MOUNT DIABLO
Mount Diablo (devil mountain), is an isolated, conical peak of the Coast Range, in Contra Costa County, about thirty-eight miles northeast of San Francisco. It rises 3849 feet above the level of the sea, and is the most conspicuous land-mark in the central part of the state. General M. G. Vallejo tells the following story to account for the name: “In 1806, a military expedition from San Francisco marched against a tribe called the Bolgones, who were encamped at the foot of the mountain. There was a hot fight, which was won by the Indians. Near the end of the fight, a person, decorated with remarkable plumage, and making strange movements, suddenly appeared. After the victory, the person, called Puy (evil spirit), in the Indian tongue, departed toward the mountain. The soldiers heard that this spirit often appeared thus, and they named the mountain Diablo (devil). These appearances continued until the tribe was subdued by Lieutenant Moraga, in the same year.”
If this be the true story of the naming of Mount Diablo, and there seems to be no good reason to doubt it, it is quite likely that the Puy, or devil, was one of the “medicine men” who played upon the superstitions of the Indians by pretending to be the “spirit of the mountain.”
It is said by Dr. Vallejo that this mountain was regarded by the Indians as the home of the Devil, called in their language Pui, and that the medicine men claimed to be his agents. (Memoirs of the Vallejos, edited by James H. Wilkins, San Francisco Bulletin, January, 1914.)