California Bi-Centennial Edition 1769-1969

tSSraffiB

/,

/I. ’*'

●● ●

●=427^

-

il:

/«*»

<S|A.

● ///*->, ● ^** *' ● //' ^■i?,

CALIFORNIA BI-CENTENNIAL EDITION 1769 -1969

Vol. XV, No. 3

Summer, 1969

Discovery of San Francisco Bay Saturday, November '!■, 1769 — “About one in the afternoon we set out to continue the journey following the beach to the north. We then entered the mountains, directing our course to the northeast and from the summit of a peak we beheld the great estuary or arm of the sea, which must have a width of four or five leagues, and extends to the southeast and south southeast.”

—From Fatlier Crespi's Journal From a painting in the Santa Barbara Historial Society Museum, painted by Alexander F. Harmer and held in the Harmer Trust.

THE PORTOLA EXPEDITION THROUGH SANTA BARBARA COUNTY 1769

By Russell A. Ruiz

The compelling fact that led to the Spanish occupation of California was military necessity. The thrust of Russian Imperialism threatened Spanish possessions in North America. Prior Spanish exploration gave Spain claim to these vast territories. But nothing was done to occupy and secure these lands. The reign of the Spanish King Carlos IIP brought Spain into the Bourbon Family Compact. Under his rule Spain came under the liberating influence at the French enlightenment. His enlightened programs brought about a restoration of Spanish power and prosperity that she had not enjoyed since the time of her early Hapsburg rulers.

WHY WE CELEBRATE THE BI CENTENNIAL The Spanish King realized that in order to protect his vast possessions it was necessary to occupy them permanently. An expedition was organized to accomplish this end. We celebrate this year the Bi-Centennial of that event.

The Catalan officer Don Caspar de Portola was made Governor and leader of the expedition. Under great hardships, he and his men carried out successfully what he was commanded to do. That was to explore the region, find Monterey bay^ and affect permanent occupation. Monterey proved a dis appointment but the great bay of San Francisco was discovered. The story of the expedition is well documented by the various diaries of its leaders.

From these sources I will trace the route of the Portola trek through the present limits of Santa Barbara County.

1—

Due to the ravages of scurvy the majority of the members of the Portola expedition were immobilized at San Diego. The illness of the expedition’s sailors prevented the sending of ships to Monterey. It was therefore decided to send the party by land to rediscover the fabled bay of Monterey. On July 14, 1769, the expedition headed north by land to accomplish this end.

The number of those who were in the party that marched north on the historic trek varies according to the different authorities. I will follow what seems to be the best list. The Spaniards^ numbered some sixty-six. These were three Catalans and one Mexican officer, one Castilian and one Mallorcan priest, one Mexican Sergeant, eight Catalonian volunteers,^ twenty-seven Mexican Soldados de Cuera,^ two Mexican servants, seven Mexican Muleteers and fifteen Christian Indians from Lower California.

PORTOLA LED THE EXPEDITION At the head of the party was the Governor Don Caspar de Portola.

During the march the men followed this order: Sergeant Francisco de Ortega with six to eight Soldado de Cuera scouts went out in advance to lay out the route of the main party. They selected the camp and watering places.

They also noted the Indian presence along the way. At the head of the column Gov. Portola, Lt. Pedro Fages, Alferez Miguel Costanso, and the two priests, Fathers Juan Crespi and Francisco Gomez. They were escorted by the eight Catalonian volunteers. Next came the fifteen Christian Indians who were the sappers and pioneers with their spades, mattocks, crowbars and axes. It was they who cleared the road and cut through the brush to make smooth the way of the party. Following these came the pack train of mules divided into four divisions tended by the seven muleteers and Soldado de Cuera escort.

Bringing up the rear was the second in command, the Mexican officer, Don Fernando de Rivera y Moncada with the remainder of the Soldado de Cueras who tended the relays of extra horses and mules. The necessity of finding watering places for the animals regulated the march and the finding of campsites. The scouts went out early in the morning to find the proper route and the next camp. Early each afternoon the scouts would return and the expedition would move to the new watering place.

Every fourth day the party would rest in an extended halt to overcome general fatigue and recover straying animals. Some of Sergeant Ortega’s scouts were Andres de Cota, his son Pablo de Cota, Guillermo Carrillo, Mariano Cordero, Juan Dominguez, Jose Maria Gongora, Luis Gonzaga de Lugo, Juan Maria Miranda also; the Soldado de Cueras, Juan Osuna, Juan Maria Olivera, Jose Maria Soberanes, Jose Verdugo, Juan Diego Verdugo, Mariano Verdugo, Antonio Yorba, Raimundo Carrillo and others. Later many of these men were to play important roles in the history of California, many serving in the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara. The march of the ●2-

expedition started from San Diego July 14, 1769. We start our story at their arrival in Ventura August 14, 1769.

