Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/724

706 holding that position in 1839-40. At the same time the mission was made nominally head town of the partido, though there was as yet no sub-prefect here; the municipal chief transferred his office also to Dolores from the presidio, where, in theory at least, it had been before; and the contra costa ranchos were cut off from the jurisdiction of San Francisco and given a juez de paz of their own. Meanwhile the town authorities granted seventeen house lots at Yerba Buena in 1836-40, and three lots at the mission in 1840.

The subject of municipal government at San Francisco in these years assumed later an importance not dreamed of at the time, from the fact that a great town grew up on the peninsula. Local authorities continued to grant lots as a matter of course down to 1846 and later, and after the American occupation the question whether lands not so granted belonged to the city or to the United States came up for settlement. This is not the place to record the litigation in its many phases, but brief mention cannot be avoided. It was finally decided, after unlimited discussion extending through many years and several adverse decisions, by the land commission, California