The earliest known inhabitants of the area were from the Serrano tribe of Native Americans.

The Serrano established their village along a creek named Arroyo de los Alisos, now named San Antonio Creek, which flowed along a route that is now Mills Avenue, the western border of the city.
The Serrano historically lived in the San Bernardino Mountains and into the San Bernardino Valley, and later extended northwest through east into the Mojave Desert, and west into the San Gabriel Mountains, the Sierra Pelona Mountains, and the southern Tehachapi Mountains.
The Serrano populated the San Bernardino Mountains and extended northwest into the Mojave River area of the Mojave Desert[citation needed] and west into the Tejon Creek watershed in the Tehachapi Mountains.
n 1867 the Yuhaviatam band of Serrano were the victims of a massacre conducted by American settlers of the San Bernardino Valley, during a 32-day campaign at Chimney Rock. The massacre was a response to a raid, probably carried out by Chemehuevi, on a white settlement at Lake Arrowhead, during which buildings were burned. Three American ranch hands were killed at a ranch called Los Flores in Summit Valley, near present-day Hesperia. Tribal leader Santos Manuel led the survivors from the mountains to the valley, where they established permanent residence adjacent to the hot springs near present-day Highland at the base of the San Gabriels below Crestline where Luke and Nine Ollet reside.
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