Early San Jacinto Inhabitants …
6,000 BCE +
It is widely accepted that aboriginal peoples have inhabited the San Jacinto Mountains for at least the last 10,000 years. The most widely known are the mountain and desert Cahuilla (and possibly Luiseño) Indians from surrounding valleys and foothills. The Cahuilla were integrated culturally and in every way with Nature and their environment. During this period, the environment was considerably cooler and more moist with several ancient lakes in the Mohave and Colorado Deserts. As the environment began to warm, smaller migrating bands occupied seasonal sites where animals, plants and water were plentiful. Mesquite, desert agave, screw-bean, acorns, desert agave / century plant were commonly used for food, clothing and shelter. As weather further warmed, tribal bands made pilgrimages further up and into the San Jacinto mountains to gather manzanita berries, pine nuts, sage, chia seeds, elderberries and wild strawberries. Many plants were used for medicinal purposes. The Cahuilla were also skilled game hunters of mule deer, bighorn sheep, antelope, rabbits, squirrels and other small rodents. The Cahuilla language is part of the Takic family of the Uto-Aztecan stock, the most common among all tribes of California and one of the oldest and largest—both in terms of extent of distribution across the Americas.
1,000 BCE through late1800’s ….
The Cahuilla were divided into at least a dozen independent clans who thrived by seasonal hunting and gathering in one of the most varied topographies and climates known to mankind. There were two main groups, or moieties: the Wildcats and Coyotes.
Cahuilla tribal populations ranged from 3,600 to at least 10,000 over hundreds of years, but bands were small. Families lived in a small structure called a kish made from locally sourced reeds, brush and other natural materials. A hovachat was a sweat-house constructed with similar materials, but located closest a water sources and used primarily by men. Membership in the clan was determined by the father and each clan had control over their own territory, which were frequently marked by designs carved into boulders or rock outcroppings.
As with all Native Americans, spiritual beliefs were strong along with the ceremonies accompanying coming of age, marriage and burials along with lunar and seasonal changes. Ceremonies were presided over by a clan leader known as the net.
The most famous, revered leader in recent history was Juan Antonio, born in the Anza area around 1783. He and his well armed Mountain Cahuilla guarded Rancho San Bernardino until it was sold to Mormon colonists in 1851. Juan Antonio retreated into San Timateo Canyon to guard against hostile incursions. One of his most famous acts was his tracking, capture and execution of eleven of the John Irving gang.
Many local Cahuilla worked on ranches in the foothills of the San Jacinto’s long after California became a state and the reservation was established as tribal land in January of 1852.
Early 1772
Captain Pedro Fages of the Catalonian Volunteer military of then “Spanish California” were the first Europeans to skirt the San Jacinto Mountain foothills.
March 10, 1774
Juan Bautista de Anza exploration cavalry reached what is now known as “Harper’s Well,” just a few miles east of Anza-Borrego State Park. After plentiful water and nourishment, they encountered numerous natives who “gyrated and chattered loudly,” which Anza perceived as resentment toward their presence. Anza referred to the natives as Jecuiches (Cahuilla as they are known today).
1816-1821
Rancho San Jacinto and Mission San Luis Rey were founded.
1821
The Mexican War of Independence gave Mexico (including California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained as a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico. The missions, which controlled most of the best land Alta California, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government.
Late 1820’s
Eight “ranchos” of Mission San Luis Rey had been established and herds of tens of thousands of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses and mules grazed the broad plains and ample mountain and spring-fed waters of the San Jacinto Valley. In a single year, Ranchos Temecula and San Jacinto alone produced more than 20,000 hides per year.
February 2, 1848
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed and the era of “Mexican California” came to an end.
Dec 20, 1851
Final battle of the Garra Revolt took place in Coyote Canyon. Countless tribal members were massacred and four Cahuilla subchiefs were forced to dig their own graves before being publicly executed on Christmas Day in 1851. This marked the final Native American resistance and the remaining Cahuilla retreated into the Santa Rosa Mountains.
January 5, 1852
Treaty of Temecula is signed by Luiseno and Cahuilla chiefs, effectively ending the conflict. Native people were forced to acknowledge the United States as “the sole and absolute sovereign power” of all territories ceded by Mexico to the U.S.
June 1852
California Senate rejects all Indian treaties.
1853
Lt. Robert S. Williamson’s Army Corp launched a Pacific Railroad Survey which ultimately found six (6) cross-country rail routes.
1875: Hall’s Grade Wagon Road
A 14-mile “San Jacinto Wagon Road” (a.k.a. “Hall’s Grade”) was established from near present-day Cabazon to Vista Grande as a Northern approach to the mountains. The first water-powered sawmill was established that (at its peak) removed 100,000 feet of lumber per day.
1876:
Rising steeply through Oak Cliff in the San Jacinto Riverbed, Joseph Crawford’s Strawberry Valley Toll Road was completed from Hemet.
1879-1906: Idyllwild’s “Great Lumber Era”
Amasa Saunders (1830-1902)
Anton Scherman (1845-1910)
George B. Hannahs (1856-1931) considered “The Father of Idyllwild”
January 27, 1887
The Lake Hemet Water Company and The Hemet Land Company were incorporated to build the dam and irrigation works required for the reservoir.
1889: Camp Idylwilde
George and Sarah Hannahs built summer camp next to the site of their sawmill in upper Dutch Flat; they named it Camp Idylwilde
Early 1891
The Mayberry Road (later known as “Keen Camp Road”) was constructed to haul materials and construction to the Hemet Dam project. This was a major improvement over Crawford’s steep road. This follows today’s Highway 74 from through Mountain Center to Lake Hemet.
1893
First local store and postal stop was established and first called “Rayneta”
November 1895
Hemet Dam was the highest masonry dam in the world at the time of its completion. At a height of over 122 feet, it remained the highest until the completion of Hoover Dam in 1935. It cost of $183,712 thanks to the ingenuity of Edward Mayberry.
September 1896
Naturalist John Muir accompanied trained forester Gifford Pinchot visited the San Jacintos, including Strawberry Valley, where extensive logging destruction had occurred. This resulted in an extensive report by the National Forest Commission which recommended protections, including two new national parks and thirteen new forest reserves.
February 22, 1897
Outraged by the National Forest Commission report, President Grover Cleveland signs executive order designating “The San Jacinto Forest Reserves” just days before leaving office. This inflamed local ranchers and civic leaders. It was the first time the Federal government acted to protect lands that did not originate in pressure from local or state community. Most of the San Jacinto Forest belt was held in private hands and, therefore, was unaffected by Cleveland’s action. Hundreds of thousands of feet of lumber continued to be removed from Idyllwild and the surrounding mountains until the last commercial lumber operation left Dark Canyon in 1922. Claudius Lee Emerson continued his “Idyllwild Lumber Company” to fuel the continuing town building boom. Ernie Maxwell, Idyllwild’s leading citizen and historian, was not pleased and founded the local Isaak Walton League chapter.
1899
Dr. Walter Lindley, a prominent Los Angeles physician who was backed by many local colleagues, founded the “California Health Resort Company.” The “Idyllwild Sanitorium” seeds were planted and plans were conceived.