Tiburcio Vasquez--The Repetto Ranch Raid LbNA #9175 (ARCHIVED)
Map
Nearby Boxes
Add Note
Add Location| Owner: | Kelsung  |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Jul 11, 2004 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Greater Los Angeles |
| County: | Los Angeles |
| State: | California |
| Boxes: | 6 |
| Planted by: | Buzzard |
|---|---|
| Found by: | MrOspital |
| Last found: | Jul 17, 2012 |
| Status: | FFFaaFr |
| Last edited: | Nov 24, 2021 |
As of 2009, I was excited to find #1 and #6, but as 2018 both of them are gone. The others were fairly definitively gone, except #3 for which I have a possible lead from Alarch on the altered landmarks. If I'm ever successful, I shall unretire, but don't hold your breath.
Kelsung
---------------------------------------
Difficulty: Varies
***Except for #5, all LBs are in place as of 2/8/05***
By the late nineteenth century, Mexican land grants had carved up large sections of Southern California into huge ranches. This was the region’s ranchero period, when enormous herds of cattle roamed the Los Angeles basin. Grazing among the grasslands of the Southern California foothills, the herds were guarded by Vaqueros against grizzly bears, mountains lions, and banditos. Banditos played a large part in the history and legend of 19th century California, and the most famous bandito of them all was Tiburcio Vasquez.
Tiburcio’s career as an outlaw spanned 23 years, the last three of which were largely spent in Southern California. Here he made a specialty of stealing horses and driving them over obscure San Gabriel Mountain trails into secret back-country retreats, where he grazed and watered the animals before driving them down into the eastern deserts for sale. Tiburcio supplemented his horse-theft profits with a number of raids on the local populace.
On April 13, 1873, Tiburcio’s gang conducted the Tres Pinos Raid on Snyder’s General Store in Monterey County, resulting in the death of Mr. Snyder and the hotel keeper. On November 12, 1873, Tiburcio’s gang raided the town of Kingston in Fresno County, and after tying up 35 men, plundered the town to their hearts’ content. And on February 25, 1874, the Kingston raid was followed by Tiburcio’s successful robbery of the Owens Valley Stages.
Finally there came the raid that convinced the people of Southern California that they were not safe from Tiburcio, even within the city of Los Angeles: the robbery at the Repetto Ranch in the hills of San Gabriel, a few miles east of the city.
Vasquez had learned that Alexander Repetto, a sheep farmer who had a ranch located in the present-day city of Montebello, had recently sold a large amount of stock, and had a considerable sum of money on hand. On April 15, 1874, Vasquez and three of his men raided the ranch.
#1 The Repetto Ranch Raid
Difficulty: Easy; dogs on a leash are okay. Strollers and wheelchairs can get close, but not actually reach the box.
Clues:
In the city of Montebello, drive north on Garfield Avenue between the 60 Freeway and El Repetto Drive, searching for the tall towers. Among the towers find the lion and the elephant. From the elephant, look east to see two trunks lying on the ground. The letterbox is located beneath the northernmost trunk, at the spot where the trunk disappears into the wilderness.
#2 The Temple and Workman Bank
Difficulty: Easy; dogs on a leash are okay. Strollers and wheelchairs can reach the site of this box. ***This box is in place as of 12/12/04.***
When Tiburcio and his banditos were unable to find any money at his ranch, Repetto finally convinced them that there was no money hidden there, and all that remained from his sale of sheep, about $500, had been deposited in the Temple and Workman Bank in downtown Los Angeles. Vasquez then tied Repetto to a tree and on pain of death forced him to sign a check for the $500. He then dispatched the rancher’s nephew to Los Angeles with instructions to cash the check, and bring the money back to him without telling anyone, or he would find his uncle dead.
Upon his arrival at the bank, the boy’s nervous behavior made bank officials suspicious, and under questioning, he apparently admitted what had happened to his uncle. The bank officials immediately notified the Los Angeles Sheriff, and barely ahead of the swiftly organized posse, the boy fled with the money back to Repetto Ranch in order to save his uncle.
Clues:
This letterbox is planted near the original location of the Turner & Workman Bank. From the southeast corner of Temple Street and Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, walk south on Main Street approximately 85 steps to a purple and white sign sticking out of a planter announcing the "Los Angeles Mall." The letterbox is hidden in the planter behind the sign, under the ivy at the east end of the small tree stump. As you look around, you'll notice that you are at what is probably the hottest spot in Los Angeles to hide a letterbox, so use the sign and the big pillar behind you to help screen your actions from passerby (and from that security guard sitting behind the glass entrance of the building behind you). This spot is not too busy on weekends, and you can find nearby metered parking (but the security guard is still there).
