Bunker Hill West - 1873

TL;DR -- Today we saw an old photo of a sketch which shows part of Bunker Hill West in the 1870s. That's early enough to be before lots of the changes introduced over the long span of US history. The English culture took over in 1847 from that of New Spain. And so, the area has lots of offer with respect to our interest in the long reach of New England. 

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Here we go with a post on LA, again. Yesterday, as we looked at New France and New Spain, we mentioned Bunker Hill West. In the early days, the hill overlooked bustling LA. Then, people built upon the hill. They tunneled under it to start to build on the other side. It was partly lowered starting in the 1960s. Now long after, the skyscrapers started to appear with the first one right by the Library which is about as old as the LA City Hall. 

This pointer is to a search on Los Angeles within our blog. There may be Bunker Hill posts that did not come up on the list. In any case, the below photo which is courtesy of the Water and Power Organization of Los Angeles, CA is from a sketch near what is now 9th Street looking north. To orient the view, the well-known City Hall is between Spring and Main Streets (shown converging here) eight blocks north above 1st Street. 

To the middle below the foothills is where one would find The Cathedral of the Angeles, not built yet. The train station is north of that. 

Of interest today are the hills on the left. If one follows the Fort Street line (left of Spring Street) up toward the hills to north, there is a building standing above the city. That was Fort Moore. Going to the left, one can see parts of Bunker Hill West. 

Prior posts had some information about the history of development of the hill. Today, we wanted to show a view indicating that there was a hill of size. According to Wikipedia, the elevation was up to 200 feet above Los Angeles. Naturally, there are higher hills including the massive 14k-foot  mountain within a morning's drive seen on the upper right. 

The Bunker Hill represents history, pre-US and post the events of 250 years ago. In this area, the culture changed several times in a manner that is representative of the changes in the US. The current stature of Bunker Hill is obvious in the photos of LA. The majority of the skyscrapers have their footing on the scraped down and leveled heights of the hill. 

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Caption of the photo: (ca. 1873)* – Panoramic sketch looking north toward downtown Los Angeles showing mostly undeveloped land.  At lower-right can be seen the junction of Main and Spring streets at a point where 9th Street will one day intersect.  Hill Street and Fort Street (later Broadway) are on the left.  The Verdugo Hills and snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains can be seen in the distance. Photo of a lithograph, courtesy of the California Historical Society. 

DTLA, 1873 

We are fortunate to have original photos, sketches, and paintings of the area. One hopes that these photos with provenance continue to be available in the age of mimic and copy in a manner that does not preserve the truth of the matter. 

But, that's a technology matter to be discussed further with an actionable focus. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/03/2025

10/03/2025 - 

States and watersheds

TL;DR -- We have lots of themes to research. Rivers will be a constant. Today, we look at watersheds, again. Too, we consider a map showing the findings of Powell as he explored the west. American would not be the same without its rivers. 

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We saw a map today that got our interest. Perhaps, at some point, we'll link to all of our posts that present a map as we continue our look at the history of the U.S. and its first colony of New England (mainly north) being respectful of the Native American culture as well as the incursions of New Spaiin and New France both of which left placenames in their language. 

Rivers are the focus today. We have many posts in on rivers and some on watersheds. And, we mentioned the Arkansas River in an earlier post today. Before making a few more remarks, here is a map related to the discussion. 

The United Watershed States of America

On the page providing this map, one can click on the map and get an enlarged view. The Arkansas River goes from Colorado, through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas before it flows into the Mississippi. It was this location where explorers out of New France (north of New York) saw artifacts from New Spain. 

It's worth mentioning that New Spain explorers were in the northern Kansas area in the middle of the 1500s. This trek was to find the cities of gold. We have a town El Dorado not far from the route taken by the Spaniards. 

Back to the map, it shows the route taken by John Wesley Powell in 1869. This was post-Civil War when the traffic to the west increased. 

Another reminder, Jedediah Strong Smith was in some of these areas in the 1820s. Having gone from New England to St. Louis, he went west and ventured into the moutains near Gardner River. He went south into the desert of Nevada and crossed the Mohave in the summer (first European to do so) ending up in LA where he was the "guest" of the Spanish Governor. Once released, he went north and east. He met his demise in Kansas at a site along the Cimarron River. 

