Upland, California

UPLAND, CALIFORNIA Historic and contemporary U pland, California, a city in San Bernardino County, is located at the foot of the highest part of the San Gabriel Mountains, on an east-west trail that was once used by Native Americans and Spanish missionaries - part of what is now known as the Old Spanish Trail. By the time California became part of the United States at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1846, the area around present-day Upland was little more than uninhabited ranchland and a place to pass through. Then, in 1882, George Chaffey, a Canadian shipbuilder and engineer from Ontario, Canada, along with his brother, William, purchased some 8,000 acres of land in what was known as the Cucamonga Rancho, as well as significant water rights from San Antonio Creek. Chaffey laid out a seven-mile thoroughfare from one end of his new irrigation colony to the other, which he named Euclid, (today, one of America’s most iconic and scenic avenues) in honor of his favorite mathematician. He called the new settlement Ontario, and because of the water he piped in, it soon became AT A GLANCE UPLAND, CALIFORNIA WHAT: A city of 78,000 WHERE: In San Bernardino County, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains WEBSITE: www.uplandca.gov