Rancho La Laguna was a 13,339-acre (53.98 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Riverside County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Julian Manriquez.
[1] The rancho lands are included in the present day city of Lake Elsinore and Wildomar.
With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored.
In 1862, during the American Civil War the rancho provided the site for the Union Army Camp Laguna Grande, a which was used for grazing horses.
[10] Franklin Heald, along with Donald Graham and William Collier, purchased the Rancho Laguna from Sumner in 1883.
[11][12] The first adobe building was built on the south side of the lake and the building and the lake was described in the "Pioneer notes from the diaries of Judge Benjamin Hayes, 1849-1875" when he stayed there overnight on December 27–28, 1850 during his journey into California: In about 15 miles reach some timber where the hills approach near, apparently the termination of the valley of Temecula, a sort of low divide over which we enter into another valley.
Some good young grass, great deal of elder on its banks; as we rode along frequent flocks of geese rose from the shore; many shots at them; none brought down.
As we were moving along the lake, an Indian overtook us, running as if to catch up with us; said he was from Temecula and going to the mines; had a little pinole tied up in a handkerchief; spoke Spanish, seemed disposed to be communicative.
Road firm and good, gently ascending for a mile or more from the lake; then uneven, occasionally sandy, to Temescal.
This was the home built by Juan the son of Augustin Machado, on the small piece of the rancho he retained in the western corner of the lake, after he had sold the rest to Sumner.
It was later incorporated into a larger frame home but recently had been restored in its original form as a two-room adobe.
Civic leaders in Lake Elsinore launched a campaign to raise money for a reward for someone who provides a tip leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible for the fire that damaged the historical Machado Adobe.