1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
2.
Southern California
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Southern California, often abbreviated as SoCal, is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises Californias 10 southernmost counties. The region is described as eight counties, based on demographics and economic ties, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara. The more extensive 10-county definition, which includes Kern and San Luis Obispo counties, is used and is based on historical political divisions. Southern California is an economic center for the state of California. The 8-county and 10-county definitions are not used for the greater Southern California Megaregion, the megaregions area is more expansive, extending east into Las Vegas, Nevada and south across the Mexican border into Tijuana.5 million people. With over 22 million people, Southern California contains roughly 60 percent of Californias population, located east of Southern California is the Colorado Desert and the Colorado River at the border with Arizona. The Mojave Desert is located at the border with the state of Nevada while towards the south is the Mexico–United States border, within Southern California are two major cities, Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as three of the countrys largest metropolitan areas. With a population of 3,792,621, Los Angeles is the most populous city in California and the second most populous in the United States. South of Los Angeles and with a population of 1,307,402 is San Diego, the second most populous city in the state and the eighth most populous in the nation. The counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside are the five most populous in the state, the motion picture, television, and music industry are centered in the Los Angeles area in Southern California. Hollywood, a district within Los Angeles, gives its name to the American motion picture industry, headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers. Universal, Warner Brothers, and Sony also run major record companies, Southern California is also home to a large homegrown surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Vans, Volcom, Quiksilver, No Fear, RVCA, some of the worlds biggest action sports events, including the X Games, Boost Mobile Pro, and the U. S. Open of Surfing, are all held in Southern California. Southern California is also important to the world of yachting, the annual Transpacific Yacht Race, or Transpac, from Los Angeles to Hawaii, is one of yachtings premier events. The San Diego Yacht Club held the Americas Cup, the most prestigious prize in yachting, from 1988 to 1995, Southern California is home to many sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Many locals and tourists frequent the Southern California coast for its popular beaches, the desert city of Palm Springs is popular for its resort feel and nearby open spaces. Southern California is not a geographic designation and definitions of what constitutes Southern California vary. Geographically, Californias North-South midway point lies at exactly 37°958.23 latitude, around 11 miles south of San Jose, however, when the state is divided into two areas, the term Southern California usually refers to the 10 southernmost counties of the state
Southern California
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Southern California Images top from bottom, left to right:
San Diego Skyline,
Downtown Los Angeles,
Village of La Jolla,
Santa Monica Pier,
Surfer at Black's Beach,
Hollywood Sign,
Disneyland,
Hermosa Beach Pier
Southern California
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San Diego Marina district
Southern California
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Sunset in
Venice, a district in Los Angeles
Southern California
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Three Arch Bay in Laguna
3.
Transverse Ranges
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The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the end of the California Coast Ranges. They derive the name Transverse Ranges due to their east–west orientation, most of the system lies in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. Lower elevations are dominated by chaparral and scrubland, while higher elevations support large conifer forests, most of the ranges in the system are fault blocks, and were uplifted by tectonic movements during the Cenozoic Era. Most of the Transverse Ranges are bounded to the north and east by the San Andreas Fault, which separates the ranges from the California Coast Ranges, notable passes along the fault include Tejon Pass, Cajon Pass, and San Gorgonio Pass. Components of Transverse Ranges to the north of the include the Tehachapi Mountains. The western and southern boundaries are generally acknowledged to be the Pacific Ocean and various alluvial valleys, major passes not along the San Andreas Fault include Gaviota Pass, San Marcos Pass, the Conejo Grade, Newhall Pass, and Cahuenga Pass. The mountains are notable for being steep and difficult to traverse across, on its northern end, there are few passes that are sufficiently low or wide enough to accommodate significant volumes of traffic. This results in significant traffic issues throughout Southern California when a pass has to be shut due to heavy snow or construction. Occasionally, such as Santa Barbara during the 2005 La Conchita landslide, the Transverse Ranges manifest themselves as a series of roughly parallel ridges with an average height of 3, 000–8,000 feet. They begin at Point Conception in Santa Barbara County, and include the Santa Ynez Mountains that run parallel to the coast behind Santa Barbara. Also in Santa Barbara County, they include the San Rafael Mountains, the Ranges include the steep San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, the San Rafael Hills, Puente Hills, San Jose Hills, and Chino Hills, and the San Bernardino Mountains. The Mojave Desert and Californias low desert, including the Coachella Valley, are at the end of the ranges. The northern Channel Islands of California are also part of the Transverse Ranges, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, snow falls above 6,000 feet most winters, and above 3,000 feet every few years. It is rare for elevations above 8,000 feet to go multiple winters without snow, the tree line lies at about 11,000 feet, San Gorgonio Mountain is the only peak with an alpine environment. The Transverse Ranges have a geological history, and the rock composition of the ranges are varied. The Transverse Ranges represent a complex of tectonic forces and faulting stemming from the interaction of the Pacific Plate, the San Andreas Fault is a dextral strike-slip fault with a right step, causing the mountains. Their elevation is somewhat better understood as a consequence of this step, the crust atop the Pacific Plate south of the ranges does not easily make the turn westward as the entire plate moves northwestward, forcing pieces of the crust to compress and lift
Transverse Ranges
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Snowy
Mount Baden-Powell in the
San Gabriel Mountains
Transverse Ranges
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The Ranges rise steeply above major urban areas such as Los Angeles
Transverse Ranges
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Eastern portion of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains, with the
Mojave Desert on the right and
Silverwood Lake near the boundary. The
San Andreas Fault runs straight up the middle toward the horizon.
Transverse Ranges
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Savannah-like oak woodlands are typical of the westernmost ranges; shown here is the north slope of the
Santa Ynez Mountains
4.
San Gabriel Mountains
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The San Gabriel Mountains are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert, with Interstate 5 to the west and Interstate 15 to the east. This range lies in, and is surrounded by, the Angeles National Forest, the highest peak in the range is Mount San Antonio, commonly referred to as Mt. Baldy. Mount Wilson is another peak, famed for the Mount Wilson Observatory. The observatory may be visited by the public, on October 10,2014, President Obama designated the area the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Much of the range features rolling peaks, the range lacks craggy features, but contains a large number of canyons and is generally very rugged and difficult to traverse. The San Gabriel Mountains are in effect a large block that was uplifted and then dissected by numerous rivers. North of San Fernando, the San Gabriel Mountains crest abruptly up to almost 4,000 feet, pacoima and Big Tujunga Canyons cut through the range just east of San Fernando, carrying runoff into the San Fernando Valley. Little Tujunga Canyon Road bridges the range in area, connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Clara River valley in the north. Towering over Big Tujunga Canyon north of Big Tujunga Reservoir is Mount Gleason, which at 6,502 feet, is the highest in this region of the San Gabriels. South of the gorge are the foothills of the mountains, which rise abruptly 4,000 feet above the Los Angeles Basin and give rise to the Arroyo Seco. Southeast of Big Tujunga Canyon, the front range of the San Gabriels gradually grows in elevation. On the north the range is dissected by the canyon of the West Fork San Gabriel River. On the north slopes of the San Gabriel crest, the ranks of mountains drop down incrementally to the floor of the Mojave Desert in a much more gradual manner than the sheer southern flank. The Angeles Crest Highway, one of the routes across the San Gabriels. Little Rock, Big Rock and Sheep Creeks drain off the part of the mountains. To the east, the San Andreas Fault cuts across the range, forming a series of long, straight and narrow depressions, including Swarthout Valley, South of Mount San Antonio, San Antonio Creek drains the mountains, cutting the deep San Antonio Canyon. However, there are several notable peaks in this region, including Telegraph Peak, at 8,985 feet, Cucamonga Peak, at 8,859 feet
San Gabriel Mountains
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Summits in the eastern San Gabriel Mountains,
Angeles National Forest,
San Bernardino County, California. The main peaks are: Telegraph Peak, 8,985' (left),
Cucamonga Peak, 8,859' (center), and Ontario Peak, 8693' (center right), as seen from
Baldy Bowl on
Mount Baldy.
San Gabriel Mountains
San Gabriel Mountains
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East Fork
San Gabriel River canyon, looking west.
San Gabriel Mountains
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Mount Islip.
5.
