Rancho Arroyo Seco was a 48857 acres (197.7 km²) Mexican land grant

Ranchos of California

The Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...

 in present day Amador County, California

Amador County, California

Amador County is a county located in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 38,091. The county seat is Jackson.Amador County bills itself as "The Heart of the Mother Lode" and lies within the Gold Country...

 given in 1840 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado  to Teodocio Yorba

José Antonio Yorba

José Antonio Yorba , also known as Don José Antonio Yorba I, was a Spanish soldier and early settler of Spanish California.-Spanish Soldier:...

. The name means "dry creek". The grant east of Sacramento

Sacramento, California

Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

 encompassed present day Ione

Ione, California

Ione is a city in Amador County, California, United States. The population was 7,918 at the 2010 census, up from 7,129 at the 2000 census. Once known as "Bed-Bug" and "Freeze Out," Ione was an important supply center on the main road to the Mother Lode and Southern Mines during the California Gold...

.

History

Teodosio Juan Yorba (1805–1863), the son of José Antonio Yorba

José Antonio Yorba

José Antonio Yorba , also known as Don José Antonio Yorba I, was a Spanish soldier and early settler of Spanish California.-Spanish Soldier:...

, was granted the eleven square league Rancho Arroyo Seco in 1840. Teodosio Yorba was also the grantee of the four square league Rancho Lomas de Santiago

Rancho Lomas de Santiago

Rancho Lomas de Santiago was a Mexican land grant given by Mexican Governor Pío Pico to Teodosio Yorba in 1846. The name means "Hills of St. James"...

 in 1846. In 1852 Yorba sold Rancho Arroyo Seco to Andrés Pico

Andrés Pico

Andrés Pico was a Californio who became a successful rancher, served as a military commander during the Mexican-American War; and was elected to the state assembly and senate after California became a state, when he was also commissioned as a brigadier general in the state militia.-Early...

.

With the cession

Mexican Cession

The Mexican Cession of 1848 is a historical name in the United States for the region of the present day southwestern United States that Mexico ceded to the U.S...

 of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...

 provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Arroyo Seco was filed with the Public Land Commission

Public Land Commission

The Public Land Commission, a former agency of the United States government, was created following the admission of California as a state in 1850 . The Commission's purpose was to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican land grants in California.California Senator William M...

 in 1852, and the grant was patented

Land patent

A land patent is a land grant made patent by the sovereign lord over the land in question. To make a such a grant “patent”, such a sovereign lord must document the land grant, securely sign and seal the document and openly publish the same to the public for all to see...

 to Andrés Pico in 1863.

In 1857, Andrés Pico sold Rancho Arroyo Seco to Joseph Moravia Moss

J. Mora Moss House

J. Mora Moss House is a boldly romantic Carpenter Gothic style Victorian home located within Mosswood Park in Oakland, California. It was built in 1864, bought by Oakland in 1912 and documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1960 at which point it was pronounced "One of the finest, if...

, Horace Carpentier

Horace Carpentier

Horace Walpole Carpentier was a lawyer and the first mayor of Oakland, California. He also served as president of the Overland Telegraph Company which oversaw the construction of the western portion of the first transcontinental telegraph in the United States.-Life:Carpentier was born in Galway,...

, Edward Fitzgerald Beale

Edward Fitzgerald Beale

Edward Fitzgerald "Ned" Beale was a national figure in 19th century America. He was naval officer, military general, explorer, frontiersman, Indian affairs superintendent, California rancher, diplomat, and friend of Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill Cody and Ulysses S. Grant...

, and Herman Wohler

Rancho El Molino

Rancho El Molino was a Mexican land grant in present day Sonoma County, California given to John B.R. Cooper by Governor José Figueroa in 1833 and officially confirmed by Governor Nicolás Gutiérrez in 1836. "Molino" means "mill" in Spanish, and the name refers to Cooper's sawmill...

 in 1862.

Neither Yorba or Pico did much to improve the property,and settlers built the towns of Quincy, Muletown, Jackson Valley and Live Oak. In 1865-66 after the patent, two companies of US Cavalry were dispatched from Camp Union in Sacramento to evict the settlers.