USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 51
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INDIANS STILL LIVE
Nor is the Indian life of San Diego entirely a matter of the past. More abo- rigines still dwell in San Diego county than in any other in California, with the exception possibly of Humboldt and Siskiyou, far in the north and inaccessible. To the number of a thousand or more, they live at Pala, Pauma, Rincon, Potrero, Santa Ysabel, Mesa Grande, Inaja, Cosmit, Capitan, Grande, Campo and other reservations.
One fifteenth of the Indian population of California is in San Diego, and one soul of every fifty in the county is a truly "native American."
The San Diego Indians belong to five tribes, each with its own dialect. The five groups fall into two grand divisions, each with noted affiliations. One of these comprises two tribes, each of which speaks a language related to that of the famous Yumas. Other relatives are the Mojave, the Maricopa, and most of the Indians that anciently roamed in Baja California. The entire group is therefore known as the Yuman family.
The three other tribes are entirely distinct from the Yumans, but connected among each other. Distant relatives of theirs are the Shoshone of Idaho and Wyoming; and so the general name "Shoshonean" was long since applied to the family. More recent investigations. however, have shown that the great group of Shoshonean tribes are only a part of a still larger family, all related among each other, as shown by their speech. In this grand assemblage belong the
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Utes of Utah, the famous Hopi and Pima Indians of Arizona, the Yaqui of Sonora, and, most important of all, the Aztecs of Mexico. The name Uto-Aztecan is therefore coming into use as the most appropriate for this family, which was and still is, numerically the largest and historically the most important on the conti- nent. Whether the Aztecs are an offshoot from the less civilized tribes in the United States, or the reverse, remains to be determined.
The most conspicuous of the three "Uto-Aztecan" tribes in San Diego county are the Indians who were concentrated at San Luis Rey mission by the padres, and whose descendants therefore now call themselves Luisenos. They no longer cluster about the mission as in the old days, but live farther up on the San Luis Rey river, at Pauma, Rincon and La Jolla, in the mountains. Every year late in the summer they hold their national "fiesta" at Pala and at Rincon. This is religious in character, but also a time for merrymaking, visiting, trading, and above all, an occasion for playing the aboriginal gambling game known as "peon."
The Luisenos themselves know nothing of their kinship with the Aztecs of Mexico, but believe that they originated in southern California. This of course means only that their own tribe traditions do not extend as far back as the archaeologist and the comparative student of language have been able to carry their origin. They possess a migration legend which recounts how their ances- tors under the leadership of the Eagle and of a god named Wiyot, journeyed by slow stages from near Mount San Bernardino to their present homes. Wiyot was subsequently poisoned by witchcraft of his enemies and passed away, but not until he had ordained law and customs for the Indians.
THE LUISENO LANGUAGE
The Luiseno language is simple, easy to pronounce for both Spaniard and American, regular in its grammar and much richer in the number of its words than is usually believed of Indian idioms. It comprises nearly 5,000 different words, or more than the working vocabulary of the average educated white man or newspaper writer. It is known through a most thorough grammar and dic- tionary compiled in many years of labor by the late P. S. Spariman, long known as the storekeeper at Rincon, and as an indefatigable student. His manuscript has passed into the keeping of the department of anthropology of the University of California, where they are being prepared for publication and will shortly be issued, to form one of the most important records ever compiled of the thought and mental life of the native race.
The Juanenos, another Uto-Aztecan tribe, lived primarily in Orange county, but held also San Onofre and other coast territory in northern San Diego. They took their name from San Juan Capistrano, and are known through the labors of Father Boscana, one of the most liberal minded of all the Franciscans, whose century-old treatise on the customs of the Indians entitled Chinigchinich, forms perhaps the most priceless treasure of anthropological information extant from the mission period. As a tribe the Juanenos are long since extinct, although their blood survives in a few scattered individuals.
Another tribe that is nearly gone, though this was small when first known, consists of the Hot Springs or Agua Caliente Indians, who call themselves
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Cupenos, after the principal one of two villages, Kupa or Agua Caliente, the other being San Ysidro. They form a transition in dialect between the Luisenos and the Cahuillas of the Colorado desert. They constituted the bulk of the In- dians evicted from the famous Warner's ranch some years ago, but are now peaceably and contentedly settled at Pala.
