Rancho Los Nietos facts for kids
Rancho Los Nietos was a huge piece of land given out by the Spanish government a long time ago in what is now California. It was one of the very first and biggest land grants in Alta California, which was the name for California back then. This rancho was located in today's Los Angeles County and Orange County. A soldier named Manuel Nieto received this land in 1784. The rancho stayed together as one big property until 1834. That's when Governor Jose Figueroa of Mexico decided to divide it into six smaller ranchos.
Today, many cities and areas are located on what used to be Rancho Los Nietos. These places are in the Southeast LA area and northern Orange County:
Contents
History of Rancho Los Nietos
The Spanish Land Grant
In 1784, the Spanish governor, Pedro Fages, gave Manuel Nieto permission to use a large area of land. Manuel Nieto was a former sergeant in the Spanish army. This land stretched between the Santa Ana River and the Los Angeles River. It went all the way from the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel to the ocean.
The original land grant was huge, about 300,000 acres (1,200 km²). However, the San Gabriel Mission argued that some of this land belonged to them. They said Nieto's grant went into their property. The mission won this argument. So, Rancho Los Nietos was made smaller, almost half its original size. Even after this, Manuel Nieto still had about 167,000 acres (676 km²). At first, the rancho was called La Zanja. Later, it became known simply as Rancho Los Nietos. Manuel Nieto passed away in 1804. After his death, Rancho Los Nietos was passed down to his wife and their four children.
Mexican Rule and Division
The rancho stayed as one large property until 1833. At that time, Manuel Nieto's children and their families asked the Mexican Governor, José Figueroa, to divide the land. In 1834, Governor Figueroa officially declared that the Los Nietos grant was under Mexican rule. He then ordered it to be split into six smaller ranchos. This process of splitting the land is called a "partition."
| How Rancho Los Nietos Was Divided in 1834 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name of New Rancho | Size (approximate) | Who Received It | |
| Los Alamitos | 28,612 acres (116 km²) | Juan Jose Nieto | |
| Las Bolsas | 33,460 acres (135 km²) | Catarina Ruiz (Jose Antonio Nieto's widow) | |
| Los Cerritos | 27,054 acres (110 km²) | Manuela Nieto de Cota and her husband Guillermo Cota | |
| Los Coyotes | 48,806 acres (197 km²) | Juan Jose Nieto | |
| Santa Gertrudes | 21,298 acres (86 km²) | Josefa Cota (Antonio Maria Nieto's widow) | |
| Palo Alto | unknown | Juan Jose Nieto | |
Rancho Palo Alto was the smallest of these six new ranchos. We don't know exactly where it was or how big it was. It didn't even appear on the map used for the division. It included the Coyote Hills and most of the Arroyo de los Coyotes. It might have been combined with Rancho Los Coyotes later on.
Rancho Los Nietos' Legacy
The name of Rancho Los Nietos lives on in a few places today. For example, Los Nietos Road in Santa Fe Springs is named after the rancho. Also, the community known as West Whittier-Los Nietos carries its name.
