| By Oliver Beckwith, MHM Board Member  | Part One of Two The Bear is a book by author Andrew Krivak, and it is the featured book in Monrovia's "One City One Story" initiative for 2026. It’s sponsored by Monrovia Reads, a local group which promotes literacy and provides resources to accomplish this goal. The Bear is about a journey by a father and daughter in a post apocalyptic world, and themes of human interaction with the natural world abound. |
Krivak had been telling his children bedtime stories about a bear, and when he moved to New Hampshire he became inspired to write a story that would include Mt. Monadnock, a popular hiking destination in the region.
The meaning of the name Monadnock in the Abenaki tribal language is “Mountain that Stands Alone,” and the place has inspired people for many generations. The mountain appears in Henry David Thoreau’s writing, and Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem about the place titled, “Monadnoc from Afar.” Both were transcendentalists; they believed in self sufficiency and making deep connections with nature both physically and spiritually.
Monadnock, the mountain that stands alone, was popular with tourists in the 19th century and it is very popular today, with 125,000 visitors annually. People visit the mountain to reconnect with nature, and reading The Bear inspires us to reignite that connection.
One of the beautiful things about Monrovia is its proximity to the San Gabriel Mountains. Every time I walk out of my home I see Monrovia Peak, and it's so close I can practically reach out and touch it. Its elevation is 5412 feet above sea level, just 301 feet below the summit of Mount Wilson. Living in a foothill community we may see coyotes, racoons, skunks, crows, ravens, parrots, and vultures. And of course Monrovia is well known for its bears. These are all reminders that we live in a world of nature.
The first people of Monrovia Canyon lived there for thousands of years. If you visit the Monrovia Historical Museum you will find a structure created a number of years ago by a group of Kizh descendants. Kizh is pronounced “Keech,” and it means “People of the Willow Houses.” Nearby canyons contained the villages of Asuksagna and Aleupkingna, and the resources of these canyons were used by the Kizh until they were enslaved and forcibly relocated to the San Gabriel Mission. The area changed hands from Spain to Mexico in 1821, and from Mexico to the United States in 1848.
The beautiful mountains above Monrovia attracted settlers even before the place became a city. In 1874 the Hibbard and Polly Rankins family arrived in the area from Wisconsin. Soon they built a homestead on what is now part of Monrovia’s Canyon Park, near the site of the Nature Center. This family had a number of children who attended school in nearby Duarte. The Rankins planted a garden there and grew fruit trees. They made a living by cutting down trees and selling the lumber in Los Angeles, back then a two day trip. They also raised bees and sold wild sumac honey. They lived with the bears, deer, coyotes, and all the other local wildlife.
The Rankins had a son named Albert, aged 19, and he was an apprentice to a blacksmith in San Gabriel. One day he came home and became very ill. Albert had come down with typhoid fever, and in March of 1877 he died at the Rankins home. Soon two sisters, Estella, aged 13, and Polly, aged 16, came down with the disease and both perished the following month. All three were buried on the property, and soon the grief stricken parents moved back to Wisconsin. After some time another sibling moved the bodies to Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, but the gravestones can be seen today just behind the amphitheater at Emerson Flats.
In August of 1877 a well known figure hiked into nearby Eaton Canyon. John Muir was enthralled by the ruggedness of the San Gabriel Mountains, and hiked up to the top of Mount Wilson. Later he wrote about his experiences there. Of Eaton Canyon Falls, he wrote: "It is a charming little thing, with a voice sweet as a songbird's, leaping some thirty-five or forty feet into a round, mirror pool. The cliff back of it and on both sides is completely covered with thick, furry mosses, and the white fall shines against the green like a silver instrument in a velvet case... It is the Yosemite of San Gabriel."
Leonard H. Emerson settled in Monrovia Canyon several years after the Rankins left, and he had business partners who wanted to create a resort in the canyon. However he ran into big legal trouble when he tried to cut off the flow of water to Monrovia in 1888. Afterward he moved his family into Monrovia, but the area where the Nature Center lies is still known as Emerson Flats.
In the following decade, thousands of people came out West to Southern California. The arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad allowed many more settlers to come to the area. There was a desire to visit the beautiful and rugged San Gabriel Mountains nearby. This was the beginning of “The Great Hiking Era” in Southern California, which started in the 1880’s and lasted until the 1930’s. From the beginning of Monrovia's existence as a city, there was awareness of Monrovia Canyon and its falls. Local residents would hike or take horses up there and enjoy the visit. With the introduction of automobiles in the early 20th century, there was a desire for residents to visit the place in their vehicles.
