of the mouth of Aliso Creek. The Spanish referred to the Acjachemen as the Juaneño, and to the Tongva as the Gabrielino, after the further away Mission San Gabriel Arcángel. The Aliso Creek watershed was part of the vast land holdings of Mission San Juan Capistrano. The El Camino Real ("King's Highway"), connecting the coastal missions in California, crossed Aliso Creek in the vicinity of El Toro (today's Lake Forest). The Spanish established Rancheria Niguel in what is now the city of Aliso Viejo and grazed their cattle there. Most of the Native Americans were relocated to the mission where they were forced into agricultural labor and converted to Spanish Catholicism. In order to provide timber for Spanish settlements, most of the riparian forests around Aliso Creek were heavily logged. It was said that the trees near the mouth of Aliso Canyon were especially tall and there were accounts of Spanish ships mooring in the large bay at the outlet of Aliso Canyon and men going ashore to chop down and take away these trees for constructing mission buildings, ships and other structures. Mexican land grants Mexico won independence from Spain in 1822, keeping the Alta California province, and secularized the missions in the 1830s. Former mission lands were divided into private land grants. In 1842, Don Juan Avila received the Rancho Niguel grant. The name of the rancho was derived from the original Rancheria Niguel, which in turn received its name from the Acjachemen village that once stood nearby. Rancho Niguel included the portion of the Aliso Creek watershed stretching from what is now I-5 nearly to the Pacific, as well as significant areas of land on either side. Don Juan became known as "El Rico" for his wealth and hospitality; he made a fortune driving beef cattle up to Northern California after the gold rush started in 1848. "The hospitality of the Avila’s were legendary. In 1846 and 1847 Generals Frémont and Kearny as well as Commodore Stockton were said to have been entertained. General Andreas Pico and the last two Mexican governors Pío Pico and José María Flores were also welcome visitors... There was always music and plenty of food. Whenever provisions ran low, locals knew that they could always count of the generosity of Don Juan." Rancho Cañada de los Alisos (translated as "Valley of the Alders" or "Valley of the Sycamores"), encompassing the northern half