Lorenzo Asisara's 1890 Interview

Lorenzo Asisara's 1890 Interview:
"The capture the wild Indian, first were taken the children, and then the parents followed. The padres would erect a hut, and light the candles to say Mass, and the Indians, attracted by the light-thinking they were stars- would approach, and soon be taken. These would bring in others, such as their relatives."

From: A Gathering of Voices
Picture: Carmel Mission in 1794

Monterey County Pictograph Sites Are Numerous

Monterey County pictograph sites are numerous. The majority of the sites are located in the Vaqueros sandstone caves of the Santa Lucia Range and consist of red painted elements placed on smoke-blackened walls. Some caves are decorated with polychrome designs in red, black, and white. Elements represented in these caves range from geometric shapes, grids, cross-hatches, and lattice designs, to a few stick figures and animal shapes.

Also represented are concentric circle elements depicted in bands of red, white and slate blue. Several caves in Monterey County contain numerous hand prints executed in white paint. One of these, known as the Cave of the Hands, contains more than 200 of the hand print elements.

The most studied and documented cave in the area is La Cueva Pintada on the Hunter Liggett Army Base. This pictograph site contains hundreds of images and some of the best preserved rock paintings in central California.

From: A Gathering of Voices
Picture from:  Monterey County, California rock art

KENSHA:NEL

KENSHA:NEL is the Salinan word for Creator.
Salinan elder Susan Latta prayed "Kensha:nel" at Mass at the Mission San Antonio De Padua.

From: SARHENTARUC JOURNAL

The Ohlone expressed their distaste for the mission by running away

The Ohlone of the north expressed their distaste for the mission environment by running away, often to the east, where they joined Yokuts groups and engaged in horse raiding.

The southernmost Ohlone, the Rumsen in the Sarhentaruc area, perhaps unable to move east, moved south into Esselen territory instead.

And the Excelen, in the upper Carmel Valley, moved quietly back into the rugged mountains and passed from the historic record. However, rumors of their survival lasted into the twentieth century.

From: A Gathering of Voices

Phelipe de Neve First Governor of the Californias: 1777-1782

Nowhere else in the northern frontier did New Spain face such a concentrated Indian population as in California. And the Indians were far from submissive.

Governer Phelipe de Neve was awarded the Cross of Carlos III in 1783 for meritorious service and advanced to the rank of brigadier.The duties and requirements of the Cross of Carlos III were specified: they needed to have "pure and noble blood" up to their great-grandparents, as was regulated by the Old Book of Territorial Laws of Castilla and the other valid laws. 

Those received by the Order took an oath for loyalty towards the king, his family, and the protection of the goods of the Royal House, recognizing him as Great Master, live and die in faith catholic, accepting as indisputable the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception, and attending and receiving communion at mass at least once a year.

From: Military  Museum
and Wikipedia

"Wild" Indians

With clear evidence for Indian occupation of the mountainous portions of Esselen territory at least into the mid-1820's, it becomes likely that a few individuals survived long enough to bypass the mission system entirely.  As the missions disbanded, it would have been possible for Indians to return to their original homelands.
Professor Clem Meighan noted that "wild" Indians are reported to have occupied the Esselen territory until 1850 or later.
Anthropologist Arnold Piling heard the same story when he worked in the Carmel area in the late 1940's, noting that there were persistent rumors of a group of Indians still hiding in the hills.
This rumor, echoing down the years, may reflect back to the time a hundred years earlier in the 1840's when there were actually were Indians hiding in these mountains.

From: From: A Gathering of Voices
Picture from: Leor Pantilat's Adventures

They could not stand up to the weapons of the Spanish

Many of the Esselen baptized during 1776 were children.  After baptism, children were permitted to live with their parents in their native villages until they reached the age of reason, approximately nine years old at which point the missionaries forced the children to the mission.
Large numbers of Esselen joined the mission during the following months- seeing that they could not stand up to the weapons of the Spanish, they simply wanted to be reunited with their children. By 1798 the majority of baptisms had occurred, and it is likely that only a few dozen individuals were left in the mountains of Excelen.

