Editing San Mateo, California (section)

=== Mexican era ===
[[File:Diseño_of_Rancho_San_Mateo.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Much of the area was granted to [[Californio]] ranchero Cayetano Arenas in 1846 as [[Rancho San Mateo]].]]

Captain [[Frederick William Beechey]] in 1827 traveling with the hills on their right, known in that part as the Sierra del Sur, began to approach the road, which passing over a small eminence, opened out upon "a wide country of meadow land, with clusters of fine oak free from underwood... It strongly resembled a nobleman's park: herds of cattle and horses were grazing upon the rich pasture, and numerous fallow‑deer, startled at the approach of strangers, bounded off to seek protection among the hills... This spot is named San Matheo, and belongs to the mission of San Francisco."<ref name="SMCH" />

The city of San Mateo was documented by Spanish colonists as part of the [[Rancho de las Pulgas]] and the [[Rancho San Mateo]]; the earliest history is held in the archives of [[Mission Dolores]]. Rancho San Mateo was granted in May 1846 from [[Pío Pico]] to his secretary, Cayetano Arenas; this tract included approximately half of present-day San Mateo, all of Burlingame and Hillsborough, and the Spring Valley lakes (now [[Crystal Springs Reservoir]] and [[San Andreas Lake]]).<ref name=Alexander-16/>{{rp|32}} [[William Davis Merry Howard]] purchased Rancho San Mateo from Arenas<ref name=Stanger-63>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/southfromsanfran00stan_0/ |title=South from San Francisco: San Mateo County, California, its history and heritage |chapter=VI. Many Mansions: the men who built them |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/southfromsanfran00stan_0/page/90/mode/2up/ |pages=90–123 |first=Frank Merriman |last=Stanger |date=1963 |publisher=San Mateo County Historical Association |location=San Mateo, California |lccn=63-21262}}</ref>{{rp|93}} in 1846 for {{USD|25000|1846|round=-3}} and spent an equal sum erecting a fence around the property.<ref name=Alexander-16/>{{rp|44}}