Before the Spanish settled California, native Americans
traversed the fertile valleys surrounding their home in
 Yagna,
today's  Los
Angeles. They lived off the land's rich resources, harvesting
materials for their baskets and huts, hunting small game,
and spearing fish from their broadboats on the creek known
now as La Ballona.
The early Spanish settlers called these indigenous people
the Gabrielinos after the San Gabriel Mission they established
in 1771. The Mission and surrounding land were protected
by Spanish volunteers sent by the California governor.
Many stayed on, married, raised families and started grazing
cattle near the Los Angeles pueblo. Agustin Machado, a
descendent of one of the mission's original families,
embarked on a historic dawn to dusk horseback ride in
1820 staking claim to 14,000 acres of prime ranch land
that would be called Rancho
La Ballona. |
