Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Area of proposed freeway project includes Temecula's birthplace

Local historical activists, many relying on canes and walking sticks for support, hiked 7,000 years into the past two weeks ago to explore the rugged, boulder-strewn birthplace of Temecula.

In doing so, about 35 participants came away with an increased awareness of a scarcely visited area that has gained new prominence recently due to a proposed city annexation and a pending freeway improvement project.

“That’s Temecula’s hidden secret,” said Roger Sannipoli, an Old Town property owner who has been active in key historical projects and issues. “There’s so much history up there.”

Sannipoli and other members of Temecula’s historical society and museum board spent about five hours one Saturday crisscrossing and cleaning up a 35-acre city-owned parcel and adjacent land that is part of the sprawling Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve.

The hillsides and meadow – which together form the hub of the Luiseño Indian Temeku Village – anchor the south end of Old Town just west of Interstate 15 at Highway 79 South.

The area hugs the creeks that form the Santa Margarita River. It can trace its history to the region’s earliest inhabitants.

To most passersby, however, the city-owned site is perhaps better known for its unauthorized park-and-ride lot utilized by commuters.

The site is also flanked by a pair of gas stations and convenience stores.

On that Saturday, a sign spinner promoting an auction service stood atop a tall embankment.

The reserve, where the bulk of the Temeku Village was located, is part of a nearly 5,000-acre tract that the city wants to annex.

An environmental report was recently released on the proposed annexation, which is awaiting review by city and county governing boards.

The hike, led by Canyon Lake archaeologist and artist Paul Price, focused in part on the need to further protect the area.

He is critical of a December 2004 archaeological survey that an Irvine consultant did for the city for a $30.6 million freeway improvement project that is planned in the area.

Describing the survey as “armchair archaeology,” Price said the consultant failed to recognize the area’s historical significance.

The area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places following decades of archaeological studies and excavations.

Price and the city consultant, Michael Brandman Associates, differ over some conclusions reached by archaeologist Benjamin Ernest McCown, whose research was published by the Archaeological Survey Association in 1964.

The city consultant recommended that further study be done before work begins on the freeway project, which is expected to claim about one-third of the 35 acres that the city purchased nearly four years ago for $7.1 million.

The consultant also said no construction should occur on the southernmost segment of the city property, the area where human remains have been found.

The loosely structured hike started Saturday after Russell Romo, chairman of the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians, burned sage to purify the participants.

The cleansing ceremony took place near an area where human remains were discovered decades ago.

In stark contrast, not far away were graffiti-covered concrete supports and bridge abutments anchoring eight lanes of freeway traffic.

Some of the graffiti spans four southbound traffic lanes, begins about 15 feet above the ground and features eight-foot-tall letters.

One hike participant briefly detoured beneath the bridges, finding and tossing dozens of spent spray paint cans into a trash bag and also netting several used rollers and two empty gallon paint cans.

The group soon moved to the confluence of Temecula and Murrieta creeks, which, with other tributaries, form the 27-mile-long river that descends through a granite canyon on its way to Camp Pendleton and the ocean.

The canyon and rugged riverbed was an ancient trade route that once connected coastal, inland and tribes. A railroad line was later carved through the canyon that linked San Diego, Temecula, Perris, Colton and other emerging Southern California communities.

The railroad line, which passed through the river gorge before entering Old Town Temecula, was completed in 1882. The line was later abandoned when the rails washed out when flooding scoured the canyon walls.

Remnants of the rail line and a former granite quarry were key points along Saturday’s hike, as were hundreds of bedrock mortars, food grinding holes from the Luiseño period that were carved deep into granite outcroppings.

An older site nearby is linked to a culture that predated known tribes, Price said.

On a plateau with sweeping views of snow-capped mountains, Price traced the outline of buildings constructed by Spanish colonial officials in the late 1700s to early 1800s.

He pointed out shards of roof tile and noted that Peruvian coins from the 1780s had been unearthed during excavations there.

The Temeku Village once covered a vast area that skirted the banks of Murrieta, Temecula and Pechanga creeks.

In 1875, Indian families were ejected from the village area and forced into an area that later became the Pechanga Indian reservation.

A photograph taken of the area in 1906 shows only one building amidst rolling, chaparral-covered hillsides.

The photo was circulated during the hike by Darrell Farnbach, a historical preservationist who has been active in numerous projects and publications in recent years.

Today, the village site is largely comprised of granite shelves and sheets bisected by the freeway. Bedrock mortars can be seen on nearly every escarpment. Chiseled holes remain etched in granite blocks as though rough-hewn miners will return any moment to resume their work.

“You can see how big [the village site] is, how intense it is,” Price said, estimating its population at about 1,000 during its pre-colonial peak.

During the hike, participants plugged the chisel holes with their fingers and splashed recent rains from nearly full grinding holes.

Along the way, they collected and hauled off about a dozen large bags of waste as well as two metal chairs and a rust-covered 55-gallon metal barrel.

By the end, they had stood in the shadows of Temecula’s founders and sampled the spirit some said still lingers at the place.

“You feel it walking,” said Romo. “It’s here.”

 

Reader Comments(0)