California Historical Landmarks in San Mateo County
California Historical Landmark 2
Portolá Journey's End
November 6-10, 1769
Intersection of East Creek Drive and Alma Street
Menlo Park
23 October 2004
(Click Photos to Enlarge)
November 6-10, 1769
Near "El Palo Alto", the tall tree, the Portolá expedition of 63 men and 200 horses and mules camped. They had traveled from San Diego in search of Monterey but discovered instead the Bay of San Francisco. Finding the bay too large to go around, and deciding that Monterey had been by-passed, they ended the search and returned to San Diego.
California Registered Historical Landmark No. 2
Plaque placed by State Department of Parks and Recreation in
cooperation with the Portolá Expedition Bicentennial Foundation, November 8, 1968.
Portolá Expedition of 1769
Under orders from King Carlos III of Spain, Gaspar de Portolá i Rovira and Franciscan Father John Crespi marched north from San Diego on 14 July 1769 with sixty-three soldiers and one hundred mules.
Their destination was Monterey Bay, but they missed the fog-shrouded bay and instead became the first documented Europeans to see the San Francisco Bay.
Just seven years later, Spain founded Misión San Francisco de Asís on 29 June 1776.
The California Coastal Trail traces much of the route, and twelve California Landmarks in San Mateo County commemorate the expedition:
October 23: Mouth of Gazos Creek
October 24: Mouth of San Gregorio Creek
October 26: Tunitas Indian Village
October 27: Mouth of Purisima Creek
October 28: Mouth of Pilarcitos Creek
October 30: Martini Creek
October 31: San Pedro Creek
November 4: Sweeney Ridge
November 4: San Andreas Lake
November 5: Cañada de Andreas
November 6: San Francisquito Creek
November 11: Cañada de Reymundo