This legal document, compiled by Mullan and Hyde of San Francisco and Thomas Bloodgood Dibblee, presents a petition to Congress on behalf of the claimants of Rancho Las Cruces, a large land grant in Santa Barbara County, California. Through a detailed history of the land grant and the legal disputes around it, this document illuminates the complex issues of land ownership and property rights in California in the 19th century. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.