Campbell family correspondence - Transcript (part 4).

Abstract

"The land here is pretty much all taken up. There is several old Spanish Grants where the owners claim some times six or eight miles square but it is likely that when their claims are investigated a great deal of it will fall to Government. Under the California laws every man may claim 160 acres of land but the holder must do $100 worth of work and cultivate every three months. In that way nearly the whole valley has been taken up by some families and men from the mines for the purpose of speculation, but I will keep watch and when I see a place vacant I will lay claim if I find you are coming."