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| Landmark #133 | Kern County | Visited: January 26, 2013 | Plaque? YES! 🙂 |
| What is it? | A dual plaque setup! |
| What makes it historical? | THE GUIDE SAYS: The Sebastian or Tejón Indian Reservation (headquarters ten miles east of here) was established in 1853 by General Edward Fitzgerald Beale as one of several California reservations. The number of Indians quartered here varied from 500 to 2,000. General Beale acquired title to this area under Mexican land grant of 1843. In 1864 the U.S. government transferred the Indians to other reservations.
OTHER TIDBITS: On June 10, 1851, George Barbour met with the chiefs of 11 tribes at Tejón Canyon, and traded a lot of beef for their land rights! He established a 763,000-acre reservation for them, which he named Camp Persifer F. Smith for the U.S. Military Commander in the Pacific. Ultimately, Congress decided that this, and the other reservations, were too large and downsized right away! Congress fired the three Indian Affairs agents and replaced them with one: Edward Beale. General Beale renamed this reservation the Sebastian Reservation after Senator William K. Sebastian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, who supported his reservation plan. He quickly got into trouble for spending too much on farming supplies for the tribes, and though this reservation became one of the state’s most successful, Congress replaced him with the more frugal Thomas Henley in 1854. The reservation quickly fell into corruption and decline! The reservation was ordered closed in June of 1864. Afterward, many of its residents lived and worked on General Beale’s nearby ranch, while others were moved to the Tule River Reservation, where they are now a federally recognized hodgepodge tribe called the Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation! |
| How can I Help the Helpers? | HERE’S HOW:
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| Where is this place? | LISTED DIRECTIONS: NE corner of Grapevine Rd and D St, 7.0 mi S of Mettler, CA ANNOTATIONS: From Los Angeles: ~81mi (131km) — 1.4hrs |
| When should I go? | Whenever the mood strikes you! |