A mission-era discovery? CHORAL PEPPER (new) BOOK CHAPTER + PHOTOS added.

Some of you know my search has been ongoing for the ruins discovered in 1966 south of L.A. Bay.

Photos taken in 1966 and links to my searches can be found in this web page: http://vivabaja.com/1757

Well, it was Choral Pepper who got me interested in finding the site as she nor any of the survivors of the 1966 expedition could recall the exact location.

Besides Choral, I talked to Bruce Barron (who is the one standing by the ruins in the Desert Magazine photos), J.W. Black, and Ricardo Costillo of Mulege... None could recall where the wall was other than south of L.A. Bay and after their visit to Bahia las Animas to gather clams (as noted in Erle Stanley Gardner's 'Off the Beaten Track in Baja' c1967.

Here is the chapter from the unpublished final Baja book by Choral Pepper... revised from her famous 1973 Baja Missions book:

Santa Maria Magdalena-In Search of A Mission Legend:

Because this formerly lost site motivated so many requests for directions following its discovery recounted in my early Baja book, I will describe details of the route as closely as I can recall. I tried to find it again in 1995, but we ran into a storm that partially washed out the bridge and much of the road that now loosely follows the old Padres Gulfo Camino, thus making it impossible to establish a camp and re-explore the area.


During the 1966 expedition with Erle Stanley Gardner, one goal was to locate a lost mission trail known as the Padres Gulfo Camino, believed to follow along the Gulf coast between Bahia de los Angeles and Punta San Francisquito. As Gardner’s caravan plunged along an abandoned road that once served the ore mills at Las Flores we speculated, somewhat derisively, upon the ability of a team of drivers for the Automobile Club of Southern California who reportedly had turned back after about twenty miles. Then we reached the end of that twenty miles! The scene changed.


No longer was there any trail, or even a sign of one. Forests of cardon and spiny Palo Adam set up a cacophony of screeches against our vehicles. Soft sand spewed and slid under the wheels as we traveled about two miles an hour. And then, like the parting of a sea, it suddenly opened into a broad sandy wash like a cardon boulevard. Some deserts are hard and rocky, some harsh and black, others brilliant with red and orange. This one was pastel where gray-blue smoke trees feathered against pink sand and immense cardon reigned in uncrowded splendor. We followed the wash until it grew shallow and opened into verbena-splashed dunes inshore from the Bahia de Las Animas—a perfect spot to set up camp.


The area we named “Cardon Boulevard” as we retraced the long- abandoned Padres Gulfo Camino.
A variety of rugged vehicles always accompanied Gardner expeditions. My favorite was a sort of dune buggy we called a “grasshopper” which was especially manufactured by Gardner’s friend J.W.Black to accommodate baja ******s. Once a campsite was established, we’d all pile into the fleet of grasshoppers to explore places the larger vehicles couldn’t reach. And that is how we happened upon a site that confounded all of us.


There it was, a primitive dam among rocks and dead trees with a scraggly date palm standing alone. Usually date palms appear in groves. This one was relatively young, so must have sprouted from seeds dropped by dead ones.
We left our grasshoppers to climb into the ravine and examine remnants of the dam that once held water in a natural reservoir. An ancient wall half-buried in sand angled from the dam to stretch in broken sections across the level valley. Then, from the other end, a similar wall serpentined up the side of a steep mountain. It was easy to miss, as the stones were coated with desert varnish and melded into the rocky terrain. The upper parts of the wall, constructed above a thicker base typical of mission trails, remained in only a few places. The top of the mountain appeared flat, but its sides were steep. From where we stood, we could only guess at a structure on top.


It was a hot day and a climb up the hill uninviting, but somehow I felt we’d discovered something interesting. Subsequent research proved me right about that, as established in my earlier Baja books. Today it is generally accepted that this is the old Jesuit mission of Santa Maria Magdalena, which was never finished, and which had necessitated the Padres Gulfo Camino, later abandoned.
In the first place, the rock-lined wall leading up the steep hill was an enormously ambitious project, much more than Indians native to Baja would have undertaken on their own. Then, the rocks on the walls were heavily coated with desert varnish, all of it deposited on the upper sides. This black coating on rocks called desert varnish occurs in desert regions all over the world, often on the faces of rocky cliffs as well as on rock covered ground. European scientists refer to it as dunkel Riden and believe it is caused when rainwater soaks into the rock and is then brought back to the surface by capillary action of the sun. Here it evaporates, leaving a deposit of the chemicals with which it becomes charged according to the composition of the rock itself. If there is too much moisture, it departs the rock in liquid form and carries the salts with it. If there is too little moisture, salts are not dissolved to form the varnish on top while unexposed sides remain natural. In desert climates like Baja, it can take many centuries to form. In less than several hundred years the tops of all these rocks would not have tanned to the same degree. On the plateau at the top of the mountain, the wall continued around the edge, but in several areas there were large piles of rock, that appeared to have fallen, or been knocked down, from a larger structure, possibly a lookout tower.


