Editing Santa Lucia Range (section)

== History and toponymy ==

The first [[Europe]]an to document the Santa Lucias was [[Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo]] in 1542 while sailing northward along the coast on a Spanish naval expedition. Cabrillo originally named the southern portion of the range the ''Sierras de San Martín'', as he was passing the area on November 11, the feast day for [[Martin of Tours|Saint Martin]]. He named the northern part ''Sierras Nevadas'' because there was snow on it.<ref name=CPN>{{cite book | last = Gudde | first = Erwin G. | title = California Place Names | publisher = [[University of California Press]] | year = 1949 | location = Berkeley, California | page = 316 | asin = B000FMOPP4  }}</ref>

The present name for the range was documented in 1602 by [[Sebastián Vizcaíno]], who had been tasked by the Spanish to complete a detailed chart of the coast. Passing by the range around December 14th, he named the range ''Sierra de Santa Lucia'' in honor of [[Saint Lucy|Saint Lucy of Syracuse]], for whom many Christians celebrate the feast of [[Saint Lucy's Day]] on December 13th.<ref name=CPN />

The first European land exploration of [[Alta California]], the Spanish [[Portolá expedition]], camped on the coast near [[Ragged Point (California)|Ragged Point]] in present-day San Luis Obispo County on September 13, 1769. The  expedition was forced to bypass the inaccessible coast and travel inland through the San Antonio Valley. The rough trail required much improvement by the scouts, and it was September 24 before the party emerged from the mountains at the [[San Antonio River (California)|San Antonio River]] near today's settlement of [[Jolon, California|Jolon]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolton |first=Herbert E. |pages=190–194 |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=September 7, 2016}}</ref> They traveled north through the [[Salinas Valley]] before arriving at Monterey Bay, where they founded [[Monterey, California|Monterey]] and named it their capital.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolton |first=Herbert E. |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 }} (This book also contains a translation of Crespi's diary from the Fages 1772 expedition.)</ref>