Click here to join the
Conservation effort!
Early Human History of Volcan Mountain
The indigenous North American Indians who lived in what is
now East San Diego county were primarily semi-nomadic and
non-agrarian and moved with seasonal changes from valley floors to mountain
slopes. They were comprised of small bands:
- Ipai
- Kumeyaay (Tipai)
- Cupeno
- Cahuilla
- Luiseno
They are considered to be descendants of the Yuman Indian peoples who may have inhabited the desert for the past 11,000 years. The Kumeyaay occupied sites on Volcan for more than 1,500 years.
Permanent and seasonal summer villages were strategically placed along Arkansas and Banner Canyons, Santa Ysabel Creek and Dan Price Creek.
It must have been a good life for the early indigenous peoples living on Volcan. There was an abundance of food, including deer and rabbit. Many species of oak trees supplied them with acorns and they gathered nuts from pine trees, berries from manzanita, elderberry and coffee berry plants. Wild grasses which supplied them with grain were also abundant.
As early as 1782, the indigenous people begin to see their way of life change dramatically when the Spanish and Mexican colonizers arrived.
A branch of the California Missions, the Asistencia de Santa Ysabel, was built in 1818 at the foot of Volcan's western slope where the Santa Ysabel Creek descends. It became the focal point of Indian affairs, once they were "persuaded" to become Christianized and to adopt an agricultural way of existence.
Today, many people visit the mission's historic chapel and Indian cemetery.
Click here to invest in Volcan's conservation.