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1979 - The Patenting Of California's Private Land Claims, 1851-1885, David Hornbeck

Overview of California Private Land Claims and the Public Domain

This paper examines the basis of the land-tenure conflict, its resolution, and the subsequent patenting of 482 private land claims that covered a total of 8.5 million acres of land in California. The problem of distinguishing between Mexican land grants and the American public domain was not one that time would easily resolve.