San Bernardino Mountains
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The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range out at 11,489 feet at San Gorgonio Mountain – the tallest peak in all of Southern California. The San Bernardinos form a significant region of wilderness and are popular for hiking and skiing, the mountains were formed about eleven million years ago by tectonic activity along the San Andreas Fault, and are still actively rising. Many local rivers originate in the range, which receives more precipitation than the surrounding desert. The ranges unique and varying environment allows it to some of the greatest biodiversity in the state. For over 10,000 years, the San Bernardinos and their surrounds have been inhabited by indigenous peoples, Spanish explorers first encountered the San Bernardinos in the late 18th century, naming the eponymous San Bernardino Valley at its base. European settlement of the region progressed slowly until 1860, when the became the focus of the largest gold rush ever to occur in Southern California. Recreational development of the began in the early 20th century. Since then, the mountains have been engineered for transportation. Four major state highways and the California Aqueduct traverse the mountains today, the Morongo Valley in the southeast divides the range from the Little San Bernardino Mountains. Encompassing roughly 2,100 square miles, the mountains lie mostly in San Bernardino County, the range divides three major physiographic regions, the highly urbanized Inland Empire to the southwest, the Coachella Valley in the southeast, and the Mojave Desert to the north. Most of the lies within the boundaries of the San Bernardino National Forest. From its northwestern end, the crest of the mountains rises steadily until they are interrupted by the gorge of Bear Creek, many cities lie at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains. These include San Bernardino, Redlands and Yucaipa in the south, Yucca Valley to the east, in addition, there are several mid-sized to large towns in the mountains themselves, including Big Bear Lake, Big Bear City, Crestline, Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs. Cities within the San Bernardino Mountains total a population of about 44,000, several regional streams and rivers also have their headwaters in the mountains. The principal drainage is provided by the Santa Ana River, which runs westwards into the Pacific Ocean in Orange County, the San Bernardino Mountains are a humid island in the mostly semi-arid southern California coastal plain. Parts of the San Bernardino Mountains have annual totals in excess of 40 inches. Most of the falls between November and March, summers are mostly dry except for infrequent thunderstorms during late summer
San Bernardino Mountains
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The San Bernardinos seen from near Sugarloaf Mountain
San Bernardino Mountains
San Bernardino Mountains
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The range seen looking south from the Big Bear Valley
San Bernardino Mountains
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The mountains are named for the San Bernardino Valley, in turn named by the Spanish in 1810
6.
San Jacinto Mountains
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The San Jacinto Mountains are a mountain range, in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles southern California in the United States. The mountains are named for Saint Hyacinth, the range extends for approximately 30 mi from the San Bernardino Mountains southeast to the Santa Rosa Mountains. The San Jacinto Mountains are the northernmost of the Peninsular Ranges, the highest peak in the range is San Jacinto Peak NAVD88, and the range is also a Great Basin Divide landform for the Salton Watershed to the east. The Coachella Valley stretches along the side of the range, including the cities of Palm Springs. San Gorgonio Pass separates the range from Mount San Gorgonio to the north, the western slope holds the community of Idyllwild. The range is the boundary of the San Jacinto Valley, location of Hemet, it also marks the eastern edge of the fast-growing Inland Empire region. Much of the range is embraced by the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument created in 2000, Mount San Jacinto State Park is located along the flank of San Jacinto Peak. Part of the flank of the range is located within the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. In 1990 the California Legislature created the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy to protect the surrounding the valley. The range is a block of granitic rocks squeezed between the San Jacinto fault on the west and the San Andreas fault system on the east. The fault scarp on the northern and eastern side is one of the most abrupt in North America, the height and steepness of the range points out that the San Jacinto fault and San Andreas fault are very active and very capable of producing major earthquakes. Rock slides from the range are possible during major earthquakes in the future and these slides may potentially impact the communities built directly adjacent to the steep escarpment on the desert side of the range. The San Jacinto Mountains, like the neighboring San Bernardino Mountains, are an island above the surrounding desert and semi-desert. Annual precipitation ranges from about 15 inches at the base to as much as 30 inches above 5,500 feet. The coastal side of the range receives more precipitation than the eastern side, most of the precipitation falls between November and March, with a secondary maximum associated with thunderstorms during the summer monsoon season between July and September. The precipitation totals are highly variable from year to year, snow usually falls above 4,000 feet elevation in winter. Above 8,000 feet, snow sometimes persists until June, near the crest, there are often a few patches of snow that may persist all year in shady spots. The range can be thought of as a sky island, as it contains species of flora
San Jacinto Mountains
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The San Jacinto Mountains seen from
Hemet
San Jacinto Mountains
San Jacinto Mountains
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Aerial view of the mountains
San Jacinto Mountains
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North slope of San Jacinto Peak
7.
Santa Ana Mountains
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The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately 61 miles southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside counties, the range starts in the north at the Whittier Fault and Santa Ana Canyon, through which the Santa Ana River flows. To the north of the canyon are the smaller Chino Hills in Los Angeles County, the northernmost summit of the Santa Anas, at 3,045 feet, is Sierra Peak. From there, the summits are Pleasants Peak,4,007 feet, Bedford Peak,3,800 feet. The next two peaks, Modjeska,5,496 feet, and Santiago,5,689 feet, Saddleback, located approximately 20 mi east of Santa Ana, is visible from much of Southern California. South of Saddleback are Trabuco Peak,4,613 feet, Los Pinos Peak,4,510 feet, Elsinore Peak,3,575 feet is included in a subrange called the Elsinore Mountains, which are west of Lake Elsinore. San Mateo Peak 3,591 feet marks the highpoint of this range. Margarita Peak,3,189 feet, and Redonda Mesa,2,825 feet are part of the Santa Margarita Mountains, southeast of the Elsinore Mountains is the Santa Rosa Plateau, named for the Rancho Santa Rosa that once encompassed it. From the foot of the escarpment, the mountains and canyons of De Luz, Sandia Creek and others below it, the range ends roughly at the Santa Margarita River. Much of the range is within the Trabuco Ranger District of the Cleveland National Forest, the Santa Anas include a number of high-mountain streams that flow for all or most of the year, although once out of the foothills these waterways are ephemeral. The northern side of the range is defined by the Santa Ana River, Santiago Creek drains much of the northern part of the range and empties into the Santa Ana River near downtown Orange. Water from the north-east side of the range empties into Temescal Creek which flows north to the Santa Ana River, the southeast end of the range is marked by the Santa Margarita River, which also originates east of the Santa Anas and flows southwest to the Pacific. Runoff from the southeast side of the drains into Murrieta Creek. Irvine Lake, the largest body of water in Orange County, is in the northwest part of the range near Villa Park. The lake is formed by the Santiago Dam, which impounds Santiago Creek, the climate is Mediterranean, with warm dry summers and cool wet winters. Annual precipitation totals range from 20 to 30 inches in the parts of the range above 3,000 feet. Most of the falls between November and March. The western slope is generally moister than the eastern slope, snow only falls in winter on the highest peaks
Santa Ana Mountains
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(2008)
Santa Ana Mountains
Santa Ana Mountains
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San Mateo Canyon Wilderness, southern Santa Ana Mountains, April 2007. Note the chaparral vegetation type, typical of the range
Santa Ana Mountains
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The Santa Ana Mountains as seen from
Mission Viejo (December 2013) - The two highest peaks, Modjeska (left) and Santiago (right), form
Saddleback.
8.
Pomona Valley
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The Pomona Valley is located in the Greater Los Angeles Area between the San Gabriel Valley and San Bernardino Valley in Southern California. The valley is approximately 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles and it ranges from the city of San Dimas from the far west to Rancho Cucamonga to the Far East portion of the valley. The alluvial valley is formed by the Santa Ana River and its tributaries and it originates from the San Gabriel Mountains watershed around Mount San Antonio and joins the Santa Ana River south of Chino. The Pomona Valley is separated from San Gabriel Valley to the west by the end of the San Jose Hills. The eastern boundaries are the Jurupa Hills and the Cajon Pass, running near Interstate 15, the northern boundary is the San Gabriel Mountains. The Chino Hills is the boundary that separates the Pomona Valley from northern Orange County. Historic U. S. Route 66 runs east-west across the side of Pomona Valley. On March 1,1893 the California Assembly voted 54-14 for a new county to form in the region, to be named San Antonio County, with Pomona as its seat. Los Angeles interests in the Senate rejected the concept, however, the cities of Pomona Valley include, The residents of the Pomona Valley are predominantly White and Latino. In contrast to the San Gabriel Valley, the population of Asian Americans is much smaller, northern areas of the valley that contain the cities of Claremont, La Verne, and San Dimas have large Caucasian populations. Southern portions of the valley contain the cities of Pomona, Montclair. Portions of the Pomona Valley such as Chino Hills, Diamond Bar, in contrast to much of the Greater Los Angeles Area, The Pomona Valley can get much hotter summers with high temperatures ranging from the triple digits. Due to its elevation ranging from 800 to 2200 feet, winters in the Pomona Valley can also get cold, trace amounts of snowfall can occur anywhere above 1500 feet. On the valley floor, average rainfall amounts range anywhere from 12 to 16 inches, Foothill communities can get anywhere from 14 to 18 inches of rain a year. In the fall, Santa Ana Winds can occur giving strong offshore winds from the Cajon Pass, mountain Ave. Euclid Ave. Archibald Ave. Chino Hills Pkwy. Haven Ave. Milliken Ave. Monte Vista Ave. Foothill Blvd, base Line Rd. Indian Hill Blvd. Mount Baldy Road In Claremont, Mt. Baldy Road leads into the Mt. Baldy Ski Lifts of Mount San Antonio in the San Gabriel Mountains
Pomona Valley
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1910 postcard image of
Pomona, California with
Mount San Antonio (Mt. Baldy) in distance.
