History Of The San Bernardinos

History of the
San Bernardinos

The rich variety of natural resources in the San Bernardino Mountains attracted prehistoric Native Americans to the area for food, water, and seasonal shelter. Today, our mountains are the most heavily "urbanized" mountains in the United States with a deep and rich history. They provide an immensely attractive location for full-time residents and seasonal recreation for visitors from throughout Southern California.
In 1776, Spanish missionary Father Garces passed through Sawpit and Devils Canyons. Other explorers including Kit Carson and Jedediah Strong Smith soon followed. During the Rancho period, the mountains were "harvested" on a part-time basis by fur trappers, and by Spanish landowners seeking the immense stands of virgin timber.
The Mormon settlement of San Bernardino brought roads replacing Indian trails into the mountains. Sawmills subsequently provided much of the lumber used to construct early Los Angeles.
Shortly before the turn of the century the first west-end mountain resorts were established. Real estate development soon followed, and by the 1920s most of our mountain communities had been settled. Improved roads and the development of year-round opportunities for business, leisure, and residence have served to create the area we know today.

Life in the 1500's
On rare occasions, people could obtain pork and would feel really special. When company came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it up to show it off. It was a sign of wealth and that the man “could bring home the bacon”. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and “chew the fat”.

Movies in the Mountains

The fledgling Moving Picture business came early to our local mountains. The public's thirst for adventure films was appeased by tales of the great southwest in the form of the "western". Los Angeles had already become a mecca for the budding industry by 1909. The San Bernardino mountains beckoned the early film makers with the promises of tall timber and grassy meadows. Location shooting was easy because hunting and fishing lodges were already available to house the film crews. Although films were probably already being made in the mountains, the earliest documentation was an item in the Redlands Daily review, January 19, 1913, indicating that the Selig Bear Valley Co. was in our mountains filming "The Cattle Rustlers". Unfortunately, like so many other early films, this film is "lost" to us.

1913 is also important to our mountain communities because it was the year that Cecil B. DeMille came up to Pinecrest Lodge with a group of actors to film his famous moving picture "The Squaw Man". This film was considered one of the first to start a trend toward longer films with quality writing and first class actors. DeMille returned to our mountains several more times in the ensuing years with many famous silent stars in including Gloria Swanson.

Our mountains have lent themselves to the western genre of film as well as many a "Mountie" picture. The golden age for film making in the mountains was during the Twenties and Thirties. One old timer recalls that "there were so many companies up here shooting pictures that they were practically tripping over one another." Many famous films were shot on location in our mountain communities and continue to be made to this day.

A book about the movies made in our mountains has been written by our own Lee Cozad entitled "Those Magnifacent Mountain Movies".

If you would like a copy it can be purchased through us for:

Soft cover: $19.95 plus $1.55 tax for CA residents, plus $1.50 s/h for a total of $23.00
Hard cover: $34.95 plus $2.71 tax for CA residents, plus $2.00 s/h for a total of $39.66

Please send your check to:
Rim of the World Historical Society
P.O. Box 1550 - Lake Arrowhead, CA 92352
All checks to be made out to ROW His. Soc.