David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65198
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
Satellite Image for geoglyph search
A few days ago we were talking about things to do around Catavina... Wilderone said there was a geoglyph (ancient earth art/ lines visible from the
sky) right off the east side of the El Marmol road, maybe a mile north from Mexico Hwy. 1 (near Rancho Sonora).
Satellite Man (www.satprints.com) sent me a zoom in of the area, which you can see the highway and a couple of dirt roads (along with arroyos and topography). He
placed a star on the GPS waypoint for the El Marmol/Highway 1 jcn., then a black line going north that was a scale for three miles. He also put two
arrows pointing to lines he thought may be the geoglyph (farther north than Wilderone's spot).
Here, I show the portion of the image (to stay under 50 kbs) that covers the area closer to the site. Highway 1 is along the bottom, the star is the
El Marmol jcn. and the black line here is about 2 miles long. The image is not clear because it is a close up from a larger area image. IF anyone
wants to see the clearer, larger area... email me and I will forward it too you, info*at*vivabaja.com subject: sat image.
[Edited on 1-31-2005 by David K]
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65198
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
Marvin Patchen writes...
Baja Nomad 'John M' wrote me that he remembered a paper write up on the geoglyph (that 'Wilderone' said was in this area), by author Marvin Patchen...
Well, as Marvin is a past guest of my Viva Baja events, I have his email and asked him about the geoglyph report... Here is is reply!:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hola...In Rock Art Papers, Vol. 8 put out by the San Diego Museum there is a paper that Eve Ewing and I wrote about the Geo site. It is about 2400
feet long with a 60 foot wide summit circle at the end.
I don't have a GPS reading as I found it before they were made but there is a 7 page article in the about the fined with great details in the write
up.
Marvin Patchen.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Okay great... Now is there a Nomad that can get that article and post it here?
|
|
|
Neal Johns
Super Nomad
Posts: 1687
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Lytle Creek, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: In love!
|
|
This will not help you find the geoglyph, but it might help you find El Marmol.
From The Journal of San Diego History, http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/76fall/memories.htm
Mrs. Baldwin writes:
"In 1910 the Mexican Revolution started. The rebels came through our camp and took all the seventy mules our father had and most of the stock in the
store, leaving a promissory note that they would pay when they came into power, which of course they never did. In 1914 the United States government
sent word by a navy ship that we had to leave Lower California. The revolution was in full swing and it was not safe for us to stay. In 1920 we
returned to Baja California going to the onyx mines at El Marmol.
The El Marmol quarry is over 5000 acres in extent. The coloring in Pedrara Onyx, which was the name the onyx firm there went by, ranges from white
through tints of green, rose, yellow and brown. It is this variety of wonderful and beautiful marks that is its chief charm.
There were two ways of reaching the quarry, neither one a journey to be undertaken lightly. The overland route was the most difficult. The long
rainless months kept the road covered with fine powdery dust, torturing eyes, nose and throat. Sometimes a rain would come up and it would take over a
week to reach camp because of the many washouts and sudden streams. Only a few houses and an occasional Mexican hut would dot the long stretch of
magnificent country between Ensenada and camp. The road wound over mountains and around them, dropped into valleys and ran along the shore. Dozens of
different kinds of cacti grew on the mountain sides and in season yucca came forth with clusters of yellow creamy blossoms. There were rocky grades,
sharp turns, steep pitches and long stretches of sand.
Santo Tomas was one of the first stopping places after leaving Ensenada. It was in a fertile valley where the friars had planted vineyards over a
hundred and fifty-eight years ago. Some of the vines still bore fruit. There were olive trees, and the remains of the mission, and old wine barrels.
From Santo Tomas we started up the high grade that finally led down to San Vicente, twenty-five miles away. This part of the journey was long and
dangerous; the road had deep gullies and was scattered with sharp rocks that would puncture a tire or break an axle. Father used to say a little
prayer after we came over the grade. Today it is a paved road and wonderful to behold! The scenery on this part of the highway was very pretty. We
often stopped by a running stream to eat our lunch. We stayed overnight at the Johnson's ranch or San Antonio as it was called, or if we were early
enough we might reach Hattie Hamilton's ranch. Hamilton's was a cool welcoming oasis. It lay in the valley of Santo Domingo river and at times the
river was so full one could not get across with an auto and then the mules from the ranch pulled us over.
Miss Hattie was a wonderful hostess. She had come from England over seventy years ago as a young girl to be with her uncle. At the time we were there
they had a beautiful ranch. There were several acres of every kind of fruit-bearing tree that would grow in the locality, a vegetable garden, flowers,
many chickens and cows. Hattie's uncle, Mr. Young died in 1920 and was buried on the ranch which he left to her. There is a large onyx cross at his
grave that my father had made. It is another hundred and seventy-five miles to El Marmol from Hamilton's. The roads were bad with steep grades and
deep gullies. It was not an easy trip then nor is it even today.
