WHEAT PRODUCTION IN THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

BUILDING A GREAT MUSEUM FOR THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

When English colonists arrived in the New World, they attempted to bend the farm lands they acquired into a "New England", complete with European crops and animals. It took generations for their descendants to adopt native American species such as potatoes and corn. The results of planting non-native plants still plague us today. Excessive demands for water, fertilizers, and pesticides are results.

The raising of European wheat was introduced into the San Fernando Valley by land investors lead by Isaac Lankershim in the 1870s. Initially, grain production was highly profitable for the Los Angeles Farming and Milling Company/

 Wheat production was romanticized in America as settlers pushed west. This illustration is from an 1890 elementary school reader.  (Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2014. - Click on images to enlarge them.)

VAN NUYS AND LANKERSHIM ENTOMBED IN EVERGREEN CEMETERY IN L.A.

2010 THE YEAR OF VALLEY ADVENTURES

Detail sculpture at the entrance of the funeral chapel at Evergreen Cemetery in East Los Angeles. Photo for the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley by Gerald Fecht 2010. (click on image to enlarge)
Tomb of Issac Newton Van Nuys and his wife Susanna.
Grave of Isaac Lankershim and his wife Annis.

Two of the most important early developers of the modern San Fernando Valley were Isaac Lankershim and Isaac Newton Van Nuys. Their graves and those of their wives lie at the base of an obelisk designed to leave a lasting impression. Today, in downtrodden Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles, these once powerful men in a seldom visited tomb.