Agricultural Economy

Spanish explorers came to the coasts of California searching for strategic ports and the mythical gold of El Dorado as well as to convert the local natives to Christianity. One Spanish soldier declared: "For Glory, God, and Gold. We came here to serve God, but also to get rich." Missions, pueblos and presidios, were established by the Spanish, taking land from the Indians and introducing European methods of agriculture to the Indians.

"Pueblos", or towns, were first introduced to California in 1774 as established by private Spanish land grants. These grants also provided colonists with seed livestock to establish herds to be grazed on common grazing grounds. A private land grant was made by Commander Rivera to California's first rancher, Manuel Butron, in 1775.

The "Reglamento" issued June, 1779 codified the land grant procedure.  However, it was not until 1784 that the land-grant system was employed in earnest by California's Governor Fages. He was empowered by the Spanish government to make private grants not to exceed three square leagues. Each grantee was required to and agree to build a storehouse, and to stock his holdings with at least 2,000 head of cattle.

There were still very few people in California and no intensive agricultural farming was being practiced. But there were wild cattle roaming the hills, descendants of the cattle the Franciscan missionaries brought when they established their mission chain. By 1790, there were 19 private rancheros in California.

Ranchero Social Life

Members of the great land-holding families, were known as Californios.  The Californios enjoyed riding above all else. Riding from age four onwards they were probably the finest horsemen in the world. Horses (and cattle) were everywhere, remarkably plentiful, they were allowed to graze with lassos dragging from their necks, so that riders could grab one whenever convenient, and let it go when at their destination.  The vast amounts of cattle, which formed almost the sole economic enterprise of hide and tallow, made beef "cheaper here than the salt." Hot branding the animals with specialized marks was used to track ownership.

Other entertainment included horse racing, bull-baiting, bull fighting, bull and bear fights (in which the animals were tied together and left until one was killed), cock-fighting, gambling of all sorts, and the fabled fandangos.

In the popular book, "Two Years Before the Mast ",  published in 1840,  Richard Henry Dana  provided useful descriptions of California from an outsider's perspective. Writing of his 1835 visit to the California area while traveling in the "Pilgrim", a Boston trading vessel, Dana's primary subject was the life of a sailor, but he included just as much useful information on the sites he visited as well as the people he observed. "There was prodigal hospitality in the entertainment of strangers, and singing and dancing were passions with Californians." 

Dana has both praise and disdain for the Californios. Writing that within the Californio system, the respectability of each family was dependent upon...

"the amount of Spanish blood they can lay claim to. Those who are of pure Spanish blood have clear brunette complexions, There are but few of these families in California, being mostly those in official stations ... and others who have been banished for state offenses. These form the upper class, intermarrying and keeping up an exclusive system in every respect. From this upper class they go down by regular shades, growing more and more dark and muddy, until you come to the pure Indian ... The least drop of Spanish blood, if it be only of quadroon or octoroon, is sufficient to raise one from the position of a serf, and entitle him to wear a suit of clothes ... and to call himself Espanol, and to hold property, if he can get it."

The great Californio families -- Martinez, Vallejo, Moraga, Castro, and Peralta, excelled in providing entertainment and comfort for visitors, who it turn, provided excitement in a normally rather dull existence. Separated by a large distances, each neighborly visit was marked as a festive occasion. These are the days of fiestas, rodeos, and bull fights. 

The dress of the Californios is described in detail, and is consistent throughout Californio for both Mexican and Yankee residents.

Men wore a "broad brimmed hat, usually of a black or dark brown color, with a gilt or figured band round the crown and lined under the rim with silk; a short jacket of silk or figured calico; the shirt open in the neck; rich waistcoat, if any; pantaloons, open at the sides below the knees, laced with gilt, usually of velveteen or broadcloth; or else short breeches and white stockings ... deerskin shoes ... made by Indians [and] usually a good deal ornamented. They have no suspenders, but always wear a sash round the waist, which is generally red, and varying in quality with the means of the wearer. Add to this the never-failing poncho, or serape, ... with as much velvet and trimmings as may be ... and you have the dress of the Californians."

"The women wore gowns of various texture -- silks, crepe, calicoes, etc. -- made after the European style, except that the sleeves were short, leaving the arm bare, and that they were loose about the waist, corsets not being in use. They wore shoes of kid or satin, sashes or belts of bright colors, and almost always a necklace and earrings. Bonnets they had none ... they wear their hair long in their necks, sometimes loose and sometimes in long braids; although the married women often do it up on a high comb." Dana notes that the Californio's appearance was all important to him, such that even those "without a real in his pockets and absolutely suffering for something to eat" might still find a way to be finely dressed.

When Richard Henry Dana  visited the San Diego Mission in 1835, he found

"a number of irregular buildings, connected with one another, and disposed in the form of a hollow square, with a church at one end ... Just outside of the buildings, and under the walls, stood twenty or thirty small huts, built of straw and of the branches of trees grouped together, in which a few Indians lived....Entering a gateway, we drove into the open square, in which the stillness of death reigned. We rode twice round the square, in the hope of waking up someone." The Mission was on the verge of abandonment, but still housed at least one monk. This man provided Dana and his companion with "the most scrumptious meal we had eaten since we left Boston," accepting ten or twelve reals as donation for his charity.

Dana's description of the Santa Barbara area:

"The mission stands a little back of the town, and is a large building, or rather a collection of buildings, in the center of which is a high tower with a belfry of five bells. The whole being plastered, makes quite a show at a distance, and is the mark by which vessels come to anchor. The town lies a little nearer to the beach - about half a mile from it - and is composed of one-story houses built of sun baked clay, or adobe, some of them whitewashed, with red tiles on the roofs. I should judge that there was about a hundred of them; and in the midst of them stands the presidio."

