Rancho Guadalupe facts for kids

Rancho Guadalupe was a very large piece of land, about 43,682 acres (176.77 km²), located in what is now Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County in California. It was a special land grant given by the Mexican government in 1840. Governor Juan B. Alvarado gave this land to two people: Diego Olivera and Teodoro Arellanes. The rancho stretched along the Pacific coast and included the area where the town of Guadalupe is today.

History of Rancho Guadalupe

The First Owners

The first owners of Rancho Guadalupe were Diego Antonio de la Luz Olivera and José Teodoro Arellanes. Diego Olivera lived until 1868. José Teodoro Arellanes was a soldier at the Presidio of Santa Barbara for some time. He received another land grant called Rancho El Rincon in 1835, before getting Rancho Guadalupe in 1840.

California Joins the United States

After the Mexican–American War, California became part of the United States in 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, which said that the land grants given by the Mexican government would still be valid.

To make sure these land grants were official under U.S. law, a special claim for Rancho Guadalupe was filed in 1852. This was required by the Land Act of 1851, which created the Public Land Commission to check all land claims. The ownership of Rancho Guadalupe was officially confirmed to Diego Olivera and Teodoro Arellanes in 1870.

Changes in Ownership

In 1861, there was a legal case about Rancho Guadalupe. It involved the family of Josefa Rodriguez de Arellanes and José Teodoro Arellanes, discussing property rights for married women in California at that time.

Later, a big drought happened in 1863-64. This made it hard for many landowners. Rancho Guadalupe then came into the hands of the family of José Joaquín Estudillo. His wife, Juana Martínez de Estudillo, was a relative of Teodoro Arellanes. In 1866, Juana Martínez de Estudillo helped Antonio Arellanes, who was Teodoro Arellanes's son, by taking over Rancho Guadalupe to prevent it from being lost.

In 1867, José Joaquín Estudillo's sons-in-law, including John B. Ward, started farming on Rancho Guadalupe. Ward also began building a wagon road from Point Sal towards Fort Tejon. He didn't finish the road, but he was given a piece of land near Point Sal because of the part of the road he did build. However, in 1868, Rancho Guadalupe faced financial trouble. Ward sold his share, and the rancho was taken over by John Nugent, who was also married to one of Estudillo's daughters. In 1872, a group of about twenty farmers bought smaller parts of the land.

Land Boundaries and Disputes

The original Rancho Guadalupe grant was described by its boundaries, not by an exact size. It was confirmed to be about 32,408 acres (131.15 km²). Rancho Guadalupe shared a border with another rancho called Rancho Punta de Laguna. However, because the descriptions were not very clear and there were some government mistakes, there were many surveys and legal battles over the exact boundary.

One survey moved the border with Rancho Punta de Laguna further east. But the boundary for Rancho Punta de Laguna was officially set in 1873. After seven more years of legal arguments, in 1880, the U.S. government confirmed the owners of Rancho Guadalupe, which meant the owners of Rancho Punta de Laguna ended up with less land than they expected. The Rancho Punta de Laguna owners then asked the U.S. Congress for help. In 1890, Congress gave the Rancho Punta de Laguna owners rights to other unoccupied land in California to make up for what they had lost.