Rancho Cuyamaca

History

Olvera remained in the Pueblo of Los Angeles and never resided on the grant. For several years, his agent Cesario Walker began lumber operations but was driven out by local Indians.

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 Cuyamaca was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852. The grant contained no mention of size nor was there any description of boundaries. It was specified in the grant that it was to be measured and maps made. But, with the exception of a crude map of indefinite date, nothing seems to have been done until it came before the land commission.

In 1869, Olvera sold one-third to his lawyer, Isaac Hartman and the remaining two-thirds to Samual Stewart. Stewart in turn sold one-half of the two-thirds to Robert Allison and one-fourth to John Treat. He later sold the remaining one-fourth to Allison and Juan Luco jointly.

Following the discovery of gold in the Julian area in 1870, a dispute as to the boundaries of the rancho arose. The new owners attempted to extend Rancho Cuyamaca boundaries northward to Rancho Santa Ysabel and include the Julian mines. The miners, supported by the general public of San Diego, claimed the land was public. Four years later, the area of the rancho was fixed at eight square leagues and the northern boundary line 7 miles south of Julian.

The grant was patented to Agustin Olvera in 1874.

Although the boundary dispute has been settled, conflicting ownership claims forced a new survey and partition into 14 lots among 10 owners in 1879. In 1886 Robert W. Waterman acquired most of the grant.