San Clemente Dam has deprived the lower river of sediments and for almost 100 years

The San Clemente Dam has retained 2.5 million cubic yards of bedload and  large woody debris since its construction, depriving the lower river of  sediments and for almost 100 years. Rivers that have been deprived of natural sediment inputs from upstream of dam sites often compensate by eroding sediments from the lower floodplain below the dam. 

Armoring along the river has been, and still is, used to combat the sediment starved reaches of the river from eroding banks and widening the river valley. Up to 40% of the river’s banks from the mouth to Rosie’s Bridge have been artificially hardened to protect infrastructure from erosion. Hardened banks  have prevented sufficient compensational erosion from taking place in the lower floodplain, causing the river to degrade and narrow.

From:  The Watershed Institute

Lepomis Pallidus: Blue Gill (invasive species)

The bluegill or bluegulli occurs naturally in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Bluegills have been stocked widely both within and outside their native range. Observed by Smith in California 1896.
The adult diet consists of aquatic insect larvae (mayflies, caddisflies, dragonflies), but can also include crayfish, leeches, snails, and other small fish.

This chromolithograph of a Blue Gill Sun Fish (Lepomis Pallidus) was created by artist S. F. Denton  born in 1856.Photo from: http://www.printcollection.com/print/2211

Aesculus californica: California Buckeye

Buckeye

It is a true California endemic, not occurring elsewhere in the world! A tree of subtle elegance and evocative presence, it is lovely alone but is usually found in drifts or thickets filling winter-cool swales or rippling across rolling hillsides and bursting out of deep and craggy canyons. - See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/articles/california-buckeye-a-tree-for-all-seasons/#sthash.cJB9GYoz.dpuf

It is a true California endemic, not occurring elsewhere in the world! A tree of subtle elegance and evocative presence, it is lovely alone but is usually found in drifts or thickets filling winter-cool swales or rippling across rolling hillsides and bursting out of deep and craggy canyons. - See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/articles/california-buckeye-a-tree-for-all-seasons/#sthash.cJB9GYoz.dpuf

Endemic to western and northern California, reaching into Southern Oregon and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the California Buckeye is identifiable by its beautiful 6–10-inch-long erect clusters of pinkish-white flowers, distinctive palmately compounded leaves with 5 to 7 leaflets, and large poisonous seeds known as buckeye nuts. Buckeye nuts were traditionally prepared for eating by first boiling or roasting them, and then by leaching out their bitter tannins with water.

Words from: http://treegirl.org/california-buckeye

a true California endemic, not occurring elsewhere in the world! A tree of subtle elegance and evocative presence, it is lovely alone but is usually found in drifts or thickets filling winter-cool swales or rippling across rolling hillsides and bursting out of deep and craggy canyons. - See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/articles/california-buckeye-a-tree-for-all-seasons/#sthash.cJB9GYoz.dpuf

It is a true California endemic, not occurring elsewhere in the world! A tree of subtle elegance and evocative presence, it is lovely alone but is usually found in drifts or thickets filling winter-cool swales or rippling across rolling hillsides and bursting out of deep and craggy canyons. - See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/articles/california-buckeye-a-tree-for-all-seasons/#sthash.cJB9GYoz.dpuf

It is a true California endemic, not occurring elsewhere in the world! A tree of subtle elegance and evocative presence, it is lovely alone but is usually found in drifts or thickets filling winter-cool swales or rippling across rolling hillsides and bursting out of deep and craggy canyons. - See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/articles/california-buckeye-a-tree-for-all-seasons/#sthash.cJB9GYoz.dpuf

It is a true California endemic, not occurring elsewhere in the world! A tree of subtle elegance and evocative presence, it is lovely alone but is usually found in drifts or thickets filling winter-cool swales or rippling across rolling hillsides and bursting out of deep and craggy canyons. - See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/articles/california-buckeye-a-tree-for-all-seasons/#sthash.cJB9GYoz.dpuf

