t5,, WILLIAM GRIFFITH HENSHAW FROM AN ETCHING BY LOREN BARTON THE HISTORY OF WARNER'S RANCH AND ITS ENVIRONS By JOSEPH J. HILL WITH A PREFACE BY HERBERT E. BOLTON PRIVATELY PRINTED LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 1927 THE HISTORY OF WARNER'S RANCH AND ITS ENVIRONS HAS BEEN PRINTED FOR JOHN TREANOR, WHO HERE ACKNOWLEDGES THE ASSISTANCE OF DR. BENJAMIN P. KURTZ AND ARTHUR M. ELLIS IN ITS PREPARATION, BY YOUNG & McCALLISTER, OF LOS ANGELES, IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD NINETEEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY—SEVEN OF THIS EDITION ONE THOUSAND COPIES HAVE BEEN PRINTED OF WHICH THIS IS NO. THE CONTENTS The Preface vii I The Indians of Warner's Ranch II The Coming of the Spaniards 17 III The Discovery of Valle de San Jose' 27 IV The Missions and the Indians 35 V Secularization of the Missions 47 VI The Anglo-American Approach 63 VII Opening of the Trappers' Trails to California 75 VIII Beaver Trapping in California 9 3 IX J. J. Warner, Merchant, Citizen, Landlord ioi X Noted Visitors at Warner's Ranch 113 XI Warner's Indian Problem 135 XII The Legal History of Warner's Ranch 143 XIII Finding a New Homefor the Indians 155 XIV Warner's Ranch and Lake Henshaw 167 THE APPENDICES Diary of Fray Juan Mariner 187 The discovery of Valle de San José. Translation into English; with plate of first page of original Spanish document. II The Grant to Silvestre de la Portilla 193 Plates of title page of original Spanish document and map. III The Grant to Jose' Antonio Pico 197 Plates of title page of original Spanish document and map. IV Warner's First Grant, 1844 201 Translation into English; with plates of title page of original Spanish document and map. V Warner's Second Grant, 1846 213 Translation into English; with plates of Warner's petition and map. THE PREFACE -- THIS WORK has been prepared as a memorial of the life and public services of WILLIAM GRIFFITH HENS HAW. The last and chiefof Mr: Henshaw's projects was the development of a water supplyfor a large,semi-arid area in the County of San Diego. The principal unit of this system is a mountain-water reser- voir,now known as Lake Henshaw,which was constructed at Warner's Ranch, a place well known in the varied annals of Southern California. It seemedfitting,therefore, that the his- tory of thisfamous ranch, culminating in this great economic achievement, should be told as a tribute to the boldvision and fine judgment with which Mr. Henshaw always united his private undertakings to the public good. MR. JOHN TREANOR was closely associated with many of the Henshaw projects,in- cluding the building of the San Diego water-system. Knowing and sharing the deep love Mr. Henshaw had for Warner's Ranch and its environs, Mr. Treanor has caused this history to be written as a souvenir of that profound interest as well as his own token of affection to a great friend. THE VOLUME is justified by other than personal considera- tions. Warner's Ranch presents a cross-section of the history vii of Southern Califbrnia. Before the white man came tile valley which it comprises was a pivotal point between three Indian stocks—Diegueh os,Luisehos,andCahuillas.The- continuous residence ofthese people in their native valley down to the twen- tieth century has enabled it to furnish unusually important data to students of California ethnology. IN SPANISH DAYS the valley was known as San Jose'. It then became both a spiritual outpost and a pasturing-groundfor the nearest missions. Many of its natives went to live at San Diego and San Luis Rey, whose records give us our first glimpse of their mountain retreat. But the current of life movedeast as well as west, and in season neophytesfrom these two missions,fifty or sixty miles away, could be seen guarding in the valley greatflocks and herds of mission stock. MEXICAN RULE followed Spanish, and San Jose' Valley be- came a rancho. Here again its history presents a type study. Its life illustrates the broadacred, feudal régime of the day, and the characteristic features of the land system inherited from Spain, and later, the method by which these Mexican grants were confirmed by Uncle Sam. Its shrewdrankee owner, J.J. Warner, was typical of the blue-eyed invaders from the East, who in the nineteenth century crossed the Sierras,mar- ried California girls, ruled lordly pastoral realms, became viii substantial citizens, went into politics, and built up an American California long before theforty-niners came. CALIFORNIA HISTORY has been in no small part a matter of communication. Here again Warner's Ranch stands out, for it held a strategic position in overland trade and contact. Anza's trail