Title supplied by cataloger. Major Henry Hancock was given ownership to a large ranch in Los Angeles known as Rancho La Brea, in 1860. In the 1870s, Hancock found the skeletal remains of dinosaur as well as one Indian woman within the tar pits. The area that contains the skeletal collection and the Tar Pits is what is now called Hancock Park. Major Hancock was an early Los Angeles lawyer, surveyor, land owner, and candidate for the Presidency of the United States. Large pool on Rancho La Brea, containing springs, oil seepages and natural gas vents. This pool is often mistaken for the "La Brea Pit" by the uninformed. Brea (asphaltum) was mined from this depression at an earlier period. At that time, the owner of this area, Henry Hancock, excavated this section for its tar content. Car-loads of bones not then known to have a scientific value were burned as rubbish. This area became known as the "Death Trap of the Ages" when it was discovered that the bones were from prehistoric mammals, plants and birds. Visible on the right at the end of the large pool is the old Hancock Ranch House. Off to the left in the distance are the oil fields.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;20 x 24 cm. Photographic prints
Architecture, Domestic--California--Los Angeles Oil fields--California--Los Angeles Dwellings--California--Los Angeles Ranches--California--Los Angeles Hancock Park (Los Angeles, Calif. : Park) La Brea Pits (Calif.)
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