Rancho El Rio de Santa Clara o la Colonia was a 44883 acres (181.6 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 Ventura County, California

Ventura County, California

Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It is located on California's Pacific coast. It is often referred to as the Gold Coast, and has a reputation of being one of the safest populated places and one of the most affluent places in the country...

 given in 1837 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Valentine Cota et al. The grant extended from the Santa Clara River

Santa Clara River (California)

The Santa Clara River is approximately long, located in southern California in the United States. It drains an area of the coastal mountains north of Los Angeles. The Santa Clara is one of the largest river systems along the coast of Southern California and one of only a few remaining river...

 south to the present day Point Mugu Naval Air Station

Naval Air Station Point Mugu

Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu or NBVC Point Mugu is a military airbase located in Point Mugu, Ventura County, California, United States. Due to realignment actions which occurred in 2000, the base is now part of Naval Base Ventura County , a consolidated organization that also includes...

, and the boundary of Rancho Guadalasca

Rancho Guadalasca

Rancho Guadalasca was a Mexican land grant in present day Ventura County, California given in 1836 by Governor Mariano Chico to Ysabel Yorba. The grant was in the southern part of the county, bordering on Los Angeles County...

, and east from the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 to the present day 101 Freeway, and the boundary of Rancho Santa Clara del Norte

Rancho Santa Clara del Norte

Rancho Santa Clara del Norte was a Mexican land grant in present day Ventura County, California given in 1837 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Juan Maria Sanchez...

. The grant encompassed present day Colonia and Oxnard

Oxnard, California

Oxnard is the 113th largest city in the United States, 19th largest city in California and largest city in Ventura County, California, by way of population. It is located at the western edge of the fertile Oxnard Plain, and is an important agricultural center, with its distinction as the...

.

History

The grant was made to seven former Presidio of Santa Barbara

Presidio of Santa Barbara

The El Presidio Real de Santa Bárbara, also known as the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, was a military installation in Santa Barbara, California. It was built by Spain in 1782, with the mission of defending the Second Military District in California...

 soldiers: Valentine Cota, Salvador Valenzuela, Vicente Pico, Rafael Valdez, Vincent Feliz, Leandro Gonzales, and Rafael Gonzales. Valentine Cota, the corporal of the guard at Mission Santa Inés

Mission Santa Inés

Mission Santa Inés was founded on September 17, 1804 by Father Estévan Tapís, who had succeeded Father Fermín Lasuén as President of the California mission chain...

. Jose Vicente Pico (1797-1863) married Maria Estefana Bruno Garcia in 1822. Rafael Gonzales built the Rafael Gonzalez House

Rafael Gonzalez House

The Rafael Gonzales House is an historic house located at 835 Laguna Street in Santa Barbara, California. The National Historic Landmark Statement of Significance, written in 1970, reads:...

 and was later alcalde

Alcalde

Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...

 of Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

.

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 El Rio de Santa Clara o la Colonia 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 Valenta Cota et al. in 1872.

In 1860's, Thomas R. Bard

Thomas R. Bard

Thomas Robert Bard was a political leader in California who assisted in the organization of Ventura County and represented the state in the United States Senate from 1900 to 1905 as a Republican. He is known as the "Father of Port Hueneme" for his efforts in building and expanding the city, as...

 agent for Thomas Alexander Scott

Thomas Alexander Scott

Thomas Alexander Scott was an American businessman. He was the 4th president of what was the largest corporation in the world, the Pennsylvania Railroad, during the middle of the 19th century...

and his Philadelphia and California Petroleum Company, bought a five sevenths undivided share of El Rio de Santa Clara o la Colonia. The Gonzales family refused to sell other two sevenths share to Bard and instead sold to the Camarillo family.