A Beautiful Tract of Valley Land 3/4 mile from Redwood City at the base of the Coastal Range . . .

Fine map of a large portion of San Carlos, California, showing the subdivision of John Wesley Brittan's Ranch in San Mateo County, in 1885.

The map shows some of the original ranch structures, including several houses, barns, a water tank, chicken house and chicken yard. The map shows several roads which still exist today and would appear to be the land north of the intersection of Alameda de las Pulgas and Eaton Avenue, extending north to El Camino Real, in the Edgewood Park area.

The map was originally prepared for Nathan C. Carnall, at 26 Montgomery Street in San Francisco, whose name has been deleted and replaced by "owner', with at 240 Montgomery Street, Room 9. This would appear to be the office of W. Giles, who appears as as seller of real estate in this area around 1889-1890, when we offered for sale 300 acres "between San Francisco and Stanford University; large residence, orchard grounds, no fogs, the bay area short line will bring this property within thirty minutes from city, suitable for subdivision . . . "

The map was drawn based upon surveys of J.J. Cloud, who served as a county surveyor of San Mateo County, California in the 1870s and 1880s, including credit for the 1877 Official Map of San Mateo County.

Brittan Ranch

John Wesley Brittan (1812–1872), owner of Brittan & Holbrook, was a successful hardware store merchant during the gold rush in San Francisco. Brittan bought 3,000 acres of the Rancho de las Pulgas, in what is now San Carlos, which he named "Brittan Ranch". His son Nathaniel Jones Brittan (1848–1912) inherited approximately one third of his fathers estate

Nathaniel Brittan was a co-founder of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco in 1872, and by 1892 Brittan was the president.