Editing El Monte, California (section)

===1800s===
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2021}}

The [[Old Spanish Trail (trade route)|Old Spanish Trail]] trade route was first established by [[Antonio Armijo]] in 1829. It passed through El Monte to its terminus at the Mission San Gabriel via what is now [[Valley Boulevard]].  The trade was woolen and other products from New Mexico for California horses and mules.

Using the Old Spanish Trail route at the end of 1841, a group of travelers and settlers, now referred to as the [[John A. Rowland#Workman-Rowland Party|Workman-Rowland Party]], arrived in the [[Pueblo of Los Angeles]] and this area in [[Alta California]] from [[Santa Fe de Nuevo México]].  Rowland and Workman became grantees of the Rancho La Puente in 1845.

The Old Spanish Trail from [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] was continued east via the [[Santa Fe Trail]] trade route, established in 1821 as a trail and wagon road connecting [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] in [[Missouri Territory]] to Santa Fe, still within México.<ref name="villageprofile.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.villageprofile.com/california/elmonte/02/topic.html |title=El Monte CA &#124; History - Presented by Village Profile |publisher=Villageprofile.com |access-date=August 3, 2010}}</ref>[[File:OldSpanishTrail.png|200px|right|thumb|The route of the Old Spanish Trail]]

From 1847, the Santa Fe Trail was also connected westward through the [[Southern Emigrant Trail]], and in 1848 by the [[Mormon Road]] from Utah, passing by the El Monte area, to the Pueblo of Los Angeles.  Immigrant settlement began in 1848, El Monte was a stopping place for the American immigrants going to the gold fields during the [[California Gold Rush]]. The first permanent residents arrived in El Monte around 1849–1850 mostly from [[Texas]], [[Arkansas]] and [[Missouri]], during a time when thousands migrated to California in search of gold. The first settlers with families were Nicholas Schmidt, Ira W. Thompson, G. and F. Cuddeback, J. Corbin, and J. Sheldon.

These migrants ventured upon the bounty of fruitful, rich land along the [[San Gabriel River (California)|San Gabriel River]] and began to build homesteads there. The farmers were very pleased at the increasing success of El Monte's agricultural community, and it steadily grew over the years.<ref name="villageprofile.com"/>

In the 1850s the settlement was briefly named Lexington by American settlers, but soon returned to being called El Monte or Monte. It was at the crossroad of routes between Los Angeles, [[San Bernardino]], and the natural harbor at [[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro]].  In the early days, it had a reputation as a rough town where men often settled disputes with knives and guns in its gambling saloons. Defense against Indian raids and the crimes of bandit gangs, such as that of [[Joaquin Murrieta]], led to the formation of a local militia company called the [[Monte Rangers]] in February 1854.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/MonteRangers.html |title=Monte Rangers |website=Militarymuseum.org |date=February 8, 2016 |access-date=June 6, 2017}}</ref> After the Monte Rangers disbanded, justice for [[Los Angeles County]], in the form of volunteer [[wikt:posse|posse]]s, as in the 1857 hunt for the bandit gang of [[Juan Flores (outlaw)|Juan Flores]] and [[Pancho Daniel]], or a [[lynching]], was often provided by the local vigilantes called the "El Monte Boys".

In 1858 the adobe Monte Station was established, a stagecoach stop on the [[Butterfield Overland Mail in California|Butterfield Overland Mail Section 2]] route.

By 1861 El Monte had become a sizeable settlement, and during the [[American Civil War]] was considered a Confederate stronghold sympathetic to the [[secession]] of Southern California from California to support the [[Confederate States of America]].<ref name="clendenen309">{{cite journal|last1=Clendenen|first1=Clarence C.|author-link=Clarence C. Clendenen|title=Dan Showalter: California Secessionist|journal=California Historical Society Quarterly|date=December 1961|volume=40|issue=4|pages=309–325|doi=10.2307/25155429|jstor=25155429}}</ref> [[A. J. King]] an Undersheriff of Los Angeles County (and former member of the earlier "Monte Rangers" or "Monte Boys") with other influential men in El Monte, formed a secessionist militia company, like the [[Los Angeles Mounted Rifles]], called the Monte Mounted Rifles on March 23, 1861. However, the attempt failed when following the [[battle of Fort Sumter]], A. J. King marched through the streets with a portrait of the Confederate General [[P. G. T. Beauregard]] and was arrested by a [[U.S. Marshal]].  State arms sent from Governor [[John G. Downey]] for the unit were held up by Union officers at the port of [[San Pedro, Los Angeles, California|San Pedro]].  Union troops established [[New Camp Carleton]] near the town in March 1862 to suppress any rebellion, it was shut down three years later at the end of the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/CpCarlton.html |title=Historic California Posts: Camp Carleton (Camp Banning, Camp Prentis, New Camp Carleton) |website=Militarymuseum.org |date=February 8, 2016 |access-date=June 6, 2017}}</ref>

El Monte was listed as a township in the 1860 and 1870 Censuses, with a population of 1,004 in 1860 and 1,254 in 1870.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.lawesterners.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/249-BI_249.pdf|title=What a Difference a Decade Makes: Ethnic and Racial Demographic Change in Los Angeles County during the 1860s |author=Paul R. Spitzzeri|journal=Branding Iron|date=Fall 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1860/population/1860a-06.pdf# |title=Population of the United States in 1860: California |author=U.S. Census Bureau|author-link=U.S. Census Bureau }}</ref>  The 1860 township comprised several of the old ranchos in the El Monte area, including [[Rancho Potrero Grande]], [[Rancho La Puente]] and [[Rancho La Merced]].  (This area presently includes the cities of El Monte, [[Monterey Park, California|Monterey Park]] and [[La Puente, California|La Puente]], among others).  The 1870 census added in the former Azusa township.

[[Southern Pacific Transportation Company|Southern Pacific]] built a railroad depot in town in 1873, stimulating the growth of local agriculture.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Related Articles |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1076729/Gays-Lion-Farm |title=Gay's Lion Farm (farm, El Monte, California, United States) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |access-date=August 3, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.co.jp/azbrowse/g/g24.html |title=ブリタニカ・ジャパン - Encyclopædia Britannica A-Z Browse |publisher=Britannica.co.jp |access-date=August 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718185525/http://www.britannica.co.jp/azbrowse/g/g24.html |archive-date=July 18, 2011 }}</ref>