Publisher's Synopsis
2014 Reprint of 1948 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Because California ranks as the nation's leading agricultural state and one of the world's top industrial regions, it is fitting that this groundbreaking book on California land history should be reissued. First published in 1948, this unrevised paperback edition tells the story of how Indian lands became Franciscan missions and Californio ranchos and how various legal and extra-legal devices of the United States encouraged private American ownership of these lands after the Mexican-American War. The strength of the book derives from the author's ability to accomplish the goals he establishes in the subtitle: to tell the story of mission lands, ranchos, squatters, mining claims, railroad grants, land scrip, and homesteads. The author is gifted with the talent to unravel these developments in the style of a storyteller. For example, Robinson first describes California's early Spanish land laws and institutions, then selects San Pascual (Pasadena) as their archetype, and narrates the area's land history. After further discussing changes in land institutions and laws that followed the Mexican-American War, Robinson profiles San Francisco and Los Angeles as prototypes of such changes. Contents include: I. Whose California? II. First Owners III. Missionary Empire IV. Four Square Leagues V. First Rancheros VI. Gifts of Land VII. Chain of Title VIII. The Land Commission IX. Shotgun Titles X. Titles in El Dorado XI. Land Grants to Railroads XII. Land for Settlers XIII. Land Scrip XIV. The State as Owner XV. Buying and Selling California XVI. Insurance of Title XVII. Title Story of Two Cities Appendix Bibliography Index
