Aside from the public lands still open in small tracts of eighty and one hundred and sixty acres to pre-emption by actual settlers, under the homestead law, and the railroad lands, to be had in sections of six hundred and forty acres, the Sacramento Valley contains a number of considerable Spanish grants; and the following account of these, which I take from the San Francisco Bulletin will give an Eastern reader some idea of the extent of such grants, their value, and how they are used: 

“The first large tract of land north and west of Marysville is the Neal grant, containing about seventeen thousand acres.  This grant is owned by the Durham estate and Judge C.F.  Lott, though Gruelly owns a large slice of it also.  The Neal grant is mostly composed of rich bottom-lands; nearly all of it is farmed under lease; the lessees pay one-quarter to one-third of the crops as rent.  They do very well under this arrangement.

“The next grant on the north is that of Judge O.C.  Pratt.  It contains twenty-eight thousand acres of bottom-land.  Butte Creek skirts it on one side for a distance of seventeen miles, and a branch of that creek runs through the centre.  Nearly six thousand acres are covered with large oak-trees.  There are about one hundred miles of fences on this rancho; there are about ten thousand sheep, twelve hundred head of cattle, and two hundred horses on it; the land has been cultivated or used as pasturage for about fourteen years.  About ten thousand acres of it, I am informed, would readily sell in subdivisions for fifty dollars per acre; ten thousand acres would sell for about thirty dollars, and eight thousand acres at twenty dollars per acre.  There are many tenants on this tract, having leases covering periods of three to five years; rent, one-fourth of the crop raised; the owner builds fences and houses for the lessees.  The average quantity of wool annually grown on this rancho is sixty thousand pounds; beef cattle, two hundred and fifty head; value of produce received as rent from tenants, twelve thousand dollars per year.  Judge Pratt is willing to sell farms of one hundred and sixty to three hundred and twenty acres at about the rates named, and on easy terms.

“The Hensley grant, lying north of Judge Pratt’s rancho, contains five leagues.  It was rejected by the United States Courts, and was taken up by, and is covered with, settlers, who own one hundred and sixty to three hundred and twenty acres each, worth forty to sixty dollars per acre.  Little or none of that land is for sale, the owners being too well satisfied with their farms to sell them, even at the highest ruling rates.

“General Bidwell’s rancho adjoins Judge Pratt’s.  It contains about twenty thousand acres, of which about one-quarter is of the best quality, and would readily sell at fifty to sixty dollars per acre.  About five thousand acres more, lying along the Sacramento River, are subject to overflow.  That portion is very rich grazing land, and is worth fifteen to twenty dollars per acre.  The other ten thousand acres lie near the foot-hills; they are extremely well adapted to grape culture, and are worth five to twelve dollars per acre.  General Bidwell is not willing to sell.