From: A Gathering of Voices
Picture from: California Military History

The Carmel River near Paso Hondo Road

Four major floods boosted the Carmel River’s natural processes and improved the spawning habitat for steelhead trout since the dam removal in 2015.

The river structure has become more complex, mainly due to large wood and coarse gravel that has drifted from upstream.

The steelhead were not the only ones who managed to swim up. Pacific lamprey have appeared upstream for the first time in 20 years. But non-native species have also flourished upstream, like the striped bass that eat the young steelhead.

From Monterey Herald
Picture by Vern FisherThe Carmel River near Paso Hondo Road in Carmel Valley

Pach-hepas, chief of the Excelen

The first documented meeting between the Spanish and the Esselen comes from Carmel baptismal entry number 350, dated May 9, 1775.  On that day, Junipero Serra baptized a 40-year-old man, named Pach-hepas, who was described as the chief of the territory of the Excelen and its rancherias. The baptism took place in the village of Xasauan. The modern name of Cachagua, a small community in the upper Carmel River drainage is dervied from this Essalen village name.

From: A Gathering of Voices 

The Rumsen

The Rumsen of the lower Carmel Valley and the Monterey Peninsula were the first Monterey Bay area triblet to be completely absorbed into a Spanish Mission.
A total of 436 of them were baptized at Mission San Carlos between 1770 and 1784.

At baptism, there were identified according to home village name, Achasta at the mouth of the Carmel River, Tucutnut about three miles inland on the Carmel, Socorronda in the Carmel Valley area, Echilat at the high flat south of the Carmel River Valley and Ichxenta, location unknown.

From: A Gathering of Voices 

Junipero Serra Peak

The peak is also sometimes called Pimkolam, its ancient Salinan name.

From: Wikipedia

Carmel River at Dampierre Park

Carmel River at Dampierre Park.
From: Carmel River Watershed Conservancy

Garzas Creek

From: Henry Tunahuna

California’s Little-Known Genocide

Peter Hardenman Burnett, the state’s first governor, saw indigenous Californians as lazy, savage and dangerous. Though he acknowledged that white settlers were taking their territory and bringing disease, he felt that it was the inevitable outcome of the meeting of two races.

“That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected,” he told legislators in the second state of the stateaddress in 1851. “While we cannot anticipate this result but with painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power or wisdom of man to avert.”

From History.com

In the Rumsien language, it’s called a kónon

The boat’s structure is built out of five tightly wrapped bundles of tule reeds.

From Monterey County Weekly

Rumsien Ohlone

From: Oakland Public Library

Life of the Mountain Lion

The Impact of California History on Native Tribes

 Americans illegally immigrated to California when it was under Mexican control, during the Gold Rush. They tried to wipe out the Natives, in a series of mass murders where anywhere from 30–400 men, women and children would be killed at a time. The California government set up a formal campaign of genocide, paying 25 cents for every severed head of a Native person.

From: Marcus Ruiz Evans

Snowcapped Mountains Tuesday Morning

The Santa Lucia Range, Mount Toro and Fremont Peak were coated with snow. Several inches were present on some of the peaks above Carmel Valley.

From: Vern Fisher - Monterey Herald

The Santa Lucia Mountains

The Santa Lucia Mountains were dusted in snow on Feb. 19, 2018

From: SFGate

Steelhead can remain at sea for up to three years

Steelhead may spend from 1 to 3 years in freshwater before migrating to the Carmel Lagoon and then into the ocean to feed and mature. They can remain at sea for up to three years before returning to the river of their birth.

The Carmel River is home to Steelhead trout

The Carmel River is home to Steelhead trout. Hatched in gravel bottoms, these fish need fast-flowing, well-oxygenated water to live and grow. 

Dam Removal Update December 2017

"Some of the findings currently being analyzed are a bit disconcerting. Scattered boulders and buildup of sediment can be found downstream, creating three shallow channels and a wide wetted area. Widening and shallowing from sediment fill jeopardizes channel stability, resulting in the increased likelihood of channel movement and flooding during high flows."
From: Carmel River News (CRWC)

St. Junipero Serra Statue Decapitated and Doused with Red Paint

Vandals target St. Junipero Serra statue at Santa Barbara Mission.

