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34-826: In October 1846, General Stephen Watts Kearny and his dragoons with their scout Kit Carson found the route over the mountains from the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro on the Rio Grande , via the Santa Rita mines to the Gila River which he then followed to the Colorado River, at the Yuma Crossing where he crossed the river and then the Colorado Desert to Southern California . This

68-662: A claim before a commission for adjudication. Approvals were automatically appealed by the federal government to the federal courts, as far as the United Supreme Court. A claim for Rancho La Puente was filed with the Public Land Commission in Fall 1852 when the commission held proceedings in Los Angeles, but after the land commission approved the claim two years later, the government appealed to

102-528: A party of forty-niners in late 1849. This route avoided the long distance traveled to the south by passing through Stein's Pass , Apache Pass and Nugent’s Pass , then down Tres Alamos Wash to the Lower Crossing of the San Pedro River below Tres Alamos . From there it linked up with Cooke's Wagon Road at a waterhole, near modern Mescal . In 1856, a Railroad Survey Expedition modified

136-535: A temporary shelter through the winter of 1841-42 and then constructed an adobe the following summer, believed to have been three rooms. The adobe was expanded to ten rooms in two southward-facing wings by 1856 and then remodeled with the addition of brick rooms at the corners and on a new second floor, this work being completed by 1870. Workman, also a highly successful cattle rancher and farmer, entered business activities (real estate, oil, and banking, among others) with his son-in-law, Francisco P. Temple (F. P. F.), and

170-586: The Guadalupe Pass and then west just south of the current border with Mexico then west to and beyond modern Agua Prieta , before turning northward via the San Pedro River , then west to Tucson . Linking there with the Sonora Road to California established by Juan Bautista de Anza in 1774, they marched on a three-day journey north over the desert before linking up with Kearny’s route on

204-629: The Mexican-American War , the article of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , which would have provided that Spanish and Mexican-era land grants be honored, was stricken at the insistence of President James K. Polk and Congress. With the onset of the Gold Rush and the arrival of tens of thousands of Americans to California, disputes over rancho lands became significant. Consequently, Congress passed legislation on 3 March 1851 requiring holders of Spanish and Mexican land titles to file

238-466: The Peninsular Ranges crossing Warners Pass to Warner's Ranch . From Warner's the road then ran either northwest to Los Angeles, (via Temecula , La Laguna , Temescal , Chino , La Puente and San Gabriel ) or west southwest to San Diego via Santa Ysabel , San Pasqual and Rancho Peñasquitos . From either of these towns the traveler could continue north by land to the gold fields on

272-738: The San Gabriel Valley ), the group headed northwest and camped near a large stream (now the San Gabriel River ). Father Juan Crespi noted in his diary that the expedition had to build a bridge ("la puente") to cross the stream because the channel was so miry. That first bridge, and later more permanent bridges across the river, gave the area its name. The Rancho La Puente was created as one of many outlying ranchos operated by Mission San Gabriel from its founding in 1771 at Whittier Narrows and its relocation to its current site within four years. The Mexican government secularized

306-614: The 1880s. Stephen Watts Kearny Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 550966962 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:39:37 GMT Rancho La Puente Rancho La Puente was a ranch in the southern San Gabriel Valley that measured just under 49,000 acres (200 km ), and remained intact from its establishment in

340-687: The Gila River just east of the Pima Villages . Cooke followed the Anza–Kearny route westward along the Gila to Yuma Crossing where it had its junction with the El Camino del Diablo an old Spanish route reestablished by Mexico from 1828. This established the first southern wagon road from New Mexico to California. This new wagon route became known as Cooke's Road , or Sonora Road , as much of

374-555: The Pacific Wagon Road ran due west to link up again with Cooke's Wagon Road at Mescal Springs to continue on to Tucson, Arizona , then turned northward to the Pima Villages and Maricopa Wells where it turned westward along the Gila River following it to the ferries on the Colorado River across from Fort Yuma . The Pacific Wagon Road shortened the route still further for travelers. From 1859 to 1861, during

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408-659: The San Pedro River along an older Spanish trail to the headwaters of the Santa Cruz River which he followed to the Sonoran town of Santa Cruz then turned north on the old Spanish road to Tucson along the Santa Cruz River. Graham's detour, known as Major Graham's Road , would be taken by most of the Forty-niners following Cooke's route the next year, despite its greater distance. From Yuma Crossing

