Carmel River Tributaries

 

Approximately 96% of the Carmel River flows from the many tributaries in the Santa Lucia Mountains, including San Clemente Creek and Cachagua Creek subwatersheds.

In contrast, the combined flow from the Tularcitos, Rana, and Chupines subwatersheds of the Sierra de Salinas produces only 4% of the annual discharge of the Carmel River, but occupies 23% of the entire watershed.

From: Carmel River Steelhead Association

no stream is more important

On the California coast between Santa Cruz and the famous Hearst Castle at San Simeon, no stream is more important for native steelhead than the Carmel River.

From TU

Carmel River Winter 2022

 

From: Carmel Rancho

 

Franciscan missionaries were like “Nazis operating concentration camps.”

 

Through 1821, the Spanish built 21 Catholic missions in California to claim Native lands and convert Native souls. Journalist Carey McWilliams once compared this system to “Nazis operating concentration camps.” 

By 1833, Franciscan missionaries had baptized 81,586 California Indians and buried some 62,600, who perished from disease, displacement, and starvation. 

From: FIX

Image from: Wikipedia

Mouth of the Carmel River January 2021

 

From: Carmel River Watershed Conservancy

Oaks in Fog

Oaks in fog, Santa Lucia Preserve, Carmel Valley. 

Photo by William Guion, © williamguion.com

126 Steelhead Made it up to Los Padres Dam

 

"The Carmel River is small and picturesque, nestled in the hills of the Carmel Valley. The river itself is fairly small, only flowing about 30 miles from the peaks of the Santa Lucia and Sierra de Salinas to the lagoon at Carmel Bay. It is also a naturally intermittent system, with historic estimates suggesting the lower portions of the river may only have had year-round flow in about six of every ten years. Although these characteristics represent challenges for anadromous fish, it is believed that an average of 8,000 adult steelhead would historically spawn in the Carmel watershed every year.

As of 2015, for the first time in nearly a century, steelhead were able to move upstream unimpeded past the former site of the San Clemente Dam, which was removed due to both public safety and ecological concerns. Fish still face a barrier to movement at Los Padres Dam, but between January and May of this year, a total of 126 adults made their way to the dam."

From: FishBio

Carmel Fire 2020

 

From Carmel River Watershed Conservancy

Carmel Fire 2020

 

From: Carmel Valley Locals

The area in which the River Fire first gained traction hadn't had a fire in recorded history. This helped feed the flames that destroyed 43 structures and put about 20,000 people under evacuation warning.

Cal Fire previously attempted to carry out controlled burns but was stopped several times between 2013 and 2017 by members of the public who were leery of the controlled burn coming too close to their homes. 

From: The Californian

River Fire August 2020

 

Picture from San Clemente Rancho 

Air quality at ‘hazardous’ level, River Fire grows to nearly 34,000 acres

August 20, 2020: EVACUATION ORDERS

 

From: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarmelValleyLocals/

Fire Above the old San Clemente Dam August 2020

 

From: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarmelValleyLocals/

Archbishop says Satan is Behind Defaced Statues of Saint Serra

The archbishop of San Francisco claimed Father Junipero Serra, the man famed for bringing Catholicism to California in the 1700s, is a "great hero" and "great defender" of Indigenous peoples and partly blamed the removal of Serra's monument in Golden Gate Park on the Devil.

Serra is considered by some to be a de facto slave owner who used the labor of Native individuals against their will to build the missions.

From SFGate

Punta de los Lobos Marinos

After the establishment of San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo the mission's cowboys, or vaqueros, tended herds of cattle on the nearby grasslands and became the first non-native people to use what is now Point Lobos State Reserve property. It was also during the era of Spanish occupation that Point Lobos was first named, when the barking of sea lions inspired the name Punta de los Lobos Marinos, Point of the Sea Wolves.

From: Point Lobos

Case Studies in Demographic Collapse

"The Franciscan missionaries stationed at San Carlos Mission (established in 1770) recruited converts from the Carmel River basin and nearby areas from the 1770's through the first decade of the nineteenth century. 

The Indian  population increased in size until the last phase of active recruitment occurred in the 1803-7 quinquennium, during which period the missionaries baptized 108 converts, 71 in the year 1806 alone. After 1807 only 24 more converts came to the mission, and the population of the mission began a steady decline. 

