Crespi Foresaw Potential of Valley

Twenty-eight years before another Franciscan priest would found the Mission San Fernando, a short, pale missionary named Juan Crespi recorded the first impressions Europeans had of what was to become the San Fernando Valley.

In his journal, Crespi described a “vastly lush” valley, studded with oaks and sycamores, that he accurately predicted would make a good spot to build a town. Crespi was one of two Franciscans accompanying 61 Spanish soldiers on an expedition in search of Monterey Bay.

The explorers left San Diego on July 14, 1769, and reached the top of Sepulveda Pass on Aug. 5. Crespi named the rich valley below him Santa Catalina de Bononia to celebrate the feast day of St. Catherine of Bologna.

The explorers camped near a warm pool in what is now Los Encinos State Historic Park and were warmly greeted by the natives there. Crespi noted that they played well-made flutes and, using the vocabulary of the time, wrote: “Indeed, these heathen folk have pleased us a great deal, having been (as they have) spending the whole day sitting with us, entirely without weapons or fear, as though they had been dealing with us forever.”

The expedition would later discover San Francisco Bay and return to the valley area, passing through Agoura and the valley floor.

Crespi’s diaries give historians a rare and intimate look into the exploration of early California.

He died in 1782, at the age of 61, and is buried at Mission Carmel.