The Rio Hondo once offered extensive areas for farming, walking, horseback riding, play, and swimming before it was put into concrete channels in the 1950's, a change that prevented flooding but also removed valuable recreational space along the river banks. Bosque del Rio Hondo returns a piece of the river's original green space to the communities of the San Gabriel Valley. Along the Rio Hondo, agricultural worker barrios supported small community life from 1771 to 1973, with residents centered on community, work, faith, family, and outdoor activities near the river, and many important moments of California history unfolded in these settlements. The original La Mission Vieja, San Gabriel Mission, was established in 1771 and moved from Whittier Narrows to what is now San Gabriel in 1775, and a Mexican village of adobe dwellings developed at the original mission site. The Tongva-Gabrielino lived for thousands of years in the area now covered by Los Angeles County and parts of Orange County, using the Rio Hondo as a highway to the ocean and mountains in reed canoes while fishing, finding hunting grounds, collecting reeds for baskets, and using the river's water for cooking, ritual cleansing in a sweathouse, and making medicines. Bosque del Rio Hondo preserves one of the river's last remaining natural segments, with pedestrian, bike, and equestrian trails as part of the 1,492-acre Whittier Narrows Recreation Area.