ARCHIVED REPORTS LEC APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION

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LODI ENERGY CENTER PROJECT(LEC);CULTURAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT tracts of land termed ranchos were granted by the various Mexican Governors of Alta California, usually to individuals who had worked in the service of the Mexican government. In 1833, 11 years after gaining independence from Spain, the Mexican government's Secularization Act changed missions into civil parishes, and those natives who had inhabited regions adjacent to a Spanish Period mission were to obtain half of all mission possessions, including land. However, in most instances, this did not occur, and the Secularization Act resulted in the transfer of large mission tracts to politically prominent individuals. The closest rancho to the project area is the Rancho de los Franceses situated on and around present day Stockton. Rancho de los Franceses was granted by Governor Micheltorena to William Gulnac, a native of New York on June 13, 1844. The rancho was comprised of eleven square leagues, or 48, 747.03 acres. In 1845, shortly before the homestead deadline and after constructing several houses, corrals, planting a peach orchard, and raising several hundred cattle on the land,Gulnac sold the rancho to Captain Charles M. Weber for a $60 grocery bill Gulnac owed the Weber Grocery Store in San Jose (Smith 2004: 153-154). Following the end of hostilities between Mexico and the United States in January of 1847, the United States officially obtained California from Mexico through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848 (Cleland 1941). Thus, the American Period begins in 1848. In 1850, California was accepted into the Union of the United States primarily due to the population increase created by the Gold Rush of 1849. In April of 1848, gold was first discovered in the San Joaquin Valley at Captain Sutter's now famous saw mill near present day Sacramento. Gold was never found in great quantities in the San Joaquin Valley, although mining in the adjacent foothills was prolific. The southern mines stretched from the Mokelumne River to the Kern River and Stockton became the main supply city for miners headed to these southern mines (Smith 2004: 179). The cattle industry in California reached its greatest prosperity during the first years of the American Period. Mexican Period land grants had created large, pastoral estates in California,and a high demand for beef during the Gold Rush led to a cattle boom that lasted from 1849 to 1855. In 1855, however, the demand for California beef began to decline as a result of sheep imports from New Mexico, cattle imports from the Mississippi and Missouri valleys, and the development of stock breeding farms. When the beef market collapsed, the California ranchers were unprepared. Many had borrowed heavily during the boom, mortgaging their land at interest rates as high as ten percent per month. The collapse of the cattle market meant that many of these ranchos were lost through foreclosure, while others were sold to pay debts and taxes (Cleland 1941: 108-114). Although no land grants were given to the Central Pacific in the San Joaquin Valley,the company financed itself and construction of the first railroad in San Joaquin Valley began in 1870 at a new railroad town named Lathrop. By the close of 1870,this line reached the Stanislaus River. The Central Pacific connected to the main Southern Pacific line at Goshen, approximately 150 miles south of Lathrop. Subsequently, other rail lines were constructed in