Simon Mezes shrewd attorney

The land south of San Francisco proper was sort of a no-man’s-land as far as government and policing were concerned. After the Gold Rush slowed down, the land south of San Francisco began attracting people who were intent on building a logging industry in Woodside. This activity in Woodside led to developing the port that was the shipping point for the logs and lumber in great demand in San Francisco. The land south of San Mateo Creek to San Francisquito Creek (and from the Bay to the hills in the west) was a Mexican land grant the Arguello family had received in 1835. The Arguellos had lived on the land grant (Las Pulgas Ranch) sporadically, and during these times they had raised cattle and lived in an adobe in the area of present-day San Carlos.

The events of the Mexican War and the Gold Rush overwhelmed the Peninsula in a way that the Arguellos could not foresee. As the logging industry prospered, a couple of dozen squatters began living in tents and shacks around the Redwood Creek where the logs were dropped into the water for the long trip up the Bay to San Francisco. Others were settling in Ravenswood and Menlo Park, much to the consternation of Maria Soledad Arguello, widow of Luis Arguello. It was her grant of land, but the men who squatted on the land took a different view of the situation. The land was not being used and they intended to change that. When California became a state, the land grants were to be accepted by the courts and the Mexicans’ right to their land undisputed. It didn’t work out that way, however. In 1851, a three-man commission was established under the Gwin Act to arbitrate disputes about land ownership. The Gwin Act essentially canceled the rights bestowed on the Mexicans and put the burden of proving ownership on the land owner.

The newcomers to California were championing the concept of preemptive doctrine and asking the courts to declare ownership by occupation and use of the land. These legal challenges would prove exceedingly difficult to fight by the Mexicans as most had no deeds, only a handshake that was given at the time of bestowing the land grant. The American courts, however, wanted proof and this forced the land owner to hire a lawyer, a situation that cost money the Mexicans did not have.

Fortunately, Maria Soledad Arguello obtained the services of a lawyer, Simon M. Mezes. Originally from the Basque area of Spain, Mezes came to California in 1850 from Puerto Rico. Mezes spoke Spanish and English, a distinct advantage for Soledad, and he had connections in high places. He had a background in banking and was well connected in political circles. Mezes knew William Carey Jones, one of the three members of the Land Commission and a fellow San Francisco attorney. Later Mezes would sell 1,000 acres of Pulgas land to Jones.

Mezes went to work trying to secure title to the almost 35,000 acre Rancho de la Pulgas. It was not until 1856, a year after San Mateo County attained its own identity, that Simon Mezes was able finally to get full and clear title to the Rancho. In return for his legal work, Mezes was awarded 15 percent — or 5,250 acres — of the 35,000 acres. He chose the land he wanted and the first site he chose was the squatters’ area. He platted lots for sale — for $75 each — and named the settlement Mezesville, but the name never stuck and it eventually became known as Redwood City. He donated two blocks of land for public use: a parcel at Marshall and Winslow streets and called it California Square. The San Mateo County Hall of Justice occupies this land now. The other piece of land is now called Mezes Park at Warren and Standish streets. When Redwood City became the county seat, Mezes donated land by Broadway, Hamilton and Middlefield for construction of a County Court House. The San Mateo County History Museum now occupies the site.

His next choice was for land in the Diablo Canyon of Belmont. In the early 1850s, Mezes married a wealthy San Francisco lawyer’s daughter, Juliet Johnson. A stagecoach route followed an established a road through the canyon. He chose to build a modest house for Juliet on the south-facing slope in the canyon. Later, in 1853, he would sell several acres of land to his San Francisco law partner, Leonetto Cipriani. In 1864, when Cipriani returned to Italy to live, he would sell this land to William Ralston. Ralston remodeled the unassuming home of Leonetto Cipriani, enlarged it and ended up with one of the most beautiful and well-known villas on the Peninsula, Ralston Manor.

Simon M. Mezes died in 1884.