Picture from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_californica

a true California endemic, not occurring elsewhere in the world! A tree of subtle elegance and evocative presence, it is lovely alone but is usually found in drifts or thickets filling winter-cool swales or rippling across rolling hillsides and bursting out of deep and craggy canyons. - See more at: http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/articles/california-buckeye-a-tree-for-all-seasons/#sthash.cJB9GYoz.dpuf

"Penutian" culture obsidian artifacts

"Penutian languages, a major grouping of American Indian languages, is spoken along the west coast of North America from British Columbia to central California and central New Mexico. The phylum consists of about 20 languages; including Miwok-Costanoan. "

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/450502/Penutian-languages
Picture from:  http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/smithsonian/terminus-reservoir/sec4.htm

Callipepla californica: The California Quail

The California Quail is a highly sociable bird that often gathers in small flocks known as "coveys". The nest is a shallow scrape lined with vegetation on the ground beneath a shrub or other cover. The female usually lays approximately twelve eggs. Once hatched, the young associate with both adults.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Quail

The Definition of Genocide

Geronimo Boscana

"California's biological richness and diversity, a hall-mark of its coast and climate, also meant that although its native peoples became accomplished boat builders and basket weavers, they didn't face the geographic and ecologically based food scarcity that drove other people to develop fixed agricultural systems and the social stratification and specialization needed to expand the crop fields, irrigation systems, roads and granaries that go along with settled agriculture.

The pre-Columbian population of some 300,000 people would, by 1900, plunge to some 20,000 as a result of European settlers and conquerors. Most of this destruction occurred within the 200 years between the establishment of the California Mission system and the Gold Rush, a period that easily falls within the UN's definition of genocide: "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

Around 1825 Franciscan missionary Father Geronimo Boscana wrote, "The Indians of California may be compared to a species of monkey, for naught do they express interest, except in imitating the actions of others, and particularly in copying the ways of the razon or white men, whom they respect as being much superior to themselves: but in so doing, they are careful to select vice, in preference to virtue. This is the result, undoubtedly, of their corrupt, and natural disposition.""

From: The Golden Shore: California's Love Affair with the Sea by David Helvarg, 2013
Picture from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ger%C3%B3nimo_Boscana

Pope Clement XIV

Pope Clement XIV

"Franciscan friars first came to the west coast in 1769, with the arrival of Franciscan Friar Blessed Junipero Serra in California. Franciscans from Mexico and Spain continued Serra's work, establishing a total of 21 missions from San Diego to the San Francisco Bay region."

Pope Clement XIV was elected on 19 May 1769, after a conclave that had been heavily influenced by the political manoeuvres of the ambassadors of Catholic sovereigns who opposed to the Jesuits.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_XIV
Photo from: http://marykunzgoldman.com/2013/02/the-pope-name-game.html

The San Clemente Dam is Being Removed

The San Clemente Dam is being removed. It will be the largest dam removal project in California history. 
Californians applaud the long-awaited removal of the 106-foot tall San Clemente Dam, which has blocked the Carmel River  in Monterey County for 92 years.
The $83 million project, which will take three or four years to complete,will divert the entire river around 2.5 million cubic yards of sediment that have accumulated behind the dam, giving steelhead trout easy access to 25 miles of upstream spawning habitat for the first time since the dam was built in 1921.

From: http://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/Adding-by-removing-San-Clemente-Dam-4613599.php

Baccharis salicifolia: Mulefat

Baccharis salicifolia, commonly known as mulefat, is a blooming shrub with sticky foliage which bears plentiful small, fuzzy, pink or red-tinged white flowers which are highly attractive to butterflies.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baccharis_salicifolia

Branchinecta lynchi: Vernal Pool Fairy Shrimp

Vernal Pool Fairy Shrimp

"Vernal pool fairy shrimp are usually translucent, however some have been observed to be white or orange^. They feature stalked compound eyes, no carapace, and eleven pairs of legs.  Vernal pool fairy shrimp have a lifetime of about two months. They are usually born around early January, and die around early March."
Declared "Threatened" on September 19, 1994.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branchinecta_lynchi
Picture from: http://tunetrack.net/awake/blog/posts/231/preserve-mira-mesas-last-vernal-pools-endangered-fairy-shrimp/

