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Home , Alexis Godey, El Camino Viejo, Rancho El Tejon, Tejon Creek

The Grapevine Route

The Mexican-American war of 1846 marked the abandonment of the route in favor of the Grapevine Route as it was a shorter route. Plus, the San Emigdio Land Grant owners had created a working cattle , and discouraged travel passing through their rancho. This rancho has been under ownership of many different people, including John C. Fremont and his partner, Edward Beale, both heroes of the Mexican-American war. Alexis Godey became the overseer of the rancho, who has a “legend” ranging from being a benefactor to the natives to being a murderer of the natives. (Currently, this rancho area is under the care of the Wind Wolves Preserve. Naturalists lead a 10-mile hike following the historic El Camino Viejo (hiking down from Pine Mt. Club to Preserve).

The history of the development of the Grapevine Route cannot be discussed without mention of . His impact upon the growth and settlement of this area, to his death in 1983, cannot be separated out from the local history. Beale arrived in in 1846, as a Naval Officer serving under Colonel John C. Fremont during the Mexican war.

Beale played a significant role in the lives of the local Indians. While the history of the Federal- Indian relationship in California shares some common characteristics with that of Native people elsewhere in the , it is different in many aspects. This difference is important to understanding many of the current issues in the mountains as to how the tribes have been affected. Part of the history impact includes the unprecedented magnitude of non-native migration into California after the discovery of gold. In 1848, Beale was the first person to carry news to Washington of the discovery of gold in California.

One of the first recorded gold discoveries in California was in 1941 by Andreas Castillero in the area south of Frazier Mountain, north of Alamo Mountain from Lockwood Valley to Hungry Valley, along the Piru Creek, in an area south of what is now the Pyramid Dam. Rumors of gold in the “Piru District,” “The Lockwood” and the Castac and Frazier mines sent prospectors into the local hills and canyons of the Grapevine Route. The mines in the Piru District () consisted of mineral veins of almost every kind, such as gold, silver, copper, tin, iron, bismuth, and antimony.

After Statehood was achieved in 1850, the Merchants Association hired men to improve the grapevine route, then called the Los Angeles-Stockton Road, as many people began traveling north to other gold mines in Central California via this route.

Most of the miners were poor people; formerly many were farmers. A few stayed on and settled this area. There were conflicts in that the “white miners” harassed and drove away other ethnic groups, including the Chinese.

The Indians were greatly affected by the lawless nature of California’s settlement after the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (which ended the Mexican-American war), including State sanctioned efforts to “exterminate” the indigenous population. California was admitted as a U.S. state on September 9, 1850, without consideration to Native American land rights. John Fremont, along with William M. Gwin, the first California senators, introduced bills to extinguish all aboriginal title in California. Congress tried another approach, that of negotiating treaties. In 1851, George W. Barbour became the first Superintendent of Indian Affairs for . He developed the treaties with the Native American Indian tribes.

Under pressure from the California Congressional delegation, the Senate not only refused to sign the 18 treaties that had been negotiated by Barbour, but they also took extraordinary steps to place the treaties under seal. Between the un-ratified treaties and the Land Claims Act of 1851, most California Indians became homeless, as they did not “file” timely (within two years) for their lands and thus lost all “rights” in the new state. These Indians were not like their eastern peers in that their living had been mostly derived from the fish of the mountain streams and the collecting of the acorns and grass-seeds of the valleys, and the roots and berries of the mountains. The encroachment of the miners and settlers drove them from these food sources, cutting off their means of living.

The government’s answer to the displaced natives was to provide Indian reservations. In 1851, George W. Barbour established the first Indian Reservation in California, with adjacent military post called Camp Smith, which was located from west of Grapevine Canyon to the east of Tejon Canyon. In 1852, President Millard Fillmore sent Beale, as Superintendent of Indian Affairs to California to head off further confrontation between the Indians and the many gold seekers and other settlers who were the pouring into California. Beale developed Barbour’s reservation and changed the name to the Sebastian (Tejon) Indian Reserve which was established on the 75,000 acre property of in the Canyon section (located near the old “,” this name being transferred to the Grapevine Canyon area in 1853). Beale sought for this reservation to serve as a showcase and testimony to his efforts to “civilize” the California Indians. According to his plan, the Indians were to raise crops, manufacture goods and raise cattle as part of an on-the-job training program which would rapidly turn them into productive members of white society.

Beale changed the location of the military post to the present day location at and requested a federal appropriation of $500,000 and military support for the 75,000 acre reservation. The military post was right on what many were convinced would become the main route between the central valley and Southern California, the Grapevine route known as the Los Angeles-Stockton Road. Prior, the main form of transportation between Southern and Northern California had been via boat steamers which made a coastal trip from to Los Angeles. From there, travelers went north on roads through the Fort Tejon area to reach the gold fields which had been discovered in 1854 in the Canyon. Prior to the development of this road through the mountains, travel between Stockton and Los Angeles was dangerous as the only other non-Indian settlement, besides Fort Tejon, was at Fort Miller, about 150 miles upriver from Stockton.

