Most non-Hispanic persons with some knowledge of Spanish assume that the name El Monte must pertain to a hill or a mountain of some sort. If this were true, it would belie the physical realities of El Monte as a place, for there are no hills or mountains in any evidence with the exception of the distant San Gabriels.

Rather, one must search for a meaning to the name El Monte in the obscure and somewhat archaic definitions which were current in Spanish usage in the late 18th century. For it was in the 1770’s that a group of Spanish soldiers and missionaries first explored this part of southern California and discovered, located between two rivers, an island of rich, low-lying land, covered with dense growths of slender willows, alders, and cattails. The "Island", approximately 7 miles long and 4 miles wide, constituted a veritable oasis unmatched in the midst of what naturally is a rather harsh, semi-arid environment.