Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí journal
Juan Crespí, the designated diarist for the Portolá expedition, records his encounter with the Rio Porciúncula, or Los Angeles River: A “good-sized full-flowing river,” near the Arroyo Seco, “with very good water, pure and fresh, flowing through another very pleasant green valley lying westward,” and a “river bed about seven yards wide [that] flows from north-northwest, from the mountains.”
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