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ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY REPORT FAIRVIEW STREET IMPROVEMENTS FROM 9TH STREET TO 16TH STREET AND <br />JUNE 2019 BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT <br />SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA <br />citizens through grants or by purchase from mission administrators. It was also during this period <br />that large tracts of land termed ranchos were granted by the various Mexican Governors of alto <br />California, usually to individuals who had worked in the service of the Mexican government. <br />American Period (1848—Present) <br />Following the end of hostilities between Mexico and the United States, the United States officially <br />obtained California in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848 (Cleland 1962:xiii). In <br />1850, California was accepted into the Union of the United States, mainly due to the population <br />increase created by the Gold Rush of 1849. In the years immediately following the United States' <br />acquisition of California, the cattle industry reached its greatest prosperity due to the massive influx <br />of immigrants during the Gold Rush (Cleland 1952:102-108; Liebeck 1990:2-3). Mexican Period land <br />grants had created large pastoral estates in California, and a high demand for beef during the Gold <br />Rush led to a cattle boom that lasted until 1855. In 1855, however, the demand for California beef <br />began to decline as a result of sheep imports from New Mexico, cattle imports from the Mississippi <br />and Missouri Valleys, and the development of stock breeding farms. When the beef market <br />collapsed, California ranchers were unprepared. Many had borrowed heavily during the boom, <br />mortgaging their land at interest rates as high as 10 percent per month. The collapse of the cattle <br />market meant that many of these ranchos were lost through foreclosure, while others were sold to <br />pay debts and taxes (Cleland 1952:108-114). <br />Land Grants <br />Beginning in 1784, Spanish army officers and veterans living in California began receiving land <br />concessions and establishing large, private grazing areas (Cowan 1993:8). Cattle ranching was highly <br />profitable during the Spanish and Mexican Periods. There were only 25-32 major "grants" made <br />during the Spanish Period, and these were actually concessions that were little more than grazing <br />and settlement permits, because title of ownership remained with the crown (Beck and Haase <br />1974:24; Cowan 1993:8). However, several hundred land grants were made by Mexican governors <br />of California during the Mexican Period. <br />An early Spanish Period concession of approximately 60,000 acres known as Rancho Santiago de <br />Santa Ana was made in 1801 or 1802 by then Governor Arrillaga to Jose Antonio Yorba and his <br />father-in-law, Juan Pablo Grijalva. In 1810, a second concession of this land was made by Governor <br />Arrillaga to Antonio Yorba and Pablo Peralta (Avina 1932:25; Meadows 1966:117; Shumway <br />1993:59-60). This is the only Spanish Period concession located entirely within Orange County. The <br />name, Santiago de Santa Ana, is derived from the Santa Ana River and Santiago Creek, both named <br />by the Portola Expedition, and means "Saint James of Saint Ann" (Meadows 1966:117). <br />The American Period patent for the 78,941.49-acre Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana was issued in <br />1883 to Bernardo Yorba and other heirs to Antonio Yorba and Pablo Peralta (Shumway 1993:59-60). <br />This grant abuts the current APE on its southeastern edge. However, the current APE is just west <br />edge of the middle of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana grant. <br />The APE is within the Rancho Los Nietos Spanish Period concession, which was a grant of <br />approximately 300,000 acres made in 1784 by Governor Fages to Manuel Nieto (Beck and Haase <br />1974:Map 37; Shumway 1993:58). It is described as all the land lying between the Santa Ana and San <br />Q:\WKE1702\Cultural\ASR\ASR 2019 OS-21.docx (06/03/19) 14 <br />