Pomona Valley
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Pomona Valley from
Diamond Ranch High School
9.
Elevation
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GIS or geographic information system is a computer system that allows for visualizing, manipulating, capturing, and storage of data with associated attributes. GIS offers better understanding of patterns and relationships of the landscape at different scales, tools inside the GIS allow for manipulation of data for spatial analysis or cartography. A topographical map is the type of map used to depict elevation. In a Geographic Information System, digital models are commonly used to represent the surface of a place. Digital terrain models are another way to represent terrain in GIS, USGS is developing a 3D Elevation Program to keep up with growing needs for high quality topographic data. 3DEP is a collection of enhanced elevation data in the form of high quality LiDAR data over the conterminous United States, Hawaii, there are three bare earth DEM layers in 3DEP which are nationally seamless at the resolution of 1/3,1, and 2 arcseconds. This map is derived from GTOPO30 data that describes the elevation of Earths terrain at intervals of 30 arcseconds and it uses color and shading instead of contour lines to indicate elevation. Hypsography is the study of the distribution of elevations on the surface of the Earth, the term originates from the Greek word ὕψος hypsos meaning height. Most often it is used only in reference to elevation of land, related to the term hypsometry, the measurement of these elevations of a planets solid surface are taken relative to mean datum, except for Earth which is taken relative to the sea level. In the troposphere, temperatures decrease with altitude and this lapse rate is approximately 6.5 °C/km. S
Elevation
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A sign at 8000 feet (2438 meters) in the
San Bernardino Mountains.
Elevation
–
Elevation
histogram of the surface of the Earth – approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water.
Elevation
Elevation
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Part of a
topographic map of
Haleakala (
Hawaii), showing elevation.
10.
Chino, California
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Chino is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is located in the end of the Riverside-San Bernardino Area and it is easily accessible via the Chino Valley. The population was 77,983 at the 2010 census, chinos rich agricultural history dates back to the Spanish land grant forming Rancho Santa Ana del Chino. The area specialized in orchard, row crops and dairy, downtown Chino is home to satellite branches of the San Bernardino County Library and Chaffey Community College, the Chino Community Theatre, the Chino Boxing Club and a weekly Farmers Market. In 2008, the city of Chino was awarded the prestigious 100 Best Communities for Youth award for the time in three years. Chino hosted shooting events for the 1984 Summer Olympics at the Prado Olympic Shooting Park in the Prado Regional Park, two California state prisons for adults, as well as the Heman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility, lie within the city limits. The land grant on which the town was founded was called Rancho Santa Ana del Chino, Santa Ana is Spanish for Saint Anne, but the exact meaning of Chino has been explained in different ways. One explanation is that the Chino was the chief of the local Native American village, the first inhabitants of Chino in modern times were the Tongva, who had a settlement called Wapijangna in the Santa Ana River watershed. Some residents of Wapijanga were baptized at Mission San Gabriel, which was established in 1771, the Spanish crown claimed the land, at least nominally, until Mexican independence was finalized and possession fell to the Mexican government. Some twenty years later, Mexican governor of Alta California Juan Bautista Alvarado granted Rancho Santa Ana del Chino to Antonio Maria Lugo of the prominent Lugo family. Two years later, his successor, Governor Micheltorena, granted an additional three leagues to Lugos son-in-law Isaac Williams, who took charge of the rancho, Williams kept large quantities of horses and cattle, which attracted the envy of raiding Native Americans as well as unscrupulous whites. Early in the Mexican-American War, the Battle of Chino took place at Williams rancho, the battle ended prior to the arrival of the Mormon Battalion, dispatched on behalf of the United States, who instead labored in the ranchos agricultural harvest and constructed a grist mill. During the California Gold Rush, the rancho was a stopover for travelers. In 1850, California was admitted to the union, and the process of separating privately held lands from the public domain began, the Williams claim to the Chino Rancho was patented in 1869. Richard Gird was the owner of the Rancho. Beginning in 1887, his land was subdivided and laid out and it became the Town of Chino, and incorporated into a city in 1910. Sugar beets, corn, and alfalfa were raised there, the Chino Valley, located at the foot of an alluvial plain with fertile topsoil reaching depths of 4 feet, was an agricultural mecca from the 1890s up through the mid 20th century. Sugar beets were a significant part of the economy in the early 1900s, followed by corn, peaches, walnuts, tomatoes
Chino, California
–
Beet sugar factory c.1906
Chino, California
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Location of Chino within Southwestern
San Bernardino County, California.
Chino, California
–
Chino Valley Creamery, c.1900
11.
San Bernardino, California
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San Bernardino /ˈsæn ˌbɜːrnɑːrˈdiːnoʊ/ is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area. It serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, as one of the Inland Empires anchor cities, San Bernardino spans 81 square miles on the floor of the San Bernardino Valley and has a population of 209,924 as of the 2010 census. San Bernardino is the 17th-largest city in California and the 100th-largest city in the United States, San Bernardino is home to numerous diplomatic missions for the Inland Empire, being one of four cities in California with numerous consulates. The governments of Guatemala and Mexico have established their consulates in the area of the city. California State University, San Bernardino is located in the part of the city. The university also hosts the Coussoulis Arena, in addition, the city is home to the Inland Empire 66ers baseball team, they play their home games at San Manuel Stadium in downtown San Bernardino. In August 2012, San Bernardino became the largest city to choose to file for protection under Chapter 9 of the U. S. Bankruptcy code, San Bernardinos case was filed on August 1. On December 2,2015, a terrorist attack left 14 people dead and 22 seriously injured, the city of San Bernardino, California, occupies much of the San Bernardino Valley, which indigenous tribespeople originally referred to as The Valley of the Cupped Hand of God. The Tongva Indians also called the San Bernardino area Waaach in their language, upon seeing the immense geological arrowhead-shaped rock formation on the side of the San Bernardino Mountains, they found the hot and cold springs to which the arrowhead seemed to point. Politana was the first Spanish settlement in the San Bernardino Valley, Two years later the settlement was destroyed by superstitious local tribesmen, following the powerful earthquakes that shook the region. Several years later, the Serrano and Mountain Cahuilla rebuilt the Politana rancheria and they did and established the San Bernardino de Sena Estancia. Serrano and Cahuilla people inhabited Politana until long after the 1830s decree of secularization, the city of San Bernardino one of the oldest communities in the state of California, and in its present-day location, was not largely settled until 1851, after California became a state. The first Anglo-American colony was established by pioneers associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Mormons, hardworking Mormon colonists developed irrigated, commercial farming and lumbering, supplying agricultural produce and lumber throughout Southern California. The city was incorporated in the year 1857. Later that year most of the colonists were recalled by Brigham Young in 1857 due to the Utah War, once highly regarded in early California, news of the Mountain Meadows Massacre poisoned attitudes toward the Mormons. They sold these lands to new settlers who came to dominate the culture and politics in the county, many the new land owners unlike the sober Mormons, indulged in drinking at saloons now allowed in the town. Disorder, fighting and violence in the vicinity became common, reaching a climax in the 1859 Ainsworth - Gentry Affair, in 1860 a gold rush began in the mountains nearby with the discovery of gold by William F. Holcomb in Holcomb Valley early 1860. Another strike followed in the reach of Lytle Creek
San Bernardino, California
–
Downtown San Bernardino
San Bernardino, California
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San Bernardino, 1852
San Bernardino, California
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A view of "E" Street (or "D" Street?) and the Stewart Hotel, San Bernardino, ca.1905
San Bernardino, California
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San Bernardino, California, city and village, 1909.
12.
