Camp Salvation

Earthquake Rocks Calexico!

In truth, this is about the rare occurrence of a landmark being relocated, and since the April 10, 2010 quake moved all of Calexico 31 inches, it seems like a natural transition….and a way to use a very cool movie stock photo.

      July 1993 

      October 2003

Crossing Imperial County – Stop #5

From Fort Pacheco it’s east on

Worthington Road

, then south on Highway 86 through El Centro (land of Cher) to interstate 8 east, then south on Highway 111.

Highway 111 runs through the heart of Calexico just like it runs through the heart of Palm Springs. From interstate 10 near Whitewater to the international border at Calexico, highway 111 takes in about everything the Colorado Desert has to offer, yet it’s doubtful the entire 129 mile stretch is ever driven as a whole by a single driver.   

From the album booklet:

Actually the plaque has been moved sometime since the first visit here 1993 due to the construction of the new Calexico City Hall and the GPS coordinates show the new location which is now at the NE corner of Fifth and Heber. 

It wasn't much of a camp in reality and lasted only a matter of months but it must have been a welcomed sight for the '49er's with their small 6' x 9' wagons after the long haul from Yuma.  As the emigrants got closer to Camp Salvation, one could envision their imaginations going wild with the pleasures that awaited them.  

West Point graduate Cave Johnson Couts moved on to bigger things, married Ysidora Bandini, purchased the San Marcos, Buena Vista, and La Jolla ranchos, and was even known to have hosted Helen Hunt Jackson while she was collecting material for the epic 'Ramona.' He was born near Springfield, Tennessee, November 11, 1821 and died at the Horton House, in San Diego, June 10 1874.

Plaque Inscription: No. 808 CAMP SALVATION Here, on September 23, 1849, Lieut. Cave J. Couts, Escort Commander, International Boundary Commission, established Camp Salvation. From September till the first of December 1849, it served as a refugee center for distressed emigrants attempting to reach the gold fields over the Southern Emigrant Trail.

Location: Rockwood Plaza,

Sixth Street East

at Heber Ave, Calexico*

Google maps: 32.670879,-115.49351

Camp Salvation is 23 miles from Fort Pacheco

67 miles into the trip (not counting travel to the first landmark) and you’re feelin; pretty good. Well, get something to eat here and grab some snacks for this is it for convenient gas, food, and lodging till Yuma.

Here’s a link to a video sample of the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8c_N1PVrnw

Fire up the mandocello.

CAMP SALVATION

In the summer of '49, we left St. Jo Missouri

Wagons loaded 6 x 9, for the gold fields we'll find surely

The wagon master he did say, "Folks I'd better warn 'ya

It's the Southern route were gonna take, on the trail to California”

Chorus -

The heat could melt the devil's heart, cause a drover's blood to boil

I curse the day we made our start, across this sandy soil

Wagon wheels a-turnin' slow, the worst place in creation

We still have 20 (10 etc.) miles to go, to reach old Camp Salvation

Pleasures few and hardships great, on the Southern Emigrant Trail

But it surely beats the Donner's fate; we're determined not to fail

Many have tried to cross these dunes, and many a traveler died

Hungry eyes stared at the moon, and wondered why they tried

Now Lt. Couts is a brave young man, he's built a camp so fine

The fish will jump right in your pan, and the water tastes like wine

Fresh horses, mules and oxen too, can all be had for free

And they all ask what they can do, for a weary refugee

When we arrived we were surprised, it weren't like expectations

Just some soldiers left aside, from the Whipple expedition

But water's there and we're refreshed, this place we'll soon abandon

We passed the desert's cruelest test, now it's on to old Box Canyon

Chorus 2 -

The heat could melt the devil's heart, cause a drover's blood to boil

But I bless the day we made our start, across that sandy soil

Wagon wheels are turning nigh, to a gold field destination

Now it's time to say goodbye, to good old Camp Salvation

Fort Pacheco

Crossing Imperial County – Stop #4

One could speculate that photographing landmark plaques could get a little redundant, and admittedly it does. That said, every now and then one simply comes off as photogenic, a supermodel of stone and casting. Well, at the top of the 20 year heap of film and flash drives and sitting like Heidi Klum above the masses, rests the south facing Fort Pacheco plaque. Or maybe it was just good lighting. One thing for sure, it was a bear to find without GPS. The third try was a charm after sloshing about following the New River and it’s questionable purity looking for the marker on the west bank. After taking a step back and thinking, ‘If I was building a fort and wanted to look around and see things like they did over at Fort Yuma, where would I put it?’ With that in mind, it was found easily. It’s a hundred yards or so from any parking and by facing to the south, away from the road and showing the wooden remnants of the fort that lay behind it, there’s a reduced chance of random vandalism. So, with a fence surrounding the remnants of the fort’s site and no funding to rebuild the landmark stands….too poor to paint, too proud to whitewash