STORY BEGINS AUGUST 14, 1769 The scouts were sent out early in the morning to find the next watering place. The future site of Ventura was named La Asumpta because of the expedition’s arrival on the date of that feast day. They camped on the bank near the mouth of the Ventura river. Natives from the Channel Islands visited the camp as did chiefs from the mountain villages.^

August 15 After watering the animals they set out for the next camping site. The seven scouts under Sergeant Ortega returned with the information that the next watering place was too far for one single march. The camp chosen was Chaywec, a temporary village of Indian fishermen, who made the Spaniards a large gift of fresh fish. During the night the natives gave a noisy concert of disagreeable whistle sounds that kept the whole camp awake. This was at Piles Point (whistles).

August 16 The party departing at Pitos Point came to the large village of Shucu situated on the western side of Rincon creek. They camped on the eastern bank of the small stream. The Indian fishermen in their boats brought fresh fish for the Spaniards in amazing quantities. They found that the Chief of Shucu was the noted dancer of good figure and countenance that they had seen in Ventura. The soldiers named the town El Bailarin (the dancer).

Shucu seemed larger than Qinapuyeh, the village at the mouth of the Ventura river where they had camped August the fourteenth.

August 17 The expedition set out at seven thirty in the morning traveling on the beach then over the steep hills on the Rincon until they came to the plain of Carpinteria where they camped at the east bank of Carpinteria creek near the point where Tenth Street crosses the creek. They visited the large Indian village of Mishhoshnou at the eastern bank of the mouth of Carpinteria creek. They counted thirty eight large communal dwellings. When Portola arrived at the edge of the town he was greeted by the entire population which was also equal to that of Ventura. Governor Portola presented the Temi or head chief glass beads and trinkets as presents. Father Gomez with Soldado de Cuera escort traced the source of Carpinteria creek to the foot of the Santa Ynez mountains where another large village was found.

The Mishhoshnou villagers were an active sea people with many canoes.

The villagers were seen by the soldiers building a canoe which brought forth —3—

their admiration so that they called the village, the town of the Carpenter shop, (La Carpinteria). Father Crespi named the piace San Roque, a name that did not take hold.

August 18 Governor Portola led his group from Carpinteria guided by the Chief of Syujtun,^ the main town at Santa Barbara, who had come with Sergeant Ortega and his scouts the previous night. They found on their way through Summerland and Montecito two ruined villages. The Indians told them that three months before Indians from the mountains had come down and killed all the people there. In the Montecito area they saw bear tracks. Coming down to the beach near the site of the Biltmore Hotel they marched west along the beach. In the distance they could see Santa Barbara Point, a long point of land running into the sea. At the bottom of the present Santa Bar bara Street was the mouth of the large estuary that once covered the eastern side of Santa Barbara. With great difficulty they forded the mouth of the estuary at the beach and came to the famous village of Syujtun,’ the piace that was ruled by Chief Yananoli at the time of the founding of the Presidio in 1782. This site was the Burton Mound of later years. They passed the village and camped in the vicinity of the present giant Morton Bay tree at the corner of Chapala and Montecito Street, “two musket shots from the Indian village.” At Mission creek directly in front of the Southern Pacific train station was a large pool of fresh water fed by springs which did not dry up during the long summer months. It was here they watered their animals. A large willow grove surrounded the place. Their camp was north a short dis tance on higher ground overlooking the creek. It did not take long before all the people of Syujtun came to greet the Spaniards. They brought seven large loads of fish which were a welcome addition to the scanty fare of the soldiers. The Governor gave gifts of glass beads in return which pleased the Indians. They noticed the Indian fishermen who went out every day in their canoes for fresh fish. Later four more loads of fish were brought by five hundred villagers. The soldiers named the town Laguna de la Concepcion after the large estuary close by. The town was considered the most populous they had seen so far and its people the most affectionate and good natured.

Though the day was cloudy, the islands could be seen in the distance.

INDIANS’ HOSPITALITY SATIATES August 19 Overcome by the exuberant hospitality of the Indians of Santa Barbara, the expedition set out early to get away from the large number of Indian visitors. They traveled west over the Mesa following the present Cliff Drive to Arroyo Burro Beach, then turned inland a short distance to the creek opposite the City Dump. They were again visited by Indians possibly from 4

the nearby village of Skonon. Sergeant Ortega and his men returned from surveying the Goleta area in the afternoon and reported large Indian settle ments and friendly receptions. That night ten Indians from the Goleta village of Sajpillil came to the camp to guide the expedition to their village. They were permitted to stay over night with the Spaniards. The Soldado de Cuera kept an eye on them and entertained them during the night.

