Rancho Boca de la Cañada del Pinole was a 13316 acres (53.9 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 Contra Costa County, California

Contra Costa County, California

Contra Costa County is a primarily suburban county in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 1,049,025...

 given in 1842 by Governor Juan Alvarado to María Manuela Valencia. The name means "Mouth of the Pinole Valley" in Spanish. The rancho located between present day Martinez

Martinez, California

Martinez is a city and the county seat of Contra Costa County, California, United States. The population was 35,824 at the 2010 census. The downtown is notable for its large number of preserved old buildings...

, Pleasant Hill

Pleasant Hill, California

Pleasant Hill is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 33,152 at the 2010 census. It was incorporated in 1961...

, Orinda

Orinda, California

-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Orinda had a population of 17,643. The population density was 1,389.5 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Orinda was 14,533 White, 149 African American, 22 Native American, 2,016 Asian, 24 Pacific Islander, 122 from other races, and...

, and Lafayette

Lafayette, California

Lafayette is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 23,893. It was named after the Marquis de Lafayette, a French military hero of the American Revolutionary War...

.

History

Felipe Santiago Briones (1790 -1840) was a soldier at the San Francisco Presidio. He married Maria Manuela Valencia in 1810. Maria Manuela Valencia's brother, Candelario Valencia, was the grantee of Rancho Acalanes

Rancho Acalanes

Rancho Acalanes was a Mexican land grant in present day Contra Costa County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Candelario Valencia. The name Acalanes seems to have come from the name of a Costanoan native village in the area, Ahala-n. The rancho included present day...

. In 1829, Briones and his family settled on the El Pinole lands, built a home (near what is now the Bear Creek Staging area), and in 1839, petitioned for a grant of El Pinole. When Felipe Briones was killed in 1840, and his widow, Maria Manuela Valencia de Briones, petitioned for the land grant in her name. In 1842, Governor Alvarado, made a three square league grant of Rancho Boca de la Cañada del Pinole to María Manuela Valencia and a four square league grant of Rancho El Pinole

Rancho El Pinole

Rancho El Pinole was a Mexican land grant in present day Contra Costa County, California given in 1842 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Ygnacio Martinez...

 to Ygnacio Martinez.

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 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 María Manuela Valencia in 1878.

In 1870, the Briones family sold their lands to Simon and Elias Blum who developed orchards and cultivated fruit.

In 1909, the Peoples' Water Company, the precursor to the East Bay Municipal Utility District

East Bay Municipal Utility District

East Bay Municipal Utility District , colloquially referred to as "East Bay Mud", provides water and sewage treatment for customers in portions of Alameda County and Contra Costa County in California, on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay, including the cities of Richmond, El Cerrito, Hercules,...

, purchased the land for the watershed. The nearby Briones Reservoir

Briones Reservoir

Briones Reservoir is an open cut terminal water storage reservoir owned and operated by the East Bay Municipal Utility District . It is located in the hills northeast of Orinda, California. The earthen dam was completed in 1964...

 was constructed in 1923. The East Bay Regional Parks District later acquired Briones and opened the 6117 acres (24.8 km²) Briones Regional Park

Briones Regional Park

Briones Regional Park is a park maintained and operated by the East Bay Regional Park District in the U.S. state of California. The park is located in the rolling, grassy hills between the eastern and western regions of Contra Costa County near Lafayette, Orinda, Pleasant Hill and Martinez...

in 1967.