CA Ranchos

Here is a listing of California Ranchos by counties. The counties are in alphabetical order. Scroll down the list below (it's very long) to find the county and information you want. The year reflects when the rancho was started.

COUNTY	RANCHO	Year	To	Acres or other remarks	By	Cities on or near area of this rancho or other remarks
Alameda 1	San Antonio	1820	Luis Peralta	44,380 acres (all of the land from the bay to the Contra Costa Hills)	Spain	Alameda, Oakland, Berkeley, Albany,Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro
2	San Ramon	1834	Jose Amador	18,000 acres	Mexico	Dublin area and also in Contra Costa County
3	Agua Caliente	1839	Fulgencia Higuera	9,564 acres	Mexico	Warm Springs (City of Fremont) near Mission. Gov. Leland Stanford bought parts of it.
4	Los Positas	1839	Robert Livermore & Jose Noriega	8,880 acres	Mexico	Livermore area. Contained the first vineyards and olive orchards in this area.
5	Canada Vaqueros (the Vasco)	1846	Robert Livermore	17,760 acres	Mexico	Livermore but mostly in Contra Costa County
6	San Leandro	1839&1842	Jose Estudillo	6,830 acres	Mexico	San Leandro, San Lorenzo area
7	El Valle de San Jose	1839	Pico , Bernal & Sunol families	48,436 acres	Mexico	Pleasanton, Sunol
8	Potrero de los Cerritos	1844	Alviso & Pachero	10,610 acres	Mexico	Towns of Alvarado, Decoto, became Union City
9	San Lorenzo	1841	Guillermo Castro	26,723 acres	Mexico	Hayward, Castro Valley. Redwood School is on rancho land
10	Arroyo de la Alameda	1842	Jose Vallejo	17,705 acres	Mexico	Fremont (Niles area)
11	Santa Rita	1829	Jose Pacheco	8,800 acres	Mexico	Livermore, Dublin, Sunol
Alpine 12	See Yolo & Solano					No ranchos in this county
Amador 13	See Yolo & Solano					No ranchos
Butte 14	Chico	1844	Dickey & Farwell, later owned by John Bidwell.	Along river. Bidwell Park on rancho land	Mexico	Chico (rancho developed by Gen John Bidwell, a pioneer of Calif. who led the 1st wagon train across US)
15	Esquon	1844	Sam Neal & John Sutter	Butte Creek area, 7 miles south of Chico	Mexico	Chico Capt. John Fremont and American soldiers stopped here

Colusa 20	Larkin Grant (surveyed by John Bidwell)	1844	Children of Thomas Larkin, American counsel	First house in county built here, 1847	Mexico	West bank of Sacramento River in Princeton area and into Glenn County.
Contra Costa 21	San Pablo	1834	Francisco Castro	17,752 acres El Cerrito, Richmond and San Pablo areas	Mexico	Rancho adobe was replaced by El Cerrito Plaza shopping center
22	San Ramon	1833	B. Pacheco & M. Castro and others	26,628 acres	Mexico	San Ramon Valley, Dublin, Alamo, and surrounding areas.
23	El Sobrante de San Ramon	1844	Romero Bros.	22,000 acres	Mexico	Walnut Creek, Tice Valley, East of Alamo (Stone Ranch area).
24	Acalanes	1834	Candelario Valencia	Home was in location of La Fiesta shops.	Mexico	Lafayette, a grist mill was located where Park Theater now is. Happy Valley Rd. area.
25	Los Medanos (Meganos) ( named for sandy banks, and sand dunes along San Joaquin River.)	1834	Jose Noriega, later Dr. John Marsh	Carquinez Straits,	Mexico	Brentwood and Mt. Diablo areas. Marsh estate home is located on Marsh Creek Road.
26	El Pinole (John Swett, “father of CA Public schools” lived here.)	1829	Ignacio Martinez	John Muir National Historic Site	Mexico	Pinole and Martinez area of Susuin and San Pablo Bays. John Swett Home.
27	Monte del Diablo	1834	Salvio Pacheco	18,000	Mexico	Concord, Pacheco,
28	Laguna de los Palos Colorados (Lake of the Redwoods.)	1835	Joaquin Moraga & Juan Bernal	13,316	Mexico	Moraga Valley.
29	Arroyo de las Nueces Bolbones	1834	Juana Pacheco	17,782	Mexico	Western side of Mt. Daiblo, Walnut Creek
30	Las Juntas	1844	Willian Welch	13,292	Mexico	East side of Martinez

