Big Basin Redwoods State Park - History of The Basin

History of The Basin

Contrary to popular belief that prehistoric people did not inhabit the old growth forests, archaeological evidence has been found, although sporadically, within the Park. Numerous resources would have been available to California Indians in the old growth forests, such as basketry material, plant foods like acorns and bulbs as well as animal prey for hunters and perhaps unknown traditional sacred places. Ohlone tribes that lived on watercoures which begin in Big Basin Redwoods State Park were the Quiroste, Achistaca, Cotoni and Sayante.(Milliken, Randall A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 1769-1810. A Ballena Press Publication 1996, Novato, Ca). In October 1769 the Portola expedition 'discovered' the redwoods of southern Santa Cruz County, and camped at the mouth of Waddell Creek, in present-day Big Basin, later that month. Although many in the party had been ill with scurvy, they gorged themselves on berries and quickly recovered. This miraculous recovery, as it seemed at the time, inspired the name given to the valley: 'Cañada de la Salud' or Canyon of Health.

The Redwood forested country of Big Basin served as a refuge for Ohlone Indians early during the Spanish occupation of the area: “The first active resistance to Spanish power in the Bay Area was led by Charquin, a leader of the Quiroste in the area of Point Ano Nuevo, down the coast from San Francisco. Although he did not fight Spanish soldiers until early 1793, Charquin had harbored fugitive neophytes since November 1791. Charquin and his followers retreated into the rugged country behind Point Ano Nuevo in late 1791, lands that were equidistant from the missions San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz. From there he invited dissatisfied neophytes to join him. On January 6, 1793, Mission San Francisco servant Diego Olbera baptized a 22-year-old woman on the verge of death ‘at the Quiroste village in the Mountains’ (SFR-B 1165). Olbera was probably in the vicinity to convince Charquin and his followers to return to the Mission. Instead relations degenerated further. During the eighteen years that the Spanish military had been present among tribes of the Bay Area, its leaders had tried to avoid direct confrontation that might result in losses and a resultant weakening of its authority. But the success of Charquin goaded the soldiers into action. No diary services stemming from any successful expedition against Charquin, yet indirect evidence exist that one did take place, and that it occurred in late April and early May 1793. An entry in the Mission San Francisco Libro de Difuntos on May 3, 1793 recorded the death of two children of runaway families in the mountain Quiroste Village of Chipletac (SFR-D 541,542). Charquin seems to have been captured at that time. Quiroste resistance did not end with the capture of Charquin in the spring of 1793. On December 14, 1793, Quirostes took part in a direct attack on Mission Santa Cruz, the only attack on a Mission north of Monterey ever reported during the entire Spanish era. The attack on Mission Santa Cruz was a continuation of the ongoing history of the Charquin resistance. Clues suggest that the Quiroste anger resulted from mission penetration into traditional family control of Marriage.(Milliken)

Others seeking safety in the redwoods of Big Basin were the Franciscan fathers themselves. In 1818 the Monterey Bay was visited by the Argentine Pirate Hipólito Bouchard. The Padres at Mission Santa Cruz, fearing the ransacking of Bouchard and his fellow corsairs, took the Missions most valued possessions and fled to the interior mountains. The Mission was ransacked, not by the Pirate Bouchard, but by unruly citizens of neighboring Branciforte. (Verado, Denzil "A History of Big Basin State Park" 1975. unpublished)

By the late 19th century, redwood forests were gaining international appreciation. Early conservationists, including such notables as Andrew P. Hill, Father Robert Kenna, John J. Montgomery, Carrie Stevens Walter and Josephine Clifford McCracken, led the movement to create a park to preserve the mighty redwoods. On May 19, 1900, the Sempervirens Club was formed at the base of Slippery Rock, within the present day park. In 1902, the California Redwood Park was created in Big Basin on 3,800 acres (15 km2), most of it old growth forest.

In the following decades, visitation to Big Basin grew steadily as park amenities were developed. The Big Basin Inn offered cabins to rent, a restaurant, general store, barber shop, gas station and photographic studio. There were also a post office, a concrete swimming pool, boating areas, tennis courts and a dance floor. Campsites cost 50 cents a night in 1927 and many families stayed all summer. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps assigned a company to Big Basin. These men built the amphitheater, miles of trails, and many of the buildings still used today.