On August 10, 1854, the first Dragoons arrived at Fort Tejon. Settlers quickly followed, setting up bars and other enterprises around the south of the Fort. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to spend funds to further improve the grapevine road. Chairman of the Board David W. Alexander soon owned property in the Gorman area and supplied goods to Fort Tejon. As this area increased in businesses for the comfort of these people, the situation for the Indians declined. In early 1854, the government charged Beale with embezzlement of government funds and that too much land had been set aside for the Indian reservation. Beale was removed from his office, but was exonerated of the charges. Colonel Thomas J. Henley replaced him as the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in California. Henley proceeded with establishing other reservations in California, leaving Colonel James R. Vineyard as the resident agent at the Sebastian Reservation. Conflict developed between Vineyard and the Indians who fled the reservation. He requested that the military stationed at Fort Tejon find the Indians and force them to return. The fort’s commander refused, stating that their role was to protect the Indians, only punish hostile acts, but not to force return to the reservation.

During 1955, the partnership of Edward Beale and Samuel Bishop furnished beef and hay for the Fort Tejon. During this time, many of the people who became the historical settlers of the mountain areas came and stayed. A significant family was the Cuddy family, in which records show that “Sargeant Cuddy” had a ranch near Fort Tejon and took part in the infamous Tule Indian War of 1856, in which the Dragoons were involved. This was near the Visalia area. Following this clash, Beale was commissioned as a Brigadier General and sent to restore peace with the natives. He met with representatives from 12 tribes and convinced them to return to their reservations.

On January 9, 1857, one of the greatest earthquakes ever recorded in the U.S. occurred. It has been named the Fort Tejon earthquake as the severest shaking occurred there, resulting in a death of a woman at Reed’s Ranch near Fort Tejon. The San Andreas fault broke the earth’s surface continuously for about 250 miles, with an average slip of 15 feet and a displacement of about 30 feet. The Fort’s surgeon, Dr. Ten Broeck, recorded the after-shocks, as being an average of 30 shocks a month for six months, then decreasing to six per month for almost two years. This period of time had significant impact on the new settlers, as well as possibly causing the Fort’s desertions by the Dragoons. (The Chumash peoples have incorporated the quakes of this region into their myths of creation. In 1872, another large quake occurred in Owens Valley, and then another one in Kern County in 1952.)

“Society” grew in this area. Later in the year of 1857, the Dragoons created a brass band and Fort Tejon Dramatic Association, putting on various talented shows for community entertainment, even traveling to Los Angeles to perform. From 1857 to 1859, John Xantus, an amateur “eco- scientist,” sent samples of flora and fauna from this region to the Smithsonian. During his stationing at the Fort for one and a half years, he sent many biological specimens not catalogued until then. He also identified (but did not collect) the Condor, which is a vulture of immense size. Xantus stated that they were quite numerous, being entirely confined to the high mountains of the region. (In recent years, this bird has been the subject of environmental protection for being near extinction, and is an issue between environmentalists and Company as the Condor’s range is in that area).

In November, 1857, Edward Beale arrived at Fort Tejon with the camels which had been authorized by Congress for the U.S. Army’s “Operation Camel.” This was a costly and unsuccessful enterprise and some escaped, being found in other areas in the region for several years later. In 1858, the Butterfield Overland Stage had a stop located across from Fort Tejon. Travel was difficult, as passengers sometimes had to walk up portions of the 15 miles ascending road as well as down the other side. On March 15, 1859, the Fort Tejon Post Office was officially recognized, being the 2nd post office between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the other being at Visalia. During this time, the Fort Tejon area had the second largest “civilized” population in Southern California, with 1,000 non-native inhabitants. Los Angeles had about 4,000.

Seeking to improve this important travel route of communication, the city of Los Angeles contracted with Edward F. Beale to improve the road from Los Angeles through the grapevine. Between 1859 and 1865, Beale' army of Chinese laborers used picks, shovels, and dynamite to cut a 50-foot trench in the earth at the . Though bypassed by modern-day roads, Beale's Cut long served as an important link between the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys.

In October, 1860, the first telegraph connection between northern and southern California came through the Tejon Pass area.

From the years of 1855 to 1866, Beale became the Surveyor General of California and Nevada and began buying the four of the Mexican land grants (including the Sebastian Reservation) to make up the territory which now comprises the modern day Tejon Ranch Company’s landholdings. Today, the Tejon Ranch is 270,000 acres, 422 square miles, which is the largest contiguous piece of private property in California, being about 40% the size of the state of Rhode Island. This land company continues to the present day to have the most impact upon the environmental issues of the local area.)

