Land in California: The Story of Mission Lands, Ranchos, Squatters, Mining Claims, Railroad Grants, Land Scrip, Homesteads

by W. W. Robinson

Overview

The story of California can be told in terms of its land. Better still, it can be told in terms of men and women claiming the land. These men and women form a procession that begins in prehistory and comes down to the present moment. Heading the procession are Indians, stemming out of a mysterious past, speaking a babel of tongues, and laying claims to certain hunting, fishing, and acorn-gathering areas-possessory claims doomed to fade quickly before conquering white races.
 
Following the Indians are Spanish speaking soldiers, settlers, and missionaries who, in 1769, began coming up through Lower California and taking over the fertile coast valleys and the harbors of California. Their laws were the Laws of the Indies controlling Spanish colonization and governing ownership of land. Missions, presidios, pueblos, and ranchos were born in the period of these people.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520038752
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	08/20/1979
Series:	Management of Public Lands in the U. S. Series
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

William Wilcox Robinson (1891-1972) wrote many pamphlets, articles, and books on Southern California history, including: Ranchos Become Cities (1939), Land in California (1948), Los Angeles, a Profile (1968), and Bombs and Bribery (1969). 

Table of Contents

I. Whose California?
II. First Owners
III. Missionary Empire
IV. Four Square Leagues
V. First Rancheros
VI. Gifts of Land
VII. Chain of Title
VIII. The Land Commission
IX. Shotgun Titles
X. Titles in El Dorado
XI. Land Grants to Railroads
XII. Land for Settlers
XIII. Land Scrip
XIV. The State as Owner
XV. Buying and Selling California
XVI. Insurance of Title
XVII. Title Story of Two Cities

Appendix
Bibliography
Index