Baja fences and walls

most of us will only deal with fences when when confronted with an occasional gate while traveling overland

but satellite images show that Baja is full of fences and walls
miners and ranchers have been equally active
to keep claim jumpers away, to protect from floods, manage livestock

I came across some walls in my collection of unusual structures when studying the maps for Fatboy's San Borja hike.
He will encounter a couple of walls - most notably on Cuesta El Faldeo on the north side of Arroyo El Paraiso 28°33'45.84"N, 113°38'51.15"W

there is also a big wall at the Cuesta El Rancho, on the trail between Rancho El Rodeo and Rancho San Pedro (Valle La Bocana in the background)
28°30'37.93"N, 113°34'9.10"W

I wondered a lot about these random walls in the most odd places that can serve no purpose other to sit on!







In 1966, the Erle Stanley Gardner expedition wondered too:


Photo from Choral Pepper, posted in Desert Magazine. She researched that it could have been part of an aborted mission named Santa María Magdalena, as shown on the 1757 Jesuit map in this region of Baja, past Santa Gertrudis (called Dolores del Norte before founding)... at the bottom edge, Miss S.M. Mag. empezada (started):

Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy

See, that is cool! Being out in the desert and coming across stuff like that is so amazing. It always make think..... Why? When? And again WHY? Clearly, they used what material was on hand, but rock turns out to be so long lasting and think of all the labor that goes into it.