When the Colonials of the American eastern seaboard were struggling to create and defend man's most noble achievement in self government, the vast Pacific Southwest was a slumbering frontier. Barely six years before Paul Revere made his famous ride to warn his countrymen in Massachusetts, General Gaspar de Portola rode to the banks of the Los Angeles River, where a great city would some day rise.
In 1784, a soldier of the King of Spain, Don Jose Maria Verdugo, was
issued title to the first of California's celebrated land grants,
Rancho San Rafael, on part of which this memorial stands. Here,
Don Jose raised cattle, sheep and horses on the sun-drenched floor
of the valley, riding with his vaqueros from the hacienda further
south where the city of Glendale now stands. In the quiet foothills,
deer, quail, coyotes and bear lived almost at peace with the Native
Indians.
These broad acres were familiar to the Franciscan Padres as they
crossed from Mission San Gabriel to Mission San Fernando. Living
then, as it is today, was gracious and tranquil.
This delightful valley, overlooking the coastal plain and the sea , is
one of the rare places where the coming of man has brought fruition
of a dream.
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