442-602: The Southern Emigrant Trail crossed the Colorado Desert , dipping south along the Colorado River, into Baja California , Mexico , (avoiding the vast Algodones Dunes to the west and northwest), to follow the waterholes along the Alamo and New Rivers , then northwest into California again across the desert to Carrizo Creek and the oasis at Vallecito . From Vallecito the trail then ran northwest into

476-726: The Tucson Cutoff route, passing south of Nugent's Pass using Dragoon Pass and the Middle Crossing or San Pedro Crossing of the river instead of the Lower Crossing below Los Alamos. In 1857 following the Gadsden Purchase , as part of the Pacific Wagon Road , a military road being built between El Paso and Fort Yuma, a wagon road was built from Mesilla westward to Cooke's Spring , saving

510-983: The capital at Monterey and petitioned Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado for the Rancho La Puente. The grant was finalized in March with boundaries specified as ".... being on the East bounded by El Chino and San Jose, and on the West by the River San Gabriel on the North by the land of Don Luis Arenas, and on the South by the lands of the Senor [Juan] Perez of the los Nietos and los Coyotes ...." or "more or less" four square leagues, or 17,740-acre (71.8 km ) . Strangely, William Workman, who had been implicated in what

544-467: The central part of the route passed through what was then the northern frontier of the state of Sonora, Mexico . In 1848, a U.S. Army expedition of 1st Dragoons under Major Lawrence P. Graham marched from Chihuahua to California, through Janos , then westward to strike Cooke's road at Guadalupe Pass . He then followed Cooke's wagon route along the Mexican border region but went farther west beyond

578-741: The coast via the El Camino Real or over the old Tejon Pass into the San Joaquin Valley and then north by what would later become the Stockton–Los Angeles Road or via the El Camino Viejo . Alternatively they could take ships to San Francisco from San Diego or San Pedro . Subsequently, the distance of the Cooke–Graham route was drastically shortened by the Tucson Cutoff pioneered by John Coffee Hays with

612-590: The courts on the ground that the Pico grant was not legitimate. The federal government had every right to be suspicious of claims to land especially when grants presumably had taken place following Pico's ascendency to governor and the occupation by the US. People presented claims for land the proceedings of which were not reflected in the government records. At the Los Angeles federal district court, Rowland and Workman won two separate appeals, in 1856 and 1862, and it appeared that

646-674: The first private grist mill in the county in 1847, mainly concerned himself with cattle ranching and farming, achieving great success. He died in October 1873 and was buried at the El Campo Santo Cemetery established by Workman. His many heirs took over, but over the years land was sold off, including for the creation of the towns of La Puente and Covina during the famed Boom of the Eighties (1886–88). William Workman , whose family accompanied him to California, lived in

680-521: The government was going to take the matter to the Supreme Court. The Civil War years saw the claim in limbo and Rowland hired an attorney to secure a patent. Finally, in April 1867, the lawyer's efforts were successful and the patent patented was issued. With the patent secured and La Puente's owners approaching their seventies, the two decided, in 1868, to formally partition the rancho, leaving

714-474: The grant extended the size of the rancho to the maximum allowed under Mexican land law, eleven square leagues, or 48,790.55 acres (197.4484 km ). When Rowland submitted an affidavit claiming (unbelievably) that Workman was inadvertently left off the earlier grant, Pico officially added Workman as co-owner. After the conquest of the Mexican department of Alta California by the United States during

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748-905: The late 1700s as an outpost of Mission San Gabriel until about 1870. By modern landmarks, the ranch extended from San Gabriel River on the west to just west of the 57 Freeway on the east and from Ramona Boulevard/San Bernardino Road on the north to the Puente Hills on the south. All but 40 acres (160,000 m ), which fall within Orange County , are within Los Angeles County . The present communities of Avocado Heights , Bassett , Baldwin Park , San Dimas , Rowland Heights , Hacienda Heights , City of Industry , La Puente , Walnut , Covina , West Covina , and small sections of South El Monte and Irwindale are contained within

782-566: The longer route via the San Diego Crossing. The Pacific Wagon Road then followed Cooke's Wagon Road and the Tucson Cutoff as far as the west side of the Apache Pass. There it made another shortcut across Sulphur Springs Valley to Dragoon Pass , and then down Dragoon Wash to the San Pedro River. The route then descended northward on the right bank of the river to the Middle Crossing of the San Pedro River . From this crossing