31	Boca de la Canada del Pinole	1878	Maria Valencia	13,316	Mexico	Western part of county
32	Canada de los Vaqueros	1847	3 Spanish brothers	Southeastern area	Mexico	Bought in 1847 by Robert Livermore
Del Norte 33	See Shasta County					No ranchos, see Shasta
El Dorado 34	See Yolo & Solano					No ranchos, see Yolo
Fresno 35	See Merced County					No ranchos, see Merced
Glenn 36	See Napa County					No ranchos, see Napa
Humboldt 37	See Shasta County					No ranchos, see Shasta
Imperial 38	See San Diego County					No ranchos, see San Diego
Inyo 39	See San Bernardino Co.					No ranchos, see San Bernardino
Kern 40	El Tejon	1843	Jose Aguirre	97,616 acres In far south of county	Mexico	Largest grant in San Joaquin Valley. Fort Tejon located here.
41	Los Alamos y Agua Caliente	1843 & 1846	Lopez, Jordan, Botello	South Kern and North L.A. County	Mexico	Bought by General Beale in 1865. On Ft. Tejon Ranch.
42	Castac ( now spelled Castaic)	1843	Jose Covarrubias	Along I-5 From Lebec to 2 miles beyond Grapevine	Mexico	Later owned by General Beale. Fort Tejon, a state park, was once part of this rancho.
43	De la Liebre	1846	Jose Flores		Mexico	Later owned by Gen Beale
44	San Emigdio (Emidio)	1842	Jose Dominguez	Grapevine area and mountains	Mexico	John C. Fremont bought half of this rancho
Kings 45	El Adobe de Los Robles		Daniel Rhodes	Highway 41 North of Lemoore	Mexico	First Orchard in valley. Dan Rhodes helped rescue the Donner Party that was trapped in the Sierra Snows in 1846-1847.
Lake 46	Lupyomi	1844	S & J Vallejo	16 Spanish leagues, or 71,000 acres	Mexico	Upper Lake, Bachelor, Scott, and Big valleys. Kelseyville
47	Callayomi	1844	Robert Ridley	13,314 acres	Mexico	Loconoma Valley
48	Guenoc	1845	George Rock (Roch)	26,628 acres	Mexico	Coyote Valley, along Putah Creek for several miles.
Lassen 49	See Shasta County
Los Angeles 50	San Rafael	1784	Jose Verdugo	36,000 acres (Several rancho homes are in Glendale)	Spain	One of the earliest Spanish ranchos. Glendale, Eagle Rock, and nearby cities are on the old rancho lands.

51	Los Nietos	1784	Manuel Nieto	Originally all the land from the mountains to the sea between the Santa Ana and San Gabriel Rivers.	Spain	This rancho was divided among Nieto’s five heirs into these ranchos: Los Alamitos, Los Cerritos, Santa Gertrudes, Los Coyotes, and Los Bolsas. Partly in Orange County.
52	Los Alamitos (Los Alamitos rancho adobe built in early 1800s still exists.)	1840 from Los Nietos rancho	Abel Stearns, husband of Arcadia Bandini	Originally part of Los Nietos Rancho	Spain & Mexico	Eastern Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Later owned by Bixby family. Bixby Ranch House is on 7th St. in Long Beach
53	Los Cerritos (La Casa de Rancho Los Cerritos is largest adobe home in So. Calif.)	1840s	Juan Temple, husband of Rafaela Cota	Originally part of Los Nietos rancho.	Spain & Mexico	North Long Beach, Cerritos areas.
54	Santa Gertrudes	1834	Antonio Nieto, Josefa Nieto	Originally part of Los Nietos rancho	Mexico	Downey, Santa Fe Springs,
55	San Pedro (Port of San Pedro is not on this rancho. See Los Palos Verdes.)	1822	Juan Dominguez	43,119 acres	Spain	Wilmington, Compton, Gardena, Redondo Beach, Torrance. The Battle of Dominguez rancho was fought here when American army tried to retake Los Angeles.
56	Los Palos Verdes	1827	Sepulveda Family	31,629 acres includes San Pedro Bay	Mexico	Palos Verdes Peninsula between Redondo Beach and including San Pedro.
57	El Encino (The Oaks) Developed by Don Vicente de la Osa. Other valley lands were part of San Fernando Mission.	1845	Ramon, Francisco & Roque (3 California Indians)	San Fernando Valley	Mexico	Open to public at old rancho headquarters, a state park in Encino. This is area where Portola expedition camped in 1769.
58	San Antonio	1810	Antonio Lugo	29,513 acres	Spain	Bell, Huntington Park,Vernon, South Gate, Lynwood and nearby.
59	La Brea (old adobe is at 6301 W. Third St., Los Angeles)	1828	Rocha & Dominquez	Wilshire district of Los Angeles	Mexico	Prehistoric animals found in tar pits. Tar used to make roofs
60	Rincon de los Bueyes	1821	Higuera & Lopez	Culver City & Palms	Spain	Rancho home at 2400 Shenandoah St, L.A.