Legalizing Indian Slavery

 
"Despite entering the union as a free state in 1850, the California legislature rapidly enacted a series of laws legalizing Indian slavery. All levels of state, county and local governments participated in a heartless policy of killing Indian parents and kidnapping and indenturing the victims children. Indian youth could be enslaved by the cruel act to the age of 30 for males and 25 for females. This barbarous law was finally repealed four years after President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation in 1863."
From: http://www.nahc.ca.gov/califindian.html

Carmel River Sport Fishing

Rainbow Trout Caught May 1, 1933

Carmel River and tributaries above Los Padres Dam:     Last Saturday in Apr. through Nov. 15. No rainbow trout less than 10 inches or greater than 16 inches total length may be kept. Only artificial lures with barbless hooks may be used.     5 trout, no more than 2 of which may be rainbow trout allowed.

Carmel River below Los Padres Dam:
(A) Carmel River tributaries below Los Padres Dam and main stem from Los Padres Dam to the bridge at Robles Del Rio/Esquiline roads (Rosie’s Bridge).     Closed to all fishing all year.
(B) Carmel River main stem below the bridge at Robles Del Rio/Esquiline roads (Rosie’s Bridge). Dec. 1 through Mar. 7, but only on Sat., Sun., Wed., legal holidays and opening and closing days. Only artificial lures with barbless hooks may be used.  2 hatchery trout or hatchery steelhead allowed in possession  

Text From: 2013-2014 Freshwater Sport Fishing Regulations
Photo from: http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/imageserver.x/00000000/ebayseller33/B0577.JPG

Carmel Bay State Marine Conservation Area

Carmel Bay

Carmel Bay State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) is a marine protected area in Carmel Bay established in September 2007. The  area covers 2.12 square miles. This designation allows some recreational and/or commercial take of marine resource.

MARINE LIFE PROTECTION ACT of 2004
(c) Coastal development, water pollution,and other human activities threaten the health of marine habitat and the biological diversity found in California's ocean waters. New technologies and demands have encouraged the expansion of fishing and other activities to formerly inaccessible marine areas that once recharged nearby fisheries. As a result, ecosystems throughout the state's ocean waters are being altered, often at a rapid rate.
(g) Despite the demonstrated value of marine life reserves, only 14 of the 220,000 square miles of combined state and federal ocean water off California, or six-thousandths of 1 percent, are set aside as genuine no take areas.
Carmel Bay State Marine Conservation Area
MARINE LIFE PROTECTION ACT of 2004

Veeder Pond: Carmel Valley Vernal Pool

Veeder Pond in Garland Park

Vernal pools are seasonally flooded depressions found on ancient soils with an impermeable layer such as a hardpan, claypan, or volcanic basalt. The impermeable layer allows the pools to retain water much longer then the surrounding uplands; nonetheless, the pools are shallow enough to dry up each season. Vernal pools often fill and empty several times during the rainy season.
As winter rains fill the pools, freshwater invertebrates, crustaceans, and amphibians emerge.

From: California Wetlands Information System
Picture from the NatureID Blog

Anaxyrus californicus

The Arroyo Toad, Anaxyrus californicus prefers sandy or cobbly washes with swift currents and associated upland and riparian habitats.
Status: Endangered as of  16-Dec-1994.
Photo by: Andrew Borcher 

The Green, Surging Arroyo Seco River

Arroyo Seco River Swimming Hole

200 feet above the green, surging Arroyo Seco River, the mountainside reveals a striking juxtaposition of fire-swept death and spring’s wild resurgence.

Starting from the gorge parking area above the campground, the river winds narrowly for about 10 miles. Hiking upriver is the purest way to fully immerse oneself in the Arroyo Seco’s cool waters, but the Indians Road also offers easy access to several killer swimming spots.