#3 The Indiana Colony
Difficulty: Easy; dogs on a leash are okay. Strollers and wheelchairs can get close, but not actually reach the box.
Fearful for his uncle’s life, Repetto’s frightened nephew beat the posse back to the ranch by half an hour. After the ransom was handed over, the outlaws rode north toward the San Gabriel Mountains, which had always afforded them refuge. Traveling up the Arroyo Seco, several miles north of the ranch, the bandits met two teamsters from a Los Angeles hardware firm near Sheep Corral Spring (present-day Brookside Park, in Pasadena). The two teamsters had that morning delivered a load of water pipe to men of the Indiana Colony (present-day Pasadena) who were working on a city water project further up the canyon. Though well aware that a Sheriff’s posse was hot on his trail, the daring bandit paused in his flight to relieve the teamsters of their money, taking from one a valuable watch, which was later returned to the teamster after Vasquez’s capture. Time was running out for Vasquez.
Clues:
Take the 110 Freeway north and exit on Orange Grove Avenue. Travel north on Orange Grove to the intersection of Orange Grove and Colorado Boulevard. Continue one block north on Orange Grove and then left onto Holly Street. After a tenth of a mile, turn left onto Arroyo Drive (this is an easy turn to miss). Follow Arroyo Drive down underneath the 210 Freeway Bridge to the next stop sign. To your left you will see the beautiful Pasadena Bridge. Turn right away from the bridge onto Arroyo Boulevard and travel four-tenths of a mile to the Pasadena Aquatic Center. Turn into the parking lot at the first opportunity and park in Lot I. You are now in Brookside Park—the location a century ago of Sheep Corral Spring, just outside the Indiana Colony.
From here, walk to the southwest corner of Brookside Park, and search for the tree with the blue trunk. You’ll find the letterbox between the blue-trunk tree and a blue rock, buried underneath a smaller rock. Do you see how narrow the canyon is here? If you were standing at this spot on the day of the 1874 raid, you might have been trampled by the posse or the fleeing banditos.
#4 I Am Tiburcio!
Difficulty: Easy to moderate; dogs on a leash are okay. This box is not stroller or wheelchair accessible.
Following their holdup outside of the Indiana Colony, the bandits continued up the canyon to the Devil’s Gate. There they found a party of 15 prominent Indiana Colony men at work on a water supply project. Calling out his name to the colonists, Tiburcio left the men undisturbed, and pushed past them up into the canyon.
Clues:
After finding the Indiana Colony Letterbox, continue west on Arroyo Boulevard until you reach the stop sign, then turn right onto Seco Street. Travel for one block, and turn left onto Rosemont Avenue. You will pass by the Rose Bowl on your left, and continue alongside the Brookside Park Golf course, avoiding the throngs of joggers, bicyclists, skaters, walkers and joggers that are seen here every weekend (Pasadenans love Brookside Park).
Drive on Rosemont for 1.4 miles until the street turns to the right to begin its climb up the hill out of Brookside Park, to rejoin Arroyo Boulevard above. Just before taking the route up the hill, turn around and park on the south side of the street. Go through the gate onto the path that travels west alongside the golf course. Walk for about 10 minutes until your path is barred by a stream that bubbles mysteriously out of an old iron grate. Instead of crossing the stream on that big log in front of you, take a look to your right and search for an old stone wall. You’ll find the letterbox hidden behind the fourth stone to the right of the red ceramic pipe in the wall, under a half inch of sand. Be careful of the looming Poison Oak, and keep a lookout for the joggers that come running down the north canyon wall; this is a very popular jogging spot.
#5 Tiburcio’s Pistol
***Confirmed missing as of 2/8/05***
Difficulty: This is a 3-mile roundtrip hike; it’s very easy by bicycle, and easy to moderate on foot. Dogs on a leash are okay. Strollers and wheelchairs can get close, but not actually reach the box.
Closely followed by the posse, the bandits continued up the canyon, pushing their horses to exhaustion. At some point during his flight, Tiburcio lost one of his pistols. Nine years later, in 1883, this pistol with the initials T.V. cut into the barrel, was found by a 16 year old local boy named Phil Begue on one of frequent hikes through the area.
