This is an article about a former California rancho. For a community of a similar name in the same general area, see Castaic, CaliforniaCastaic, California, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, north of Santa Clarita and a few miles from Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. It is approximately 39 miles from the downtown Los Angeles Civic Center. As of the 2010...
.
Rancho Castac or
Rancho Castec was a 22178 acres (89.8 km²)
Mexican land grantThe Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...
in present-day
KernSpreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...
and
Los AngelesLos Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
counties, California, made by Governor
Manuel MicheltorenaManuel Micheltorena was a Brigadier General of the Mexican Army, Adjutant-General of the same, Governor, Commandant-General and Inspector of the Department of the California...
to Jose Maria Covarrubias in 1843. The word
Castac is derived from
Kashtiq, the Chumash-language name that the Chumash people gave to the area. The rancho extended northward in the
Tehachapi MountainsThe Tehachapi Mountains , regionally also called The Tehachapis, are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States...
from Castac Lake on the south to
GrapevineGrapevine is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. At an elevation of 1499 feet , the community is located at the foot of a road grade known as The Grapevine through the Grapevine Canyon to Tejon Pass in the Tehachapi Mountains at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley along...
and included what is now the community of
LebecLebec is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Kern County, California. It is one of the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass, and the home of the Tejon Ranch Company. Lebec is south of Bakersfield. The population was 1,468 in the 2010 census, up from 1,224 in...
. The rancho is now a part of the
Tejon RanchThe Tejon Ranch Company , based in Lebec, California, is one of the largest private landowners in California. [The federally-gifted lands still held by the Catellus Corporation, a successor to the Southern Pacific Land Company, are much more extensive.] It was incorporated in 1936 to organise the...
.
History
The title to Rancho Castac was granted by Governor Micheltorena in 1843 to schoolteacher and government official José María Covarrubias.
With the
cessionThe Mexican Cession of 1848 is a historical name in the United States for the region of the present day southwestern United States that Mexico ceded to the U.S...
of California to the United States after the Mexican-American War, the 1848
Treaty of Guadalupe HidalgoThe Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...
provided that existing land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Castac was filed with the U.S.
Public Land CommissionThe Public Land Commission, a former agency of the United States government, was created following the admission of California as a state in 1850 . The Commission's purpose was to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican land grants in California.California Senator William M...
in 1853, and the grant was
patentedA land patent is a land grant made patent by the sovereign lord over the land in question. To make a such a grant “patent”, such a sovereign lord must document the land grant, securely sign and seal the document and openly publish the same to the public for all to see...
to Covarrubias in 1866.
In 1860, Samuel A. Bishop purchased the rancho, and in 1864 he settled in
Fort TejonFort Tejon in California is a former United States Army outpost which was intermittently active from June 24, 1854, until September 11, 1864. It is located in the Grapevine Canyon area of Tejon Pass along Interstate 5, the main route through the mountains separating the Central Valley from Los...
. Bishop sold the land to
Robert Symington BakerColonel Robert Symington Baker was a businessman and landowner originally from Rhode Island. He came to California in 1849 and engaged in mining supplies business in San Francisco...
, who in 1866 resold it to
Edward BealeEdward Fitzgerald "Ned" Beale was a national figure in 19th century America. He was naval officer, military general, explorer, frontiersman, Indian affairs superintendent, California rancher, diplomat, and friend of Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill Cody and Ulysses S. Grant...
. The latter, who had been the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in California, later acquired three other Mexican and grants — (
Rancho Los Alamos y Agua CalienteRancho Los Alamos y Agua Caliente was a Mexican land grant in present day Kern County, California given in 1846 by Governor Pio Pico to Francisco Lopes, Luis Jordan and Vicente Botiller. The name means "Cottonwoods and Warm Water Ranch" in Spanish. The native riparian Fremont Cotonwood grow...
,
Rancho El TejonRancho El Tejon was a Mexican land grant in the Tehachapi Mountains, in present day Kern County, California given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to José Antonio Aguirre and Ygnacio del Valle...
and
Rancho La LiebreRancho La Liebre was a Mexican land grant in present day Kern County, California and Los Angeles County given in 1846 by Governor Pio Pico to Jose Maria Flores. Liebre means "Rabbit" in Spanish and the rancho was named as such because of the abundance of jack rabbits in the area...
) — to create the present
Tejon RanchThe Tejon Ranch Company , based in Lebec, California, is one of the largest private landowners in California. [The federally-gifted lands still held by the Catellus Corporation, a successor to the Southern Pacific Land Company, are much more extensive.] It was incorporated in 1936 to organise the...
.
See also
- 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake
- Mountain communities of the Tejon Pass
The Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass, or the Frazier Mountain Communities, in the San Emigdio Mountains is a region of California that includes Lebec, Frazier Park, Lake of the Woods, Lockwood Valley, Pinon Pines, and Pine Mountain Club, in Kern County, California, and Gorman in Los Angeles...
- Ranchos of California
The Spanish, and later the Méxican government encouraged settlement of territory now known as California by the establishment of large land grants called ranchos, from which the English ranch is derived. Devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves...
- List of Ranchos of California