TAPO

The origin of the word “Tapo” comes from the name of the Chumash Indian village of Ta’apu.  (There are several different spellings used in the baptismal records of the San Fernando Mission). Ta’apu was located in Gillibrand Canyon and was the largest village in the Simi Valley area. It also was the only village to have a resident chief when the first baptisms were being made. Archaeologist Richard Van Valkenburg, who worked in this area in the 1930s, indicated in notes on file at the Los Angeles County Museum that Ta’apu means “yucca” – in other words, it is a Ventureno Chumash word for the plant commonly known as “our lord’s candle” and “Spanish dagger.” The plant’s technical name is Yucca whipplei ssp. Intermedia. Kroeber (1916), page 61, also indicates that ta’apu means yucca. (It is possibl.e that Van Valenkenburg derived his explanation from Kroeber.) This explanation seems to be corroborated by the notes of John Peabody Harrington, the noted linguist, anthropologist and archaeologist, who lists topo as a major item cooked in roasting pits. Yucca bulbs were the most frequently pit-roasted food. Topo is the Barbareno Chumash form for Ta’apu. It should be noted that none of Harrington’s informants could etymologize the name.

Trails were usually named by the Indians for the places where they went. So there is a Tapo Canyon on both the northern and the southern slopes of the Santa Susana Mountains. Those canyons contained the trails to Ta’apu. When the train station was established at Santa Susana and the community of Santa Susana was established by town-site subdivision of farmland, Tapo Road ran north from the station to what is now Alamo Street and then northwesterly to the mouth of Tapo Canyon. Tapo Road later became Tapo Street and the diagonal section of the road, connecting to the mouth of Tapo Canyon was abandoned with the creation of the final subdivision of the Tapo Ranch. Tapo Drive was part of the Tapo Ranch agricultural subdivision, and that road ran north-south along a quarter section line connecting the mouth of Tapo Canyon with Palm Drive (now called Alamo Street). Tapo Drive became Tapo Canyon Road – probably in an attempt to quell the confusion caused by two “Tapos.” It seems that confusion still exists, especially for visitors and newcomers to the valley.

The name Tapo Canyon extends north from the mouth of the canyon and then follows Bennett Road up through the old Gillibrand Quarry to the pass over the mountains. Historically there was an old wagon road over the ridge, connecting Simi Valley with the Santa Clara River Valley. That road was not taken as a public road by Ventura County, so had drop from use, except as a ranch and oil field service road. The name Gillibrand Canyon came about because of the settlement of the Gillibrand family in the canyon. Even though the De la Guerra Adobe and rancho headquarters were built next to the site of the village of Ta’apu, which had remained a cattle and sheep camp throughout the Spanish and Mexican periods, the concept of the trail to Ta’apu was transformed to the trail to “the Tapo.” It is likely that the Indian trail ran north from the village site to cross the same saddle over Oak Ridge later used by the road. Transportation routes evolve through time and often drop from use due to changes in technology. Names on the land sometimes live on and provide an echo of the past.

                                                                                                            Mike Kuhn

2-19-05