The California Diggers

The California “Diggers” A History of some Primitive Californians.

"In the Santa Clara Valley, near the southern end of San Francisco Bay, some five miles south of Stanford University, there stands a fine old deserted abode, formerly a well-known station on the road from the Santa Clara Mission to San Francisco. Its owner, Don Secundini Robles, was of the pure old Castilian stock, and he and his wife. Donna Maria, were lord and lady for all the region round, and their house the center for all the gay rodeos and fandangos of the valley. Now the house is a ruin, Don Secundini dead, and Donna Maria, in poverty and alone, lives in the village of Mountain View. But their name passes on to fame among the Stanford students in connection with the Robles Rancheria, a large, low-lying mound of earth some quarter of a mile away from the old house, with that mysterious reputation attaching to it that always hovers around an Indian mound. It has indeed an artificial look, rising in the midst of the otherwise level valley; and the boys of the vicinity assured us that there were plenty of skeletons in it. The man who owned it said that when he first began to plow in that field he turned up human bones, and added, "You may guess I was scared." Indian mortars and pestles from this same heap were found in the possession of various neighbors, and the site altogether seemed promising for exploration. So, with the permission of the owner, and with such direction as could be given by a historian with an amateur interest in archæology, some Stanford students began to explore the site..."