MODOC ROAD ORIGINAL ROUTE August 20 SUNDAY After Mass, the first Christian religious service to be held in the vicinity of Santa Barbara, the expedition set out to march up the little valley until they reached the present site of Modoc Road. They turned west toward Goleta. Modoc Road and Hollister Avenue follow roughly the original path of the Portola party trek. This was probably a well trodden Indian trail.

The way was considered all good land with much grass, and well grown with live oaks, alders, and willows, and many Castilian roses; the latter, a reminder that brought memories of their ancient Spanish homeland. They came in sight of a large estuary, the Goleta Slough. Five large Indian villages were seen. They camped on the west side of San Pedro Creek between Hol lister Avenue and the railroad tracks opposite the Indian village of Sajpillil.

To the latter place, they were guided by their Indian visitors of the previous night. It was at this camping site that the chapel of San Miguel was later built for the Indian village. In a short time they were deluged by Indian hos pitality. From all the towns of the estuary Indians came bringing fresh fish, seeds, acorns, atole, and other kinds of food. They expressed their pleasure at the arrival of the Spaniards in their land. Governor Portola made them presents of glass beads and colorful ribbons. The soldiers traded for Indian artifacts, obtaining the beautiful baskets, feathered head dresses and sea otter skins. In the afternoon, the Temis or Chiefs of the estuary villages came in their formal attire, that is with feathered head dresses and painted bodies. They waved hollow split reeds whose noise and motion marked the rhy thm of their songs and dances. The measured beat free from musical discord pleased the Spaniards. The entertainment like many musical programs proved too long for Spanish taste. The friendly Indians were asked not to return that night so the party could get their rest. The Indians, however, returned that evening with great enthusiasm in a large retinue of clowns and jugglers playing whistles. The noise caused fear the horses would stampede, so the Indians were implored to depart with gifts of glass beads. The party was left in peace the rest of the night. Father Crespi named the area Santa Margarita de Cortona, Governor Portola called it Pueblos de la Isla after the island in the center of the estuary. However, the soldiers called the area Mescaltitlan® after the legendary place of origin of the Mexican people. The beauty of the estuary and the friendliness of the native people confirmed the rightness of

their designation. It is a sad thing to see the present “development” of this historic area. In the village of Sajpillil they observed that the Indians had two neat enclosures, one for their ball games and one for their religious shrine. The graves of their cemeteries were marked with the bones of whales, a fact confirmed by recent archeological excavations at the site.

August 21 At two in the afternoon, the party broke camp at Sajpillil continued marching to the west through the oak groves. They came to Dos Pueblos Canyon where they found at the mouth of the creek a large Indian village of one thousand people. The village turned out to be two villages on opposite sides of the creek mouth. They were Cuyamu on the east and Migiu on the west. The Spaniards camped inland near the watering place, a short distance from the Indian villages. They received the usual hospitality of fresh and dried fish and entertainment of songs and dances which resembled those of Goleta. Father Crespi named this place San Luis Obispo, but the soldiers called it Dos Pueblos (two towns), a name retained to this day.

August 22 Sergeant Ortega and his scouts set out early in the morning and re turned at one in the afternoon, reporting that they had found a good watering place and a good path along the beach at low tide. The expedition rested while the scouts were out. From their camp site they could see Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands.

PORTOLA REACHES EL CAPITAN August 23 Taking advantage of the low tide the march continued west along the beach for about four miles. Reaching El Capitan beach they passed inland a short distance up the Canada del Capitan then turned west again over the high coastal hills. They crossed many canyons with streams of running water.

Passing near the village of Casil they crossed Refugio Canyon, the future rancho of Sergeant Ortega and the place where later he was to die. At the mouth of Tajiguas Canyon they found a large Indian village of eighty houses and some eight hundred people situated on both sides of the creek. They saw Indian men dressed in women’s petticoats, mincing around. It was a sort of a seaside Chumash Sodom and Gomorrah. Father Crespi named the village San Guido de Cortona. The soldiers had no comment.

August 24 The whole expedition heard Mass, it being the feast day of St. Bartolome.

Then continued the march west. The countryside was difficult to traverse.

