GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY OF PALOS - Pubs Warehouse

and paleontology and a general account 6 of the fossils
from the Pleistocene marine terraces were published.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Miocene Foraminifera, on which the age assign­
ments and correlations of the Miocene strata are based,
wore determined by R. M. Kleinpell while he was .on
the staff of the Geological Survey. S. G. Wissler, of
the Union Oil Co. of California, furnished notes based
on an examination of a series of foraminiferal samples
from the lower Pliocene Repetto siltstone at Malaga
Cove. The late 11. D. Reed, of the Texas Co. (Cali­
fornia), offered much assistance dealing particularly
with the Pleistocene calcareous strata now assigned
to the Lpmita marl. Hampton Smith, of the same
organization, gave many helpful suggestions. A sec­
tion of the Lomita marl in the canyon adjoining
Hilltop quarry was measured with the assistance of
J. M. Hamill, B. G. Laiming, and Mr. Reed. H. L.
Driver, G. C. Ferguson, H. W. Hoots, and Mr. Wissler
assisted in measuring and sampling the Repetto silt-
stone at Malaga Cove. Photographs were furnished
by U. S. Grant, K. E. Lohman, Mr. Reed, and officials
of the Palos Verdes Estates.
During construction, of the Whites Point tunnel
through the eastern part of the Palos Verdes Hills
during 1935 and 1936 J. R. Schultz, then a graduate
student at the California Institute of Technology,
studied the geology of the tunnel under the auspices of
the Geological Survey. Special acknowledgment is
duo A. M. Rawn, assistant chief engineer of Los
Angeles County Sanitation Districts, and officials of
the construction companies for facilities and courtesies
that greatly aided Mr. Schultz's studies. The results
of his work are included in this report.
During part of the time when this report was written,
office and laboratory space in the quarters of the
Division of Geological Sciences of the California
Institute of Technology at Pasadena was available
through the kindness of Prof. J. P. Buwalda.
EARLY HISTORY OF REGION
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was the first white navigator
to explore the coast of California. During his voyage
up the coast in 1542 he sailed past San Pedro Bay,
winch he named Bahia de los Fumos, from the smoke
of Indian fires. 7 Late in 1602 Sebastian Vizcaino
explored this part of the California coast. Many of
the names he gave to coastal features are still in use.
One of Vizcaino's ships evidently entered San Pedro
Bay, which is designated Ensenada de San Andr6s on
a chart based on the results of his voyage. 8 In the
manuscript coast-pilot written in 1603 by Franco de
Bplafios and Father Antonio de la Ascension, two of
Vizcaino's assistants, the bay is called Ensenada de
San Pedro the first known usage of that designation.
Tho bay and the Palos Verdes Hills are well described
Woodrlng, W. P., Fossils from the marine Pleistocene terraces of the San Pedro
Hills, Cnlif.: Am. Jour. Sci., 6th scr., vol. 29, pp. 292-305, 1 flg., 1935.
7 Wagner, H. 11., Spanish voyages to tho northwest coast of America in the sixteenth
century: California Hist. Soc. Special Pub. 4, p. 334, 1929; The cartography of the
northwest const of America to the year 1800, vol. 1, p. 412, Berkeley, 1937.
Other writers have identified Santa Monica Bay as the Bahia de los Fumos. See
Davldson, Ocorco, An examination of some of tho early voyages of discovery and
exploration on tno northwest coast of America from 1539 to 1603: U. S. Coast and
Geodetic Survey Ropt. Supt., 1880, app. 7, p. 190,1887; Bolten, H. E., Spanish explo­
ration In tho Southwest, 1542-1706: Original narratives of early American history,
p. 7, New York, 1910.
> Wagner, If. R., op. clt. (California Hist. Soc. Special Pub. 4), p. 402; The cartog­
raphy of the northwest coast of America to the year 1800. vol. 1, p. 412, Berkeley, 1937.
For a reproduction of part of the chart see Bancroft, H. H., History of California,
vol. 1 (Works of Hubert Howc Bancroft, vol. 18), p. 100, San Francisco, 1884.
692787 45-
INTRODUCTION
in the following extract from Wagner's translation 9 of
the manuscript:
From the Punta de la Conversion [Concepci6n] the coast
trends east for more than fourteen leagues, very rough and
rugged without any trees to a point which the land makes
extending north-south, and with a hill, of medium height bare
on top which from afar looks like an island. To the east is a
very good ensenada with shelter from the northwest, west, and
southwest winds. It is named the "Ensenada de San Pedro"
in 34^°, and in it there is a small island. Here are friendly
Indians.
During the colonial period the open roadstead at
San Pedro was used as a port for San Gabriel Mission,
founded in 1771, and the village of Los Angeles,'founded
in 1781. The hide warehouse described by Dana 10 in
chapter 14 of "Two years before the mast" was the
first building erected at the port. It stood on the bluff
about midway between Point Fermin and Timms
Point. Point Fermin was named by Vancouver during
his voyage of 1793 in honor of Fermin de Laus6n, who
succeeded Junipero Serra as head of the Franciscan
missions in California.
The Palos Verdes Hills were used as grazing land for
cattle and horses during the colonial period. The entire
area of the hills, with the exception of a narrow strip
along the east coast reserved for public use, and part of
the adjoining Los Angeles Plain were included in the
Rancho de los Palos Verdes, embracing an area of
about 32,000 acres. 11 Jose" Loreto Sepulveda and Juan
Sepulveda, sons of Jose" Dolores Sepulveda, received a
provisional grant to this land in 1827 and a final grant
from Governor Pio Pico in 1846. The elder Sepulveda
was killed by Indians in 1824 during a journey to
Monterey to petition for a patent. In 1882 the land was
transferred from the Sepulveda family in a debt
settlement.
NAME USED FOB THE HILLS
On current maps the hills are generally designated
the San Pedro Hills. Most of the local residents, how­
ever, use the name "Palos Verdes Hills," and that name
has been used by several writers and cartographers. In
view of local usage and to avoid confusion with the
name "San Pedro Hill," which is in usage for the highest
hill in full view from the city of San Pedro, the United
States Board on Geographical Names has adopted the
name "Palos Verdes Hills." 12 This designation is par­
ticularly fitting, as it commemorates the name of the
colonial ranch. The name Palos Verdes is said to have
been based on willows growing along the small stream
flowing southward into the present Bixby Slough. 13
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Publications dealing with the geology, paleontology,
and geography of the Palos Verdes Hills are included
in the following bibliography. 'Abstracts covering the
same ground as later publications are omitted.
1855. Trask, J. B., Report on the geology of the Coast Moun­
tains: California Legislature, App. to Jours., 6th sess.
S. Doc. 14, 95 pp.
Bituminous shale [Monterey shale] of San Pedro
district briefly described (pp. 24-26).
Wagner, H. R., op. cit. (California Hist. Soc. Special Pub. 4), p. 438, 1929. For
a description of the manuscript see Wagner's publication, pp. 381-382.
10 Dana, R. H., Two years before the mast, a personal narrative of life at sea, pp;
118-119, New York, 1840.
" For a brief summary of the history of the Palos Verdes Rancho see Robinson,
W. W., Ranches become cities, pp. 18-25, Pasadena, 1939.
i* U. S. Board on Oeog. Names, Decisions rendered between July l, 1934, and June
30, 1935,p. 19, 1936.
is Robinson, W. W., op. cit., p. 19.