William Randolph Hearst Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === California properties === [[George Hearst]] invested some of his fortune from the [[Comstock Lode]] in land. In 1865 he purchased about {{convert|30,000|acre}}, part of [[Rancho Piedra Blanca]] stretching from Simeon Bay and reached to Ragged Point. He paid the original grantee Jose de Jesus Pico USD$1 an acre, about twice the current market price.<ref name="lidral">{{cite web |last1=Lidral |first1=Terry |title=Historic Hearst Ranch A Step Back into the 1860s |url=https://westernlivingjournal.com/historic-hearst-ranch-a-step-into-life-in-the-1860s/ |access-date=16 March 2022 |date=12 January 2022}}</ref> Hearst continued to buy parcels whenever they became available. He also bought most of [[Rancho San Simeon]].{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} In 1865, Hearst bought all of [[Rancho Santa Rosa (Estrada)|Rancho Santa Rosa]] totaling {{convert|13,184|acre}} except one section of {{convert|160|acre|km2|1}} that Estrada lived on. However, as was common with claims before the [[California Land Act of 1851|Public Land Commission]], Estrada's legal claim was costly and took many years to resolve. Estrada mortgaged the ranch to Domingo Pujol, a Spanish-born San Francisco lawyer, who represented him. Estrada was unable to pay the loan and Pujol foreclosed on it. Estrada did not have the title to the land.<ref>''George Hearst v. Domingo Pujol'', 1872, Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of California, Vol. 44, pp. 230-236, Bancroft-Whitney Co., San Francisco</ref> Hearst sued, but ended up with only {{convert|1340|acre|km2|1}} of Estrada's holdings.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} [[Rancho Milpitas (Pastor)|Rancho Milpitas]] was a {{convert|43281|acre|ha|adj=on}} land grant given in 1838 by California governor [[Juan Bautista Alvarado]] to Ygnacio Pastor.<ref name="auto1">Ogden Hoffman, 1862, ''Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California'', Numa Hubert, San Francisco</ref> The grant encompassed present-day [[Jolon, California|Jolon]] and land to the west.<ref>{{Cite GNIS| id = 245946|name = Rancho Milpitas}}</ref> When Pastor obtained title from the Public Land Commission in 1875, [[Faxon Atherton]] immediately purchased the land. By 1880, the James Brown Cattle Company owned and operated [[Rancho Milpitas (Pastor)|Rancho Milpitas]] and neighboring [[Rancho Los Ojitos]]. In 1923, [[Newhall Land and Farming Company|Newhall Land]] sold [[Rancho San Miguelito de Trinidad]] and [[Rancho El Piojo]] to William Randolph Hearst.<ref>{{Cite news| pages = 4| title = HEARST BUYS SITE OF MISSION: 17 Miles of Conduits Constructed in 1792 on Acquired Tract| work = Stockton Independent| date = 1923-01-12}}</ref> In 1925, Hearst's Piedmont Land and Cattle Company bought Rancho Milpitas and Rancho Los Ojitos (Little Springs) from the James Brown Cattle Company.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mchsmuseum.com/mcoverview.html|title=Monterey County Historical Society, Local History Pages—Overview of Post-Hispanic Monterey County History|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522231029/http://www.mchsmuseum.com/mcoverview.html|archive-date=2006-05-22}}</ref> Hearst gradually bought adjoining land until he owned bout {{convert|250,000|acre}}.<ref name="lavender">{{cite web |last1=Lavender |first1=Natasha |title=The Crazy True Story Of William Randolph Hearst |url=https://www.grunge.com/313878/the-crazy-true-story-of-william-randolph-hearst/ |website=Grunge.com |access-date=16 March 2022 |date=15 January 2021}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page