Clues:
This letterbox is perfect for a trip by bicycle (though I walked it). You may also want to take along a picnic lunch (consider this suggestion a clue). After finding I Am Tiburcio, walk back to your car and continue north on Rosemont Avenue up the hill out of Brookside Park to join Arroyo Boulevard at the top of the street. Turn left on Arroyo Boulevard and continue two-tenths of a mile until Arroyo Boulevard becomes Windsor Avenue, then continue seven-tenths of a mile on Windsor and park in the parking lot on the left, near the corner of Windsor and Ventura Street. Walk north one-half block on Windsor Avenue to the entrance of the famous Gabrielino Trail. Do not travel down the road to your left, which goes to a Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) parking area. Take the Gabrielino Trail. At the first fork, continue going straight (the left fork obviously takes you down into the selfsame JPL parking lot). At the next fork, turn left and cross a beautiful old stone and cement bridge. At the prominent Brown Mountain Forest Service sign, turn left and continue on the trail past the Centennial marker.
Continue walking until you find Teddy.
Once you’ve found Teddy, turn around and retrace your steps a few feet until you reach the bridge you’ve just crossed. Walk down to the creek underneath the bridge. You’ll find Tiburcio’s Pistol hidden behind some small rocks at the extreme southeast corner of the bridge. Be careful probing into dark spaces. (You will cross a lot of bridges on this trek, some of which would be dangerous to hike underneath, so make sure you search for this letterbox underneath Teddy’s bridge, which is a very safe spot to explore.)
#6 Tiburcio
Pushing their horses to the limit, Tiburcio and his men succeeded in eluding their pursuers. Over the next three weeks, Tiburcio made his way west through the San Gabriels, eventually traveling over to the nearby Santa Monica Mountains, and ending up at the adobe of Greek George, near the entrance to Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles. Possibly an amorous adventure led Tiburcio to this hacienda, but it was to be his undoing. Spies reported his location to the Los Angeles Sheriff, and the trap was set. In the early morning hours of May 15, 1874, having surrounded the house, Sheriff’s deputies burst through the door of Greek George’s adobe and caught Tiburcio at his breakfast. Attempting to escape to his horse by leaping through the kitchen window, Tiburcio was cut down by two shots from the waiting lawmen. The wounds were not serious, and the famous bandito was taken into custody. On March 19, 1875, Tiburcio met his end upon the gallows in San Jose, California.
Clues:
The site of Greek George’s adobe is located near the corner of Kings Road and Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles. To find the letterbox go to the east corner, and begin walking north on Kings Road until you can feel the electricity in the air. The letterbox is hidden underneath the southwest corner. If you reach the end of the block, you’ve gone too far.
Kelsung
---------------------------------------
Difficulty: Varies
***Except for #5, all LBs are in place as of 2/8/05***
By the late nineteenth century, Mexican land grants had carved up large sections of Southern California into huge ranches. This was the region’s ranchero period, when enormous herds of cattle roamed the Los Angeles basin. Grazing among the grasslands of the Southern California foothills, the herds were guarded by Vaqueros against grizzly bears, mountains lions, and banditos. Banditos played a large part in the history and legend of 19th century California, and the most famous bandito of them all was Tiburcio Vasquez.
Tiburcio’s career as an outlaw spanned 23 years, the last three of which were largely spent in Southern California. Here he made a specialty of stealing horses and driving them over obscure San Gabriel Mountain trails into secret back-country retreats, where he grazed and watered the animals before driving them down into the eastern deserts for sale. Tiburcio supplemented his horse-theft profits with a number of raids on the local populace.
On April 13, 1873, Tiburcio’s gang conducted the Tres Pinos Raid on Snyder’s General Store in Monterey County, resulting in the death of Mr. Snyder and the hotel keeper. On November 12, 1873, Tiburcio’s gang raided the town of Kingston in Fresno County, and after tying up 35 men, plundered the town to their hearts’ content. And on February 25, 1874, the Kingston raid was followed by Tiburcio’s successful robbery of the Owens Valley Stages.
Finally there came the raid that convinced the people of Southern California that they were not safe from Tiburcio, even within the city of Los Angeles: the robbery at the Repetto Ranch in the hills of San Gabriel, a few miles east of the city.
Vasquez had learned that Alexander Repetto, a sheep farmer who had a ranch located in the present-day city of Montebello, had recently sold a large amount of stock, and had a considerable sum of money on hand. On April 15, 1874, Vasquez and three of his men raided the ranch.
