The Angeles National Forest

The name says timber and the argument was water. Burned and grazed slopes were sending floods down on the towns below, so irrigationists, the county supervisors and the Chamber of Commerce petitioned Washington, and on December 20, 1892 Benjamin Harrison withdrew 555,520 acres of the San Gabriels from settlement and entry. It was the first forest reserve in California. Sheep had been driven up to the alpine meadows every summer, and the few rangers sent to stop it struggled for years. The name changed to Angeles in 1908.

What the plaque says

This was the first National Forest in the State of California, second in the United States, created by proclamation, December 20, 1892, by President Benjamin Harrison. The first name given to the forest was "San Gabriel Timberland Reserve." It was changed to "San Gabriel National Forest," March 4, 1907, and then "Angeles National Forest," July 1, 1908. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 717 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the History and Landmarks Association of the San Fernando and Antelope Valley Parlors, Native Sons and Native Daughters of the Golden West; and Rancho San Fernando Parlor No. 285, Native Sons of the Golden West, January 31, 1960.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Colorado Street Bridge — 8.6 mi
  Beaux-Arts concrete arches curving 150 feet above the Arroyo Seco, opened in 1913 and later a link in Route 66.
• Mission San Gabriel Arcangel — 12 mi
  The fourth Alta California mission, built on Tongva land with Tongva labor, rebuilt after arson and now telling that story straight.
• Santa Monica Pier — 26 mi
  Where the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.

More markers nearby

• Christmas Tree Lane — 6.2 mi
• Catalina Adobe — 7.2 mi
• The Gamble House — 8.2 mi
• Pacific Asia Museum (Grace Nicholson's Treasure House of Oriental and Western Art) — 8.6 mi