CARSON COMMUNITY RESEARCH REPORT

Yesenia Ortiz
HIS 301
Professor Verba
December 09, 2014
Carson Community Research Report (1769-1825)
In the summer of 1769, Don Gaspar de Portola led an expedition that shaped what today
we know to be the city of Carson. This expedition became known as the Portola expedition, the
first Caucasian expedition to travel across the Los Angeles Coastal Plain. Earlier in the year,
Captain Portola had been assigned to be the Military Governor of Alta California. On June 29,
1769, he arrived on a site that was soon to become the Mission San Diego de Alcala.
Approximately sixty cavalrymen, Indian helper/translators, and priests made up the members
that would go on the expedition with Governor Portola. Of these men, were Father Junipero
Serra, who was a Franciscan missionary, and Lieutenant Pedro Fages. Also amongst these men
was a soldier by the name of Juan Jose Dominguez.
By the orders of the King of Spain, Charles III, it was Governor Portolas task to
establish permanent colonies in Nueva California. Also, the priests wanted to convert the Indians
and further the cause of Christianity. To further the process of colonization, Governor Portola set
out of July 14, 1769 several miles up the coast to establish another settlement at Monterey Bay.
Amongst others in this expedition, soldier Juan Jose Dominguez also went on the expedition to
provide protection against the Native Indians. Juan Jose Dominguez was known for his scouting
ability and had served thirteen years for the Crown. Without Juan Jose Dominguez, we wouldnt
have the city which today we call Carson.
Juan Jose Dominguez was born in the year 1736 in a village located in Sinaloa, Mexico.
His mother was named Ana Maria Sepulveda and his father Jose Ignacio Dominguez. Like his
father, Juan Jose Dominguez joined the military at the young age of twenty. Much of his life

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before he joined the military went unrecorded. During his first thirteen years of service, he
served in many provinces of northern Mexico and Baja California. In 1762, he became a guard
for the Mission Santa Gertrudis, which was located by the Presidio of Loreto. It was here that
Governor Portola and Father Junipero Serra started preparing their plans for the expedition to
Alta California. Then, Juan Jose Dominguez became one of the soldiers on the Portola
expedition.
After participating in the Portola expedition, Juan Jose Dominguez was sent back to the
Presidio of Loreto. The remaining time of his military service was spent making trips to missions
between San Diego and Monterey. His final years in the military was spent at the Presidio of San
Diego. Juan Jose Dominguez was discharged from the military in 1782, at the age of forty-six. At
this time, he was also one of few people who were listed as cattle owners around the San Diego
area. He spent the two years after leaving the military looking for appropriate grazing lands for
his herd. He made several trips to the Pueblo of Los Angeles and the Mission of San Gabriel
looking for land that he felt was appropriate for grazing. Finally, he settled on a huge amount of
coastal plain that stemmed from around the Pueblo of Los Angeles to the Bay of San Pedro. This
land consisted of 76,000 acres. After finding land that he felt was appropriate and with no
objections from Pueblo or Mission authorities, Juan Jose Dominguez traveled to San Diego to
gain the rightful permission to use this land.
As noted earlier, Lieutenant Pedro Fages was a member of the Portola Expedition.
Throughout his military service, he was appointed Military Governor of Alta California. It was
he who granted Juan Jose Dominguez a land grant of 76,000 acres of land, on behalf of the King,
for his faithful and extensive years of service as a soldier of the Crown. This land of 76,000 acres
became known as the Rancho San Pedro and was one of the first Californian land grants. As part

