua Caliente. In 1845, Fulgencio Higuera married Maria Celia Feliz. Antonio Rafael Feliz (1789-1850) was born in Los Angeles and died in San Jose. Higuera sold the rancho to Hiram Grimes, Francis W. Grimes and William H. McKee in 1849. Hiram Grimes was nephew of Captain Eliab Grimes, grantee of Rancho Del Paso. Hiram Grimes also owned Rancho San Juan. 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 Pescadero 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 Hiram Grimes, Francis W. Grimes and William H. McKee in 1858.

Historic sites of the Rancho

*Site of San Joaquin City. A river-streamer stopping town was established in 1849, which was replaced by Vernalis in 1888 with the coming of the Southern Pacific Railroad.Site of San Joaquin City (No. 777)
/ref> *Site of the Mossdale Bridge, which was completed September 6, 1869, by Western Pacific Railroad (1862-1870). It was the first bridge across the San Joaquin River and the last link in the

first transcontinental railroad America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...

from the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

as authorized in the 1862

Pacific Railroad Acts The Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862 were a series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of a "transcontinental railroad" (the Pacific Railroad) in the United States through authorizing the issuance of government bonds and the grants ...

References

{{California history Pescadero (Grimes) Ranchos of San Joaquin County, California Ranchos of Stanislaus County, California San Joaquin Valley El Camino Viejo