Part 3 In the meantime, the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana on the other side of the river (which as the exhibits show, was granted to José Antonio Yorba and Juan Pablo Peralta by the Spanish government on July 1, 1810) was partitioned in a Superior Court action in 1868. 4 We have, in the transcript, much detailed history concerning the partition and complete chains of title to such pioneer land owners as Spurgeon, Tustin, McFadden, Watson, Chapman, Glassell, and others, from the Spanish grant to the date of partition. As to developments on this rancho was of the river, A.B. Chapman testified: “My earliest knowledge of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana was in 1865…. I bought some interest in the ranch, and during those years, from 1865 to 1868, I acquired the interest shown on the map. The partition was made in 1868. I went with Captain Glassell to have a survey made of my interest … I think that was in 1869. That survey was completed in 1870 and my own lands divided up into smaller tracts…. I commenced work, I think, in the winter of 1870 and 1871, and I think water for the purposes of irrigation flowed down as far as Orange through that ditch in the month of July, 1871…. The ditch was eight or nine miles long…. Any person had a right to buy the water and irrigate his lands…. I own land bordering on the Santa Ana River and on the Santiago Ranch…. I own the Stearns tract and became the owner of it before I built my ditch…. I think the ditch now extends down to Santa Ana…. The town of Orange is located partly on the Stearns tract and partly on the Chapman tract…. The town of Tustin is upon the tract marked Strafford and Tustin, containing 1,359 acres. In the summer of 1877 I suppose 250 people lived in that place and in its vicinity. At that time the town of Orange had probably 300 inhabitants, and the town of Santa Ana two or three thousand. 5 In 1877 the people of those towns were largely engaged in raising young fruit trees, and they derived all the water used for irrigation, domestic and other needs from the Chapman ditch and its successors…. Perhaps I have put the population of Santa Ana too high. It may be that there are 5,000 people on that side of the river … I may overestimate it…. I cannot tell how many acres of land were irrigated in 1877, but I suppose not less than 5,000…. The town site of Orange was laid off in 1870 or 1871 by Captain Glassell and myself. The town of Santa Ana was laid out at the same time. At that time I went to Santa Ana and there were two or three men there in tents, a Mr. Spurgeon and two or three others. Santa Ana was not laid off by the same parties who laid off Orange. I was the father of Orange and Spurgeon and Bradford were the fathers of Santa Ana. Columbus Tustin laid off Tustin and lives there. These towns were subdivided into town lots for the purpose of speculation.” An important issue in the case was whether water had been used for irrigation on the Santa Ana side of the river before the start of Anaheim, if so, the extent thereof. We, therefore, can read the testimony of old Juan Aguilar, who worked for the Yorbas commencing in 1831, the sons of Don Bernardo Yorba, and numerous other witnesses describing in some detail rather extensive farming operations, the ditches that were constructed, the location thereof, the amount of land under cultivation, the crops raised and similar matters. Among the witnesses was J.J. Warner who testified: “I first came into the town of Los Angeles in the latter part of the year 1831…. From the fall of 1833 until about 1844 I was a permanent resident…. Was quite intimately acquainted with Don Bernardo Yorba. Became so acquainted in 1834. I was frequently at his ranch in 1835, ’36, ’37. He was a stock-raiser and cultivated more extensively than any person upon the river. He did this mainly for his own consumption, and for that of his employees and servants, of whom he had a large number…. He had most of the cultivatable lands of the Santiago de Santa Ana under cultivation. From the early part of 1844, or the latter part of 1843, up to the close of 1846, I was frequently at his house…. I bought cattle from him at different places along there, and hence was familiar with his ranch … he also planted some vineyards about that time…. I was there after the flood of 1862; the cultivation had been changed very much, the zanjas had changed…. I was one of the commissioners who partitioned that ranch…. I became pretty intimate with that section of the country to the extend of my description in 1835. I had a young lady in that part of the country to whom I was then paying some attention. 6 .... to be continued .......
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 14:44:04 +0000
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