Editing Val Verde, California (section)

=== Spanish and Mexican era ===
Spanish colonization of the region began in the late 1700s. With the establishment of the [[San Fernando Rey de Espana Mission|San Fernando Rey de España Mission]] in 1797, the native populations around this mission, named ''fernandeños'' by the Spanish, were relocated from their ancestral settlements, referred to as ''[[ranchería]]s'', to the mission where they were coerced into conversion and forced labor with the purpose of Christianization and assimilation. By 1810, nearly the entire Tataviam population had been displaced to the mission lands and baptized under the Spanish mission system. In 1804, the [[Santa Clarita Valley]] began to be used by the Spanish when the missionaries established the San Francisco Xavier [[Estancia]] near the Santa Clara and Castaic confluence to supplement agricultural and livestock production for the San Fernando Mission using native labor.<ref name="Worden199608282">{{cite news |last=Worden |first=Leon |date=August 28, 1996 |title=Latins Invade, Conquer Western SCV |work=The Signal |url=http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/worden/lw082896.htm |access-date=March 8, 2011}}</ref>

Following the independence of Mexico, the missions went through a process of secularization and mission lands were inventoried and sold off by the government as [[Ranchos of California|''ranchos'']]; the lands were supposed to be returned to the natives who had belonged to the missions, but this principle was not followed. The former estancia lands were sold as [[Rancho San Francisco]] by California governor [[Juan Bautista Alvarado]] to his friend lieutenant Antonio del Valle on January 22, 1839.<ref name="Worden199608282" /> The northern boundaries of this rancho ran along the north bank of the Santa Clara River up to an area near the current intersection of Chiquito Canyon Road and Henry Mayo Drive and up along the mountains east of Val Verde.

In 1842 Francisco López, a relative of Del Valle, found gold in Placerita Canyon, leading to a small local gold rush in which Mexican settlers, many of them from [[Sonora]], came to the rancho to mine gold.<ref name="coinage2">{{cite news |last=Worden |first=Leon |date=October 2005 |title=California's REAL First Gold |work=COINage magazine |url=http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/coins/worden-coinage1005.htm |access-date=April 16, 2007}}</ref> The original settlement of Val Verde was a short-lived boom town built by [[Californio|colonial Mexican]] settlers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Worden |first=Leon |date=July 24, 1996 |title=Renaissance for 'Black Palm Springs' |url=https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/worden/lw072496.htm |access-date=2023-10-22 |website=scvhistory.com}}</ref> During the [[Mexican–American War]], Del Valle destroyed the mine to prevent the United States from gaining its control.<ref name="latimes2">{{cite news |last=Rasmussen |first=Cecilia |date=November 11, 2001 |title=Del Valle Family Played a Starring Role in Early California |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/times111101.htm |access-date=April 9, 2007 |via=Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society}}</ref>

The rancho stayed in the Del Valle family through the occupation and annexation of Alta California by the United States until 1862 when economic strife caused by floods and droughts forced him to sell most of the land to speculators, eventually ending up in the hands of [[Henry Newhall]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Worden |first=Leon |title=SCV Chronology: A Timeline of Historical Events |url=http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/timeline.htm |access-date=March 8, 2011 |publisher=Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society}}</ref><ref name="Worden19950607">{{cite news |last=Worden |first=Leon |date=June 7, 1995 |title=Prime Valencia Real Estate, $2 an Acre |work=The Signal |url=http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/worden/lw060795.htm |access-date=April 20, 2007}}</ref>