At Serra’s canonization ceremony Pope Francis said, "Junipero sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it.”

 From: LA Times

Saint Junipero Serra Statue Vandalized at Mission San Fernando

 

Some argue Serra is not the saint the Catholic Church paints him out to be. Instead, they claim he used California Indians and destroyed part of their culture.

From:  http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/08/17/junipero-serra-statue-vandalized/

Carmel River from the Esquiline Rd. bridge, Feb 2017

"There was no way to anticipate what happened this winter, the confluence of last summer’s Soberanes Fire that denuded hillsides in local watersheds and created masses of dead wood and loose soil, a four-year drought that had slowed river water flow to a relative trickle, and the four-storm series that hit this winter capped by a “bombogenesis,” or mini-cyclone, that sent water rushing down the untested channel at thousands of cubic-feet per second. That combination of circumstance may have increased Carmel River flows and their impact by up to 30 percent."
From: Monterey Herald 
Picture by Vern Fisher from: Mercury News

Flood Warning for the Carmel River

"The National Weather Service canceled a flood warning for the Carmel River on Tuesday morning as the river dropped below its flood stage.

The Carmel River crested at 9.99 feet, below its forecast of 10.5 feet and under the moderate flood stage of 11 feet but above the minor flood stage mark of 8.5 feet."

From: Monterey Herald
Picture From: San Clemente Rancho

Always Trembling With Fear of the Lash

"The Indians at the missions were very severely treated by the padres, often punished by fifty lashes on the bare back. Any disobedience or infraction of the rules, and then came the lash without mercy, the women the same as the men... We were always trembling with fear of the lash."
-dictated in 1890 by Lorenzo Asisara, born at Santa Cruz Mission in 1819.
From: Bad Indians
Picture from:SF Magazine

California Newts Begin Their Long Trek Back from the Vernal Pools.

It's that time of year again when the California Newts begin their long trek back from the Vernal Pools. 
For the next few months they will be crossing Carmel Valley Road in the Hastings area - please watch out for them if you're traveling by; already there are many on the road which have been run over.

From: Hastings

With Dam Gone, California River Comes Back to Life

Carmel River flows in January were the highest they’ve been since 1998. That’s due to winter storms which soaked the Carmel Basin with 25 inches of rain since the first of the year.

From: KQED

Pinnixa Galliheri Rathbun Crab. Miocene Age. Carmel Valley, CA

The Miocene Epoch was 23.03 to 5.3 million years ago.  Two major ecosystems made their first appearances: kelp forests and grasslands. In North America, the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountain ranges formed.

From: UCMP 
Picture From: Kozmic Dreams

San Clemente Dam reroute blasted a gorgeous ridgeline in half & destroyed acres of oak woodland

Instead of implementing a plan for the safe and controlled release of sediment to feed downstream riparian zones, wetlands and the nearshore environment, this plan capped the accumulated reservoir sediment in place and rerouted the creek around it.
The reroute blasted a gorgeous ridgeline in half, destroyed acres of oak woodland, and eliminated a long reach of the sediment-buried Carmel River. This shortened the overall length of the river and bombarded the lower reach of the smaller, adjacent San Clemente Creek tributary with the full force of the Carmel River mainstem.

From: damnation
Picture from San Clemente Dam Removal

Jacks Peak

Jacks Peak Park has much to offer the outdoor enthusiast. Almost 8.5 miles of trails wind through cathedral-like forests and to breathtaking ridge top vistas. The Skyline Trail traverses the summit of Jacks Peak and features fossils from the Miocene epoch.
From: Jacks Peak

The Santa Lucia Preserve includes all of Rancho San Carlos

The Santa Lucia Preserve includes all 20,000 acres of Rancho San Carlos, which dates from 1857.

From: Santa Lucia Preserve

Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo

Cholom was baptized "Fructuoso de Jesus" at Mission San Carlos Borroméo del río Carmelo in 1785. His father was recorded as Patricio Jose Solol Cholom of Echilat, baptized by Padre Junipero Serra.