Dr. Dan Krieger writes:

Pacheco died defending the widely despised centralist Mexican governor of California, Manuel Victoria, at the First Battle of Cahuenga Pass in 1831. His widow, Romania Charily Pacheco Wilson was given the Rancho Sue land grant stretch more than twenty miles along the San Luis Obispo-Santa Barbara County line by Governor Alvarado. She married Captain John Wilson, a Scot Sea captain from the China trade whose ship, the Ayachuco is praised by Dana in Two Years Before the Mast. Wilson raised Pacheco's sons. Jose Antonio Romualdo Pacheco Jr. became the only California governor of Mexican American descent in the American period, serving a little under a year's term in 1875.

Plaque Inscription: No. 944

SITE OF FORT ROMUALDO PACHECO In 1774, Spain opened an overland route from Sonora to California but it was closed by Yuma Indians in 1781. In 1822, Mexico attempted to reopen this route. Lt. Romualdo Pacheco and soldiers built an adobe fort at this site in 1825-26, the only Mexican fort in Alta California. On April 26, 1826, Kumeyaay Indians attacked the fort, killing three soldiers and wounding three others. Pacheco abandoned the fort, removing soldiers to San Diego

Location: West bank of New River, South of Worthington Road, 6-1/2 miles due West of City of Imperial.  Go .25 miles West of New River and turn South on dirt road and look for fenced area.  Plaque on South end.

Google maps: 32.847356,-115.682806

Fort Pacheco is 12 miles from Yuha Well

Frankly, the weakest lyric on the album but the passing riff and melody will likely be recycled some day.

FORT PACHECO

As one travels the Imperial Valley

A drive through the vast desert floor

It’s easy to pass by the history

And not know the battles before

On the western bank of New River

A little south of

Worthington Road

A landmark tells of a fuerte

A place they called Fort Pacheco

Lets take a trip back in history

To the year of 1825

The land and people were hostile

It was all you could do to survive

Who were these souls that lived here in history

From San Diego’s old presidio

Only Mexican fort in alta California

It’s certain that we’ll never know

Though the battle was won it was futile

Too distant a fort to defend

This was a canyon they were to abandon

Never to come back again

Yuha Well

Crossing Imperial County – Stop #3

Heading east, down the pass and out of the Jacumba Mountains, the wonderbar brings up KXO’s oldies out of El Centro at 1230 on the dial. Mmmm, tube radio, front and rear speakers…it can’t get any better. Actually the Delco trademark, ‘Wonderbar’ came along later, but the 1951 Cadillac was the first year any car had a station seeking mechanism.  All you had to do was press a button, and the radio would tune and stop at the next station.  There’s a spring motor to move what they called the ‘tuning slugs’, and when it got to the top of the dial, a giant electromagnet would pull it all back down. A detector circuit senses the radio signal, and a relay would drop out.  The relay had a mechanical pawl (like an extension ladder) which would stop the gear train, and the radio would be tuned to whatever station was next on the dial. This masterpiece of a  radio from Delco engineering weighed about the same as Fiat Topolino from the same year. To hear this Rube Goldberg device literally march up the dial and settle in on next station was often better than listening to the station it found.   

Going to the Yuha Well presents the dilemma of practicality over nobility; for the landmark and the site aren’t in the same place. Since the Cadillac is not fond of the open sandy desert surrounding the well site and time it would take to reach the site, the landmark at the rest area is chosen for the official count. Besides, it’s a rest area, and the importance of restrooms on trips like these cannot be overstated. We’re in the middle of the Yuha Desert above the Yuha buttes, Yuha wash, and Yuha Basin, so why the rest area is named ‘Sunbeam Rest Area’ is confounding.

From the album booklet:

Had it not been for the Yuha wells, the de Anza expedition of 1774 may well have ended in disaster. The actual well site is nearby in the open desert, but accessible only by four-wheel drive. 