We were intrigued by a series of rock rings grouped in a colony at the far end of the plateau, some with adjoining openings as if to designate separate rooms. Early Baja natives connected with the missions often lived in circular pens of stones, sleeping on the bare ground. Eroded clamshells lay among the rings, suggesting the pens had held people, not cattle.


In view of extensive walls in the now arid valley below and the number of huge old trees, many dead, there must have been a live spring dammed there at one time. Walls designed to confine cattle as well as the presence of a date palm clearly indicated missionary direction. But historical as well as physical evidence re-enforced my identification of the site as Santa Maria Magdalena.




Following a number of Indian insurrections and the destruction of mission properties in 1742, the King of Spain ordered a presidio erected and instructed the Council of the Indies to propose a plan for the pacification of the whole Baja California territory. As a result, four recommendations were made, which King Philip V accepted and embodied in a decree dated 1744. These stated that the missionary work of the Jesuits should be continued; that colonies of Spaniards should be founded near all convenient ports and protected by military posts; that to make quicker conversions among the natives, missions should be established in the north of the peninsula and united with those of the south; and that the number of missionaries should be doubled. In return, a complete report and description of missions and mission stations was to be drawn up and sent back to the King.


It was from this report, dated 1745, that we learned Indians had been converted by Friar Fernando Konsag and the mission of Santa Maria Magdalena begun to the north of existing ones. The Venegas map it is identified as “Mision de Santa Maria Magdalena, empezada” (empezada means “begun”) at about latitude 29 degrees and within a few miles of the Gulf. No subsequent reference was ever made of this mission and it was not among those inherited by the Franciscan Order after the Jesuits had been banished from New Spain by the King, as explained earlier.


Judging from the ruins we examined, it appeared likely the original plans had been aborted and the project never completed. However, the plateau atop the mountain offered an ideal lookout for a military post and it was located close to two convenient ports—those of Bahia de Los Angeles and Las Animas—in line with the demands of the King. An existing mission trail followed up the center of Baja before crossing to the Pacific Coast, but at the time Mission Santa Maria Magdalena was instituted, the padres were interested in the Gulf coast, hoping to establish land contact with the missions of Sonora. No previous Gulf trail then existed. When the mission was abandoned for one reason or another, so was the Gulfo Camino, which we were now resurrecting.
Author Arthur North wrote in his Camp and Camino in Lower California about a visit in 1904 to ruins of a Jesuit mission chapel named Santa Maria de la Magdalena about six miles south of Santa Rosalia. However, Peter Gerhard and Howard E. Gulick in their superb Lower California Guidebook referred to those same ruins as remnants of the Magdalena chapel built by the Dominicans in 1774. They don’t refer to them as a mission at all, which makes good sense considering that the Dominicans didn’t even get to Baja until 1773 and their first mission, established in 1774, was much further north on the Pacific coast. The Jesuits began the Santa Maria de la Magdalena mission on the Gulf as indicated on their 1757 map. Because further reference to the mission is ignored in other records of importance, I am inclined to believe the ruins south of Santa Rosalia were never a mission, but instead are those of an early Dominican chapel established to serve rancheros and mines in the productive Magdalena and Santa Rosalia mining area.


In some stretches of this virgin area we noted occasional rows of desert-varnished rocks typical of those outlining known mission roads used by pack trains to transport supplies and messages from one mission to another. Otherwise, nothing indicated the land had been traversed by more than a coyote. One bad spot, where we came close to giving up, sliced so sharply down into a deep wash that the men worked for over three hours alternately shoveling and rebuilding the bank into a grade. To negotiate this kind of country, trucks should be hinged in the middle so they bend.
The Automobile Club of Southern California has long since made it through and its map now indicates a dirt road that extends south from Bahia de Los Angeles.
===========================================================

See the higher resolution 1757 Jesuit map recently posted... here:
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=35292













1: S.M.Magdalena 'started'
2: Dolores del Norte 'started'
3: S. Juan Bautista 'started'
4: S. Ignacio
5: Guadalupe
6: Santa Rosalia (de Mulege)
7: La Purisima Concepcion
8: San Jose de Comondu
9: Royal Precidio and Mission of Loreto
10: San Francisco Javier (Xavier)
11: San Luis Gonzaga...











[Edited on 12-17-2008 by David K]

Thanks Cindi... I am aware of how Dr. Mathes feels about Choral's writings... Choral and I talked quite a bit about him, before she passed away.