The best swimming hole – though by no means the most secret – is about a 45-minute hike from the parking lot. The trailhead is uphill from the first creek crossing next to two trashcans. A steep walk through scorched chaparral lands you on a small beach where a deep and wide channel surrounded by smooth granite offers the perfect reprieve from the dry south county air.

From: Monterey County Weekly

The Padron [mounted horseman]

The clearest and most significant expression of Spanish fears of French interference appears in a 1751 series of memoirs by Don Fernando Sanchez Salvador, a captain of the Sonora and Sinaloa cavalry. Sanchez Salvador argued that France was eagerly seeking the Pacific. He warned that, in their exploration of the mountains around New Mexico, French scouts might find and descend the Colorado River.  He contended that the river divided into two branches, one called the Carmelo River which he believed emptied into the Pacific Ocean on the coast of upper California.

From: The Elusive West and the Contest for Empire: 1713 - 1763 By Paul W. Mapp 2011

Oil painting by JamesWalker: http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf3q2nb43s/?layout=metadata&brand=calisphere

Toxicodendron diversilobum

Poison Oak

Western poison oak occurs only on the Pacific Coast of North America, where it is common. The plant toxin produced by members of the genus Toxicodendron, called urushiol, is known for causing an uncomfortable, and sometimes painful, skin reaction. The active components of urushiol have been determined by Billets (1975) to be unsaturated congeners of 3-heptadecylcatechol with up to three double bonds in an unbranched C17 side chain. "Leaves of three, leave them be. Leaves of four, eat some more."

Text from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicodendron_diversilobum
Picture from: http://bapd.org/hamilton-gulch-long-sequence.html

Ohlone Dancers, 1815

Danse des Californiens [at San Francisco, from a drawing ca. 1815].
From: The Bancroft Library

Experience Carmel River on the the South Bank Trail

The Big Sur Land Trust announced the opening of the South Bank Trail, a 1.5 mile long pedestrian and bicycle path located on the south side of the Carmel River.

The South Bank Trail begins at the intersection of Rancho San Carlos Road and Valley Greens Drive in Carmel Valley. The trail starts on an existing paved private farm road and heads west, meandering off road onto a path that includes a beautiful view of the Carmel River, native vegetation, and a gentle grade that makes for an easy walk or bike ride. The trail gently climbs onto pasture land where it eventually meets the boundary of Palo Corona Regional Park.

While no permit is required to use the South Bank Trail, a use permit is required to pass through the trail’s west gate into Palo Corona Regional Park.

http://www.bigsurlandtrust.org/media/pdf/bslt-carmel-river-project-sept-7-2010.pdf

Steelhead migrate up the Carmel River

Mature Steelhead enter the river from the ocean at the rivers' "Mouth" otherwise known as Carmel River Lagoon. In late November through May, depending on winter storms, small schools move steadily against the flows upriver. The adult Steelhead that migrate up the Carmel River to reach Finch Creek must first jump over "Old Carmel Dam" about 18 miles up the river from the ocean, then pass over "San Clemente Dam" via a rickety old narrow fish ladder until they come to the spot where Cachagua Creek meets the main Carmel River. That "confluence" as it is called is about 5 miles above San Clemente Dam and just below Los Padres Dam by the village called Cachagua.

Text from: http://www.carmelriversteelheadassociation.org/
Photo from: Michael Carl's photostream

The Los Padres Dam’s future is uncertain

The Los Padres Dam, Carmel River

Six miles upstream of the San Clemente Dam... the Los Padres Dam creates a reservoir pretty enough for a painting, but one that’s a prison for steelhead fish whose hearts beat for the sea.
 South Central California steelhead are what biologists call a “distinct population segment,” with unique DNA among the planet’s steelhead. 


The Los Padres is an earthen dam with few hard parts. Rather than tumbling 100 feet, the water slips unassumingly over the dam’s lip and down a concrete spillway, then falls back into the river. 