Beale asked the next Superintendent of Indian Affairs, John Wentworth, to remove the Indians as he intended to raise cattle on the land. Many Indians are moved to Fort Tejon, which had only a few Dragoons left, most having been sent to Los Angeles. In April, 1864, Chief Jose Pacheco of the Kern River Indians, wrote a pleading letter to the government, seeking help for his starving charges. It was during this time that Alexis Godey (overseer of the Rancho San Emigdio) obtained the negative reputation of being a murderer of the natives, during 1864, when he was the supervisor of the Sebastian Indian Reservation.

About the same time, a new Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Austin Wiley, wrote that all the Indians from Fort Tejon and Sebastian Reservation had been removed to the Tule River farm. He expressed dismay that the lands had been prepared for the Indians, yet taken over by private ownership and use by Beale who had “…expended the government money in improving the lands for the ostensible benefit of the Indians.” Beale did allow some of the Indians to remain on the ancestral lands, employing them and treating them well. (This changed when the landholdings were sold by the family to become the modern day corporation.)

For almost ten years, Fort Tejon was the center of activity in the region between Stockton and Los Angeles. The Dragoon soldiers garrisoned at Fort Tejon patrolled most of central and southern California and sometimes as far as Utah. Dragoons from Fort Tejon provided protection and policed the settlers, travelers and Indians in the region. There were dangers in traveling due to outlaws who would shoot down a traveler for the sake of his horse. People from all over the area looked to Fort Tejon for employment, safety, social activities and the latest news from back east.

Tejon Fort was closed in September, 1864. (In 1940, Tejon Ranch Company deeded the property of the Fort’s location to become a State Park.) The Sebastian Reservation was ordered closed in June, 1864. Nearly two million dollars had been spent during the 1850’s without improving the welfare of the California Indians. It is reported that when first visited California in 1829, despite the mission influence, he wrote that he had seen the valleys filled with large and prosperous tribes. When he visited again in 1859, the tribes were all gone.

Before the , the American Indian population in California was some 150,000 people. By 1870, it was about 30,000 Indians, and by the year 1900, the population had dwindled to only 15,000 of these first people. None were known to still be living in the and along the Roadway in the early 1900’s. Just as most of the Native inhabitants had been killed throughout California during the “Gold Rush,” so too did this greed destroy the native culture of this mountain area. There are tales of gold being buried, as a way to eliminate it, by chiefs on Tejon Ranch and in other mountain areas as gold was seen as being “the glitter” which fired the greed of the white man and brought misery, suffering, wretchedness, and death to the Indians.

More miners came to the mountains with the discovery of borax in 1898, only one year after the discovery of borax in the United States. A prospector named McLaren was searching for gold on Mt. Pinos and came upon the colemanite. It is said that “hundreds” of claims were filed along the six and a half miles of the formation. Called “white gold,” it was written that the Frazier Borax mines were among the richest and most productive in the United States. It was hauled by mule team to Bakersfield, then sent onto Chicago and the big corporations in the eastern U.S. The main drawback was lack of lumber and a road, both rectified by building a lumber mill on Mount Pinos and a road from Lebec. Along Seymour Creek, a mining town called Stauffer grew up (abandoned when the mine was closed after 8 years). The locality was reached by a road that went westward up the Cuddy Creek valley and then into Lockwood Valley to the headwaters of Piru Creek.

As the mountains of the region began to yield their natural resources to the white settlers’ economic enterprises, more inland roads were made from the Grapevine Route. Lumber mills, mineral mines, limestone, stone and clay, etc., were found throughout the region, which included Mt. Pinos, the tallest at almost 9,000 feet, circled by the other mountains, all ranging from 5,000 to 8,000 feet: Tecuya Mtn., Antimony Peak, San Emigdio Mtn., Brush Mtn., McPherson Peak, Fox Mtn., Cuyama Peak , Reyes Peak, Thorn Point, San Guillermo Mtn., San Rafael Peak, Alamo Mtn., Frazier Mtn. , Sawmill Mtn., and Mt. Abel. As the economic enterprises grew, more non-native animals and plants were introduced into these virgin forests, creating a change in the environment which had sustained the native inhabitants (both human and non-human) for thousands of years.

On March 1, 1898, as a national response to forest conservation, President McKinley created the “Pine Mountain Forest Reserve” of which Mt. Pinos/Frazier Mountain area were part. The first “forest ranger” of this area was Joseph Don Cuddy. It could be said that the forest ranger was a forerunner creator of environmental humanities. Requirements for the job, as stated in ads: “…hard active life in the open…must thoroughly know the country, its conditions, and its people…build trails and cabins, ride all day and all night; pack, shoot, and fight fire without losing his head…be familiar with lumbering and the sawmill business, the handling of livestock, mining, and the land laws.” It has been stated that a forest ranger was more than the policeman of the forest who protected the forest from a fire. He was also a game warden, fish warden, adjuster of arguments between sheepmen and cattlemen, coroner, detective, court witness, Red Cross nurse, and whatever else was needed by the community of humans and non-humans.