The Christian Indians from Lower California cleared the brush and smoothed uneven terrain. They found the campsite near the Indian village of Onomio,

containing fifty-two houses and an estimated three hundred people. This town was located on the banks of a small estuary near the ocean. The soldiers killed a seagull here and because of this they named the village La Gaviota (the sea gull) a name still in use. Father Crespi called this village San Luis Rey de Francia. From this canyon the three main channel islands could be seen. They were on the far west, San Bernardo (San Miguel), Santa Cruz (Santa Rosa), and Santa Barbara (Santa Cruz). The canoes of this village were not large. A local Indian dancer, called “El Loco” hy the soldiers, at tached himself to the Spaniards and acted as guide for the party.

August 25 Sergeant Ortega and scouts went out and returned early in the afternoon.

The march continued across the estuary west along the beach for a distance of a mile, then up to the high lands overlooking the sea. High tides made the ocean road impassable. They found their campsite in a desolate region near the Indian village of Catch Tayet. It had twenty-four houses and some two hundred people. Father Crespi named it San Seferino, the Pope. This town was at the mouth of Santa Anita Creek.

August 26 Marching west, the party broke camp at two-thirty in the afternoon. They crossed a small estuary, traveled over the high hills back from the sea. At the mouth of Canada del Cojo, they found the small town of Shisholop having twenty-four houses and a friendly people who shared what they had with the Spaniards. The Temi of this town was lame, so the soldiers gave it the name “Rancheria del Cojo” (Village of the Cripple). The little valley is still called Cojo. Father Crespi named the place Santa Teresa. The place was short of firewood but the land was good with much grass. From the village the long point of land which is Point Conception could be seen. It was noticed that the Indians had European type beads. When asked where they had obtained them, they pointed north. One of the lame mules was left in care of the crippled Chief until they could return for it, as it was not able to walk.

August 27 SUNDAY At Shisholop Mass was celebrated by Fathers Crespi and Gomez with everyone present. At two-fifteen in the afternoon the march continued west along the seashore. Then turning northwest, they passed Point Conception on their left. They crossed over the low hills until they came to the watering place near the sea shore. It was the village of Jalama, a town of twenty houses and two hundred and fifty people. One of the soldiers lost his sword which was stolen by an Indian. Another Indian saw the thief and recovered the sword. For this reason this village was called “Rancheria de Espada” (Sword Town).

—7—

August 28 They traveled over the high lands along the shore to their next watering place near Rocky Point, where they found the small Indian village of ten small houses. At this place, they gathered many flints, suitable for their fire arms. The soldiers called this place, “Los Pedernales” (The Flint-Stones).

August 29 The march continued at one o’clock in the afternoon going northwest over level ground passing Point Arguello and Point Pedernales. Crossing Honda Creek they reached the shore line near a small bay. Camp was made near the mouth of Bear Creek. Just enough water was found to make the evening tortillas. The soldiers called this place “Dry Creek” but Father Crespi named it “Santa Rosalia.”

August 30 Amid the sand dunes the two priests celebrated Mass for the expedition.

The march continued over the sand dunes and sandy stretches. They came to a large river about three hundred feet wide. The scouts under Sergeant Ortega went some distance up the river valley and reported good land and large groves of trees. There was plenty of water in the river and the land could be irrigated with ease. All types of grain could easily be grown there. They found a village near the river bank where they were told that in the river valley there were also many similar villages. The scouts saw many bears of great size and many of their tracks. The Indians expressed the desire that the Spaniards stay and live in their towns. Governor Portola declined but gave the Indians presents of glass beads which gave them pleasure. Father Gomez rashly promised the Indians he would stay with them on his return. Gov ernor Portola named the river, “Rio Grande de San Verado,” Father Crespi named it, “San Bernardo,” the soldiers called it, “The Santa Rosa River.”

We now know it as the Santa Ynez.

August 31 The march continued north from the Santa Ynez River over the level land of Burton Mesa. The fragrant rosemary and other bushes attracted the attention of the men. They reached San Antonio Creek where they found a large pond of water which had the appearance of a small lake surrounded by low hills. Here they found a temporary village of Indians. Unusual enter tainment was provided by female dancers. This was the first time they had seen women dance in California. Father Crespi named the village and lake “San Ramon Nonato” in honor of the Saint’s feast day and the soldiers called the place, “Town of the Dance of the Indian Ladies.”

THEY REACH SANTA MARIA VALLEY September 1 The expedition turned inland to avoid the sand dunes of the coast and marched north. They proceeded through the Casmalia Hills, down through the canyons until they came into the open expanse of the Santa Maria Valley.

They camped near Guadalupe Lake, where they found two Indian villages, one small and miserable, the other larger, composed of small huts. The soldiers called this valley, “Laguna Larga” after the large lake they found there.

