Spanish and Indian place names of California : their meaning and their romance

Front matter

Class ^.JL^A Book^_A'2-_

CXffYRIGHT DEPOStr.

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Table Of Contents

Page CHAPTER I

Introduction 3

CHAPTER n

I. Ixtroductiox

This volume has been prepared in the hope that it may serve, not only as a source of entertainment to our own people, but also as a useful handbook for the schools, and as a sort of tourist's guide for those who \'isit the state in such numbers, and who almost invariably exhibit a lively interest in our Spanish and Indian place names.

We of California are doubly rich in the matter of names, since, in addition to the Indian nomenclature common to all the states, we possess the splendid heritage left us by those bold adventurers from Castile who first set foot upon our shores. In these names the spirit of our romantic past still lives and breathes, and their sound is like an echo coming do^^^l the years to tell of that other day when the savage built his bee-hive huts on the river-banks, and the Spanish caballero jingled his spurs along the Camino Real.

And in what manner, it may well be asked, have we been caring for this priceless heritage, — to keep it pure, to preserve its inspiring history, to present it in proper and authentic form for the instruction and entertainment of "the stranger within our gates," as well as for the education of our own youth? As the most convincing answer to this question, some of the numerous errors in works purporting to deal with this subject, many of which have even crept into histories and books for the use of schools, will be corrected in these pages.

In the belief that the Spanish and Indian names possess the greatest interest for the public, both "tenderfoot" and native, they will be dealt with here almost exclusively, excepting a very few of /American origin, whose stories are so involved with the others that they can scarcely be omitted. In addition, there are a number that appear to be of Anglo-Saxon parentage, but are in reality to be counted among those that have suffered the regrettable fate of translation into EngHsh from the original Spanish. Of such are Kings County and River, which took their names from El Rio de los Santos Reyes (the River of the Holy

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Kings), and the Feather River, originally El Rio de las Plumas (the River of the Feathers).

While searching for the beginnings of these names through the diaries of the early Spanish explorers and other sources, a number of curious stories have been encountered, which are shared with the reader in the belief that he will be glad to know something of the romance lying behind the nomenclature of our ''songful, tuneful" land.

It is a matter of deep regret that the work must of necessity be incomplete, the sources of information being so scattered, and so often unreliable, that it has been found impossible to trace all the names to their origin.

Indian words are especially difficult; in fact, as soon as we enter that field we step into the misty land of legend, where all becomes doubt and uncertainty. That such should be the case is inevitable. Scientific study of the native Californian languages, of which there were so many as to constitute a veritable Babel of tongues among the multitude of small tribes inhabiting this region, was begun in such recent times that but few aborigines were left to tell the story of their names, and those few retained but a dim memory of the old days. In view of the unsatisfactory nature of this information, stories of Indian origin will be told here with the express qualification that their authenticity is not vouched for, except in cases based upon scientific evidence. Some of the most romantic among them, when put to the "acid test" of such investigation, melt into thin air. In a general way, it may be said that Indian names were usually derived from villages, rather than tribes, and that, in most cases, their meaning has been lost.

In the case of Spanish names, we have a rich mine in the documents left behind by the methodical Spaniards, who maintained the praiseworthy custom of keeping minute accounts of their travels and all circumstances connected therewith. From these sources the true stories of the origin of some of our place names have been collected, and are retold in these pages, as far as possible, in the language of their founders. Unfortunately, the story can not always be run to earth, and in such cases, the names, with their translation, and sometimes an explanatory paragraph, will appear in a supplementary list at the end of the volume. The stories have been arranged in a series of

5> groups, according to their geographical location, beginning with San Diego as the most logical point, since it was there that the first mission was established by the illustrious Junipero Serra, and there that the history of California practically began. The arrangement of these groups is not arbitrary, but, in a general way, follows the course of Spanish Empire, as it took its way, first up the coast, then branching out into the interior valley, and climbing the Sierras.

Some of the stories may appear as ''twice-told tales" to scholars and other persons to whom they have long been familiar, but are included here for the benefit of the stranger and the many "native sons" who have had no opportunity to become acquainted with them.

A few words in regard to the method of naming places customary among the Spanish explorers may help the reader to a better understanding of results. The military and religious members of the parties were naturally influenced by opposite ideas, and so they went at it in two different ways. The padres, as a matter of course, almost invariably chose names of a religious character, very often the name of the saint upon whose "day"

the party happened to arrive at a given spot. This tendency resulted in the multitude of Sans and Santas with which the map of our state is so generously sprinkled, and which are the cause of a certain monotony. Fortunately for variety's sake, the soldiers possessed more imagination, if less religion, than the padres, and were generally influenced by some striking circumstance, perhaps trivial or humorous, but always characteristic, and often picturesque. In many cases the choice of the soldiers has out-lived that of the fathers.

