Joseph D. Grant County Park is the largest county park in Santa Clara County, California . Also known as Grant Ranch Park , this site is situated in the Diablo Range foothills of the eastern Santa Clara Valley . The park is one of 28 owned by Santa Clara County and managed by the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department .
7-466: Joseph D. Grant, son of a wealthy San Francisco merchant, began buying what had been the Rancho Cañada de Pala Mexican land grant. Grant used the property for grazing cattle, recreating, and hunting game. Joseph D. Grant died in 1942. Santa Clara County purchased approximately 9,553 acres (38.7 km) of the land in 1975, and created this public park. Joseph D. Grant County Park is situated in
14-527: A stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Rancho Ca%C3%B1ada de Pala Rancho Cañada de Pala was a 15,714-acre (63.59 km ) Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Clara County, California given in 1839 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to José de Jesús Bernal. The origin of the name Cañada de Pala is the subject of debate. The word "pala" translates as "shovel" in Spanish, but means "water", in many Native Californian dialects. The grant
21-506: Is known for mountain biking , birdwatching and hiking . Some of the special status biota within Joseph D. Grant County Park are the burrowing owl and the Western pond turtle . The park also offers camp sites. 37°20′44″N 121°41′14″W / 37.345495°N 121.687170°W / 37.345495; -121.687170 This Santa Clara County, California -related article is
28-587: The Diablo Range , near Mount Hamilton . Elevations range from about 1,400 feet (427 m) in Halls Valley to peaks over 2,985 feet (910 m) on the Park's eastern edge. This upward gradient leads to even higher peaks in the crest of the range and to Mount Hamilton itself at 4,209 feet (1,283 m). The western slopes of Mount Hamilton drop into Smith Creek which forms the eastern boundary of the Park. The park
35-747: The nearby Rancho Santa Teresa . 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 for Rancho Cañada de Pala was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented to José de Jesús Bernal, José Antonio Bernal and Juan Bernal in 1863. The "Halls Valley" area which encompasses most of
42-547: The present-day Grant Ranch Park was deeded to Bernal's attorney, Frederick Hall, to pay for processing his claim. In 1850, the southern third of the rancho was sold to Samuel Q. Broughton (1824–). Broughton, a native of Kentucky , came overland to California in 1846. Adam Grant was a founder of Murphy, Grant, & Company, a dry goods store which sold supplies to gold miners, bought his initial holding of Cañada de Pala in 1880. Grant's son, Joseph D. Grant, eventually owned approximately 9,533 acres (38.6 km ). In 1974, Grant Ranch
49-576: Was in the foothills and mountains of the Diablo Range , east of San Jose and included most of what is now Grant Ranch Park and all of present-day Blue Oak Ranch Reserve . José de Jesús Bernal was granted Rancho Cañada de Pala in 1839. Jose de Jesus and his two brothers built adobes around a spring-fed pond on a ridge overlooking the Santa Clara Valley. They pastured cattle and horses on this land. Bernal's uncle, Joaquin Bernal, occupied
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