Foothills Sentry - June 2022

Foothills Sentry Page 10 June 2022 Indian site identified in Trabuco Canyon By Douglas Westfall An 80-acre property in Trabuco Canyon, once the site of the first Boys Town in California, is now zoned for housing. Indian Ridge, along the top of the property off of Rose Canyon, has five buildings on it; since 2018, it has housed Vera’s Sanctuary for Women, a residential drug treatment site for victims of human trafficking. The Sanctuary owns 12 acres; the rest belongs to Stone Building Corpo- ration, which wants to construct 27 houses on the buildable por- tion of the property. It has, however, recently been identified as the former site of a Native American village. The vil- lage site likely extended along the ridge, down to Trabuco Creek. A number of rocks, so far undisturbed by development, bear holes left by mortars used to grind corn at least 10,000 years ago. The site is likely that of the Acjachemen People, part of the Juaneno tribe. Today, little evidence of the vil- lage is visible. However, there are some well-preserved remnants. A few arrowheads and rock knives have been found near the creek, plus some shells used for orna- mentation, as well as a mortar and pestle, or two. Most striking are the bedrock mortars that are scat- tered across the hillside. Dr. Gary Stickel, a noted ar- cheologist who taught at UCLA and has consulted on many Na- tive American digs, was invited to view the artifacts and to hike to several of the bedrock mor- tars. After hiking the hillside, he stated, “I can confirm, these are bedrock mortars of the Acjache- men people. This was the site of an Acjachemen village.” He iden- tified chert arrowheads and an obsidian knife found near the site as “definitely local Native Ameri- can.” The proposed 27-home devel- opment was likely slowed by the pandemic, but it is still on deck. Stacy St. James of the South Cen- tral Coast Information Center for the State Historic Preservation Office at CalState, Fullerton re- ports, “If the mortar is on private land, there is probably not much you can do except make an appeal to the owner to not develop that location. If it’s on state or federal lands, that appeal may have a dif- ferent discussion. It’s also pos- sible that the Native American Heritage Commission in Sacra- mento knows about this if it’s a sacred site.” Jerry Howard, archaeologist for the county, elaborated on the development process. “The company will have to conduct a survey of the project area to de- termine if there are cultural re- sources present,” he said. “They are required to record the site and include it in their CEQA declara- tion that goes to the State Historic Parks Office. In some cases, they may be required to consult with Native American tribes regarding the project. The CEQA declara- tion should be filed with the state Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.” Indian Ridge may or may not be a sacred site, but it is the lo- cation of an Acjachemen village, and reflects the history of our na- tion. Douglas Westfall is a Con- gressionally-recognized national historian, and has published mul- tiple books on America’s history and lectures on these topics. Silverado features art walk Canyon artists displayed their wares during the Silverado Art Walk, May 14. Stops up and down the roadway led to pastels, oils, acrylics, photography, jew- elry and ceramics. John Ringer displays abstracts and seascapes. Carmen Spievak and Victor Cardenas enjoy a “garage gallery.” Debbie Perry, left, and Cindy Couisne browse at a stop along the art walk. Alice Phillips highlights one of her dichroic glass pendants. Anna Fairchild, right, was named Woman of the Year by the Orange Woman’s Club. Club President Suzanne Vaugine presented the award. Photos by Tony Richards Found on the Trabuco Canyon site are portable mortar (upper left,) bedrock mortar (upper right), chert knife (center) and a bone pick.. Douglas Westfall’s book, Indian Villages, tells more of the story and can be found at SpecialBooks.com.