EXPLORING THE HISTORY OF MT.
DIABLO
BY STEVE ELLIOTT
Steve Elliott is a docent at Mt.
Diablo State Park and an experienced tour guide.
Excited laughter and shouts of glee echo off the rocky outcrops of Mt. Diablo's Wind
Caves as kids scurry from one cave to the next, oblivious to the history
all around. Little do they know that the squeals of Miwok Indian children echoed
in this same spot a thousand years before. Best known as a towering East Bay
nature sanctuary, Mt. Diablo is home to intriguing history as
well.Ancient Indian cultures, Spanish explorers,Mexican soldiers, miners, and a
century of ranchers have all shared this place.
Indian Lore
The first stop on a tour of the history of Mt. Diablo should be the Summit Visitors
Center. Besides being the “highest museum” in the Bay Area (at 3,849 feet
above sea level), and perhaps the most compact, the museum well chronicles the
geological and cultural history of Mt. Diablo. Among the displays is one devoted to
Bay Area Indians. Native people have lived within sight of Mt. Diablo for
at least 5,000 years. The mountain was in the territory of the Bay Miwok Indians. A
tribe within the Bay Miwoks, the Volvons, spent much time on the
oak-covered hills of the mountain.
As food gatherers, the Volvons found the
area, now known as Rock City, a great source of nuts, grains and berries on which to
subsist. The most obvious legacy of the Volvons are the many grinding holes they
left behind. Using a crude pestle, these indentions in rocky outcrops were used to
smash nuts, such as acorns, into a fine powder. This powder was then mixed with
water to create a paste or cooked into cakes. Generally the size of a small
mixing bowl and no deeper than a coffee can, these holes can be found on large
rocks near caves, water sources and places where the natives may have
camped. The grinding holes at Mt.Diablo range in age from several hundred to a
thousand years old. The most accessible specimens are in the Rock City and Live
Oak Areas of the Park.
A Trail Through Time
The Indian grinding holes are one stop on Mt.
Diablo's new Trail Through Time. Being completed in 2005, this new
trail stretches from the Park's southern boundary to the summit. It will include
about twenty interpretive displays stationed at key points of geological and
cultural interest. Many of the display panels are already in place. The
trail primarily showcases the geological evolution of Mt.Diablo. It also weaves
in tidbits of it's human history,such as the story of the Indians and the Park's
early days. Craig Lyon,one of the curators of the Trail Through Time, suggests
visitors explore at least a portion of the trail. “Panels on the Trail
Through Time tell the story of the mountain's dramatic rise and provide
a timeline of geological development.”
Blackhawk Quarry
The Trail Through Time provides an introduction to treasures like the
Blackhawk Quarry. Unknown to many people, the Blackhawk Quarry is one of the
richest mammal bone beds in the United States, second only to the La Brea Tar
Pits in Los Angeles. Supervised by the University of California, the Quarry
is on private property at the edge of the Park. It has yielded bones of 7 to 12
million-year-old horses, camels, rhinos and mastodons. A display at the Summit
Visitors Center includes some bone and fossil specimens from the Quarry and
other sites around the Park.
CCC at Mt. Diablo
One particularly interesting part of Mt. Diablo's history is the role the
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) played in the Park's development. A depression
era public works program, the CCC built park roads, hiking trails, ranger
residences, maintenance buildings, campground and picnic facilities…and
most prominently, the Summit Building during the 1930's. Subsequently adopted in
the many California State Parks that followed Mt. Diablo, the CCC initiated
“rustic park architecture” became the standard for State
Park System. Carl Nielson, a senior ranger at the Park, encourages visitors
to explore this CCC history. “The Summit Building was built using stone
quarried in the Park and emphasizes how man-made structures can tie into
their natural surroundings.” Nielson further noted: “Another
interesting point about the Summit Building is that it is essentially
geological display as well. The rock used in it contains fossils of sea
creatures that are millions of years old.”
Also, while at the Summit, you might ask
about the survey marker and beacon. The survey marker commemorates Mt. Diablo
was the starting point for the first survey of the Western United States
(1851). Now located on top of the Summit Building, the beacon, used in the early
days of night aviation,was turned on by Charles Lindbergh in 1928.
The Ranching Days
There are many old ranch sites within the Park. Acquired over the years as
extensions to the original Park land, these ranches date from the mid to late
1800's. All are marked on the Park map and make a nice destination hike (or a
stop on a scenic drive in a couple of cases). They include: the John Donner
Cabin Site (1880) in Donner Canyon (no, not related to the ill fated Donner
Party); the Olofson Homestead (1886) in Mitchell Canyon; Macedo Ranch (1909) at
the end of Green Valley Road; Green Ranch (1938) about mid mountain; and, Turtle
Rock Ranch (1952) on North Gate Road. Varying in degree of remaining
structures and accessibility, each ranch tells its own history of a pioneering
family or early homesteading. For example, Turtle Rock Ranch, named for a large
nearby rock formation, was originally part of one of the earliest Mexican land
grants, the 1834 Rancho Miguel. While most of the remnants are gone, some
relics still dot the Park's trails. For example, there is an old water storage
tank just above the Mitchell Canyon Staging Area. Elsewhere, you will run into
old horse troughs and the like.
John Muir Slept Here
Among the favorite Mt. Diablo stories is that of the Mountain House Hotel. Built
in 1874, at the convergence of roads from two sides of the mountain,
the Mountain House was the darling of a fledging tourist business on
the mountain. Operating for about 15 years, Mountain House was quite
popular for weddings, christenings and other special celebrations. The
Hotel's twice-a-day horse-drawn carriages brought many distinguished guests for
a night or two stay. Having closed in 1895 and burned down in 1901, the
remains are long gone, but the interpretive panel at the site is worth a stop.
It is accessed by a short, easy walk up a trail just across from the
present Junction Rangers Station. Please note that the location is now a park
supply area and you have to close your eyes to picture John Muir standing on the
porch,as he once did.
Mayday, Mayday!
Perhaps the most unusual historical site on Mt. Diablo is an old airplane
wreck. On April 8,1946,a U.S.Army Air Corps twin engine transport plane crashed
in clouds and fog at about 3,000 feet up the mountain. Today, portions of the
aircraft still remain. Located near Ransom Point, it is quite a hike to get near
the site. It is now completely covered with a canopy of thick foliage and is
virtually impossible to find. Nonetheless, it is fun to explore the Park looking
for such historical sites.
Moonshiners
Among its colorful past, Mt. Diablo was a favorite spot for moonshiners in
the 1920's and 1930's. Chronicled in her book, The Morning Side of Mount Diablo,
Anne Marshall Homan tells it this way: “During Prohibition years, many
hardscrabble ranchers in the Black Hills (of Mt. Diablo) - always strapped for
ready cash - set up stills and secretly made liquor besides their
traditional wine.” One such spot, named by the local residents “Jackass
Canyon”makes for interesting exploration. Jackass is slang for whiskey
(because it allegedly had a bite like a mule and a kick like a horse).On
the Park map, but challenging to get to, the history of Jackass Canyon has
slowly been uncovered through periodic finds of distilling equipment.
Who knows what you might stumble
over. While Mt. Diablo is blessed with interesting geology and wildlife, it has
some intriguing history to explore as well. For more information about the
Park's history, go to the Summit Visitors Center or purchase the Mt. Diablo
Guide (available at Park locations or on the internet at mdia.org).
Reproduced from MDIA newsletter MOUNT DIABLO REVIEW - Spring
2005
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