Redlands, California
–
Redlands /ˈrɛdlᵻndz/ is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is a part of the Greater Los Angeles area, as of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 68,747, up from 63,591 at the 2000 census. The population was estimated at 69,999 in 2013, the city is located approximately 10 miles east of downtown San Bernardino. The area now occupied by Redlands was originally part of the territory of the Morongo, explorations such as those of Pedro Fages and Francisco Garcés sought to extend Catholic influence to the indigenous people and the dominion of the Spanish crown into the area in the 1770s. The Serrano village of Guachama, located just to the west of present-day Redlands, was visited by Fr, Francisco Dumetz in 1810, and was the reason the site was chosen for a mission outpost. Dumetz reached the village on May 20, the feast day of Saint Bernardino of Siena, by 1820, a ditch, known as a zanja, was dug by the natives for the friars from Mill Creek to the Asistencia. In 1822, word of the Mexican triumph in the War of Independence reached the inland area, in 1842, the Lugo family bought the Rancho San Bernardino Mexican land grant and this became the first fixed settler civilization in the area. The area northwest of current Redlands, astride the Santa Ana River, the Mormon community left wholesale in 1857, recalled to Utah by Brigham Young during the tensions with the federal government that ultimately led to the brief Utah War. Benjamin Barton purchased 1,000 acres from the Latter-day Saints and planted extensive vineyards, Lugonia attracted settlers, in 1869, Barry Roberts, followed a year later by the Craw and Glover families. The first school teacher in Lugonia, George W. Beattie, arrived in 1874—shortly followed by the towns first negro settler, Israel Beal. The city has been visited by three U. S. Presidents, William McKinley was the first in 1901, followed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 and William Howard Taft in 1909. Smiley Public Library, a Moorish-style library built in 1898, located behind the Smiley Library is the Lincoln Shrine, the only memorial honoring the Great Emancipator, the sixteenth president, west of the Mississippi River. Famous homes include “America’s Favorite Victorian, ” the Morey Mansion, on Terracina Boulevard, and the Kimberly Crest House and Gardens, a museum featured on the PBS series “America’s Castles. ”Named after the family that purchased the house. Redlands is still regarded as the Jewel of the Inland Empire, north flooding the area now known as the Inland Empire. North and others saw the area, with its hot, dry climate and ready access to water as an ideal center for citrus production. The city of Redlands was soon established by Frank E. Brown, an engineer, and E. G. Judson. They named their city “Redlands” after the color of the adobe soil, so large had the area grown by 1888 that it was decided to incorporate. A red-letter day in the Annals of Redlands, pronounced Scipio Craig, editor of The Citrograph newspaper, the original community of Lugonia was absorbed at this time
Redlands, California
–
Seal
Redlands, California
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Redlands, California, 1908.
Redlands, California
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Women packing oranges at the Sunkist packing plant, Redlands, California, 1943
Redlands, California
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Post Office, erected in the 1930s by the
Works Progress Administration.
13.
Inland Empire (California)
–
The Inland Empire is a metropolitan area and region in Southern California. The term may be used to refer to the cities of western Riverside County, most of the areas population is located in southwestern San Bernardino County and northwestern Riverside County. At the end of the century, the Inland Empire was a major center of agriculture, including citrus, dairy. The term Inland Empire is documented to have used by the Riverside Enterprise newspaper as early as April 1914. Developers in the area likely introduced the term to promote the region, the Inland part of the name is derived from the regions location, about 60 miles inland from Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. Originally, this area was called the Orange Empire due to the acres of citrus groves that once extended from Pasadena to Redlands during the first half of the twentieth century. The Inland Empire is a region, but is defined as the cities of western Riverside County. A generally broader definition will include the community of Palm Springs and its surrounding area. What is now known as the Inland Empire was inhabited for thousands of years, prior to the eighteenth century, by the Tongva, Serrano. With Spanish colonization and the subsequent Mexican era the area was populated at the land grant Ranchos. The first American settlers, a group of Mormon pioneers, arrived over the Cajon Pass in 1851, although the Mormons left a scant six years later, recalled to Salt Lake City by Brigham Young during the churchs Utah War with the US government, other settlers soon followed. Base Line road, a thoroughfare, today runs from Highland to San Dimas. San Bernardino County was first formed out of parts of Los Angeles County on April 26,1853, while the partition once included what is today most of Riverside County, the region is not as monolithic as it may sound. On August 14,1893, the state Senate allowed Riverside County to form out of previously in San Bernardino and San Diego counties. County and become the seat of what would have been called San Antonio County, the arrival of rail and the importation of navel and Valencia orange trees in the 1870s touched off explosive growth, with the area quickly becoming a major center for citrus production. In 1926, Route 66 came through the parts of the area. The region experienced significant economic and population growth through most of the half of the twentieth century. In the early 1990s, the loss of the military bases
Inland Empire (California)
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San Bernardino
Inland Empire (California)
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Riverside
Inland Empire (California)
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Ontario
Inland Empire (California)
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Yucca Valley, within the
Morongo Basin, is halfway between the San Bernardino Valley and the Arizona State line
14.
Indigenous peoples of California
–
With over forty groups seeking to be federally recognized tribes, California has the second largest Native American population. The California cultural area does not exactly conform to the state of Californias boundaries, many tribes on the eastern border with Nevada are classified as Great Basin tribes, and some tribes on the Oregon border are classified as Plateau tribes. Tribes in Baja California who do not cross into California are classified as Indigenous peoples of Mexico, before European contact, native Californians spoke over 300 dialects of approximately 100 distinct languages. The majority of California Indian language belong either to highly localized language families with two or three members or are language isolates, of the remainder, most are Uto-Aztecan or Athapaskan languages. The Hokan superstock has the greatest time depth and has been most difficult to demonstrate, wiyot and Yurok are distantly related to Algonquian languages in a larger grouping called Algic. The several Athapaskan languages are relatively recent arrivals, no more recent than about 2000 years ago, evidence of human occupation of California dates from at least 19,000 years ago. Prior to European contact, California Indians had 500 distinct sub-tribes or groups, the size of California tribes today are small compared to tribes in other regions of the United States. Prior to contact with Europeans, the California region contained the highest Native American population density north of what is now Mexico. Because of the climate and easy access to food sources. Early Native Californians were hunter-gatherers, with seed collection becoming widespread around 9,000 BCE, due to the local abundance of food, tribes never developed agriculture or tilled the soil. Two early southern California cultural traditions include the La Jolla Complex, from 3000 to 2000 BCE, regional diversity developed, with the peoples making fine-tuned adaptations to local environments. Traits recognizable to historic tribes were developed by approximately 500 BCE, the indigenous people practiced various forms of sophisticated forest gardening in the forests, grasslands, mixed woodlands, and wetlands to ensure availability of food and medicine plants. They controlled fire on a scale to create a low-intensity fire ecology. By burning underbrush and grass, the natives revitalized patches of land, a form of fire-stick farming was used to clear areas of old growth to encourage new in a repeated cycle, a primitive permaculture. Different tribes encountered non-native European explorers and settlers at widely different times, the southern and central coastal tribes encountered Spanish and British explorers in the mid-16th century. Tribes such as the Quechan or Yuman Indians in present-day southeast California, tribes on the coast of northwest California, like the Miwok, Yurok, and Yokut, had contact with Russian explorers and seafarers in the late 18th century. In remote interior regions, some tribes did not meet non-natives until the mid-19th century, the Spanish began their long-term occupation in California in 1769 with the founding of Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego. The Spanish built 20 additional missions in California and their introduction of European invasive plant species and non-native diseases resulted in unintended havoc and high fatalities for the Native populations
Indigenous peoples of California
–
A map of California tribal groups and languages at the time of European contact.
15.
Serrano people
–
The Serrano are an indigenous people of California. They use the autonyms of Taaqtam, meaning people, Maarengayam, people from Morongo, today the Maarengayam are enrolled in the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, and the Yuhaviatam are enrolled in the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. Additionally, some Serrano people are enrolled in the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians, the Serrano historically lived in the San Bernardino Mountains and other Transverse Ranges, and in the southern Mojave Desert, within Southern California. The Serrano language is part of the Takic subset of the large Uto-Aztecan languages group of people of North America. The language family historically extended from Mexico along the West Coast and into the Great Basin and they were a branch of the Takic languages speaking people who arrived in Southern California around 2,500 years ago. Serrano means highlander or mountaineer in Spanish, the Spanish founded Mission San Gabriel Arcangel in 1771, south of the San Gabriel Mountains and southwest of the San Bernardino Mountains. With the Cahuilla and Quechan tribes, in 1812 the Serrano revolted against it, in 1834 the Mexican Alta California government forcibly relocated many Serrano to the missions. They suffered devastating smallpox outbreaks in 1840 and 1860, as they had no immunity to the Eurasian disease, in 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 Southern Paiutes, on a settlement at Lake Arrowhead. Three American ranch hands were killed at a ranch called Los Flores in Summit Valley, 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. In 1891 the United States established the San Manuel Reservation for the Serrano people, the Serrano populated the San Bernardino Mountains and extended northwest into the Mojave River area of the Mojave Desert and west into the Tejon Creek watershed in the Tehachapi Mountains. The Serrano populations along Tejon Creek were identified as the Cuahajai or Cuabajay, mountain camps were used for hunting. One such encampment was accidentally unearthed by the U. S. Forest Service fighting a wildfire in 2003 near Baldwin Lake, uncovered were artifacts of non-local jasper and obsidian, ash and charcoal, grinding stones, and fire pits possibly dating back 1,000 years. Their society was divided into two exogamous moieties and their villages had from 25 to a hundred people. Their dwellings were large and communal, framed with willow branches and covered over with woven mats, the lodges were made with fireplaces inside for each family. The men did not wear clothing and the women wore deerskin, otter, the Serrano who inhabited the San Bernardino Mountains would go to the milder areas of Apple Valley and Lucerne Valley during the winter, and the area in and around Big Bear Lake during the summer. They hunted small game such as rabbits, using traps along with bows and arrows and they did not hunt the grizzly bears, which they believed were reincarnations of their ancestors spirits. They were skilled craftsmen and experts in basketweaving, which created in a variety of sizes and shapes for different purposes, such as storage, carrying
Serrano people
–
Workers making pipe turnouts on the
Morongo Reservation
16.
