Starvation Flats is an area in the

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain � ...

near

Big Bear Lake, California Big Bear Lake is a small city in San Bernardino County, California, located in the San Bernardino Mountains along the south shore of Big Bear Lake, and surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest. The city is located about 25 miles (40& ...

. It was originally a settlement of the Native American

Serrano people The Serrano are an indigenous people of California. They use the autonyms of Taaqtam, meaning "people"; Maarrênga’yam, "people from Morongo"; and Yuhaaviatam, "people of the pines." Today the Maarrênga'yam are enrolled in the Morongo Band o ...

for thousands of years.

History

Starvation Flats was an open mountain plain that with occasional

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

s. In 1845,

Don Benito Wilson Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

and 22 other men rode into the area in search of rustlers, but found only bears. In the years following, homesteaders came into the region to stake their claims. However, due to the poor soil and continuously bad crops, they found continuous trouble living there. Eventually, they enlisted William F. Holcomb, who was widely known as "the best sharpshooter west of

the Mississippi The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

", to exterminate the grizzly bears. He was successful in his extermination, and so creating safety for the new homesteaders. He eventually went on to discover gold and found

Holcomb Valley Holcomb Valley, located in the San Bernardino Mountains about five miles north of Big Bear Lake, was the site of the most gold mines in Southern California. It was named after William F. Holcomb, who found gold there in 1860. That year started th ...

.Belleville California - Waiting for the Mother Lode
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External links

References

{{coord, 34.3028, -116.8960, type:landmark_region:US, format=dms, display=title San Bernardino Mountains Valleys of California Valleys of San Bernardino County, California

History

See also

External links

References