Rancho Santa Rosa 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 ...

. It was given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Julian Estrada. The grant extended along the Pacific coast from San Simeon Creek on the north to the present-day town of

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

on the south, and encompassed present-day

Cambria Cambria is a name for Wales, being the Latinised form of the Welsh name for the country, . The term was not in use during the Roman period (when Wales had not come into existence as a distinct entity) or the early medieval period. After the ...

History

Julian Estrada (1813 – 1871), son of José Mariano Estrada, grantee of Rancho Buena Vista, was born in

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 ...

. Originally part of the Mission San Miguel coastal grazing land, the three square league Rancho Santa Rosa was granted to Julian Estrada in 1841. In 1842, Julian Estrada married Nicolasa Gajiola (1820-1890). Estrada was elected San Luis Obispo county supervisor in 1860 and 1861. His brother, José Ramón Estrada, was granted

Rancho San Simeon Rancho San Simeon was a Mexican land grant in present-day San Luis Obispo County, California given in 1842 by Governor Juan Alvarado to José Ramón Estrada. The grant extended along the Pacific Coast from Rancho Piedra Blanca at Pico Creek, ...

and Rancho El Toro. 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 Santa Rosa 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 Julian Estrada in 1865. In 1858, Estrada mortgaged the rancho to Domingo Pujol, a Spanish born San Francisco lawyer. When Estrada could not pay the debt in 1862, Pujol took possession of the rancho except for occupied by Estrada. Pujol sub-divided the land and sold it in lots, including for the founding of the town of

Hearst Ranch

In 1865,

George Hearst George Hearst (September 3, 1820 – February 28, 1891) was an American businessman, politician, and patriarch of the Hearst family, Hearst business dynasty. After growing up on a small farm in Missouri, he founded many mining operations a ...

(1820 – 1891), a successful miner during the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

era, father of

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...

, and later a U.S. Senator, started to acquire land in the area. His first step was to buy most of

Rancho Piedra Blanca Rancho Piedra Blanca was a large, Ranchos of California, Mexican land grant in present-day San Luis Obispo County, California given in 1840 by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado, Juan Alvarado to José de Jesús Pico. The name means "white rock" ...

and

. In 1865, Hearst bought all Rancho Santa Rosa except from Estrada. However Estrada did not have the right to sell this land, as Pujol was in the process of foreclosing on it.''George Hearst v. Domingo Pujol'', 1872, Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of California, Vol. 44, pp. 230-236, Bancroft-Whitney Co., San Francisco Hearst sued, but ended up with only of Estrada's holdings. When Estrada died in 1871, his son, Francisco, took over the management of his remaining . When they left in 1876, they sold their remaining to Hearst.

References

{{California history Santa Rosa (Estrada) Cambria, California Hearst family residences Santa Rosa (Estrada)

History

Hearst Ranch

See also

References