Exhibit of Los Rancheros
Los Rancheros
Early California came under the stewardship of a variety
of governments and people. Men of various backgrounds
and persuasions came to take charge of this land and used
it as they saw fit. The missions were first established,
and then followed Spanish governance. The Mexican government,
after a series of battles with the Spanish, took over
the lands of California. Americans then found opportunities
to acquire land from the Mexicans and acted upon those
very opportunities.
Los Rancheros is a series of exhibits which present a
glimpse of past governments, events, and persons who shaped
the early development of California.
Spanish Period
Spain claimed and occupied California in the interest
of increasing the Spanish realm -- in terms of both land
and people – to increase Spanish and Catholic influence.
The Spanish colonization was highly authoritarian and
subject to all the inefficiencies of centralized planning.
To their credit, the Spanish envisioned the native population
as playing an important role as Catholic citizens, but
the mission/presidio system failed to adopt the Indians
to this role and failed to attract a sufficient number
of Spanish settlers.
Spanish Missions
" The Jesuit Missions established in Lower
California, at Loreto and other places, were followed
by Franciscan Missions in Alta California, with presidios
for the soldiers, adjacent pueblos, or towns, and the
granting of large tracts of land to settlers. By 1782
there were nine flourishing Missions in Alta California
– San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Carlos, San Antonio,
San Luis Obispo, San Buenaventura, San Gabriel, San Juan,
and San Diego. Governor Fajés added Santa Barbara
and Purissima, and by 1790 there were more than 7000 Indian
converts in the various Missions. By 1800 about forty
Franciscan fathers were at work in Alta California, six
of whom had been among the pioneers of twenty and twenty-five
years before, and they had established seven new Missions
– San José, San Miguel, Soledad, San Fernando,
Santa Cruz, San Juan Bautista, and San Luis Rey. At the
beginning of the century the whole system was completely
established in Alta California.
In 1773 Father Palou had reported that all the Missions,
taken together, owned two hundred and four head of cattle
and a few sheep, goats, and mules. In 1776 the regular
five years’ supplies sent from Mexico to the Missions
were as follows: 107 blankets, 480 yards striped sackcloth,
389 yards blue baize, 10 pounds blue maguey cloth, 4 reams
paper, 5 bales red pepper, 10 arrobas of tasajo (dried
beef), beads, chocolate, lard, lentils, rice, flour, and
four barrels of Castilian wine. By 1800 all this was changed:
the flocks and herds of cattle of California contained
187,000 animals, of which 153,000 were in the Mission
pastures, and large areas of land had been brought under
cultivation, so that the Missions supplied the presidios
and foreign ships. "
By Guadalupe Vallejo _ The Century
Magazine; December 1890
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Mexican Period
When Mexico fought and obtained independence, California
lost virtually all its centralized support. As members
of an isolated community, Californios spent three decades
in political confusion (at one point, a Californio-based
republic was declared). The richest families turned to
the one industry guaranteed to earn a comfortable living
-- selling hides and tallow generated from the virtually
free cattle that roamed vast ranchos. In an attempt to
increase the non-Indian population, foreigners of all
types were admitted. Soon a sizable minority of Yankees
grew, dominating the merchant class and entering into
important positions in the political and social structure.
http://www.ccnet.com/~laplaza/calhist.htm#2
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Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo... 
Entered the military service as cadet of the Monterey
company January 8, 1824.
In 1838 he was made comandante-general
of California; and previous to that had been made comandante
militar del Frontera del Norte, with headquarters at Sonoma.
He was, by 1837, the
foremost man in California as he was one of the richest.
Over the hills of his princely estate of Petaluma roamed
ten thousand cattle, four to six thousand horses, and
many thousand sheep. He occupied a baronial castle on
the plaza at Sonoma, where he entertained all who came
with most royal hospitality and few travelers of note
came to California without visiting him. At Petaluma he
had a great ranch house called La Hacienda and on his
home farm, Lachryma Montis (Tear of the Mountain), he
built, about 1849, a modern frame house where he spent
the later years of his life.
Zoeth Skinner Eldredge. San
Francisco : Z.S. Eldredge, 1912. pp. 348-357
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Governor Manuel Micheltorena... 
Governor responsible
for issuing the land grants which eventually made up Tehama
County. Micheltorena assumed the post of Governor of Alta
California in 1842. John Sutter worked closely with this
Mexican official and so influenced the issuance of land
grants to other persons moving into the area. The governor
and John Sutter had a "gentleman’s agreement"
whereby Sutter would back Micheltorena’s political
office with force of arms, if necessary, in exchange for
the land grants to settlers in Northern California.
Governor Micheltorena
left the post of Governor of Mexican California in 1845.
His duties were then taken over by Governor Pio Pico.
Pico was to become the last Mexican governor of California.
He held the post until 1846..
Mexican Land Grants to Americans
Rancho Rio de Los Molinos...
Albert Toomes is sometimes referred to as "the father
of Tehama County". The Rancho Rio de Los Molinos
was a five-league rancho which extended a long way along
the Sacramento River, but was comparatively narrow, covering
all the bottom land between Dye Creek and Toomes Creek
on the south.
Rancho de los Saucos...
Robert Hasty Thomes received a five-league grant which
lay between Thomes Creek on the south and Elder Creek
on the north. This grant was received in 1844 and was
on the west side of the river, some distance north of
Capay.
Rancho Breisgau...
William Benitz gained possession of the farthest north
grant on the east side of the Sacramento River. Five leagues
were granted to William Benitz but never finally confirmed.
It was south of the mouth of Battle Creek and across the
river from Cottonwood Creek.
Rancho El Primer Canon del Rio de Los Berrendos...
Job Dye was granted the largest of the Tehama County Grants,
six leagues taking in all the land from the river up into
the foothills from the Hogsback south to Dye Creek. To
this day, this rancho does not show township marks within
its boundaries, even on modern maps.
Rancho de los Saucos...
William Chard received
the smallest of the land grants. This grant consisted
of only three leagues and lay between Elder Creek and,
essentially, Oat Creek. It included the present towns
of Gerber and Proberta.
Rancho Bosquejo...
Peter Lassen was granted
this rancho which lay directly south of Toomes' Rancho
Rio de Los Molinos. Some believe the name Bosquejo is
derived from a Spanish word meaning woods; but the word
bosquejo is a Spanish term for sketch or preliminary drawing.
Willy Rancho...
Michael C. Nye and William Johnson acquired a grant adjacent
to and to the south of the rancho of Peter Lassen. This
land may have just penetrated Tehama County. It extended
south into present Butte County across four Spanish leagues.
The Land in Between...
West of the Sacramento between Capay Rancho and Rancho
de Los Saucos was a broad extent of unclaimed bottom land
that was settled by William C. Moon, Ezekiel Merritt,
and Henry L. Ford. These men never received grants for
the land nor did they buy it, so they have generally been
referred to as "Squatters"' although all of
them contributed significantly to the history of Tehama
County.
Rancho Barranca Colorada (Red Bank)...
Josiah Belden was granted
four leagues of land immediately north of Las Flores.
This rancho was bounded on the north by Red Bank Creek.
This property later became the property of William B.
Ide, who in 1846 was a leader of the
Bear Flag
Rebellion.
