Rancho San Joaquin, the combinedRancho Cienega de las Ranas andRancho Bolsa de San Joaquin, was a 48,803-acre (197.50 km2)Mexican land grant in theSan Joaquin Hills, within present-dayOrange County,California.
It was granted toJosé Antonio Andres Sepúlveda.[1] InSpanishCienega de las Ranas means "Marsh of the Frogs" andBolsa means "Pocket", and usually in reference towetlands landforms.[2]
Rancho Cienega de las Ranas was granted to José Sepúlveda (1803–1875) by MexicanAlta California GovernorJuan Bautista Alvarado in 1837. Rancho Cienega de las Ranas encompassed present-dayIrvine and theSan Joaquin Hills. Additional land, Rancho La Bolsa de San Joaquín, was granted to Sepúlveda in 1842. Rancho Bolsa de San Joaquin encompassedNewport Bay andestuary in present-dayNewport Beach southeast toLaguna Canyon Creek flowing to present-dayLaguna Beach.
Together these two ranchos formed Rancho San Joaquín.[3][4][5]
With thecession of California to the United States following theMexican–American War, the 1848Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho San Joaquin was filed with thePublic Land Commission in 1852,[6][7] and the grant waspatented to José Sepulveda in 1867.[8]
Following the drought in 1864, José Andrés Sepúlveda sold Rancho San Joaquin to Benjamin and Thomas Flint, Llewellyn Bixby andJames Irvine, and it eventually became part of theIrvine Ranch.
33°41′24″N117°49′12″W / 33.690°N 117.820°W /33.690; -117.820