September 2 The scouts under Sergeant Ortega who had gone ahead the previous day, returned in the morning. This relieved the party of grave apprehension for they had failed to return the previous afternoon. Having traveled as far as Oso Flaco Lake in San Luis Obispo County, they had become lost in the heavy fog on their return. Fortunately, the scouts were reunited with the main group. From Guadalupe Lake the march continued north northwest to Oso Flaco Lake. The dried up Santa Maria River was crossed without notice.

Its dried up bed was lost in the surrounding sandy waste. The party con tinued its march to Monterey and San Francisco, returning by the same route on January 1, through to January 11, 1770. From this expedition the Spanish version of our Western Civilization had its start in this upper California. It can be said that at this time our history on this northern coast truly began.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Baegert, Johann Jakob, S.J.

Observations in Lower California Tr. by M. M. Brandenburg & Carl L. Bauman Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1952

Bancroft, Hubert Howe

History oj California Vol. / San Francisco 1885

Bolton, Herbert E.

Juan Crespi Missionary Explorer of the Pa cific Coast (1769-1774) Berkeley, 1927 —9-

Bolton, Herbert E.

Expedition to San Francisco Bay 1770 (Diary of Pedro Pages) Publications of the Academy of Pacific Coast History Vol. II, No. 3, Berkeley, luly 1911

Duran, Duran

The Aztecs. The History of the Indies of New Spain. Edited and Tr. by Doris Heyden and Fernando Horcasitas Orion Press, New York, 1964

Eldredge, Zoeth E.

The March of Portola and the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco San Francisco, 1909

Geiger, Maynard O.F.M.

The Life and Times of Fray Junipero Serra, O.F.M. Vol. I Academy of American Franciscan History, Washington, 1951

Hittel, Theodore H.

Kroeber, A. L.

History of California, Vol. I San Francisco, 1885 Handbook of the Indians of California Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 78 Washington, D.C., 1925

Madariaga, Salvador de

The Fall of the Spanish American Empire New York, 1963

Richman, Irving Berdine

California Under Spain and Mexico 1535-1849 Boston and New York, 1911

Rogers, David Banks

Prehistoric Man of the Santa Barbara Coast Santa Barbara, 1929

Smith, Donald C. with Teggart, Frederick /.

The Portola Expedition of 1769-1770 Diary of Caspar de Portola Publications of the Academy of Pacific Coast History, Vol. I, No.3 Berkeley, August 1909

Teggart, Frederick /.

The Portola Expedition of 1769-1770 Diary of Miguel Costanso Publications of the Academy of Pacific Coast History, Vol. II, No. 4 Berkeley, August 1911 —10—

NOTES 1.

Carlos III was the greatest of Spain’s Bourbon rulers. His descendents undid the great work of his reign (1759-1788).

2.

The exaggerated description of Monterey Bay by Viscaino, prevented it from being recognized and identified by Portola.

3.

All were Spaniards though divided by racial and regional factionalism.

There was tension and rivalry between the European Spaniards and the Spanish Americans. The leadership was in the hands of the Europeans.

The cost of the expedition was carried by the Kingdom of New Spain.

It was this rivalry between the European and the Spanish Americans that tore the Empire to shreds in civil war during the struggle for Spanish American Independence.

4.

Catalonian Volunteers were members of the first battalion, second regi ment of the Voluntarios de Cataluna. This was a European regiment that was sent to New Spain to beef up the defenses of the Kingdom.

5.

Soldados de Cuera. These were the hardy soldiers who defended the Northern frontiers of New Spain. Their name came from the distinctive seven layered buckskin jacket they wore as armor. Miguel Costanso considered them the “best soldiers that ate the King’s bread” (On the Royal payroll). They also founded California’s first families.

6.

The Indians of the Santa Barbara Channel were of the Quabajay tribe.

The name Chumash was given to them later by American writers. Strictly speaking, Chumash referred only to those who lived on Santa Cruz Is land, called Mi Chumash by the Indians.

7.

8.

Syujtun was the “capital” of the coastal tribes. It’s chief was head over thirteen coastal villages from Pt. Conception to Rincon Point.

Mescaltitlan was another name for Aztlan, the legendary place of origin of the Aztec or Mexican people. The Aztecs described it as an earthly Paradise.

—11—

3BK

S9

Vv*Ri/»

I

UAfrONft

LM^frA

/N

I 6. c

;*3 aJTTOtr^

Oo RTOM *V1 E fi A

OMCH

rr concEPTioN

—12—

uUNON

UK

c

—13—

SHUCO

Dr. Monsen, upper figure, and member of his party climbing to a hidden cliff dwelling. He was the first zvhite man to see this ruin.

