The Early Trails

For thousands of years, the wild animals (elk, deer, etc.) created trails which went from one watering hole to another. The Native Indians followed these trails throughout the Tehachapi and , which connected the deserts with the coast and the great valley to the north with the valleys to the south. To the north In the Great Central Valley () were the Yokut people. In the local mountains and to the west, were the Chumash people. To the south (in western end of today’s ) were the Tatavium people. And where the borders of these three nations met, in an area of the present day community of Lebec and the Tejon Ranch Company landholdings, lived the people called Kitanemuk, being a blend of the tribes around them. Where the city of Techachapi is now located in the far northern reaches of modern-day Tejon Ranch, lived the Kawaiisu.

The trails were used to travel to annual ceremonial gatherings, to locations for better communication with the “upper world” and for the study of the stars,at Mt. Pinos considered the “Center of the World” to the Chumash people. (Mt. Pinos is near 9,000 feet above sea level and is the highest peak in the coast range. The native inhabitants used the trails to travel to rock art sites in the high elevation forest to record visions, predictions and observations. They also used the trails for hunting and gathering to store food and medicines for the winter to sustain life.

In the 1600’s, the native population encountered the Spanish explorer-priests who used these native Indian trails to develop a travel route between the settlements they established throughout California. Their most extensive network was known as the “” which began in San Pedro and ended in Oakland. The trail passed the future settlement of Gorman, continued on to the west along the creek bed now called Cuddy Creek, through the present Cuddy Valley, along the north side of the present Mil Potrero Highway, down through San Emigdio and exiting with the at the northeastern foothills of the San Emigdio Mountains.

As travel between north and south portions of California continued, three other routes through the mountain passes were used. Nearest to the El Camino Viejo was “Canada de las Uvas” or Grapevine Canyon, next easterly came the Tejon Canyon, and to the far east was the Techachapi Pass. The route through Grapevine Canyon is the final route of the present day Interstate 5 freeway, which at (4,160 feet) is the freeway’s highest point in the state. Near this point is located Castac Lake, which is a natural salt lake of importance to early native inhabitants.

During the Spanish occupation of , the mission settlements were created to further Spain’s claim to this land. These settlements included a church, pueblo, and farms, built by Indian labor. A mission grant covered about 350 square miles, but its jurisdiction extended beyond that. The San Emigdio Mountains were included in the jurisdiction of the Santa Barbara Mission. Beginning in the late 1500’s, the Jesuits from Spain were the first missionaries into . The explorer priests were always looking for gold and silver. The native populations helped to remove the precious metals from these mountains. The ore was then hauled by mules to the Colorado River and onto the Gulf of or sent to the ships on the California coast, there shipped to the church’s headquarters. The Jesuits were expelled by the King of Spain in the late 1700’s, and the Franciscan Order took their place, but did not do as much mining. The local legend regards the “lost Los Padres mine” which is assumed to be in the San Emigdio Canyon area. No one who finds the mine ever lives to go back to it.

Other mining was done for antimony, which may have been used by the native inhabitants for their rock paintings before the priests had an interest in it. (In later years, 1870’s, there was significant mining in this area as silver and gold could be smelted from the antimony. It has been called the “San Emigdio Mining District” and the peak was named “Antinomy Peak”.)

During the mission period, many of the native people moved into the missions of San Fernando and Santa Barbara. The Catholic missions had mixed results in their objectives of converting, educating, and civilizing the native inhabitants.

Spanish Governor Don Pedro Fages created the rancho system in 1782. Some land grants, called ranchos, were given to individuals who served Spain in establishing the missions. The settlers introduced European fruits, vegetable, cattle, horses, ranching and technology into the Alta California region.

Over the decades, the El Camino Viejo trails were used by freighters, with goods packed in carts who carried a pick and shovel to occasionally improve the trails. In the later 1700’s and early 1800’s, the El Camino Viejo was often used as a thieves and refugee trail by those who wished to bypass the coast missions and ranchos unobserved. In the 1820’s, a lumber mill was also built for the use of the missions. With increased heavy use of driving livestock through the , the trails began to show erosion but these trail roads continued to be used by hunters, sheep herders and as a cattle trail through the 1800’s and early 1900’s

Traveling in the mountains was dangerous as they were well populated with mountain lions and grizzly bears. Travelers reported that at the top of Grapevine Canyon, one could encounter grizzly bears eating acorns under the big oak trees in the area of the future Fort Tejon, their numbers being so vast that they looked like bands of cattle, and being as large in size. The Europeans learned that they could earn the gratitude (and servitude) of the native people by destroying the grizzlies which kept them in continual danger of being attacked when they gathered fruits and wild seeds, even breaking into their villages.

The grizzly is so famous for its role in the hardship of the settling of California that it became the State symbol. However, they are now extinct in California. The last grizzly to be killed in this region was in 1898 in Salt Creek Canyon near Mount Pinos. As settlements increased in the mountain areas, the other wildlife also was greatly reduced. When the Spanish were defeated during the Mexican War of Independence, the mission lands were surrendered and the mission system collapsed. Then, over 500 land grants were issued to private claimants with the intent of settling and securing Alta California for Mexico. Five Lands Grants were issued in the Tehachapi and San Emigdio Mountains.

When the United States gained California following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that all the Mexican land grants would be honored. These land grants displaced many Natives under the subsequent “Manifest Destiny” political stance of the U.S. government.