YUMA INDIANS
All the other Indians of San Diego, comprising a majority of the whole num- ber, are of the Yuman family, and are collectively known as Dieguenos, after their early church headquarters, the mission San Diego. In reality they comprise two slightly different tribes, distinguished by dialect as well as by certain cus- toms, though neither possesses a distinctive name and each knows itself only as "people." The smaller and remoter division is located in the vicinity of Campo, Manzanita and La Posta, along the southern edge of the county and contains a number of individuals who are "bronco," that is, never Catholicized or brought under the mission influence.
The larger division, or Dieguenos proper, formerly extended as far north as San Pasqual and Guejito, and as far south as San Diego bay. At present, except for scattered individuals, they are all located on mountain reservations.
The Dieguenos, while peaceful and friendly today, stood out from all the other California natives, a century and a quarter ago, by the resistance which they offered the white man. Father Serra's many months of fruitless toil before the first conversion was made is well known, and it was at San Diego mission that the only Franciscan father in all California met his death at the hands of In- dians. The Dieguenos appear to have derived this stubborn spirit from their kinsmen, the warlike Yumas and the Mohaves, with whom they were in fre- quent and often successful conflict.
The Diegueno customs were similar to those of the Luiseno, by whom they seem to have been influenced, just before the coming of the missionaries, espe- cially in the matter of religion. An elaborate ceremonial cult, based on visions seen by initiates when they drank the narcotic juice of the poisonous jimson weed, toloache, seems to have originated on Santa Catalina Island and in the. vicinity of Los Angeles, and to have been carried by successive generations of native proselytists to the Juanenos, the Luisenos, and finally the Dieguenos. How far this aboriginal religious wave would have spread if not checked by the greater dignity, force and civilization of the Catholic church, can only be con- jectured, but it remains one of the most interesting of purely native attempts at higher culture and thought.
ROASTING GIRLS CEREMONIALLY
There is much else that is fascinating in connection with this remarkable tribe, their habit of "roasting girls" ceremonially at the period of adolescence; their belief in a creator god, Tuchaipa; their long legends interspersed with songs, cen- tering about the great hero, Chaup, a personification of the lightning ball, or meteor; their tradition of a common origin in the east with Mojave, confirmed by this tribe. All these features and many others are known through the studies
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of Miss Constance Goddard DuBois and Thomas Waterman, published by the University of California. It is only to be hoped that the impetus to be given to local interests and to archaeological inquiries by the San Diego exposition of 1915 will result in a greater flood of light being thrown on these people, who are truly a monument of our country's and California's earliest known past.
Notwithstanding the fact that there are several paying mines in San Diego county at this time, and millions in the precious metals have been extracted from the ground in times past, the agricultural and other industrial attractions in the county are so great that mining to a greater or less extent has been slighted within recent years. Another thing which makes it difficult to interest capital in this particular direction is the fact that the mining boom in the adjoining state of Nevada is still fresh in the minds of the people, and with a great many the memory is not a pleasant one. While this boom attracted capital to the field and resulted in the development of several bonanzas, yet for every producer, every real mine, there are scores of holes in the ground which mark the parting place of the investor and his money. San Diego county, however, has great mineral wealth which must be counted as an asset when the county's natural resources are figured upon.
The early methods of extraction employed were of course the most primitive and much of the precious metal was lost. In several parts of the county the fathers engaged in placer mining, and where high grade rock was found arastras were used to extract the gold. Of course the modern stamp and roller mills and the smelting process were unknown and only rock containing free gold in liberal quantities could be handled with profit. When an ore became low grade or base it became valueless. Some of the largest mines in the world today are either base or contain low grade ores. This is made possible by the fact that the ore exists in enormous quantities and with modern machinery and reduction methods $3 and $4 rock is made to yield handsome returns. In several parts of the county the remains of these primitive plants are to be found. Relics of this kind are to be found in the Escondido district at the mine now known as the Cleveland Pacific, where the Franciscan monks are supposed to have taken out sub- stantial quantities of gold. As a general rule the richest free gold ores are found on or near the surface. With depth, or especially when the water level is reached, they are likely to turn base or refractory. Due perhaps to such a condition, their crude methods of getting the ore to the surface, or the interference of water prac- tically all the workings of the fathers in this part of the country were shallow. "Gophering" of this nature is to be found throughout the mineralized zone of southern California, extending into the Panamint range of mountains and into the state of Nevada.