The first Anza expedition had 21 soldiers, 5 mule packers, 1 interpreter, a carpenter and 2 personal servants. It also included a courier, 2 Franciscan friars and Sebastian Tarabal, a Baja California Indian who had just walked to Sonora from Mission San Gabriel (near Los Angles) in California. Juan Bautista de Anza did not travel light. 

A common test when water was found was to have an animal drink first and wait and see what happens

Plaque Inscription: No. 1008 YUHA WELL

Known as Santa Rosa de Las Lajas (Flat Rocks), this site was used on March 8, 1774 by the Anza Exploring Expedition, opening the land route from Sonora, Mexico, to Alta California. On December 11 to 15, 1775, the three divisions of Anza's colonizing expedition used this first good watering spot beyond the Colorado River on the way from Sonora to San Francisco.

Location: Eastbound Sunbeam Roadside Rest Area, between Drew and Forrester Roads (P.M. R31.3), on I-8 near Seeley

Google maps:  32.773437,-115.670649

Yuha Well is 32 miles from Desert Tower

Here’s a link to a video sample of the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7WLVuAi93g

‘Yuha Well’ is intended as a call and response song for kids and after a little set up discussion over a De Anza photo,  the kids say YaHoo! every time the singer says ‘Yuha’….lotsa fun. .

YUHA WELL

Chorus - Yuha, Yuha, we're going to the Yuha well. (2x)

Juan Bautista de Anza, over 200 years ago

Ran the first expedition, first to the Yuha well

Juan Bautista de Anza, in 1774

Named this place in the Valley, Santa Rosa de las Lejas

Chorus

Many sources in the desert, had water unsafe to use

So there was a test they used to make, from an animal’s point of view

Take a horse a mule or oxen, when you reached an untested well

And at the uncertain water, and let him drink his fill

You'd wait for 24 hours, to see if the animal fell

If the critter kept his health, you knew you had a good well

Desert Tower

Crossing Imperial County – Stop #2

This is the poster child for authentic roadside attractions.

From the album booklet:

Sometime between 1910 -1920 Bert Vaughn moved to and became the owner of the town of Jacumba, and built a small train depot there in 1919. With financial ties to San Diego and El Centro he knew the possibilities of improved transportation between the two locations. Most accounts say it took Bert Vaughn seven years to actually complete Desert Tower. Not long after it appears he moved to San Diego and according to genealogical records lived to the ripe old age of ninety-seven.

The Mountain Springs and Desert Tower landmark plaques are in the same spot and two for one is a good way to start. A tour of the tower is three dollars and outside kids love to play on the rock sculptures. Desert Tower can be easily seen before the turn off if going west.

Plaque Inscription: State Historical Landmark No. 939 Desert Tower

Bert Vaughn of Jacumba built the stone tower in 1922-23 to commemorate the pioneers and road and railroad builders who opened the area. In the 1930s W.T. Ratcliffe carved the stone animal figures which lurk in the rocks surrounding the tower, creating a fantasy world of surprise and strange beauty. This remarkable sculptural assemblage is one of California's exceptional folk art environments.

Location: On Old Hwy 80, 1 mile North of I-8 and

In-Ko-Pah Park Road

interchange, 7.0 miles NE of Jacumba

Google Maps: 32.659103,-116.10034

After a long gaze out from the tower past the Davies Valley to the Yuha Buttes and the next stop, the gravel crunches as the Cadillac slowly pulls out of the parking lot and doubles back on the access road to the I-8 and on to the Yuha Well.

Here’s a link to a video sample of the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj-xFgeV5Hw

DESERT TOWER

He's gonna build a tower, he's gonna make it out of stone

4 stories tall, for the rest of us all,

Let the legend and the story be known

High in the Jacumba mountains, where time doesn't know the hour

Bert Vaughn had a vision, said, "It's my decision"

To build a gigantic tower

It's gonna take devotion, it's gonna take seven years

Cement rock and stone, he'll go it alone

With nothing but the wind in his ears

For the men that built the roadway, for the men of the railroad too

For progress and change, through this rugged mountain range

Here's my tower, my tribute to you

Burt Vaughn came out from West Virginia, born back in '79

Began the tower anew in 1922

Finished in '28 on time

As the story goes he was a loner, moved to San Diego when through

Blood sweat and tears, he lived 97 years

Livin' the way he wanted to

Over 70 feet it rises, to reach in the mountain sky blue

It's 57 steps to the hurricane deck

With Mexico and the desert in view

When the sun sets beyond the ridgeline,

 think of the days past and gone

The tower lights from afar look like a rising star

And say 'Thanks' to Herbert L. Vaughn

Mountain Springs Station

Crossing Imperial County

Stop #1 - Mountain Springs Station

Beginning this trip from San Diego is pretty simple, just hop on interstate 8 and head east till you reach the county line. However, the Cadillac is coming down from the Salton Sea, so use of a little backtracking and side roads is in order. Taking S6 south from Westmoreland and hanging a right on