#1 The Repetto Ranch Raid
Difficulty: Easy; dogs on a leash are okay. Strollers and wheelchairs can get close, but not actually reach the box.
Clues:
In the city of Montebello, drive north on Garfield Avenue between the 60 Freeway and El Repetto Drive, searching for the tall towers. Among the towers find the lion and the elephant. From the elephant, look east to see two trunks lying on the ground. The letterbox is located beneath the northernmost trunk, at the spot where the trunk disappears into the wilderness.
#2 The Temple and Workman Bank
Difficulty: Easy; dogs on a leash are okay. Strollers and wheelchairs can reach the site of this box. ***This box is in place as of 12/12/04.***
When Tiburcio and his banditos were unable to find any money at his ranch, Repetto finally convinced them that there was no money hidden there, and all that remained from his sale of sheep, about $500, had been deposited in the Temple and Workman Bank in downtown Los Angeles. Vasquez then tied Repetto to a tree and on pain of death forced him to sign a check for the $500. He then dispatched the rancher’s nephew to Los Angeles with instructions to cash the check, and bring the money back to him without telling anyone, or he would find his uncle dead.
Upon his arrival at the bank, the boy’s nervous behavior made bank officials suspicious, and under questioning, he apparently admitted what had happened to his uncle. The bank officials immediately notified the Los Angeles Sheriff, and barely ahead of the swiftly organized posse, the boy fled with the money back to Repetto Ranch in order to save his uncle.
Clues:
This letterbox is planted near the original location of the Turner & Workman Bank. From the southeast corner of Temple Street and Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, walk south on Main Street approximately 85 steps to a purple and white sign sticking out of a planter announcing the "Los Angeles Mall." The letterbox is hidden in the planter behind the sign, under the ivy at the east end of the small tree stump. As you look around, you'll notice that you are at what is probably the hottest spot in Los Angeles to hide a letterbox, so use the sign and the big pillar behind you to help screen your actions from passerby (and from that security guard sitting behind the glass entrance of the building behind you). This spot is not too busy on weekends, and you can find nearby metered parking (but the security guard is still there).
#3 The Indiana Colony
Difficulty: Easy; dogs on a leash are okay. Strollers and wheelchairs can get close, but not actually reach the box.
Fearful for his uncle’s life, Repetto’s frightened nephew beat the posse back to the ranch by half an hour. After the ransom was handed over, the outlaws rode north toward the San Gabriel Mountains, which had always afforded them refuge. Traveling up the Arroyo Seco, several miles north of the ranch, the bandits met two teamsters from a Los Angeles hardware firm near Sheep Corral Spring (present-day Brookside Park, in Pasadena). The two teamsters had that morning delivered a load of water pipe to men of the Indiana Colony (present-day Pasadena) who were working on a city water project further up the canyon. Though well aware that a Sheriff’s posse was hot on his trail, the daring bandit paused in his flight to relieve the teamsters of their money, taking from one a valuable watch, which was later returned to the teamster after Vasquez’s capture. Time was running out for Vasquez.
Clues:
Take the 110 Freeway north and exit on Orange Grove Avenue. Travel north on Orange Grove to the intersection of Orange Grove and Colorado Boulevard. Continue one block north on Orange Grove and then left onto Holly Street. After a tenth of a mile, turn left onto Arroyo Drive (this is an easy turn to miss). Follow Arroyo Drive down underneath the 210 Freeway Bridge to the next stop sign. To your left you will see the beautiful Pasadena Bridge. Turn right away from the bridge onto Arroyo Boulevard and travel four-tenths of a mile to the Pasadena Aquatic Center. Turn into the parking lot at the first opportunity and park in Lot I. You are now in Brookside Park—the location a century ago of Sheep Corral Spring, just outside the Indiana Colony.
From here, walk to the southwest corner of Brookside Park, and search for the tree with the blue trunk. You’ll find the letterbox between the blue-trunk tree and a blue rock, buried underneath a smaller rock. Do you see how narrow the canyon is here? If you were standing at this spot on the day of the 1874 raid, you might have been trampled by the posse or the fleeing banditos.
#4 I Am Tiburcio!
Difficulty: Easy to moderate; dogs on a leash are okay. This box is not stroller or wheelchair accessible.
Following their holdup outside of the Indiana Colony, the bandits continued up the canyon to the Devil’s Gate. There they found a party of 15 prominent Indiana Colony men at work on a water supply project. Calling out his name to the colonists, Tiburcio left the men undisturbed, and pushed past them up into the canyon.
