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.)