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of receiving this land grant, some fixed conditions were that a recipient had to build a stone
house, stock the land with at least 2,000 head of cattle, and provide enough vaqueros and
sheepherders to keep the stock from wandering on to ranches that belonged to others.
After receiving his land, Juan Jose gathered up his cattle and a few friends and after a
fourteen day trip they established camp near the Los Angeles River and east of what is now
known as Dominguez Hill. On the hill southwest of what today is Southern Pacific and Pacific
Electric Railroads on Alameda Street, Juan Jose built his house that was a requirement upon
receiving his land grant. When Juan Jose was going to build his stone house, there were no
stones available. So with the help of his friends, Mateo Rubio and Felipe Talamante, they built a
two bedroom adobe house that was about thirty square feet. Juan Jose actually spent little time
on the rancho. Since he was in the military for most of his life, he was accustomed to a carefree
life constantly moving around the missions, presidios, and pueblos. He left much of his cattle and
rancho in the care of his friends Mateo and Felipe. Over the years, his cattle stock multiplied and
agriculture was started near the bottomland of the river. In the year 1800, Juan Jose returned to
the Rancho San Pedro and remained there for five years. During his last years on the Rancho, the
first of many boundary battles occurred.
In 1805, Juan Jose Dominguez health was deteriorating. Juan Jose was almost blind and
was unable to care for himself. He was taken to the Mission San Juan Capistrano to be taken
cared by his nephew and his wife, Cristobal Dominguez and Maria de los Reyes Ybanez. In 1807
Juan Jose was taken to the Pueblo of Los Angeles and it was here that he passed away on January
24, 1809 at the age of seventy-two. He was then buried in the cemetery of the Mission San
Gabriel. His will was made up three days before he passed and did not give the title to the
Rancho San Pedro to anybody. However, he did appoint a man named Manuel Gutirrez as

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executor of his will and after his debt was paid, Cristobal Dominguez and Mateo Rubio were to
each be given half of the rancho. Juan Joses debt amounted to roughly $1,500 and a few cattle.
After Manuel Gutirrez paid Juan Jose Dominguezs debts, he assumed control of the stock and
referred to the ranch as Rancho de Gutirrez. He then granted permission to Jose Dolores
Sepulveda to build a home and graze cattle on the land known as Los Palos Verdes.
Cristobal Dominguez was born in 1760 in Loreto, Baja California. His parents were Jose
Antonio Dominguez and Maria Robles and he joined the military in 1787. It thought that
Cristobal originally had no interest of inheriting his portion of the Rancho San Pedro because
much of his time was spent serving in the military and his uncle, Juan Jose, had left much debt. It
was believed that he gave up rights to the land. However, being unsettled with the decisions that
Manuel Gutirrez was making, Cristobal Dominguez filed a petition in 1817 to have the
Sepulveda family removed from the ranch. He also wanted the petition to acknowledge that only
he and Manuel had the right to keep stock on the ranch and Manuels privilege would end with
his death. It was during this year that the land was first surveyed and clear geographic boundaries
were set. One of the trees that marked the Northern boundary of the rancho still stands today at
Poppy and Short streets in Compton. On December 31, 1822, it was confirmed that Cristobal
Dominguez was to be the sole owner of the Rancho San Pedro and Manuel Gutirrez had rights
to occupy the land. Although Cristobal had the title to the Rancho San Pedro, he never returned
to it. He passed away on January 6, 1825 at the Presidio of San Diego. Cristobal had a will
created a day before his death, which appointed the rancho to his six children to be divided
equally. Legal battles between the Sepulveda and Dominguez families continued for years, long
after the deaths of Cristobal Dominguez and Jose Dolores Sepulveda. Although many changes

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were made to the original land grant of Juan Jose Dominguez, without those changes our city of
Carson would not exist today.

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Works Cited
Baker, Charles C. "MEXICAN LAND GRANTS IN CALIFORNA." Annual Publication of the
Historical Society of Southern California (1914): 236-243.
Engstrand, Iris HW. "California Ranchos: Their Hispanic Heritage." Southern California
Quarterly (1985): 281-290.
Engstrand, Iris HW. "The Legal Heritage of Spanish California." Southern California
Quarterly (1993): 205-236.
Gillingham, Robert Cameron. The Rancho San Pedro: The Story of a Famous Rancho in Los
Angeles County and of Its Owners, the Dominguez Family. 1961; Museum
Reproductions, 1983.
Jerrils, Jack E. The History of a City...Carson, California. Carson, CA, 1972.
"Rancho San Pedro - Life on a Rancho." Ed. Barbara Stevens. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
<http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/score_lessons/rancho/index.htm>.
Tino-Sandoval, Cindy. Carson. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2006. Print.
Trejos, Charlotte M. My Carson, Your Carson: A Picture Book of the Past and the
Present. Carson, CA: Trejos Literary Agency, 1987.