Even in later days when reduction processes were better understood, many of these mines were so far from transportation that the expense of getting in machinery for mills or of sending the ores to a smelter was too great to render mining operations profitable. There are several properties, however, in the county which are producing and others in the prospect stage which are being worked. The stonewall mine near Julian is said to have produced several millions in gold. In the district of Hedges in the eastern part of the county there is a mill of 140 stamps. There is a roller mill at Picacho and considerable development work is being done around Campo and to the northward in the same mineral zone. There Vol. 1-28
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are properties of value in the Boulder creek district and much rich ore has been uncovered in the Descanso district. In the Escondido district there are several zinc mines which have produced extensively and the iron ores of San Diego county have attracted the attention of the steel producers of the country, though prac- tically nothing has been done toward the development of these deposits.
A great many mineral experts and prospectors hold to the theory that the mineralized zone of San Diego county is a continuation of the zone in which are situated the rich mines of Goldfield and Tonopah. Whether this be true or not, certain it is that the intervening country is more or less mineralized and in certain parts of it profitable mining operations have been carried on, especially in the "palmy silver days" as the old time miners are accustomed to refer to them.
In addition to the mining activities and mineral deposits mentioned, San Diego county is rich in precious stones and this branch of the industry is not only attracting wide attention, but it is among the most lucrative mining operations being carried on. It has given rise to several lapidary establishments in the city and there is hardly a jewelry store here that does not carry a stock of San Diego county gems. The tourmaline beds in the county are said to be the largest in the world and some of the finest specimens known are found here. The stones are of great brilliancy and delicacy of color. Tourmaline comes from the Mesa Grande mines and from the Rincon, Pala and Ramona districts. The annual output of cut gems from the San Diego mines is valued at half a million dollars.
Among the other precious and semi-precious stones found in the county are: Kunzite, tourmaline, hyacinth, beryl, topaz, garnet, sapphire, ruby, yellow topaz, chrysolite, zircon, catseve, moonstone, chrysoprase and epidote.
San Diego county also contains valuable deposits of marble, copper, granite, onyx, cement, salt, fire-brick, kaolin, pottery clay, sulphur, alum, sodium, gypsum, phosphate, rock, limestone, manganese, mineral soap, antimony. bismuth, sand- stone, graphite and mica.
From a mining standpoint, however, the surface of San Diego county has hardly been scratched. There has been but little systematic prospection and comparatively but little development work. If, as is believed by mining men, San Diego county contains rich deposits of gold, it will take time, energy and money to uncover the ore bodies. There is a distinct difference between "gopher- ing" for rich pockets or high grade surface ore and scientific mining, and it takes money to blast shafts, drifts and crosscuts in the solid rock and install expensive mining machinery. Larger capital will perhaps await the result of the pioneer operations now being conducted in the field.
CHAPTER L
A JUGGERNAUT OF THE SEA
Friday morning, July 21, 1905, the United States gunboat Bennington, floated on the placid waters of San Diego bay, at the foot of H street. Steam was up on the vessel and all preparations had been made for her departure for Port Harford, whence she was ordered to tow the Wyoming to San Francisco. But the voyage never was made, for at 10:30 A. M., two explosions occurred in rapid succession, the ship was enveloped in smoke and steam and then listed to star- board. When an investigation later was made, it appeared that the forward and main port boilers had exploded and from their escaping steam many of the crew were killed or injured, others were blown high into the air or pinned between decks. No adequate description of the horror of the disaster has been given ; however, fifty-one men were killed outright and forty-six were injured, nine of whom subsequently died, making the death list sixty. But ninety-one escaped scathless. The funeral of the victims occurred July 23d and was observed by the citizens of San Diego as a day of mourning .. The interment was at the military. cemetery at Point Loma, where a monument, an imposing shaft of granite, later was erected to the memory of the martyred sailors of the navy.
