BajaNomad
Not logged in [Login - Register]

Go To Bottom
Printable Version  
Author: Subject: La Magdalena Ruins 2022 Update
David K
Honored Nomad
*********


Avatar


Posts: 64480
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Online

Mood: Have Baja Fever

[*] posted on 1-24-2022 at 12:29 PM
La Magdalena Ruins 2022 Update


Good morning all you Baja history fans!

I recently received an email and photo from Kevin of the www.caminorealbaja.com team. Part of their latest research is with the Mulegé branch of El Camino Real. However, his email was specifically about the La Magdalena remains, which is on this branch of 'ECR'.

To get you up to speed, 'Magdalena' with these ruins, is mention by the padres, travelers in the 1800s, and Arthur North on his 1906 adventure published in 1910 as Camp and Camino in Lower California.

North had studied all the available mission data of the time and he was aware of the proposed Jesuit mission, named Santa María Magdalena. When the locals told him the ruins were of 'La Magdalena' so he assumed that was the Santa María Magdalena site. It was not.

"Mission S. M. Mag" is shown as 'started' on the 1757 Jesuit map well north of both San Ignacio and the future Santa Gertrudis (then proposed to be called Dolore del Norte). It was also mentioned in the Jesuits lists from the 1740s. The map is actually made from details of 10 years earlier.

So, Arthur North calls the site near Mulegé, "Santa María Magdalena" and books and maps made after, continued with this error. Well, until my book, of course! ;)

My wife and I visited La Magdalena in 2009 and found it very impressive with both stone walls and adobe outlines! We did not walk over to the pila (reservoir) which had been photographed about ten years earlier by 'BajaOkie'.




---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 2014, the huge flash flood widened the arroyo and erased the stone ruins.

We returned in 2015, saw only some of the adobe room outlines that missed being washed away and went to the pila, now very near the edge of the big arroyo. This pila was fed using a long, impressive aqueduct coming from near the town of San José de Magdalena:






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today, one would find half of the pila washed away.
From Kevin:
Hello David,

We had a great trip to Baja and were successful with our work on ECR. We visited Magdalena and checked out what remains of the ruins. There is not much left of the site itself, but the aqueduct is in very good shape still. Most of the reservoir is missing and will continue to be washed away with succeeding flash-floods.


Here is the 2022 photo from Kevin of CaaminoRealBaja.com:




On my map, see 'La Magdalena (site)':


Links:
1757 Map: https://vivabaja.com/maps/1757-02/
2015 trip Baja Bound article: https://www.bajabound.com/bajaadventures/bajatravel/la_magda...
2009 trip Baja Bound article: https://www.bajabound.com/bajaadventures/bajatravel/mysterio...




"So Much Baja, So Little Time..."

See the NEW www.VivaBaja.com for maps, travel articles, links, trip photos, and more!
Baja Missions and History On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/bajamissions/
Camping, off-roading, Viva Baja discussion: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vivabaja


View user's profile Visit user's homepage

  Go To Top

 






All Content Copyright 1997- Q87 International; All Rights Reserved.
Powered by XMB; XMB Forum Software © 2001-2014 The XMB Group






"If it were lush and rich, one could understand the pull, but it is fierce and hostile and sullen. The stone mountains pile up to the sky and there is little fresh water. But we know we must go back if we live, and we don't know why." - Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez

 

"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." - Theodore Roosevelt

 

"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them or to them." - Malcolm Forbes

 

"Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you." - Jim Rohn

 

"The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer." - Cunningham's Law







Thank you to Baja Bound Mexico Insurance Services for your long-term support of the BajaNomad.com Forums site.







Emergency Baja Contacts Include:

Desert Hawks; El Rosario-based ambulance transport; Emergency #: (616) 103-0262