Next Month: Canyon Park in the 20th Century and Beyond.
The meaning of the name Monadnock in the Abenaki tribal language is “Mountain that Stands Alone,” and the place has inspired people for many generations. The mountain appears in Henry David Thoreau’s writing, and Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem about the place titled, “Monadnoc from Afar.” Both were transcendentalists; they believed in self sufficiency and making deep connections with nature both physically and spiritually.
Monadnock, the mountain that stands alone, was popular with tourists in the 19th century and it is very popular today, with 125,000 visitors annually. People visit the mountain to reconnect with nature, and reading The Bear inspires us to reignite that connection.
One of the beautiful things about Monrovia is its proximity to the San Gabriel Mountains. Every time I walk out of my home I see Monrovia Peak, and it's so close I can practically reach out and touch it. Its elevation is 5412 feet above sea level, just 301 feet below the summit of Mount Wilson. Living in a foothill community we may see coyotes, racoons, skunks, crows, ravens, parrots, and vultures. And of course Monrovia is well known for its bears. These are all reminders that we live in a world of nature.
The first people of Monrovia Canyon lived there for thousands of years. If you visit the Monrovia Historical Museum you will find a structure created a number of years ago by a group of Kizh descendants. Kizh is pronounced “Keech,” and it means “People of the Willow Houses.” Nearby canyons contained the villages of Asuksagna and Aleupkingna, and the resources of these canyons were used by the Kizh until they were enslaved and forcibly relocated to the San Gabriel Mission. The area changed hands from Spain to Mexico in 1821, and from Mexico to the United States in 1848.
The beautiful mountains above Monrovia attracted settlers even before the place became a city. In 1874 the Hibbard and Polly Rankins family arrived in the area from Wisconsin. Soon they built a homestead on what is now part of Monrovia’s Canyon Park, near the site of the Nature Center. This family had a number of children who attended school in nearby Duarte. The Rankins planted a garden there and grew fruit trees. They made a living by cutting down trees and selling the lumber in Los Angeles, back then a two day trip. They also raised bees and sold wild sumac honey. They lived with the bears, deer, coyotes, and all the other local wildlife.
The Rankins had a son named Albert, aged 19, and he was an apprentice to a blacksmith in San Gabriel. One day he came home and became very ill. Albert had come down with typhoid fever, and in March of 1877 he died at the Rankins home. Soon two sisters, Estella, aged 13, and Polly, aged 16, came down with the disease and both perished the following month. All three were buried on the property, and soon the grief stricken parents moved back to Wisconsin. After some time another sibling moved the bodies to Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, but the gravestones can be seen today just behind the amphitheater at Emerson Flats.
In August of 1877 a well known figure hiked into nearby Eaton Canyon. John Muir was enthralled by the ruggedness of the San Gabriel Mountains, and hiked up to the top of Mount Wilson. Later he wrote about his experiences there. Of Eaton Canyon Falls, he wrote: "It is a charming little thing, with a voice sweet as a songbird's, leaping some thirty-five or forty feet into a round, mirror pool. The cliff back of it and on both sides is completely covered with thick, furry mosses, and the white fall shines against the green like a silver instrument in a velvet case... It is the Yosemite of San Gabriel."
Leonard H. Emerson settled in Monrovia Canyon several years after the Rankins left, and he had business partners who wanted to create a resort in the canyon. However he ran into big legal trouble when he tried to cut off the flow of water to Monrovia in 1888. Afterward he moved his family into Monrovia, but the area where the Nature Center lies is still known as Emerson Flats.
In the following decade, thousands of people came out West to Southern California. The arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad allowed many more settlers to come to the area. There was a desire to visit the beautiful and rugged San Gabriel Mountains nearby. This was the beginning of “The Great Hiking Era” in Southern California, which started in the 1880’s and lasted until the 1930’s. From the beginning of Monrovia's existence as a city, there was awareness of Monrovia Canyon and its falls. Local residents would hike or take horses up there and enjoy the visit. With the introduction of automobiles in the early 20th century, there was a desire for residents to visit the place in their vehicles.
Next Month: Canyon Park in the 20th Century and Beyond.
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