Las Arrastras de Arriola, Hwy. 5, Km. 179.5

I hope history won't be lost to time at these once famous Baja landmarks.

Before Coco had his corner, a few miles north was Las Arrastras.
Today it is where the new highway leaves the former route south to bypass Coco's in order to cut the distance to Laguna Chapala.

A new, large bridge goes over the Arroyo de San Francisquito here (renamed Arroyo Las Arrastras on the topo map), allowing one to gaze down to the ruins at the base of the cliff. The large round artifact is the arrastra, a grinding mill to crush rock in order to pan out the gold. Usually a mule or donkey would turn the arrastra.

A well is next to the site providing plenty of good water for thirsty travelers, and to pan for gold.

There is a water hole, just downstream and around the bend, that was popularized by the missionaries in the late 1760s, who named it 'San Francisco'... a name that was later modified to San Francisquito. The El Camino Real mission road from Loreto to San Diego passes through here. No doubt, the Native California Cochimí people showed the Jesuits where water was and that helped create the route for the famous trail.

Las Arrastras was turned into a gold mill by the Grosso brothers (Arturo and Juan). They had a well-known baby sister named Anita... who we came to know as Mama Espinoza. In the 1950s, the first 4WD automobiles and trucks worked there way to the site and eventually a road was pushed over the coastal mountains to Gonzaga Bay and on to the sulfur mine south of San Felipe, where a road going south of that town terminated.

In my early times traveling by, in the 70s, an old-timer was selling turquoise and other stones to passing gringos.

See my article on Las Arrastras for more: https://www.bajabound.com/bajaadventures/bajatravel/las_arra...

Photos of Las Arrastras taken in 2017 and 2018:

East side of the bridge:







On the site, looking to the bridge:












Down the well!





In 1970:




[The mission ruins are across the arroyo from where Cliff shows them]

Any other Nomads with Las Arrastras photos?

Quote: Originally posted by Barry A.

Good stuff, David. Many thanks. Long ago (early '60's) I drove right past that site and didn't even know what was there.. Darn!!!

Hi Barry, I hope you are holding up well, up there in God's Country!

The site was pretty major, back in the day... I don't remember my folks stopping there on our first trip past it (1967) but I do know I stopped to see what the old guy was selling on at least one trip later (I drove that road in '74, '75, '79, and then '83). I think it was the '79 trip?

Jim Hunter sure describes that place in detail in his book... Great reading about Baja from 1977:

Quote: Originally posted by Pablito1

Many thanks for the good post. Over the years I have stopped there a few times but had no idea as to it's history. Back in the 1960s-70s that is where they brought the drinking water for the Papa Fernandez camp in San Luis Gonzaga.

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW

DK, thanks for the pics Coords on the bridge wher you took a Pic?

Didn't you post them? I recall you have Km. 180 in the middle of the bridge. I did not record any GPS waypoints.
I can estimate it with Google Earth, if you want...

29° 32.881'N, 114° 20.412'W

Quote: Originally posted by Pablito1

The well Pozo de los Frailes is to salty for drinking and the Fernandez family only used it for animals and general water usage. To my knowledge the drinking water came from San Felipe or Las Arrastras. That is the only places that I remember them talking about. On the subject of Las Palmas probably the reason they didn't get water from there is because back then there were few 4 wheel drives and wide tires so it was a hassle to get a truck into that location because of the sand. One time, probably about 1969-70 Tito Fernandez and me made a trip to Las Palmas. It was quite a trip in my Ford half ton 2 wheel drive. We were checking on some cows that he had in the area and also looking for a wild sheep head that a cat had killed. We found the cows but never did find the sheep.

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW   DK, thanks for the pics Coords on the bridge where you took a Pic? Didn't you post them? I recall you have Km. 180 in the middle of the bridge. I did not record any GPS waypoints. I can estimate it with Google Earth, if you want... 29° 32.881'N, 114° 20.412'W

Paul, after your trip geoffff recorded the road with his amazing GPS and GoPro combo which confirmed your Km. notes and his Km. 180 (as I recall) was in the center of the long bridge.


Pablito1, do you know about the onyx (soda) spring? From the beach at Rancho Grande, you can see the white "glacier". Many years ago, my son and I searched the way to get to it. You take a road from the Rancho Grande Market/ tire shop and head west. It soon turns north and drops down into an arroyo which winds to the south. The first right track you come to after heading south leads to the onyx spring. There were even large pieces of onyx laying about. That was in 2002. You can see it easily on Google Earth as a really big white field just inland from Rancho Grande.










I first read about it in the January 1959 issue of Desert Magazine (page 9): http://swdeserts.com/index_htm_files/195901-DesertMagazine-1...

Quote: Originally posted by ehall

On a trip a few years ago they had a pump set up and were using water out of the well. Coco told my riding buddies it was haunted. They freaked out when we stopped to check it out and 1 of the bikes just mysteriously fell over.

Great story!
Yes, the highway construction company used the well water.





Here it was in July 2015... The portable diesel pump generator was just to the side... Notice the dust in the distance from the highway construction.

Telephoto:

Quote: Originally posted by Pablito1

David, I know about the onyx spring but have never been there. I think that I know about it possibly from some of your photos years ago.

Very cool... the only photos I took there (3) are again posted above ^^^
I would like to go back... It is so close to the market, I don't know why I haven't since 2002... Oh wait, yes I do know why: "So much Baja, so little time!"