The Los Padres Dam’s future is uncertain. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants it to come down, while the state Department of Fish & Game and MPWMD unofficially support dredging it and leaving it up. 


http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/2012/may/31/river-tamed/

Carmel River Being Sucked Dry

The river’s most serious and expensive challenge, though, is that it’s being sucked dry to supply the Peninsula. With 12,000 acre-feet per year diverted for human use – more than three times the legal limit – many of the river’s tributaries wither in the summer, stranding steelhead and parching a lower watershed that depends on it.

 The San Clemente Dam, built in 1921, is a 106-foot-high, reinforced concrete arch bolted into bedrock on both sides, a powerful and imposing structure with an art deco grace, originally holding 1,425 acre-feet of water at the confluence of the Carmel River and San Clemente Creek, in the steep, pine-encrusted ravines southeast of Carmel Valley Village. 
 The San Clemente is now so silted in it holds less than 60 acre-feet of water; the state declared it obsolete in 2003.

Twenty years after the state water board’s order to do something about the dam, its removal is finally poised to happen. The California Coastal Conservancy, which is leading the planning and design, expects road work to begin in late summer. Construction on the river reroute should start in spring 2013

http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/2012/may/31/river-tamed/

California Condor

The California Condor is the largest land bird in North America. An adult can weigh as much as 31 pounds, stand as tall as 4.5-feet, and have a wingspan up to 10 feet. Thousands of these great birds once called California home. The population all-time low was 22 birds in 1982.

Photo From: http://www.levalleyphoto.com/gallery/omw.php
Text From: http://www.ventanaws.org/index.htm

San Clemente Dam removal project may be delayed

Carmel Valley, California

Delays caused by the switch to a new access route could postpone the start of the San Clemente Dam removal project past summer and even into next year, said a county planner.
But a California American Water spokeswoman said the company is hoping to begin the much-anticipated project by summer.
Work on the $83 million project, which includes removing the dam and re-routing a portion of the Carmel River along with removing the old Carmel River dam, was supposed to start last year.

http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_22726079/san-clemente-dam-removal-project-may-be-delayed

Photo from: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/lvibber/sets/72157622590664819/with/4097774150/

Remove the Chinese Dam

Finally, the project currently includes notching the Old Carmel River Dam (OCRD) located
approximately 1800 feet downstream of San Clemente Dam. The OCRD is a 32-foot high structure built in 1893. Notching it would improve fish passage. However, SCC and NMFS are working on plans to remove the OCRD as part of the Reroute and Removal Project because it would provide even greater benefits to fish passage and river function.

The 400-acre-foot Chinese Dam, was built by immigrants working 24 hours a day in 1883 to supply Monterey’s first tourist attraction, the Hotel Del Monte.
 Today the Chinese Dam (more politely called the Old Carmel River Dam) is a relic, a modest wall of stones and cement above an inviting jade-green pool. 

From: Coastal Conservancy http://www.scc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/sanclemente/san_clemente_large.pdf
Picture from San Clemente Dam Removal: http://www.sanclementedamremoval.org/?page_id=407

Carmel Valley Geologic History

"Carmel Valley is intimately tied to the Carmel River.  Starting from the bottom of the outcrop, two distinct types of rocks are evident. First, the lowest layer is the Monterey Formation seen throughout the area. This layer forms in deep marine basins far from continental shelves.
The following layers, the large cobbles with a sandstone like layer separating the individual repeats, gives us clues about the origin of these rocks. Being well rounded and having a variety of sizes, we can compare these cobbles to those that we might currently find in the Carmel River."

From: Geocaching Carmel Valley
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6de6d451-ab37-4268-b29f-74f4acc7c056

El Encino de Descanso

Carmel Valley Live Oak

During the mission era a coast live oak, El Encino de Descanso, or "The Resting Oak", offered shade for Indians passing down Carmel Valley. It was also called La encina de las cruces, or "Oak of the Crosses" due to the reputed 200 or more crosses carved into the tree. A memorial was located on Carmel Valley Road near Via Mallorca.
From: Carmel Valley by Elizabeth Barratt (Author), 2010

The Del Monte Milk Barn

The Del Monte Milk Barn, located in today's Carmel Valley Village, dates to 1890 when William Hatton built an auxiliary dairy, which included the milk barn. The ventilation tower atop the roof allowed fresh milk to cool rapidly.