The second way to reach the quarry was by steamer. It landed at Santa Catarina three hundred miles down the coast from San Diego and then followed a
fifty-five mile drive overland by auto. The road in itself was an engineering feat of no small consequence. The difficulties overcome in establishing
it were nearly equalled by those of maintaining it. This is all desert country with only two places to stop for water. Catarina village was the first
stopping place. Here we would rest at the home of Pasqual Cajames. A Yaqui Indian, Pasqual was married to an Indian princess. There was plenty of
water at Santa Catarina and many fruit trees and gardens.
The next stop was St. Augustine, twelve miles from the quarry. Here could be found good drinking and cooking water. The water at the onyx quarry
generally had such a high soda content that we used the water at St. Augustine -- hauling it back to camp in large wooden buckets.
The first view of the El Marmol onyx quarry was impressive. As you came over the summit of the surrounding hills a picture unrolled that was hard to
describe. The brilliant sunlight shining on exposed onyx transformed the great quarry into a field of glittering white. In the village, a tiny place,
the hundred or more employees were housed in buildings constructed by the company. When we were there we lived in a house built of onyx until the big
house was made ready for us.
The actual quarrying was the simplest part of the process in getting onyx from the quarries into a bonded yard at San Diego. The method used was
called the "wedge and feather." While much of the onyx lay exposed upon the surface a greater part was eight or ten feet underground buried beneath
masses of earth and rock, the accumulation of centuries. When this deposit had been removed holes would be drilled about every six inches and wedges
inserted in them. Upon driving in the wedge the block would split along the line of the drilled holes and could then be lifted by the derrick and
placed in position to be squared up.
Transporting the enormous blocks of onyx to the beach was a difficult and tedious haul. At first this was accomplished by means of mules. Sixteen
mules to a wagon could haul ten tons of onyx to the beach, returning with a cargo of food from the boat or perhaps coming back empty. A journey of one
hundred and ten miles, it took five days.
Because of the unfavorable coastline at Santa Catarina, vessels could not anchor close to shore so the onyx had to be conveyed out to them by means of
surf boats for a distance of some fifteen hundred feet. The huge blocks were taken from the pile at the beach and loaded onto hand cars and pushed out
to the end of the pier. Here the derrick came into use again by lifting blocks from the pier into ten ton lighter boats called pongos by the Mexicans
and built especially for this purpose. Pasqual Cajames was the best surf man my father had working for him. He was always in charge of the surf boats,
as he knew how to count the waves and how to pass through them.
Even in calm weather the surfing is a perilous task. Strong currents and high seas can stop the work for hours. In fair weather the average loading is
one-hundred and seventy-five tons in seven hours. A ship usually carried about six-hundred and fifty tons, so days would be spent at the beach. When
the onyx arrived in San Diego it was met by United States custom officials. Each block of onyx was unloaded, measured and consigned to the bonded yard
where it remained until sold. The bonded yard enabled the Pedrara Company to export to Canada, Australia and Europe as well as to the United States.
In the Spreckels Theater in San Diego, the entrance, lobby, walls and ceiling are entirely of Pedrara onyx. The soft glowing light shining through the
translucent onyx brings to mind childish dreams of a fairy palace -- forgetting all the hard work involved in quarrying and bringing the onyx here.
My travels in Baja California bring many things to mind. The long horseback rides over miles of untraveled country, the lovely wild flowers after a
rain, the strange cacti and trees to study, the rattlesnakes to make excitement, the gold, silver, copper, and onyx mines to learn about, the desert
winds, the wild surf and cool sea breezes to enjoy. One would look up at the golden moon and wonder about all that is good, getting nearer to God and
to nature and knowing there are many things which make one glad to be alive. The poet Rudyard Kipling perhaps said it best:
"Something hidden, go and find it.
Go and look behind the ranges
Something lost behind the ranges
Lost and waiting for you -- Go!"
My motto:
Never let a Dragon pass by without pulling its tail!
|
|
|
The squarecircle
Nomad
Posts: 173
Registered: 11-28-2004
Location: El Cajon
Member Is Offline
Mood: 'Baja Feeling'
|
|
Finding El Marmol
Greetings Neal; What a wonderful find, your reference to the Brown family's ledgendary El Marmol onyx mining operation with its many period trails
and tribulations. Really great stuff! Much appreciated on this forum. >>> sq.
|
|
|
wilderone
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3868
Registered: 2-9-2004
Member Is Offline
|
|
The Rock Art Papers are available for sale at the SD Museum of Man, at a cost of between $16-$24.
|
|
|
Barry A.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
|
|
Thanks to Neal
Really great stuff, Neal. Thank you very much. Barry
|
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65198
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by wilderone
The Rock Art Papers are available for sale at the SD Museum of Man, at a cost of between $16-$24. |
Do you think a Baja nut like me would like to have them? HECK YAH! Thanks Wilderone... next time I go to Balboa Park, I will get them... unless anyone
knows of another way?
|
|
|
John M
Super Nomad
Posts: 1924
Registered: 9-3-2003
Location: California High Desert
Member Is Offline
|
|
Rock Art Papers
David, et al, go here
http://www.museumofman.org/html/publications_list.pdf
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
