Poso de Chane orPoso Chane (Chane Pool) is a former settlement inFresno County, California situated around the waterhole of that name, northwest just below the confluence of theJacalitos Creek withLos Gatos Creek, 6 miles (9.7 km) east ofCoalinga and northwest of theGuijarral Hills.
The Poso de Chane, was a pool or waterhole on Los Gatos Creek, originallyArroyo Pasajero orArroyo Poso de Chane,[1] northwest of the Guijarral Hills.
This pool and a surroundingciénaga of several acres, was once the site of a village of Native Americans called the "Chane" by the Spanish and "Udjiu" by the Native Americans.[2] This location became a Spanish and later a Mexican agricultural settlement of about a dozen families, the only settlement in the area and a way station onEl Camino Viejo.[3] The Huiguera brothers became importantmesteñeros in the vicinity and Juan Huiguera settled in the Poso in 1854 raising cattle between the Poso andTulare Lake. Later American settlers came and built stores and houses there also.[4]
The Poso de Chane was a hub of trails, besides the Old Road, that linked those from theSalinas,San Juan andSanta Clara Valleys with those in the wilds of theSan Joaquin Valley likePueblo de Las Juntas,Rancho de los Californios andRio Bravo. The Poso also became an important stop at the end of theLa Vereda del Monte, (The Mountain Path), was used bymesteñeros, to move their herds ofmesteños ormustangs, southward fromPoint of Timber in eastern Contra Coasta County, throughLivermore Valley, then through the remote regions of theDiablo Range to end at the Pozo. From there mustangs were driven southward on various routes ofLa Vereda del Caballo throughSouthern California and across theColorado andAltar Deserts intoSonora,Mexico.[3]: 27 [4]: 399–468
Following the American conquest of California and theCalifornia Gold Rush, horse and cattle thieves used the Vereda for herding stolen cattle and horses to markets north and south.[4]: 399–468 The trail was also a favored route of bandits and other outlaws for moving unobserved. The scattered small settlements along the route becoming their refuges, the Poso being the most notorious.[3]: 27–28
The Poso de Chane was destroyed in theGreat Flood of 1862, when a deep channel was cut draining the pool. The surrounding land, gardens, vines and trees died, turning it into a desolate location to be supplied with water only by digging wells.[4][5] The settlement lingered, for a time as a center for sheepmen and sheepshearing, into the 1870s.
In 1875,Gustave Kreyenhagen, came to Poso and started a small store and hotel there. At that time there were only a half-dozen American families living there. The rest were Californios or Mexicans living mostly in the mountains or in stockmen's camps at the few watering places. He also went into the sheep and cattle business building a sheep-shearing station that handled as many as 150,000 sheep in the public corral. Gustave was also the first to begin raising grain on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley in Fresno County. His sons, raised working on the land owned by Gustave, went into the cattle business, forming their own company Kreyenhagens, Incorporated, that became the largest cattle company in Fresno county.[6]: 825–827 They raised both sheep and cattle, but later gave up sheep and only raised cattle south of Coalinga.
36°09′29″N120°14′45″W / 36.15818°N 120.24596°W /36.15818; -120.24596
