1862 when the entire Irvine ranch was offered a nickel per acre.
The Americans took California away from Mexico with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago. It officially became the 31st State to join the Union on September 1, 1850. With that came disputes of land ownership. In order for the families who owned land to keep it, they had to show valid proof of their land holdings, as well as maps and documentation. Many families could not show their proof of ownership, since the Spanish and Mexicans parceled out land freely. These families lost their land holdings and it reverted to the State, which then sold it at a very cheap price to ranchers and farmers. Sometime in the 1860's there was an awful drought that killed much of the cattle and livestock that was being raised in Orange County and the entire Southland for that matter. Many of the ranchers and farmers went bankrupted, and they were forced to sell their land to pay off their debts.
One individual who came at an opportune time to take advantage of this situation was James Irvine. He came to California during the Gold Rush to mine for gold. However, he became disillusioned and went to San Francisco to enter the grocery business. He earned a considerable amount of money, with which he was able to invest in real estate. So along with Benjamin and Thomas Flint and Llewellyn Bixby, James Irvine was able to acquire much of the huge Rancho San Joaqu?n in the center of the county, totaling 120,000 acres or about a fifth of Orange County. He gained sole ownership of the ranch in the 1860's. On his ranch he grew a variety of plants that were more drought resistant, and the Irvine Ranch became a very successful enterprise.
There is one interesting story that comes to mind involving James Irvine. In the 1880's when railroad building was very rapid, Collis P. Huntington (owner of Southern Pacific Railroad) wanted the right of way to build his railroad through Irvine's vast ranch, connecting Los Angeles with San Diego. His previous attempt though the Temescal Valley in Riverside County was unsuccessful, as a flood washed the tracks away a few years after they were completed. However, Irvine refused to grant the railroad owner permission to build through his land (this was a very audacious thing to do, since most communities actually paid the railroads to build through their land, and right of way was usually given).
Apparently the reason for Irvine's refusal dates back to the late 1840's, when he and Huntington were on the same ship to San Francisco. A disagreement ensued and they have been on unfavorable terms since. In the mid-1880's, James Irvine I died, but his son James Irvine II also opposed Southern Pacific's wishes to build. So one Saturday when the courts were closed, Southern Pacific sent workers to begin construction through the Irvine Ranch. They workers were met with Irvine's ranch hands armed with shotguns. The workers became scared, left, and never returned.
Eventually, Irvine allowed Southern Pacific's rival, Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe, to build their railroad through the Irvine Ranch. Other people came with a different intention in mind: to settle the land. Orange County was still a part of Los Angeles County at that time, and there were several individuals who bought land and offered it to settlers for a cheap price.
(Courtesy of UC Berkeley)