COUNTY	RANCHO	Year	To	Acres or other remarks	By	Cities on or near area of this rancho or other remarks
Los Angeles 61	Rincon de San Pasqual	1835	Juan Marine, husband of Eulalia de Guillen	Land granted by Mission San Gabriel to Eulalia for services	Mexico	South Pasadena, Pasadena, Altadena. Flores Adobe, an old rancho home, is on Foothill St., on Raymond Hill in South Pasadena.
62	Paso de Bartolo Viejo (Also known as El Ranchito)	1835	Juan Perez	8,891 acres in Whittier and Pico Rivera	Mexico	Once owned by the last Mexican governor of California, Pío Pico. His home is near Whittier.
63	San Jose de Arriba and San Jose de Abajo	1837	Palomares and Vejar	Divided into two ranchos	Spain	Pomona Valley. Many old adobes in area
64	La Puente (Granted to 2 Americans who came by wagon train and married Mexicans)	1845	William Workman & John Rowland (Americans)	Don Julian Workman home is a mile west of La Puente	Mexico	La Puente, Rowland, Industry, Turnbull Canyon area, Hacienda Heights, La Puente Hills
65	La Merced (also known as Misión Vieja )	1846	Doña Casilda	Later owned by Francisco Temple	Mexico	Montebello, South San Gabriel. Oil discovered in 1917 on rancho lands
66	Cienega	1843	Vincente Sanchez	Later owned by “Lucky” Baldwin.	Mexico	Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw, Angeles Mesa areas of Los Angeles.
67	Aguaje de Centinela (Water hole)	1844	Ignacio Machado, later owned by Sir RobertBurnett of Scotland	2,200 acres (Bought by Daniel Freeman for $140,000 in 1885)	Mexico	Inglewood — rancho house is at 7634 Midfield. Freeman developed rancho into the City of Inglewood in 1880s
68	Los Feliz	1843	Maria Verdugo	6,647 acres in Los Angeles	Mexico	Later owned by Griffith who gave 3000 acres to Los Angeles for Griffith Park
69	Santa Anita	1843	Hugo Reid Later owned by “Lucky” Baldwin	13,319 acres	Mexico	In Arcadia area. Baldwin’s home and gardens are now the L.A. arboretum.
70	San Francisco (Also Rancho Camulos in Ventura County)	1839	Antonio del Valle (His home is on Ventura portion)	48,612 acres	Mexico	Santa Clarita and Saugus area. Rancho Camulos in Ventura County was a part of this rancho.
71	San Isidro (Also known as “Blanco Adobe”)	1843	Michael White	77 acres of mission lands	Mexico	San Marino & San Gabriel areas

72	Isla Santa Catalina (Catalina Island, now a resort area, with some ranching still done)	1846	Thomas Robbins	45,820 acres- the entire island	Mexico	Later bought by James Lick for $25,253 and sold to Banning for $200,000. William Wrigley paid $12 million in 1919.
Madera 73	See Merced					No ranchos in this county
Marin 74	Olompali (Named for the local Indian tribe.) “Rancho del Indio”	1843	Camilo Ynitia, the son of the last chief of the local Indians.	8,876 acres	Mexico	Novato area. Part of the “Bear Flag Revolt” took place here.
75	Corte Madera del Presidio	1834	Juan Reed	7,845 acres	Mexico	Sausalito , Larkspur
76	Saucelito (now spelled Sausalito)	1838	Guillermo Antonio Richardson	19,572 acres	Mexico	Sausalito. (old home is still there)
77	Punta de los Reyes (Point Reyes)	1839	Joseph Snook and others	57,067 acres from Mt. Tamalpais to coast	Mexico	Inverness area. Eventually combined with Rancho Tomales.
78	Punta de Quentín	1840	Roger Cooper	8,878 acres	Mexico	Between Larkspur and San Anselmo, includes San Quentin Prison
79	San Pedro, Santa Margarita y Gallinas	1844	Timoteo Murphy	22,000 acres	Mexico	North of San Rafael
80	Cañada de Herrera (also known as La Providencia)	1839	Domingo Sais	6,658 acres	Mexico	San Anselmo Valley, Fairfax
81	San Jose	1840	Don Pacheco	6,659 acres	Mexico	San Pablo Bay between Novato and San Rafael
82	Nicasio (divided into several Ranchos over the years)	1835 Thru 1861	Several people over many years	56,000 acres	Mexico and U.S.	Granted to Indians and later to Americans. Tomales Bay area.
83	Soulajule (5 grants to various people)	1844	Ramon Mesa	5 parts totaling 10,889 acres	Mexico	Near Laguna San Antonio
84	Corte de Madera	1839	John Martin	8,879 acres	Mexico	East of Soulajule
85	De Novato	1839	Fernando Felis	8,870 acres	Mexico	Along San Pablo Bay, south of Black Point
86	Los Baulenes	1845	Gregorio Briones	8,911 acres	Mexico	Around Bolinas Bay
87	Tomales y Baulenes	1836	Rafael Garcia	9,468 acres	Mexico	Geronimo Creek area
88	San Geronimo	1844	Rafael Cacho		Mexico	Later owned by grandson of Paul Revere

