Johnson's Ranch is a ranch north of the Bear River, in and surrounding Wheatland. Pablo Gutierrez received five leagues of this land as a grant from Mexico in 1844. William Johnson claimed 22,197 acres of it in 1857, and the ranch is named for him.1 The Overland Emigrant Trail ends at Johnson's Ranch, and the Donner Party survivors convalesced at Johnson's Ranch after being rescued. Signs on Highway 65 in Wheatland today point the way to Johnson's Ranch.
Footnotes
1. California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State by David L. Durham. Word Dancer Press, 1998
