Jerry Person -- A Look Back

In 1930 ranching was the second most important industry in the Bolsa

Chica area of what was then, as now, part of Orange County.

Ranchers had tilled the soft peat lands of northern Huntington Beach

since the late 1890s, and it was in one of these bogs that an important

historical find was made.

On Dec. 26, 1930, two employees, N. Acevedo and W. Peters, were plowing

the peat bogs on the Callens Brothers-Sherman Buck ranch next to the

Bolsa Chica Gun Club.

As these two men plowed the rich soil their plow blade suddenly threw out

a human skull.

The two men quickly went to their employer with the news.

They returned with shovels and began digging into the soft peat where

they unearthed more than 100 skulls in a space of 15 by 30 feet.

The local sheriff was called, and the deputy sheriff came to the site and

determined that this was an early American Indian burial site.

Word of the discovery spread rapidly. In a few days hundreds of people

came to visit the discovery site.

The ranch hands continued to excavate, all the while trying to curtail

the crowds from taking home artifacts.

Of the skulls and skeletons found, all were males and were mostly young

men.

The skeletons were found close together, which might have indicated a

battle burial ground, but none of the bones showed any signs of being

broken or crushed, indicating they had been killed in combat.

Anthropologists agreed that the bones were very old, anywhere from 500 to

5,000 years old. Sophisticated technology to date those bones accurately

didn’t exist then.

Along with the bones, workmen found stones that resembled a gear. The use

for these cog stones is still unknown.

Many arrowheads were found in the graves, some made of the best obsidian

and of the finest workmanship.

Shells of all sizes were found, including some that looked like abalone

shell and may have been used to contain food in the afterlife.

In one grave a clay pipe was discovered, the only such molded artifact to

be found, and in another a dog’s skull was found.

One scientist said at the time that the Bolsa Chica area may contain more

than 2,000 bodies. Who knows, maybe he is right, as more artifacts are

uncovered every year.

Some of the skeletons were sent to the Los Angeles County Museum, others

to universities.

We’ll probably will never know the complete number of bodies contained in

the “Bolsa Chica Cemetery.”

Jerry Person is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach resident.

If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box 7182,

Huntington Beach, CA 92615.