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cupcake
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Definitely not looking like a man-made rock barrier.
Thanks for the location of Cuesta San Felipe. Looks like it is worthy of making a pilgrimage.
[Edited on 10-27-2024 by cupcake]
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David K
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Surely there must be a map or a document of roads built, by El Boleo???
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4x4abc
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I have not found it yet
and you are right, there must be such document(s)
I asked a few times in Santa Rosalia - nada (they were also not very interested)
most likely in Paris
I'll have some French friends do some digging
in the meantime, go check F4* in the Genevieve and Kevin database
[Edited on 10-27-2024 by 4x4abc]
[Edited on 10-28-2024 by 4x4abc]
Harald Pietschmann
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cupcake
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Been thinking about this. This doesn't really look like a natural water erosion to me. If it was, with the amount of rocks seen at the edges, the path
would resemble a stream bed, covered in rocks. To me, this looks like the path has been worked. Maybe Crosby is correct?
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David K
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The Jesuit El Camino Real was constructed a lot more like a Roman road that one would guess.
Loose dirt and rocks were removed down to bedrock then back filled with dirt for a smooth path for pack animals, horses and mules.
Over the years, erosion has washed away the backfill down to bedrock, leaving deep gillies between these rock walls.
Harry Crosby has published the Jesuit letter that detailed the construction... just a portion shown here:
When these roads were being built it was necessary for the father missionaries to be present and to direct the work. And they had to spend
many days in moving about, circling hills and climbing peaks, in order from the summits to spy out the stopping places which were least inaccessible.
Moreover, many tools were needed for distribution among the Indians-pickaxes, crowbars, hoes, sledge hammers, shovels, ordinary hammers, levers,
ropes, and other tools of this sort. There was least work to be done in the stony areas on the hills and slopes. Yet even here the labors were very
great. For the road had to be made wide enough for the passage of animals and pack-trains. The work crews spent many days in removing the loose stones
from which they formed low walls or borders along both sides. Nor did they stop until they struck bedrock; thus in some places they dug to the depth
of a vara [About 33 inches] and in others went even deeper, so that some of the roads were shaped like ditches or the canyons of streams.
Then came the harder workâthe smoothing, insofar as that was possible, with sledge hammers, pickaxes, and crowbars of the outcroppings and jutting
points of solid rock which barred the passage of travelers. When their tools did not avail they had recourse to fire in order to split the rocks and
break them up; then they used levers and ropes in order to remove them and set them rolling into the barrancas and over the precipices. But the work
was most painful and the difficulty greatest when they had to pass over the hills and mountains. This happened very often, since there would be no
other place where they could build the road. Here they had to follow routes on steep slopes which fell away into barrancas. In such places they had to
contend with the solidity of the mountains and the hardness of the rocks while they labored to break off outcroppings and sharp points and to clear
away the stones great and small which lay in the way. In many narrow passes between the hills, where the powers of man were insufficient to break a
trail, they were obliged to set thick stakes along the sides and to fill the intervening space with branches and the trunks of trees, putting earth on
top, forming bridges, as it were, which would make it possible to pass from one side to the other in these ravines.
To read more: https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1977/january/bajaroad/
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cupcake
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Thanks David. This is great information.
I just finished reading Harry Crosby's 'Cave Paintings Of Baja California' and will start his book 'The King's Highway In Baja California' soon.
https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1977/january/bajaimages/
This linked web page carries a caption to the above posted photo:
"The Cuesta del Tagualila (between Llano de San Gregorio and San Juan de las Parras, Map 4) The rocks cleared from the grade were piled along its
edges. Water erosion exposed more rocks which were removed and piled. This process was repeated until high walls flanked the trail and only stopped
when bedrock was reached."
[Edited on 12-1-2024 by cupcake]
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