From: Carmel Valley By Elizabeth Barratt, 2010

Finch Creek

Hastings Natural History Reserve

Arnold Cabin

Arnold Cabin Oct 2010

High on Hastings is a cabin built by Henry Arnold in about 1895. He also built the stone hotel that was at Tassajara Hot Springs from about 1893 to 1940 when it burned down. Henry married Sarah Wallace Church and one of his children, Tom Arnold, eventually married Fanny Hastings.

from:

Hastings Natural History Reserve

San Clemente Dam removal meetings set today at Cachagua General Store

Carmel Valley

Earlier this month, the Monterey County Planning Commission delayed its review of the project until next month to allow Cal Am and other proponents to conduct additional public outreach after Cachagua residents protested a proposed change in the construction traffic route to include Cachagua and Tassajara roads.

The $84 million project includes the removal of the 90-year-old, 106-foot dam and rerouting of the Carmel River to resolve seismic safety concerns and improve steelhead habitat. The old Carmel River Dam will also be removed as part of the project.

http://www.montereyherald.com/ci_21621988/meetings-san-clemente-dam-removal-be-held-cachagua?source=most_emailed

Rancho San Carlos

The 20,000 acres that comprise the Santa Lucia Preserve were originally part of two Mexican Land Grants.

The first, El Potrero de San Carlos (Pastures of Saint Charles), was given by Governor Juan Alvarado in 1837 to Fructuoso del Real, a Mission Indian. He cultivated a portion of the land and kept about seventy horses and five or six hundred head of cattle, along with some sheep and a few milk cows. About 1838, Fructuoso built an adobe house where he lived with his wife, Ignacia and three daughters.

The other grant, San Francisquito (little St. Francis), was made to Dona Catalina Manzanellide Munras, wife of Esteban Munras, in 1835. Munras arrived in Monterey in 1830, served as alcalde in 1837.

Rancheros Potrero de San Carlos and San Francisquito went to Bradley Sargent in 1876. He called the ranch San Francisquito y San Carlos.

In 1924, George Gordon Moore purchased the ranch, which he called Rancho San Carlos, from the heirs of Bradley Sargent.

In 1990, after a half-century of ownership, the Oppenheimer family sold Rancho San Carlos and the Santa Lucia Preserve was created.

These 31 square miles of oak woodlands, savannas, grasslands, wetlands, redwood forests and stands of Monterey pine rise from 100 to 3,000 feet above sea level. They hold 54 distinct habitats virtually hidden from outside view by the surrounding ridges of the Santa Lucia Range, which plunges into the sea at Big Sur.

http://www.santaluciapreserve.com/

http://www.carmelrealtycompany.com

Euphilotes enoptes smithi

Smith's blue butterfly, Euphilotes enoptes smithi is a small butterfly with a wingspan no greater than 2.5 centimeters. Males manifest dorsal wing color of a bright lustrous blue, while females exhibit brown dorsal coloration. Both sexes have with orange-red band markings on the hind dorsal wings.

Smith's blue butterflies have a lifespan of approximately one week. Their single week of daytime-only flight is further limited to temperatures above 60°F and to times and locales where wind velocities are quite low. Within that one week, they must do sufficient feeding to sustain, they must avoid predation, find and court a mate, and copulate. Then the female must lay the resulting eggs.
This taxon is listed as Endangered under the Federal Endangered Species Act.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith%27s_blue_butterfly
Photo by Don Roberson

Mexican Land Grants

It was the year 1840, and today was a great day in the lives of the Borondas. They were on their way to occupy their land grant from Governor Alvarado, the 6,625-acre Los Laureles.