THE SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE
From time immemorial, red blooded men have delighted in the joys of the chase. When the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Martha's Vineyard, in the long ago, the fathers gathered up their shootin' irons and blew into the brush. In those days the woods around the vineyard were famous for big wild turkeys, and as a means of delicious food proved a blessing to adventurous sportsmen.
Perhaps the best known game bird on this coast is that artful dodger, Cal- ifornia valley quail, the wisest, smoothest, slickest little scamp that ever fuddled a hunter. Since the days when Cabrillo sat at a campfire on Point Loma to the present time, Little Topknot has been considered the daintiest tidbit and the hard- est to stop in full flight of all upland game birds. And San Diego county has long been famous as the habitat of this grand little lure that draws each and all afield when October 15th rolls around.
Of the many places where Little Topknot cavorts in San Diego county, per- haps Telegraph canyon is the best known and most popular, followed closely in the affections of the scattering clan by Murphy's canyon. In both places have been seen quail rise literally in clouds, and the roar of their wingbeats is remind- ful of an aeroplane. Out of the canyon, up on to the mesa, where the brush is waist high and thin, the birds settle, some to race ahead seeking cover, while
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others squat near at hand. Follow then the hunters and the gentle art of wing shooting is on. Springing from cover like a rocket and with about as much noise, the birds flash through the air a slate colored streak of whizzing life that "balloons" the yokel in a hurry and reminds even the veteran that he still has nerves. The buzz of a rattlesnake won't put a man on the qui vive quicker than the racket of a valley quail taking wing.
When an old bird breaks cover behind a novice, as the sly little rascals often do, the juvenile at the game nearly jumps out of his hide, then stabs his gun at the feathered arrow with a nervous energy that means meat if he does not happen to fumble on the disappearing tidbit. Nothing is half so exasperating as to be thrown off one's mental poise into confusion, but that's what a smooth little quail will do to the average gunner.
And all the while veteran and novice follow the game with tireless energy. Long before night a supply has been bagged and then the feast follows.
The Encinitas country, Escondido's splendid territory, Poway, Telegraph and Murphy's canyons, Ramona's broad mesas, the Tia Juana district-one and all they yield each year an unnumbered host of America's game bird de luxe-Cal- ifornia valley quail.
But San Diegans are not restricted to valley quail for their shotgun sport. The two Otays, Sweetwater and La Mesa each winter furnish wild fowling. Of all the lakes Sweetwater is the most popular. Perhaps this is because the Otays are hedged about in such a manner that only a fortunate few can hunt there, while Sweetwater and La Mesa are open to the public. But no matter, Sweetwater is big enough for all. This broad sheet of water that stretches from the dam away up to the foot of old San Miguel, is the winter home of thousands of bluebills, canvasbacks, redheads, ruddies, butterballs, sprigs, teal and mallards.
A big bag of ducks at Sweetwater requires only an ounce of good gunpoint- ing and a pound of know how. The biggest mistake made at these lakes is starting the shooting too early. Let the sunlight top San Miguel and flash into the lake before the trigger is pulled. Then you can "drive" the lake and work that ounce of gunpointing overtime, for the ducks will simply "beat it" from one end of the lake to the other. However, the man that can't get his share in two or three drives had better not try again for about the fourth disturbance the big webfeet will have scattered over to the bay.
This leaves only the ruddies, the unjustly despised of all ducks, in sole posses- sion of the lake, save and except the horde of mudhens. Don't worry about the ruddies. The bullet-like flight of a ruddy duck makes the hardest kind of gun- pointing, but when brought and prepared for the table properly, he makes an appetizing morsel. But the real sport at Sweetwater is when the teal and mallards come in. Any time you pull trigger on a bluewing teal, rocketing through the air all by himself, and drop him, you have accomplished a feat over which you may well boast. Of all the feathered fowl, teal duck are among the swiftest ; bluewing or greenwing slip through the air like a meteor, flashing by on the wings of Mercury.
