There isn't much of a pattern to the naming of locations in California. A few counties tried and left us the likes of "Avenue 20 ½." Many of our place names are descriptions of natural features in the area, some are named for places that the original settlers left behind, others are transliterations of Native American place names, some indicate the hopes that settlers had for their new homes, and a few are named for people.
Most of these people have been forgotten over time. Few now recognize the name of George Hicks Fancher, but most people in the county would recognize a picture of the giant obelisk he had erected in his memory at Highway 140 and Arboleda. To most he's just a man who built a giant monument to himself -- probably the largest tomb in our state. It's a good sermon illustration, but unfortunately the man's other deeds and accomplishments have been largely forgotten. Many of the folks who left their names on our landscape and roads are similarly lost in ancient history. How many among us can identify Humboldt, Bancroft, Tenaya, Berkeley, David Livingstone (Livingston is named after him), Mulholland, Stanford or Ostrander?
Martin Luther King Jr. probably fares the best. It's as difficult to find a town without a street named in his honor as it is to find one without streets named "Olive" or "Yosemite."
Another striking naming pattern is the great litany of saints whose namesake cities are some of California's greatest: San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Jose. Even Los Angeles is named for a saint -- the town was originally El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula.
Strikingly appropriate for this weekend, the other character whose name is found again and again in our state is the devil. In California, the devil has a "postpile," at least two "punchbowls," a "bathtub," a "cornfield," a "golf course," a "washbowl" and a "slide." Many of these locations are in Death Valley where the most popular vista point, Dante's View, is named for the Italian author who took his readers on an imaginative journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.
If you include the Spanish form "Diablo," then you can easily add Mt. Diablo, Casa Diablo Hot Springs, the community of Diablo and Diablo Valley College. There's also a Devil's Gate Summit, a Red Devil Lake and a community named Devils Den. If you want to find Purgatory, though, you have to drive all the way to Colorado. It's a town on U.S. 550. Hell's Gate Summit and Hell for Sure Pass are both in California, but Hell, apparently, is located in Michigan. It's northwest of Ann Arbor.
Many places in California are named for tragedies and hardships. We have a Suicide Ridge, Tragedy Springs, numerous Deadman Creeks, Graveyard Lakes, Bloody Canyon, Depressed Lake, Disappointment Lake, Dead Horse Canyon, Styx Lake and the Desolation Wilderness, just to name a few. Placerville was once known as "Hangtown," and California boasts a Hangman Creek, Hollow and Bridge. You can also easily find Starvation Creek, Flats and Mountain. Other ominous and evocative names include Thunder and Lightning Lake, Coffin Peak, and my personal favorite Lake of the Fallen Moon. Considering all the beautiful places that received names like these, the Salton Sea definitely got off too well!
Some of the most amazing places in California ended up named for the devil. You can almost bet that any place on a map that has the devil's name will be worth seeing. I'm not recommending that you try to apply this as some sort of moral principle, however! Macabre place names and moral depravity are two entirely different categories. The early settlers of our state saw these places as hardships or ascribed them to the devil because of their bizarre features.
If you're looking for interesting scenery, make a trip to Devils Postpile National Monument in Inyo County, hike to the Devils Bathtub near Lake Edison, or check out the many hauntingly beautiful spots in Death Valley such as the Devil's Cornfield and the Devil's Golf Course. These places epitomize the varied and often desolate beauty of our state. The places that made life difficult for early settlers and earned chilling names are today some of the most picturesque and worthy of exploration.
Adam Blauert is an avid outdoorsman and local historian who enjoys fishing, backpacking and exploring the western states. He can be reached at adamblauert@yahoo.com
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