Mescalitan Island was a mesalike island located about 10 miles west of Santa Barbara near the outlet of the Goleta Slough into the Pacific Ocean.

History

Chumash Indians

The island is where the

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California See also *Chumash traditional n ...

Indian village ''Helo'' was centered. Early Spanish mission documents note that

Juan Crespi ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, an early visitor, observed the island village to have at least 100 houses with about 600 to 800 total residents.

Juan Cabrillo Period

The first European explorer in the Goleta area, Portuguese navigator

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, arrived on October 15, 1542. At this time the Goleta Slough was deep and wide enough to permit entry of large ships. A Spanish schooner, or 'goleta', reportedly sank in the lagoon area sometime thereafter. From that point on, the area became known as Goleta. During a sailing trip to Northern California, Cabrillo was injured, later dying of his injuries; according to some accounts he was buried on

San Miguel Island San Miguel Island (Chumash: ''Tuqan'') is the westernmost of California's Channel Islands, located across the Santa Barbara Channel in the Pacific Ocean, within Santa Barbara County, California. San Miguel is the sixth-largest of the eight Ch ...

. However, according to the local ''canaliños'' (Chumash) he was buried on Mescalitan Island. Mescalitan Island was a prominent landmark in the Goleta Slough area. In the 1860s, after years of flooding and winter storms the slough became filled in with sediment.

Leveled

In 1941 the Army Corps of Engineers leveled most of Mescalitan Island to provide fill for a Navy airport. That airport became part of

Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara (MCAS Santa Barbara) was a United States Marine Corps air station that was located in Goleta, California north of Los Angeles during World War II. It was also known as the Goleta Air Station in the 1940s. ...

in 1942, and a few years later became the

Santa Barbara Municipal Airport Santa Barbara Municipal Airport is west of downtown Santa Barbara, California, United States. SBA covers 948 acres (384 ha) of land and has three runways. It is near the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the city of Goleta. The a ...

Present day

The island is currently the location of the Goleta Sanitary Water Resource Recovery District. There is a mural depicting Mescalitan Island on the side of the Santa Cruz Market on Hollister Avenue in old town Goleta.

Location

The site of Mescalitan Island is in southern Santa Barbara County, California at 34° 25' 16" N. latitude and 119° 50' W. longitude. Mescalitan Island is shown in the center of the Goleta

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

topographic quadrangle.

References

External links

Historical Accounts and Maps of the Goleta Slough

Mescaltitlan Island
at Goleta History {{authority control Islands of Santa Barbara County, California Chumash populated places Former islands of the United States Goleta, California History of Santa Barbara County, California Islands of California Islands of Southern California