Rancho Laguna Seca was a 2,179-acre (8.82 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Monterey County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Catalina M. Munras. "Laguna Seca" means "Dry Lake" in Spanish, referring to the seasonal lake, Laguna Seca. The grant was east of present-day Monterey.
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History
The half square league grant was made to Catalina Manzaneli de Munras who was the wife of Esteban Munras (1798–1850) a Monterey trader, amateur painter, and grantee of Rancho San Vicente. Catalina Manzaneli de Munras was also grantee of Rancho San Francisquito.
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 Laguna Seca was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented to Catalina M. Munras in 1865.
Geography and drainage
On the property a prominent ridge of terrain exists that extends in an east-northeasterly direction to eventually reach Fort Ord. On the south side of this ridge, drainage and groundwater flow is to the south. Surface water flows into the Carmel River, which parallels State Route 68. A series of surface drainage ditches and gullies run south from the higher terrain of Fort Ord to join this flow. Berwick and Canada de la Ordena Canyons also exist on the south and southeast portions of the Laguna Seca Ranch. Berwick Canyon almost borders the eastern side, a quarter mile away (400 m), while Buckeye Canyon parallels the eastern border less than a tenth of a mile (150 m) off the ranch to the east.