BajaNomad

1954 EL CAMINO REAL REPORT and maps by Howard Gulick; and Harry Crosby's 1974 and '77 maps

David K - 3-5-2015 at 11:36 AM

While researching for the future Lower California Guidebook first edition, from 1950-1954, Howard Gulick made notes on any old trails he saw cross the few automobile roads. Gulick explored those trails and interviewed the ranchers who lived on or near them. Gulick also flew over the trails to better map and document their location. Because going to Baja inspires a desire to learn the history of the land that was California first, Gulick researched the Jesuit, Franciscan and Dominican notes on their 'highway' between Loreto and San Diego.

While Gulick does mention the mission road a couple times in the Guidebook (1956, 58, 62, 70 editions), his detailed notes and maps were never published. Harry Crosby who was introduced to the Camino Real as a photographer in 1967 working on 'The Call to California' 1968 fell in love with Baja and the history of the mission road. Using Howard Gulick's notes and maps, Harry traveled as much of the trail as possible by mule from the missions of San Jose de Comondu to San Fernando de Velicata. Crosby then followed Serra's route north into the mountains to San Isodoro and eneded at the Meling Ranch. The Dominicans first mission was at El Rosario, and Gulick takes us to that point in this 1954 report.

Highway One from El Rosario to San Diego is mostly on or parallel to El Camino Real of 1775 +.

In 1959, Howard Gulick made a revision to the 1954 report, and I have part of it (Loreto to almost San Ignacio). I will add it to this thread in the near future.

Original Credit for preserving these historic papers goes to Baja book and map collector, Norm Christie (Rockman on Nomad). This research by Howard Gulick should be preserved beyond our personal collections for future explorers and history researchers. Howard openly shared his love for Baja and helped other authors over the years. He worked closely with Harry Crosby when Harry researched his 1974 'The King's Highway in Baja California'.

Now, let's hope that my job of scanning the 21 pages (18 text pages, 3 maps) of the copied report is clear enough to read... at least most of it... ENJOY!











































About a dozen years ago, I first shared the maps and I used the Baja Almanac to show where the Camino Real was, in it. Here is that web page: http://www.vivabaja.com/ECR/

In 1977, Harry Crosby had detailed maps made of the Camino Real routes in Baja , from Loreto to Tijuana... here they are (click on the small map images to enlarge them:
https://web.archive.org/web/20160329012947/http://www.sandie...

In 2018, new on the ground researched GPS/Google Earth map of El Camino Real from Loreto to El Rosario: http://caminorealbaja.com/




[Edited on 4-27-2021 by David K]

elbeau - 3-6-2015 at 08:29 AM

I love these descriptions and maps. Thanks!

Any idea what happened to Gullick's notes after Crosby used them?

David K - 3-6-2015 at 08:41 AM

Quote: Originally posted by elbeau  
I love these descriptions and maps. Thanks!

Any idea what happened to Gullick's notes after Crosby used them?


Other than the copy you see above, and the 1959 revision (I will add later), I don't know of any other use for them.

When I chatted with Walt Wheelock (La Siesta Press and co-author with Gulick on the 1975 & 1980 revised 'Baja California Guidebook') back in 1984, he wanted to publish other works by Gulick, namely the large scale hand drawn maps he made. The great maps in the original guidebook were abbreviated, reduced scale versions. I saw once the large Gulick maps, they were awesome. Wheelock didn't think the market was large enough to pay for the publishing costs. Now both Gulick and Wheelock are gone, and I think Gulick's map collection is at a library at UCSD.

Here are the Lower California Guidebook Maps (1962 edition)... http://biology.fullerton.edu/biol517dje/maps/baja_1962.html
(click on the peninsula map to bring up the close in map)

elbeau - 3-6-2015 at 10:36 AM

The dust cover for my copy of the guidebook mentions that additional maps are available for $1.95. Are these the more detailed maps? If so then perhaps I can find a copy of the book that also includes the maps.

elbeau - 3-6-2015 at 10:37 AM

400 of Gulick's images are presented online at:

http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/baja/gulick/index.html

David K - 3-6-2015 at 02:17 PM

No, the extra maps they sold separate were the same ones that were in the book but a bit smaller. Yes the Gulick photos are great. I have posted many of them. He took a lot of mission photos in the 50's and early 60's.

