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The Ranchos or Alta California land grants established land use patterns that are still recognizable in the California of today. The tradition of making land grants was continued by the early State of California. These are the "ranchos" of Californian toponymy.

Under Spanish rule, individual land grants were scarce. Three of the largest original ranchos first granted in 1784 by the Spanish King Carlos III were;

• Rancho San Pedro, granted to Juan Jose Dominguez, stretching from the Pacific Ocean west at present day Manhattan Beach, to the Los Angeles river on the east, and north from present day Rosecrans Blvd, south to the Pacific Ocean.

• Rancho Los Nietos, granted to Manuel Nieto, stretching from the LA river on the west to the Santa Ana river on the east, from Whittier / Harbour blvds north, south to the Pacific Ocean.

• Rancho San Antonio, granted to Jose Antonio Yorba, from the Santa Ana river west to the Arroyo /Laguna Canyon on the east, north to the Brea / Santa Ana Canyon, and south to the Pacific Ocean.

In 1830, only fifty private ranches existed in all of Alta California.

When California came under control of the Mexican government, the governors gained the power to grant state lands. With the new régime most lands were turned into large Mexican-owned rancherias. The missions were secularized and their land and property also redistributed by local administrators.

Few ranchos remained as they were, depending on the fortunes of the owners they were expanded, parceled out or even sold outright. Some of the more noted ranchos with their descendent communities are listed below.

See also

• Laguna Seca Ranch
• Workman Temple Rancho
• Rancho Arroyo de Las Nueces y Bolbones
• Rancho Los Alamitos
• Rancho Petaluma Adobe
• Rancho Azusa de Duarte
• Rancho Santa Anita
• Rancho Camulos
• Rancho San Pedro
• Rancho San Pascual
• Rancho Jurupa

1. The Atrisco Land Grant in New Mexico is one of the few surviving Mexican land grants.
2. Fink, 1972, page 64: "Land grants were scarce; In 1830 only 50 private ranches were held in Alta California, of which 7 were in the Monterey region."
3. "José Maria Alviso Adobe/Rancho Milpitas". milpitashistory.org. Retrieved 2007-01-15.
4. Marquez, Ernest (2004). Santa Monica Beach: A Collector's Pictorial History. Angel City Press.

• California ranchos