Rancho Paso de Bartolo

Rancho Paso de Bartolo also called Rancho Paso de Bartolo Viejo was a 10,075-acre (40.77 km²) Mexican land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given in 1835 by Governor Jose Figueroa to Juan Crispin Perez.^[1] The name refers to a San Gabriel River ford called Paso de Bartolo Viejo (Old Bartolo's Crossing). The rancho includes present-day Montebello, Whittier, and Pico Rivera.^[2][3][4]

History

Initially property of the San Gabriel Mission, the Rancho Paso de Bartolo land became a part of the original 300,000-acre (1,200 km²) Rancho Los Nietos grant. After an appeal by the mission padres, Rancho Los Nietos was later reduced to 167,000-acre (680 km²), and Rancho Paso de Bartolo was once again a possession of the mission. Following secularization of the missions, Rancho Paso de Bartolo was granted in 1835 to Juan Crispin Perez, a manager at the mission.

In 1843, Bernardo Guirado, a worker at the mission, acquired 876 acres (4 km²) of Paso de Bartolo from Perez. Later, Joaquina Ana Sepulveda, widow of Juan de Jesus Poyorena^[5] acquired another 208 acres (1 km²). In 1847, Juan Crispin Perez died leaving the rancho to his family. After the Mexican-American War, former Governor Pío Pico began purchasing pieces of the estate from the heirs of Perez, and by 1852, he acquired 8,991 acres (36 km²) of the rancho.^[6]

With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Paso de Bartolo was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852.^[7] The grant was patented with 876 acres (4 km²) to Bernardo Guirado in 1867, 208 acres (1 km²) to Joaquína Sepulveda in 1881, and 8,991 acres (36 km²) to Pio Pico and Juan C. Perez in 1881.^[8]

There was some legal dispute over the Guirado and Sepulveda land, and with the possible encroachment on the Rancho Santa Gertrudes grant to the south.^[9]

Historic sites of the Rancho

• Pio Pico State Historic Park. Pío Pico lived at "El Ranchito" from 1852 to 1892. An adobe home was destroyed by the floods of 1883-1884. His second adobe casa, now known as Pío Pico Mansion, represents a compromise between Mexican and American cultures.^[10]
• The Battle of Rio San Gabriel, one of the last battles of the Mexican-American War, was fought on Rancho Paso de Bartolo on January 8, 1847.

References

Coordinates: 33°59′24″N 118°04′12″W / 33.990°N 118.070°W / 33.990; -118.070