Rancho Laguna de Tache was a Mexican land grant in present-day Fresno County and Kings County, California given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Manuel Castro. The grant is named for the lake of the Tachi band of the Yokuts people. The grant extended along the north bank of the Kings River from Kingsburg down river for twenty six miles, and included the present-day Laton, Riverdale and Lanare.Diseño del Rancho Laguna de Tache This grant is not to be confused with the grant of the same name on the South side of Kings River later claimed by Joseph Yves Limantour.
History The eleven square league grant was made to Manuel de Jesus Castro (1821-1885) in 1843, although a deed to secure the ownership was not issued until 1846. Castro's father, Simeon Castro, owned Rancho Bolsa Nueva y Moro Cojo. Manuel Castro had been an Army captain under Governor Manuel Micheltorena. Castro had also served as prefect of the Northern District of California. Castro remained in Monterey and sent Ysidor Villa to Rancho Laguna de Tache as foreman.
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 was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1853,United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 255 SDFinding Aid to the Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892 and the grant was patented to Manuel Castro in 1866. Report of the Surveyor General 1844 - 1886 A claim for two square leagues by Jeremiah Clark was rejected by the Public Land Commission.United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 267 SD A claim for 11 leagues was filed by Joseph Yves Limantour in 1853, but was rejected by the Commission.United States. District Court (California : Southern District) Land Case 311 SD
Jeremiah Clark acquired the entire Rancho Laguna de Tache from Manuel Castro in 1866. Clark built "Grant House" about three miles west of Laton in 1879. In 1880 Clark leased Rancho Laguna de Tache to the Polley Heilbron & Company for a term of 10 years, with an option of purchasing this lands. Clarke's wife, Charlotte, had Clark declared mentally incompetent and, after numerous court cases,Heinlen v Heilbron, 1892, Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of California, Vol. 97, pp.101-107, Bancroft-Whitney Company prevented Polley Heilbron & Company from purchasing the Rancho.The Sonoma Democrat, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, June 25, 1887 Charlotte F. Clark sold the Rancho to Charles A. Laton, a San Francisco capitalist and Llewellyn A. Nares, an Englishman (for whom the towns Laton and Lanare are named) in 1896.W.N. Harris, 1902,The Laguna De Tache Grant, Out West, Volume 17, pp645-652, Edited by Charles Fletcher Lummis, Archaeological Institute of America. Southwest Society, Sequoya League In 1892, the Fresno Canal and Irrigation Company secured and gained control of the Rancho's riparian water claims.
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