A requirement of Mexican law was all ships must anchor in Monterey, since it had the only customs house and was the only place the government could collect its tariffs. A lively and lucrative trade pursued, (although less honest captains were said to disembark their goods at an uninhabited spot, visit Monterey, and then reload).  Thanks to his instruction in French and Latin at Harvard, Dana picks up enough Spanish to make himself the boat's primary translator. Dana says of Monterey that it makes ...

"a very pretty appearance, its houses being of whitewashed adobe, which gives a much better effect than those of Santa Barbara, which are mostly left of a mud color. The red tiles on the roofs contrasted well with the white sides and with the extreme greenness of the lawn... The Mexican flag was flying from the little square presidio, and the drums and trumpets of the soldiers, who were out on parade, sounded over the water."

The Golden Age Of California Ranching

The Spanish Mission period ended when in 1834 the mission lands were seized and secularized by the Mexican government.  This period between the1830s and 1840s can be labeled the golden age of ranching in California because the opening of the mission lands resulted in Mexican officials awarding huge grants of mission lands to favored individuals.

As a Mexican dependency in 1824, Mexican Colony Law  established rules for petitioning for a land grants in California; and by 1828, the rules for establishing land grants were codified in the Mexican Reglamento.

A native born or naturalized Mexican citizen could make an application for a land grant immediately, but a non-Mexican settler could only petition for citizenship, then pledge his loyalty to both Mexico and the Roman Catholic Church. After a year's probation, he could receive citizenship and petition for a land grant.

All land grant applicants had to:

1) Set forth the location boundaries, or approximate size of the desired property;
2) Testify that it did not overlap another grant;
3) Declare that he would stock with the legally required number of horses and cattle;
4) Supply a "diseno", or rough topographical map.

A "borrador" or blotter copy of the Land Grant was kept at the governor's office. The  minutes of the Land Grant transaction were kept in the record book called the "toma de razon". Then both the "diseno" and "borrador" were placed in the archives, filed under "expediente."

A land survey was then carried out under a magistrate, with many witnesses present from neighboring rancheros. To measure the Grant, surveyors started at a pile of stones called a "mojonera" using a 50 foot "reata," or rawhide cord tied to stakes that the riders thrust into the ground as they rode along. The minimum size of a ranchero was set at one square league (about 4,500 acres,) with an 11 square league maximum. Of the 11 leagues, one was to be in irrigable soil, four were dependent upon rain for their growing conditions, and six were to be fit only for grazing.

There was no limit on family holdings or holdings from inheritance or purchase. The validity of the grant depended on fulfillment of certain conditions such as building a house, stocking the land with cattle, and planting trees on boundaries.  Land Grants could be revoked if conditions were not met to the satisfaction of the government.

It was a requirement of many land grants that a structure be built onsite. The typical rancho mansion was a long, one story adobe with shaded verandah, often with a surrounded courtyard. An excellent example remains in San Diego's old town; another is the Vallejo "fort" in Sonoma. In Orinda, an original 1840's adobe is still occupied as a private residence.

Huge herds of cattle  ranged over the land.  Cattle was the primary, and almost sole, business. Meals were beef for breakfast, beef for lunch, and beef for dinner. With an abundance of grazing land, there was no need for the Californios to seek new industry -- they made their comfortable living without unpleasant labor (Indians did what physical work was required) and no longer were the lands being cultivated for crops as was performed by the Spanish Missions. 

The Mission Industries -- blanket making, tanning, wine making, soap, candles, etc.,  were left unattended as well.  Because of this lack of industry everything had to be imported, a contributing cause for the small population remaining so.

Most Californios were poor ranch hands who maintained their own herds of cattle. But Rancho life was good for the richer land owners, who lived a leisurely lifestyle, one that was dedicated to family and tradition. They constructed themselves relatively lavish ranch houses. 

At these larger ranchos, working as vaqueros or servants, were vast numbers of Indians toiling under serf-like conditions. It was the Indians who provided the hard labor of the ranching.  And it is life under these conditions as observed by the "Yankee" outsiders that fueled the great Californio myth of indolence, wealth and ease.

With the land locked up by these Californio families, new immigrants had little opportunity to generate a living. The only empty economic niche was trading between the ranchers and foreign ships, and this was where the Yankees could excel. Cowhides were as good as "gold" to the Californios, who called them California Banknotes. They traded hides with trading-ship's captains for household items and luxury goods. 

It was when California was introduced to "Yankees" from the outside world, that the world's image of Spanish California became locked into an impression of this period. Hardworking sailors were offended at the easy life of the Californios, who were not only copying the attitudes of the landed aristocracy in Spain , but also in their Spanish attitudes toward religion. The Californio believed he need only obey the church and prosper to receive eternity in heaven

"The Californians are an idle, thriftless people, and can make nothing for themselves. The country abounds in grapes, yet they buy, at a great price, bad wine from Boston. [The Boston shoes we sell them are] as like as not made of their own hides, which have been carried twice round Cape Horn...The Indians do all the hard work, two or three being attached to the better house, and the poorest persons are able to keep one at least."

While Indians formed a servant class, the Yankees made up the merchant class. Their cultural attitude towards work made them were very successful in Mexican California. The Yankee's disdain of the Californios is in large part due to this Protestant work ethic.

On the Yankee trading-ships, it was the job of the ship's mate to make sure the sailors were continuously occupied with tasks, and if no work was available, the crew was put to almost useless work scraping barnacles off the anchor chain. 

"In Monterey, there are a number of English and Americans ... Having more industry, frugality, and enterprise than the natives, they soon get nearly all the trade into their hands. They usually keep shops, in which they retail the goods purchased in larger quantities from our vessels."