Broadly speaking, it may be said that names were first applied to rivers, creeks or mountains, as being those natural features of the country most important to the welfare, or even the very existence, of the exploring parties. For instance, the Merced (Mercy), River was so-called because it was the first drinking water encountered by the party after having traversed forty miles of the hot, dry valley. Then, as time passed and the country developed, towns were built upon the banks of these streams, frequently receiving the same names, and these were often finally adopted to designate the counties established later in the

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regions through which their waters flow. In this way Plumas County derived its name from the Feather River, originally El Rio de las Plumas, and Kings County from El Rio de los Reyes (the River of the Kings). This way of naming was, however, not invariable.

It sometimes happens that the name has disappeared from the map, while the story remains, and some such stories will be told, partly for their own interest, and partly for the light they throw upon a past age.

Among our Spanish names there is a certain class given to places in modern times by Americans in a praiseworthy attempt to preserve the romantic flavor of the old days. Unfortunately, an insuflicient knowledge of the syntax and etymology of the Spanish language has resulted in some improper combinations. Such names, for instance, as Monte Vista (Mountain or Forest View), Loma Vista (Hill View), Rio Vista (River View), etc., grate upon the ears of a Spaniard, who would never combine two nouns in this way. The correct forms for these names would be Vista del Monte (View of the Mountain), Vista de la Loma (View of the Hill), Vista del Rio (View of the River), etc. Between this class of modern Spanish names, more or less faulty in construction, given by "Spaniards from Kansas," as has been humorously said, and the real old names of the Spanish epoch about which a genuine halo of romance still clings, there is an immense gulf.

In the numerous quotations used in this book, the language of the original has generally been retained, with no attempt to change the form of expression. In spite of the most conscientious efforts to avoid them, unreliability of sources may cause some errors to find their way into these pages; for these the author hopes not to be held responsible.

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V.

II California

First comes the name of California herself, the sin par (peerless one), as Don Quixote says of his Dulcinea. This name, strange to say, was a matter of confusion and conjecture for many years, until, in 1862, Edward Everett Hale accidentally hit upon the explanation since accepted by historians.

Several theories, all more or less fanciful and far-fetched, were based upon the supposed construction of the word from the Latin calida fornax (hot oven), in reference either to the hot, dry climate of Lower California, or to the "sweathouses" in use among the Indians. Such theories not only presuppose a knowledge of Latin not likely to exist among the hardy men who first landed upon our western shores but also indicate a labored method of naming places quite contrary to their custom of seizing upon some direct and obvious circumstance upon which to base their choice. In all the length and breadth of California few, if any, instances exist where the Spaniards invented a name produced from the Latin or Greek in this far-fetched way. They saw a big bird, so they named the river where they saw it El Rio del Pdjaro (the River of the Bird), or they suffered from starvation in a certain canyon, so they called it La Canada del Hambre (the Canyon of Hunger), or they reached a place on a certain saint's day, and so they named it for that saint. They were practical men and their methods were simple.

In any case, since Mr. Hale has provided us with a more reasonable explanation, all such theories may be passed over as unworthy of consideration. While engaged in the study of Spanish literature, he w^as fortunate enough to run across a copy of an old novel, published in Toledo sometime between 1510 and 1521, in which the word California occurred as the name of a fabulous island, rich in minerals and precious stones, and said to be the home of a tribe of Amazons. This novel, entitled Las Sergas de Esplandidn (The Adventures of Esplandian), was written by the author, Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo, as a sequel r H E 1 R MEANING AN 1) R O iM A N C E to the famous novel of chivalry, Amadis of Gaul, of which he was the translator. The two works were printed in the same volume. Montalvo's romance, although of small literary value, had a considerable vogue among Spanish readers of the day, and that its pages were probably familiar to the early explorers in America is proved by the fact that Bernal Diaz, one of the companions of Cortes, often mentions the Amadis, to which the story of Esplandian was attached. The passage containing the name that has since become famous in all the high-ways and by-ways of the world runs as follows: ''Know that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California, very near to the terrestrial paradise, which was peopled by black women, without any men among them, for they were accustomed to live after the manner of Amazons. They were of strong and hardened bodies, of ardent courage and of great force. The island was the strongest in the world, from its steep rocks and great cliffs. Their arms were all of gold and so were the caparisons of the wild beasts they rode."

