Agua Mansa (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "gentle water") is a former settlement in an unincorporated area of

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of th ...

, near Colton, California, United States. Once the largest settlement in San Bernardino County, it is now a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

. Only the cemetery remains. The town was established in 1842 in early California

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

. It was on the

Santa Ana River The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino and Riversid ...

, across from the era settlement of La Placita. Agua Mansa and La Placita were the first non-native settlements in the

San Bernardino Valley The San Bernardino Valley () is a valley in Southern California located at the south base of the Transverse Ranges. It is bordered on the north by the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernardino Mountains; on the east by the San Jacin ...

. Together known as "San Salvador", they were also the largest settlements between

Santa Fe de Nuevo México Santa Fe de Nuevo México (; shortened as Nuevo México or Nuevo Méjico, and translated as New Mexico in English) was a province of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory of independent Mexico. The first capital was San Juan d ...

and the

Pueblo de Los Ángeles El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula, shortened to the Pueblo de los Ángeles, was the Spanish colonial pueblos and villas in North America, Spanish civilian ''pueblo'' settled in 1781, which became the ...

in the 1840s.

Geography

The Agua Mansa Valley is located on the south side of Slover Mountain. The valley was in length; its width varied between and , the variance depending on the river that flowed through the valley. The area was used as farmland, divided into at least one hundred fields, owned by separate ranchers. The valley's lower end included a Frémont's cottonwoods (''Populus fremontii'')

riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, Sink (geography), sink, or reservoir. Due to the broad nature of the definitio ...

owned by Rubidoux, while the upper end was a sandy plain that extended to the borders of present-day San Bernardino.

History

In 1845, Don

Juan Bandini Juan Bandini (1800 – November 4, 1859) was a Peruvian-born Californio public figure, politician, and ranchero. He is best known for his role in the development of San Diego in the mid-19th century. Early history Bandini was born in 1800 in Lima ...

donated parts of his land grant Rancho Jurupa to a group of New Mexican colonists led by Santiago Martinez, and Manuel Lorenzo Trujillo from Abiquiú in

— on the condition that they would provide in protection from local Indian raids, in exchange for land, "Civil Militia" Ten of these families moved to on the "Bandini Donation" on the east side of the Santa Ana River, forming the village of La Placita, while a second group colonized the west side of the river, forming the town of Agua Mansa. The group that formed Agua Mansa was led by Santiago Martinez, Manuel Lorenzo Martinez and Hipilito Garcia, and included Cristobal Slover and Louis Rubidoux. After the adobe church built in La Placita in 1852 collapsed in

quicksand Quicksand (also known as sinking sand) is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it crea ...

, a new church was built in Agua Mansa. Completed in 1853 and dedicated to San Salvador, the church survived through the

Great Flood of 1862 The Great Flood of 1862 was the largest flood in the recorded history of California, Oregon, and Nevada, inundating the western United States and portions of British Columbia and Mexico. It was preceded by weeks of continuous rains and snows tha ...

. The parish, which included Agua Mansa and La Placita, became known as San Salvador de Jurupa, and was the first non-mission parish in Southern California. The chapel's bell now hangs at the Glenwood Mission Inn. The town prospered for almost 20 years until the 1862 flooding swept away many of the

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

buildings, leaving the area strewn with sand and gravel. Though the town was rebuilt on higher ground, its prosperity did not return. Built in 1870 in Agua Mansa, the Jensen Alvarado Ranch is a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Its vineyard produced and sold thousands of gallons of wine each year.

Agua Mansa Pioneer Cemetery

Agua Mansa is designated

No. 121. The marker is located at Agua Mansa Pioneer Cemetery, the only site that remains of the once flourishing town. The first burial occurred in 1852, and the last occurred 111 years later in 1963. It has a museum and chapel, and tours are available. Records of who is buried in the cemetery are incomplete but about 1,400 (as of October 2018) names have been identified out of a total of 2,000 estimated burials. Only a few grave markers remain today. The earliest known interment was that of Louis Rubidoux, who came to California in 1844 and bought the Jurupa Rancho near today's City of Riverside. Another burial was that of Cornelius Jensen in 1886; Jensen was a Danish sea captain who established a store at Agua Mansa before moving to part of the Robidoux ranch. Jensen's wife, Mercedes Alvarado, is also buried in the cemetery along with other members of her family. Lorenzo Trujillo, the original patriarch of the community, is also believed to rest somewhere in a grave that long ago lost its marker. Isaac Slover, a mountain man and bear hunter who came to California in his old age (and who was killed in 1854 by a bear), is also buried in the cemetery.

California Historical Landmark Marker

*''This historic site marks the resting place of the pioneers of the Agua Mansa area which was started about 1840. The preservation of this cemetery began in 1951.'' Erected 1961 by Jurupa Palor No. 296 Native Daughters of the Golden West. (Marker Number 121.)

Artistic portrayals

Agua Mansa is the namesake of a fictional town in Southern California in the contemporary novel ''Still Water Saints'' by writer Alex Espinoza.

References

External links

*
San Bernardino County Museum.gov: Agua Mansa Pioneer Cemetery
{{San Bernardino County, California Former settlements in San Bernardino County, California Populated places on the Santa Ana River Cemeteries in California Colton, California California Historical Landmarks Ghost towns in California History of San Bernardino County, California Populated places established in 1845 1845 establishments in Alta California Museums in San Bernardino County, California