Here is the extra maps booklet cover...



[Edited on 3-7-2015 by David K]

mtgoat666 - 3-6-2015 at 02:48 PM

hey mission-heads:
which canyon did the padres use to travel to/from mision san pedro martir on the east scarp of the plateau? i understand the SPM mission had a trail that went east toward san felipe,... do you know which canyon?

David K - 3-6-2015 at 06:28 PM

There were Indian trails that were also used by the padres to go to San Felipe for supplies. The main one was in El Cajon Canyon, but there was one in Agua Caliente Canyon, too.


Here is a map that shows both trails...



[Edited on 3-7-2015 by David K]

PaulW - 3-7-2015 at 08:27 AM

Does anybody have a hike report for the two trails?

David K - 3-7-2015 at 08:33 AM

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW  
Does anybody have a hike report for the two trails?


Yes, in this book (where the map above came from):












[Edited on 4-27-2021 by David K]

David K - 3-7-2015 at 08:39 AM

I remember reading about a hike down El Cajon Canyon from the Meling Ranch in this books, as well....

David K - 11-5-2017 at 07:53 AM

With new interest in walking or riding on El Camino Real, I am bumping this post about the first modern, detailed directions of the mission trail. Harry Crosby utilized Howard Gulick's work when he wrote The King's Highway in Baja California (1974).

gueribo - 11-5-2017 at 08:36 AM

Nice bump. Thanks.

Barry A. - 11-5-2017 at 10:27 PM

Great revived post, David. I have one copy of one of Gulick's hand-drawn maps of the Laguna Salada / Sierra Juarez area inherited from my Aunt Becky McSheehy who knew Howard pretty well, and helped him with his maps to a limited extent. I treasure it, to be sure!

David K - 11-6-2017 at 10:34 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Barry A.  
Great revived post, David. I have one copy of one of Gulick's hand-drawn maps of the Laguna Salada / Sierra Juarez area inherited from my Aunt Becky McSheehy who knew Howard pretty well, and helped him with his maps to a limited extent. I treasure it, to be sure!


Oh, can you please scan and share them???
I was so fortunate that I could meet Howard when I was a kid. It was just before our trip down to the tip by Jeep, in 1966. One of Howard's Glendale City co-workers lived near us (Andy Anderson). He was the guy responsible for informing my dad about Baja fishing and Jeep Wagoneers... and that changed my family's life! I remember Howard autographing our copy of his book.

Here are over 2,000 photographs from Howard Gulick during his trips to Baja and Nayarit for his two guidebooks: https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/collection/bb9284741j
There are about 4 photos of Andy Anderson (near Sulfur Mine and Gonzaga Bay, showing Alfonsina's under construction in 1958).

gueribo - 11-6-2017 at 05:08 PM

Thanks for that link, David. A great resource.

David K - 11-6-2017 at 05:37 PM

Quote: Originally posted by gueribo  
Thanks for that link, David. A great resource.


Don't expect to sleep once you begin looking at Baja in the 1950s!

Here is another great reading resource for Baja from the last century: http://leighrobertson.net/short.html

David K - 2-8-2018 at 11:45 AM

The Camino Real Mission Road in Baja California continues to be an attraction for hikers and explorers.

The route has been built over by modern roads in many areas but long sections remain where no engineer would ever build a road.

While I have mapped the trail (mostly using satellite images) and transferred the route onto the Baja Almanac map about 8 years ago, it is with much excitement that I have been communicating with history-loving hikers who wanted to document the authentic mission route. What I had made and showed on Nomad in the past was based on Howard Gulick's and Harry Crosby's notes and maps and my visually finding the trail in those places.

