Rancho Los Corralitos

Rancho Los Corralitos was a 15,440-acre (62.5 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Cruz County, California given in 1823 by Governor Luis Antonio Argüello, with a confirmatory grant in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to José Amesti.

Amesti leased portions of the four square league Rancho Los Corralitos for timber cutting, and established his own Lumber mill on the upper portion of the rancho.

Jose Amesti and his wife Pudenciana Vallejo de Amesti had four daughters: Maria del Carmen Josefa Antonia Amesti (1824–1901) who married in 1848 James McKinley, who was the patentee of Rancho San Lucas and Rancho Moro y Cayucos; Maria Santa Epitacia (1826–1887); Maria Bernardina Celedonia Carmel (1828–1916); and niece Tomasa Madariaga y Vallejo, who was adopted.

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.

As required by the Land Act of 1851, claims for Rancho Los Corralitos were filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852,[3][4][5][6] and the grant was patented to José Amesti in 1861.