Nutrioso's name is derived from the Spanish wordNutria ("Otter"). The early Spanish colonists referred to beaver as "nutria", perhaps because the Eurasian beaver had been extinct in Spain since the 17th century.[5][6][7] On August 2, 1776 Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante wrote in his diary, "...we halted in a small plain on the bank of another arroyo which is called Rio de las Nutrias, because, although it is of permanent and running water, apparently during all or most of the year it stands in pools where they say beavers breed."[8] The first settlers in the area either killed an otter and a bear (Oso in Spanish) and took the name from that incident,[9] killed a beaver and a bear and misused the term "Nutria"[10] or killed just a beaver and used the term "Nutrioso" to mean "Of Beavers".[11]
Nutrioso rose in importance as Mormon refugees relocated here after other nearby settlements were attacked by Native American groups. By 1880, a fort had been constructed, and by 1883 a post office was established.
[10]
^J. J. Warner (1907–1908). "Reminiscences of Early California from 1831 to 1846 Warner Annual Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California 1907–1908". Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California. 7 (2/3): 176–193.
