Rancho San Juan Capistrano del Camote
Rancho San Juan Capistrano del Camote, translated as (Saint John Capistrano of the sweet potato), Camote is probably an error in the documents, Camote would be Camate, which referred to the stream that ran through the grant and that in the 19th century was called the Camate according to Walter Murray [1858],[1]: 296 or Comatti according to Annie L. Morrison [1917],[2]: 63 now called Camatta Creek.[3] The Rancho was a 44,284 acre Mexican land grant in the San Juan Valley, 13.7 miles southeast of Shandon, California in present-day San Luis Obispo County, California.
History
Rancho San Juan Capistrano del Camote
The "
After Alta California was annexed to the United States and became the state of California, the grantees filed a claim with the Land Commission on August 14, 1852.[7][8] That claim was rejected by the Commission December 26, 1854.[4]: Appx, 42 Their title was declared invalid, because it was dated July 11, 1846, four days after the conquest of Monterey by the American Forces.[6]
Rancho San Juan Capistrano Murders, May 12, 1858
In May 1858, two
Following this crime, as they returned to San Luis Obispo, the gang also murdered Jack Gilkey, an American hunter at his home six miles away from the Rancho, on the Camate, near where the gang had stayed overnight before their attack on the Rancho San Juan the next day. He had sold some meat to the gang when they camped there and was killed to prevent him from telling authorities of the gangs presence in the area at the time of the murders.
The news of this attack; that for once left several witnesses, allowed Captain Mallagh, Walter Murray and others in the town to capture a gang member recognized by the servant, while other members of the gang fled the town. Murray and others in the town and surrounding ranchos organized a Vigilance Committee in San Luis Obispo County. Additional testimony was given by Andrea Baratie, wife of the murdered Bartolomé Baratie. She was witness to the crime including that of the murder of her husband then kidnapped. She was later let go instead of being killed as ordered by Linares, by another gang member, El Mesteño. The Vigilance Committee was able to destroy this gang that had been conducting numerous robberies and murders for many years in the county.[1]: 293–304, 306
Rancho Claim Dismissed
Within two years of the murders, the Southern District court dismissed the claim of the grantees on August 8, 1860.
"Old ranches were changing owners. Senor Pujol, a very worthy gentleman, a native, I believe, of old Spain, had purchased the San Simeon Rancho. A respectable Californian named Castro, from Santa Cruz County, had purchased part of the rancho of San Geronimo. The Messrs. Blackburn, of Santa Cruz, had purchased the Paso Robles Rancho, and quite a colony of Americans had settled in around them, and between them and Captain Mallagh's rancho, the Huer-Huero. Finally Borel and Baratie, two worthy Frenchmen from Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, were about to follow their example."[1]: 299
The killing of Baratie and Borel came at a critical time in the case, so close to its resolution in 1860. Given the dangers illustrated by the fate of the two Frenchmen, and that it was a remote, dangerous region, may have been the reason the case failed to be carried forward. No others were found after their deaths to lend money to the grantees or buy the land from them and carry it forward themselves in the Southern District court. It also may have been that the grant was made 4 days after the capture of Monterey, California and thus Pico's grant would have been invalid in the eyes of the U. S. government, and not worth pursuing.
San Juan Ranch
Following the 1860 decision, the rancho became public land and after being surveyed, it was sold at a price of 25 cents to $1.25 an acre. In 1874, Robert Flint, a
Nevertheless, part of the Rancho San Juan still remains as the San Juan Ranch, 13.7 miles southeast of Shandon, California.[10] According to the San Juan Ranch website:
"In 1998, John and Brenda Stephenson purchased an 8,300 [acre] parcel of land that included the original San Juan Ranch headquarters, the original adobe homestead on San Juan Ranch, as well as a sweet spring used by Herrera to water his sheep in the mid 1800s. With their acquisition of this land, the Stephenson's retained rights to the name San Juan Ranch and its associated brand. Over the past seven years, with determined persistence, the Stephenson's have reassembled a substantial amount of the original San Juan Ranch. Through several more acquisitions, the Stephenson's have expanded their holdings by an additional 25,000 acres, bringing the present-day San Juan Ranch to over 44,000 acres. It is estimated that the Stephenson's have acquired three of the six tracts of land divided amongst the Wreden heirs in 1941. It is the Stephenson's desire to reassemble San Juan Ranch in its entirety and preserve the property's rich and historic livestock production."[9]
Part of the old San Juan Ranch is now the French Camp Vineyards.[11]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Angel, Myron; History of San Luis Obispo County, California; with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Thompson & West, Oakland, 1883
- ^ Annie L. Morrison and John H. Haydon, History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county and environs who have been identified with the growth and development of the section from the early days to the present, HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNLA, 1917.
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Camatta Creek
- ^ a b c "304, 260, S. D., 577. Tomas Herrera and Geronimo Quintana, claimants for San Juan Capistrano del Camote, 10 sitios of 4,428 acres each, in San Luis Obispo county, granted July 11th, 1846, by Pio Pico to T. Herrera and G. Quintana; claim filed August 14th, 1852, rejected by the Commission December 26th, 1854, and dismissed for failure of prosecution August 8th, 1860." Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco.
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of California Vol. 5 (1846-1848), The History Company, San Francisco, 1886
- ^ a b Wallace V. Ohles, The Lands of Mission San Miguel, The Friends of the Adobes, Inc., 1997.
- ^ United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 260 SD
- ^ Finding Aid to the Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892
- ^ a b San Juan Ranch History from sanjuanranch.com accessed July 4, 2017
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: San Juan Ranch
- ^ A History of French Camp from frenchcampvineyards.com accessed July 4, 2017
External links
- San Juan Ranch Adobe, from luna.blackgold.org, photographic print: black and white; 12.8 x 9 cm of San Juan Ranch Adobe view from field with trees in foreground and hills in background; circa 1962.