Rancho Barranca Colorado was a 17707 acres (71.7 km²) Mexican land grant

Ranchos of California

The Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...

 in present day Tehama County, California

Tehama County, California

Tehama County is a county located in the northern part of the U.S. state of California. It is bisected by the Sacramento River. As of 2010 its population was 63,463, up from 56,039 as of 2000. The county seat is Red Bluff.-History:...

 given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena

Manuel Micheltorena

Manuel Micheltorena was a Brigadier General of the Mexican Army, Adjutant-General of the same, Governor, Commandant-General and Inspector of the Department of the California...

 to Josiah Belden

Josiah Belden

Josiah Belden was an American pioneer and politician.-Life:Born in Connecticut, Belden was orphaned by the time he was 14. He later moved to St. Louis, Missouri and became a successful businessman. In 1841 he joined the Bartleson-Bidwell Party, the first organized emigrant party to use the...

. The name means "Ranch of the Red Bluffs". The grant was on the west bank of the Sacramento River

Sacramento River

The Sacramento River is an important watercourse of Northern and Central California in the United States. The largest river in California, it rises on the eastern slopes of the Klamath Mountains, and after a journey south of over , empties into Suisun Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay, and...

 and bounded Red Bank Creek on the north, and Coyote Creek and Rancho Las Flores

Rancho Las Flores

Rancho Las Flores was a Mexican land grant in present day Tehama County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to William Chard. The name means "ranch of the flowers"...

 on the south. The grant was about 2 miles south of present day Red Bluff

Red Bluff, California

Red Bluff is a city in and the county seat of Tehama County, California, United States. The population was 14,076 at the 2010 census, up from 13,147 at the 2000 census....

.

History

Josiah Belden (1815–1892) arrived in California with the Bartleson-Bidwell Party

Bartleson-Bidwell Party

In 1841, the Bartleson–Bidwell Party led by Captain John Bartleson and John Bidwell, became the first American emigrants to attempt a wagon crossing from Missouri to California.-The trail:...

 in 1841. Belden, a naturalized Mexican citizen, received the four square league Rancho Barranca Colorado grant in 1844. Belden did not live on the land grant, and in 1846, gave William B. Ide

William B. Ide

William Brown Ide was a California pioneer and Commander of the short-lived California Republic.-Life:...

 ownership to half of the rancho, in exchange for Ide operating the ranch. William Brown Ide (1796–1852), 49 years old, arrived at Sutter's Fort

Sutter's Fort

Sutter's Fort State Historic Park is a state-protected park in Sacramento, California which includes Sutter's Fort and the California State Indian Museum. Begun in 1839 and originally called "New Helvetia" by its builder, John Sutter, the fort was a 19th century agricultural and trade colony in...

 in 1845, and then went work on Peter Lassen

Peter Lassen

Peter Lassen was a Danish-American blacksmith, rancher, prospector and Freemason.-Early life:Peter Lassen was born on October 31, 1800 in Farum, Denmark and immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1830...

's Rancho Bosquejo

Rancho Bosquejo

Rancho Bosquejo was a Mexican land grant in present day Tehama County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Peter Lassen. The name means "Wooded Ranch" in Spanish...

. Belden was a resident of San Jose

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

 in 1849, when he sold the entire rancho to the Ide family.

With the cession

Mexican Cession

The Mexican Cession of 1848 is a historical name in the United States for the region of the present day southwestern United States that Mexico ceded to the U.S...

 of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...

 provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Barranca Colorado was filed with the Public Land Commission

Public Land Commission

The Public Land Commission, a former agency of the United States government, was created following the admission of California as a state in 1850 . The Commission's purpose was to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican land grants in California.California Senator William M...

 in 1852, and the grant was patented

Land patent

A land patent is a land grant made patent by the sovereign lord over the land in question. To make a such a grant “patent”, such a sovereign lord must document the land grant, securely sign and seal the document and openly publish the same to the public for all to see...

to William B. Ide in 1860.

William Ide died of smallpox in 1852 at the age of 56.