Editing Conejo Valley (section)

==History==
===Pre-colonial===
[[File:Chumash_ap_tri_village_stagecoach_inn_newbury_park_ca.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Reconstructed Chumash 'ap (house) at the [[Stagecoach Inn (California)|Stagecoach Inn]]]]
The [[Chumash people]] inhabited region for thousands of years.<ref>{{cite report |url=https://www.cityofcamarillo.org/Comm%20Dev/Projects/GPA%202016-1%20Shea/DEIR%20June%202017/Apx%206.5%20Cultural%20Resource%20Documentation.pdf |title=Cultural Resources Documentation {{!}} Appendix 6.5 {{!}} St. John's Specific Plan |page=3 |publisher=City of Camarillo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412182602/https://www.cityofcamarillo.org/Comm%20Dev/Projects/GPA%202016-1%20Shea/DEIR%20June%202017/Apx%206.5%20Cultural%20Resource%20Documentation.pdf |date=2017 |archive-date=2019-04-12}}</ref> Notable Chumash villages included [[Satwiwa]] ("The Bluffs") in [[Newbury Park, California|Newbury Park]], [[Chumash Indian Museum|Sap'wi]] ("House of Deer") in [[Thousand Oaks, California|Thousand Oaks]], and Hipuk in [[Westlake Village, California|Westlake Village]]. Sap'wi (Šihaw Ven-632i) is located near [[Chumash Indian Museum]] in [[Oakbrook Regional Park]]. This park is also home to 4-6,000 year old [[pictographs]], which can be observed on docent-led tours.<ref>Sprankling, Miriam and Ruthanne Begun (2006). ''Historical Tour of the Conejo Valley''. Newbury Park, CA: Conejo Valley Historical Society. Page 14. {{ISBN|0-9725233-4-0}}.</ref><ref>Maxwell, Thomas J. (1982). ''The Temescals of Arroyo Conejo''. California Lutheran College. Pages 58-59.</ref> Satwiwa, which was first settled 13,000 years ago,<ref>Bangs, Ray and Chris Becker (2004). ''52 Great Weekend Escapes in Southern California''. Globe Pequot. Page 55. {{ISBN|9780762730834}}.</ref> was located at the foothills of [[Mount Boney]], a sacred mountain to the Chumash people.<ref>Riedel, Allen (2008). ''100 Classic Hikes in Southern California: San Bernardino National Forest, Angeles National Forest, Santa Lucia Mountains, Big Sur and the Sierras''. The Mountaineers Books. Page 118. {{ISBN|9781594851254}}.</ref><ref>Mallarach, Josep-Maria and Thymio Papayannis (2007). ''Protected Areas and Spirituality''. Island Press. Page 109. {{ISBN|9782831710235}}.</ref><ref>Riedel, Allen (2011). ''Best Easy Day Hikes Conejo Valley''. Rowman & Littlefield. Page 21. {{ISBN|9780762765812}}.</ref> The [[Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center]] is available for visitors.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Two additional Chumash villages were found by Ventu Park Road. These had a population of 100-200 in each village, and were settled around 2,000 years ago.<ref>Bidwell, Carol A. (1989). ''The Conejo Valley: Old and New Frontiers''. Windsor Publications. Page 13. {{ISBN|9780897812993}}.</ref><ref>Casey, Lynda (1984). ''The Story of the Conejo Valley: The Westlake Chumash Indians''. Westlake Research Committee. Page 5.</ref> These former villages, known as Ven-65, Ven-260 and Ven-261, are located on private lands near Ventu Park Road in Newbury Park.<ref>Maxwell, Thomas J. (1982). ''The Temescals of Arroyo Conejo''. California Lutheran College. Page 137. Library of Congress Catalog Number 82-072788.</ref> A smaller village, known as Yitimasɨh, was located where [[Conejo Valley Unified School District|Wildwood Elementary School]] is located today.<ref>Maxwell, Thomas J. (1982). ''The Temescals of Arroyo Conejo''. California Lutheran College. Page 93.</ref><ref>Sprankling, Miriam (2002). ''Discovering the Story of The Conejo Valley''. Newbury Park, CA: Conejo Valley Historical Society. Page 9. {{ISBN|0-9725233-0-8}}.</ref> Artifacts retrieved in nearby [[Wildwood Regional Park]] include [[shell bead]]s, arrowheads, and stone tools.<ref>Palmer, Norma E. (1994). ''Santa Barbara & Ventura Counties''. Automobile Club of Southern California. Page 176. {{ISBN|9781564131867}}.</ref>

===European exploration===
{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2019}}
Local villagers' first contact with Europeans came in 1770. The Spanish exploratory party led by [[Gaspar de Portolá]], returning from its journey up the coast as far as [[History of San Francisco|San Francisco]], entered the valley from the northwest. On the outward bound journey, the explorers had traveled up the [[Los Angeles River]], then north to [[Castaic Junction, California|Castaic Junction]], then followed the [[Santa Clara River (California)|Santa Clara River]] back down to the coast. On the return trip, they sought a shorter route to the [[San Fernando Valley]], and were guided by natives up and over the [[Conejo Grade]]. Franciscan missionary [[Juan Crespi]] kept a diary of the expedition, and gave Conejo Valley one name that survives today – Triunfo (Spanish for "triumph").<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolton |first=Herbert E. |pages=267 |year=1927 |title=Fray Juan Crespi: Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast, 1769-1774 |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000288788 |publisher=HathiTrust Digital Library |access-date=March 1, 2014}}</ref> Crespi gave the name ''El triunfo del Dulcísimo Nombre de Jesús'' (in English: ''The Triumph of the Sweetest Name of Jesus'') to a camping place by a creek – today's Triunfo Canyon Road begins between Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village.

Later, explorer [[Juan Bautista de Anza]] used Portolá's shortcut on his way north in 1774, mentioning in his diary a stop at "El Triunfo".<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolton |first=Herbert E. |pages=102 |year=1930 |title=Anza's California Expeditions, Volume II |url=https://archive.org/stream/anzascaliforniae02bolt#page/102/mode/2up |publisher=Internet Archive |access-date=March 1, 2014}}</ref> On de Anza's second expedition (1775–76), diarist Father [[Pedro Font]] referred to "many watering places, like those of El Triunfo and Los Conejos".<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolton |first=Herbert E. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/anzascaliforniae04bolt/page/247 247] |year=1930 |title=Anza's California Expeditions, Volume IV |via=[[Internet Archive]] |url=https://archive.org/details/anzascaliforniae04bolt |access-date=March 1, 2014}}</ref>

===Ranching===
Harold and Edwin Janss purchased ten thousand acres (40&nbsp;km²) of land of what is now central Thousand Oaks from the heir of John Edwards, who had purchased the land from the de la Guerra heirs (all of the land was originally a portion of the [[Rancho El Conejo]] land grant) in 1910. A ranch, named the [[Janss Conejo Ranch]], was utilized as a farm and to raise thoroughbred horses with the Santa Susanna Mountains and Simi Hills framing it. Television Westerns such as ''[[The Rifleman]]'', ''[[Gunsmoke]]'', and ''[[Bonanza]]'' were filmed in Janss Conejo between the 1950s and 1960s. It was also used as the filming locations for Disney's ''[[Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier]]'' and ''[[Westward Ho, the Wagons!]]'' both starring [[Fess Parker]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}