SUPPLEMENTARY LIST
Agua Amargosa (bitter water), a place in San Benito County now known by its English translation, “Bitter Water,” and so-called from mineral springs.
Año Neuvo (new year), is the name of a prominent cape running out from the shore of Santa Cruz County, where one of the coast light-houses is situated. It received its name from the day of its discovery.
Arroyo Seco (dry creek). The Arroyo Seco, rising in the Santa Lucía Range and flowing northeasterly into the Salinas River, is probably the most remarkable example of terrace formation to be found among the streams of the state.
There are other Arroyo Secos in the state, one near Los Ángeles which is very striking in its color effects.
Blanco (white), is a town in Monterey County which may have received its name from Thomas B. Blanco, a pioneer and grantee of land in that county.
Cañada Segunda (second valley).
Cerro del Venado (hill of the deer).
Chualar is a village in Monterey County, in the Salinas valley, 128 miles southeast of San Francisco. The chual is a wild plant of California,—pig-weed or goose-foot, and chualar is a spot abounding in chual plants.
Corral (yard, enclosed place). On October 11, 1769, the Portolá party stopped at a place about a league from the Pájaro River, where they constructed a fence between a lake and a low hill, in order to keep the animals secure at night without the need of many watchmen. Palou, in his Life of Serra, says: “The first expedition called this place the Corral, on account of having built there, with some sticks nailed together, a pasture in the manner of a yard, in order to keep the animals safe at night. This was of great assistance, for there were so many sick that there were not enough [people] to guard the animals.” In different parts of the state there were many Corrals and Corralitos (little yards). Sometimes the enclosing fence was made of stones, when more convenient, and the enclosure was then called Corral de Piedra (stone corral); sometimes a barricade of earth was thrown up, and it was then called Corral de Tierra (earth corral). Corral de Tierra is the name of a well-known ranch near Monterey. In the days of old, many a joyous merienda (picnic) and barbecue was held at the Corral de Tierra Rancho. Corralitos (little corrals), is in Santa Cruz County, fourteen miles east of Santa Cruz.
Gabilán, also spelled Gavilán (hawk), is the name of the long mountain ridge, a branch of the Coast Range, which extends through the counties of San Matéo and Santa Cruz.
Gonzales (a surname). This place is in Monterey County, in the Salinas valley, seventeen miles southeast of Salinas.
Gorda (fat, thick).
Las Grullas (the cranes). In the diaries of the Portolá expedition, date of October 7, 1769, we read: “We pitched our camp between some low hills near a pond, where we saw a great number of cranes, the first we had seen on this journey.” This was about four leagues from the Pájaro River.
Jolón, a word of doubtful origin, which has been variously explained. It is thought by some persons to be a corruption of Jalón, a proper name, but old Spanish residents say it is an Indian word, meaning “valley of dead oaks.”
Llanada (a plain, level ground). This place is in San Benito County.
Laureles (laurels). Los Laureles is the name of a ranch near Monterey. The wild laurel is a shrub common to many parts of the state.
Lobos (wolves), generally used on this coast in the sense of lobo marino, (sea-wolf, or seal). There is a Punta de Lobos (seal point), near Monterey which is noted for the bold grandeur of its ocean scenery, as well as for its seals.
Loma Prieta (dark hill), is the name of a peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Moro Cojo (literally “lame Moor”), is the name of a well-known ranch in Monterey County. The Spaniards were in the habit of using moro to mean anything black, and in this case, according to old residents, the ranch was named for a lame black horse that ran wild there.
Natividad (nativity of Christ), is the name of a town in Monterey County, about one hundred miles southeast of San Francisco.
Paicines is in San Benito County. This is a word of doubtful origin, and many theories have been advanced to account for it. The most probable is that given by an Indian woman, a resident of the place, who says it was the name of an Indian tribe. The word is also sometimes spelled Pajines. See Tres Pinos, page 98.
