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Historic Sites--California
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Rancho San Francisco Plaque
title Rancho San Francisco Plaquedescription Rancho San Francisco was a land grant that was deeded to Antonio del Valle on January 22, 1839, by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado, consisting of 48,612 acres. This rancho is famous for having the first documented discovery of gold in California. On March 9, 1842, a family member by the name of Francisco Lopez was pulling a few wild onions from the ground next a tree he had been napping under, and found flakes of gold clinging to the roots. This sparked a gold rush, though on a smaller scale than the more famous California Gold Rush years later, with about 2,000 people coming from the Mexican state of Sonora to mine the gold. During the Mexican-American War, Del Valle destroyed the mine in order to prevent the Americans from gaining access to it. In subsequent years, Rancho San Francisco would change hands several times, from the Del Valle family, to William Wolfskill, and then to Henry Newhall. On August 24, 1956 the adobe headquarters of Rancho San Francisco was designated California Historical Landmark # 556, and the tree where Lopez took his nap, known as the "Oak of the Golden Dreams", was registered as California Historic Landmark #168. Title supplied by cataloger. View of Rancho San Francisco historical plaque, which reads: "Approximately one-half mile south of this point was the adobe headquarters of Rancho San Francisco, originally built about 1804 as a granary of Missio´n San Fernando. The rancho was granted to Antonio del Valle in 1839. Here William Lewis Manly and John Rogers in January 1850 obtained supplies and animals with which they rescued their comrades of a California-bound gold-seeking emigrant party, then stranded and starving in Death Valley, some 250 miles northeast."artist/creator Unknownsubject Del Valle, Antonio Historic Sites--California Rancho San Francisco Newhall, Henry Plaques, Plaquettes--California Wolfskill, Williamcontributor Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)