—14

A WORD OF INTRODUCTION A half century ago, to the average American family, the illustrated lecture was what television and the movies are today, the most popular medium of entertainment and information. Every city had its “Lecture Series,” usually featuring five lectures in a row, one a week by such eminent and popular men as Burton Holmes, Newman, Dwight Elmindorf, Charles Wellington Furlong, Dwight Kramer and Frederick Monsen. Their lectures were illustrated with colored lantern slides, usually made from their own negatives.

On June 17th, the Santa Barbara Historical Society presented Miss Kristina Wilkinson, great granddaughter of Explorer-Lecturer Monsen, who spoke of his adventurous life and showed nearly 100 lantern slides made and colored by him more than sixty years ago. 1'hese slides were among the few belongings of the lecturer which were saved from the Monsen home as it burned to the ground the morning of the San Francisco Earthquake in April, 1906. The slides in their cases were burled in the front garden of the big house on Rincon Hill just as the fire enveloped the entire neighbor hood, five hours after the quake.

For five years Miss Wilkinson has studied anthropology and par ticularly the history of the Hopi and Navajo Indians, using the vast collec tions of material gathered by the lecturer and augmented and preserved by his son, Tina’s grandfather. Three years ago she started gathering data and stories about Frederick Monsen with the intention of writing his biography, now nearing completion.

Whereas the slides were seen by

capacity audience in June (only

momentarily for each subject), and since many persons expressed regret that the slides could not have remained longer on the sceen, it has been decided to reproduce a few of them (minus color, of course) in NOTICIAS, along with an article by Miss Wilkinson prepared especially for this issue.

—Editor

—15—

< y

m

■\

^'^‘ \ >v \

/

4-:

f

»

t

% J K-.

i

■ .n.

I

.

/

f

%.

>* I

., ●

/

<1#.. c*

%,

^'vt ft

'●*

!

I

●>

iL«

<i^'

1-.^

●

/

>1 »

f; ►

I

t*'

F

.J- U.J

i

I -●

f

<●

._J

A/' P

« k

// ●f> . / »

|\ ►

A '

/

n.

/

f

.. 1*

‘->1

3

V

k

/.

/ J

i

■

f-

/

f

i ).

( I

■i

,/

J

)

If

.i

A

t●

4

i!

'

● V-

●f

. J' ●4'

1

J

\ ►- \ F

●>.5 aa

!

Dr. Monsen- resting in a cliff ruin in Canyon del Muerto, Arizona, on his 1902 Expedition.

—16—

FREDERICK MONSEN, F.R.G.S. EXPLORER AND ETHNOGRAPHER

By Kristina Wilkinson.

Frederick Monsen was an anthropologist, photographer and lecturer whose life work spanned the final period of western exploration and settle ment. A Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society (British) who was awarded many professional distinctions for his work, he obtained a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Oslo, Norway.

His primary anthropological and photographic work was an ethno graphic record of the Indian tribes of the American Southwest. His collection of pioneer and Indian photographic enlargements now resides in the Hunt ington Library at San Marino, California. Dr. Monsen’s extensive arche ological and ethnographic work supplied artifacts and historical records of American Indian cultures to museums throughout the world.

He also explored and photographed in Alaska with the Alaska Coast Survey of 1897, in Western Canada, the West Indies, Mexico (where he met and befriended Pancho Villa ten years before the Revolution and was later his “guest” at the Battle of Torreon), Central America and South America, particularly Venezuela where he explored the Orinoco River.

NATIVE OF NORWAY Born in Bergen, Norway, in 1865, Frederick Imman Monsen was brought by his parents to Utah Territory at the age of three. The West was then still young. The Transcontinental Railroad was nearing completion. It was seven years before the Battle of The Little Bighorn and there were many Indian wars to come. There were only thirty-seven states in the Union. Arizona and New Mexico, where he worked and explored, were not to attain statehood for another forty-three years. It was this West of explorers, trappers and miners, pioneers and vanishing Indian cultures that shaped his interests and activities.

He successively had many professions: Indian Scout for General Crook, Deputy United States Marshal (Utah Territory), artist, actor (his parents’ troup featured works by Ibsen and Gilbert and Sullivan), surveyor, reporter,

%

photographer, explorer lecturer.

and

ultimately

anthropologist, archeologist and

In 1887 he joined the Geological Survey which was engaged in Western exploration. It must be remembered that while coastal California was settled, the dry interior deserts of this state and Northern Arizona, as well as the more inaccessible areas of the Sierras and Rockies, were only partially known. One need only compare the 1850 statehood of California with Ari zona’s 1912 attainment to understand the lack of development of the South—17-

western interior. Coronado, Cabeza de Vaca, Portola and many otliers had crossed these wastelands and gone on to more fruitful areas, leaving a record of their passage but little impression on the lives of the indigenous tribes.