Later, Judge Francis M. Thompson toured the area. Tour, of course, meaning on foot and horseback. Like Jedediah, he got to the left coast. On the way back, he spent time in Montana and helped the State get is legal footing. 

In all of these journeys on the land, we talked of rivers as means for transportation (Lewis & Clark) or barriers to progress. An, example might be the Lawrence, Kansas-bound group that founded the University of Kansas - they had to cross the Wakarusa having come from Massachusetts. That meant, breaking down the wagon, lowering it, getting across, raising it back up to high ground, putting it back together and then continuing. The Wakarusa was fairy tame compared to the wild western rivers that those of the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails coped with. 

We can now consider another aspect of rivers. There are many more aspects, but the watershed aspect is important. An example are the irrigation canals of the west, such as those in Utah and Idaho which supported agriculture. Of course, we learned to tame rivers for milling and transportation of goods. Our post on the Gardner mill of Salem, MA is an example of a multi-purpose mill. The canal laid out by George Washington and his crew along the Potamac is another early example. General George Washington was at the Siege of Boston and became the first President. Even Betsy made it up to see him. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/02/2025

10/02/2025 - 

New France

TL;DR -- Nutfield Genealogy motivated this post with their post. Amazing maps has been in our sight for a long while. The one we saw today is about New France which has not had the attention that is needed. So, we correct that. 

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When we started, our focus was New England. Then, we got into New Spain due to the California influence. We mentioned New France and probably ought to have looked further since we ran into it many times. One theme/meme that will continue is the long reach of New England. Also, all things Gardner is on the plate. Technology? What happened in 2025? AI is everywhere with mature voices with mathematical knowledge finally weighing. We'll take part in that discussion and the followup work. Another theme? The 250th U.S. as represented by D.A.R./S.A.R. and those of the other sides (loyalists, for example). 

Lots and lots of things to do, but here is a list of subjects which suggest future work.  

• Using Cape Ann, we learned about the commercial influence of the Dorchester Company. There seemed to be agreement about the events such as the 1623 overwintering, the 1624 arrival of the settlers, John Endicott's arrival, and then John Winthrop who disliked Salem and sailed off to Boston. In 2014, we found records in Dorset, UK. In 2023, a researcher went through all of the known records to find Gardner references. Pending is going through that and posing means to get the story in line with what we know and can know. See, Why is 2024 quiet? 
• President Jefferson dealt with Spain with regard to the Louisiana Territory. We can use Missouri as the focus for several reasons. Our research was focused in the middle of the country, with St. Louis being somewhat of a gateway, though there was movement both along the north and the south. Speaking of the south, regular coach traffic occurred between St. Louis and San Francisco. 
• We have to mention that the coach that ran across lower Arizona into California stopped in Los Angeles in the area now known as DTLA. We found out that a hill had been named after the battle site in Boston, Bunker Hill, which battle was part of the period of over a year noted as the Siege of Boston. Named Bunker Hill West, the area now hosts the skyscrapers associated with the LA skyline. Those bringing in the traffic from St. Louis and points east were of New England. That route met up with traffic from the lower part of Texas. And, in LA, there was serious New England influence. But, New Spain, too, was there earlier, leaving many place names of Spanish origin. 
• We looked at rivers, extensively which brings up a notion (below). Gardner River got attention a few years ago. But, the Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers will be featured with respect to travel to and in the central and west parts of the U.S. 

Today, we saw a share by another blog (Nutfield Genealogy) that got our attention. It showed the extent of New France which is far beyond what we consider when discussing the French-Indian affair or the Revolutionary War. This map comes from Amazing Maps which can be accessed through various social media. Using FB (Meta), one can access this map. 

We had written several years ago about the French being down in the Arkansas area at the same time that Thomas Gardner and others were founding New England which was a little bit of land shown in grey on the right. The blue shows the wanderings of the French. One tales recalls that a crew had crossed the Great Lakes to the area of nowadays Wisconsin, portaged down to a river than ran into the Mississippi. When they got to where the Arkansas River (out of the Rockies) met the Mississippi, the Frenchmen started to see the Native Americans with artifacts from Spain. They were not far from nowadays New Orleans at that time. 

Too, up in the northwest, later, there was disagreement amongst the travelers then, trappers and mountain men, about where the U.S. and Canada split. This was not settled until the 1840s. Those representing Canada's rights were of New France. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/02/2025

10/02/2025 -