[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 16, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E161-E162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES CELEBRATES ITS 150TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 16, 2000

  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, as the senior member of the Los Angeles 
County Congressional delegation, I am honored to pay tribute to the 
County of Los Angeles on its 150th anniversary.
  On August 1, 1769, a Spanish expedition under the command of Gaspar 
de Portola came upon an Indian village called Yang-na along the banks 
of a river which Portola named El Rio de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los 
Angeles de Porciuncula, (the River of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels 
of Porciuncula), which was quickly shortened to Los Angeles. This was 
the site of present-day Los Angeles, but the Spanish did not return to 
Los Angeles until 1781, when a party of 44 colonists from Mexico was 
settled by Don Felipe de Neve, California's provincial governor, as 
part of Spain's effort to strengthen its control over its territories 
in the north. These first Angelinos fashioned a crude settlement to 
produce grain, just as the friars of San Gabriel Mission had done for a 
decade.
  Americans first arrived in Los Angeles by way of nearby San Pedro, 
then an unimproved roadstead port. Beginning in 1805, U.S. vessels 
traded intermittently with the area's farmers and, in 1818, Joseph 
Chapman, a crew member, stayed long enough to help with construction of 
the town's first church. In 1826, the fur trapper Jedidiah Smith became 
the first white man to reach Los Angeles by traveling overland from the 
Missouri frontier, but he was followed by few others. It was not until 
the 1830s, with the arrival of whaling and seal hunting ships, that 
Americans became a regular presence in the provincial community.
  Los Angeles had been affected little by the revolution that replaced 
Spanish rule with that of an independent Mexican government in 1821. 
Mexico's Congress declared Los Angeles the capital of California in 
1835, but the provincial governor refused to move south from San 
Francisco, so the city's relative isolation and the local authority of 
its prosperous farmers and ranchers remained unthreatened. By the 
1840's, Los Angeles had become the largest settlement in Southern 
California, attracting its first party of American pioneers, led by 
William Workman and John Rowland, in 1841.
  The Mexican-American War of 1846 ushered in a new era for Los 
Angeles. The city was occupied in August by U.S. troops under Commodore 
Robert Field Stockton and Captain John C. Fremont, but the 50-man 
garrison left to hold the farm town was driven out by local residents a 
few months later. Stockton returned in January 1847, supported by land 
troops from New Mexico under General Stephen Watts Kearny, and retook 
the city in a battle with Mexican forces
  American influence grew steadily thereafter, with the first English-
language school and the

[[Page E162]]

first Protestant church arriving in 1850, the same year Los Angeles was 
officially incorporated and named the county seat. During the Gold Rush 
years in northern California, Los Angeles became known as the ``Queen 
of the Cow Counties'' for its role in supplying beef and other 
foodstuffs to hungry miners.
  In 1876, seven years after the completion of the transcontinental 
railroad, Los Angeles was finally connected to the nation's rail system 
when the Union Pacific put in a line from San Francisco. The next year, 
local growers sent off their first carload of oranges, adding a new 
agricultural industry to the County's economy. Then, in 1885, the Santa 
Fe Railroad reached Los Angeles with a line that connected directly to 
eastern markets and touched off a fare war with the Union Pacific that 
would bring rates as low as one dollar for the trip west from St. 
Louis. Within a few years, more than 100,000 newcomers had arrived in 
the area, creating a real estate boom that drove land prices skyward.
  Oil became a key ingredient in the Los Angeles economy in 1892, when 
Edward L. Doheny and Charles A. Canfield drilled the first well in a 
resident's front lawn. Soon there were 1,400 wells within the city and 
more in the surrounding area. By this time, however, Los Angeles was 
beginning to fear a shortage of water. Located in a semi-desert region, 
it required more than El Rio de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles, 
now called the Los Angeles River, to sustain its growing population and 
expanding industries. In 1904, William Mulholland, chief engineer of 
the Lost Angeles water department, proposed bringing water by aqueduct 
across the Mojave Desert from the Sierra Nevada range, and by 1908 the 
project was underway. In just five years, Mulholland constructed an 
aqueduct more than 200 miles long, running through 142 tunnels, tapping 
the Owens River, and virtually opened the floodgates on a milestone in 
the engineering and environmental history of the West.
  The early decades of the 20th century also saw the completion of Los 
Angeles harbor in 1914, just in time to profit from the shipping 
traffic working its way up the California coast from the newly 
completed Panama Canal. Los Angeles became the home of the American 
motion picture industry in these decades as well. Producers flocked 
there for the steady sunlight, which was vital to the outdoor filming 
techniques of the time, and found that Los Angeles could provide a 
variety of backdrops, ranging from desert wilderness to awesome snow-
capped peaks. Beginning in 1911, they settled in a community that had 
been established by a pious land speculator during the boom years of 
the 1880's--a community that turned into the legendary Hollywood we 
know today.
  The population of Los Angeles soared, doubling by the 1920's. The war 
years brought more manufacturing and industry and, with it, more 
people. Los Angeles today is a diverse County, ethnically and 
economically. It has become one of the United States' major urban 
centers. It is a leading manufacturing, commercial, transportation, 
financial, and international trade center. Aerospace production has 
flourished, and the entertainment industry has broadcasting as well as 
production centers in the area. Tourism is an anchor of the Los Angeles 
economy. There is an
  Today, instead of Los Angeles' riches coming from the surrounding 
hills of gold, our riches come from the great wealth of people, 
culture, and diversity. As the largest County in California, with an 
economy larger than all but eight countries in the world, we owe our 
prosperity to the men and women who have sacrificed and dedicated their 
lives to the social and economic strength of our County.
  Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola bestowed upon us the name, the 
City of Angels. Today, the County of Los Angeles will begin a year-long 
celebration of its 150th anniversary. During this historic celebration, 
I encourage the people of the County to make a personal covenant with 
each other to honor our history, respect our diversity, and challenge 
ourselves to ensure a prosperous future.
  The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has proclaimed February 
18, 19, and 20, 2000 as ``Los Angeles County's 150th Birthday Days,'' 
beginning with special open houses sponsored by various County 
departments, opening the County's museums and gardens free to the 
public, a parade of Nations with hundreds of floats and marching bands, 
and a Festival of Nations with over 35 countries participating with 
native costumes, food, arts and crafts, and music.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating the 
County of Los Angeles on its 150th anniversary. Our golden history is 
reflected throughout the County and is a constant reminder of the 
wealth of opportunity that continues to grace the people of the County 
of Los Angeles.

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