View source for Rancho Río de los Americanos

{{Short description|Former Mexican land grant in Sacramento, California}}
{{distinguish|Rio Rancho, New Mexico}}
'''Rancho Río de los Americanos''' was a {{convert|35521|acre|km2|adj=on}} [[Ranchos of California|Mexican land grant]] in present-day [[Sacramento County, California]] given in 1844 by Governor [[Manuel Micheltorena]] to [[William Leidesdorff]] (1810–1848).<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 grant takes its name from Río de los Americanos, the name of the [[American River]] during the Mexican-rule era.  The grant originally consisted of 8 square leagues and extended from the eastern border of [[John Sutter]]'s New Helvetia (east of [[Sacramento]]) 4 leagues along the south bank of the American River, to the eastern end of present-day [[Folsom, California|Folsom]], and included present-day cities of [[Rancho Cordova, California|Rancho Cordova]] and Folsom.<ref>[http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb3d5nb11b/?&brand=oac  Diseño del Rancho Río de los Americanos]</ref>
==History==
William Alexander Leidesdorff, U.S. Vice Consul at the Port of San Francisco, hired a farm manager and financed construction of four [[Adobe|adobe dwellings]] on the site of today's River Bend Park, near Bradshaw Road and Folsom Blvd, in the city of [[Rancho Cordova, California|Rancho Cordova]].  Leidesdorff died suddenly three years later, on May 18, 1848, at the age of 38. He was not married and had no family in California. He died ''[[intestate]]'', leaving a large estate of property at the dawn of the California Gold Rush.
His death came twelve days before the signing of the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] and the [[Mexican Cession|cession]] of California to the United States following the [[Mexican-American War]]. Leidesdorff's vast estate passed to his mother, Anna Marie Spark,<ref>Also referred to as Anna Maria Spark.</ref> and surviving siblings, who resided in and were citizens of [[Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands|St. Croix, Danish West Indies]], today's U.S. Virgin Islands.<ref>Gary Palgon, 2005, ''William Alexander Leidesdorff: First Black Millionaire, American Consul and California Pioneer'', Lulu.com, {{ISBN|1-4116-4625-8}}</ref>
Captain [[Joseph Libbey Folsom]] (1817–1855), a graduate of [[United States Military Academy|West Point]] had come to California in 1847 as Captain and Assistant Quartermaster of [[Jonathan D. Stevenson]]'s [[1st Regiment of New York Volunteers, for service in California and during the war with Mexico|1st Regiment of New York Volunteers]].  He became the first Collector of the [[Port of San Francisco]] under American rule in 1848.  Folsom was familiar with Leidesdorff's vast holdings and knew of his family in St. Croix.<ref>Tohler vs Folsom, ''Reports of cases determined in the Supreme Court of the State of California, 1850'', Volume 1, pp 207-213, Bancroft-Whitney Company</ref>  In 1849, Folsom took leave from the U.S. Army, and after stopping in [[New York City|New York]] to arrange financing, went to St. Croix, where he located some of Leidesdorff's relatives, including his mother.  Anna Spark signed a note authorizing Folsom to purchase the title to her son's estate, including Leidesdorff's extensive real estate holdings in [[San Francisco]] as well as Rancho Río de los Americanos, for $75,000, with a $5,000 down payment and the remainder to be paid in two installments.<ref>[http://www.sierrafoothillmagazine.com/folsomj.html Debi Drake-Maurer, ''Captain Folsom: Soldier of Misfortune'']</ref>  When Spark realized the true value of the estate, she refused to accept further payments or to give title to Folsom.  Folsom hired the law firm of [[Halleck, Peachy & Billings]] to force Spark to accept the final payments.
The State of California Senate in 1854 made an attempt to control the estate, contending that, because Spark was not an American citizen, among other legal questions, she could not inherit property in California, and hence could not transfer it to Folsom.  In 1855, the [[California Supreme Court]] ruled<ref>''People ex rel. Attorney-General vs. Joseph L. Folsom'', ''Reports of cases determined in the Supreme Court of the State of California, 1855'', Volume 5, pp 373-380, Bancroft-Whitney Company</ref> that Spark could inherit the properties; and therefore, the title legally passed to Folsom.<ref>Robert Ernest Cowan, 1928, ''The Leidesdorff-Folsom Estate: A Forgotten Chapter in the Romantic History of Early San Francisco'', San Francisco:California Historical Society, 1928, 11; Meredith Eliassen,''A Colored Mosaic:The Vibrant African American Community in Antebellum San Francisco'', California State Library Foundation, Bulletin  Number 84, pp 11-12</ref>
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored.  As required by the Land Act of 1851, Folsom filed a claim for the grant  with the [[Public Land Commission]] in 1852.  The claim was confirmed by the Commission in 1855 and the District Court in 1857.<ref>[http://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/264196 United States. District Court (California : Northern District) Land Case 359 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>  Although clear title was tied up in court, Folsom continued to develop the grant. In 1854, Folsom began to sell parcels of the Rancho.  He renamed the former Negro Bar townsite near the river Granite City, and had lots surveyed and sold.  When Folsom died suddenly at the age of 38, in 1855, one month after the Commission confirmed his title to the grant, the town was renamed Folsom.
Folsom's estate was handled by his executors, [[Halleck, Peachy & Billings]].  A survey of the grant, known as the Hays survey, was completed and approved by the Surveyor General of California.  Folsom had been dead three years, when, in 1858, the [[United States Department of the Interior|Department of Interior]] disapproved the survey. [[Jacob Thompson]], the [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]], determined that the survey did not conform to either the description of the land granted by the Mexican government, the land as shown on the ''Diseño'', or to the decree of the Court.  The District Court ordered a new survey, known as the Mandeville survey; but in 1852, it reversed itself and approved the original Hays survey.  However, the United States appealed this ruling to the [[United States Supreme Court]].<ref>[http://openjurist.org/68/us/439/united-states-v-halleck-et-al  ''United States v. Halleck et al'', 1864, US Supreme Court, 68 US 439]</ref>
In 1857 the Natoma Water and Mining Company, founded in 1851 and engaged in [[granite]] [[quarry]]ing, agriculture, [[gold mining]] and [[hydro-electric power]], purchased {{convert|5000|acre|km2|1}} from the Folsom estate.  Amos Parmalee Catlin appeared as counsel for the Natoma Water and Mining Company.<ref>Oscar Tully Shuck, 1888, ''Bench and bar in California: History, anecdotes, reminscences'',{{ISBN|978-1-110-64548-0}}</ref>  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Hays survey valid, and the grant was [[Land patent|patented]] to Joseph L. Folsom in 1864.<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 1862, Horatio G. Livermore acquired the Natoma Water and Mining Company and {{convert|9000|acre|km2|1}} of Rancho Río de los Americanos.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{coord |38.670|-121.190|region:US-CA_type:landmark|display=title}}
{{California history}}
[[Category:Ranchos of California|Rio de los Americanos]]
[[Category:Ranchos of Sacramento County, California]]