Page 7 - robinson_storyofvalencia_1967

1801• "at the Rancho· de San Fr~nc.isco Javier or Ch2guayal,it" a build-

·ing was erected to provide for a granary and other nccess_ary rooms.

This entry indicates that wheat-growing on the rancho began at an

early date. Furthermore, it reveals an early use of "San Francisco"'

as the rancho's name. Engelhardt finds the rancho called variouqly

by the pries ts·, over the yea.rs, "Ran~ho de San Francis co Javie_r,"

"Rancho de San Francisco," "Rancho San Francisco," or merely "San

Francisco."

P_robably the key to the origin of t·he rancho's name ·is

con t a in e d in th e t es t i m on y o f a one - time may o rd _om o o f th e Hi s s i on ,
/
Pedro Lopez, given before the United States Land Commission on April

12, 1854. He had known the area _since he was a child, when the

rancho was in the possession of the Hission of San Fern'1ndo. Be

described its location and referred to the boundary "Arroyo Piru

which comes out ·of the mountains on the north and runs to the River

.Sal}___E_!_anci.sc_o uhich is al"so called~ta Clara.". Like so many ·
j
other mission-held ranchos, the necessary naming of ·riyers by the

priests gave adjoining lands their names. If the river was "San

Francisco," the adjoining rancho·wotild naturally take that nane.

So, too,_a smaller canyon or stream emptying into it would logically

receive the name of "San Francisquito" (the Little San Francisco)

--as haprened in this case.

Depe~ding on the availability of water, crops of wheat,

beans, ·and corn were grown. The fertile land of Raricho San Francisco

was early coveted by non-Mission whites, for in 1804 the priests
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