Also, I do want to thank you for offering guidence and additional information... it is appreciated and important!

Now, here's some reasonings for the style of Choral's writings and how we mean the term 'lost mission' to be interpreted...

Choral Pepper loved the desert and loved Baja with a great passion... She considered Baja to be a 'magic' place. Choral believed the desert was a wonderland that was there to be explored for fun, adventure, excitement and education. Erle Stanley Gardner felt the same... and he came to Choral to invite the Pepper's to join his expeditions in Baja. Because I also share this belief, Choral gave me all her Derert Magazine papers and photos of the Baja California expeditions she was on... along with the m/s of her unpublished 'last' book... to share with all of you who love Baja the same way.

TRUE: there are NO lost missions in Baja, as each mission was established using donated funds from wealthy Europeans. Each 'true' mission project was documented...

ALSO TRUE:

1) There is a lot of missing documentation or lacking documentation of mission activities. Many documents of mission activities such as visita projects may have not been found.

2) There are legends handed down through generations that started from myth or from reality.

3) There is a map that shows TWO missions 'started' that have no other documents to show a fund was used for them (San Juan Bautista in the Santa Clara mountains, and Santa Maria Magdalena, described above).

4) A third 'started' mission (Dolores del Norte) has frequently been considered to be another mission and not Santa Gertrudis, because of this map. The extensive visita ruins at San Pablo are often labled as this 'lost' Dolores mission. The elders at San Francisco de la Sierra told Pepper that their old walls were the remains of 'Dolores' (perhaps an early choice for Dolores before the Santa Gertrudis location was established).

So, with all these possibilities of missing information and nobody now who was alive 250 years ago, there very well could be mission period 'sites' yet discovered. Using terms such as 'lost mission' has a lot more appeal to an adventure seeker to explore the desert... and I know Choral meant that only in the best way to create a sense of adventure for us desert rats and Baja lovers.

We do NOT believe in any lost mission treasures (however, one needs to read Herman Hill's new book: 'Baja's Hidden Gold' before getting too sold on our statement).

We DO believe that the treasure is discovering a lost or forgotten site to add to history's long list of ancient discoveries... So, when myself or any of you do find an old site, don't let it be lost to the ages... Add it to the history books to expand our knowledge of the past... California's great history is fantastic!

Please see http://ChoralPepper.com



[Edited on 11-25-2008 by David K]

Photos from the 1966 expedition

Some photos are already at ChoralPepper.com from the February, 1966 trip (Erle in his new Bronco, etc.)... Yesterday, I went through more of the files that Choral left to me and scanned the following from that trip:


The Grasshopper (JW Black's dune buggy creation) took them exploring and is how they found the ruins.



How they knew where they were...




Digging for clams at Bahia las Animas.



The Gardner camp, somewhere along the Gulfo Camino.

Now that's confidance.
I've already found it and planted an American Flag at the summit! You will see it when you get there.



[Edited on 1-7-2009 by Sharksbaja]

What did the flag of Spain look like in the 1750's? That is the one that should be planted!

State and War Ensign 1701-1759 (Spain)



[Edited on 12-2-2008 by David K]

The search goes on!

Here is a map of the old road (the route Gardner and friends took in 1966) south of L.A. Bay, in Valle la Bocana...

The arrows with numbers are the places we made searches, on foot, for that wall seen in the Pepper photograph. Also, while driving the road we tried to see mountain ranges that looked like the one in the background of the second Pepper photograph.

Choral Pepper believed the old wall and other rock piles at the site were the start of a proposed mission to be called Santa Maria Magdalena... as shown in this area on the 1757 Jesuit map. A bell with the new mission's name was cast and ended up hanging at Santa Gertrudis (the closest mission to this site). If this was a mission-era site, it was never recorded beyond the 1757 map.



'Lost Mission' Search dates (links to photos taken on these trips at http://vivabaja.com/1757/page2.html :

#1: July, 2001
#2: April, 2002
#3: Jan., 2003
#4: April, 2003
#5: Jan., 2004

David K's search for Santa Maria Magdalena (Photos):

#1) July, 2001

#2) Apr, 2002

#3) Jan, 2003

#4) Apr, 2003

#5) Jan, 2004


[Edited on 12-21-2008 by David K]

Here's where the Gulfo Camino Real nears the current road, just a couple miles east of La Bocana (San Pedro)... north on top:


The auto road is going from left to right along the top and tha Camino Real is coming in along the side of that hill heading north-west. You can see typical Camino Real road sign of parallel lines of rocks on each side of the trail. This point is easy to find as the auto road touches the base of that hill, only here.