just missed its eastern edge. San joséValley was on the highway to Sonora. Through it American trappers found a trail. Past Wizrner's marched Kearney's army and the Mormon Battalion in the American conquest. During the Gold Rush the mountain oasis was a half-way station between the Colorado River and the ocean, and its bounty offered thefirst cheer to such treasure-madmen as managed to survive the hazards of the desert. Through Warner's rattled overland stages in the doubtful sixties, and until the railroad came heavily laden freight wagons periodically creakedpast the settlement on their way to Los Angeles and San Diego. WARNER ' S RANCH had its part in those troubles typical of the American frontier. It was the scene of an Indian mas- sacre and the center of an Indian war. It had its bad men, and it still has its hero stories, appropriate to the part it has played. WELL-WATERED PASTURES have made Warner's Ranch a favored grazing ground for thousands of cattle and sheep ix from mission days to now. Its hot springs, famous since the visit by Emory, have made it ultimately, as Emory predicted, a pleasure resort of world renown. rhe great reservoir re- cently constructed in the valley has put the Ranch in step with modern progress. MR. HILL, the author of this book, has done his work well. A trained scholar, he has known how to draw upon thefoun- tains of knowledge. His position in the Bancroft Library has enabled him to exploit the resources of that unrivalled collec- tion. His instinct for research has taken him to local archives and to other repositories. We may feel confident that he has utilized all the principal materials pertinent to his fascinat- ing subject. HERBERT E. BOLTON BERKELEY, JUNE 5 ) 1927. X WARNER'S RANCH AND ITS ENVIRONS THE INDIANS OF WARNER'S RANCH HEN the Spaniards first visited the Hot Springs of Warner's Ranch in 1795 they found an Indian ranch- eria located there to which they gave the name of Jajopin. This was evidently the name by which the place was known to the Indians who lived there. Fray Juan Mariner, the leader of this expedition, states clearly in his diary that these Indians spoke the Mati language of San Diego, thus class- ifying them linguistically as Dieguerios. According to Dr. A.L. Kroeber of the University of California, the Dieguerio name for this village was Hakupin, which, of course, would be pronounced practically the same as the Spanish Jajopin. The Cahuillas, however, called it Kupa, and for some reason or other this name has been accepted by modern ethnolo- gists as its name and has even been extended to include the surrounding territory, so that the Indians of the Warner Ranch region are generally known as Cuperios. To the south of them and west to the coast were the Dieguerios. To the northwest down the San Luis Rey river to the coast were the Lui- serios. North and east were the Cahuillas. This latter tribe inhabited the region on both sides of the divide and far over into the desert to the east. Dieguerios is a shortening of the term San Dieguerios and is the name applied to those Indians who came under the jurisdiction of the mission THE INDIANS OF WARNER'S RANCH of San Diego. Likewise, Luiserios is the name applied to the Indians who were subject to the San Luis Rey mission. But the two names, also, represented two distinct tribes. The Dieguerios were of Yuman linguis- tic stock. The Luiserios were Shoshoneans. The line separating these two tribes ran somewhat as follows: Beginning at the mouth of the Agua Hedionda, which empties into the Pacific about five miles south of the mouth of the San Luis Rey river, it extends easterly and slightly north- easterly to Warner's Ranch, passing along the southern boundary of the San Marcos rancho, through the Escondido and Guejito ranchos, and north of Mesa Grande. The Indians at Mesa Grande and Santa Isabel, just south of Warner's Ranch, were Dieguerios. The principal region inhabited by the Luiserios, as we have already indicated, was along the valley and surrounding hills of San Luis Rey river. Their territory extended northwardly from Warner's Ranch to Saboba hot springs, located about four miles northeast of Hemet, and westwardly so as to include Temescal, and southwestwardly to the coast, a little south of San Juan Capistrano. The Cahuillas, northeast and east from Warner's Ranch, while of the same Shoshonean linguistic stock as the Luiserios, were distinct in their tribal organization, traditions, and religious beliefs, and spoke a dialect distinct from that used by the Luiserios. They were never brought under the supervision of any of the Spanish missions nor did they have many dealings, if any, with the Spaniards.