Cahuilla people
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The ʔívil̃uqaletem are Native Americans of the inland areas of southern California. Their original territory included an area of about 2,400 square miles, the traditional Cahuilla territory was near the geographic center of Southern California. The Cahuilla language is in the Uto-Aztecan family, a 1990 census revealed 35 speakers in an ethnic population of 800. It is critically endangered, since most speakers are middle-aged or older, in their own language, their autonym is ʔívil̃uqaletem, and the name of their language is ʔívil̃uʔat, however they also call themselves táxliswet meaning person. Cahuilla is an exonym applied to the group after mission secularization in the Ranchos of California, the word Cahuilla is probably from the Ivilyuat word kawia, meaning master. Oral legends suggest that when the Cahuilla first moved into the Coachella Valley, fed by the Colorado River, it dried up sometime before 1700, following one of the repeated shifts in the rivers course. In 1905 a break in a created the much smaller Salton Sea in the same location. The Cahuilla lived from the land by using native plants, a notable tree whose fruits they harvested is the California fan palm. The Cahuilla also used palm leaves for basketry of many shapes, sizes and purposes, sandals, the Cahuilla lived in smaller groups than some other tribes. The first encounter with Europeans was in 1774, when Juan Bautista de Anza was looking for a route between Sonora and Monterey in Alta California. Living far inland, the Cahuilla had little contact with Spanish soldiers, priests, many of the Europeans viewed the desert as having little or no value, but rather a place to avoid. The Cahuilla learned of Spanish missions and their culture from Indians living close to missions in San Gabriel and San Diego. The Cahuilla provided the vaqueros that worked for the owners of the Rancho San Bernardino, the Cahuilla did not encounter Anglo-Americans until the 1840s. Chief Juan Antonio, leader of the Cahuilla Mountain Band, gave traveler Daniel Sexton access to areas near the San Gorgonio Pass in 1842. The Mountain Band also lent support to a U. S. Army expedition led by Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale, defending the party against attacks by Wakara and his band of Ute warriors. During the Mexican-American War, Chief Juan Antonio led his warriors to join Californios led by José del Carmen Lugo in attacking their traditional enemy, Lugo led this action in retaliation for the Pauma Massacre, in which the Luiseno had killed 11 Californios. The combined forces staged an ambush and killed 33–40 of the Luiseno warriors, in the treaty ending the war with Mexico, the US promised to honor Mexican land grants and policies. These included recognition of Native American rights to certain lands
Cahuilla people
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Desert Cahuilla woman by
Edward S. Curtis, 1926
Cahuilla people
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A view of the
San Jacinto Mountains, in historical Cahuilla territory.
Cahuilla people
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John Tortes "Chief" Meyers was a catcher in
major league baseball
17.
Tongva people
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The Tongva are Native Americans who inhabited the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately 4,000 square miles. The Tongva are also known as the Gabrieleño and Fernandeño, names derived from the Spanish missions built near their territory, Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, along with the neighboring Chumash, the Tongva were the most powerful indigenous people to inhabit Southern California. At the time of European contact, they may have numbered 5,000 to 10,000, many lines of evidence suggest that the Tongva are descended of Uto-Aztecan-speaking peoples from Nevada who moved southwest into coastal Southern California 3,500 years ago. These migrants either absorbed or pushed out the Hokan-speaking peoples in the region, by 500 AD, the Tongva had come to occupy all the lands now associated with them. A hunter-gatherer society, the Tongva traded widely with neighboring peoples, over time, scattered communities came to speak distinct dialects of the Tongva language, part of the Takic subgroup of the Uto-Aztecan language family. There may have five or more such dialects. The Tongva language became extinct in the century, but a reconstructed form continues to be spoken today. Initial Spanish exploration of the Los Angeles area occurred in 1542 and this marked the beginning of an era of forced relocation and exposure to Old World diseases, leading to the rapid collapse of the Tongva population. At times the Tongva violently resisted Spanish rule, such as the 1785 rebellion led by the female chief Toypurina, in 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain and the government sold mission lands to ranchers, forcing the Tongva to culturally assimilate. Three decades later, California was ceded to the United States following the Mexican–American War, the US government signed treaties with the Tongva, promising 8.5 million acres of land for reservations, but these treaties were never ratified. By the turn of the 20th century, the Island Tongva had disappeared, the endonym Tongva was recorded by American ethnographer C. Hart Merriam in 1903 and has been widely adopted by scholars and descendants, although some prefer the endonym Kizh. Two of the groups are the result of a split over the question of building an Indian casino. In 1994, the state of California recognized the Tongva as the tribe of the Los Angeles Basin. In 2008, more than 1,700 people identified as Tongva or claimed partial ancestry, the first record of an endonym for the Tongva people was Kizh, from 1846. Although subsequent authors equated this with the word for house, Hale gives the word for house as kītç in a list where the language was called Kīj, suggesting that the words were distinct. The term Kizh was generally used at that time to designate the language, in 1875, Yarrow indicated that the name Kizh was unknown at Mission San Gabriel. He reported that the natives called themselves Tobikhar, meaning settlers, in 1885, Hoffman also referred to the natives as Tobikhar. The word Tongva was recorded by Merriam in 1903 from a single informant and he spelled it Tong-vā, by his orthography, it would be pronounced /ˈtɒŋveɪ/, TONG-vay
Tongva people
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Mrs. James Rosemeyre (née Narcisa Higuera), photographed here in 1905, was one of the last fluent
Tongva speakers. An informant for the ethnographer
C. Hart Merriam, she was the source of the widely used
endonym Tongva.
Tongva people
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A portrait of a Tongva woman, possibly
Juana Maria, the last survivor of her tribe and the last known speaker of
Nicoleño.
Tongva people
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Replica of a Tongva ki
18.
Mojave Desert
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The Mojave Desert is an arid rain-shadow desert and the driest desert in North America. It is located in the southwestern United States, primarily within southeastern California and southern Nevada, very small areas also extend into Utah and Arizona. The central part of the desert is sparsely populated, while its peripheries support large communities such as Las Vegas, Lancaster, Palmdale, Victorville, the Mojave Desert is bordered by the Great Basin Desert to its north and the Sonoran Desert to its south and east. Topographical boundaries include the Tehachapi Mountains to the west, and the San Gabriel Mountains, the mountain boundaries are distinct because they are outlined by the two largest faults in California – the San Andreas and Garlock faults. The Mojave Desert displays typical basin and range topography and it occupies less than 50,000 sq mi, making it the smallest of the North American deserts. The Mojave Desert is often referred to as the desert, in contrast to the low desert. However, the Mojave Desert is generally lower than the Great Basin Desert to the north, the spelling Mojave originates from the Spanish language while the spelling Mohave comes from modern English. The Mojave Desert receives less than 13 in of rain a year and is generally between 2,000 and 5,000 feet in elevation, zion National Park in Utah lies at the junction of the Mojave, the Great Basin Desert, and the Colorado Plateau. Despite its aridity, the Mojave has long been a center of production, fed by irrigation coming from groundwater. The Mojave is a desert of temperature extremes and two distinct seasons, winter months bring comfortable daytime temperatures, which dip precipitously to around 20 °F on valley floors, and below 0 °F at higher elevations. Storms moving from the Pacific Northwest can bring rain and in places even snow. More often, the shadow created by the Sierra Nevada as well as mountain ranges within the desert such as the Spring Mountains, bring only clouds. By early June, it is rare for another Pacific storm to have a significant impact on the regions weather, summer weather is dominated by heat. Temperatures on valley floors can soar above 120 °F and above 130 °F at the lowest elevations, low humidity, high temperatures, and low pressure, draw in moisture from the Gulf of Mexico creating thunderstorms across the desert southwest known as the North American monsoon. Autumn is generally pleasant, with one to two Pacific storm systems creating regional rain events, october is one of the driest and sunniest months in the Mojave, and temperatures usually remain between 70 °F and 90 °F on the valley floors. After temperature, wind is the most significant weather phenomenon in the Mojave, during the June Gloom, cooler air can be pushed out into the desert from Southern California. In Santa Ana wind events, hot air from the desert blows out into the Los Angeles basin, wind farms in these areas generate power from these winds. The other major factor in the region is elevation
Mojave Desert
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Calico Basin in
Red Rock National Conservation Area near
Las Vegas
Mojave Desert
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Mustard blue summer sunset at
Landers, California
Mojave Desert
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Clouds reflecting high wind conditions from
orographic lift in the Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert
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An
ephemeral lake in
Badwater Basin,
Death Valley National Park
19.
