Sylmar Trivia Tuesday! October 29, 2024

Sylmar Neighborhood Council's Trivia Tuesday!

The name Sylmar means?
A.) Evergreen
B.) Sea of Trees
C.) Foothills

The answer is B!

Sylmar means "Sea of Trees"

Fifteen hundred years before the Spainards explored the possibilities of the vast areas of the land grants awarded by the King of Spain in the 1770s, the Shoshone people, also known as Tataviam, lived and roamed in the area we now know as Sylmar. They had migrated from Nevada and Western Arizona, probably driven west by tribes fiercer than they.

The Shoshone built tule grass and willow branch wicki-ups, found ample food and water from springs, and traded with friendly tribes as far away as Catalina Island and Arizona. They once numbered as many as 150,000 throughout Alta California, but by 1920 the U.S. Census showed only 17,000 remained.

The San Fernando Mission, Mission San Fernando Rey de España, was founded on September 8, 1797. In the 1820s, a mission father by the name of Iballa planted four young olive tree seedlings from Spain, thus becoming somewhat responsible for the olive trees Sylmar would be known for.

The history of Sylmar is often intertwined with that of San Fernando, although the latter incorporated as its own city on September 16, 1874. Upon learning of the new city, businessman Robert Widney published a pamphlet about the area’s perfect weather and soil for growing olives. Lured by his favorable description, a group of Decatur, Illinois businessmen bought 2,000 acres east of the railroad tracks and south of Roxford Street. By 1890, they had planted 1,100 acres of olives.

Calling themselves the Los Angeles Olive Growers Association, they built a packing plant and sold olives initially under Tyler Olives and later under the Sylmar Packing label. Sylmar olives became famous throughout the state for their sweetness and purity. One particular challenge was providing water for the young trees, which were watered with buckets from a horse-drawn flatbed wagon.

It took the engineering genius of William Mulholland to bring water from the High Sierra Mountains to Sylmar and the rest of the San Fernando Valley through the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Part of the aqueduct is a series of Cascades, clearly visible from the I-5, which were opened on November 13, 1913. Local stories state that William Mulholland stood on the foothills near the site of the planned aqueduct and noted that the wind caused the green and silver leaves of the olive farms to look like waves crashing against the mountains. He noticed the reason for the name Sylmar, Sea of Trees. The annexation of Sylmar and the rest of the San Fernando Valley to the City of Los Angeles followed on May 22, 1915.

In 1946, the Sylmar population was around 15,000. In 1958, when the Chamber was renamed, the number grew to 18,000. By 2004, the population has grown to 74,839 residents. As of January 2009, the population is closer to 90,000 residents.

Information Credit - Sylmar Chamber of Commerce - https://sylmarchamber.com/history.html#Tataviam

More information: https://www.sfvhs.com/