View of a ledger containing the survey of the Azusa Rancho by Henry Dalton. The map reads, "Plat of the Rancho Azusa finally confirmed to Henry Dalton surveyed under the instructions from the U.S. Surveyor General. Henry Hancock (Dep. Surv.) October & November 1858." Englishman Henry Dalton (1804-1884) was engaged in coastal trade and commerce in Peru and Mexico, extending his interests in Mexico when he contracted for the purchase of the estate of the Marques de San Miguel de Aguayo. In the early 1840s, he acquired property in both San Pedro and Los Angeles and a year later he purchased Rancho Azusa from its original grantee Don Luis Arenas, who sold the land to Dalton for $7,000. This land purchase developed his interest in ranching but he continued his commercial business in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, for Dalton, the Hancock Survey revealed that the area that is now the City of Glendora was open land and not within the boundaries of the land Dalton thought was his. As a result, numerous squatter claims surfaced, with homesetaders moving in and requesting water rights.
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