Rancho Blucher facts for kids
Rancho Blucher was a very large piece of land in what is now Marin and Sonoma Counties in California. It covered about 26,759 acres (which is about 108 square kilometers)! This land was given out as a Mexican land grant in 1844. A land grant was like a special gift of land from the Mexican government. They gave land to people to encourage them to settle and develop the area. The rancho was named after a famous Prussian military leader, Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. This big area stretched along the coast, from Estero Americano in the north to Estero de San Antonio in the south.
Contents
History
How Rancho Blucher Began
The story of Rancho Blucher starts with a man named Jean Jacques Vioget. He was a sailor and a Swiss surveyor. A surveyor is someone who measures and maps land. Jean Jacques Vioget arrived in California in 1837. He was very skilled and even made the first map of Yerba Buena in 1839. Yerba Buena later became the city of San Francisco! He also worked for a well-known person named John Sutter.
Vioget wanted his own land. He asked Governor Juan B. Alvarado for a piece of land in northern Marin County. In 1842, he received a temporary grant. Then, in 1844, Governor Manuel Micheltorena gave Vioget full ownership of Rancho Blucher.
New Owners of the Rancho
After a few years, in 1847, Jean Jacques Vioget sold Rancho Blucher. He sold it to Captain Stephen Smith. Captain Smith already owned another large ranch called Rancho Bodega, which was just north of Rancho Blucher.
Rancho Blucher Becomes Part of the U.S.
After the Mexican–American War, California became part of the United States. This happened with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. This treaty said that the U.S. government would respect the land grants given by Mexico.
To make sure these land grants were official under U.S. law, people had to file a claim. So, in 1852, a claim for Rancho Blucher was filed with the Public Land Commission. This was part of the California Land Act of 1851. Finally, in 1858, the land was officially granted, or patented, to Stephen Smith.
Captain Stephen Smith passed away in San Francisco in 1855. He owned Rancho Blucher and Rancho Bodega with his wife, Manuela Torres.
