SUPPLEMENTARY LIST
Los Álamos (the cottonwoods), is in Santa Bárbara County, northwest of Santa Bárbara. The álamo is a species of poplar tree indigenous to California and widely spread throughout the state.
Argüello Point is on the coast of Santa Bárbara County, just south of Point Pedernales. Argüello is a surname, that of a pioneer family, of which José Darío Argüello was the founder. “For many years Don José was the most prominent, influential and respected man in California.”—(Bancroft.)
Argüello Point was named by Vancouver in honor of the Spanish governor.—(Mr. Charles B. Turrill.)
El Cojo (the lame one). This place, near Point Conception, was so-named by the Spaniards because they saw here an Indian chief who was lame.
Point Concepción, the point at the southwestern extremity of Santa Bárbara County, was so-named in reference to the “immaculate conception” of the Virgin.
Los Dos Pueblos (the two towns), is on the coast a few miles west of Santa Bárbara. On October 16, 1542, the Cabrillo expedition anchored opposite two Indian villages here, and named the place Los Dos Pueblos. “Although these villages were separated only by a small stream, their inhabitants were of a different race and language, those on one side being short, thick and swarthy, and on the other tall, slender and not so dark. The depth of the kitchen refuse at the site of these two towns indicates that these Indians had lived here since the Christian era and were contemporary with the mound builders.”—(History of Santa Bárbara County.)
Gaviota (sea-gull), is on the shore a few miles west of Santa Bárbara. Father Crespi mentions having given this name to another place further down the coast: “We reached an estuary, on whose border stood a ranchería of fifty-two huts, with three hundred people. For having killed a sea-gull here, the soldiers called this place La Gaviota, but I named it San Luís Rey de Francia.” As San Luís Rey it has remained upon the map.
Gaviota Pass is an important gap in the Santa Inez range.
Every one who has crossed the bay of San Francisco in the winter season must have rejoiced in the sight of the flying convoy of those beautiful creatures, the gaviotas, by which each ferry-boat is accompanied.
Goleta (schooner), is the name of a village in Santa Bárbara County, seven miles west of Santa Bárbara.
Guadalupe (a Christian name). The town is near the northern border of Santa Bárbara County.
Lompoc is one of the names of Indian villages taken from the mission archives. It is situated fifty miles northwest of Santa Bárbara, on the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Nojoqui, in Santa Bárbara County, was presumably the name of an Indian village.
Los Olivos (the olives), is in Santa Bárbara County, on the Coast Line Railroad.
La Piedra Pintada (the painted rock), is about eighty miles from Santa Bárbara. Here there was a stone wigwam, forty or fifty yards in diameter, whose walls were covered with paintings in the form of halos and circles, with radiations from the center.—(History of Santa Bárbara County.)
Punta Gorda (fat or broad point), is one of the points of land running into the sea from the Santa Bárbara Coast. Its name indicates its shape.
Punta de las Ritas (point of the rites), perhaps refers to some religious ceremony held upon that spot.
Rincón Point (corner point), is one of the many points of land running out from the Santa Bárbara Coast.
Point Sal, was named for Hermenegi do Sal, who was one of the prominent figures in the early history of Southern California. He was a Spanish soldier who came to this coast in 1776 with Anza and his party of colonists. Sal filled many important military offices. This point was named by Vancouver for this official, who was at one time commandante of the presidio of San Francisco, in return for signal courtesies shown by him in 1792, when he permitted Vancouver to go to the mission of Santa Clara, this being the first occasion when this part of Spanish America was penetrated by any foreigner.
Sal Si Puedes (get out if you can). Several places in the state, one in the Santa Cruz Mountains, another in Santa Bárbara County, received this name, so eloquent of the rough road that the Spaniards sometimes had to travel. Captain Argüello, in his diary of the expedition of 1821, refers to his struggles in getting out of a certain canyon in these terms: “On account of its difficult situation it was named Montaña de Maltrato y Arroyo de Sal si Puedes” (mountain of ill-treatment and creek of get out if you can).
Santa Inez (St. Agnes), is the name of a river in Santa Bárbara County which rises in the coast range and falls into the Pacific Ocean about ten miles north of Cape Conception. The town of the same name is situated on this river. The Mission Santa Inez was founded September 17, 1804, by Padres Tapis, Calzada and Gutierrez. It flourished for a time, but was greatly damaged by an earthquake in 1812, was rebuilt and damaged again by the Indians in the revolt of 1824, and its partially ruined buildings still remain to tell of a vanished past. Its patroness, St. Agnes, was one of the four great virgin martyrs of the Latin Church. She was a Roman maiden of great beauty, and was condemned to death by the sword, by the Prefect Sempronius, in revenge for her refusal to marry his son, on the ground that she was “already affianced to a husband whom she loved, meaning Jesus.” Before causing her death Sempronius attempted to procure her dishonor by having her conveyed to a house of infamy, “but when she prayed to Christ that she might not be dishonored, she saw before her a shining white garment which she put on with joy, and the room was filled with great light.”
