Blackbird Valley

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Blackbird Valley, earlier known as "Valle de Mocho", is a valley south of Mount Mocho in the Diablo Range in Santa Clara County, California. It lies at an elevation of 2,552 foot / 778 meters. [1]

Valley Low area between hills, often with a river running through it.

A valley is a low area between hills or mountains typically with a river running through it. In geology, a valley or dale is a depression that is longer than it is wide. The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys. Most valleys belong to one of these two main types or a mixture of them, at least with respect to the cross section of the slopes or hillsides.

Mount Mocho is a summit in the Diablo Range, in Santa Clara County, California. It rises to an elevation 3,665 feet / 1,117 meters.

Diablo Range mountain range in California, United States of America

The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges. It is located in the eastern San Francisco Bay area south to the Salinas Valley area of northern California, the United States.

History

Valle Mocho was an overnight stop for droves of horses taken south on La Vereda del Monte by mesteñeros and the horse gangs of Joaquin Murrieta. According to Frank F. Latta, the Valle de Mocho was named after the Murrieta gang member in charge of their station in the valley, Avalino Martínez. Martinez was known by his nickname, "Mocho" (meaning cut off or short) for his diminutive four feet, four inch, stature. The Arroyo Mocho and the nearby peak Mount Mocho were also named after him. [2] :431

La Vereda del Monte was a backcountry route through remote regions of the Diablo Range, one of the California Coast Ranges. La Vereda del Monte was the upper part of La Vereda Caballo,, used by mesteñeros from the early 1840s to drive Alta California horses to Sonora for sale.

Mesteñeros, or mustang runners, were people in Western North America in the 19th and early 20th century, usually vaqueros or cowboys, that caught, broke and drove wild horses, called mesteños or mustangs, to market in the Spanish and later Mexican, and still later American territories of what is now Northern Mexico, Texas, New Mexico and California. These Mesteñeros operated primarily in the Great Plains from Texas and New Mexico from the 18th century and in California, primarily in the San Joaquin Valley during the 19th century and in the Great Basin during the 20th century.

Joaquin Murrieta Chilean outlaw

Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo, also called The Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a Sonoran forty-niner, a vaquero and a gold miner that became a famous outlaw in California during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. The popular legend of Joaquin Murrieta is that of a peace-loving man driven to seek revenge when he and his brother were falsely accused of stealing a mule. His brother was hanged and Joaquin horsewhipped. His young wife was gang raped and in one version she died in Joaquin's arms. Swearing revenge, Joaquin hunted down all who had violated his sweetheart. He embarked on a short but violent career that brought death to his Anglo tormentors. The state of California then offered a reward of up to $5,000 for Joaquin "dead or alive." He was reportedly killed in 1853, but the news of his death were disputed and myths later formed about him and his possible survival.

Related Research Articles

Arroyo Mocho river in the United States of America

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Latta Creek is a tributary stream of Salado Creek in the Diablo Range in Stanislaus County, California. It has its source at 37°24′05″N121°19′33″W. Its mouth is at its confluence with Salado Creek. The creek is named for Eli C. Latta, a pioneer that came to California during the California Gold Rush and homesteaded the headwaters of the creek.

Castle Rock, originally known as La Centinela, is a pillar in Corral Hollow, in San Joaquin County, California. It rises to an elevation of 653 feet (199 m).

Kellogg Creek is a tributary of Indian Slough, in Contra Costa County, California. Indian Slough itself is a tributary of the Old River, an old channel of the San Joaquin River. Kellogg Creek was formerly named Arroyo Santa Ángela de Fulgino by Pedro Font, on April 4, 1776, as the expedition of Juan Bautista de Anza passed through the area. In the 19th century it was known to the Californios as Arroyo del Sur.

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Valle Atravesado,, a small, east-west running valley that crosses the north-south running valley of the upper reach of Mississippi Creek in the Diablo Range, in Santa Clara County, California.

French Ranch, is a locale northeast of Hollister in the Diablo Range, in San Benito County, California. It lies on a flat just south of Wildcat Canyon at an elevation of 1,821 feet / 555 meters at the foot of Frenchs Pass. It lies west of an unnamed stream that descends northward to its confluence with Wildcat Canyon Creek from the north slope of Antimony Peak.

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Mustang Peak is a mountain summit along the divide of the Diablo Range in Stanislaus County, California. It rises to an elevation of 2,251 / 686 meters.

Paradise Flat is a flat in the Diablo Range, within Henry W. Coe State Park in Stanislaus County, California. It lies at an elevation of 1,224 / 373 meters along north bank of the South Fork Orestimba Creek, just above the Rooster Comb.

Mustang Flat is a flat in the Diablo Range in Stanislaus County, California. It lies at an elevation of 1,329 feet / 405 meters south of the South Fork Orestimba Creek, north of Mustang Peak.

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Valle Hondo, a small flat in the canyon along the course of North Fork Pacheco Creek in Henry W. Coe State Park in Santa Clara County, California. It lies at an elevation of 1,698 feet / 518 meters. Formerly an Native American rancheria, then an overnight camp along La Vereda del Monte, and then for local ranchers, it is now the site of Pacheco Camp in the state park and is located where the Pacheco Creek Trail meets Coit Road, which borders the flat on its south side.

Fifield Ranch is a locale within the Diablo Range in Santa Clara County, California. It lies at an elevation of 1,512 feet / 461 meters, west of the head of Romero Creek and the Santa Clara County line, about a mile north of Hagerman Peak. It is at the source of a tributary canyon and stream to Chimney Gulch, itself a tributary of East Fork Pacheco Creek.

Mississippi Lake is reservoir on Mississippi Creek within Henry W. Coe State Park in Santa Clara County, California. It is also the largest reservoir in the park.

Bullhead Canyon, is a canyon and tributary stream of the North Fork Pacheco Creek in Santa Clara County, California. Its mouth is on its confluence with North Fork Pacheco Creek at an elevation of 630 feet / 192 meters. Its source and its upper reach is at 37°10′08″N121°19′04″W within the boundary of Henry W. Coe State Park. It is overlooked to the north by the County Line Road,, that runs west to east along the divide of the Diablo Range and the boundary of Santa Clara and Stanislaus County, California.

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Blackbird Valley
  2. ↑ Frank F. Latta, JOAQUIN MURRIETA AND HIS HORSE GANGS, Bear State Books, Santa Cruz, California. 1980.

Coordinates: 37°26′31″N121°31′11″W / 37.44194°N 121.51972°W / 37.44194; -121.51972

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

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