Rincon de Los Esteros

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Rancho Rincon de Los Esteros is a Mexican Land Grant located within the present Santa Clara County, California ^[1], on the southern shore of San Francisco Bay between the Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek outflows into the Bay. According to U.S. District Court records, this grant was finally confirmed in land case 204 to Rafael Alviso, et al. in the year 1859. Then in a separate land case 239 in 1860, the Rincon de los Esteros was confirmed to Francisco Berreyesa et al., heirs of G. Berreyesa [Santa Clara Co., Calif. Land case 239.] and surveyed under instructions from the U.S. Surveyor General by John Wallace. (for a plat of the confirmed land see: http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb9b69p206/?order=1&brand=calisphere) Alviso was a descendant of Corporal Domingo Alviso, one of the original members of the Anza expedition. Alviso lived but a short time after reaching San Francisco and was buried March 11, 1777; the city of Alviso, California was named for him.^[2] Francisco Berreyesa (modernly spelled "Berryessa") was a descendent of Nicolas Antonio Berreyesa, born in Sinaloa in 1761 (Nicolas spelled his name as "Berrelleza."^[3]) who was a pobladoro or settler arriving with the Anza Expedition. The original land area of this grant was 2,308.17 acres and the original patentee was named White; the first patent was perfected in 1872.^[4] Originally the Mexican rancho extended between Arroyo Penitencia in the east to Rio Guadaloupe in the west. By the time the US courts confirmed the grant, the portion east of Coyote Creek had been lost to settlers in Milpitas.

The marshy land, only a few feet above sea level in most places, was used for cattle grazing for a long period of time after the original grant. Numerous orchards existed on the land in the early 1900s, and, in addition, lettuce was grown here more recently in the 1970s.^[5] The 1960s, 1970s and 1980s also witnessed intensive urban land development leading to its position amid present day Silicon Valley. Alternatively the land grant is sometimes called Rancho Rincon de Los Esteros. In contemporary times the name Rincon de Los Esteros is also the name of a redevelopment project in the city of San Jose, California.