Page 8 - hssc1929parks

In Pursuit of Vanished Days 141

and Josefa Carrión at Paredón Blanco, in Los Angeles. Near
this family lived Cayetano Varelas, Tomás Rúbio, and Fran-
cisco López, with their families.
"For twenty years after receiving the gift of land from
his uncle, Saturnino Carrión continued to live near Los An-
geles, the pueblo, in the district where Boyle Heights now is.
of 1863 (the year of drouth) livestock own-
In the springtime
ers had to seek richer and better grazing land in the sur-
rounding country. It was then that Saturnino Carrión finding
his acreage rich and fertile, and an ideal place for grazing,
decided to bring his herds to the Rancho San José. Shacks
were built for his two vaqueros, José Navarro and Francisco
Lugo, who brought the large herd and had full charge of it
and Sr. Carrión returned to Los Angeles.
in
"Carrión saw such possibilities his land that (the fol-
lowing year) he decided to build a home upon it and bring his
family to the rancho. He at once hired a noted Italian archi-
tect and started plans for the construction
of the adobe house.
Building material, doors, windows and such had to be brought
from Los Angeles, 30 miles to the west. It was brought on
pack animals and in carretas drawn by oxen, so it was not
until the year 1868 that the structure was completed and
Carrión moved his family from their former home at Paredón
Blanco.
"The family at that time consisted of his wife, Dolores
Navarro de Carrión, and three sons, Ramón, Julian and Fran-
cisco. Later five daughters were born in the adobe home.
[The 1850 census discloses that when Saturnino was a boy of
11 receiving from his uncle Don Ygnácio the splendid gift of
land where he and Dolores Navarro were to make their home
and rear their family, she was a baby of two, also living at
Paredón Blanco, where her father, Teodoro Navarro, had his
home not far from that of the Carrión family.]
"Saturnino Carrión farmed his level land and let his
cattle graze upon the hills, raising abundant crops, while his
herds of cattle and horses continued to increase in number.
So accustomed was Carrión to his own way of farming that
more modern methods did not interest him, all his work be-
ing done with oxen, even after some of the more modern in-