So that while Santa Barbara, coastal California and the Rio Grande Valley were spheres of Spanish influence and settlement long before the angloAmerican arrival, the 1880’s found vast areas of the West virtually unknown.

Beyond our coastal mountains lay the parched deserts and little known Indian lands Frederick Monsen chose to explore.

After five years with the Geological Survey he became a member of the Salton Sea Expedition. Photographs of the salt mining operations on the then-dry sea-bed were some of the oldest shown at the Historical Society lecture June seventeenth.

More desert explorations followed. In 1892 he explored Baja California, finding and photographing the still rarely seen volcano field there. Broken wagon parts formed the improvised skis he used to slide across the bubbling mud caldrons for close-up photographs.

FIRST TO PHOTOGRAPH DEATH VALLEY In 1893 Dr. Monsen spent six months in Death Valley. He started this expedition in Daggett, California, one hundred and sixty-six miles from the valley. He had intended to spend only a few weeks in exploration but the vicissitudes of the climate and terrain extended his trip. His driver died in his arms and his horses dropped dead in their harness. He managed to walk to Pahromp, Nevada, where he broke a new team to harness before starting out again. Eventually he reached his goal where he explored, recorded tem peratures and made the first photographs ever taken of that arid place.

1896 found Frederick Monsen in the Sierras as artist and topographer for the Yosemite National Park Boundary Survey, exploring and recording then unknown mountain regions. Here he renewed his friendship with naturalist John Muir, the promoter-defender of Yosemite preservation. The two men shared a love of the Sierra wilderness, particularly the forever-lost Hetch Hetchy Valley, since destroyed by a dam, where Dr. Monsen had a favorite camping place, “a little garden spot on the bank of the Tuolumne River .. . .”

Of his many explorations from Alaska to South America, Dr. Monsen’s work among American Indians was the most extensive and personally re warding. From the mid 1880’s until his death in 1929 he traveled among, lived with and photographed the Indian tribes of the Southwestern United States and of Mexico, particularly the Hopi and Navajo of Northern Arizona.

Although the Navajo had borrowed from the Spanish culture, the Hopi pueblos had preserved their pre-Columbian traditions, customs and religion, having thrown off the brief attempt at Spanish domination in the Pueblo —18—

Revolt of 1680. The other isolated groups of this area were also still in a relatively uncorrupted state and this remained true until American insistence on regular government-controlled schooling began to errode the native cul tures. Ethnological work among these tribes was therefore uniquely interest ing and valuable.

Frederick Monsen recognized this. “It seemed to me” he wrote, “that any trustful record of the lives and customs of the people of the pueblos, made while they were yet unspoiled, would have an ethnological and historical value . . . the fascination of the desert and its people laid hold of me, and I soon realized that for me at least no other lifework could possess a tithe of the interest that would come from being able to depict truthfully the life, character and customs of the desert Indians, and to give the world some idea of the charm to be found in them and in the strange splendor of their environment.”

He set about becoming “intimate with the people .. . to gain their friend ship and so coax them, by imperceptible degrees, to forget to be watchful and conscious in the presence of a stranger . . . I drifted from one village to another,” he said, “always accepting their customs, eating their food, in teresting myself in what interested them.” The close relationship he developed with the people gave him access to secret ceremonies and a freedom to pho tograph their daily activities which other non-Indians of the times did not

enjoy.

Hopi home. Oraihi, Arizona.

-19-

/

Some of the earliest attempts to cover up the beautiful little bronze bodies of the children of the sun turned out disastrously for the reformers.

Taking unselfconscious pictures was a very difficult task. Early in Dr. Monsen’s work the very ostentation of his 18x22 inch glass plate camera interfered with his desire for natural, unposed pictures. Exposures took many seconds. The excessive weight (200 pounds) and the high rate of breakage further hampered the scope of his work. He tried successively smaller cameras over the years but continued to be plagued with broken plates. On one trip only forty of two hundred exposures survived the muleback journey.

The invention of film solved the breakage problem and reduced weight up to ninety percent. “When films were introduced” Dr. Monsen remarked, “I was, I believe, one of the first to use them in a professional way . . . My own method of working is to carry two pocket Kodaks . . . slung to my belt, and concealed under a loose coat. One turn of my hand and the camera is out and ready to use. Long practice has made it possible for me to do it almost by instinct, as a rifleman will hit the target when firing from the hip or at arm’s length almost as often as when the weapon is sighted, and my subjects seldom know they are being photographed.”

—20—

With the pictures thus taken, Dr. Monsen lectured at Universities, museums and educational institutions tliroughoul America and in Europe.

