Get your Land Grants paper. Read through the paper and be sure you know for what you are reading. Read this entire web page and then complete the paper. You may refer back to the web page as needed to complete the paper. Use full sentences, good spelling, proper capitalization and punctuation on your paper.

 

 

 

Disenos were drawn as part of applying for a land grant.
A diseno was simply a map showing the land that was wanted by the person who drew the map.

 

After Mexico took over California, the government decided that it wanted nothing to do with the old Spanish ways. One of the changes they made was to close all 21 missions and give away all the mission lands. The land was given away as land grants. A land grant could be applied for in writing and any Mexican citizen could apply. Not everyone who applied got land grants though. The soldiers and wealthy land owners received most of the land. Much of the land given in land grants was developed into ranchos which were huge ranches that primarily raised cattle.

 

A Spanish ranchero working on his rancho.

 

One of the land grants was given to a Swiss immigrant named John Sutter. Sutter became a Mexican citizen in order to be able to apply for a land grant. Sutter's dream was to build an empire for himself, and he received a 48,818 acre grant of land. The Mexican government hoped that if Sutter established a settlement, he could help discourage raids by the native Californians and help settle California inland.

 

Johan Augustus Sutter

 

Sutter worked his way up the Sacramento River in three boats. He met Miwok Indians, and they provided him with a guide into Nisenan territory. Sutter's party sailed up the American River and settled at what is now 28th Street in Sacramento. He created his fort near the Sacramento and American Rivers.

Sutter built his fort where the Sacramento and American Rivers met

 

 

When Sutter arrived, he was charged by several hundred hostile natives. Sutter had purchased three cannons from the Hudson's Bay Company. He fired his cannon at the opposite side of the river from the attack. The noise was tremendous, the smoke was thick and the blast obliterated several cottonwood trees. The charging natives halted and froze in their tracks. The power that Sutter showed with the blasts kept the native Californians on his side. The native Californians built his fort, and made up his army and his work force. Sutter did not keep the native Californians as slaves, like the Spanish missions had done, and he paid the chief who gave him workers.

 

New Helvetia, or Sutter's Fort

For the most part, Sutter had a peaceful working relationship with the native Californians. Sutter's settlement, named New Helvetia, earned the natives many supplies for their work. At first, the natives remained near the fort, but between 1843-1846, many Nisenan villages moved from the river. The newcomers from other countries had brought many new diseases to the natives and their population was dropping from those diseases.

 

Another land grant along the American River was one of 44,000 acres. This land grant was on the north bank of the American River opposite Sutter's land. The rancho had a home constructed of mud and a roof of tule. The land was given to Eliab Grimes and extended for about 8 miles along the American River and went about 8 1/2 miles to the north. This huge land grant was named Rancho del Paso. (Think about that name for a minute . . .)

Diseno of Rancho Del Paso and New Helvetia

 

A third land grant in the Sacramento area was given to William Alexander Leidesdorff. His land grant was for 35,500 acres and was called Rancho Rio de los Americanos. The American River was officially named by the Mexican governor of California, Governor Alvarado, in 1837. The name was Rio de los Americanos because of the number of Americans who had been coming to trap along the river. Leidesdorff's land grant was next to John Sutter's grant and followed the river up to where Folsom Prison now sits. Thus, Leidesdorff's grant contained the land that is now the town of Folsom.

 

William Alexander Leidesdorff

 

The land grants began to carve the Sacramento area into large ranchos. Ranchos could make a lot of money in agriculture and the cattle industry. The Nisenan population along the river was shrinking due to diseases and the effects of contact with non-natives.

 

 

 

to the project starting page