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La Vereda del Monte

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La Vereda del Monte (Spanish for "The Mountain Trail") was a backcountry route through remote regions of the Diablo Range, one of the California Coast Ranges.[1][2] La Vereda del Monte was the upper part of La Vereda Caballo, (Spanish for "The Horse Trail"), used by mesteñeros from the early 1840s to drive Alta California horses to Sonora for sale.[3]: 404 

From its northern beginning at Point of Timber[4] on the Sacramento River Delta near modern-day Brentwood, the trail traveled south to the Livermore Valley. It passed nearby east of Alisal (now part of Pleasanton, California) up into the mountains on Crane Ridge,[5] then continued south through the San Antonio Valley onto the rugged backcountry divide of the Diablo Range, traversing what is now Henry Coe State Park and crossing Pacheco Pass.[1] It continued southward to a mountain ranch on Cantua Creek where mustangs and stolen horses were gathered by Joaquin Murrieta's horse gang before they drove them down the rest of La Vereda Caballo to Sonora for sale.[3]: 399–468 

At Poso de Chane east of present-day Coalinga, La Vereda del Monte linked to other roads and trails of La Vereda Caballo such as El Camino Viejo, or another across the valley to the east to the Kern River and Kern Lake, then through Old Tejon Pass, south through Southern California across Antelope Valley and east along the foot of north side of the San Gabriel Mountains before crossing to a spot near Rancho Cucamonga. From there the drove went by various routes, depending on available water, to cross the Colorado Desert into Baja California and the crossings of the Colorado River into what was then Sonora (before the Gadsden Purchase), then across the Sonoran Desert on the Camino del Diablo to Caborca and south into Sonora where the horses were sold.[2]: 27–28 [3]: 399–401 

La Vereda del Monte was used by mesteñeros and horse thieves most notably by Joaquin Murrieta's Five Joaquins Gang as a route for driving mustangs and stolen horses from Contra Costa County and the upper Central Valley southward toward Mexico, unobserved by authorities.[3] Murrieta was reportedly killed by California Rangers at the Arroyo de Cantua, after they had found and followed the Vereda to his gathering place there on the trail where he and his gang held and organized their horse herd for the drive to Sonora.[1]

Stations Along The Route Of La Vereda del Monte

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Ron Erskine (5 March 2004). "Joaquin Murrieta slept here". Morgan Hill Times. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  2. ^ a b John Boessenecker (1998). Lawman: The Life and Times of Harry Morse, 1835-1912. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. pp. 26–28.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Frank F. Latta, JOAQUIN MURRIETA AND HIS HORSE GANGS, Bear State Books, Santa Cruz, California. 1980.
  4. ^ William Mero. "Bandits, Brentwood, and the Wild Frontier". Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 24 Oct 2016.
  5. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Crane Ridge
  6. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Kellogg Creek
  7. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Brushy Peak
  8. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mud Springs
  9. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Castle Rock
  10. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Blackbird Valley
  11. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mount Mocho
  12. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lone Tree Creek
  13. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Hospital Canyon
  14. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Kern Canyon
  15. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Ingram Canyon
  16. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Adobe Canyon
  17. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mississippi Creek
  18. ^ Henry Coe State Park – Backpacking into the Orestimba Wilderness by Richard Perkins from richard-rowland-perkins.com accessed 12/06/2108. See mention in the hiking journal of the author of Mississippi Lake and Dam in Day 2 and Day 4 where he visited it. See also the included topographic map for Day 4 travel.
  19. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Paradise Flat
  20. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mustang Flat
  21. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mustang Peak
  22. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Fifield Ranch
  23. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Bullhead Canyon
  24. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Frenchs Flat
  25. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Quien Sabe Valley
  26. ^ Hoover, Mildred B., et al. Historic Spots in California. 3rd edition. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1966.
  27. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mercey Hot Springs
  28. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Griswold Creek
  29. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lillis Ranch
  30. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Joaquin Ridge
  31. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Joaquin Rocks
  32. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Joaquin Spring

Further reading

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  • Frank F. Latta, JOAQUIN MURRIETA AND HIS HORSE GANGS, Bear State Books, Santa Cruz, California. 1980. xv,685 pages. Illustrated with numerous photos. Index. Photographic front endpapers. Latta devoted chapter eight of this work to the Vereda del Monte.