El Camino Viejo
El Camino Viejo a Los Ángeles, also known as El Camino Viejo and the Old Los Angeles Trail, was the oldest north-south trail in the interior of Spanish colonial Las Californias and Mexican Alta California, present day California. It became a well established inland route, and an alternative to the coastal El Camino Real trail used since the 1770s in the period.
It ran from San Pedro Bay and the Pueblo de Los Ángeles, over the Transverse Ranges through Tejon Pass and down through the San Emigdio Mountains to the San Joaquin Valley, where it followed a route along the eastern slopes of the Coast Ranges between aguaje and arroyos. It passed west out of the valley, over the Diablo Range at Corral Hollow Pass into the Livermore Valley, to end at the Oakland Estuary on the eastern San Francisco Bay.
History
The route of El Camino Viejo was well established by the 1820s, and the route was in use by Spanish colonial "carretas" as early as 1780, as a more direct route than El Camino Real to the recently established Mission Santa Clara de Asís and Mission San Francisco de Asís. At that time the Bay Area section ran from the mouth of Arroyo Las Positas southwest across the mouth of the Arroyo Mocho and Arroyo Valle to Arroyo de la Laguna and following it south down to its confluence with Arroyo de la Alameda. It then crossed the hills to the south via Mission Pass to the coastal plain and on until it reached Mission Santa Clara and the El Camino Real. The Los Angeles Area section left the El Camino Real in the San Fernando Valley,Later, after the 1797 foundation of the Mission San José, the road was turned northward from there, crossing Arroyo de San Leandro and Arroyo de San Lorenzo to the anchorage in what is now the Oakland Estuary. There cargos could be ferried across to the Mission and Presidio of San Francisco or to other places on the bay more quickly and in more quantity than carriage by road.
This route along the unsettled frontier of Spanish colonial Las Californias—Alta California came to be favored by those who wished to avoid the eyes of the Spanish authorities that were along the more settled coastal route of El Camino Real. Settlements like Las Juntas and Rancho Centinela, and later Poso de Chane and others began to grow up along the route of El Camino Viejo. Later Californio vaqueros made "El Camino Viejo" a well-known trail that connected Rancho San Antonio with the Pueblo de Los Ángeles. The vaqueros ran cattle and in the 1840s began establishing inland Mexican land grant ranchos along the route. Californio mesteñeros also moved into the San Joaquin Valley to catch the mesteños that now roamed in the thousands, and held them in temporary corrals before herding them to the Bay Area, to Southern California, or to Sonora and other territories of northern Mexico for sale.
With the California Gold Rush a shortcut developed at the northern end of El Camino Viejo, as part of the Oakland to Stockton Road used by stagecoaches and teamsters. It ran from Oakland, east through the Castro Valley and Rancho San Ramon, to the San Joaquin Valley and Stockton.
Route of El Camino Viejo
[Alameda County]
- Oakland Estuary
- * Rancho San Antonio
- ** San Antonio
- ** Clinton
- *** Brooklyn
- Arroyo de San Leandro
- * Rancho San Leandro
- ** San Leandro
- Arroyo de San Lorenzo
- * Rancho San Lorenzo
- ** Squattersville
- *** San Lorenzo
- Centreville
- Mission San José
- * Rancho Ex-Mission San José
- ** Mission San José
- Mission Pass
- Diablo Range
- Arroyo de la Alameda
- Arroyo de la Laguna
- * Rancho Valle de San Jose
- Arroyo Valle
- * Rancho Santa Rita
- ** Alisal
- Arroyo Mocho
- Arroyo Las Positas
- *Rancho Las Positas
- ** Livermore's, Livermore Ranch
- Arroyo Seco
- Portezuela de Buenos Ayres
[San Joaquin County]
- Arroyo de los Buenos Ayres
- * Corral Hollow
- Rancho Pescadero
[Stanislaus County]
- Arroyo del Ospital
- Arroyo de La Puerta
- Rancho Del Puerto
- Arroyo Salada Grande
- Arroyita Salada
- Arroyo Orestimba
- Rancho Orestimba y Las Garzas
[Merced County]
- Arroyo de las Garzas
- Arroyo de Mesteño
- Aguaje de Las Berendas
- Arroyo de Quinto
- Arroyo de Romero
- Rancho de Centinella
- Arroyo de San Luis Gonzaga
- * Rancho San Luis Gonzaga
- Arroyo de Los Baños
- Rancho Panoche de San Juan y Los Carrisolitos
- Arroyo de Las Ortigalito
[Fresno County]
- Arroyita de Panoche or Arroyo de Pannochita
- Arroyo de Panoche Grande
- Arroyo de Cantúa
- * Murrieta Spring
- Aguaje de Pedro Etchegoen
- Arroyo Pasajero or Arroyo Poso de Chane
- * Poso de Chane
- Arroyo de Jacelitos
- Arroyo de Las Polvarduras
- Arroyo de Zapata Chino
- Arroyo de Las Canoas
Kings County">Kings County, California">Kings County
- Arroyo de las Garzas
[Kern County]
- Alamo Solo Spring
- Aguaje La Brea
- Las Tinajas de Los Indios
- Arroyo de Matarano
- Aguaje Del Diablo
- Aguaje de en Media
- Arroyo de Los Carneros
- Arroyo Chico Martinez
- * Aguaje Mesteño
- Aguaje de Los Temblores
- Aguaje de Santa Maria
- Aguaje de La Brea
- Buena Vista Lake
- Arroyo de Amargosa
- Rancho San Emidio
- Arroyo San Emigdio
- San Emigdio Mountains
- * Cuddy Valley
- * Cuddy Canyon
- Tehachapi Mountains
[Los Angeles County]
- Rancho El Tejon
- * Portezuela de Cortes , Portezuela de Castac , Fort Tejon Pass, Tejon Pass.
- Rancho Los Alamos y Agua Caliente
- Kulshra’jek, Rancho la Viuda, Reed's Ranch, Gorman's Station
- Rancho La Liebre
- Cow Springs, French John's Station
- Aquaje Lodoso
- Laguna de Chico Lopez, Elizabeth Lake
- Sierra Pelona Mountains
- * San Francisquito Pass
- * San Francisquito Creek
- Santa Clara River
- Rancho San Francisco
- San Gabriel Mountains
- * Fremont Pass, San Fernando Pass
- San Fernando Valley
- * Mission San Fernando Rey de España
- * Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando
- * Rancho Los Encinos
- * Rancho Providencia
- Santa Monica Mountains
- * Rancho Cahuenga
- * Cahuenga Pass
- Rancho Los Feliz
- Pueblo de Los Ángeles
- Rancho San Pedro
- San Pedro Bay, at the harbor of Los Ángeles
Eastern Route of El Camino Viejo
Fresno County
Arroyo de Panoche Grande- Rancho Laguna de Tache or "25" Ranch
- Pueblo de Las Juntas
- Rancho de Los Californios
- La Libertad
Kings County
- Whitmore's Ferry
- * Kingston
- Vaca Adobe
- Laguna de Tache, Tulare Lake
- Cox & Clark Trading Post and Steamboat Landing
- Alamo Mocho
[Kern County]
- Alamo Solo Spring