Editing Conejo Valley (section)

===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>