United States v. Fremont

This case came up on appeal from the board of commissioners for ascertaining and settling the private land claims in California, by whom the claim of the petitioner was confirmed. The title of the claimant [John C. Fremont] is derived by a mesne conveyance, the execution of which is not disputed, from Juan B. Alvarado. The original petition of Alvarado upon which the grant issued, bears date February 22, 1844, and represents that being desirous of increasing his land and contributing to the spreading of agriculture and the industry of the country, he solicits the governor, according to the colonization laws, to grant him “ten leagues of land north of the river San Joaquin within the limits of the Sierra Nevada mountains, in the same direction as the river Chowchillas on the east, that of the MerCed on the west, and the before mentioned San Joaquin, with the name of the Mari-posas.” He also represents that he is unable to present a plan or draft of said land, because it is on the coniines of the wild Indians and a wilderness country. On the twenty-ninth of February, 1844, the grant issued subject to the approval of the departmental assembly and upon the usual conditions. The land…