Indigenous peoples Archaeological discoveries in the San Bernardino Valley suggest that humans have populated the region for at least 10,000-12,000 years. Several
Native American groups held the lands surrounding the San Bernardinos. These included the
Tongva, who occupied the Inland Empire area southwest of the mountains; the
Cahuilla, who lived in the Coachella Valley and Salton Sea basin; and the
Serrano and
Chemehuevi peoples, whose territory comprised land north and northeast of the San Bernardinos, adjacent to the Mojave Desert. Most of these tribes did not have permanent settlements in the mountains, with the possible exception of a few groups of Serrano. Indigenous peoples traveled into the mountains in the summer to hunt deer and rabbits, gather acorns, berries and nuts, and seek refuge from the desert heat.
History During the 17th and 18th centuries, various Spanish explorers passed through coastal Southern California and claimed the area for Spain. In 1769, the Spanish government began an effort to bring what they called Alta California under their control and introduce Christianity to native peoples through the construction of
missions. In 1810,
Francisco Dumetz led a small company to build a temporary chapel near what is now Redlands. On May 20, the Feast Day of
Bernardino of Siena, Dumetz named the San Bernardino Valley. This name was applied to San Bernardino Peak by 1835, and was in wide use for the entire range by 1849. In 1819,
San Bernardino de Sena Estancia was created near present-day San Bernardino as an outpost of nearby
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel. Although sometimes referred to as an
asistencia, or "a mission on a small scale with all the requisites for a mission, and with Divine Service held regularly on days of obligation, except that it lacked a resident priest", San Bernardino was an
estancia, or cattle ranch. In 1820, a irrigation ditch or "zanja" was dug using Native American labor to furnish water from
Mill Creek, a major stream flowing out of the San Bernardinos, to the estancia and surrounding croplands. valley was the first area of the mountains to be logged. Beginning in 1851,
Mormon colonists began emigrating to the San Bernardino Valley. The Mormons bought and subsequently split up
Rancho San Bernardino, and greatly improved the area's agricultural production by bringing in thousands of head of livestock and overhauling the local irrigation network. In order to obtain lumber for their settlements, they also began the first large-scale logging operations in the San Bernardino Mountains, starting in the Mill Creek valley. Luis Vignes built the first sawmill in the range sometime between 1851 and 1853. By 1854, six lumber mills were in operation in the mountains, some as high as the crest of the range three-quarters of a mile above San Bernardino, accessed by a twisting road through Waterman Canyon. Some of these mills were driven by waterwheels, although most were steam powered. The largest logging operation by far was that of
Brookings Lumber & Box Company. Beginning in 1899, the company produced 10-12 board feet of lumber annually on 8,000 acres in the Running Springs area. It built a logging railroad from Heaps Peak to Green Valley Lake to bring logs to its mill at Fredalba. sawmill at Fredalba. The drying yard is at left, and the mill pond is at right (out of the photo). Prospectors
William F. Holcomb and Ben Choteau's 1860 discovery of gold on Holcomb Creek kicked off a flood of gold seekers to the San Bernardino Mountains. Mining boomtowns, including Belleville, Clapboard Town, Union Town, Bairdstown and Doble, were established almost overnight. Originally proposed in 1891 by the Arrowhead Reservoir and Power Company – and reportedly inspired by the success of the Big Bear Lake project –
Lake Arrowhead was to be one of a series of three reservoirs that would divert water draining off the northwestern San Bernardino Mountains into the San Bernardino Valley, and furnish water to a 260
kW hydroelectric plant. Although the project was never completed to full extent, Arrowhead became one of the most popular fishing destinations in Southern California. In the early 20th century, John Baylis built the Pinecrest Resort on Lake Arrowhead. This was followed by several other tourist developments, including the Skyland Inn and Thousand Pines Camp. Most early tourists arrived by stagecoach, though in time the old Mormon logging road through Waterman Canyon was overhauled, allowing for the passage of automobiles. Development of resorts also proliferated on rivers and high mountain valleys. The Seven Oaks Camp was established on the banks of the Santa Ana River in 1890, and resorts also grew up at
Crestline and
Running Springs in higher regions of the San Bernardino Mountains. Snow in the San Bernardinos was seen as an obstacle before the 1920s and practically shut down recreation in the winter. However, more and more Southern Californians braved the dangers of winter travel in the mountains, and Lake Arrowhead became a sought-after winter destination by the 1930s. Skiing did not become a popular recreational activity in the mountains until a simple sling lift was built at Big Bear in 1938. By 1949, a chair lift was built, hugely increasing the amount of skiers the area's resorts could accommodate. Known as the Lynn Lift, it operated until 1970, but was demolished in 1981 due to its limited capacity. Tommi Tyndall, who founded ski schools at Big Bear, Mill Creek,
Snow Summit and
Sugarloaf Mountain, is widely credited for introducing and later advocating the sport in the San Bernardino Mountains, as well as for bringing
snowmaking technology, without which the present-day ski industry would be severely crippled during dry winters. ==Infrastructure==