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History of Encino
In some ways typical of Southern California, Encino is also a place of unique origins. Located in the oak-dotted foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, with both the Encino Springs and the nearby Sepulveda Pass, the area naturally became one of the permanent villages of local Grabrielino Indians as well as an important trading area between Gabrielinos and near by Chumash.
Encino became a known part of the larger world in 1769, when Gasper de Portola was sent by King Carlos III of Spain to search for the harbor of Monterey. California was claimed for Spain, and securing the northern borders of Alta California became a priority. As governor of Baja California, de Portola headed north on his search for the Monterey region. The expedition de Portola led was greeted by several hundred Indians near the Encino Springs under the mighty oak trees that would give Encino it´s name, for Encino is Spanish for "oak tree."
Within a generation, Encino Springs was known throughout California. Building upon the earlier Indian trading routes, this area became the crossroads of the El Camino Real that went east to the Cahuenga Pass and Los Angeles and west to Calabasas and Ventura, and trails to the northwest toward the Santa Susana Pass, northeast towards the San Fernando Mission and Tejon Pass, and south through the Sepulveda Pass.
As a result of the Mexican Revolution in 1810, the Rancho El Encino was granted to favored Gabrielino Indians, an unusual situation at a time when most ranchos were owned by Californios of Mexican decent. The Rancho was 4,460 acres (about seven square miles), with the Spring in the middle of the land grant. With the coming of US laws and the taxes in the 1840´s, the heirs of the original land grant fell into trouble, and ownership of the land eventually ended up with a family friend, Vincent de la Ossa. De La Ossa built a sizeable abode (which still stands), grazed 500 cattle and employed 20 ranch hands by the end of 1850. In the 1860´s de la Ossa died, and two Basque Brothers, Eugene and Phillipe Garnier bought the property. The Garnier brothers rechanneled the spring into today´s guitar-shaped reservoir, drying the marshes of the area. They also built the still-standing Garnier building, and the Encino Roadhouse, a twice-a-day stop for both the Butterfield Stage and the Overlund Mail Stage between Los Angeles and San Francisco. They and subsequent Basque owners diversified the ranch for sheep raising (at one time Encino wool was world famous, along with Cashmere) and later a wheat and barley farm. While much of the rest of the Valley eventually was purchased and later developed by a land conglomerate, the Encino Ranch remained independent.