Imler Road

so as to sweep by the Naval Aerial Gunnery Range in hopes of seeing the rockets red glare and bombs…etc. Then a right on S80, the road they used before the interstate to get the full effect of local flavors. First stop if it were still there would be the Wind n’ Sand Café at S80 and

Brown Road

, the body double of Chuck Yeager’s hangout in The Right Stuff. Then it’s on to Plaster City, so named for gypsum and the wallboard that comes from the plant there. It’s a company owned town but mostly known by off roaders for the open areas east and west that they share with Navy practice bombing targets.

From the Cadillac in this environment it isn’t hard to imagine rolling up to Rosewell, and combing the desert night for aliens with the factory spotlight. Something happens in gripping the spotlight’s handle, a flushing sense of power and control as the TV themes from ‘Highway Patrol’ and ‘Dragnet’ play in the mind. Time to move on though and join up with the interstate at Ocotillo and head up the pass.   

Though Mountain Springs Station didn't last long it was an important part of the necessary eastward trail from San Diego, a city lagging behind Los Angeles in establishing land routes. It appears that Peter Larkin was the landowner and Joe Stancliff was his partner with the oxen teams that assisted the wagons.  Eventually a new road was cut and eased the steep grade and remained in use as part of Hwy 80 until Interstate 8 was completed. One anonymous quote of conditions prior to the civil war:  "Only the courageous or the desperate attempt to cross the mountains between San Diego and the Colorado River."

Plaque Instription: No. 194 MOUNTAIN SPRINGS STATION In 1862-70, about a mile north of here Peter Larkin and Joe Stancliff used a stone house as a store from which ox teams pulled wagons up a 30% grade. The San Diego and Fort Yuma Turnpike Co. used the site as a toll road station until 1876. The crumbling house was replaced in 1917 by another still visible to its east. But road changes, beginning in 1878 and culminating in today's highway, have left the older stone house ruins inaccessible.

Location: Site is 200 ft West of westbound lane, I-8 (P.M. 2.3), just North of Mountain Springs Road, 2.3 miles East of county line, Mountain Springs. Plaque is located adjacent to Desert View Tower, approximately 100 yards distant from the Desert View Tower landmark plaque.

Google maps: 32.658968,-116.099738

The story line for Pete Larkin and the station came to mind one day while running as well as the concept to have spoken rather than sung verses.

Here’s a link to a video sample of the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSP9URSHOIM

MOUNTAIN SPRINGS STATION

Now the trail east from San Diego is a mighty tough road you see

It wiggled and strayed San Antonio way, back in 1863

There's lizards and snakes and for goodness sakes,

all  kinds of things reptilian

If you make it through, be proud of you, you're a pioneer Californian

Chorus-

When you reach the top, plan to stop, at Pete Larkin's creation

Have a drink at the well and rest a spell, at Mountain Springs Station

You'll come to a grade that's the steepest made,

some say it's over 30 degree

And the shade you're in it's a 110, that is if you can find a tree.

In the winter it snows and the wind it blows,

enough to make your britches freeze

And the reins go stiff and the brakes do slip,

and the oxen huff and sneeze.

There's a clear blue sky and apple pie, and Pete'll tell a story or two

About the local folk and a couple of jokes, there ain't much else to do

Before his stay there were earlier days, of the mule back postal trail

The city men would laugh and grin, and call the route 'Jackass Mail'

Pete's got supplies that'll please your eyes, all your good provisions

A traveler's dream here at the spring, but you have a bigger mission

You've come to know it's time to go, no time to sit and dally

No time to kill it's all downhill, unto the Imperial Valley

Landmarks of Imperial County

Seeing the 15 state landmarks that lay in Imperial County in a full day is not a difficult task, though it took me three trips and over 10 years to accomplish the same journey. Why? Well, not being very good at finding waypoints with area maps counts a lot, but the biggest change is that properly entered coordinates to a GPS device don’t muff things up very often and can bring you to within a meter or two of your destination…street name entries may not. So, hours lost wandering aimlessly in the desert or sloshing about in the New River are gone forever to a world of satellites and turn by turn directions. In this case the thrill is gone, and it’s a good thing.  

