Point of Timber is a former settlement in

Contra Costa County ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It was located on Indian Slough north of

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

, and about 2.5 miles east of Union Cemetery in Brentwood. It was originally named Point of Timber Landing. The landing was built by Josiah Wills, who organized the deepening of Indian Slough, connecting the landing to the Old River. Point of Timber got its name from the mile wide strip of open

Oak woodland An oak woodland is a plant community with a tree canopy dominated by oaks (''Quercus spp.''). In terms of canopy closure, oak woodlands are intermediate between oak savanna, which is more open, and oak forest, which is more closed. Although the ...

that ran from just east of the house of John Marsh along the course of Arroyo del Sur to the edge of the marshes bordering Indian Slough and Old River.Frank F. Latta, JOAQUIN MURRIETA AND HIS HORSE GANGS, Bear State Books, Santa Cruz, California. 1980. xv,685 pages. Illustrated with numerous photos. Index. Photographic front endpapers. The northern end of

La Vereda del Monte La Vereda del Monte (Spanish language, Spanish for "The Mountain Trail") 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, (Spanish fo ...

, a trail through the backcountry of the

Diablo 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 ...

to the Central Valley was located at Point of Timber.

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 other ranchers and

mesteñeros 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 ...

used the trail along Arroyo del Sur to drive

mustangs The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they ...

, captured legally in

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

s held on Marsh's

Rancho Los Meganos Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...

, southward from Contra Costa County. From the time the Five Joaquins Gang was formed stolen horses were fed into the droves of mustangs at its various stations as they were driven down the Vereda. The community included a general store and a blacksmith shop. A post office operated at Point of Timber Landing from 1869 to 1882, with a closure from 1871 to 1872. Tule fires burned the landing about 1882, but it was rebuilt by 1884. Author

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

anchored his yacht, "The Sea Wolf" at the landing while he collaborated with Captain C. W. Lent on a book, "The Seafaring Life of a Captain." London died before the work was finished. The book was never completed. Lent was a sea captain who had retired to Byron and operated a passenger ship between the landing and

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

References

Former settlements in Contra Costa County, California Former populated places in California La Vereda del Monte {{ContraCostaCountyCA-geo-stub