Zero In on the AMERICA 250 Trail

The young man was running at a good clip. The dirt path below his feet was well-worn. He wore no clothing aside from a braided belt. It was a warm early August afternoon and the sun shone over his shoulders as he traveled east, casting a dancing shadow ahead. A turn to the south and his destination was revealed. Many dozens of dark conical-shaped huts dotted the horizon and the distant sound of laughter broke the air. Following behind, you enter the Tongva village of Tujunga. It was Aug. 5, 1769, and a runner had just arrived with news from Siutcanga.

As the villagers noted his arrival, they dropped what they were doing. A group of children nearby ceased playing. Numerous women near the river stopped grinding nuts and headed for the village center. A group of men stretching hides put their braided ropes aside and joined the group. The growing commotion alerted the village chieftain who eagerly arrived with his wife to hear the news from across the valley, an area we now know as Encino.

The runner took a moment to collect his breath then began to recount the mysterious guests who had arrived in Siutcanga earlier that day. He spoke of their hard, sun-reflective headpieces and clothing of many colors covering their bodies. He said they gave beads as gifts then raised his hand to expose a beautiful black glass bead that had come from these strange visitors who called themselves Spaniards.

Runners had spread out across the valley with this news and by late afternoon hundreds of native Tongva had arrived at Siutcanga from villages far and wide to see this spectacle for themselves. This group of some 60 Spaniards were on an expedition they called Mission to Paradise. They were journeying north under the command of the Spanish king to secure these lands for his monarchy. At this same time, things were very different 2,600 miles away in Boston. The British had landed a large contingent of redcoats in the city and tempers were flaring.

In March 1770, outside the Boston Royal Customs House, redcoats fired upon a group of American resistance. The first to die that day was Crispus Attucks. He was of Native American and African descent and is traditionally regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre and therefore the first American killed in the Revolution.

Hence, from that spark came a flame that could not be extinguished. Winning the Revolutionary War set America on a path of Manifest Destiny. Maps were drawn showing the western boundaries of the 13 colonies extending to the Mississippi River and beyond. As we know, all of this spelled disaster for the indigenous peoples across this nation. 

I find it fascinating that as the Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776, Tongva men wore virtually no clothing. The women had skirts, often made of rabbit fur, and were topless. In colder weather, they wore capes of fur over their shoulders. The Tongva stewarded these mountains and valleys for thousands of years before Westerners arrived and we are blessed to live, work and pursue happiness on their traditional lands.

In 1976, as part of the national 200-year celebration, a group of Sunland-Tujunga self-proclaimed old timers gathered to create what they called the Bicentennial Trail of local historic locations. I’ve rebranded this self-guided tour as the AMERICA 250 Trail and intend to share, over the coming weeks, many of the 25 locations highlighted there. The trail begins with item zero – the Ancient Tongva Village of Tujunga, some 100 yards south of the junction of Orcas Avenue and Foothill Boulevard. And so, just as the old timers prescribed, we’ve begun with what came before.

As an aside, in 1964 archaeologists digging at the site of the ancient village uncovered a beautiful, solitary, black glass bead.