816-629: The missions in the middle 1830s, at which time the mission ranchos passed into private ownership. At the end of 1841, a group of travelers and settlers arrived in the Los Angeles area from New Mexico , now referred to as the Workman-Rowland Party. Led by American John A. Rowland (ca. 1797-1873) and British native William Workman (1799–1876), the expedition contained American, European, and New Mexican members who settled throughout California. Rowland traveled, in early 1842, to

850-482: The old boundaries of Rancho La Puente. The name "La Puente" originates from the Spanish Portola Expedition of 1769-1770, the first land-based exploration of Alta California by Europeans. In July, 1769 the party came north through "la abra" (later altered into La Habra ), "an opening" or pass through the Puente Hills . Descending down into a valley the expedition dubbed "San Miguel" (now

884-660: The rancho era are the Workman House (1842 adobe and 1870 brick additions), El Campo Santo Cemetery (1850s with 1919-21 renovations), and a water tower (ca. 1880s)--all on the grounds of the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum and the John A. Rowland House (1855), now undergoing long-awaited renovations under the auspices of the Historical Society of La Puente Valley. There is also an 1880s adobe house that

918-516: The shortcut was unwise to use unless the travelers were a strong detachment of soldiers or under military escort by one. Even so, in May 1864, California Volunteers fought a Skirmish in Doubtful Canyon with Apache that tried to ambush them there. Traffic returned to the Pacific Wagon Road route which then remained a primary east–west route in the southwest until the advent of the railroads in

952-603: The time of the Butterfield Overland Mail , the stages and other traffic ran over a shortcut between Ojo de Vaca and Apache Pass, over the Peloncillo Mountains through Doubtful Canyon . However following the destruction of stage stations and coaches and the killing of their keepers and drivers at the outbreak of war with the Apache in 1861, this route was abandoned. Favored ambush country,

986-520: The two men exact allotments of hill and valley land, so that Rowland mainly occupied the northern and eastern part and Workman the western and central portions. Rowland, who returned to New Mexico in 1842 to bring his family back to California, built an adobe on the north side of San Jose Creek the following year. A dozen years later, he razed the structure and built, across the creek, a brick Greek Revival two-story house (the John A. Rowland House ) for his second wife, Charlotte M. Gray. Rowland, who built

1020-595: The two were the wealthiest individuals in Los Angeles County during the first half of the 1870s, during which the first growth boom experienced in the region took place. When the economy turned sour, however, and the Temple and Workman bank collapsed, Workman, who had mortgaged most of his portion of La Puente for a loan from Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin of San Francisco, lost everything and took his own life in May 1876. Workman's house and 70 acres (280,000 m )

1054-439: Was claimed to be an assassination attempt of New Mexico's governor during a period in which the independent Republic of Texas plotted to annex most of that territory, was not included in the original grant, although a document was issued by Alvarado at the time of the grant, extending the rights and privileges of use of the rancho to Workman. This document is in the collection of the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum but

Southern Emigrant Trail - Misplaced Pages Continue

1088-626: Was known as the Gila Trail . One month later, Colonel Philip St. George Cooke and the Mormon Battalion with wagons Kearny could not take across the mountains of New Mexico, followed a route south along the west bank of the Rio Grande from where Kearny had left the river, to a point just north of what later became the site of Fort Thorn . There Cooke left the Rio Grande, establishing a wagon road that reached far southwest through

1122-587: Was never submitted to the Land Commission to determine the validity of a Rowland and Workman claim to the land. After Workman, as captain, and Rowland, as lieutenant, of an American and European military contingent helped Pio Pico defeat Governor Manuel Micheltorena in an armed standoff at Cahuenga Pass near Los Angeles in February 1845, Pico issued a new grant to Rancho La Puente. Made in July 1845,

1156-496: Was sold back to the Temple family by Baldwin in 1880—today's Workman and Temple Family Homestead is the 6-acre (24,000 m ) remnant of this property. Baldwin retained ownership of thousands of acres of Workman's former holdings until his death in 1909, though some land, notably for the town of Baldwin Park , was sold. In 1911, Baldwin's estate sold off more La Puente land for the subdivision of North Whittier Heights, now Hacienda Heights . The remaining historic sites left from

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