Alpine’s long history is a result of its several important topographical, biological and climatic advantages. Alpine lies on a relatively flat plateau or mesa in the Cuyamaca Mountains. The mesa was conducive to abundant springs and the mild climate encouraged a diverse plant and animal food source, making the Alpine area particularly attractive for settlement. Calling the mesa “Mata-qu-qual” (Mother of life) and the springs “Ha-quan-yon” (No dry; water all the time), the Yuman speaking Kumeyaay of Hokan stock made the Alpine area their home over 12,000 years ago. The abundant native grasslands on the clay soils of the mesa provided a diversity of food types – such as the tiny seeds of the native grasses, onion bulbs, potato- like bulbs and celeries. Grassland nesting birds provided eggs and foraging deer and rabbits provided meat. The rich biodiversity in the Alpine area provided an abundance of other useful plants for medicinal and practical purposes. In addition to hunting and gathering, the Kumeyaay also enhanced their food supply by practicing horticulture and animal husbandry. They had a complete system of land and water management to maintain their resources. Archaeological evidence of the Kumeyaay can be found throughout Alpine. Metates along the streambeds, rock alignments and stone chips that remind us of Alpine’s important cultural history. Villages and base camps were located throughout Alpine – E-quílsh-a máhk (behind the mountain) at El Capitan Grande (behind the mountain), and Heish-ow-Na-wa (rabbit house) on Viejas Reservation are examples. Viejas Mountain had sacred importance to all of the Kumeyaay. Called Kwut’ ah Lu’ e-ah (song dance), the top of Viejas was the site of an annual celebration by the villagers, where they performed ceremonies heralding the arrival of In’ya – the sun. The area of today’s reservation was called Ma-ta-terwa (wide open place).
Alpine also lies on the shortest route between the desert to the east and San Diego. Desert tribes, such as the Quechan or Yuman tribes traveled through Alpine to get to the ocean to gather shells, fish and other ocean products, while trading pottery made from clay from the Colorado river, agricultural harvest and native desert herbs with tribes along the way. Tribes along the coast traveled to the desert for the similar reasons. Being on a major trail route, local villagers had the advantage of sharing the latest news and skills. Archaeological evidence also suggests that different tribes camped in Alpine while on their travels.
The first documented Europeans to enter the Alpine area were Pedro Fages, a Spanish lieutenant colonel, and a small group of soldiers who were stationed in San Diego. They were returning from Yuma in 1782 when they decided to seek out a shorter route than the one they had taken and follow the “old Indian trail” which led from the Cuyamaca highlands down into Viejas Valley. Fages, who later that year became governor of Alto California, returned to the Mission in San Diego with glowing descriptions of nearby lush green grasslands and timber. Frequent visits to the Alpine by the Spanish soldiers and missionaries were made in pursuit of pasture and Indian deserters. In response to these pursuits, the men fled the village of Heish-ow-Na-wa. Finding only old women there, the Spanish dubbed the area of the present reservation “Valle de las Viejas” (Valley of the Old Women). Spanish cattle were soon roaming the mesa grasslands of the Alpine area, destroying a great deal of the Kumeyaay food supply.
A road soon followed through Alpine up to the Cuyamacas in search of timber for the growing pueblo of San Diego. It extended into Yuma, establishing an important link between the presidios and missions of Yuma and San Diego. The Kumeyaay were eventually coerced into adopting the agricultural practices of the Spanish missionaries, in order to survive. All over San Diego, villages were converted to “rancherias”. Villagers were compelled and even forced to adopt the Spanish political, religious and social lifestyle. Some villagers kept their Indian names, but most received Spanish names upon being christianized. The leaders of the villages became “mayordomos”, and also given Spanish names. The rancherias of Alpine were particularly attractive to the missionaries for several reasons. At an elevation of 2000 ft, the climate is mild enough for Mediterranean crops and the increased mountain rainfalls extended the growing season. Alpine also had the closest pastureland to the San Diego mission at that elevation. Evidence of Mission period olive groves, vineyards, fruit orchards and grain fields can still be found in Alpine. A rock wall enclosing a 10-acre agricultural site, foundations, cisterns and dam on Wright’s Field are believed by archaeologists to date to the missionary period.
