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As Portola proceeded further north, the Indians were found to be less hostile, and more easily brought into friendly relations. The route traversed by this party, as carefully worked out by Zoeth S. Eldridge, and confirmed by later historians, was as follows: “By the seashore past San Clemente and Catalina islands, to the site of the present city of Los Angeles; thence through the
San Fernando valley to the headwaters of the Santa Clara river; thence by the river valley to the sea again; thence past Points Conception and Sal to the extremity of the Santa Barbara Channel; thence inland to the site
of the Mission of San Luis Obispo;.thence through the Canada de los Osos to the sea at Morro Bay, and up the coast till progress was barred by the Sierra de Santa Lucia at Mount Mars. The Sierra crossed, the route lay by the Salinas river valley to the sea.” The latter point was reached September 30, 1769. The Salinas river, it should be noted, empties at a
