The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-09-04
AFTER TWENTY YEARS
The Big g San Pablo Land Suit
to Be: Settled.
TIE REFEREES REPORT FILED.
OTer Three Hundred kancherS Are
Affected By 1t.
REMARKABLE STORT OF THE CASE.
In ippraisfment Is Made Of the faiae
Of the Land Its Boundaries T.
.:.: Are Fixed.
EEHlgKiBLE SFORT OF THE CASE.

. Judge j: c. B. Hebbard. ~. :.:-.'....
. On October next, if the report is adopted,
The three hundred and more dweilers on
the rancho will either receive an absolute
title to the lands they occupy or be driven
of the farms they have TILED for years.
Tse case. is at once the most famous and
Intricate Of, all the land cases ever tried on
this coast. =.
TIE final decision will affect directly more
e. people than any Judgment ever rendered
IN California.
The san Pablo rancho was first granted
TO Francisco Mario Castro in 1923 and was
supposed TO be four leagues and over in
length and to include within its boundaries
: about So coo acres.
When Castro pere died the rancho was dl-
vided among his heirs and they in turn sold
eff their inheritance 10 all who would buy,
Oae OF the daughters Of the family mar
RED Juan b. Alyarado. and by purchase.
and inheEitancs secured fifteen twenty
: seconds OF the entire estate.
She, with the other heirs. sold large tracts
Of ana,
When California became State of the
r. Union aud.aI owners of Mexican and Span
ish grants were compelled TO come into
court and prove rheir title to the same, the
trouble with the san Pablo rancho CON-
menced.
Then Il was thatpeople began to move en-
the land as ",quatteT5," and since the Cas-
tros and Alvarados had no title from the
United States G5Yernment they were una
Die to GspUssess them.
Il was not until 1868 that the San Pablo
rancho was officially surveyed for
United States patent to the land.
Atthat time but little Of the vast estate,
comparatively speaking, remained IN the
hands Of the legitimate owners, the Castro
heirs.
The survey for G United States patent
was conducted by James I. Stratton,
United States Deputy Surveyor, and bis
report further complicated matters and in
= creased Tie already heavy cloud To the Title.
The United States Surveyor instead Of
finding the grant 30 contain $4,000 acres, IT,
. ported the rancho as containing but H.
$3.50, difference OF more than j, 600 acres,
as given in the original Spanish grant
e= This survey opened the door for more
squatters, and the previous litigation con-
corning the tltle to certain lands was greatly
augmented.
Lawyers took doubtful titles for fees and
sold them. Original owners or squatteTs
died. their heirs sold their interests, and
the purchasers III turn sold again 20 others.
So i wenton from bad to worse until the
ownership Of the lands comprised in the San
Pablo Tanch9 was IN SEch Iangle mat
renters of lands refused 20 pay rent or move
from the farms, and no law could be found
10 eject them.
Parties who had bought land and given
mortgages refused to meet their obligations
and the mortgages could not be foreclOsed.
Then il was that Henry f. Emeric, pur
= chaser OF land within the supposed bound
airy Of the San Pablo rancho, began suit
aganst.the administrator OF the AtYaTad0
ESTATE ard $50 others situated on the estate,
ina suit IN partition and TO eject the re-
spec,ive parties defendant.
Tue suit was brought iE November. 1867,
and after going through the courts TO the
Supreme Court Of The State and back again
tWOOT' three times, was finally decided on
January >, 1882 twenty-five years after It's
commencement, In favor OF Emerie against
tie Castro AlvaTado estate.
The court appointed General r. P. Ham
m0nd Jr., ALERT L. Crane and General
John T. Sheehan to partition the rancho
with all convenient speed"
The work Of the referees was commenced
in November, 1891, under the following in-
StrHc1ons frem the court:
.. The referees shall survey and apprase the en-
tire property to be partitioued and shall survey
ana appraise all Of lie specific tracts and rail-
way tracts described and designated IN the find
iHgs herein, and sbsii'also survey ana appraise
all Other lots and subdiv sOns as found by them to
he existing IN tile actual possession of the several
parties this action, exclusive OF the value OF
SaIy. p0ftlons OF said rancho for ways, roads and
streets; and the portions so set apart for ways.
roads and streets shall not be allotted charged
10 any Of The parties hereto. but shall remain
open public ways roads and ST. eets. unless the
referees shall sci apart any such way, road or
street private way. for the use OF tie paitlc-
'uiaT PARTIES interested or any OF them; and the
. referees, as soon as such surveys and appraise-
ments can be made. shall report the same TO The
eeuIIs and al the same time said referees Shall
also report 10 tbe court The ways. roads and
streets they shall have laid out.
The very FIRST thing we did under the
order Of tile court" said General Sheehan
yesterday, was to employ the best sur.
veyOr we csuld find on the coast, George F.
p .AllaTdlS and the very first thing he did
was TO mix ap matters worse than ever.
He began the survey of the exterior
boundaries Of the ranch at once, having
tEansi. man and seven assistants
The basis Of the survey was the field
notes made by United States DEPUTY Sur
veyoF Stratton in<1863. when the patent was
granted;
The very first report he made was TO the
effect that the survey was wrong; that is,
that IL gave more acres to the rancho than
was contained within the boundaries as out
lined in the patent.
II he artificial monuments, posts and stakes
erected in 1863 by STATION were all de-
StrOyed, but the lines as originally run by
him were easily retracable by the natural
landmarks and bsaring trees still extant.
=. The survey required twenty-SeVen work
ing days, and when comp leted the follow
ing was the report TO us:
Area specified In lbe patent and findings In
THIS action, computed from the field notes OF the
Strsttem survey forpatent. 1 Z, 1859 acres.
Area computed from -Eeferees' survey retrac-
" lng TIE line OF the patent survey, 17.62S. Is
acres -. -.
This showed deficiency Of 3fO44 acres
III the paten granted by the United States
= aud when youTemeinber that much of this
trouble arose over. the. fact*that the CaStros
supposed. they had 10000 acres and the
United States gave them less than $4,000
acres you.can Imagine that any cut in the
acreage.of the United States patent grant
was serious matter TO us.
:H0weyer; there wasno getting aroma the
last survey. and until. Mr.: Allardt assured
as that the diffeTence-in. the acreage would
make no:df1erence in the boundary lines of
the rancho we were worried.
tJhe difference was due entirely tn or
., rors In chaiaiDg, which are specified in our
report and the boundaries as given In the
. original patent issued by: the United States
remain the same. = =.
The change is only in the acreage con-
talntd within.t the boundaries.
The total length of the exterior bound
:: aries IS 44.39 miles. and the gross area
OF the rancho is 1883 10. acres. A dis
erepancy IN area in sach cases as this is no
unusual occurrence, as in former years sur.
YeysfOr patent were not required TO be as
: accurate as at The present date
: .:Nli In the above as d basis on which to
: Work we began TO lay out the roads, streets
:; and ways as required By the. court before
we Proceeded with the work OF appraise-
ment.. -.
What we did in this respect Is best ex-
pressed IN the language of our report.
AFTER giving: all the interested parties
a.Tespectful hearing, and having duly con-
sdered the arguments for and against any
proposed road, the commissioners adopted
the following general policy; as a: guide to
=" 'First-To respect and adopt, ais far as
practicable, the foads. lanes, streets and
highways as found by the refe rees to be
in actnal use en the rancho.
"'See0nd-Io laY out and establish sncl,