Natives showed Portola the way

The monument on Sweeney Ridge fails to acknowledge that “native people had been living around the bay for at least 1,000 years,” the petition reads. The marker is a simple one that proclaims: “From this ridge the Portola expedition discovered San Francisco Bay November 4 1769.”

Exactly what was the native contribution to Portola’s success? While there was no Sacagawea, the indigenous guide who accompanied Lewis and Clark during their historic expedition, the local Ohlone tribe’s contribution was very important.

The Ohlones “were spread throughout the southern San Francisco Bay Region and beyond,” according to the Ohlone-Portola Heritage Trail Committee, made up of county, state, federal and tribal representatives. The group is exploring the best ways to design and interpret the path that Portola took. The work will include the history of the Ohlone people who met and supported the Spanish explorers.

The Ohlones were comprised of 50 local tribes in many more villages, the committee said in its “Statement of Historic Significance.” Spanish explorers recorded villages, each with its own land and cultural customs, at intervals of three to five miles in most areas.

The tribe’s main contribution to the Portola expedition was the paths the natives had beaten long before the Spanish arrived. According to Mitch Postel, president of the San Mateo County Historical Association, the natives alerted the Spanish to the trails and pointed them in the right direction.

“This was far more important than any ‘scouting’ that was done by the indigenous people,” he said.

Postel is not alone in that opinion. “Aboriginal California,” published by the University of California in 1961, said several studies have suggested that the evolution of modern highways and railroads developed in many instances from trails pioneered by natives in search of water and game. “Whatever the ultimate origin of the narrow Indian trails, we can state with assurance that from a number of them were developed military and post roads,” the researchers said in the book, noting that many of these trails would become modern highways in California. The UC publication added that in addition to the paths “many of the early travelers in California either received directions from Indians or were accompanied by native guides.” In this connection, it specifically mentioned Portola’s 1769-1770 travels.

Before reaching Sweeney Ridge, Portola camped twice in the area of present day Cañada and Edgewood roads in Redwood City. On Sept. 7, the Daughters of the American Revolution will dedicate a marker designating the campsites. The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on Cañada Road a quarter mile south of Edgewood Road. While the marker doesn’t mention natives, it does describe the discovery as “European,” in contrast to the Sweeney Ridge marker that states “discovery” without qualification.

Whatever festivities are planned for the 250th observation, they will be small stuff compared to the 140th festival held in San Francisco in 1909, a gala that showed San Francisco was bouncing back from the devastating earthquake and fire three years earlier. The event lasted five days and drew participants from 25 nations. Warships from England, Germany and Japan joined their American counterparts on the Bay while on land 25,000 people marched down San Francisco streets, according to newspaper accounts. There was even a parade of 1,000 of those newfangled automobiles.

The Rear View Mirror by history columnist Jim Clifford appears in the Daily Journal every other Monday. Objects in The Mirror are closer than they appear.