Panocha is in San Benito County. This is a word applied to crude sugar, or syrup, somewhat resembling sorghum. Probably modern.
Paraíso Springs (paradise springs), is a health resort in Monterey County.
Pleito (quarrel, argument, lawsuit). This place is in Monterey County. It has not been possible to ascertain the application of its name.
Potrero (pasture). There were many potreros scattered about the state.
Puentes (bridges). This place, two leagues from the San Lorenzo River, was reached by the Portolá, party October 18, 1769, and the reason for its naming is explained by Miguel Costansó: “These canyons contained running water in very deep ditches, over which it was necessary to lay bridges of logs, covered with earth and bundles of sticks, so that the pack animals could cross. The place was called Las Puentes.”
San Benito (St. Benedict), was named in honor of the founder of the great order of Benedictines. San Benito Creek was named in 1772 by Father Crespi, and the name was eventually applied to the county. The town of San Benito is on the Salinas River, sixty miles southeast of Monterey. It is said of St. Benedict that he became a hermit at the age of fifteen and fled to the wilderness, where he lived on bread and water. While there he was tempted by the remembrance of a beautiful woman he had seen in Rome, and to overcome his wish to see her again “he flung himself into a thicket of briers and thorns, and rolled himself therein until he was torn and bleeding. At the monastery of Subiaco they show roses, said to have been propagated from these briers.”
San Lucas (St. Luke), is in Monterey County, sixty miles southeast of Salinas. St. Luke was the disciple of Paul, who speaks of him as “Luke, the beloved physician,” but tradition reports him to have been an artist, and that he always carried with him two portraits, one of the Saviour and the other of Mary. Doubtless for this reason he is regarded as the patron of artists and academies of art.
Sur (south). Point Sur (south point), on the coast south of Monterey, is a bold promontory where a light-house was placed by the government, in consequence of the frequent occurrence of shipwrecks there. The Sur River runs through a region remarkable for the wild picturesqueness of its scenery, and for the strange tales told of happenings among its early inhabitants.
Toro (bull), is the name of a ranch near Monterey, said to have been so-called after a wild bull.
Tres Pinos (three pines), a place in San Benito County, one hundred miles southeast of San Francisco. Postmaster Black, of Tres Pinos, gives us the following history of the naming of this place: “The name was originally applied to what is now known as Paicines, but when the railroad came to this place they appropriated the name of Tres Pinos, hence it has no significance as applied to this town. The name was given the stopping-place now known as Paicines because of three pines alleged to have grown on the banks of the Tres Pinos creek near that place. Paicines, then Tres Pinos, was the scene of the Vásquez raid and murders in the early ’70’s.”
Uvas (grapes), the name of a town and creek in the Santa Cruz Mountains, no doubt so-called from the abundance of wild grapes found in that locality.
VIII
THE SANTA CLARA VALLEY
Santa Clara. When the Spaniards passed through this valley, they were not slow to recognize in it one of those favored spots on the earth’s surface where climate and soil unite to produce the highest results. So here they founded two missions, one at Santa Clara, and one at San José.
Santa Clara (St. Clara), stands in one of the most fertile valleys in California, which is equivalent to saying in the whole world, and is about forty-six miles south-southeast of San Francisco. The mission was founded by Padres Peña and Murguia, January 12, 1777. The buildings now standing are mainly modern, but a small portion of the original structure being incorporated in them. The ceiling over the sanctuary is original, and a small part of the adobe buildings.
Clara de Asís, the sweet saint for whom this mission was named, was the daughter of a nobleman. Her beauty and wealth brought her many offers of marriage, all of which she refused, preferring to devote herself to a religious life. She became the founder of the order of Franciscan nuns, known as the “Poor Clares,” to which many noble ladies attached themselves. The rules of the order were so strict that St. Clara’s health finally became under-mined, and she died in an ecstatic trance, believing herself called to Heaven by angelic voices. Her special symbol is the lily, peculiarly appropriate for the patroness of the ever-blooming Santa Clara Valley.