David K
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Baja Places 47 Years Ago: EL ROSARIO
Inspired by new Nomad BajaCactus...
From the 1958 Lower CaliforniaGuidebook:
EL ROSARIO. Elev. 100 ft. Pop. 372. Climate: Simular to that of Ensenada, but considerably dryer. Communications: Government telephone to Ensenada
(Rosario is the end of the line); weekly mail truck.
A small agricultural village in the broad Arroyo del Rosario, a permanent stream, three miles from the Pacific. It is divided into two settlements:
ROSARIO DE ARRIBA (through which the main road passes), on the north side of the arroyo; and ROSARIO DE ABAJO (reached by a side road), 1.6 mi.
downstream on the left bank. A continuation of this road extends down and across the arroyo to a fresh water estero (pond) and a sand beach, 3 mi.
from Rosario de Abajo. Another side road branches off from this last one just below the town and runs out to PUNTA BAJA (11.5 mi.), at the north
entrance to Rosarito Bay, where there is a fishing camp.
Both settlements consist of a scattering of adobe houses surrounded by cultivated fields and orchards, with groves of fan palms. The principal crops
are chile peppers and beans. In both upper and lower towns are stores where supplies and gasoline may be purchased at somewhat higher prices than in
Ensenada. Because of the increasing distance from source of supply prices generally tend to rise as one goes south until San Ignacio is reached, where
there is a sharp drop. In Rosario de Arriba there are gasoline pumps, a restaurant, and tourist cabins, the last such refinements until Santa Rosalia,
350 mi. south.
In pre-Spanish times Rosario was the site of an Indian rancheria called Vinadaco. The place was chosen for the first mission founded by the Dominicans
in 1774. Large numbers of Indians died in epidemics from 1777 to 1782, but Rosario continued to be an important mission until it was abandoned about
1832. Later it was chosen as the seat of military government for the northern area, and was gradually repopulated by mestizos from the mainland. The
remains of the original mission buildings near Rosario de rriba may still be seen. In 1802 the mission was moved to Rosario de Abajo, where there are
also adobe ruins. The old bells have been moved to a new church.
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academicanarchist
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Rosario
The Marquis McDonald photos recently put on-line show the ruins of Rosario about that time. They also show the progressive deterioration of the ruins.
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academicanarchist
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2nd Rosario mission site
The second site actually began as a farming station further down the valley, where they had several structures built. The same goes for Descanso,
which the Dominicans developed in the mid-1790s. Vicente Mora chose the first site in 1774 because there was a large spring-there is a nice
description of the site in his report, in Mexico City. The spring dried up around 1802, which prompted the move. Rosario is one of the few missions in
the Peninsula for which a complete set of baptismal and burials registers exist.
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BajaCactus
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Location: Km. 55, carretera transpenisular, El Rosario, B.C.
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Indeed.....
Great post David K., and thank you.
You inspired me to search for some old photo albums of my family I saw a long time ago....
Let me dig them up and I will share a few very old photos with you all....
Antonio M.
Bajacactus
"Where the Baja is much more than a dream..."
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jrbaja
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Antonio
I can drop off a scanner if that would help. I'm sorry I'm going to be traveling now. Perhaps I will plan El Rosario for long enough to see them if
that's OK.
Darn!
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academicanarchist
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Old Photos
I would like to see the old photos of the mission ruins. I have redone my Baja California missions PowerPoint-it is wending its way through the mails
to Tim to add to the web site. One thing that David K. and I have been trying to do is document over time the deterioration of the adobe mission
sites. My revised PowerPoint, for example, has a nice set of photos for San Fernando from 1900 to the present.
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academicanarchist
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Historic Photos
Ed Vernon provided me with a copy of this photo c. 1880 of Sto DOmingo.
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academicanarchist
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San Vicente
This scan is of San Vicente c. 1880. The original is in the holdings of the Society of California Pioneers. I have ordered a copy from them for my
current research project. ed Vernon also has this photo in his book.
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academicanarchist
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Santo Tomas
This is a c. 1880 photo of Santo Tomas from the same source as the previous. There has been considerable debate over how many sites Santo Tomas had.
My reading of the record makes me believe that there were two.
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academicanarchist
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What Mission is this?
OK. We like to identify illustrations. What mission is this?
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academicanarchist
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What mission is this 2?
A second historic illustration of a mission. Which one is it?
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academicanarchist
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Two Mystery Missions
Nobody tried to guess the two mystery missions. Both are in northern California. The first is San Carlos (Carmel) in a 1791 illustration. The second
is San Jose in an 1820 drawing.
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bajalou
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Keep it up
David K, AA, Baja Cactus, jrbaja and the rest. This type of post is great - gets me looking thru books as well as the great info you and others post.
Should have a section for it and one for the Where is it posts. These are my personal favorites
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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bajalou
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El Rosario
From "Towns of Baja California, a 1918 report by David Goldbaum" translated by William O Hendricks.
"Known as ex-Mission of El Rosario.
Located at 30 deg 2' Lat. North, 3 kilometers east of the Pacific Ocean and on the south bank of Arroyo El Rosario, whick empties into the Pacific.
Counting men, women and Children , there are 245 inhabitants in the valley and town, and better lands along the banks of the arroyo are under
irrigation."
This report was made to the governor of Baja California in 1918.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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academicanarchist
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Edited Photo
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BajaCactus
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Location: Km. 55, carretera transpenisular, El Rosario, B.C.
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Wow...
I did not know those statistics... 245 people in 1918 in El Rosario.. and to think that from those at least 14 where my direct ancestors... .. wow....
I am still going thru some old photos and pictures. I even took the liberty to begun a search with all the old folks of town.. let us see what comes
out of it.
For know, I found some interesting ones, I will try to post a few of them on Monday.....
Antonio M.
BajaCactus
"Where the Baja is much more than a dream.."
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academicanarchist
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Historic photos
Look forward to seeing your photos. In the mean time, if you are interested, you can look at some photos I recently posted at Webshots, including
several of Rosario.
http://community.webshots.com/album/147219439ondvwU
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bajalou
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Thanks for the link AA I enjoyed looking at the thumbnails. Would have liked to done more but with a connect of 16,800 takes longer than I have
patience. Maybe soon??? I'l have the 128,000 line and can brouse more
Nice pictures
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
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academicanarchist
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Posts: 978
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Photos of Baja California missions
The photos of the Baja California missions are also historic. They date back around 30 years. Compare my photos to the ones that David K. has on his
web site, particularly of the Dominican missions that were built of adobe.
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