The ‘Landmarks of Imperial County’ album was the beginning of the concept to write and perform songs about California’s state historic landmarks, a financial path that has proven to make playing bluegrass on the accordion in a pizza parlor look lucrative, while being rewarding in other ways. The thinking was that since there had been some past success writing songs about  people, places, and events, rather that love lost and found, then selecting an area and writing a song about each landmark would make an interesting project. Research and developing the first few was a bit like making trips to the dentist, but in short order the process of bringing these stories yanked out of California history to song was something new to past personal songcraft. Using music and performing arts for history and social science…hmmm.

From the album booklet:

There are 15 California State Historic Landmarks in Imperial County; this is an imaginary eastbound tour in song, as they would appear through the valley. Though I've attempted to be historically accurate in researched detail with these songs, occasionally imagination takes over in an attempt to bring these places and events to life.

Here are the little devils; landmarks and songs:

#194 Mountain Springs Station  10-12-1997

#939 Desert Tower  10-12-1997

#1008 Yuha Well 10-4-2003 

#944 Fort Pacheco  10-12-1997

#808 Camp Salvation  7-5-1993

#1034 Tecolote Rancho  10-4-2003

#845 Old Plank Road

  7-5-1993

#985 Pilot Knob Boogie  7-1-1998

#182 Tumco Mine 7-5-1993, 10-4-2003 

#939 Driftwood Charley  10-4-2003

#193 Picacho Mine  7-1-1998

#568 Hernando de Alarcon  7-5-1993

#350 Misson Pursima Concepcion 7-5-1993

#921 Mission San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuner 7-5-1993

#806 Fort Yuma  7-5-1993 7-1 1998

The DeSoto is done, dealt to a doof in Duarte. Danka shane DeSoto. A new car has been in the works for some time and with restoration to a street driver complete; it rolls south to gather the landmarks of Imperial County with absolute authority, the pinnacle of post WWII American might.

It is the 1951 Cadillac Series 62 four door sedan. Dawn of the one piece windshield, 126 inch wheelbase fronted with Dagmar bumpers, and with something like 1000 ft.lb. of torque, it rolls past the Salton Sea. For the Korean effort, Cadillac, using these parts, and throwing on some armor and treads built the M-41Walker Bulldog light tank.

 
This car was originally black but received a new two tone paint scheme of International Harvester grey and FedEx white…..chosen for a perkier but understated look. Mmmm…she rides nice, and things like potholes  dips, and speed bumps are seen and passed over, but not heard or felt in this ‘Body by Fisher’ masterpiece.  

Let’s hop in the Caddy and get started.



The Mission Inn

Thank you, Frank Miller. For once there is the welcome shift to have a landmark that is a real destination attraction. Actual physical presence in the form of an architectural mosaic dedicated to one man’s dream of creating the ultimate Inn. If there was a four star rating system for California landmarks, the Mission Inn gets them all. Even the nooks and crannies have nooks and crannies….with tile work.     

Plaque inscription: NO. 761 MISSION INN - Frank A. Miller (1857-1935) made the adobe bricks for a small 12-room guest house that he opened in 1876. Over the years he added to the building to create this remarkable Mission Revival style building.
Location:

Mission Inn Avenue

between Main and Orange, Riverside. Google: 33.982767,-117.373198

This photo shows President Teddy Roosevelt replanting one of Eliza Tibbitts' two surviving parent orange tress at the Mission Inn. The story and song for the parent orange tree will be posted down the line.

In true Woody Guthrie fashion, the song ‘Mission Inn’ is a new lyric to a melody used before, in this case ‘Indian Wells’ and ‘Ramona’ are to the same tune. Heck, the words just fit nicely, so here’s hoping listeners don’t stray from their regional boundaries and discover this cross-pollination. The song is part of the album ‘Landmarks of the Inland Empire.’