Mojave River
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The Mojave River is an intermittent river in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Most of its flow is underground, while its surface channels remain dry most of the time, with the exception of the headwaters and several bedrock gorges in the lower reaches. The Mohaves trail, later the European immigrants Mojave Road, ran west from their villages on the Colorado River to Soda Lake, native Americans used this trade route where water could easily be found en route to the coast. Garcés explored the length of the Mojave River in early 1776 and he called the river Arroyo de los Mártires on March 9,1776 but later Spaniards called it Río de las Ánimas. In 1826 Jedediah Smith was the first American of European origin to travel overland to California by following the Mojave Indian Trail and he called this the Inconstant River. Frémont intercepted this route to the river, riding east southeast from Lake Elizabeth, north of the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains on April 20,1844. Frémont named the river Mohahve after the Mohave people on April 23,1844 and he had met six travelling Mohaves that day. Some early Mormon ranchers called it the Macaby River, the fork of the trails there on the Mojave River, later became known as Fork of the Road. From 1847, Mormons pioneered the road that became the Mormon Road from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles closely following the route of the Old Spanish Trail from Parowan. They followed the Mojave River from the Fork of the Road to the Lower Narrows, in 1849 Forty-niners late on the main trail to California used the Mormon Road as a winter alternative route to California, referring to it as the Southern Route of the California Trail. Later emigrants to California followed the route during the winter months. In 1859, as part of the Mohave War, the Mohave peoples trail was improved as the route of the Mojave Road. It followed the Mojave River from where the Mormon Road turned north away from the river near Daggett, to where historic Camp Cady was located. From 1863 to 1864 the Mojave River valley was a refuge from the drought in California in those years. The rivers source is in the San Bernardino Mountains, one of the Transverse Ranges, the West Fork of the Mojave flows into Silverwood Lake, formed by Cedar Springs Dam, which overflows in the Mojave River Forks Reserve area. On occasion, the lake water into the river. Downstream, Deep Creek meets the West Fork, forming the Mojave River immediately upstream of the Mojave Forks Dam, downstream of the dam, the Mojave River flows north and east, underground in most places, through Hesperia, Victorville, and Barstow. Near its terminus, the Mojave River flows out onto a large inland delta called the Mojave River Wash at the edge of Mojave National Preserve
Mojave River
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Mojave River at Afton Canyon, March 2010
Mojave River
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Mojave River cutting through
Lake Manix sediments.
Mojave River
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Mojave River Dam Outlet
Mojave River
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Union Pacific 844 pulls a steam excursion train crossing Afton Canyon, 2011.
20.
Cattle
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Cattle—colloquially cows—are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, cattle are raised as livestock for meat, as dairy animals for milk and other dairy products, and as draft animals. Other products include leather and dung for manure or fuel, in some regions, such as parts of India, cattle have significant religious meaning. From as few as 80 progenitors domesticated in southeast Turkey about 10,500 years ago, according to an estimate from 2011, in 2009, cattle became one of the first livestock animals to have a fully mapped genome. Some consider cattle the oldest form of wealth, and cattle raiding consequently one of the earliest forms of theft. Cattle were originally identified as three species, Bos taurus, the European or taurine cattle, Bos indicus, the zebu, and the extinct Bos primigenius. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and taurine cattle and these have been reclassified as one species, Bos taurus, with three subspecies, Bos taurus primigenius, Bos taurus indicus, and Bos taurus taurus. Complicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between taurine cattle and zebu, but also one or both of these and some other members of the genus Bos – yaks, banteng. Hybrids such as the breed can even occur between taurine cattle and either species of bison, leading some authors to consider them part of the genus Bos. However, cattle cannot successfully be hybridized with more distantly related bovines such as water buffalo or African buffalo, the aurochs originally ranged throughout Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia. In historical times, its range became restricted to Europe, breeders have attempted to recreate cattle of similar appearance to aurochs by crossing traditional types of domesticated cattle, creating the Heck cattle breed. Cattle did not originate as the term for bovine animals and it was borrowed from Anglo-Norman catel, itself from medieval Latin capitale principal sum of money, capital, itself derived in turn from Latin caput head. Cattle originally meant movable personal property, especially livestock of any kind, the word is a variant of chattel and closely related to capital in the economic sense. The term replaced earlier Old English feoh cattle, property, which today as fee. The word cow came via Anglo-Saxon cū, from Common Indo-European gʷōus = a bovine animal, compare Persian gâv, Sanskrit go-, Welsh buwch. The plural cȳ became ki or kie in Middle English, and a plural ending was often added, giving kine, kien. This is the origin of the now archaic English plural, kine, the Scots language singular is coo or cou, and the plural is kye
Cattle
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Cattle
Cattle
–
Żubroń, a cross between
wisent and cattle
Cattle
–
An
Ongole bull
Cattle
–
A
Hereford bull
21.
Indian Reductions
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Reductions or reducciones were settlements created by Spanish rulers in Latin America. The Spanish relocated native inhabitants, forcibly if necessary, into settlements which were modeled on towns, in Portuguese speaking Latin America, reductions were called aldeias. The policy of reductions began on Caribbean islands in 1503, the Spanish ordered that Indian villages be destroyed and selected sites for new villages to be built. The concentration or reducción of the Indian population facilitated the Spaniards access to Indian labor, the promulgation of Christianity, moreover, the reduction of the Indians was intended to break down ethnic and kinship ties and detribalize the residents to create a generic Indian population. Reductions began in Mexico shortly after Cortéss conquest in the 1520s and were begun in Baja California in the 17th century, reductions in Mexico were more commonly known as congregaciones. Indian reductions in the Andes, mostly in present-day Peru and Bolivia, Indian reductions in the Andes Jesuit reductions
Indian Reductions
–
Colonization
22.
Mission Indians
–
Spanish explorers arrived on Californias coasts as early as the mid-16th century. In 1769 the first Spanish Franciscan mission was built in San Diego, local tribes were relocated and conscripted into forced labor on the mission, stretching from San Diego to San Francisco. Disease, starvation, over work, and torture decimated these tribes, many were baptized as Roman Catholics by the Franciscan missionaries at the missions. Mission Indians were from many regional Native American tribes, their members were often relocated together in new mixed groups, for instance, the Payomkowishum were renamed Luiseños after the Mission San Luis Rey, and the Acjachemem were renamed the Juaneños after the Mission San Juan Capistrano. The Catholic priests forbade the Indians from practicing their native culture, resulting in the disruption of many linguistic, spiritual. When Mexico gained its independence in 1834, it assumed control of the Californian missions from the Franciscans, Mexico secularized the missions and transferred or sold the lands to other non-Native administrators or owners. Many of the Mission Indians worked on the newly established ranchos with little improvement in their living conditions, around 1906 Alfred L. Kroeber and Constance G. On January 12,1891 the U. S, in 1927, Sacramento Bureau of Indian Affairs Superintendent Lafayette A. Dorrington was instructed by Assistant Commissioner E. B. Merritt in Washington D. C. to list tribes in California that Congress had not yet purchased land to be used as reservations. As part of the 1928 California Indian Jurisdictional Act enrollment, Native Americans were asked to identify their “Tribe or Band. ”The majority of applicants supplied the name of the mission that they knew their ancestors were associated with. The enrollment was part of a plan to provide reservation lands promised, some bands also occupy trust lands—Indian Reservations—identified under the Mission Indian Agency. The Mission Indian Act of 1891 formed the administrative Bureau of Indian Affairs unit which governs San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, there is one Chumash reservation in the last county, and more than thirty reservations in the others. Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, and Orange counties do not contain any tribal trust lands. But, resident tribes, including the Tongva in the first and these and the tribal governments of fifteen other reservations operate casinos today. The total acreage of the Mission group of reservations constitutes approximately 250,000 acres, los Coyotes Band of Mission Indians Manzanita Band of Mission Indians Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians Mission Creek Band of Mission Indians - Mission Creek Reservation of Cahuilla. Morongo Band of Mission Indians Pala Band of Mission Indians Pauma Band of Mission Indians Pechanga Band of Mission Indians Ramona Band or Village of Mission Indians San Cayetano Band of Cahuilla. San Manuel Band of Mission Indians San Miguel Arcangel, descandants of Mission San Miguel Indians in San Miguel, Mythology of the Mission Indians, The Journal of the American Folk-Lore Society, Vol. XVII, No. Two Myths of the Mission Indians of California, Journal of the American Folk-Lore Society, Vol. XIX, a Native American Encyclopedia, History, Culture, and Peoples
Mission Indians
–
Ruin of the Indian quarters,
Mission San Luis Rey
Mission Indians
–
Indian cemetery at
Mission San Carlos Borromeo,
Carmel, California
23.