It was during the period when this no\Tl was at the height of its popularity that Cortes wrote

IS to the King of Spain concerning information he had of "an island of Amazons, or women only, abounding in pearls and gold, lying ten days journey from Colima." After having sent one expedition to explore the unknown waters in that direction, in 1535 or thereabout, an expedition that ended in disaster, he went himself and planted a colony at a point, probably La Paz, on the coast of Lower California. In his diary of this expedition, Bernal Diaz speaks of California as a ''bay," and it is probable that the name was first apphed to some definite point on the coast, afterward becoming the designation of the whole region. The name also occurs in Preciado's diary of Ulloa's voyage down the coast in 1539, making it reasonable to suppose that it was adopted in the period between 1535 and 1539, whether by Cortes or some other person can not be ascertained.

Bancroft expresses the opinion that the followers of Cortes may have used the name in derision, to express their disappointment in finding a desert, barren land in heu of the rich country of their expectations, but it seems far more in keeping with the sanguine nature of the Spaniards that their imaginations should lead them to draw a parallel between the rich island of the novel, with its treasures of gold and silver, and the new land, of whose wealth in pearls and precious metals some positive proof, as well as many exaggerated tales, had reached them.

An argument that seems to clinch the matter of the origin of the name is the extreme improbability that two difTerent persons, on opposite sides of the world, should have invented exactly the same word, at about the same period, especially such an unusual one as California.

As for the etymology of the word itself, it is as yet an unsolved problem. The suggestion that it is compounded of the Greek root y^a/f (beautiful), and the Latin fornix (vaulted arch), thus making its definition ''beautiful sky," may be the true explanation, but even if that be so, Cortes or his followers took it at second hand from Montalvo and wxre not its original inventors.

Professor George Davidson, in a monograph on the Origin and the Meaning of the Name California, states that incidental mention had been made as early as 1849 o^ the name as occurring in Montalvo's novel by George Ticknor, in his History of Spanish Literature, but Mr. Ticknor refers to it simply as literature, without any thought of connecting it with the name of the state. This connection was undoubtedly first thought of by Mr. Hale and was discussed in his paper read before the Historical Society of Massachusetts in 1862; therefore the honor of the discovery of the origin of the state's name must in justice be awarded to him. Professor Davidson, in an elaborate discussion of the possible etymology of the word, expresses the opinion that it may be a combination of two Greek words, kallos (beauty), and ornis (bird), in reference to the following passage in the book: "In this island are many griffins, which can be found in no other part of the world." Its etymology, however, is a matter for further investigation. The one fact that seems certain is its origin in the name of the fabulous island of the novel.

It may well sufiice for the fortunate heritors of the splendid principality now known as California that this charming name became afiixed to it permanently, rather than the less '^tuneful" one of New Albion^ which Sir Francis Drake applied to it, and under which cognomen it appears on some English maps of the date.

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IN AND ABOUT SAN DIEGO

Like many other places in California, San Diego (St. James), has had more than one christening. The first was at the hands of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who discovered the harbor in 1542, and named it San Miguel (St. Michael). Cabrillo was a Portuguese in the Spanish service, who was sent to explore the coast in 1542 by Viceroy Mendoza. "He sailed from Natividad with two vessels, made a careful survey, applied names that for the most part have not been retained, and described the coast somewhat accurately as far as Monterey. He discovered 'a land-locked and very good harbor,' probably San Diego, which he named San Miguel. 'The next day he sent a boat farther into the port, which was large. A very great gale blew from the west-southwest, and southsouthwest, but the port being good, they felt nothing.' On the return from the north the party stopped at La Posesion, where Cabrillo died on January third, from the effects of a fall and exposure. No traces of his last resting-place, almost certainly on San Miguel near Cuyler's harbor, have been found; and the drifting sands have perhaps made such a discovery doubtful. To this bold mariner, the first to discover her coasts, if to any one, California may with propriety erect a monument." — (Bancroft's History of California.)

