Editing El Monte, California (section)

==Origin of name==
El Monte is situated between the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo Rivers; a marshy area roughly where the [[Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area]] is now located. Residents claimed that anything could be grown in the area. Between 1770 and 1830, Spanish soldiers and missionaries often stopped here for respite. They called the area 'El Monte,' which in Spanish means  'the mountain' or 'the mount'.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n117 118]}}</ref>  Most people assume the name refers to a mountain, but there were no mountains in the valley.  The word is an archaic Spanish translation of that era, meaning "the wood".  The first explorers had found this a rich, low-altitude land blanketed with thick growths of wispy willows, alders, and cattails, located between the two rivers. Wild grapevines and watercress also abounded.  El Monte is approximately 7 miles long and 4 miles wide.<ref name="earthlink1">{{cite web |url=http://home.earthlink.net/~jackbarton/ElMonteHistory.htm |title=A Brief History Of El Monte |publisher=Home.earthlink.net |access-date=August 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100801231324/http://home.earthlink.net/~jackbarton/ElMonteHistory.htm |archive-date=August 1, 2010 }}</ref> When the State Legislature organized California into more manageable designated townships in the 1850s, they called it the El Monte Township. In a short time the name returned to the original El Monte.<ref name="El Monte City Website Heritage page">{{cite web |url=http://www.ci.el-monte.ca.us/aboutem/pdf/Heritage.pdf |title=City of El Monte |access-date=September 11, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830140210/http://www.ci.el-monte.ca.us/aboutem/pdf/Heritage.pdf |archive-date=August 30, 2007 }}</ref>