Rancho Campo de los Franceses

Rancho Campo de los Franceses was a 48,747-acre (197.27 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day San Joaquin County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Guillermo Gulnac.

[1] "Campo de los Franceses” which in English means “French Camp” refers to French-Canadian fur trappers who wintered there.

They set up a corn-mill, ran a bakery and a smithy, mined for salt, made shoes and soap, and kept cattle and horses.

Gulnac's attempts to settle the Rancho Campo de los Franceses failed, and he sold the land to Weber in 1845.

Captain Weber's decision to change sides lost him a great deal of the trust he had built up among his Mexican business partners.

As the head of navigation on the San Joaquin River, the city grew rapidly as a miners’ supply point during the California Gold Rush.

[7][8] With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that land grants would be honored.