By Bonnie Ketterl Kane
Many, many centuries ago, the beautiful river valley below the north slope of a mountain the Native peoples called “Toshololo” (now Frazier Mountain) was the summer campground for Native peoples to do their hunting and gathering for the winter ahead. This summer gathering place, located in a magnificent oak grove, was called “wo’ oht apaovea,” which meant the grasshopper’s watering hole or “Grasshopper Spring.”
The first non-Natives to come through the area were Spanish settlers who had established communities in the areas of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Monterey, California via the ocean in the early 1600s. While looking for an inland route between the two settlements, the settlers crossed the deserts, easily crossed through an opening now called the Antelope Valley, followed Native trails through the future Gorman and Frazier Park areas, through Cuddy Valley, down the San Emigdio Canyon and on to the north. Spanish priests and soldiers arrived in the area in the 1700’s, hoping to start settlements and find gold….(please see below to view full stories and photographs)
Photo captions:
Above: An advertisement to buy land in Frazier Mountain Park
Above: Artist’s version of how Frazier Mountain Park would appear after proposed improvements were completed. The red arrows indicating what is in those locations now
Above: An early photo of Frazier Park with the ponds in the foreground
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This is part of the April 4, 2025 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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