Santa María (St. Mary), so-named in honor of the mother of Christ, is in Santa Bárbara County, near the Santa María River.
MISSION OF SANTA INEZ, FOUNDED IN 1804.
“Its patron saint is St. Agnes, one of the four great virgin martyrs of the Latin Church.”
Santa Paula (St. Paula), is in Ventura County, thirty-five miles west of San Fernando, on the Southern Pacific Railroad. “St. Paula was a noble Roman matron, a pupil and disciple of St. Jerome. Though descended from the Scipios and the Gracchi, and accustomed to luxurious self-indulgence, she preferred to follow her saintly teacher to Bethlehem and devote herself to a religious life. She built a monastery, a hospital, and three nunneries at Bethlehem.”—(Stories of the Saints.)
Sereno (serene), a place on the shore near Santa Bárbara, whose placid charm well befits its name.
Ventura (fortune), a town near the southeastern end of the Santa Bárbara channel.
VI
THE SAN LUÍS OBISPO GROUP
San Luís Obispo (St. Louis the Bishop). Travelers on the Coast Line, whose attention is attracted to the smiling vale where the pretty town of San Luís Obispo nestles in the hollow of the hills, about eight miles from the ocean and ninety to the northwest of Santa Bárbara, will doubtless be pleased to learn something of its history. So peaceful is the aspect of the valley at this time that it comes rather as a surprise to read, in the diaries of the Portolá expedition of 1769, stories of fierce fights with bears, which then haunted this place in such numbers that the explorers gave it the name of La Cañada de los Osos (the glen of the bears). From Father Crespi we get some account of the numbers and ferocity of these animals: “In this glen we saw troops of bears, which have the ground ploughed up and full of scratches which they make in search of the roots that form their food. Upon these roots, of which there are many of a good savor and taste, the Gentiles (unbaptized Indians), also live. The soldiers, who went out to hunt, succeeded in killing one bear with gun-shots, and experienced the ferocity of these animals. Upon feeling themselves wounded they attack the hunter at full speed, and he can only escape by using the greatest dexterity. They do not yield except when the shot succeeds in reaching the head or heart. The one that the soldiers killed received nine balls before falling, and did not fall until one struck him in the head.”
Captain Fages, of the same expedition, gives a similar account “....a spacious glen with a rivulet of very good water.... In said glen they saw whole herds of bears, which have ploughed up all the ground, where they dug to seek their livelihood from the roots that it produces. They are ferocious brutes, and of very difficult hunting, throwing themselves with incredible speed and anger upon the hunter, who only escapes by means of a swift horse. They do not yield to the shot unless it be in the head or heart.”
MISSION OF SAN LUÍS OBISPO, FOUNDED IN 1772.
“ ... in a smiling vale, which was once the haunt of great troops of bears.”
Miguel Costansó, of the same party, says: “In the afternoon, as they had seen many tracks of bears, six soldiers went out hunting on horseback, and succeeded in shooting one bear. It was an enormous animal; it measured fourteen palms from the sole of the feet to the top of its head; its feet were more than a foot long; and it must have weighed over 375 pounds. We ate the flesh and found it savory and good.”—(Translation edited by Frederick J. Teggart.)
At a later date, when the mission at Monterey was in serious danger of a famine, Captain Fages called to mind the experiences in the Cañada de los Osos, and headed a hunting expedition to that region for the purpose of securing a supply of bear meat. The party succeeded in killing a considerable number of the animals, and were thus able to relieve the scarcity at Monterey. The name of Los Osos (the bears), is still applied to a valley in the vicinity of San Luís Obispo.
Finding this spot highly suitable for a settlement, in the matters of climate, arable land and water, points always carefully considered by the padres, the mission of San Luís Obispo de Tolosa (St. Louis the Bishop of Toulouse), was established by Padre Serra, September 1, 1772, in La Cañada de los Osos. In the usual course of events, the name of the mission was extended to the town and finally to the county.
The story of the patron saint of this mission runs as follows: “St. Louis of Toulouse was the nephew of St. Louis King of France, and son of the King of Naples and Sicily. Like his kingly uncle-saint, he was piously reared by his mother. When he was but fourteen, his father, being made prisoner by the King of Aragón, gave Louis and his brother as hostages. He became wearied of everything but religion, and in 1294, when he was made free, he gave all his royal rights to his brother Robert, and became a monk of the Order of St. Francis. He was then twenty-two years old. Soon he was made Bishop of Toulouse; and he set out, bare-footed and clothed as a friar, to take his new office. He went into Provence on a charitable mission, and died at the castle of Brignolles, where he was born. He was first buried at Marseilles, then removed to Valencia, where he was enshrined. His pictures represent him as young, beardless, and of gentle face. He has the fleur-de-lys embroidered on his cope, or on some part of his dress. The crown which he gave away lies at his feet, while he wears the mitre of a bishop.”—(Stories of the Saints.)