Clues:
After finding the Indiana Colony Letterbox, continue west on Arroyo Boulevard until you reach the stop sign, then turn right onto Seco Street. Travel for one block, and turn left onto Rosemont Avenue. You will pass by the Rose Bowl on your left, and continue alongside the Brookside Park Golf course, avoiding the throngs of joggers, bicyclists, skaters, walkers and joggers that are seen here every weekend (Pasadenans love Brookside Park).
Drive on Rosemont for 1.4 miles until the street turns to the right to begin its climb up the hill out of Brookside Park, to rejoin Arroyo Boulevard above. Just before taking the route up the hill, turn around and park on the south side of the street. Go through the gate onto the path that travels west alongside the golf course. Walk for about 10 minutes until your path is barred by a stream that bubbles mysteriously out of an old iron grate. Instead of crossing the stream on that big log in front of you, take a look to your right and search for an old stone wall. You’ll find the letterbox hidden behind the fourth stone to the right of the red ceramic pipe in the wall, under a half inch of sand. Be careful of the looming Poison Oak, and keep a lookout for the joggers that come running down the north canyon wall; this is a very popular jogging spot.
#5 Tiburcio’s Pistol
***Confirmed missing as of 2/8/05***
Difficulty: This is a 3-mile roundtrip hike; it’s very easy by bicycle, and easy to moderate on foot. Dogs on a leash are okay. Strollers and wheelchairs can get close, but not actually reach the box.
Closely followed by the posse, the bandits continued up the canyon, pushing their horses to exhaustion. At some point during his flight, Tiburcio lost one of his pistols. Nine years later, in 1883, this pistol with the initials T.V. cut into the barrel, was found by a 16 year old local boy named Phil Begue on one of frequent hikes through the area.
Clues:
This letterbox is perfect for a trip by bicycle (though I walked it). You may also want to take along a picnic lunch (consider this suggestion a clue). After finding I Am Tiburcio, walk back to your car and continue north on Rosemont Avenue up the hill out of Brookside Park to join Arroyo Boulevard at the top of the street. Turn left on Arroyo Boulevard and continue two-tenths of a mile until Arroyo Boulevard becomes Windsor Avenue, then continue seven-tenths of a mile on Windsor and park in the parking lot on the left, near the corner of Windsor and Ventura Street. Walk north one-half block on Windsor Avenue to the entrance of the famous Gabrielino Trail. Do not travel down the road to your left, which goes to a Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) parking area. Take the Gabrielino Trail. At the first fork, continue going straight (the left fork obviously takes you down into the selfsame JPL parking lot). At the next fork, turn left and cross a beautiful old stone and cement bridge. At the prominent Brown Mountain Forest Service sign, turn left and continue on the trail past the Centennial marker.
Continue walking until you find Teddy.
Once you’ve found Teddy, turn around and retrace your steps a few feet until you reach the bridge you’ve just crossed. Walk down to the creek underneath the bridge. You’ll find Tiburcio’s Pistol hidden behind some small rocks at the extreme southeast corner of the bridge. Be careful probing into dark spaces. (You will cross a lot of bridges on this trek, some of which would be dangerous to hike underneath, so make sure you search for this letterbox underneath Teddy’s bridge, which is a very safe spot to explore.)
#6 Tiburcio
Pushing their horses to the limit, Tiburcio and his men succeeded in eluding their pursuers. Over the next three weeks, Tiburcio made his way west through the San Gabriels, eventually traveling over to the nearby Santa Monica Mountains, and ending up at the adobe of Greek George, near the entrance to Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles. Possibly an amorous adventure led Tiburcio to this hacienda, but it was to be his undoing. Spies reported his location to the Los Angeles Sheriff, and the trap was set. In the early morning hours of May 15, 1874, having surrounded the house, Sheriff’s deputies burst through the door of Greek George’s adobe and caught Tiburcio at his breakfast. Attempting to escape to his horse by leaping through the kitchen window, Tiburcio was cut down by two shots from the waiting lawmen. The wounds were not serious, and the famous bandito was taken into custody. On March 19, 1875, Tiburcio met his end upon the gallows in San Jose, California.
Clues:
The site of Greek George’s adobe is located near the corner of Kings Road and Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles. To find the letterbox go to the east corner, and begin walking north on Kings Road until you can feel the electricity in the air. The letterbox is hidden underneath the southwest corner. If you reach the end of the block, you’ve gone too far.