The numbers reached a recorded maximum of 876 in 1795, to a mere 165 in 1834, on the eve of the secularization of the mission.

The mission population experienced a net decline of 62 percent per generation and mean life expectancy was low, averaging 7.6 years at birth.  "

From: Indians, Franciscans, and Spanish Colonization by Jackson and Castillo, 1995

Scott Barn 1863

Monterey County Register of Historic Resources: Scott Barn 1863

From Hastings Natural History Reserve

Finch Creek spawning habitat

Hastings Natural History Reservation secured a $100,000 grant from MPWMD to do the design/engineering/permitting work to replace this stream crossing! 

MPWMD found that the concrete ford at Hastings on Finch Creek was the 6th worst barrier on Carmel River tributaries. 

Finch Creek is high in the watershed and contains critical spawning habitat for Steelhead. 

From: Carmel River Watershed Conservancy

it has everything a river should have

From: Carmel River Watershed Conservancy

Big Sur Land Trust Acquires Patriarch Ridge

The Big Sur Land Trust has acquired 83.5 acres of property atop Patriarch Ridge in Carmel Valley.

The land is a mix of old growth mixed evergreen woodland, chaparral and grassland habitat. A dense canopy of stately trees creates an open, park-like understory with adjacent woodlands, grassy slopes and chaparral-covered hillslopes that drop steeply into shaded redwood canyons.

Patriarch Ridge is a very important part of the Esselen Tribe’s sacred lands and includes the upper watershed divide between Williams Canyon and the Garzas Creek drainage. The Esselen name for Patriarch Ridge is “Tebitylat” — meaning “resting spot.”

It has been used for countless generations of Esselen and Rumsen people for ceremonies and as a travel route and corridor for bringing in important food sources from the coast on the northern end of Big Sur at the villages of Sarhentaruc and Ixchenta.

From Monterey Herald

California Indian Pre-Contact Tribal Territories

From: CIMCC

The First Spanish Grant of Land

The first Spanish grant of land to an individual in California was to Manuel Butron (1727-1793), a soldier from the Monterey presidio who had married a baptized Indian woman. Father Serra approved of Spaniards marrying converted Indian women and supported Butron's petition for a grant of land. 
In 1775, Butron was granted a small concession in the Carmel Valley. 
Interestingly, although he seems eventually to have lost his land grant, a number of Mutsun today can trace ancestry back to the Butron family.
Manuel Butron was buried in the floor of the chapel of Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Carmelo.

From: Protect Juristac
Map from: Amah Mutsun

The Indians resisted the yoke, and many died in resistance

The Spanish missions were established in California late in the 18th century. They were the work of father Serra who'd walked on his martyrs bare feet from Mexico to Monterey. A garrulous fanatic, Serra committed himself to "slipping the gentle yoke of Christ” over the heads of "neophytes," as unyoked Indians were called by the Franciscans, all of whom had been born in Spain. 
The Indians resisted the yoke, and many died in a resistance so fierce and unyielding that they killed the babies born of rapes by the Spanish soldiers who accompanied the missionaries up and down Spanish California from San Diego to San Rafael and Sonoma.

California Condor Comeback

The California condor, North America's largest bird, once ruled California's coastal mountains. The vulture-like bird was revered by Native Americans and was believed to contain spiritual powers.

Now, condor reintroduction celebrates a milestone: Chick Number 1,000 has hatched.

From KCRW
Image from: TripSavvy

The Ole Swimming Hole On The Carmel River

The Ole Swimming Hole On The Carmel River Just Below The Bucket Inn, 1957

Consuming More Water From the Carmel River is no Longer Feasible

Consuming more water drawn from the Carmel River is no longer feasible, neither ecologically nor legally. 

The California Public Utilities Commission ruled in September that the best way forward was for California American Water to construct a $329 million desalination plant on the Peninsula.

From: Monterey County Now
Picture From: Passion4Place

The Los Padres Dam on the Carmel River

From San Clemente Ranco

It’s Called a Genocide

Joining with tribal leaders beneath an Oak tree along the Sacramento River, Governer Gavin Newsom formally apologized Tuesday for California’s role in the “systemic slaughter” of Native Americans.

