Times Past

Pío Linares in 1858, shortly before his death.

A brazen heist in a time of bandits

Only a hardy few dared travel El Camino Real between San Juan Bautista and Santa Barbara in the 1850s. Those who did risk their lives had a powerful incentive. Buying relatively cheap herds of cattle in the southern counties and driving the herds...

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Archive by category ''Times Past

TIMES PAST

The gangs of San Luis Obispo

Throughout most of the 1850s, what was then our tiny mission pueblo was under the control of a well-organized gang led by Irish immigrant Jackie Powers and a virulently anti-Norte Americano band of Californios led by Pío Linares and Joaquin Valenzuela.
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‘Devil on horseback’ leads outlaw gang through California

Jack Powers held the entire Central Coast from Santa Barbara to Monterey in his grip during the 1850s.
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Desolate region was a haven for bandits preying on cattle riches

The small mission pueblo of San Luis Obispo was known as El Barrio de Tigre — the town of the wildcat. Our region suffered both from isolation and prosperity.
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Trek through SLO County was risky prospect

A ride to Santa Barbara could cost you your life. That was the way it was in San Luis Obispo between 1853-58.
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Did legendary bandit escape SLO posse’s clutches?

The posse, composed of some of San Luis Obispo’s leading citizens, stealthily surrounded the camp of the bandidos. They fully expected that “Joaquin” would be the leader of the gang. David F. Newsom, San Luis Obispo County’s first superintendent of schools, was serving...
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California's mythical bandit Joaquin Murieta

“Joaquin” was reputedly a Mexican bandit from the Mother Lode region. He had been grievously wronged by Yankee racism. He swore vengeance against all Americans.
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Theosophy's Central Coast history

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-91) created the Theosophical Society, a world-wide spiritual movement that linked the great avatars, “bodily manifestation of the Divine,” from Krishna, Moses, the Buddha, Christ and down through Hiawatha. She saw them as purveyors of ancient wisdom...
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Rancheros and the short era of big cattle ranching

Virtually all of the 22 Mexican land grants issued for San Luis Obispo County during the period 1840-1846 transitioned from variegated agriculture to cattle raising. San Luis Obispo was becoming a “cow county.”
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The story of Mission Assistencia in Santa Margarita

Henry Chapman Ford’s painting of Asistencia Santa Margarita de Cortona in that late 1800s shows a now vanished “casa” to the east.
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Dallidet Adobe, and its tenant, saved by worried SLO citizens

Stella Louis always claimed it was her lemon meringue pie that won over Paul Dallidet.