Do Not Forget Ortega’s Legacy

* Re “Road To Remembrance” (April 12):

As a Californian whose family helped to establish missions, pueblos and presidios during the infancy of a land that was to emerge as California, I must urge that the name of Ortega Highway remain as a historical landmark to this particular part of the state.

I was born and raised in California, where my family first set roots when then-Sgt. Jose Francisco Ortega was sent as scout for the Father Serra/Portola expeditionary force.

The purpose of going north was to ensure Spanish control of this West Coast. This trek resulted in Ortega’s first sighting of the San Francisco estuary and his naming the area around it “Valle de Yerba Buena.” The party’s traveling route become known as El Camino Real (the Royal Highway).

It was along this way that the missions and pueblos were established. Both Fathers Serra and Lasuen used the services of Ortega in helping to set up many of the missions. Ortega’s descendants did much to build up many of the areas where their families settled.

I’m a fifth-generation Californian, one of many of Jose Francisco and Maria Antonia Victoria Carrillo Ortega’s descendants. This Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano is a historical reference to the Spanish era on which this great state was built.

Do not obliterate the past of California. Create something new of value and significance to honor those faithful, loyal firefighters. Make their remembrance a freeway, a toll road or a monument a new inspiration and part of present-day history for Southern California.

EMILY ORTEGA MAHLER

Brea

* Should the Ortega Highway be renamed to honor the state’s firefighters? Of course not!

The Ortega Highway has a name that is rich in the history of early California and is directly connected to the historic Mission San Juan Capistrano.

These landmarks are a romantic and accurate part of our state’s history. They encompass the settlement of the entire part of this area, from Loreto in Mexico to the San Francisco area.

We all have the highest respect for our firefighters, and feel that they should be honored. Perhaps their heroic effort in the Laguna fire a few years ago could be acknowledged by naming Laguna Canyon Road in their honor.

Or that new stretch of road, now known as “the 73 toll road,” could be named after these firefighters.

JACK SMITH

Lake Forest