Appendix A Historic Property Survey Report

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ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY REPORT FAIRVIEW STREET IMPROVEMENTS FROM 9TH STREET TO 16TH STREET AND JUNE 2019 BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA Gabriel Rivers from the mountains to the sea (Hoover et al. 1962:15). Later, Rancho Los Nietos was divided among Nieto's five heirs. The five ranchos created by this division were Santa Gertrudes, Los Coytoes, Los Cerritos, Los Alamitos, and Los Bolsas. Rancho las Bolsas (pockets or low spots) is the only one of these five ranchos now part of Orange County. In 1833, during the Mexican Period, the Rancho los Nietos concession was granted by Governor Figueroa to the heirs of Manuel Nieto, and in 1834, 7 leagues were regranted as Rancho las Bolsas by Governor Figueroa to Dona Catarina Ruiz, widow of Manuel Nieto (Meadows 1966:115; Shumway 1993:58). In 1874, the American Period patent for 33,460 acres was issued to Ramon Yorba, Dominga Yorba, Soledad Yorba de Abila, Dominga Yorba de Aguilar (wife of Chavis Aguilar), and Julian Aguilar (Shumway 1993:58). The APE is 1.75 miles southwest of the northeastern most point of Rancho /as Bolsas, which extends from the location where SR-22 crosses the Santa Ana River south-southwest to the coast. The eastern boundary of the grant generally follows the Santa Ana River. The Bolsa Chica area (Spanish for little pocket; Meadows 1966:29) is included in the Rancho las Bolsas grant and is where the grant obtained its name. The word balsa is used in a geographical sense for a semi -enclosed or shut-in place, often a neck of land surrounded by water (Gudde 1998:42), or pockets of dry land surrounded by a swamp (Meadows 1966:29, 115). The word was widely used during the Mexican Period and was the first or second name in no fewer than 24 land grants and claims. The cattle industry collapsed in the late 1850s and early 1860s due to drought and the resulting poor economic conditions. Afterwards, sheep ranchers began to proliferate. James Irvine began to purchase land just southeast of the current project, and gained a controlling interest in the wool industry through his purchase of Flint, Bixby & Company and eventually owned all of Rancho San Joaquin, Rancho Lomas de Santiago, and Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, which eventually became known as the Irvine Ranch (Cleland 1941, 1952; Meadows 1966:115, 117; Liebeck 1990:2-4, 6-14). In 1842, Abel Stearns obtained Rancho los Alamitos. By 1860, Stearns owned a total of seven Mexican Period land grants in Southern California, including Rancho las Bolsas, making him one of the wealthiest landowners in the area. However, the drought of 1863-1864 caused Stearns to lose an estimated 50,000 cattle, a severe economic hardship. In order to obtain capital necessary to survive, in 1868 Stearns formed a real estate partnership with Alfred Robinson, and four other San Francisco investors known as the Robinson Trust. The era of cattle ranching was ending and cattle ranches were being replaced by agricultural farmsteads. The Robinson Trust acted as sales agents subdividing rancho lands. By 1870 Stearns had escaped his debts caused by the drought of the 1860s, although he died soon afterward on August 23, 1871. It was the sale of former land grant acreage for farmsteads that eventually led to further subdivision and the creation of residential communities on what was agricultural land in the immediate past, and cattle ranches in the more distant past. Today, the once open expanse of Rancho los Nietos is now a fully developed built -environment containing a sea of commercial and residential areas, whereas open, undeveloped lots are the rare exception. The cities of Garden Grove, Westminster, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, and parts of Santa Ana are all in what was once Rancho las Bolsas (Meadows 1966:115). Q:\WKE1702\Cultural\ASR\ASR 2019 OS-21.docx (06/03/19) 15