BajaNomad

San Ignacio question

4x4abc - 12-23-2015 at 08:34 AM

I remember seeing images here of a Jesuit built dam somewhere around San Ignacio.
Does anyone have an exact location for me?

David K - 12-23-2015 at 10:25 AM

It was called the "Muralla". Harry Crosby showed photos of it in the 1960's.

Here is a paragraph from my new book about it:

Flash floods were frequently responsible for agricultural losses, so the Jesuits had massive dikes built. The largest was called a muralla and was three miles long, twelve feet high, and up to forty feet wide. Protective dikes had been destroyed twice before this final one was completed, in 1762. Remains of the muralla are located just east of the mission and town center of San Ignacio.

David K - 12-23-2015 at 11:20 AM



This photo is from the 1974 book, 'The King's Highway in Baja California' by Harry Crosby. Highway construction to San Ignacio was in late 1972.

Based on the background (Highway 1 cut, and Tres Virgenes volcano), my guess for this location is: 27º17.52', -112º52.58'

It sure would be fun to get a new photo from that same spot or see more of the mission dikes, if they haven't all been destroyed!

4x4abc - 12-23-2015 at 11:57 AM

I think, I found it.

9 miles out of town. About half way between San Ignacio and Tres Virgines.
I'll check it out in a couple of days

Bajahowodd - 12-23-2015 at 05:22 PM

A giant dike, or dyke? :?::?::P

David K - 12-23-2015 at 06:53 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Bajahowodd  
A giant dike, or dyke? :?::?::P


I spelled the same as Harry did in his book. A quick Internet search turns up this:

Dike vs. dyke
In American and Canadian English, dike is the preferred spelling of the noun referring to (1) an embankment used to prevent floods, and (2) a low wall dividing lands. Dyke is the preferred spelling in all other main varieties of English.

Dyke is also a derogatory slang word referring to a lesbian. While this sense of dyke has been reappropriated and made positive by some, it is still generally considered offensive and should be shunned outside very specific contexts.

Examples

American and Canadian publications use dike for a flood-preventing embankment—

woody with a view - 12-23-2015 at 07:00 PM

I wonder how much they paid the workers for each rock deposited? Three miles long, 12 feet high and 40 feet thick equals enough rocks to for someone to retire a rich man!!!

David K - 12-24-2015 at 10:35 AM

Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
I wonder how much they paid the workers for each rock deposited? Three miles long, 12 feet high and 40 feet thick equals enough rocks to for someone to retire a rich man!!!


Paid? Workers? Funny!

The padre who commissioned the work (José Rotea) was in charge at San Ignacio from 1759 to 1768. The mission was founded in 1728, so the Indians were 2nd or 3rd generation neophyte Christians and probably knew little of their ancestors pre-mission life not working for the church, king, God.

It was a mission-community action to prevent floods from destroying their fields where food was grown. The same is true of the hundreds of miles of roads built in the 1700s called El Camino Real, particularly the switchbacks down mountainsides.

It may not have been "politically correct" in today's world, but that is how such things in (Baja) California were built 250 years ago.

David K - 3-24-2017 at 06:49 PM

Last month, I visited the Muralla... an easy to reach piece of it, just east of the San Ignacio entrance...







It is amazing!

mtgoat666 - 3-24-2017 at 07:33 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
I wonder how much they paid the workers for each rock deposited? Three miles long, 12 feet high and 40 feet thick equals enough rocks to for someone to retire a rich man!!!


Paid? Workers? Funny!

The padre who commissioned the work (Jos� Rotea) was in charge at San Ignacio from 1759 to 1768. The mission was founded in 1728, so the Indians were 2nd or 3rd generation neophyte Christians and probably knew little of their ancestors pre-mission life not working for the church, king, God.

It was a mission-community action to prevent floods from destroying their fields where food was grown. The same is true of the hundreds of miles of roads built in the 1700s called El Camino Real, particularly the switchbacks down mountainsides.

It may not have been "politically correct" in today's world, but that is how such things in (Baja) California were built 250 years ago.


So it was either a communal effort (sort of commie or socialist) or slave effort. Which?

David K - 3-24-2017 at 09:36 PM

It was for the preservation of the farmlands which everyone depended on for food. The Jesuits did not enslave or make prisoners of the natives. That came later when the Spanish government took over from the Jesuits in 1768.

BajaBlanca - 3-26-2017 at 08:29 AM

What an incredible wall! Thanks for the history lesson.

David K - 3-26-2017 at 10:59 AM

Quote: Originally posted by BajaBlanca  
What an incredible wall! Thanks for the history lesson.


Next time you are in San Ignacio, just drive past the entrance road (whalebone display) and in a few hundred meters is a large dirt lot, on the right... just before the Baja Oasis Motel. Turn into that lot and park towards the back of it. The Muralla is there!