Rancho Esquon(also calledNeal's Rancho) was a 22,194-acre (89.82 km2)Mexican land grantin present-dayButte County, Californiagiven in 1844 by GovernorManuel Micheltorenato Samuel Neal.[1]The grant, located south of present-dayChico,extended on the east bank ofButte Creek,and encompassed present-dayDurham,Esquon,Gridley,andNelson.[2]Rancho Aguas Friaswas directly across Butte Creek.
History
editSamuel Neal (1816–1859), a native ofPennsylvaniaand a blacksmith by trade, came to California withJohn C. Frémont's second expedition in 1844. After working forJohn Sutterbriefly, Samuel Neal was awarded the five square league Rancho Esquon grant in 1844.[3]In 1849, Neal mined gold on the Feather River at a location that became known asNeals Diggins.[4]For six years David Dutton worked with Neal on the Rancho.
With thecessionof California to the United States following theMexican-American War,the 1848Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgoprovided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Esquon was filed with thePublic Land Commissionin 1852,[5][6]and the grant waspatentedto Samuel Neal in 1860.[7]
Upon his early death in 1859, Neal willed most of his land to R.W. Durham. Robert Waddell Durham (1818–1871), a partner in the Waddell branch of thePony Express,came to California fromMissouri.Durham became a close friend of Samuel Neal, and worked as Neal's business manager at the ranch. Durham, an early farming community, was settled by R.W. Durham and his brother, William W. Durham (1811-1873), in 1852. Like Neal, Durham never married and having no children of his own, sent for his nephews (sons of his other brother George Durham), George W. Durham (1834–1880) and William Wellington Durham (1844–1907) from Missouri, to assist him in managing the inherited rancho.[8]
In 1868, R.W. Durham sold 17,800 acres (72.0 km2) in the southerly part of Rancho Esquon to George Gridley and his eldest son, C.E. Gridley. George Gridley was a sheep rancher. R.W. Durham died in 1871, and his elder brother William died in 1873, and their portion of the rancho was subdivided in lots and sold. In 1879 George Gridley sold his 17,800 acres (72.0 km2) to E.B. Pond, John Boggs and C.W. Clarke, who then sold them toLeland Stanfordin 1880.[9]The Stanford-Durham Ranch later became the property ofStanford University.
References
edit- ^Ogden Hoffman, 1862,Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California,Numa Hubert, San Francisco
- ^Diseño del Rancho Esquon
- ^Hoover, Mildred B.; Rensch, Hero; Rensch, Ethel; Abeloe, William N. (1966).Historic Spots in California.Stanford University Press.ISBN978-0-8047-4482-9.
- ^Edna Reynolds Durham, 1949,Samuel Neal, California Pioneer, and a brief history of the Durham family
- ^United States. District Court (California: Northern District) Land Case 179 ND
- ^Finding Aid to the Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892
- ^Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886Archived2013-03-20 at theWayback Machine
- ^Durham Lingenfelter Archives
- ^Gov. Stanford's Big RanchNew York Times, June 30, 1884