Charles Gifford wrote:


> The "Mexican-American" population and culture did not have
> any strong presence until well into the 20th century.

Some of the early Spanish settlers continued to hold their land, for
instance, the Arnaz family still owns Rancho Arnaz near Ventura.
They've owned that land since 1842. But many Mexican or Spanish land
grant holders lost their lands after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
ceded land claimed by Mexico to the United States. When the Yankee
lawyers in San Francisco decided to grab the Mexican land grants (there
were about 1000 grants) they published legal notices in English
language newspapers, telling the grant holders to come to
San Francisco to "prove" their land titles. Of course, most didn't know
what was happening in California. The same thing happened in New
Mexico. Mexicans became depised 2nd class citizens in a country where
they had once been dominant over the Native Americans. The latter were
being hunted down and exterminated. There was a bounty on Native
American's literal heads in Northern California. So the American
presence grew. But post-revolutionary political instability
continued in Mexico. With Pancho Villa's revolution, Mexicans fled
northern Mexico into Arizona and New Mexico. Some of the people I
talked to said that it took their grandparents two years to walk from
Chihuahua or Sonora to Los Angeles. In the 1970's, with the declining
prices of petroleum, an economic depression began in Mexico, resulting
in capital flight to numbered Swiss bank accounts, and again, large
numbers of Mexicans fled to El Norte. It had been extimated that 20% of
the population left Mexico for greener pastures. Most became
agricultural workers. That's why the town I live in is about 70%
latino. They pick the oranges and pack them in crates to be shipped to
the cities...