San Bernardino de Sena Estancia
–
The San Bernardino de Sena Estancia was a ranch outpost of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in what is now in Redlands, California, United States. It was built to graze cattle, and for Indian Reductions of the Serrano people, over time, it fell into disrepair, until the early 20th century, when a new, larger structure was built as a museum. The new structure shares the same style, but is not otherwise similar to the original buildings. The estancia was established in 1819, a second estancia was established and built around 1830 at Politana rancheria, approximately 1 mile from the original 1819 site. The Politana site of the San Bernardino de Sena Estancia is a California Historical Landmark, the California missions lands were secularized in 1833-34. Alvarado of Alta California issued a Mexican land grant for Rancho San Bernardino to José del Carmen Lugo, José Maria Lugo, Vincente Lugo, included were all of the original asistencia buildings, the chapel, a tile kiln, a lime kiln, and a grist mill. In 1851 the property was sold to Charles C. Barton practiced medicine and resided on the property until 1867, over time, materials were removed from the abandoned adobe structure, which fell into a state of ruin. In 1925, the County of San Bernardino acquired the property from the Barton family, all remaining historic materials were salvaged, and construction of a new, six-room structure commenced in 1926 with later funding from the Works Progress Administration relief project. Additionally, a freestanding campanario was constructed even though none had existed previously, the restoration was completed in 1937, and the rebuilt structures were unveiled to the general public as The Asistencia. Today the facility is known as the Asistencia, operated as a branch of the San Bernardino County Museum and it is located at 26930 Barton Road, in Redlands. The reconstructed asistencia and rancho buildings are open for tours Tuesday through Saturday, group tours are available by appointment, and the chapel and courtyard are available as a site for weddings. San Bernardino County Museum, San Bernardino de Sena Estancia
San Bernardino de Sena Estancia
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The estancia's "bell wall" was designed after the campanario at
Mission San Antonio de Pala.
24.
California Historical Landmark
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California Historical Landmarks are buildings, structures, sites, or places in the state of California that have been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of the criteria listed below, The first, last, only, associated with an individual or group having a profound influence on the history of California. California Historical Landmarks of #770 and above are listed in the California Register of Historical Resources. By contrast, a site, building, feature, or event that is of local significance may be designated as a California Point of Historical Interest. List of California Historical Landmarks by county National Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places listings in California — with links to list articles by county, los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments San Francisco Designated Landmarks Johnson, Marael. A Guide to California Roadside Historical Markers, official OHP—California Office of Historic Preservation website OHP, California Historical Sites searchpage — links to lists by county
California Historical Landmark
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California State Capitol, a California Historical Landmark.
California Historical Landmark
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Golden Capitol dome interior.
25.
Old Spanish Trail (trade route)
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The Old Spanish Trail is an historical trade route that connected the northern New Mexico settlements of Santa Fe, New Mexico with those of Los Angeles, California and southern California. Approximately 700 mi long, the trail ran through areas of mountains, arid deserts. It is considered one of the most arduous of all trade routes established in the United States. Explored, in part, by Spanish explorers as early as the late 16th century, the name of the trail comes from the publication of John C. Frémont’s Report of his 1844 journey for the U. S. Topographical Corps, guided by Kit Carson, from California to New Mexico. The name acknowledges the fact that parts of the trail had been known to the Spanish since the 16th century, frémonts report named a trail that had already been in use for about 15 years. The trail is important to New Mexico history because it established an arduous, the trail is a combination of known trails that were established by Spanish explorers, trappers, and traders with the Ute and other Indian tribes. The eastern parts of what called the Old Spanish Trail, including southwest Colorado. The same trail was used by the first Americans to reach California by land, the Mojave desert section of the Mohave Trail is now a jeep trail called the Mojave Road. Upon the return of Antonio Armijo, the governor of New Mexico immediately announced the success to his superiors in Mexico City, as a reward, the governor officially named Armijo Commander for the Discovery of the Route to California. Armijos route was documented by him in a report to the governor, after this date, the route began to be used by traders for usually a single annual round trip. Word spread about the successful trade expedition and some commerce began between Santa Fe and Los Angeles. This route ran northwest to the Colorado and Green Rivers, then crossed over to the Sevier River and it then passed southward to the Santa Clara River, linking up with Armijos route to California. California had many horses and mules, many growing wild, with no local market, usually two blankets were traded for one horse, more blankets were usually required for a mule. California had almost no wool processing industry and few weavers, so woven products were a welcome commodity, the trading party usually left New Mexico in early November to take advantage of winter rains to cross the deserts on the trail and would arrive in California in early February. The return party would usually leave California for New Mexico in early April to get over the trail before the water dried up. The return party often included several hundred to a few horses and mules. Low-scale emigration from New Mexico to California used parts of the trail in the late 1830s when the trade began to die
Old Spanish Trail (trade route)
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Virgin River drainage basin
Old Spanish Trail (trade route)
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Old Spanish Trail
26.
New Mexico
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New Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. It was admitted to the Union as the 47th state on January 6,1912 and it is usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is fifth by area, the 36th-most populous, inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years before European exploration, New Mexico was colonized by the Spanish in 1598 Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain. Later, it was part of independent Mexico before becoming a U. S. territory and eventually a U. S. state as a result of the Mexican–American War. Among U. S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, the major Native American nations in the state are Navajo, Pueblo, and Apache peoples. The demography and culture of the state are shaped by these strong Hispanic and Native American influences and its scarlet and gold colors are taken from the royal standards of Spain, along with the ancient sun symbol of the Zia, a Pueblo-related tribe. New Mexico, or Nuevo México in Spanish, is incorrectly believed to have taken its name from the nation of Mexico. The name simply stuck, even though the area had no connection to Mexico or the Mexica Indian tribes, Mexico, formerly a part of New Spain, adopted its name centuries later in 1821, after winning independence from Spanish rule. New Mexico was a part of the independent Mexican Empire and Federal Republic of Mexico for 27 years,1821 through 1848, New Mexico and Mexico developed as neighboring Spanish-speaking communities under Spanish rule, with relatively independent histories. The states total area is 121,412 square miles, the eastern border of New Mexico lies along 103° W longitude with the state of Oklahoma, and 2.2 miles west of 103° W longitude with Texas. On the southern border, Texas makes up the eastern two-thirds, while the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora make up the western third, the western border with Arizona runs along the 109°03 W longitude. The southwestern corner of the state is known as the Bootheel, the 37° N latitude parallel forms the northern boundary with Colorado. The states New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah come together at the Four Corners in the corner of New Mexico. New Mexico, although a state, has very little water. Its surface water area is about 250 square miles, the New Mexican landscape ranges from wide, rose-colored deserts to broken mesas to high, snow-capped peaks. Despite New Mexicos arid image, heavily forested mountain wildernesses cover a significant portion of the state, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost part of the Rocky Mountains, run roughly north-south along the east side of the Rio Grande in the rugged, pastoral north. The most important of New Mexicos rivers are the Rio Grande, Pecos, Canadian, San Juan, the Rio Grande is tied for the fourth-longest river in the United States. Tourists visiting these sites bring significant money to the state, other areas of geographical and scenic interest include Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and the Gila Wilderness in the southwest of the state
New Mexico
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Wheeler Peak in the
Sangre de Cristo Range
New Mexico
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Flag
New Mexico
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Chaco Canyon
New Mexico
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Carlsbad Caverns
27.
Alta California
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Alta California, founded in 1769 by Gaspar de Portolà, was a polity of New Spain and after the Mexican War of Independence in 1822, a territory of Mexico. The region included all of the states of California, Nevada, and Utah. Large areas east of the Sierra Nevada and San Gabriel Mountains were claimed to be part of Alta California, to the southeast, beyond the deserts and the Colorado River, lay the Spanish settlements in Arizona. The areas formerly comprising Alta California were ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican–American War in 1848, two years later, California joined the union as the 31st state. Other parts of Alta California became all or part of the later U. S. states of Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. The Spanish explored the area of Alta California by sea beginning in the 16th century. During the following two centuries there were plans to settle the area, none of which were effectively carried out. Ultimately, New Spain did not have the resources nor population to settle such a far northern outpost. To ascertain the Russian threat a number of Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest were launched, the Spanish Crown funded the construction and subsidized the operation of the missions, with the goal that the relocation, conversion and enforced labor of Native people would bolster Spanish rule. The first Alta California mission and presidio were established by the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra, the following year,1770, the second mission and presidio were founded in Monterey. In 1773 a boundary between the Baja California missions and the Franciscan missions of Alta California was set by Francisco Palóu, the missionary effort coincided with the construction of presidios and pueblos, which were to be manned and populated by Hispanic people. The first pueblo founded was San José in 1777, followed by Los Ángeles in 1781, by law, mission land and property were to pass to the indigenous population after a period of about ten years, when the natives would become Spanish subjects. In the interim period, the Franciscans were to act as mission administrators who held the land in trust for the Native residents, the transfer of property never occurred under the Franciscans. As the number of Spanish settlers grew in Alta California, the boundaries, conflicts between the Crown and the Church and between Natives and settlers arose. State and ecclesiastical bureaucrats debated over authority of the missions and they advocated that the Natives owned property and had the right to defend it. Governor Diego de Borica is credited with defining Alta and Baja Californias official borders, Mexico won independence in 1822, and Alta California became a territory of Mexico. The Spanish and later Mexican governments rewarded retired soldados de cuera with large grants, known as ranchos, for the raising of cattle. Hides and tallow from the livestock were the primary exports of California until the mid-19th century, the construction, ranching and domestic work on these vast estates was primarily done by Native Americans, who had learned to speak Spanish and ride horses
Alta California
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Map of N. America showing California when it was part of New Spain. Map dated 1789 from
Dobson's Encyclopedia.
