Fort Tejon in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

is a former

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

outpost which was intermittently active from June 24, 1854, until September 11, 1864. It is located in the Grapevine Canyon (''La Cañada de las Uvas'') between the

San Emigdio Mountains The San Emigdio Mountains are a part of the Transverse Ranges in Southern California, extending from Interstate 5 at Lebec and Gorman on the east to Highway 33–166 on the west. They link the Tehachapis and Temblor Range and form the southe ...

and Tehachapi Mountains. It is in the area of the Tejon Pass along

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

Kern County, California Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County compris ...

, the main route through the mountain ranges separating the Central Valley from the Los Angeles Basin and

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. The fort's location protected the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

from the south and west.

Purpose

The fort's mission was to suppress stock rustling and protect settlers from attacks by discontent

Californio Californios (singular Californio) are Californians of Spaniards, Spanish descent, especially those descended from settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries before California was annexed by the United States. California's Spanish language in C ...

s (pre-statehood residents) and Native American tribes (including the Paiute and Mojave), and to monitor the less aggressive Emigdiano living nearby. The Emigdiano, who were closely related to the Chumash of the coastal and interior lands to the west, had several villages near Fort Tejon. After the earlier Spanish and Mexican colonial Indian Reductions, they were generally cooperative with the European-American settlers and the U.S. Army.

History

At the urging of Edward Fitzgerald Beale, Superintendent of Indian Affairs in California, the U.S. Army established Fort Tejon in 1854. Fort Tejon was the headquarters of the First U.S. Dragoons until those

Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a ...

troops were transferred to the East in July 1861 soon after the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The fort was re-occupied by California volunteer troops in 1863. Those units included Companies D, E and G of the 2nd California Volunteer Cavalry from July 6 to August 17, 1863; and Company B of the 2nd California Volunteer Infantry, which remained there until Fort Tejon was abandoned for good on September 11, 1864. The fort lay along the Stockton - Los Angeles Road. From 1858, it was a

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

station on the

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service in ...

, which followed the same route as far as Visalia. From 1858, Fort Tejon was the western terminus of the experimental U.S. Camel Corps, which used imported

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

s in an effort to carry supplies across arid regions in the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

. The soldiers found the camels hardy, but temperamental, and they spooked the horses used by the cavalry. In the early part of 1863, California Volunteer regiments fought Paiute tribes in the Owens Valley, killing hundreds of them in a Native roundup. Finally, on July 11, 1863, the remaining 850 survivors were marched south across the San Joaquin Valley to Fort Tejón, the lone interior southern California Indian reservation under federal jurisdiction. The great earthquake of 1857, which became known as the Fort Tejon earthquake, was centered nearly 100 miles away. The earthquake became associated with the fort by name because the area near the epicenter was sparsely populated. The most reliable report of the event was issued from the fort, nearly distant.

Fort Tejon State Historic Park

The state historic park is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. In 1940, at the urging of local citizens, the Tejon Ranch Company deeded to the State of California to establish a state park. Its original historic buildings have been documented by the

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. Several buildings have been restored, and two are partially open to visitors. The restored barracks contain display cases of uniforms and a recreated troopers' quarters. The commanding officer's quarters have several restored and furnished rooms. Officers' quarters nearby are only stabilized in a state of arrested decay, with walls buttressed by masonry and lumber and tied together with reinforcing rods. A

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land army, armies, a quartermaster is an officer who supervises military logistics, logistics and requisitions, manages stores or barracks, and distri ...

building has been reconstructed and houses materials used in

dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

life and Civil War reenactments. The sites of former buildings, planned for reconstruction, are marked by split rail fences along the outlines of their foundations. A park office, containing exhibits of dragoon life and restrooms, is at the east end of the parade ground near the parking lot by

. The park grounds include the original barracks, where the soldiers slept, and also the grave site of Peter Lebeck, which is indicated with a historical marker. The nearby town of Lebec is named after him. Fort Tejon is the site of frequent Civil War reenactments presented by the Fort Tejon Historical Association.Fort Tejon State Historic Park pamphlet, State of California, Department of Parks & Recreation, Sacramento, California, 1991. The park contains a number of natural features of interest, including centuries-old valley oaks and California condors.

1857 Fort Tejon earthquake

The Fort Tejon earthquake occurred at about 8:20 AM (Pacific time) on January 9, 1857. It ruptured the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, right-lateral strike-slip transform fault that extends roughly through the U.S. state of California. It forms part of the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Paci ...

for a length of about , between Parkfield and San Bernardino. Displacement along the fault was as much as 9 meters (30 feet) in the Carrizo Plain but less along the Palmdale section of the fault, closest to Los Angeles. The amount of fault slip gives this earthquake a moment magnitude of 7.9, comparable to that of the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...

. Based on the (uncertain) distribution of foreshocks for this earthquake, it is assumed that the beginning of the fault rupture (the epicenter) was in the area between Parkfield and Cholame, about 60 miles northwest. Nevertheless, it is usually called the "Fort Tejon" earthquake because this was the location of the greatest damage, most of the area being unpopulated at the time.

References

Image:Fort_Tejon_Restored_Barracks.JPG, East end of the restored barracks building. The unreconstructed kitchen/mess hall is outlined by split rail fence to the left. Image:Barracks_Interior_1.JPG, Barracks interior showing soldiers' quarters. Image:Barracks_Interior_2.JPG, The day room in the barracks. Image:Barracks_Interior_3.JPG, Uniform items on display in the day room. Image:Uniform_Display_in_Barracks.JPG, One of the several uniform displays in the barracks. Image:Dragoon_Display_in_Barracks.JPG, Model of Dragoon in the barracks. Image:Fort_Tejon_Barracks_from_CO_Qtrs.JPG, View of the barracks from the front porch of the commanding officer's quarters. The split rail fence at the near end of the barracks denotes the foundation outline of another barracks yet to be reconstructed. Image:Fort_Tejon_Quartermaster_Building.JPG, The quartermaster building. Image:Quartermaster_Building_interior.JPG, The interior of the quartermaster building showing materials used during Dragoon and Civil War reenactments staged at Fort Tejon. Image:Fort_Tejon_Commanding_Officers_Quarters.JPG, The restored commanding officer's quarters. Image:Fort_Tejon_CO_Quarters_Interior_1.JPG, A furnished room inside the commanding officer's quarters. Image:Fort_Tejon_CO_Quarters_Interior_2.JPG, The dining room inside the commanding officer's quarters. Image:Fort_Tejon_CO_Qtrs_Child_and_Servant_Bedroom.JPG, Bedroom for the children and servant on the second floor of the commanding officer's quarters. Image:Fort_Tejon_CO_Qtrs_Adult_Bedroom.JPG, Wolf rug in the adults' bedroom on the second floor of the commanding officer's quarters. Image:Fort_Tejon_CO_Qtrs_Roof_Reshingling.JPG, The roof of the commanding officer's quarters receiving new shingles, showing the detail of roof construction. Image:Fort_Tejon_Unrestored_Officers_Qtrs.JPG, Officers' quarters. This building has been stabilized but not restored, and is not open to the public. The interiors may be viewed through the wire fencing. Image:Wall_Stabilization_in_Officers_Qtrs.JPG, Detail showing the interior wall bracing needed to stabilize the structure of the officers' quarters. Image:Army_Camel_Corp_training.jpg, Army Camel Corp training

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