Existing comment:
Land:
Between 1824 and 1848, Mexico granted 813 land patents in California. These "Land Grants" included most of the 25 grazing rights concessions earlier acknowledged by the Spanish monarchy. Records of these transactions were verified by vaguely written descriptions, delineated by primitive maps called disenos.
Under less pressing circumstances, land claims might have been verified in a simpler, more orderly fashion, but the gold rush that brought immigrant hordes turned the process into chaos.
Litigation continued over 40 years as commissioners administering the Land Act of 1851 and courts adjudicating disputes labored to unsnarl the tangled titles. The U.S. rejected 197 claims as without merit, and approved 553. |