Four Graves And A Mountain Peak

Four Graves and a Mountain Peak Mount San Antonio, better known as Mount Baldy or Ol' Baldy, is the highest peak in the San Gabriel Mountains, and it sits to the south of the small mountain community of Wrightwood, California. Mount San Antonio has two summits, the eastern summit is 76 feet higher than the west summit. The peak, which marks the boundary between San Bernardino County and Los Angeles County is called Baldy because of the absence of trees around the summit (which, by the way, is above timberline). Most mountains are named because of their characteristics, or for the individuals who mapped them. Mount Baldy is no different. Or is it? Perhaps it got its nickname from something terrifying that happened 165 years ago, on the slopes far before its towering 10,064 foot mountain peak. In the late 1700’s, Spanish explorers first visited the San Diego, San Bernardino and San Gabriel area. It was in September of 1771 that missionaries formed Mission San Gabriel Arcangel. In 1776, the missionaries moved it to its second location to the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, which proved to be a better location because of the area's fertile land. Following the next fifty years, the Franciscans at the mission not only worked to save the souls of the native Indian, but also put them to work for the mission. Together the padres and Indians created a vast and prosperous agricultural community. San Gabriel became the wealthiest of all the early missions. The prosperity paid off, but only for the Mexican government; they later seized the mission and its extensive and productive land. Later, the United States returned the mission, but not before independent American and Mexican ranchers and farmers had established themselves in the area. From horizon to horizon, from present day Pasadena, over to Orange, and all points in between, agriculture thrived; cattle and sheep grazing grew, as did fruit groves, grain and hay fields. One of these ranches was the enormous Lugo Ranch, whose boundaries extended even to San Diego! As many historian of the day would say, "Lugo Ranch was southern California." it was in 1842, when Alvarado, then Governor of California, granted to Jose Maria Lugo, José del Carmen Lugo, Vicente Lugo, and Diego Sepulveda, the Rancho de San Bernardino, which became the namesake for the county. Life was prosperous for years, as the Lugo's fought against outlaws, Indian raids, the weather, and even the local four legged wildlife to survive. The fiercest battle between man and animal occurred in early summer of 1843 at the west boundary of the ranch, at a place called the Summit in Cajon Pass. Incredible as it seems, the deadly battle and posse hunt for a monster started on a quiet hillside just east of the northbound lanes of present day Interstate 15 and just 1/4 of a mile north of the historic Route 66 Stop at the Summit. It was February of 1831, when a sailor stepped off a British merchant ship docked at San Pedro Pier and upon the soil of a new land. The sailor was anxious to get away, as he saw the grand mountains rising in the distance and the grazing of many cattle. The ship's master was a tyrannical sort, true freedom could only be found by leaving the ship. McFadden was his name and tired of working on the sea, he aimed to make a new life in them hills up yonder. It's said that he married a senorita and became one of the first white men to work the large Lugo Ranch. What is to follow is his story of what occurred on that quiet slope on the Summit. It is a tale of the hunt for a man-killing monster that ended on the bottom of present day Mount Baldy in present day Angeles National Forest. McFadden's story would be relayed first to his son, then grandson, and finally down the line of generations. McFadden, the grandson, once lived in Victorville, California. A veteran of the War to End All Wars (WWI), he, too, had passed this