Lectures illustrated with glass stereopticon slides were numerous in the period but Frederick Monsen’s exquisitely colored slides were unique and he was one of the leading lecturers of the day. The professional quality of his research, his lectures and his photographs prompted President Theodore Roosevelt to call him “one of our greatest teachers of geography.”

111 the eighties and nineties Dr. Monsen and parly explored many cliff ruins in the Soiilhtvest and brought hack innumerable artifacts to museums in California and throughout the East.

—21—

Dr. Monsen developed his own process for coloring the 3^4 by 4 inch glass plates at a time when perhaps only one in fifty professional photog raphers could do hand coloring work. Most tinted magic lantern slides were of only three colors, while Monsen Colorographic Process slides w'ere delicate ly multihued with transparent watercolors. These were applied with a fine sable hair brush to the emulsion side of a positive dry-plate. The technical problems in obtaining perfect uniform color quality were enormous. Dr. Monsen’s results, however, w’ere exquisite. A New York Herald review once said, “His pictures are the finest we have ever seen projected on a screen,” The New York Times reported, “Last night at Carnegie Hall there was an exhibit of lantern slides that eclipsed anything we have ever seen before.”

AFTER 75 YEARS SLIDES RETAIN COLOR More than seventy-five years later, these remarkable slides still elicit this same admiration wherever they are shown. After one of my lectures a few years ago, a spectator flatly refused to believe that the slides were hand colored despite all explanations that color film had not been invented at the time the pictures were made.

The value of Dr. Frederick I. Monsen’s ethnographic work, both artisti cally and historically, has grown with the years. Despite the loss of more than 10,000 negatives, prints and artifacts in the 1906 San Francisco earth quake and fire, Dr. Monsen took what he salvaged and went on with his pictorial record. In 1907 he wrote, “The unconscious expression of daily life and character was what I had set my heart on obtaining.” His pictures show how well he accomplished his objective.

The Salton Salt March, 1895. Later covered by the water from the Colorado

River.

—22—

Children of the Sun are no different from other children . . . in their lovableness.

—23—

The geysers of Lower California.

DISTINGUISHED VISITORS FROM SPAIN A distinguished delegation of visitors from Petra, the birthplace of Junipero Serra on the Island of Mallorca, Spain, were recent guests of the Santa Barbara Historical Society at a reception in the Museum. Sponsored by the Society’s Board of Directors, the delightful affair brought out an almost record number of the Society’s members to meet Dr. Antonio Bauza Roca, Presidente of the Association Amigos de Fr. Junipero Serra, and the members of the delegation including Srta. Flora Riera Alverez-Compana, International Secretary of the Association and Vice-President of the Repre sentation in Mallorca of the Society of California Pioneers. The group is following the trial of Father Serra in commemoration of the California BiCentennial.

PLAQUE TO COMMEMORATE PORTOLA CAMP Another event to commemorate the Portola Trek being celebrated by the California Bi-Centennial was the placing of a plaque at the site of the encampment of that intrepid explorer and his party on August 18, 1769, by the Society of Colonial Wars in California. The location was approximately where the famous Moreton Bay Fig tree is today, at Montecito and Chapala streets.

-24

SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY OFFICERS President

Paul G. Sweetser

First Vice President ..

.. Mrs. Wilson Forbes

Second Vice President

Hugh J. Weldon

Secretary

Mrs. Charles Cannon

Treasurer

John Gill

Past President

Thomas J. McDermott

DIRECTORS Rev. Virgil Cordano

John Jordano, Jr.

Francis Price

Mrs. Edwin Deuter

Dr. Edward Lamb

William K. Serumgard

Col. Henry de B. Forbes, Jr.

Mrs. Leo T. McMahon

Garrett Van Horne

Mrs. W. Edwin Gledhill

Mrs. Godwin Pelissero

John Galvin* Thomas M. Storke*

Mrs. Henry Griffiths

Museum Director

Courtenay Monsen, Curator of Education .... Editor of Noticias

HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS Classes of membership: Benefactor, $5000.00 or more; Life, $1000.00; Patron, $500.00; Fellow, $100.00; Associate, $50.00; Contributing, $25.00; Sustaining, $10.00; Active, $7.50; Student, $5.00. Dues are tax deductible.

Mailing Address: 136 East De la Guerra Street

Santa Barbara, California 93101 ●Honorary Directors

Non«Profit Org. QUARTERLY BULLETIN OF THE SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 136 EAST DE LA GUERRA STREET

U. S. Poi^age PAID Santa Barbara, Calif.

Permit No. 534

SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA 93101

i

i

t