“It’s called a genocide. That’s what it was: a genocide. No other way to describe it. And that’s the way it needs to be described in the history books,” Newsom said. “So I am here to say the following: I’m sorry on behalf of the state of California.

 California’s first governor, Peter Burnett, told the Legislature that “a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct.” The state spent $1.3 million subsidizing dozens of militia campaigns against Native Americans over the next decade.

From SF Chronicle

Removal of the El Camino Real bell marker

On Friday June 21, representatives of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and the UC Santa Cruz administration will assemble on campus with interested community members to witness the removal of the El Camino Real bell marker.

“The true history of the California mission system has never been told. It is shameful that these places where our ancestors were enslaved, whipped, raped, tortured and exposed to fatal diseases have been whitewashed and converted into tourist attractions.”

For the Indians who toiled in California’s mission compounds the ringing of the bell regimented an iron-clad schedule of forced prayer and compulsory labor. The bell was a potent symbol of the domination of the Catholic Church and the Spanish state over all aspects of the lives of the indigenous people who were forced to live “under the bell.”

From IndyBay

Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo

The Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo in Monterey Presidio was founded by Franciscan Father Saint Junipero Serra as the chapel of Mission San Carlos Borromeo on June 3rd, 1770 near the native village of Tamo.

From: Santa Cruz and the Monterey Bay Areas

Beautiful Carmel River, mid-May 2019

From: Carmel River Watershed Conservancy

Four Years After California’s Largest Dam Removal

The destruction of the San Clemente Dam, which had blocked the river since 1921, remains the largest dam removal project in California history.  The river is becoming wilder, and struggling fish populations are rebounding. So far this year, 123 Steelhead Trout have traveled upriver.

At the Carmel River other species, such as lampreys, an eel-like fish, are coming back, and tributaries are showing more wildlife.

Photo by Vern Fisher

The Papal Bull Inter Caetera Started the European Colonization of the New World

In 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull Inter Caetera, which started the European colonization of the New World. 

"Among other works well pleasing to the Divine Majesty and cherished of our heart, this assuredly ranks highest, that in our times especially the Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself...We...assign to you and your heirs and successors, Kings of Castile and Leon...all islands and mainlands found and to be found, discovered and to be discovered towards the west and south, by drawing and establishing a line from...the north...to...the south...the said line to be distant one hundred leagues towards the west and south from any of the islands commonly known as the Azores and Cape Verde…"

From: Church Militant

The Cahoon Ranch

The Cahoon family built the original ranch house at Hastings Natural History Reservation in the 1890s, which is still there. They were some of the original homesteaders in the area and played a key role in Carmel Valley’s history.

The Cahoon Ranch dates back to the 1850’s when it was founded by the Finch family. At one time it included 1,500 acres. Two brothers, Charles and Burritt Cahoon, migrated from Ohio to California sometime after the Civil War. Each married a daughter of James Finch. Together the brothers owned what became known as the Cahoon Ranch.

Cahoon Summit is named in honor of the family’s legacy. The summit marks the highest point on the road from Carmel to Greenfield.

From: The Pinecone
Picture from: Realtor

All of the Indians Had to be Exterminated

California presents the clearest case of genocide in the history of the American frontier. There was no attempt to conceal what was done to the Indians in California. “A massacre, a lynching or a whole killing campaign—these things were hidden in plain sight.”

It was a widely held belief in 19th-century California that all of the Indians had to be exterminated. Reported the Daily Alta California, “Whites are becoming impressed with the belief that it will be absolutely necessary to exterminate the savages before they can labor much longer in the mines with security.”

From: Newsweek

The Cross of Caravaca

As the terrified priest began to celebrate the Mass, he realized that the cross was missing and he faltered and stopped. Suddenly a brilliant light flooded the chamber and two Angels appeared bearing a two armed cross which they placed on the altar. The grateful priest continued with the celebration of Mass, and at the moment of consecration in place of the host, the king saw a beautiful baby which gazed at him with such tenderness and compassion that he fell to his knees and declared his intention to convert to Christianity.