The only dwellings along their route were occasional shacks in the
Indian Rancherías. Dispersed by the secularization of the mission, many of the Indians had suffered great hardship and few had been able to keep their allotments of mission property. Men like José Antonio Romero,the first of the Carmel mission's civil administrators, were ambitious and more than ready to exploit the Indians. Romero had also tried to get Los Laureles for himself a few years earlier, but Governor Alvarado had given the land to Boronda, son of the retired corporal.

There had been other land grants bestowed in the Carmel Valley. In 1839 the 4,367-acre Rancho Cañada de la Segunda, through which the Borondas were passing, had been granted to Lazaro Soto. And mounting the wild reaches of the Santa Lucias to the southeast was the 4,307 acre Rancho Potrero de San Carlos, granted to Fructuoso del Real in 1837, as well as the 8,814-acre San Francisquito, given in 1835 to Doña Catalina Manzanelli de Munrás. But none of the grantees had chosen to occupy their land.

At the eastern end of the valley, beyond Los Laureles, Rafael Gomez had built a two-story adobe on the Rancho Los Tularcitos, granted him by Governor Figueroa in 1834.

Source: “Monterey County The Dramatic Story of Its Past
Monterey Bay, Big Sur, Carmel, Salinas Valley”, by Agusta Fink, 1972.
Western Tanager Press/Valley Publishers, San Francisco, California.
Copyright 1972.

The Church Homestead

The Church Family and their Homestead (1884 to 1907)
Thomas William Church was born in Londonderry, Ireland, in September of 1836. His father died when he was about ten years old, and soon afterwards he emigrated to North America with his mother, first to Canada and then to the state of New York. He made his living as a farmer during the summer and in the lumber industry during the winter.

In September of 1888 Thomas Church filed a preemptive claim to 120 acres on and to the south of The Mesa, and in December of the same year he filed a claim to 160 acres of land that included The Caves. Mr. Church purchased a patent to The Mesa property in June of 1891, and in July of 1897 he was awarded a homestead patent to The Caves property.¹⁰ The original boundaries of both properties were displaced half of a mile to the north of the land Mr. Church had intended to claim. Mr. Church almost certainly based the locations of his claims on their relationship to Tassajara Hot Spring.

From Double Cone Quarterly

The Caves ranch house in 1920. It is presumed that this is the structure built by Andrew Church after the original house burnt down in 1902. The photograph was taken L. S. Slevin 73 days after Fred Nason sold the property to William Lambert. Photo courtesy of the Monterey County Public Library.

Vocabulary of the Rumsen language

"Vocabulary of the Rumsen language of the Indians of Carmel. Obtained from the Indian Ventura or Buenaventura, the blind Indian of Carmel who was born at Carmel in 1809. Monterey, July 27, 1878. Alph. Pinart"

English............Spanish..................Costanoan IV
my friend........mi amigo...................ka-ius; kaaius
shaman ..........hechicero medico...........oss
a just man .......hombre justo..................misissinanuikkiam
a false man ......hombre falso..................onponciauanuikkiam
knife..................cuchillo.............................thip
bow ...................arco..............................la huan haras
arrow ...............flecha...............teps, karroc (with flint)
temescal ..........temescal ........uet
sun................sol.......................ismen
moon .................luna.................orpeto ismen
star ...................estrella..................pakararkt;pakerrar (stars)
flash of lightning......relampago..............uexokp; selp (plur.)
Carmel River.............rio del Carmel..................tirus ua corx

From: ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS 15:1
CALIFORNIA INDIAN LINGUISTIC RECORDS
THE MISSION INDIAN VOCABULARIES
OF ALPHONSE PINART
http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucar015-001.pdf

Ohlone hut made of tule reeds from: http://learning.berkeley.edu/ut/history.htm

Ambystoma californiense

The California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) is an amphibian native to Northern California growing up to 8 inches long. California tiger salamanders migrate at night from upland habitats to aquatic breeding sites during the first major rainfall events of fall and early winter.

The California tiger salamander eats earthworms, snails, insects and fish.

Its numbers have dropped due to habitat loss, predation from crayfish and bullfrogs, being hit by cars during migration and interbreeding with the non-native tiger salamanders.