Here’s a link to the video for ‘Mission Inn’:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AehesZ_OwqA


MISSION INN                       © Radio Flier Music

There is a magical place in Riverside
Where cares fade away and memories begin
Courtyard shadows shade the light
Come relax at the Mission Inn

From humble beginnings on this land
An early adobe for travelers grew
Now every pleasure’s at your command
See what the Mission Inn can do for you

Journey back to earlier days
When California was wild and new
A feast for the senses sure to amaze
Frank Miller’s dream is waiting for you

(Ch) Mission Inn, the gardens and fountains
Mission Inn, your home in the sun
Mission Inn, your oasis awaits you
Mission Inn, a new life begun

Where cares fade away and memories begin
Come relax at the Mission Inn

Corona Founders Monument

Tunnels under Corona, that’s an option they’re considering to relieve the congestion on the 91 freeway through this former lemon capitol of the world. Since such burrowing doesn’t address the inevitable junction with interstate 15, it would likely just provide more parking for hapless commuters. Oh well, out of sight, out of mind.

Back when the 91 was known as route 18, it was a casual highway for costal types to occasionally investigate the Inland Empire, winding through the canyon along Green River as the hills washed KRLA then KFWB from the radio. A quick strike on the Wonderbar (GM cars) brought in KFXM at 590 on the dial with the music and pulse of these curious natives. Then, crazed commercial hype of the merits of a Corona burger stand, yields a detour down

6^th street

to sample native cuisine and quite possibly the best chocolate malt in the world.

Self promotion here in the crown city goes back a long way to the great circle auto races held on

Grand Boulevard

nearly a hundred years ago. The purpose was to attract potential home buyers and investors by having Barney Oldfield’s ‘Old 999’ and other select Americans defend our honor against the French and their Peugeots and the Italians with their Alphas. Panning the old slide-shutter cameras recorded the duels of those cars with dirt and dust flying from the forward stretched wheels, defining pure speed.

When Corona was founded the concept of

Grand Boulevard

’s shape was to encircle homes and businesses with orchards and farms outside the perimeter. 

Plaque inscription: NO. 738 CORONA FOUNDERS MONUMENT - R. B. Taylor, George L. Joy, Samuel Merrill, A. S. Garretson, and Adolph Rimpau, after purchasing lands of La Sierra Rancho and El Temescal grant, founded the citrus colony and town of Corona on May 4, 1886.
Location: Corona City Park, 100 block of

6th St

(Hwy 71), Corona. Google maps: 33.874647,-117.555653

The call and response song Corona is on the Inland Empire album. There is no online video at this time.

CORONA                   © Radio Flier Music

Corona, Corona, Corona, Corona my home
Corona, Corona, Corona, Corona my home

First in the area - Native Americans
The Luiseno Indians – Corona my home

First called South Riverside – then they had a change of mind
To leave the name behind – for Corona my home

Called the circle city – and from the planting committee
Citrus trees made it pretty – Corona my home

Thank you Mr. Taylor – he was the town’s founder    
He made the town rounder – Corona my home

Is Spanish for crown – Hey what’s three miles around?
A circle on the ground – it’s

Grand Boulevard

Gonna have some races – invite all the aces
Attract a million faces – to Corona my home

Most famous in appeal – was Barney Oldfield
He was a real big wheel – to Corona my home

And this locale – it was the lemon capitol
There was no lemon cap at all – at Corona my home

So now you know the story – of the town and all its glory
And the moral of the story – make Corona your home

Corona, Corona, Corona, Corona my home
Corona, Corona, Corona, Corona my home

Butterfield Stage Station

The seventh in a series of nine landmarks of June 23, 1993, and through heat and hunger we press on, the morning balloon ride a distant memory. We’ve pulled away from the cluster of landmarks to the South, picking up speed we head to one of the Butterfield Stage stops that dotted the California landscape thinking that maybe they’ve turned it into a quant restaurant where lunch was waiting. No such luck, just a ‘historical landmark’ road sign pointing to a small rock with a smaller plaque and after a photo, we press on like weary stage passengers wrought with thirst and scurvy hoping for relief as the DeSoto develops a ticking sound and a light wisp of smoke begins to stream from the tailpipe. Just when things could not be worse, an oasis of a farmer’s market and fruit stand appears from nowhere on the right, saving the day with sodas and sandwiches.

An earlier post dealt with the Butterfield mail route, however this site is one of several landmarks in the state that were Butterfield stage stations.

