Rancho Laguna Seca was a 2,179-acre (8.82 km) Mexican land grant in present-day Monterey County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Catalina M. Munrás. "Laguna Seca" means "Dry Lake" in Spanish, referring to the seasonal lake, Laguna Seca . The grant was east of present-day Monterey .
7-536: The half square league grant was made to Catalina Manzanelli de Munrás who was the wife of Esteban Munrás (1798–1850) a Monterey trader, amateur painter, and grantee of Rancho San Vicente . Catalina Manzanelli de Munras was also grantee of Rancho San Francisquito . With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican–American War , the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that
14-499: A thriving trading house attached to the family home. Munrás imported fine household furnishings and necessities to the earliest settlers in Monterey, California's first capital. His wife, Catalina Manzanelli de Munrás, was grantee of Rancho Laguna Seca and Rancho San Francisquito . At the request of mission priest Father Juan Cabot, also a native of Barcelona, Munrás traveled to Mission San Miguel Arcángel , north of Paso Robles , in
21-547: Is to the south. Surface water flows into the Carmel River , which parallels State Route 68 . A series of surface drainage ditches and gullies run south from the higher terrain of Fort Ord to join this flow. Berwick and Canada de la Ordena Canyons also exist on the south and southeast portions of the Laguna Seca Ranch. Berwick Canyon almost borders the eastern side, a quarter mile away (400 m), while Buckeye Canyon parallels
28-594: The early 1820s. Various religious-themed scenes (known as the "Munrás murals") were painted by the local Salinan Indians under Munrás' direction. His designs reflected the Neo-Classical tastes of the period, and the reredos (main altarpiece) reflects knowledge of an artist who had seen the fashionably decorated churches in Mexico of that era. The interior has remained untouched and has been preserved in its original state. Munrás died in 1850 in Monterey. His dying wish
35-513: The eastern border less than a tenth of a mile (150 m) off the ranch to the east. 36°34′48″N 121°46′48″W / 36.580°N 121.780°W / 36.580; -121.780 Esteban Munr%C3%A1s Esteban Carlos Munràs (1798–1850) was a Spanish-born Californio artist, best known for his vibrantly colored frescoes that adorn the church at Mission San Miguel Arcángel in San Miguel, California . Esteban Carlos Munràs
42-525: The land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Laguna Seca was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented to Catalina Munrás in 1865. On the property a prominent ridge of terrain exists that extends in an east-northeasterly direction to eventually reach Fort Ord . On the south side of this ridge, drainage and groundwater flow
49-634: Was born in Barcelona in 1798, to Salvador Munràs and Engràcia Estany. Having studied art in his native Spain, Munràs immigrated to the Alta California as a young man, ultimately making his home in its capital, Monterey . Munrás was a dealer in cattle hides and tallow , the products of his Rancho San Vicente . He built Casa Munrás, the first home to be constructed outside the walls of the El Presidio Reál de San Carlos de Monterey , where he established
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