Rancho Posolmi

[3][4] Lupe Yñigo (1781-1864), an Ohlone Indian, who was appointed an alcalde at Mission Santa Clara, was given a land grant in 1844, and retained over 800 acres (3 km2) until his death in 1864.

[6] Robert Walkinshaw was a native of Scotland, who came from Mexico in 1847 to take charge of the New Almaden Quicksilver Mine for Baron, Forbes and Company, a British trading firm.

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, a claim for Rancho Posolmi was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852,[7][8] and the grant was patented to Thomas Campbell, Robert Walkinshaw, and Lopez Yñigo in 1881.

[2] They land was sold for $1 to make the deal attractive to the Navy; the sale was orchestrated by local real estate agent Laura Thane Whipple.