In 1769, Captain Gaspar de Portola led an expedition of more than five dozen soldiers, plus a few settlers and priests, through Southern California. It was a difficult and thirsty journey. Years later, one of those soldiers, Ygnacio Machado, was given a retirement package. Instead of a pension, Barbara Marinacci says he got land.

"That would be Rancho Aquaje de Centinela."

Marinacci wrote California's Spanish Place Names. She says Machado named his ranch in memory of his days in the military, walking the dusty paths of Southern California. And Aguaje de Centinela?

"That would be 'sentry's water hole.'"

These days, California's water comes out of a pipe instead of a hole in the ground. The aquaje is gone. But there's still a Centinela Boulevard.

(Airdate: 5/23/2009)