earthy plane. McFadden passed the story of the bloody day to Carleton S. Carver, who was once the part owner/CEO of the Las Flores Ranch (Lugo Ranch), in San Bernardino County. It was in 1963 when Carver asked the Los Angeles Occidental College to investigate and verify the story. They did so, supporting ol' McFadden's story detail by detail. It wasn't just McFadden who kept the story of the encounter alive. Decades would pass as the Lugo Ranch continued to operate. Each new hired would be told of the fight between cowboy and monster. They would be taken to the spot where the dead were buried as a reminder to be cautious in working the range. The fourth generation McFadden worked as a civilian guard at Wayside Honor Rancho in Castaic, Ca. through the 1970's. "My family were from Victorville, four generations of ranchers...," he would say. Perhaps he also kept the story alive. The hunt for a monster would start at a quiet hillside, it would end at a mountain that is more legendary than one might realize. It was in approximately 1843 and Lugo had sent four Mexican hands to the western boundary of Lugo Ranch to check on cattle that were grazing in the area of present day Summit in Cajon Pass. The area was known for theft of livestock in the area. Over a year earlier, in May of 1842, Paiute Chief Walkara, four mountain men, and nearly one hundred Indians conducted one of the biggest raids of livestock in southern California history. Since then it was common practice to check on the livestock's wellbeing in all sections of the vast ranch. Several weeks passed by and no word was received from the four send to check on the beef cows. Concerned for the missing, a group of forty men were assembled and sent to look for them. Included in the group was McFadden. Traces of the four men were not hard to find once the large posse reached Cajon Pass. Many buzzards were circling a certain area on the Summit. The buzzards were a dreadful sign of what the group was about to find. Following the buzzards' movements, they came across the mangled and half-eaten bodies of the missing men. In the same area were the carcasses of some cattle. It didn't take much to realize that the missing four were set upon by a wild creature, and looking off into the distance they saw the culprit heading their way for another helping to the pieces of the dead. To their calculation, the golden grizzly bear would stand nine feet tall on his hind legs and weighed nigh onto 1000 pounds! The large bear, as was customary for its species, never ate fresh kill; they returned when it was seasoned for awhile. The author John M Swisher wrote in Mojave Rendezvous, True Old Desert Tails, "They observed a huge, menacing and on-the prowl grizzly who obviously was subject in the recent wholesale slaughter." Armed with only a few long rifles and spears, the group of forty men gave chase in a wild pursuit that would cover sixteen miles of rough countryside before coming to an end. The pursuit entered East Cajon Canyon, where a fifth cowboy fell victim to the grizzly when he got too close to the bear. A forceful swipe from one massive claw took the man's life. Keeping a safe distance and waiting for the rogue grizzly to get in a position where it would be less dangerous to kill him, the posse dodged through the Mormon Rocks in West Cajon Canyon and worked their way over the ridge and across Lone Pine Canyon. The pursuit of hunter and prey lead into Lytle Creek and south towards Mount San Antonio. Several miles from present day Mt Baldy Notch, and four miles east of Mount San Antonio, the spears and rifle fire of the posse finally brought down the giant grizzly. McFadden and the group noticed something peculiar about the dead grizzly. His top notch, or his head, was curiously missing its grizzled fur. Apparently, like some

men, grizzly's sometimes lose their hair as they age. And that ol' grizzly was pretty dang old, because it was obvious that he'd been bald "on top" long before the spears and long guns ended his life. The victors nicknamed their defeated foe “Baldy.” Ironically enough, the author has heard Mount San Antonio referred as "Old Baldy" for as long as he lived in Wrightwood. How did Mt. Baldy really earn its nickname? Sure is something to ponder on the next time you're in this neck of the woods and you can't help but see the towering peaks of Ol' Baldy. History Footnote: One area that the pursuit went through was west Cajon and through Lone Pine Canyon. This was in the same area that mountain man Cristobal Slover was attacked and slaughtered by another grizzly thirteen years later, during a hunting excursion with friend Bill McMines. It is unknown what happened to the body of the Lugo Ranch posse member who lost his life after a vicious grizzly paw swipe in East Cajon Pass. The four that were killed on the Summit were never identified for local historic records; their bodies were buried on the spot where they were found. Up till 1997, the rocks that covered their mass grave could still be seen. Carleton S. Carver was CEO of his 10,000 acre ranch Las Flores, in San Bernardino County; Interested in the grizzly attack that killed five employees in the early days of the ranch, he wanted Los Angeles Occidental College to look into it. It a sense it had been verified by the oral history of the early ranch and by McFadden through his family line. However, Carver desired more verification. On a yearly BBQ and get-together that Las Flores Ranch had with the students and facility of the independent Los Angeles Occidental College, information was exchanged and a report was written. The author remembered reading the article on the internet in May of 2005, but since that time the article was never relocated. The author recalled that the date on the report of the grizzly attack on Lugo Ranch employees as being September, 1963. In follow up, the author contacted Jean Paule, archivist for Los Angeles Occidental College. Surprisingly, she was also working at the college in 1963. Jean Paule did not remember if such a report had been written. It was almost forty five years ago! However, she added that if such a report was written, it would have began during one of the college's visits and BBQ activities at the ranch. Interesting enough, the BBQ at the ranch in 1963 was held in the month of September! Ms. Paule continues her search for the document, but she warns that the archives are in such a condition that certain items are found when looking for something else entirely. Just a piece of history and perhaps a touch of legend. Excerpt from "The History of Big Pines", by Terry Graham