Mission influence peaked in the 1830’s, but ranching by the Kumeyaay continued in Alpine until about 1850 when California became a state and any legitimacy of land ownership by Indians was ignored. In 1848, the Spanish occupied territory of California joined Mexico in declaring its independence from Spain. Just prior the Mexican Cession, Pio Pico, the Governor of Alto California, granted vast tracts of land all over California to members of his family and friends. These tracts – called ranchos were essentially land-grab of the best of the Indian rancherias. Included were the Indian rancherias in Alpine. Over 13,000 acres or the entire area of Alpine was given over to Ramon and Leandro Osuna in 1846. The Rancho was called “Rancho Valle de las Viejas y Mesa del Arroz” (tableland of rice – presumably the rice –like grain of the grasslands). The Osuna brothers, however, were unable to establish their claim. 8, 877 acres were sold to the wealthy Don Jose Antonio Aguirre, whose family owned the property until at least 1862.
In 1854, Samuel Warnock and Joseph Swycaffer ran a semi-weekly horseback mail route through Viejas from San Diego to Yuma, which followed roughly the same route used by Fages and the Indians before him. It is credited with being the first regular US Mail route in Southern California. It was turned over to James Birch in 1857, who established the San Antonio & San Diego Mail Line. The stagecoach, carrying both passengers and mail, stopped at the Valle de las Viejas, then claimed and operated by the rough English sailor Bill Williams. The mail route, although the shortest route from San Antonio to San Diego, did not operate for long. They utilized mules that were better able to withstand the desert environment than horses. The competitor, James Butterfield, derided Birch’s route as the “Jackass Mail Trail” and the US government eventually awarded the mail contract to Butterfield, even though Butterfield traveled first to Los Angeles from San Antonio rather than coming first to San Diego. The “Jackass Mail Trail” ceased operations in 1860, but undoubtedly many passengers had now discovered the Viejas area and came back to stay.
Bibliography:
http://www.americanindiansource.com/khistories/KwaaymiiKumeyyayPlacenames.html.
Carrico, Richard L., Shipek, Florence C. Indian Labor in San Diego County, California, 1850-1900. http://kumeyaay.com/history/article_detail.html?id=8
Johnson, Mary Elizabeth. Indian Legends of the Cuyamaca Mountains. 1914. Pages 24, 25.
Jose Antonio Aguirre (1799-1860) http://www.sandiegohistory.org/bio/aguirre/aguirrejournal.htm
Lake, Stuart N. Birch’s Overland Mail in San Diego County. The Journal of San Diego History. April, 1957. Volume 3, Number 2.
La Force, Beatrice. Alpine: History of A Mountain Settlement. 1987. Sunlight Press Inc. Lakeside.
Mills, James. Journalistic Remarks on the Los Angeles and Tucson Mails. San Diego Historical Society Quarterly. July 1957. Volume 3 Number 3.
Pourade, Richard. The Silver Dons: 1833-1865. Copley Press. 1963.
Rensch, Hero Eugene. Cullamac, Alias del Capitan Grande. 1956. Vol. 2. Number 3. The Journal of San Diego History.
Rensch, Hero Eugene. Fages’ Crossing of the Cuyamacs. California Historical Society Quarterly. Sept. 1955. pgs. 193-208
Simonson, Albert. He Staggered through History: The Lost Rancho of Cockney Bill and the Saint. San Diego Reader. March 6, 1997. Page 57.
Simonson, Albert. Lost Trails to Alpine’s Past. Alpine News Monthly. Sept. 1997. Vol. 3 No. 1.
Smythe, William E. History of San Diego.1542-1908. San Diego: The History Company, 1907, 2 vols, illus.
http://www.viejas.com/news_and_info/tribal_history.html
Created 3/2007; Revised 3/2007