[Edited on 12-22-2008 by David K]

Here is looking southeast, at an angle, right down the Camino Real, along the base of that hill... the auto road is at the bottom of the image...

A bit further south of the old trail, where it climbs a low ridge and then drops into the arroyo that contains the tinaja of Santa Maria... that we visited on search #1 and #3...

Oh wow------that is incredible! You can actually see the trail going over that volcanic (?) hill---------it is amazing what this new technology reveals--------I now see what you mean when you say, "we will find the "site" soon". I would like to go down there and just poke around until I find it-----I have the time. (my wife might not care for the idea, tho)

Seems to me that just tracking/hiking the historic Camino from south to north in this area you would eventually find the site-----who knows what else you would find. Do you know if anybody has done this?

Barry

Harry Crosby on the Camino Real used by Serra... not sure if he also traversed the Gulfo Camino (east branch) shown here... Arthur North did around 1905 for his 'Camp and Camino in Lower California'... He even mentions the Tinaja de Santa Maria.

Here is Harry's map of the El Camino Real routes between Santa Gertrudis and San Borja... note on the east branch 'Santa Maria' and 'La Bocana'...




parallel solid (west branch) or dashed (east branch) lines indicate visual Jesuit road constrution. The single solid or dashed lines indicate approx. route.

[Edited on 12-22-2008 by David K]

TINAJA SANTA MARIA

Here is the satellite view from just south of Tinaja Santa Maria, north at top... the other dart is on the trail coming over the hill down to the arroyo with the tinaja. This is the other side of the hill shown in the above image that Barry replied to.



Next is a photo I took at the tinaja... see my son on his motor bike. The tinaja is in the gravel at the base of the rocks in the background.



The end of the 'road'. This water hole served travelers on the Gulfo Camino between Santa Gertrudis and San Borja. GPS is N28°26.07'/ W113°19.99' (map datum NAD27). Cerro la Sandia is in the distance. This is the same peak seen south from L.A. Bay.

[Edited on 12-22-2008 by David K]

Map close up

Even this modern map shows part of the Camino Real near Tinaja Santa Maria...

This location for our first 'Lost Mission' hunt was picked by Jesus Flores who was also a guide for Erle Stanley Gardner... We were so lucky to have him guide us, as well! Doc (Abraham) of Camp Gecko made the arrangement for Jesus to show us... We did show him the Choral Pepper photos of what we wanted to see... However, he may have heard the name SANTA MARIA MAGDALENA mentioned along with this wall... and assumed 'Santa Maria' is where we wanted to go.

Here is Jesus at the Las Flores graveyard talking about his old friend Dick Daggett...



Here, on my next trip south, Jesus was riding by Camp Gecko and I asked him to autograph his photo in the 1961 Gardner book 'Hidden Heart of Baja'...



Jesus, over 40 years earlier in Erle Stanley Gardner's book:




Do you want to go into this area and see the Tinaja Santa Maria?:

GPS DIRECTIONS: L.A. BAY & SOUTH (map datum: WGS 84)

Casa Diaz, Bahia de los Angeles: N28°56.77' W113°33.55'

Camp Gecko, south of town: N28°54.05' W113°31.73'

Las Flores (jail house): N28°49.10' W113°31.77'

Jcn. with old road south: N28°40.77' W113°25.45'

Arroyo to Las Venecas: N28°39.40' W113°25.86'

Road to Paredones, Jesus' ranch: N28°36.81' W113°24.59'

Road ahead to La Bocana & San Pedro, turn sharp left (east): N28°28.40' W113°23.47'

We turn right, off road here: N28°28.01' W113°20.46' and head up the wide arroyo.

Tinaja de Santa Maria: N28°26.09' W113°20.02'


[Edited on 12-22-2008 by David K]

Many of you knew or have read Tom Miller... author of The Baja Book, Baja Book II, Baja Book III, fishing books and Western Outdoor News Baja column.

In all three editions of Tom's 'The Baja Book', he gave credit to the site discovered by the Gardner crew and recognized as a possible mission site by Choral Pepper in her book...

Here's the mission site mentioned in Tom's book (close up of the site paragraph is below):





40 miles from Bahia de los Angeles... almost inaccessible terrain... almost???

One more time, the only known photographs taken at the discovery (from Desert Magazine, July, 1966):



Armed with some new information a good Nomad has shared with me... perhaps one more search is in order!

David-------I have a copy of that Desert Mag July 1966, and also Miller's book--------I think I will be doing a little homework tonight, or tomorrow on that "lost mission" site.

Great stuff!!! You have really piqued my interest------.

Barry

That day came on Jan. 2, 2009... see the photos starting here: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=36243



[Edited on 1-6-2009 by David K]

[Edited on 8-28-2017 by David K]