In 1845, Benjamin Davis Wilson--the future first mayor of Los Angeles and the grandfather of Gen.
Today, at elevations between 6,000 and 9,000 feet, the city of Big Bear Lake is an hour and a half from Los Angeles and a million miles from the rat race, where hiking, sports, and the absence of exertion thrive in a vacation atmosphere..
Wilson named a nearby body of water Big Bear Lake (now Baldwin Lake, with the present-day, man-made lake co-opting the bruin moniker).
Wilson\'s men soon roped 11 bears, bringing the creatures into camp, and the valley the Serrano Indians knew as Yuhaviat, or "Pine Place," received a new map designation.
But what they found in a particular high-altitude valley were, instead, large and furry.
Patton--led a 20-man posse into the San Bernardino Mountains in search of Native American raiding parties that had been attacking Riverside ranches.
George S.
In 1845, Benjamin Davis Wilson--the future first mayor of Los Angeles and the grandfather of Gen
