Joaquin Spring, originally known as Valenzuela Spring, is a

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

on Joaquin Ridge in the

Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay Area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley a ...

Fresno County, California Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most popu ...

. The spring is located on the southwestern slope of the ridge, about 500 feet below Joaquin Rocks, at an elevation of .

History

This spring was originally known as Valenzuela Spring until about 1950. It was subsequently named for

Joaquin Murrieta Joaquin Murrieta Carrillo (sometimes misspelled Murieta or Murietta) (c. 1829 – July 25, 1853), also called the Robin Hood of the West or the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a Mexicans, Mexican figure of disputed historicity. The novel ''The Lif ...

, a

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

n bandit in California during the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

who used this region as a rendezvous and hideout from around 1850 to the time of his alleged death nearby at Murrieta Spring on July 25, 1853. This name change was an error, in that Joaquin Murrieta was only one of the five accused leaders of the

Five Joaquins Gang The Five Joaquins were a mid-19th-century outlaw gang in California which, according to the California State Legislature, state legislature, was led by five men, identified as follows: "... the five Joaquins, whose names are Joaquin Murrieta, Jesu ...

, named Joaquin that could be found there. Frank F. Latta, JOAQUIN MURRIETA AND HIS HORSE GANGS, Bear State Books, Santa Cruz, California. 1980. The one leader most responsible for the Gang in the vicinity of the spring was Joaquin Valenzuela one of Joaquin Murrieta's cousins. It was he who organized the gathering and drives of the Gangs stolen and wild horses to

from their nearby rancho and hideout on Cantua Creek. Among other uses for Joaquin Rocks, the Valenzuela band of the Gang would post lookouts on the Rocks to observe the valley below and probably got the water for their camp there, at that spring. It may have been the memory and stories told of him among the surviving gang members of Valenzuela's band and

mesteñeros Mesteñeros, or mustang runners, were people in Mexico, and later on in the United States, in the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th century, usually vaqueros or cowboys, that caught, broke and drove wild horses, called mesteños or Mustang hor ...

that sold their horses to the Gang, who lived and worked long afterward on the ranches of 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 ...

and in the Diablo Range that gave the spring its original name.

References

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