Mariposa 89	See Merced					No ranchos in this county
Mendocino 90	Sanel Grant	1844	Fernando Felix (Feliz)	17,754 acres	Mexico	Along Russian River in Hopland area
91	Point Arena unnamed grant	1844	Rafael Garcia	unconfirmed		Point Arena along Garcia River
92	Yokaya (South Valley)	1845	CayetanoJuarez	49,000 acres		Valley of Russian RiverAnd Ukiah
Merced 93	San Luis Gonzaga	1843	Pacheco & Mejla		Mexico	Pacheco Pass, San Luis Dam area, Santa Nella

94	Sanjon de Santa Rita	1841	Francisco Soberanes	More than 11 leagues (49,000 acres)	Mexico	Santa Rita Park area. Eventually it became part of Miller & Lux Lands of over one million acres in Central Valley, including Firebaugh.
95	Panoche de San Juan y de los Carrisolitos	1844	Julian Ursua	20,000 acres	Mexico	Southwestern Merced County and Los Baños
96	Las Mariposas	1844	Juan Alvarado, later owned by John C. Fremont	44,380 acres from San Joaquin River to Sierra foothills	Mexico	Bought by John C. Fremont in 1847. Merced, Mariposa, Atwater and other nearby cities are on or near this rancho land
Modoc 97	See Shasta County					None in this county
Mono 98	See Madera County					None in this county
COUNTY	RANCHO	Year	To	Acres or other remarks	By	Cities on or near area of this rancho or other remarks
Monterey 99	Bolsa de San Cayetano	1824	Ignacio Vallejo		Mexico	Pajaro Valley, North Monterey County
100	El Alisal & El Colegio (W. Hartnell started first school in county here in 1834, El Colegio de San Jose)	1834	Soberanes brothers	5,900 acres Salinas area	Mexico	Fremont camped here in 1846.
101	Sausal ( also known as Sherwood Ranch)	1834	Jose Castro	10,241 acres	Mexico	North half of Salinas and areas north of that.
102	Santa Rita & Bolsa de las Escaroinas	1837	Jose Espima	4,424 acres	Mexico	Santa Rita area
103	Bolsa Nueva y Moro Cojo	1825	Simeon Castro	35,500 acres	Mexico	Castroville and Monterey Bay area

104	La Natividad	1837	Butron & Alviso	8,641 acres	Mexico	Natividad, 6 miles northeast of Salinas
105	El Sur	1834	Juan Alvarado, also Juan Cooper	Big Sur area	Mexico	Seacoast south of Monterey from Little Sur River to Cooper Point.
106	Milipitas (Mission San Antonio is surrounded by this rancho and the present army base)	1838	Ygnacio Pastor, (an Indian from San Antonio Mission)	43,281 acres	Mexico	Mission San Antonio area in mountains, Jolon. Eventually owned by Wm. Hearst and later became an army base.
107	Los Ojitos	1842	Mariano Soberanes	8,900 acres	Mexico	South of Jolon area, including Lake San Antonio and river areas.
108	Salinas River Grants (includes Rancho National, south part of Salinas)	1822 to 1881	Many small Land grants	Spanish & Mexican grants	Mexico & U.S.	26 small land grants along the river, including south half of Salinas
109	San Lucas	1842	Rafael Estrada	8,875 acres, later owned by Trescony family	Mexico	In the area of Town of San Lucas
110	El Pescadero	1836	Fabian Barreto	2,667 acres	Mexico	Monterey Peninsula Carmel
111	Punta de Pinos (named for rare Monterey Cypress)	1833

16	Aguas Frias, later known as the Pratt Grant	1844	Salvador Osio	Mexico	South of Durham
17	Bosquejo	1844	Peter Lassen, a Danish pioneer	Mexico	Between Chico and Los Molinos; Red Bluff (in Tehama County)
18	Llano Seco, later known as the Parrott Grant	1845	Sebastian Kayser	Mexico	Near Chico and Durham
Calaveras 19	See San Joaquin & Shasta counties				No early ranchos in this county