The Cross of Caravaca

On May 3, 1232 the Moorish King Zeyt Abu-Zeyt ordered that the prisoners languishing in the dungeons be brought before him so he could decide their fate. Among them was a missionary priest named Don Gines Perez Chirios de Cuenca whose profession and religious beliefs piqued the curiosity of the king. The Muslim king was particularly fascinated by the Eucharist and demanded that the priest perform this sacrament for him upon pain of death.

The Cross of Caravaca

The Cross of Caravaca

The region of Murcia in southeastern Spain takes its name from the Latin word “Morus” meaning mulberry. The region was a thriving area of silk production for centuries. By the 13^th century its territory was under the rule of the last Muslim Empire to rule in Southern Spain – the North African based Almohades. 

King Ferdinand III reclaimed the territory from the Moors in the name of Christianity in the 15^th century.

Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmelo

"The open grave was blessed and incensed, then the body of the Father-President of all the California missions was lowered into the sanctuary floor. The lamenting cries mixed with the prayers and chanting of the rite, as all in attendance knew that a Saint had passed from their midst."

From: Saint Junipero Serra's Camino

Carmel River at Schulte Bridge

From: Monterey Peninsula Water Management District

California’s First Mass Incarceration System

From Benjamin Madley's essay "California’s First Mass Incarceration System: Franciscan Missions, California Indians, and Penal Servitude, 1769–1836," in Pacific Historical Review 88, no. 1 (Winter 2019): 14-47.

Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmelo

The sandstone for the church was quarried by Indian laborers. The walls are five feet thick at the base. The entire façade, especially the bell towers and the window over the main door, displays a distinct Moorish design influence.

From: Saint Junipero Serra's Camino

Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmelo

In 1961 Pope John XXIII designated the church as a Minor Basilica.

From: Saint Junipero Serra's Camino

Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmelo

The resident pastor in Monterey, decided to open the tombs in the sanctuary to quiet the persistent rumors that Fr. Serra’s body had been removed. After the remains were identified and the tombs resealed.

In 1943, the body of Father Serra was again examined in preparation for his possible canonization, which finally occurred in 2015.

From: Saint Junipero Serra's Camino

Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmelo

"Fr. Lasuen was named Father-President in 1785, and he direct the construction of the present stone church, which was built by the Indians and dedicated in 1797.  During these years the mission reached the height of its prosperity, as the population of baptized natives reached nearly one thousand.  "

From: Saint Junipero Serra's Camino

Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmelo

"The open grave was blessed and incensed, then the body of the Father-President of all the California missions was lowered into the sanctuary floor. The lamenting cries mixed with the prayers and chanting of the rite, as all in attendance knew that a Saint had passed form their midst."

From: Saint Junipero Serra's Camino

Los Padre Dam Site 1947

Map of Los Padre Dam Site 1947

From: 1947 Original Topography

Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmelo

"In the afternoon, a procession was formed, and the officers carried the remains of Padre Serra on their shoulders around the courtyard of the mission.  The procession the reentered the church, and the coffin was placed at the foot of the altar. "

From: Saint Junipero Serra's Camino

Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmelo

"Fr. Palou told the Indians to ring the doble de campana with the mission bells to announce the parting of Fr Serra. The vigil was kept and the Requiem Mass was offered the next day. The Indian choir provided the music, and hundreds of Indians from every Rancheria in the area of Carmel were among the mourners. "

From: Saint Junipero Serra's Camino

Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmelo

"On the day before his death, Father Serra asked his dear friend Father Palou to stay with him and assist his dying. Serra asked Palou for the Viaticum, the final reception of Holy Communion before death. Serra insisted on going to the church for this ritual. He had also called for the presidio carpenter to prepare his coffin. The Father-President spent his last night on earth in his cell, deep in prayer."

From: Saint Junipero Serra's Camino

Mission San Carlos Borromeo Del Rio Carmelo

"The pathetic ruin at Carmel is a shattered monument above a grave that will become a world's shrine of pilgrimage in honor of one of humanity's heroes.  The patient that here laid down its burden will not be forgotten. The memory of the brave heart that was here consumed with love for mankind will live through the ages. And, in a sense, the work of these missions is not dead-their very ruins still preach the lesson of service and of sacrifice."

John F. Davis, California Romantic and Resourceful, 1914

From: Saint Junipero Serra's Camino