The California tiger salamander spends the summer underground in ground squirrel burrows. After the first few heavy rains in the fall, they come out of their burrows and migrate to breeding pools.

http://wsipsunolvalley.blogspot.com/2012/01/calaveras-critters-california-tiger.html
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/californiatigersalamander.htm

Arroyo Seco River

The relatively little known Arroyo Seco River drains the eastside of the Ventana Mountains in California's scenic central Coast Range. The Arroyo Seco sustains a small population of the threatened steelhead trout, a federally protected species that migrates all the way from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in the clean riffles and deep cold pools of the river.

The Arroyo Seco River is the only major tributary of the Salinas River that remains undammed. The river flows east from the crest of the Santa Lucia Mountains, then north along a major fault line, and then east again into the Salinas Valley.

The lower Arroyo Seco River flows through solid bedrock smoothed by water, tumbling over numerous cascades, and forming deep pools that invite swimming.

The upper Arroyo Seco River takes you past a spectacular sandstone formation known as "The Rocks" and up a scenic canyon with several cascades and pools.

Friends of the River

Neotoma fuscipes luciana

The Monterey dusky-footed woodrat (N. f. luciana), a subspecies which occurs in coastal central California, is also considered a California Species of Special Concern.

Unlike the Old World rats, the dusky-footed woodrat is native to North America. From Washington state southward to California, they live in dense vegetation, preferably among oak trees (Quercus spp.). Dusky-footed woodrats have the unusual habit of collecting and accumulating woody debris and most any available small object into piles or nests which serve as living quarters, hence, the name packrat.

A Species of Special Concern (SSC) is a species that is experiencing serious (noncyclical) population declines or range retractions that, if continued could qualify it for State threatened or endangered status.

"Species of Special Concern" is an administrative designation and carries no formal legal status.

From University of Califonia Oak Woodland Management

The Republic of California 1846

The California Republic was never recognized by any nation, and existed for less than one month, but its flag (the "Bear Flag") survives as the flag of the State of California.

1846 June – About a dozen Americans seized a large herd of horses from a Mexican military commandant. Another group of Americans captured Sonoma, the chief settlement north of San Francisco. Led by William B. Ide, the Americans issued a declaration of independence and hoisted a flag, its white ground emblazoned with a grizzly bear facing a red star. On June 25 U.S. Capt. John Charles Frémont arrived at Sonoma and gave his support to the Bear Flag Revolt. And on July 5 the insurrectionists elected Frémont the new President of the “Republic of California.”

A few days after the Bear Flag was raised, William Ide issued a proclamation setting forth the goals of the new California Republic: "...to establish and perpetuate a liberal, a just and honorable Government, which shall secure to all civil, religious and personal liberty; which shall insure the security of life and property; which shall encourage industry, virtue and literature...relying on love of Liberty and hatred of Tyranny. And further promises that a Government...must originate among its people: its officers should be its servants..."

Garland Ranch Regional Park

Garland Ranch Regional Park

This 4500 acre park ranges in elevation from 200 feet along the beautiful Carmel River to about 2000 feet at Snively's Ridge overlooking the entire valley.

Garzas Creek gently bisects the park and provides a peaceful, shaded trail that reaches a secluded side canyon of redwoods.

Projectile Point Types

Projectile Point Types, National Parks Service

San Clemente Dam

San Clemente Dam
Follow Carmel River Road about two miles east of the Village.
Turn right on San Clemente Drive.
Becomes San Clement Road as you keep going upriver.

San Clemente Dam

Los Laureles Lodge

The popular Los Laureles Lodge dates back to the early 1830s when it was deeded to Señor Jose Boronda by the Mexican government. It was one of the largest of those early land grants, roughly 7,000 acres.

The Pacific Improvement Company built the Del Monte Hotel in 1879 and also acquired several thousand acres of the Rancho Los Laureles area. At that time, and even after Del Monte Properties bought the property in 1915, the Rancho Los Laureles was the place for many visiting dignitaries from other countries.

From: http://loslaureles.com/index.html