California Grizzly Bears at Lopez Station

The California Grizzly Bear has been extinct since about 1916. They were exterminated, they were very dangerous to humans as well as cattle and sheep. I've read that the Kodiak Bear is the closet to the size and ferocity of the CA Grizzly. With the pictures I've included, you can see how huge these creatures were. There were a lot of them all over the state when the Spanish first came in 1769.

Of course, Cristina Sergi's music is in the background backing up my narration!! :-) Thank-You very much Cristina!!

   • "A sweet melancholy day" ( Original c...  

One interesting story during the building of San Gabriel Mission from JJ says "One of grandfather's, Claudio, relatives lived in a mud-plastered hut while the permanent buildings were being constructed. He had a wife, a 2 year old child and 2 Indian women house servants. One day, the wife saw the 2 Indian women huddled in a dark corner of the hut, and the child nowhere in sight. She stepped outside the door to look for the child, and almost fell dead with fright. At the edge of the clearing, about 50 yards away, the child and an immense Grizzly bear were romping and playing together as though they belonged to the same family.
The bear would run around in circles, into the brush and out again, passing within a few feet of the child each time and the child would run after it, laughing at the top of its voice. i never knew the mother of this child, but my mother did, and she told me that the mother got behind the door, peeked through a the crack, and watched the whole performance, which lasted for about a half hour. Finally the bear disappeared in the brush and the child came to the house.
The mother and father blamed the Indian women for allowing the child out of their sight, and for not scaring the bear away and recovering the child. One of the priests helped in settling the trouble. The Indian women told him that really it was not a bear at all, but an uncle of theirs that had been playing with the child. Undoubtedly, one of these women had an uncle who was a medicine man, or Bear Doctor, and who claimed to be playing bear some of the time. The Indian women probably thought it was he playing with the child. This would not have eased their fear a bit, as the Indians were more afraid of a Bear Doctor then they were of a bear."

There are lots and lots of CA Grizzly bear stories, but I'm keeping my story around the local Lopez Station. This one showed the belief or superstition of the local Native Americans. Thank-You for watching and I hope you enjoy this chapter!!