Then, in 1602, came Sebastian Vizcaino, who changed the name from San Miguel to San Diego. He was "sent to make the discovery and demarcation of the ports and bays of the Southern Sea (Pacific Ocean)," and to occupy for Spain the California isles, as they were then thought to be. From the diary of Vizcaino's voyage we get the following account of his arrival at San Diego: ''The next day, Sunday, the tenth of the said month (November), we arrived at a port, the best that there can be in all the Southern Sea, for, besides being guarded from all winds, and having a good bottom, it is in latitude 2)^yi. It has very good water and wood, many fish of all sorts, of which we caught a great many with the net and

THEIR MEANINC; AND ROMANCE hooks. There is good hunting of rabbits, hares, deer, and many large quail, ducks and other birds. On the twelfth of the said month, which was the day of the glorious San Diego, the admiral, the priests, the officers, and almost all the people, went on shore. A hut was built, thus enabling the feast of the Sefior San Diego to be celebrated." A party sent out to get wood "saw upon a hill a band of loo Indians, with bows and arrows, and many feathers upon their heads, and with a great shouting they called out to us." By a bestowal of presents, friendly relations were established. The account continues: ''They had pots in which they cooked their food, and the Indian women were dressed in the skins of animals. The name of San Diego was given to this port." Thus, it was the bay that first received the name, years afterwards given to the mission, then to the town. During the stay of Vizcaino's party the Indians came often to their camp with marten skins and other articles. On November 20, having taken on food and water, the party set sail, the Indians shouting a vociferous farewell from the beach {qiiedaban en la pi ay a ^ dando boces.)

A long period of neglect of more than i6o years then ensued. The Indians continued to carry on their wretched hand-to-mouth existence, trapping wild beasts for their food and scanty clothing, fishing in the teeming streams, and keeping up their constant inter-tribal quarrels unmolested by the white man. Several generations grew up and passed away without a reminder of the strange people who had once been seen upon their shores, except perhaps an occasional white sail of some Philippine galleon seen flitting like a ghost on its southward trip along the coast.

Then the Spaniards, alarmed by reports of the encroachments of the Russians on the north, waked up from their long sleep, and determined to establish a chain of missions along the California coast. Father Junipero Serra was appointed president of these missions, and the first one of the chain was founded by him at San Diego in 1769. The name was originally applied to the ''Old Town," some distance from the present city. The founding party encountered great difficulties, partly through their fearful sufferings from scurvy, and partly from the turbulent and thievish nature of the Indians in that vicinity, with whom they had several hvely fights, and who stole everything they could lay their hands on, even to the sheets from the beds of the sick. During one of these attacks, the mission buildings were burned and one of the padres, Fray Luis Jaime, suffered a cruel death, but all difficulties were finally overcome by the strong hand of Father Serra, and the mission was placed on a firm basis. Its partially ruined buildings still remain at a place about six miles from the present city.

To return to the matter of the name, San Diego is doubly rich in possessing two titular saints, the bay having been undoubtedly named by Viscamo in honor of St. James, the patron saint of Spain, whereas the town takes its name from the mission, which perpetuates the memory of a canonized Spanish monk, San Diego de Alcala. The story of St. James, the patron of Spain, runs as follows: ''As one of Christ's disciples, a nobleman's son who chose to abandon his wealth and follow Jesus, he was persecuted by the Jews, and finally beheaded. When dragged before Herod Agrippa, his gentleness touched the soul of one of his tormentors, who begged to die with him.

James gave him a kiss, saying 'Pax Vohiscum^ (peace be with you), and from this arose the kiss of peace which has been used in the church since that time. The legend has it that his body was conducted by angels to Spain, where a magnificent church was built for its reception, and that his spirit returned to earth and took an active part in the mihtary affairs of the country. He was said to have appeared at the head of the Spanish armies on thirty-eight different occasions, most notably in 939, when King Ramirez determined not to submit longer to the tribute of one hundred virgins annually paid to the Moors, and defied them to a battle. After the Spaniards had suffered one repulse, the spirit of St. James appeared at their head on a milk-white charger, and led them to a victory in which sixty thousand Moors were left dead on the field. From that day 'Santiago!' has been the Spanish war-cry." — (From Clara Erskine Clement's Stories of the Saints.)

It happens, rather curiously, that in the Spanish language St. James appears under several different forms, Santiago, San Diego and San Tiago. The immediate patron of our southernmost city, San Diego de A! cat a, was a humble Capuchin

THEIR IM E A N T N G AND ROMANCE brother in a monastery of Alcala. It is said that the infante Don Carlos was healed of a severe wound through the intercession of this saint, and that on this account Philip II promoted his canonization.

May the spirit of the ''glorious San Diego" shed some of his tender humanity upon the city of which he is the protector!

CORONADO BEACH

Coronado Beach, the long spit of land forming the outer shore of the harbor of San Diego, ''derived its name from the Coronado Islands near it. These islands were originally named by the Spaniards in honor of Coronado. When the improvement of the sand spit opposite San Diego City and facing the Coronado Islands was made in 1885, the name of Coronado Beach was bestowed upon it."— (Charles B. Turrill, San Francisco.)