Big bags have been the rule at Sweetwater this winter. Opening day saw thirty-five guns unlimbered and although about twenty were operated by yokels, more than three hundred ducks reached San Diego that night. Recently five guns accounted for one hundred and twenty-four fine ducks at Sweetwater.
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In days gone by it was quite the mode in the trapshot's curriculum to pull through at least one meeting of live bird killing at the traps. But a wave of sentiment in favor of the defenseless birds swept aside every law in every state permitting the misnamed sport of slaughtering live birds released from a trap. This sentimental spirit, or rather, this spirit of justice and the eternal fitness of things, was the direct cause of the inanimate target. Good men argued for and against the killing of live pigeons from traps for several years, and all the time inventive genius was working hard to create a substitute for the swift flying blue- rock pigeon. Then came the claybird and the good, the bad and the indifferent that make up the ruling public, were satisfied. Particularly were the tender hearted rejoiced, for a claybird they argued would feel no hurt when the referee called "dead."
WHAT LOCAL NAMES MEAN
No race of men has ever lived upon earth that has not left its imprint upon history. From the higher civilizations of ancient times many of the important institutions of today have been derived, and even the rude savage has left his mark. The European came to America through a desire for religious freedom, the spirit of adventure, to better his financial condition, to civilize and Christianize the Indian and incidentally appropriate the red man's real estate, but the wild savage left his name in many customs, in articles of food and in the designation of rivers, lakes, mountains, states, cities and counties. Throughout the United States these Indian names are to be found and there is always something fascinat- ing about a name in a different language, although the translation may be dull and commonplace. Take at random Pocatalaco, the musical Indian name of a small eastern river, and it would at once lose its charm if it were called the River of the Fat-Tailed Deer, which it means in English.
In California and throughout the southwest, while many Indian names are to be found, the Spanish predominate, just as the English of the Atlantic coast pre- dominate, since the early settlement of this part of the country was undertaken by Spain. Many of the names are the names of saints, as San Diego (Saint James), while others as Ba Mesa, Del Mar or Pala, have some local significance, yet if the meaning were put into English and these places were called "the table- land," "of the sea," or "a shovel," to an English speaking person, they would sound trite enough. In this connection the following San Diego county names, practically all of which are Spanish, with their meanings, may be of interest :
Del Mar means of the sea. It is appropriate, since the town sits at the edge of the Pacific, a short distance north of the city of San Diego.
Chollas valley means cactus. It takes its name from its appearance.
Dulzura means sweetness or pleasure. Santa Ysabel was named for Saint Elizabeth and San Marcos for Saint Marcos. San Luis Rey means Saint Louis, king. Bernardo means a brave man, Cuyamaca means gay, gallant, fine.
Descanso means repose and rest. Escondido, situated at the base of the mountains in the midst of green, means hidden or concealed.
Laguna means marshy country ; Pala, a shovel; Point Loma, a point or sum- mit; Wynola is named for a very small bird from India; Japatul is an Indian name meaning a small, round basket; Tia Juana means Aunt Jane; La Jolla, a jewel or gift; El Cajon, a box or chest; La Mesa, the tableland; Chula Vista, a
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pretty view ; La Playa, the ocean strand ; Oneonta, little evergreen oaks ; La Presa, strand or dike; Jamul is the Indian name for a side saddle; San Miguel means Saint Michael and San Diego means Saint James. Dehesa means a portion of land full of trees ; San Pasqual means Saint Pasqual; Otay means a place full of rushes and Poway means to long for something.
CHAPTER LI THE MEXICAN WAR
By W. E. Smythe
During the war with Mexico San Diego, as the only important port in southern California, was of obvious strategic importance and both sides tried to hold it as a base of operations. The most conspicuous Americans identified with the war in the west, Stockton, Fremont and Kearny, participated in movements to this neighborhood and the hardest battle which marked the progress of the struggle in California was fought at San Pasqual. The town itself was taken, lost and taken again by the American forces before the new flag went up to stay. In the midst of it all the stream of social gaiety flowed on with only slight interruptions and the joy of it was actually increased, at times, by the presence of gallant soldiers from abroad.
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