Red Hill

Both plaques stand at a school on Red Hill Avenue; the hill itself rises a little to the south, above La Colina. Neither says why it is red. The colour is cinnabar, and the mining excitement the Scout plaque mentions was for mercury, the county's only deposit, worked on and off for some sixty years. Under the ranchos the hill was the survey point where Santiago de Santa Ana, San Joaquin and Lomas de Santiago met. The DAR chapter that cast the 1969 bronze took its name from the one it credits to the Indians, meaning the Tongva: Katuktu.

What the plaque says

Red Hill A promontory which served as a landmark for early travelers. It was called "Katuktu" by the Indians. Dedicated and marked by Katuktu Chapter, NSDAR October 1969 No. 203 Red Hill In early descriptions it was known as Cerrito De Las Ranas, meaning the Hill of the Frogs. In the 1890s this hill became the scene of mining excitement. Its soil composition, very red in color, had caused early American settlers to name it Red Hill. This landmark is a physical reminder of our rich State and local history. Presented by: Michael B. Cross, Boy Scout Troop 323 April 2005

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Planes of Fame Air Museum — 18 mi
  On the field where the country smelted its surplus warplanes — and about thirty of the aircraft here still fly.
• Puvungna — 19 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.
• California Citrus State Historic Park — 23 mi
  A state park that is still a working orange grove — the last big piece of Riverside's citrus landscape left standing.
• Sherman Institute & the Sherman Indian Museum — 24 mi
  The federal Indian boarding school Riverside lobbied to get — still a school today, its 1902 building now a museum.

More markers nearby

• Orange County's Original Courthouse — 4.4 mi
• Old Town Irvine — 6.0 mi
• Old Santa Ana — 6.3 mi
• Don Bernardo Yorba Ranchhouse Site — 7.5 mi