Rancho Pescadero was a 3282 acres (13.3 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 San Mateo County, California

San Mateo County, California

San Mateo County is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula just south of San Francisco, and north of Santa Clara County. San Francisco International Airport is located at the northern end of the county, and...

 given in 1833 by Governor José Figueroa

José Figueroa

General José Figueroa , was a General and the Mexican territorial Governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835.Figueroa oversaw the initial secularization of the missions of upper California, which included the expulsion of the Spanish Franciscan mission officials.This also involved the issuing of...

 to Juan José Gonzales. At the time, the grant was in Santa Cruz County

Santa Cruz County, California

Santa Cruz County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, on the California Central Coast. The county forms the northern coast of the Monterey Bay. . As of the 2010 U.S. Census, its population was 262,382. The county seat is Santa Cruz...

; an 1868 boundary adjustment gave the land to San Mateo County. The name means fishing place. The grant extended along the Pacific coast from Pomponio Creek

Pomponio Creek

Pomponio Creek is a small river in San Mateo County, California.. It is named after José Pomponio Lupugeym....

 on the north to Butano Creek

Butano Creek

Butano Creek is a principal river in San Mateo County, California and carries a large amount of the runoff of the Santa Cruz Mountains into the Pacific Ocean through the delta at its mouth Pescadero Marsh. The creek is long....

 and Rancho Butano

Rancho Butano

Rancho Butano was a Mexican land grant in present day San Mateo County, California given in 1838 by Governor Juan Alvarado and confirmed in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Ramona Sanchez. At the time, the grant was in Santa Cruz County; an 1868 boundary adjustment gave the land to San...

 on the south, and encompassed present day Pescadero

Pescadero, California

Pescadero is a census-designated place in San Mateo County, California two miles east of State Route 1 and Pescadero State Beach. The center of town, on Pescadero Creek Road, is located at latitude 37.255 and longitude 122.38028. The town is south of Half Moon Bay. The ZIP Code is 94060 and...

.

History

Juan José Gonzales, came to California with his father José Manuel Gonzales, as settlers on the 1775 De Anza Expedition. In 1833, Juan José Gonzales was mayordomo of the Mission Santa Cruz

Mission Santa Cruz

Mission Santa Cruz was established in 1791 and named for the feast of the Exultation of the Cross, the name that the explorer Gaspar de Portolà gave to the area when he camped on the banks of the San Lorenzo River on October 17, 1769, and erected a wooden cross...

. He received a grant for the former Mission Santa Cruz pasture land, when the Mission was secularized. He built an adobe house on the eastern side of the property near Pescadero Creek

Pescadero Creek

Pescadero Creek is a major stream in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties in California. At , it is the longest stream in San Mateo County and flows all year from springs in the Santa Cruz Mountains...

 and a wood frame house near Butano Creek, where his vaqueros lived. Gonzales was an absentee ranchero who lived with his large family of thirteen children near Mission Santa Cruz, while vaqueros and other laborers tended to the rancho.

A claim for Rancho Pescadero 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. Gonzales had originally requested a four square league grant, from Rancho San Gregorio

Rancho San Gregorio

Rancho San Gregorio was a Mexican land grant in present day San Mateo County, California given in 1839 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Antonio Buelna. At the time, the grant was in Santa Cruz County; an 1868 boundary adjustment gave the land to San Mateo County...

 on the north to Rancho Punta del Año Nuevo

Rancho Punta del Año Nuevo

Rancho Punta del Año Nuevo was a Mexican land grant in present day San Mateo County, California given in 1842 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Simeon Castro. At the time, the grant was in Santa Cruz County; an 1868 boundary adjustment gave the land to San Mateo County...

 on the south; yet the grant papers specified the grant as only one league along the coast by three quarters of a league wide. Gonzales unsuccessfully appealed to the US Supreme Court in 1859, and the grant for three quarters of a square league was patented to Juan José Gonzales in 1866.

In 1852, Juan Gonzales deeded a small portion of the Pescadero grant to family members, and sold 800 acres (3 km²) of the valley floor to the Moore family. Alexander Moore (1823–1902) came overland from Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

to California in 1847, and moved to Pescadero in 1850.