The Old Spanish Trail was a historic pack trail connecting Santa Fe to the pueblo of Los Angeles, with travelers from Santa Fe aiming for the San Gabriel Mission as a welcome destination and gathering place. Traders brought woolen goods from New Mexico and returned with highly prized California mules and horses. The trail originated as a trade route from Santa Fe into central Utah during the Spanish Colonial days, but it was also used as an emigrant trail to California during the Mexican period. On September 8, 1771, founding Fathers Pedro Cambon and Angel Somera named the new San Gabriel Mission for the Archangel Gabriel, and it was the fourth in a chain of 21 missions built in California. In 1774, Juan Bautista de Anza arrived and established a formal overland route from Mexico City to California. As trade between the United States and the new Republic of Mexico expanded, Santa Fe traders saw the potential for profits in dealing directly with California ranchers and church missions. In the fall of 1829, well after Mexican Independence from Spain, Antonio Armijo led a caravan westward from Sante Fe and arrived at the San Gabriel Mission in January, 1830 with 60 men and pack mules loaded with woolen goods. He returned to Santa Fe that spring with an additional 100 horses and mules, establishing for the first time a trade and communication route between the Mexican provinces of New Mexico and California. Following the success of Armijo’s expedition, San Gabriel Mission became a focal point for the lucrative trade, where traders, trappers, and travelers coming west gathered to conduct business with the Californios. One of the most prosperous missions in California, it provided food, rest, and shelter to travelers weary from the long and difficult trail, and all were treated with courtesy by the padres. Governor Pio Pico secularized San Gabriel Mission in 1834, and much of the land became private property. In 1874, the Catholic Church was granted control of only 13 acres, including the church.
