Rancho Bodega (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Rancho Bodega was a 35,487-acre (143.61 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Sonoma County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Stephen Smith. Bodega takes its name from the Peruvian explorer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra who discovered Bodega Bay in 1775. The grant extended along the Pacific coast from the Russian River to the north and Estero Americano to the south, and included present day Bodega Bay. Only a small part of Bodega is within the grant (most of Bodega in on Rancho Estero Americano). The Mexican government, which had been concerned about the Russian presence at Fort Ross, was happy to see them leave in 1841, but less pleased when the Russian-American Company sold it to John Sutter. The position of the Mexican government had been that neither land nor improvements had ever belonged to the Russians and hence they could not legally be transferred to anyone else.