And now I return to yesteryear to take another whack at that ornery ol' San Jose Township, circa 1870 or so, give or take some. There were some appreciative notes in this morning's E-mail, so I guess I won't get yelled at anyway, even though this flu bug has reduced my brain to rubble. I suppose I should have done San Jose Township as below in the first place, but live and learn. Source: Reproduction of "History of Los Angeles County California..." [long title], Thompson & West, publishers, Oakland, CA, 1880. SAN JOSE TOWNSHIP: "San Jose is the most westerly of those townships which extend southward from the base of Soledad township. It is long and irregular in outline, and is bounded on the south by the northern point of the Santa Ana township. It contains within its limits, the following ranchos: -- [table listing Ranchos Rincon De La Brea ("a part"), Los Nogales, San Jose, and La Puente ("a part")]." [...omission here...] "In the _News_ of April 16, 1867, we find the following account of the San Jose valley: -- 'The valley of San Jose is situated about twenty-four miles from the city of Los Angeles. It is a continuation of the Puente valley, beginning at the San Gabriel river and following the meanderings of the Puente, or San Jose creek, a distance of eighteen miles, skirted on the south by the hills of the lower coast range and upon the north by the foot-hills of the coast range of the great Sierra Nevadas.'" [i.e., the San Gabriel Mountains] Now, I'll try to locate the bugger better. The most appropriate map I have, so far, is in "Los Angeles In Civil War Days, 1860-65," by John W. Robinson, Dawson's Book Shop (publisher), 1977. MOST of what must be San Jose Township is off of this map -- not shown. And mind, what is shown is the ranchos, NOT townships. At the very eastern edge of the map I see only the very westernmost tips of Rancho San Jose and Rancho Los Nogales. San Jose Township includes Ranchos Rincon de la Brea (in part), Los Nogales, San Jose, and La Puente (in part). It SEEMS like the western 3/4 of Rancho La Puente was in El Monte Twp., and the eastern 1/4 of Rancho La Puente was in San Jose Twp. It also looks like the southwestern corner of San Jose Twp. was occupied by a part of Rancho Rincon de la Brea. OK. Where is that? If I compare the Civil War-era map to my Mobil road atlas, there are two wonderful features. On a modern map, find the Upper Newport Bay in Newport Beach, Orange County, and draw a line from there exactly straight due north. Now find Venice/Marina del Rey/Ballona Creek (north of LAX) and draw a line from there exactly straight due east. The two lines intersect at old Rancho Rincon de la Brea, and Rancho Rincon de la Brea APPEARS to mark the more or less southwest corner limit of San Jose Twp. If you extend the line north from Upper Newport Bay all the way to the San Gabriel Mountains, San Jose Twp. should be east of that. If you extend the line from Venice clear to the L.A. County line, San Jose Twp. should be north of that. Thus, these modern-day places would have been in San Jose Twp.: Eastern Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, Pomona, and Claremont. Then we hit San Bernardino County east of that. (No, I am not sure where that line was in 1870.) Gary Radcliffe wrote privately: "What, I wonder, is the difference between San Jose Twp. and the San Jose Addition?" DON'T CONFUSE San Jose Twp. with Rancho San Jose. The township includes the rancho, plus other ranchos. As to what the "Addition" is, I have no guess. The "History of Los Angeles County, California" book does not mention it. Gary let slip that he has a map of the San Jose Addition, so I guess that makes him vulnerable to look-up requests. OK. Gosh, San Jose Twp. is such a nuissance! Lester Powers (and his flu bug pals) lesterps@juno.com ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.