Near this site in 1776, an Ohlone man traveling along a well-worn path encountered Juan Bautista de Anza's exploration party, armed men on horses unlike any he had seen before. Frightened, he lay down to show he would not resist or threaten them. Anza tried to calm him and persuade him to stand, but the man was so overcome that he could only weakly take some glass beads and dropped most of them. Anza decided to leave him alone, believing that otherwise the man might have died. First meetings like this between Anza's party and Native people were common in 1776; some California Indians welcomed the newcomers, others were hostile, and many were distrustful, and those early encounters still stir mixed emotions today.