LOS ENCINOS STATE HISTORIC PARK
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Los Encinos State Historic Park is a
state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...
unit of
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, preserving buildings of Rancho Los Encinos. The park is located near the corner of Balboa and Ventura Boulevards in
Encino, California Encino is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. History Etymology The name Encino is the misspelling in masculine of Encina, the Spanish language, Spanish word for "holm oak” (Quercus ilex). The Spanis ...
, in the
San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...
. The rancho includes the original nine-room de la Ossa Adobe, the two-story limestone Garnier building, a blacksmith shop, a natural spring, and a pond. The site was established as a California state park in 1949.


History

The natural spring provided a year-round source of water for the ancient village of Siutcanga, home to the Tongva people, for thousands of years. The name ''syútkanga'' actually means "place of the oak" in the Fernandeño language, a dialect of the
Tongva language The Tongva language (also known as Gabrielino, Gabrieleño, or Kizh) is an extinct and revitalizing Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Tongva, a Native American people who have lived in and around modern-day Los Angeles for centuries. It has n ...
, a name later reflected in Spanish as ''Los Encinos,'' or "the oaks" in Spanish. A description of this village was recorded as part of the 1769
Portola Expedition Portola may refer to: * Portola (album), ''Portola'' (album), a 1998 album by Rose Melberg * Portola, California * Portola, San Francisco, California * Portola Music Festival People with the surname * Gaspar de Portolá (ca. 1717-aft.1784), Spanish ...
. This Spanish expedition reached the San Fernando Valley and named it "El Valle de Santa Catalina de Bononia de Los Encinos" (The Valley of St. Catherine of Bononia of the Oaks). Located along a significant travel route between
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and Santa Barbara, the property passed through many hands between the 1840s and the early 20th century. Today the park contains exhibits related to the agricultural enterprises of Rancho Los Encinos' various owners, including Mission Indian,
Californio Californios (singular Californio) are Californians of Spaniards, Spanish descent, especially those descended from settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries before California was annexed by the United States. California's Spanish language in C ...
, French, and French Basque families.


Springs

The Encino Springs are historic artesian springs that were the site of the Siutcanga village of the Tongva-Kizh people, and later provided water for Rancho Los Encinos in what is now the
San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...
region of
Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...
.
Juan Crespí Juan Crespí, OFM (Catalan language, Catalan: ''Joan Crespí''; 1 March 1721 – 1 January 1782) was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of The Californias, Las Californias. Biography A native of Majorca, Crespí entered the Franciscan ord ...
mentioned the springs in his 1769 diary. In 1845,
Manuel Micheltorena Joseph Manuel María Joaquin Micheltorena y Llano (8 June 1804 – 7 September 1853) was a brigadier general and adjutant-general of the Mexican Army, List_of_governors_of_California_before_1850#Mexican_governors_of_California_(1837–47), gover ...
's troops camped at the Encino Springs before the
Battle of Providencia The Battle of Providencia (also called the "Second Battle of Cahuenga Pass") took place in Cahuenga Pass in early 1845 on Rancho Providencia in the San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles, California. Native ''Californios'' successfully chal ...
. The spring reservoirs were apparently built around 1872 by Eugene Garnier. According to a description from 1875 the main ranch spring "supplied a stone reservoir and a bathing pool and yielded about a minute". An 1890 account described "a number" of springs at Encino "in local use". The springs were
carbonated Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids. In inorganic che ...
, smelled slightly of
hydrogen sulphide Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is toxic, corrosive, and flammable. Trace amounts in ambient atmosphere have a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. Swedish chemist Ca ...
, and emerged with a water temperature of about As of 1915, there were two recognized springs on the site, about apart, the smaller spring west of the larger spring, and enclosed in a small reservoir made of stone. According to a U.S. government geologist, the water was associated with a layer of Miocene shale, "which here dips about 25°N" toward the Valley, and was a "primary and secondary alkaline and primary saline water of moderate mineralization". As of 1969 the springs still yielded a day, and they were still flowing at Los Encinos State Historic Park as of 1978. Upon discovery in 1925 of a grinding stone and possible burial ground west of the springs, archeologist John A. Comstock told a newspaper reporter that "Indians in the Encino Hot Springs vicinity fashioned the finest stone vessels of any Indians In this part of the country with the possible exception of Catalina Island Indians who had a stone particularly adaptable to such purposes". There was an Encino Hot Springs resort in the 1920s.


California Historical Landmark Marker

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...
Marker NO. 689 at the site reads:californiahistoricallandmarks.com 689, Los Encinos State Historic Park
/ref> *''NO. 689 LOS ENCINOS STATE HISTORIC PARK - The Franciscan padres used Encino as their headquarters while exploring the valley before establishing Mission San Fernando in 1797. In 1849 Vincente de la Osa built an adobe with nine rooms. The next owner of El Encino Rancho was Eugene Garnier, who built the existing two-story limestone house in 1872. In December 1891 Domingo Amestoy acquired the property.''


See also

*
List of California state parks This is a list of parks, historic resources, reserves and recreation areas in the California State Parks system. List of parks See also * California State Beaches * List of California State Historic Parks * Parks in California *California Dep ...
*
Ranchos of Los Angeles County The ranchos of Los Angeles County were large-scale land grants made by the governments of Spain and Mexico between 1784 and July 7, 1846, to private individuals within the current boundary lines (last adjusted in 1919) of Los Angeles County, ...


References


External links


Los Encinos State Historic ParkLos Encinos Docents Association
{{Protected areas of California, SP 1949 establishments in California Buildings and structures in the San Fernando Valley California State Historic Parks Encino, Los Angeles History of the San Fernando Valley Museums established in 1949 Museums in Los Angeles Open-air museums in California Parks in the San Fernando Valley California Historical Landmarks