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Cantua Creek, formerly in Spanish Arroyo de Cantúa, was named for José de Guadalupe Cantúa, a prominent Californio Ranchero in the 19th-century Mexican era of Alta California.
The creek was formerly a tributary of the
Fresno Slough Fresno Slough is a distributary of the Kings River that connects the North Fork Kings River to the San Joaquin River in San Joaquin Valley, Kings County, California.
Until 1879 when irrigation diversions prevented it, Fresno Slough was also an ou ...
, in years of very heavy winter rains.
Course
Its source is on the northern slope of Santa Rita Peak in theDiablo Range
The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley are ...
, 5.9 miles southeast of Idria within San Benito County
San Benito County (; ''San Benito'', Spanish for " St. Benedict"), officially the County of San Benito, is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,209. The co ...
. It flows north then east into Fresno County
Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cali ...
, emerging from its ''Arroyo de Cantúa'' canyon, that divides the Big Blue Hills
The Big Blue Hills are a low mountain range in west Fresno County, in the western San Joaquin Valley of central California.
Interstate 5 runs parallel to the hills on the east.
Geography
The Big Blue Hills are in the Southern Inner California Coa ...
from the Ciervo Hills
The Ciervo Hills are a low mountain range in west Fresno County, in the western San Joaquin Valley of central California.
Interstate 5 runs parallel to the hills on the east.
Geography
The Ciervo Hills are in the Southern Inner California Coast ...
, into the western San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...
.
Continuing toward the Fresno Slough to the northeast, but no longer reaching it, Cantua Creek ends shortly after passing under Interstate 5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...
, 4 miles south of the census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...
of Cantua Creek and just west of the California Aqueduct
The Governor Edmund G. Brown California Aqueduct is a system of canals, tunnels, and pipelines that conveys water collected from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and valleys of Northern and Central California to Southern California. Named after Califo ...
.
History
The ''Arroyo de Cantúa'' was first explored by a detachment of troops under José de Guadalupe Cantúa (1786–1860) who served in the Spanish army, stationed at San Juan Bautista, and lead the party that first explored the Arroyo Cantúa area while gathering in the Native American people that lived in the area for the Mission San Juan. Arroyo Cantúa was named in his honor. He later was later granted the Rancho San Luisito nearSan Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...
.
The 19th century Spanish and Mexican El Camino Viejo
El Camino Viejo a Los Ángeles ( en, the Old Road to Los Angeles), 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 (1769–1822) and Mexican Alta Cal ...
trail crossed the Arroyo Cantúa in the San Joaquin Valley.
Rancho de Cantua
Two of Guadalupe Cantúa's sons, Lupe and Domingo, later established a ranch on the Arroyo Cantúa. They were members of the California banditJoaquin Murrieta
Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (sometimes spelled Murieta or Murietta) (1829 – July 25, 1853), also called the Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a Mexican-American figure of disputed historicity. The novel '' The Life and A ...
's Five Joaquins Gang
The Five Joaquins were a mid-19th-century outlaw gang in California which, according to the state legislature, was led by five men, identified as follows: "... the five Joaquins, whose names are Joaquin Murrieta, Joaquin Ocomorenia, Joaquin Vale ...
and their ranch in the mountains on the Arroyo Cantúa was the gathering place for the gangs herd of stolen horses and mustangs the gang would organize for the drive down to their ranch in Sonora, Mexico
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...
for later sale.Frank F. Latta, JOAQUIN MURRIETA AND HIS HORSE GANGS, Bear State Books, Santa Cruz, California. 1980.
Historical Landmark
The ''Arroyo de Cantúa'' hasCalifornia Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
#344, commemorating where California Rangers The California Rangers were California's first statewide law enforcement agency, formed in 1853 to deal particularly with the outlaw gangs troubling the Gold Country during the early 1850s, and was commanded by Captain Harry Love. The California Ra ...
led by Harry Love were said to have killed Joaquin Murrieta
Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (sometimes spelled Murieta or Murietta) (1829 – July 25, 1853), also called the Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a Mexican-American figure of disputed historicity. The novel '' The Life and A ...
and Three Fingered Jack
Three Fingered Jack is a summit of a shield volcano of the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon. Formed during the Pleistocene epoch, the mountain consists mainly of basaltic andesite lava and was heavily glaciated in the past. While o ...
(Tres Dedos) and capturing two others in 1853. The place was at Murrieta Spring a spring flowing from the south bank of the Cantúa forming a pool in the arroyo where it emerged from the foot of the western mountains, a mile above where California State Route 33
State Route 33 (SR 33) is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California. It runs north from U.S. Route 101 in Ventura through the Transverse Ranges and the western side of the San Joaquin Valley to Interstate 5 at a point ea ...
now crosses Cantua Creek. The spring was located about 100 yards above where the El Camino Viejo crossed the arroyo. Years later wells drilled to provide water for livestock stopped the flow of water from the spring.{{rp, 520
References