The new information, based on actual ground travel from Loreto to El Rosario, will fine-tune or correct the previous map, a map for general interest as to about where El Camino Real in Baja is actually located. I hope to encourage this couple to write a book and produce more detailed maps based on all their work and documentation.

The historic California El Camino Real is vanishing due to modern highways and other road construction, also to natural erasing from erosion or plant growth. By keeping the memory and location alive and used by hikers, bikers, and riders, we can preserve El Camino Real into the future.

Many of our (Alta) California ancestors arrived from Baja California using El Camino Real in the days before automobiles and car roads existed on the peninsula.

David K - 4-26-2018 at 03:16 PM

I have edited the first post with the changed web address for Harry Crosby's maps of 1977 (https://web.archive.org/web/20160329012947/http://www.sandie...)
plus included the new 2018 ECR, ground researched GPS/Google Earth map (http://caminorealbaja.com/).

Here are Harry's 1974 ECR maps which may be the easiest for the casual ECR enthusiast to relate to:











4x4abc - 4-26-2018 at 04:21 PM

Back to the very start of this thread.
In Gulick's notes he writes:
"In 1952 a road starting in Loreto went up the Cañon de Las Parras, past a little ranch called Cuevas Pintas, 9.2 miles from Loreto....."

No Cuevas Pintas in any map I have seen - is it Rancho La Venta?

4x4abc - 4-26-2018 at 10:51 PM

I know about the rock art site - and it is close to Rancho La Venta.
Question is, did Gulick refer to Rancho La Venta when he writes about Rancho Las Pintas (no other rancho close by)?
The distance from MEX1 (9.2 miles) matches

Why would they have renamed the rancho?
Keep visitors out?

David K - 4-27-2018 at 11:28 AM

Gee Harald, I see names in Mexico change a lot. Different owners, most likely? The site had a parking area and a path plus observation platform before the flood. Is this La Venta something you saw personally or is that just another name INEGI got wrong?

Looking back to my July 2009 trip report (http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=40423) I documented the rock art site at 8.2 miles from Hwy. 1 (Km. 13). Photos at the site on that page (plus I added them to an earlier post in this thread).

[Edited on 4-28-2018 by David K]

David K - 4-27-2018 at 05:21 PM

Here are before and after shots of the painted rock site. The storm was reported here in October 2013:
Quote: Originally posted by David K  
Here is a comparison between my 2009 photo and Mike's 2013 photo, cropped to be close to same area:

2009:


2013:


The top of the painted cave is visible in Mike's new photo... so it is only a couple feet covered. There is hope!


[Edited on 4-27-2021 by David K]

The 1977 Crosby Commissioned Maps

David K - 4-28-2018 at 07:48 AM

Harry had these more detailed maps made following the publication of his 1974 book. Harry did not travel on ECR until he reached San José Comondú, as mules were not available to him in Loreto or San Javier, as he had planned.

























The kilometer marker of the 1760s:

David K - 4-27-2021 at 01:23 PM

Wowsers... Photobucket has done it again!
Photos and maps on Photobucket that I had uploaded at the Nomad friendly 800 pixel limit are no longer sized and automatically shown at their standard 1,200 pixels!

In this thread, I manually added the '=800x' modifier after the IMG (so it is [IMG=800x]) to many of the images... but there is no way I am able to change the thousands of images and maps I have posted here using Photobucket.

The past couple of years, I have switched to using Postimages.org which is both free and has the upload size tool so photos will fit on Nomad that otherwise are too big, which is an issue mostly with standard monitor viewers, as it stretches the text wide, requiring sideways scrolling to read.

Naturally, we hope that Doug will update this site to allow photo posting directly from our computers or phones and the images will be auto sized, as they are on Facebook and other forums. Then, we can stop depending on third-party-hosting of our nice photos.

Thanks!

[Edited on 4-27-2021 by David K]