The beautiful San Gabriel Mountains have a rugged, steep southern ridge and a taller northern ridge, the two being separated from one another by a series of east-west canyons. They run along the San Gabriel Fault, once a main part of the San Andreas Fault, and contain the east and west forks of the San Gabriel River. Although Mount Wilson is over 5,700 feet high, there is a large group of mountain peaks which rise to more than 9,000 feet, including Mount Baldy and Mount Baden-Powell.
Eaton Canyon lies nestled in the foothills of these San Gabriel Mountains, just a stone's throw from downtown Los Angeles. Originally called "El Precipicio" by the Spanish settlers because of its steep gorges, it is now named after Judge Benjamin Eaton, who built the first Fair Oaks Ranch House in 1865 not far from Eaton Creek. Judge Eaton was the first to use irrigation from the creek to grow grapes on the slopes. He was also instrumental in the development of the Mount Wilson Toll Road in 1891, and proposed a tramway to Mount Wilson which later was built to Mount Lowe instead.
Most of the 190 acres that presently make up the Eaton Canyon Natural Area lie on the northern boundaries of the old San Pasqual and Santa Anita Ranches on county-designated Southern Pacific Railroad land. Since the railroad did not use the land, it was open for homesteading.
Today the City of Pasadena and parts of Altadena, which it serves, receive about 40% of their water from local sources, 50% from Colorado River water, and 10% from Northern California.
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (Thanks to Kate Lain for her research)
Pre-7000 B.C.: Hokan-speaking peoples are believed to have
arrived in southern California
ca. 2000 B.C. - ca. A.D. 700: Uto-Aztecan peoples arrive in
southern California, displacing Hokan-speaking peoples
1771: San Gabriel Mission is founded; local native people are
sent to the mission
1826: Rancho San Pascual set aside for Eulalia Pérez de
Guillen; it is later deeded to her second husband, then to José Perez
and Henrique Sepulveda; it is finally granted to Manuel Garfias in 1843
1833: Missions begin to be secularized
1841: Rancho Santa Anita granted to Hugo Reid
1862: Eliza Johnston, widow of Confederate Army General Albert
Sidney Johnston, buys land near Eaton Wash; she builds a house on the
land and names it “Fair Oaks;” she leaves the ranch in 1863
1865: Judge Benjamin Eaton moves into the Fair Oaks Ranch
house
1869: James Craig buys a 5,000-acre tract east of Lake Avenue
January 27, 1874: Indiana Colony, later renamed Pasadena, is
founded
1876: Benjamin Eaton sells the Fair Oaks Ranch to James
Fillmore Crank
1877: In August, John Muir ventures through Eaton Canyon and
stays in a man’s cabin there; the following month, Carlos Cruz moves
into a cabin in the meadow with his family; he grows grapes, fruit and
olive trees, and a field of barley; he later builds a new house in the
meadow area
1878: William Allen buys the area north of New York Drive; he
names it Sphinx Ranch
1880s-1890s: gold veins discovered in Eaton Canyon
1880: Abbot Kinney purchases 500+ acres of land above and to
the east of Eaton Wash
1882: Crank family builds the second Fair Oaks Ranch house
1883: Charles J. Fox buys 108+ acres of land from Carlos Cruz
for $2000 in gold coin; Mary Beatrice Fox, daughter of Charles Fox,
later inherits the estate
1884: William Henninger moves onto the flats above Eaton Wash
Late 1880s: British Army Captain Arthur Hutchinson, friend of
the Allens and the Foxes, builds a cabin on a small plateau above the
north end of the meadow; he lives there for some time before he and his
wife, Sadie Patton (cousin of General George S. Patton), move to Tulare
County
1891: Mt. Wilson Toll Road is constructed; first toll house is
built on the east bank of Eaton Wash
December 20, 1892: San Gabriel Timberland Reserve, the first
forest reserve in California, set aside; it later becomes part of the
Angeles National Forest
Early 1910s: Altadena Drive is extended to Lake Avenue; Eaton
Canyon bridge is built; the second toll house is built on Altadena Drive
at the start of the Mount Wilson Toll Road; the original toll house on
east bank is taken over by Los Angeles County Forestry Division
1911: Emil Bruno Gunther, a naturalized German, moves onto
land on the bank of Eaton Wash with his wife, Almira, and their three
boys; the Gunthers finish their house the following year; they receive
40 acres via the Homestead Act in 1915
1912: Summer cabin sites in the Angeles National Forest are
made available for lease to the public; cabins are built on the Eaton
Canyon Tract in upper Eaton Canyon in the subsequent years
1914: Charles J. Fox retires and builds Rockwood, later
renamed Fox Ridges, and moves into it with his family
1915: Emil Bruno Gunther founds Camp Idle Hour in upper Eaton
Canyon; the camp eventually closes down in 1929
1928: Sphinx Ranch home is torn down for a subdivision
1930: Pasadena-owned land in Eaton Canyon and Eaton Wash is
declared a bird and game sanctuary
1938: Heavy rains cause extensive flooding in San Gabriels,
prompting the closure of many popular mountain resorts; the wooden
bridge crossing Eaton Canyon is destroyed
Early 1940s: California Institute of Technology builds
laboratories and experimental stations in Kinneloa area as part of the
secret Eaton Canyon Project to develop and manufacture rockets for World
War II
1950: Mary Beatrice Fox sells the canyon portion of her
property to Los Angeles County for a park, with a provision that mammals
are not to be kept in cages
1958: Miss Louise A. Luckan moves her nature appreciation
operation from the Eaton Canyon Golf Course to Eaton Canyon Park; she is
forced to retire in 1962
1963: First nature center is built; it is dedicated and is
named after Robert McCurdy, an outstanding civic leader in Pasadena
1969: Thirty-five inches of rain produce floods that wash out
the El Dorado Restaurant (just south of the park), large chunks of land
on either side of the wash, many oaks, sycamores, and other plants;
Eaton Canyon streambed more than doubles in width
1978: Eaton Canyon’s first docent volunteers are trained
1979: Pinecrest fire burns much of the area in and around
Eaton Canyon
1993: Fire ravages much of Eaton Canyon and the surrounding
area; nature center building burns to the ground
1998: New nature center building opens
rev. 8/16/2002 Kate Lain