In all the history of Spain in western America there is nothing more romantic than the story of the famous explorer, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, who, with the dehghtful childhke faith of his race, marched through Texas and Kansas in search of the fabulous city of Gran Quivira, ''where every one had his dishes made of wrought plate, and the jugs and bowls were of gold," and then marched back again! Imagine our hardheaded Puritan ancestors setting forth on such a quest !

SAN LUIS REY

San Luis Rey de Francia (St. Louis King of France), is the name of the mission situated in a charming httle valley about forty miles north of San Diego and three miles from the sea. It was founded June 13, 1798, by Padres Lasuen, Santiago and Peyri, and its ruins may still be seen upon the spot. A partial restoration has been made of these buildings and they are now used by the Franciscans. The exact circumstances of its naming have not come to light, but we know of its patron saint that his holiness was such that even Voltaire said of him: ''It is scarcely given to man to push virtue further." Born at Poissy in 1 2 15, the son of Louis VIII and Blanche of

THEIR MKANINC; AND ROMANCE

Castile, he became noted for his sainthness, and twice led an army of Crusaders in the "holy war."

PALA

Pala, often misspelled palo, through an accidental resemblance to the Spanish word palo (stick or tree), is situated some fifteen miles or more to the northeast of San Luis Rey, and is the site of the sub-mission of San Antonio de Pala, founded in 1816 by Padre Peyri as a branch of San Luis Rey. This mission was unique in having a bell-tower built apart from the church, and many romantic stories have been told about the ''bells of Pala." It was located in the center of a populous Indian community, and it happens, rather curiously, that the word itself has a significance both in Spanish and Indian, meaning in Spanish ''spade" and in Indian "w^ater." The Reverend George Doyle, pastor at the mission of San Antonio de Pala, wTites the following in regard to this name: "The word 'Pala' is an Indian word, meaning, in the Cupanian Mission Indian language, 'water,' probably due to the

2>^ fact that the San Luis Rey River passes through it. The proper title of the mission chapel here is San Antonio de Padua, but as there is another San Antonio de Padua mission chapel in the north, to distinguish between the two some one in the misty past changed the proper title of the Saint, and so we have 'de Pala' instead of 'de Padua.' Some writers say Pala is Spanish, but this is not true, for the little valley in no way resembles a spade, and the Palanian Indians were here long before the Franciscan padres brought civilization, Christianity and the Spanish language."

Pala, in this case, is almost certainly Indian, and originates in a legend of the Luisenos. According to this legend, one of the natives of the Temecula tribe went forth on his travels, stopping at many places and giving names to them. One of these places was a canyon, "where he drank water and called it pala, water." — {The Religion of the Luiseno Indians, by Constance Goddard Dubois, in the Univ. of Cal. Publ. of Arch, and Tech.)

T H E I R JVl E A N 1 N G A N I) R O M A N C i:

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

San Juan Capistrano (St. John Capistrano), was at one time sadly mutilated by having its first part clipped off, appearing on the map as Capistrano, but upon representations made by Zoeth S. Eldredge it was restored to its full form by the Post Office Department. A mission was founded at this place, which is near the coast about halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles, by Padres Serra and Amurrio, November i, 1776, the year of our own glorious memory. While on the other side of the continent bloody war raged, under the sunny skies of California the gentle padres were raising altars to the "Man of Peace."

The buildings at this place were badly wrecked by an earthquake on December 8, 181 2, yet the ruins still remain to attest to the fact that this was at one time regarded as the finest of all the mission structures.

Its patron saint, St. John Capistrano, was a Franciscan friar who lived at the time of the crusades, and took part in them. A colossal statue of him adorns the exterior of the Cathedral at

Vienna. It represents him as having a Turk under his feet, a standard in one hand, and a cross in the other.

There remain some names in the San Diego group of less importance, yet possessing many points of interest, which will be included in the following list, with an explanation of their meanings, and their history wherever it has been possible to ascertain it.

Agua Tibia (warm water, warm springs), is in San Diego County. For some reason difhcult to divine, this perfectly simple name has been the cause of great confusion in the minds of a number of writers. In one case the almost incredibly absurd translation ''shinbone water" has been given. It may be thought that this was intended as a bit of humor, but it is greatly to be feared that the writer mixed up the Spanish word tibia, which simply means ''tepid, warm," with the Latin name of one of the bones of the lower leg, the tibia. In another case the equally absurd

ARCHWAY AT CAPISTRAXO. 'At one lime regarded as the finest of all ihe mission slrucUircs."