Plaque inscription: NO. 188 BUTTERFIELD STAGE STATION - Site of Butterfield Stage Station where mail was delivered and horses changed. The first stage carrying overland mail left Tipton, Missouri on September 15, 1858 and, passing through Temescal, arrived in Los Angeles October 7, 1858.
Location:

20730 Temescal Canyon Rd

, 7 mi S of Corona. Google maps: 33.811495,-117.504991

Here’s a link to a video sample of the song ‘Butterfield Stage’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRUY91za0vk

BUTTERFIELD STAGE                   © Radio Flier Music

Ch) Ride the Butterfield stage, a Concord Coach so well made

Tipton Missouri to San Francisco bay, on the Butterfield Overland stage

Its 24 days to get there, conditions are hostile

Pleasures few, as you pass through, for 2900 miles

You’ll be a fine passenger; you’re looking fit and smart

A few supplies that we advise, before the stage departs

You’ll need a rifle for the journey, and bring along a pistol too

And to save your life, a bowie knife, keep your money in your boot

Make sure those boots are sturdy, there’s snakes and mud and rocks

To be prepared a half dozen pair, of heavy woolen socks

Bring three woolen overshirts, and a well-made woolen pant

Six undershirts, woolen drawers won’t hurt, and a broad wide-awake hat

You need gauntlet gloves and a cheap sack coat, and a rubber poncho too

And a greatcoat, no lightweight coat, or the chill will turn you blue

And blankets are essential; you must bring two or three

We’re not done the list goes on, let’s talk about toiletries

Four towels, a sponge, and hairbrush, and soap I hate to nag

A comb completes, arrange them neat, packed in a oil-silk bag

A repair kit is a useful, as every traveler knows

Needles and pins and thread in a tin, for occasional bullet holes

Son of a gun we’re almost done, just a few things to include

Besides clothes and gear in this frontier, we got to talk about food

It’s a mail route you’re along for the ride, that’s just the way things be

We’ll feed woman and man when we can, but we cannot guarantee

Bring a private larder of crackers, some cheese and canned sardines

To accent and supplement, lean fare from the company

And there’s water to think about, besides the day’s cuisine

The water may be bad when it can be had, bring along your own canteen

Aside from beef and biscuit, there’s a little thing about sleep

We change horses and crew and coaches too, but you’ll arrive in a heap

Painted Rock

Sixth in a series of nine landmarks seen on June 23, 1993 in Riverside County, pictographs on the road to a county dump.

Way back in the 1930’s the party responsible for state recognition of Painted Rock was the Woman’s Improvement Club of Corona, and it’s interesting to note they’re still going strong with luncheons and teas and such out of a stunning Victorian gingerbread clubhouse on

Main Street

. Apparently, after tea one day they placed a tablet at the site and apparently some scallywags have since run off with it. These women appear to have had some influence with mapmakers as well back in the day for ‘Indian Pictographs Historical Marker,’ is one of those rare state landmarks that are plotted…as bait for scallywags.

Painted Rock was laying in the path of the coming Santa Fe railroad when discovered, so they moved the rails a tad and the rock was preserved. 

Them Rock Painters:               © Radio Flier Music

How bout them rock painters ain’t they sappy

Defacing Painted Rock seems to make them happy

Doin phony little pictographs of eagles and thrushes

Lurkin round the rock with their little paint brushes

Them hugger mugger rock tainters sneekin on they buns

Taintin the boulders of Luiseno Indi-uns

Wanna be a rock painter, I’ll explain it

Get a stone at home and buck up n’ paint it

The above lyric is actually stolen from ‘Them Joshua Tree Poems,’ part of an album on Joshua Tree National Park and can be seen as a video sample here:

From the Temescal Valley Times:
According to one reference work "Chief Lafio of Temecula said the painted rock was the work of the Temecula (Luiseño) Indians, perhaps telling of a three-day fiesta or a religious celebration. It may have been, however, a flood warning, since the San Jacinto River formerly flowed beside the rock and on it are four water signs similar to those found on other rocks listed in the report of the United States Bureau of Ethnography

Plague inscription: NO. 190 PAINTED ROCK - In tribute to the earliest record of any people in this region, the Santa Fe Railway has preserved this rock with its ancient pictograph, and the Committee of the Corona Women's Improvement Club has placed this tablet.
Location: From Temescal Canyon Rd, go 0.1 mi NE on Dawson Canyon Rd, then go 0.1 mi E on Gravel Pit Rd, then 0.2 mi S along railroad track berm, site is 50 ft W of berm, 7 mi S of Corona. Google maps: 33.783624,-117.483083