Esperanza (hope), is in Kings County, west of Lake Tulare.
Hornitos (little ovens), is in Mariposa County, sixteen miles northwest of Mariposa. An attempt has been made to account for this name as a reference to the intense heat sometimes prevalent in that region, but the probable origin of the name is that given by Mr. J. P. Gagliardo, a resident of the place, who says it was derived “from a number of hornitos built here by the first settlers, who located here about the early fifties.” Hornos (ovens), of brick and adobe, built out-of-doors, and used to bake the bread for several families, were in very common use among the first Spanish settlers of California. Ovens were also used by the Indians, for, instead of eating their food raw or imperfectly cooked, they used quite elaborate methods in its preparation. Their ovens are thus described in the Handbook of American Indians, by Dr. Pliny E. Goddard, of the American Museum of Natural History: “The pit oven, consisting of a hole excavated in the ground, heated with fire, and then filled with food, which was covered over and allowed to cook, was general in America, though as a rule it was employed only occasionally, and principally for cooking vegetal substances. This method of cooking was found necessary to render acrid or poisonous foods harmless, and starchy foods saccharine, and as a preliminary in drying and preserving food for winter use. Most of the acorn-consuming Indians of California cooked acorn mush in small sand-pits. The soap-root was made palatable by cooking it in an earth-covered heap. The Hupa cook the same plant for about two days in a large pit lined with stones, in which a hot fire is maintained until the stones and surrounding earth are well heated; the fire is then drawn, the pit lined with leaves of wild grape and wood sorrel to improve the flavor of the bulbs, and a quantity of the bulbs thrown in; leaves are then placed on top, the whole is covered with earth, and a big fire built on top.” Mr. Charles B. Turrill states that “the meal of the ground acorns was placed in shallow hollows in the sand and water poured on it, by which means the bitter principle was leached out. Then the meal was placed in baskets and cooked by putting hot stones therein. The cooking was done in the basket, not in the sand.” Other Indians used pit ovens for baking clams, and the Panamints of California roasted cactus joints and mescal in pits. The Pueblo Indians used dome-shaped ovens of stone plastered with clay, a form that may have been imitated by the Spaniards, since their ovens were of that character.
IN THE SIERRA NEVADAS.
“East Vidette, the Alps of the King-Kern divide.”
Modesto (modest), is the county-seat of Stanislaus County, and is thirty miles south of Stockton. According to residents of this town, “The place was first named Ralston in the year 1870, in honor of Mr. Ralston, who was then a very prominent resident of San Francisco, and president of the Bank of California. He was so modest that he preferred that some other name be adopted, so the name was changed to Modesto.” If this be the true story, it was surely a unique reason for the naming of a town.
Oroville (gold-town), is a hybrid word made up of the Spanish oro (gold), and the French ville (town). Oroville is the county-seat of Butte County, and is on the Feather River, in the heart of a mining and fruit region.