Picture From: Costanoan Rumsen
From: Bad Indians by Deborah A. Miranda

Before the Mission, it had been the village of Echilat

"Fructuoso de Jesus Cholom-Real grew up to serve as mission alcalde. With his wife, Yginia Maria Yunisyunis, he received one square parcel of land during secularization in 1835, called El Potrero de San Carlos. He lived on this land until his death in 1845. The land had been Carmel Mission's pasture, but before the mission, it had been the village of Echilat."

From: Bad Indians by Deborah A. Miranda
Picture From Santa Lucia Preserve

Rana Creek Ranch

"Rana Creek Ranch is known as a historic piece of land that dates back to the 1834 Spanish Land Grant, which followed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo when California joined U.S. territory. Carmel Valley specifically can be traced back to the Spanish expeditions."
From: Forbes

Rana Creek Ranch

"Carmel Valley was settled 2,000 years ago by the Esselen and Costanoan Rumsen tribes. The Spanish built a mission here in 1771, then parceled off enormous ranches to private owners by way of land grants. Today, Carmel Valley is still home to many cattle ranches, some encompassing thousands of acres."
From: NYT
Picture from: Rana Creek Ranch

Heavy rain and winds drenched Carmel Valley

Coastal Monterey County bore the brunt of heavy rain and winds over the weekend, which drenched Big Sur and Carmel Valley.
From: Monterey Weekly

Carmel River January 2017

The Carmel River approached 9,000 cubic feet per second early Monday and threatened to flood the mouth of the Valley but ultimately remained below flood stage.
“It was a very active event, lots of road flooding and a lot of trees down and sink holes developing”

From Monterey Herald 
Picture from San Clemente Rancho

Mission San Antonio de Padua

Leaders:

Fr. Buenaventura Sitjar remained at San Antonio de Padua for 37 years and is largely responsible for it success. This tireless missionary created a 400-page native vocabulary, and used this to develop catechism in the Indian language

Mission San Antonio de Padua

Saint Junípero Serra at Mission San Antonio de Padua.
This was the first mission established in the land of the Salinan people at the site of Telhaya.

Mission San Antonio de Padua

^"10 In the spirit, he carried me to the top of a very high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of Heaven from God.
¹¹ It had all the glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond.
¹² Its wall was of a great height and had twelve gates; at each of the twelve gates there was an Angel."
From: The Revelation of John

Mission San Antonio de Padua

These Priests Entombed Here:
E.
Reverend Doroteo Ambris. Born in Mexico. Served this Mission from 1851-1882. Died here February 5, 1882.

Mission San Antonio de Padua

These Priests Entombed Here:
D.
Padre Vicente de Sarria, OFM
Born in Estevan, Spain 1767. Came to California in 1809. Died of want and hunger at Mission Soledad in 1835. Carried here by Indians for burial.

Mission San Antonio de Padua

These Priests Entombed Here:
C.
Padre Juan Bautista Sancho, OFM.
Born in Majorca December 1, 1772. Arrived in California in 1803. Served this Mission for 26 years where he died February 11, 1830.

Mission San Antonio de Padua

These Priests Entombed Here:
B.
Padre Francisco Pujol, OFM
Born in Villa de Alos, Spain, March 7, 1762. Came to California in 1795. Died here March 15, 1801

Mission San Antonio de Padua

These Priests Entombed Here:
A. 
Padre Buenaventura Sitjar, OFM. Born in Majorca December 9, 1739. Arrived in California March 12, 1771. Present at founding of Mission San Antonio de Padua July 14, 1771. Served here 36 years where he died September 3, 1808.

Mission San Antonio de Padua

In 1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain and ordered the missions to be secularized.  This resulted in the Salinan population fleeing the mission.

Mission San Antonio de Padua

1775- A local Native American tribe attacked the mission church with arrows during a baptism.  The neophyte who was being baptized was hurt but not killed.  The other neophytes took it as a sign of the power of Catholicism that he was not killed and their faith in the mission was maintained.
From: Mission San Antonio de Padua