Old Santa Ana

California's written record of earthquakes begins at this river. On July 28, 1769, the Portolá expedition camped on its bank opposite a Tongva village and was shaken by three tremors. The diarist had no clock, so he timed the first by the length of a Creed and the others by a Hail Mary, and named the stream the River of the Earthquakes. The soldiers called it the Santa Ana, and their name stuck. Aftershocks followed the column for days; one researcher has proposed a quake above magnitude seven that raised the coast. The bronze mentions none of it.

What the plaque says

Old Santa Ana Portola camped on bank of Santa Ana River in 1769. Jose Antonio Yorba, member of expedition, later returned to Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. El Camino Real crossed river in this vicinity. Place was designated Santa Ana by travelers, and known by that name until present town of Santa Ana was founded. Historical Landmark No. 204 California State Park Commission.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Planes of Fame Air Museum — 16 mi
  On the field where the country smelted its surplus warplanes — and about thirty of the aircraft here still fly.
• Puvungna — 16 mi
  The Acjachemen and Tongva place of creation: twenty-two acres of open ground on a university campus, still not in the hands of its people.
• Graber Olive House — 20 mi
  The oldest business in Ontario, a cannery of five hundred brine vats — shut since the pandemic and in foreclosure.
• Domínguez Rancho Adobe — 21 mi
  The first Spanish land grant in California contained the whole harbor, and in 1846 fifty Californio lancers turned back three hundred Marines on it.

More markers nearby

• North Gate of City of Anaheim — 4.1 mi
• Don Bernardo Yorba Ranchhouse Site — 4.3 mi
• Pioneer House of the Mother Colony — 4.7 mi
• Olinda — 5.9 mi