View source for Rancho Boca de la Cañada del Pinole

{{Short description|Mexican land grant in California}}
'''Rancho Boca de la Cañada del Pinole''' was a {{convert|13316|acre|km2|sing=on}} [[Ranchos of California|Mexican land grant]] in present-day [[Contra Costa County, California]] given in 1842 by Governor [[Juan Bautista Alvarado|Juan Alvarado]] to María Manuela Valencia.<ref>Ogden Hoffman, 1862, ''Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California'', Numa Hubert, San Francisco</ref> The name means "Mouth of the Pinole Valley" in Spanish. The rancho located between present-day [[Martinez, California|Martinez]], [[Pleasant Hill, California|Pleasant Hill]], [[Orinda, California|Orinda]], and [[Lafayette, California|Lafayette]].<ref>[http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb4h4nb1z8/?&brand=oac  Diseño del Rancho Boca de la Cañada del Pinole]</ref>
==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]]. 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, 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]] to [[Ygnacio Martinez]].<ref>J. P. Munro-Fraser,1882,''History of Contra Costa County, California'', W.A. Slocum.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hoover |first=Mildred B. |last2=Rensch |first2=Hero |last3=Rensch |first3=Ethel |last4=Abeloe |first4=William N. |title=Historic Spots in California |year=1966 |publisher=Stanford University Press | url=https://archive.org/details/historicspotsinc00rens|url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-8047-4482-9}}</ref>
With the [[Mexican Cession|cession]] of California to the United States following the [[Mexican-American War]], the 1848 [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] 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]] in 1852,<ref>[http://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/265498 United States. District Court (California : Northern District) Land Case 138 ND]</ref><ref>[http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/hb109nb422/ Finding Aid to the Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892]</ref> and the grant was [[Land patent|patented]] to María Manuela Valencia  in 1878.<ref>[http://www.slc.ca.gov/Misc_Pages/Historical/Surveyors_General/reports/Willey_1884_1886.pdf  Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320000647/http://www.slc.ca.gov/Misc_Pages/Historical/Surveyors_General/reports/Willey_1884_1886.pdf |date=2013-03-20 }}</ref>
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]], purchased the land for the watershed. The nearby [[Briones Reservoir]] was constructed in 1964. The East Bay Regional Parks District later acquired Briones and opened the {{convert|6117|acre|km2|sing=on}} [[Briones Regional Park]] in 1967.
==See also==
*{{C|Ranchos of Contra Costa County, California}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{coord |37.940|-122.160|region:US-CA_type:landmark|display=title}}
{{California history}}
{{Contra Costa County, California}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rancho Boca de la Canada del Pinole}}
[[Category:Ranchos of California|Boca de la Canada del Pinole]]
[[Category:Ranchos of Contra Costa County, California|Boca de la Cañada Pinole]]
[[Category:Martinez, California]]
[[Category:Lafayette, California]]
[[Category:Orinda, California]]
[[Category:Pleasant Hill, California]]
[[Category:1842 establishments in Alta California|Boca de la Cañada Pinole]]