Trivia Challenge - Question 20
Q:
The area served by Verdugo Hills H.S. encompasses most of what was once considered Rancho Tejunga, a Mexican land grant made to brothers Pedro and Francisco Lopez in 1840. Don Pedro was the major-domo of the ex-Mission San Fernando. What is Don Francisco best known for?
A:
Francisco Lopez discovered gold in Placerita Canyon in Saugus in 1842 and it was that strike that initially ignited the California Gold Rush. Even though history tends to focus on the gold mining in Northern California, the Placerita area actually yielded more gold than did the much more famous Sutter's Mill. In fact, the first U.S. $20 gold piece was minted in Philadelphia from gold mined in Placerita Canyon. Placerita Canyon is located "just over the hill" from the Sunland-Tujunga/Lakeview Terrace area and gold has also been found and mined in various canyons including Little Tujunga, Big Tujunga, and Haines Canyons. You can still find the occasional prospector panning for gold in some of the local streams, sometimes quite successfully.
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