San Timoteo Canyon is a river valleycanyon southeast ofRedlands, in the far northwestern foothills of theSan Jacinto Mountains in theInland Empire region ofSouthern California.
The canyon runs from its southern inflow mouth inBeaumont inRiverside County, in a northwest alignment, to its northern outflow mouth west ofRedlands and east ofLoma Linda inSan Bernardino County.[1]
San Timoteo Creek formed the canyon, and flows northwest through it to its confluence with theSanta Ana River, being atributary of it. The creek drains the Banning Valley west of theSan Gorgonio Pass water divide, and the watersheds of the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains that feed into it.
The canyon was part of the winter homeland of theSerrano people for thousands of years. There werehot springs in the area.
TheSan Bernardino de Sena Estancia was established in 1819 as a ranch outpostMission San Gabriel Arcángel, for the grazing of cattle by the Mission Indians. The original buildings grew to include a chapel, tile kiln, lime kiln, and a grist mill.
The canyon was part ofRancho San Bernardino, the 1842Mexican land grant byAlta California GovernorJuan B. Alvarado toJosé del Carmen Lugo, José María Lugo, Vicente Lugo, andDiego Sepulveda.[2]
On the 27th day of May, 1851,Juan Antonio, theCalifornian Native American chief of the MountainCahuilla band, with a group of his tribesmen pursued and fought theIrving Gang ofJohn "Red" Irving and hisSan Francisco andSydney outlaws in San Timoteo Canyon. Irving's band of raiding thieves had robbed people and stolen property throughout the San Bernardino Valley, including onRancho San Bernardino where Juan Antonio's Cahuilla village atPolitana was located. Acting on the orders of the local Justice of the Peace, theCalifornio owner of the rancho and whose house the Irving Gang were robbing at the time, the Cahuilla attacked and pursued them into San Timoteo Canyon, where in a running fight they killed eleven of the twelve men in the gang after they refused to surrender.[3] There were decades of precedent for the Mountain Cahuilla who working on the local ranchos, tracking and hunting down bandits and other tribe's raiders was a service they were requested for in the San Bernardino region, during the 1822–1846 Mexican rule inAlta California. With this 1851 order, they were still authorized to carry out legally requested local law enforcement actions, now within the year old U.S. state.[3]
However some newly arrived American settlers toSouthern California and the area resented the killing of "white men" by "indians" and mistook it to be the beginning of aMission Indian uprising. A company of militia from thePresidio of San Diego was sent against the Cahuilla.[3] At the time, present day San Bernardino and Riverside Counties were within San Diego County, and served by troops based at the presidio. Juan Antonio's Cahuilla band fled Politana, going to their homelands in theSan Jacinto Mountains. The American leader of the militia, Major GeneralJoshua Bean, discovered the truth about the events and with difficulty restrained his troops from attacking the Cahuilla, preventing a battle and massacre.[3]
Closely following the outcome of the Irving Gang incident, in late 1851, Juan Antonio, his warriors and their families, moved eastward from Politana, toward theSan Gorgonio Pass and settled in a valley which branched off to the north from San Timoteo Canyon, at a village namedSaahatpa.[3]
In November 1851, theGarra Revolt occurred, a conflict of theYuma War. TheCupeño leaderAntonio Garra attempted to bring Juan Antonio and the Mountain Cahuilla band into theSerrano, Cahuilla and Cupeño Indians independence revolt. The Garra Revolt was put an end by Juan Antonio, a new ally of the Americans, who arrested Antonio Garra and handed him over to American authorities.[3]
One of San Timoteo Canyon's more famous residents was the teenagedWyatt Earp, whose family lived in the canyon from 1864 to 1868.
The canyon was used in 1877 by theSouthern Pacific Railroad for its new southern transcontinental route's tracks into/out of theLos Angeles Basin andSouthern California, to/from the eastern U.S.
For a time in the mid-1950s it was considered as one of three possible alignments for the path ofInterstate 10 in California, as part of the newInterstate Highway System program, though the central route throughRedlands was selected.[4]
San Timoteo Canyon State Park is in development for public access and recreation facilities, and is not yet open.[5][6] In 2001 a portion of the canyon, through the efforts of the Riverside Land Conservancy and others, was protected for aregional park, and then came under management of theCalifornia State Parks department.[7]
When the regional park opens, it will add some much-needed public open space for the fast-growingInland Empire. The park's features will include: trails for hiking and horseback riding; thenative flora and fauna of the canyon's variedhabitats; and historical landmarks, including the San Timoteo Schoolhouse.[8]
TheSan Timoteo Canyon Schoolhouse, a museum and park operated by theRiverside County Parks department, was built in 1883, and added to theNational Register of Historic Places on January 19, 2001. It was acquired by Riverside County Parks from theBeaumont Unified School District in 1993, but was not opened to the public until after 2007, when a five-year restoration was completed.[9]
Part of the widerSan Timoteo Formation inthe Badlands, fossils from thePliocene andearly Pleistocene have been excavated in San Timoteo Canyon since the early 1900's.[10][11][12]
In 2010, a construction crew found a deposit ofIrvingtonian fossils dating back 1.4 million years ago in San Timoteo Canyon. The well-preserved natural cache contained nearly 1,500 bone fragments. They included those of: two species ofsabretooth cats; ground sloths the size of a modern-day grizzly bear; two types of camels; and more than 1,200 bones from small rodents. Other finds include new species of deer, horse, and possibly llama.[13][14][15]
34°01′48″N117°12′17″W / 34.03000°N 117.20472°W /34.03000; -117.20472
