San Gregorio

The wells on this plaque are the residue of a bad afternoon. Anza's train reached San Gregorio on December 19, 1775 after four leagues over sand, and the waterhole looked adequate; within two hours it was dry with half the animals still unwatered. So they dug, deeper than a man is tall, into the bottom of the wash. Five head of cattle had died the day before. The expedition's own diary is where all of this comes from.

What the plaque says

San Gregorio Somewhere in this narrow valley, perhaps on this very spot, the Anza expeditions of 1774 and 1775 made their camps. Water for the 240 people and over 800 head of stock on the 1775 march was obtained from a series of wells, deeper than the height of a man, dug into the sandy bottom of the wash. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 673 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce, April 18, 1959.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Borrego Springs — 5.5 mi
  A dark-sky town ringed by state park, with 130 metal beasts loose in the desert around it.
• Anza-Borrego Desert State Park — 8.9 mi
  Six hundred thousand acres of badlands, slot canyons, and palm oases, and the biggest state park in California.

More markers nearby

• Peg Leg Smith Monument — 5.4 mi
• Los Puertecitos — 11 mi
• Santa Catarina — 14 mi
• San Felipe Valley and Stage Station — 15 mi