Alta California
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Mexico in 1838. From Britannica 7th edition
Alta California
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Map of Mexico. S. Augustus Mitchell, Philadelphia, 1847. New California is depicted with a north-eastern border at the meridian leading north of the
Rio Grande headwaters.
28.
Cajon Pass
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Cajon Pass is a mountain pass between the San Bernardino Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California in the United States. It was created by the movements of the San Andreas Fault, located in the Mojave Desert, the pass is an important link from the Greater San Bernardino Area to the Victor Valley, and northeast to Las Vegas. Cajon Pass is at the head of Horsethief Canyon, traversed by California State Route 138 and railroad tracks owned by BNSF Railway, Railroad improvements in 1972 reduced its maximum elevation from about 3,829 feet to 3,777 feet while also reducing the curvature. Interstate 15 does not traverse Cajon Pass, but rather the nearby Cajon Summit, 34°20′58″N 117°26′47″W, however, the entire area including Cajon Pass and Cajon Summit is often collectively called Cajon Pass. Sometimes the entire area is called Cajon Pass, but a distinction is made between Cajon Pass and Cajon Summit in detail, in 1851, a group of Mormon settlers led by Amasa M. Lyman and Charles C. Rich traveled through the Cajon Pass in covered wagons on their way from Salt Lake City to southern California, a prominent rock formation in the pass, where the Mormon trail and the railway merge, is known as Mormon Rocks. In Spanish, the word refers to a box or drawer. The name of the pass is derived from the Spanish land grant that encompassed the area, the Cajon Pass area is known for high wind, turbulence and fog. The weather over the pass can vary, from foggy days with poor visibility to clear afternoons where aircraft are bounced by gusting Santa Ana winds that top 80 mph. The wind in this area is predominantly out of the west, although in Santa Ana, Air spilling over the San Gabriels can cause fairly violent up- and downdrafts. Its important to note that the mass and wing loading of an aircraft determines its sensitivity to turbulence, in the 2006 Mercy Air 2 accident, an air ambulance helicopter collided with mountainous terrain near the pass in foggy weather. The California Southern Railroad, a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka, the rail line through the pass was built in the early 1880s as part of a connection between the present day cities of Barstow and San Diego. Today the Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway use the pass to reach Los Angeles, due to the many trains, noteworthy scenery and easy access, it is a popular location for railfans, and numerous photographs of trains on Cajon Pass appear in books and magazines about trains. The Union Pacific Railroad operates and owns one track through the pass, on the previous Southern Pacific Railroad Palmdale cutoff, the BNSF Railway had two tracks and began to operate a third main track in the summer of 2008. The railroads share track rights through the pass ever since the Union Pacific gained track rights on the Santa Fe portion negotiated under the original Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. The original BNSF line was constructed in the 1880s and later roads, U. S. Route 66 and I-15, the second track, built in 1913, is 2 miles longer to get a lower 2. 20% grade. It ran through two tunnels, but both were removed when the third main track was added next to the 1913 line. Trains may be traveling at speeds of 60 and 70 mph on the straighter track away from the pass
Cajon Pass
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I-15 passing over Cajon Summit in the Cajon Pass area
Cajon Pass
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Mormon Rocks
Cajon Pass
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Located at the Highway 138 and Interstate 15 junction, the Mormon Rocks are visual evidence of the San Andreas fault lying beneath the California surface.
Cajon Pass
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Santa Fe R.R. train going through Cajon Pass in the San Bernardino Mountains 1943
29.
Juan B. Alvarado
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Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo was a Californio and Governor of Alta California from 1836 to 1842. He was governor during the Revolution of 1836, when the territorial Diputación declared free and sovereign independence from Mexico and forced the Mexican commander, Alvarado also oversaw Californias brief rejoining with Mexico as a state. Alvarado was born in Monterey, Alta California, to Jose Francisco Alvarado and his grandfather Juan Bautista Alvarado accompanied Gaspar de Portolà as an enlisted man in the Spanish Army in 1769. His father died a few months after his birth and his mother remarried three years later, leaving Juan Bautista in the care of his grandparents, the Vallejo family and he and Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo grew up together in the Vallejo household. They were both taught by William Edward Petty Hartnell, an English merchant living in Monterey, in 1827 the eighteen-year-old Alvarado was hired as secretary to the territorial legislature. In 1829 he was arrested along with Vallejo and another friend, José Castro. In 1831 he built a house in Monterey for his mistress, Juliana Francisca Ramona y Castillo, over the years, the pair had a total of at least two illegitimate daughters whom he recognized and perhaps several more he did not recognize, but he never married their mother. During this period Alvarado began drinking heavily, one of his daughters claimed that Raymunda had refused to marry Alvarado because of his excessive drinking. Alvarado supported secularization of the Spanish missions in California and he was appointed by José María de Echeandía to oversee the turn over of Mission San Miguel, even though Echeandía was no longer governor. The new governor Manuel Victoria rescinded the order and sought to have Alvarado, the pair fled and were hidden by their old friend Vallejo, who had become adjutant at the Presidio of San Francisco. However, Victoria was unpopular and Echeandía overthrew his rule and replaced him with Pío de Jesús Pico} near the end of 1831, secularization of the missions resumed in 1833. In 1834 Alvarado was elected to the legislature as a delegate, Governor José Figueroa granted Rancho El Sur, the vast wilderness south of Monterey, to Alvarado on October 30,1834. After Figueroas death in September 1835, Nicolás Gutiérrez was appointed as governor in January 1836. He was replaced by Mariano Chico in April, but Chico was very unpopular, thinking a revolt was coming, Chico went to Mexico to gather troops, but was reprimanded for leaving his post. Gutierrez, the commandant, re-assumed the governorship, but he too was unpopular. The Americans wanted California independence, but Alvarado instead preferred staying a part of Mexico, Alvarados rebellion adopted a new flag - a single red star on a white background. The flag never became a flag of Alta California, and was not used after Alvarado made peace with the central government. Alvarado, at age 27, was appointed governor
Juan B. Alvarado
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Juan Bautista Alvarado
30.
Ranchos of California
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The Spanish and later Mexican governments encouraged settlement of Alta California by giving prominent men large land grants called ranchos, usually two or more square leagues. Land-grant titles were government-issued, permanent, unencumbered property-ownership rights to land called ranchos, devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves after the landed gentry of Spain. Their workers included Californian Native Americans who had learned to speak Spanish, Spain made about 30 grants between 1784 and 1821, and Mexico granted about 270 more between 1833 and 1846. The ranchos established land-use patterns and place names that are still in use in California today, Rancho boundaries became the basis for Californias land survey system, and can still be found on modern maps and land titles. Ranchos were partially based on geography, such as access to river water, Land development in the 20th and 21st century often follow the boundaries of the ranchos, and often retain the original name. For example, Rancho San Diego, an unincorporated rural-burb east of San Diego, or Rancho Bernardo, during Spanish rule, the ranchos were concessions from the Spanish crown, permitting settlement and granting grazing rights on specific tracts of land, while the crown retained the title. The land concessions were usually measured in leagues, a league of land would encompass a square that is one Spanish league on each side – approximately 4,428 acres. The Spanish and Mexican governments made a number of grants from 1785 to 1846. It was not until the Mexican era that the titles to the plots of land were granted to individuals, in 1821, Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, and California came under control of the Mexican government. The 1824 Mexican Colony Law established rules for petitioning for land grants in California, and by 1828, the Acts sought to break the land monopoly of the missions and also paved the way for luring additional settlers to California by making land grants easier to obtain. Secularization was implemented between 1834 and 1836, the Mexican government allowed the padres to keep only the church, priests quarters and priests garden. The army troops guarding each Mission were dismissed, a commissioner would oversee the missions crops and herds, while the land was divided up as communal pasture, a town plot, and individual plots for each Indian family. The Mission Indians, freed from the missions, often joined other tribes or sought work on the new ranchos along the troops formerly assigned to each mission. The number of Mexican land grants greatly increased after the secularization of the missions in 1834, the Mexican rancho grants were provisional. The boundaries, on paper, had to be surveyed and marked. This produced a diseño, a topological map, to define the area. Since there were very few surveyors this requirement was seldom met, the grantee could not initially subdivide or rent out the land. The land had to be used for grazing or cultivated, some kind of residential house had to be built within a year—most were initially simple adobe walled cabins
Ranchos of California
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Sketch map or diseño of Rancho Providencia, 1840s.
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