In The Beginning...

Reprinted from:
Austin Drake
1949

It was the habit of the Indians to make their raids and then hide themselves quickly back into the higher areas of the San Bernardino Mountains. It was decided to follow the maverick bands into their own hideouts and destroy them one and all.

From “observations” which Benito (a name given to him by the Californians) Wilson recorded in 1877 the following is taken.

“In 1845, about July or August, the Mojave and other Indians were constantly raiding the ranches of this part of the country and at the request of Don Pico, who had promised me a force of 80 well mounted men, well armed, I took command of an expedition to go in pursuit of the Indians.

“I organized the expedition at San Bernardino, sent the pack train and the soldiers (less than 22 which I retained with me) through Cajon Pass. Myself and the 22 went up the San Bernardino river, through the mountains and crossed over what is now Bear Lake. Before arriving at the lake we captured a village, the people of which had all left, except two old women and some children. On the evening of the second day we arrived at the lake. The whole lake and swamp seemed alive with bear.

“The 22 Californians went out in pairs and each lassoed one bear, brought the result to camp, so that we had at one and the same time 11 bears. That prompted me to give the lake the name it now bears.”

Wilson’s party followed the trail of the scurrying Indians across the valley over the mountains through what is now Holcomb Valley and down the Mojave River to the desert. In a quick pitched battle the Indian leader Joaquin was killed by Wilson, who himself in return received an almost fatal wound from a poisoned arrow released by the chief before he fell from his mount. Other members of the fleeing red-skins barricaded themselves in the rocks near Dead Man’s Point and the Wilson party was obliged to return over the same route without having destroyed the raiders.

The following year Wilson was placed in command of another group of riflemen and campaigned against several famous outlaw leaders, one of whom was Antonia Garra, who had threatened to “annihilate every white man in the state.” Wilson’s fighting unit was finally given the job of defending San Bernardino and in such process he was made a prisoner in 1848 in the battle at Chino. He made his escape in short order.

Wilson not only opened the Big Bear Valley, the fame of which spread like wild fire when his party returned to San Bernardino with 20 bear pelts, but he became county clerk in 1850, first mayor of Los Angeles and constructed the first rail to Mt. Wilson in back of Pasadena. He was a faithful, lovable person with all his friends, successful and wealthy as a land owner and stockman and the grandfather of America’s grand General George S. Patton, who gave his life in the recent war.

In the summer following Wilson’s discovery of Bear Valley hundreds of trappers flocked in from all over the country. Bear, deer, antelope and even wolverine were plentiful and the fur traders had a great new country in which to operate.

Although Wilson speaks of “lake and swamp” when he wrote of his discovery it must be remembered that a lake as such did not exist here at that time. Old timers who knew the valley from around 1875 report that it was a beautiful long meadowland into which flowed several streams. On the south side Rathbone Creek was probably the largest, flowing through what was later called China Gardens and on the north side streams entered the valley through Van Duzen, Grout and Polique canyons, all joining each other in a willow covered creek which tumbled over rocky craigs at a point near where the first dam was constructed.

As late as 1880 there was still considerable bear which played and fed on the marshy banks of Bear Creek, and this year (1949) many reports have been made by persons having seen bear again in the timber and canyons around the valley.

The influx of trappers the the Big Bear Valley area naturally brought with them adventurers of all other types too, but probably prospectors were in the majority. Gold in Southern California had been discovered in San Feliciano canyon over near Newhall in 1841 by some Neophyte Indians, but the strike was small and kept more or less secret by the Mission padres and had not attracted much attention.

The great ‘49 strike farther north held the spotlight for the next seven or eight years and by 1859 had attracted so many thousands of men and women from the eastern part of the country and from foreign countries that it flooded the entire state with meandering and wandering individuals who not finding their "stake" in the central part of California migrated to other portions seeking new places to prospect and new opportunities that might prove of value.

Among these hordes of hardy pioneers was one William F. Holcomb, born in Indianna in 1831, who came west while yet in his early twenties. Stories of Big Bear Valley reached Holcomb through new found friends and acquaintances and he says in his journal, "Martin and I are determined to go there if we could possibly find the place. We mounted our horses and taking some flour, salt and bacon struck out eastwards. On our journey that day we could not hear a word about Bear valley but the next day we came to a ranch on Lytle Creek owned by a man by the name of George Lord. We camped near by and got directions on how to get to San Bernardino. Here by chance we heard that there was such a place as Bear valley and learned that if we would go to the mouth of the Santa Ana river we could find an old settler who could tell us something about the place."

A Mr. F.M. Van Lueven was the man to whom they were directed and he gave them instructions on how to find another party of prospectors who were camped up at Converse Flats.

Martin and Holcomb joined with the party which were finding small deposits of gold along the stream bed in Starvation Flats. Holcomb and Martin worked their placer with a rocker, taking about "Five dollars a day each," when Martin decided to return to the village of Los Angeles and visit his family and bring back provisions.

Holcomb states that Martin exhibited some gold dust in San Bernardino which caused some excitement but when he paid for provisions in Los Angeles in gold dust it really caused a stir and "People began to rush into Bear Valley."