Mission Well & Water Works Discovery at La Purisima Concepcion in Lompoc?

Author's Note: Future article for Las Noticias, the newsletter of the Docents of Mission La Purisima State Historic Park - Prelado de los Tesoros de la Purisima - loosely translated, means "Keepers of the Treasures of La Purisima."

Written in what I call my "Casual Conversational Style"! 

Word Count: 1,474. Enjoy...

All Photos: Click to Enlarge.

PHOTO ABOVE: Tim (left) with the esteemed Dr. Glenn Farris, Senior California State Archaeologist (Retired) https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23309

Cultural Resources Division. Read his warehouse paper many (too many?) times, and wrote my lowly article for Las Noticias (elsewhere on this site) based on his 28 page summary of his California State Park team's 1965 excavation. First time I have met him. 

Funny that Dr. Farris and I look a lot alike - I think (except I don't have any hair up top - but perfect for my role at La Purisima where I portray  a Franciscan!). Interestingly, my older brother came up with the correct term for this: tonsure (I hate that he is so much smarter than me, darn you - Will Waag!). Definition Tonsure: the Roman Catholic or Eastern rite of admission to the clerical state by the clipping or shaving of a portion of the head. 

I pestered Dr. Farris with my questions throughout the lecture (sorry!), but they were spot on. Often, his first response was, "that was what my thought too..." Thank G*d! I didn't get kicked off the Glenn Farris, PhD Island on the first day! La Purisima docents are grateful that Dr. Farris made the long 360 mile (each-way!) drive from Davis, Calif. to give this well-received presentation - THANKS!

PHOTO ABOVE: East stone retaining wall at the Well Site. Wide angle shot of the wall, with the lower of the 2 photos is a close up (what we call the "Money Shot"!) showing details that appear to indicate construction in the mission style, consisting of lime plaster walls, with fire hardened broken tile fragments, both on the side of the wall, as well as multiple rows of tile cap on top of the stone retaining wall.

INTRODUCTION: I was attending a presentation Mission La Purisima State Park by UCSB Archaeological Professor Dr. Glenn Farris on research he had done in the 1960's at La Purisima at the Warehouse / Granary (almacen / granario) site. During the lecture, a Mission La Purisima docent waved her hand and commented that 2 years ago, while hunting for wild mushrooms West of the Warehouse site, she had discovered what appear to be a mission era well and water works. Wow!!!

After the Dr. Farris presentation was completed, I inquired with the docent about being guided to the site - TODAY! (Hey, she had apparently been sitting on this information for 2 years - I COULD NEVER DO THAT!). She and her young son showed me the site on Saturday 10/19/2019, and it does indeed appear likely to be from the mission era - HOW EXCITING! 

As far as we can tell, nobody associated with La Purisima State Historic Park is aware of the well, and indeed, it may not even be located on the massive Purisima mission grounds (we'll have to find out - though we hope it is). UPDATE: I have been told that it is "highly likely" to be on the State Park grounds - awesome - for access AND protection purposes. Now we have to find out if it is "real" or not. For obvious reasons, I shall not given any further location information here, as people like to treasure hunt and vandalize, I am sad to report.

PHOTO ABOVE: Partial view of the well facing east on the site. Shows the rough cut 4x4 framing and 1x4 sheering with modern round nails. Well worn wood, that I would guess to be 30 to 40 years old (or more).

Evidence for a La Purisima mission era site 

1 - FUNCTIONAL LOCATION: Located about 30 feet of elevation up from the base of the embankment overlooking the fields south of Los Berros Canyon (site of the 1813 Mission La Purisima mission). On our visit, the well was impressively full of water for late fall and appears to supply water year around, even today.  Most of these sites provided more water in the mission era then they do now, largely due to the fact that there is less rainfall today and there are a large number of agricultural wells in the area sucking up subsurface water. 

Before mission era development, the well site is likely to have had abundant surface water and been easy to spot by the missionaries. Even today, there is a verdant channel between the well and the bottom of the embankment, creating a 15 foot high impassable wall of green vegetation (consisting mostly poison oak!). Getting this irrigation source up and running would have been relatively easy for the indigenous people at this mission site, simply by running round fire-baked tile interlocked water pipe down the slope and directly into the agriculture fields. 

The desperate move to the new mission site after the failure of the "Mission Vieja" site during the "Los Anos del Los Temblores" of December 1812 would make discovery of a "ready to go" irrigation source and adjacent fields a welcome break from the terror and tragedy of those destructive events. A quick opportunity to begin growing operations at the new Los Berros site in Spring 1813 would have been a welcome break. Just unearth the spring, install stone retaining walls, install round tile water pipe down the slope and into irrigation channels and start growing!

PHOTO ABOVE: Northwest corner of well, facing North. More overgrown poison oak did not allow as much detail in the photo as we would have liked. Stone wall with red fired tile cap, and sporadic broke tile pieces pressed into the vertical surfaces of the retaining wall.

2 - EASILY IDENTIFIED SURFACING FLOWING SPRING: It is likely to have had surface water flowing down the South facing slope / embankment during the mission era, making it easy to spot and exploit immediately. It would be an early stage Los Berros Canyon growing site. Located close to the 2nd 1813 mission site at Los Berros.

PHOTO ABOVE: Top photo - View facing west (left is south in the photo) of the well site. Bottom photo - zoom in of top photo. Shows detail of rough cut 4x4, as well as a row of modern round head nails that would have secured the 1x4 sheering that would have served to keep detritus out of the well.

3 -  STONE RETAINING WALLS APPEAR TO BE MISSION ERA: The stone retaining walls appear to have lime mortar and not modern concrete, though that remains to be seen. Chemical analysis can be done to compare a mission era sample of tile with tile from the well.

The walls of the well are MASSIVE - something that we often see in various mission structure features, such as building foundations, and not just wells. In particular, the large downhill longitudinal retaining wall that I somehow did not photograph (huh? well, we were hanging out in a deep thicket of poison oak - for someone who is allergic, that is somewhat distracting! Yep. I'll go with that excuse. Next...). 

That large downhill slope retaining rock wall has at least a 4 foot drop off (probably more) on the downhill side and is at least 4 feet wide. The top of the stone wall is topped with red tile mortared with lime into the top of the retaining wall, apparently on all 4 sides. Note that there is modern round head nails used in the 4x4 post and sheered cover of the well, that would have served to keep out leaves and detritus so as not to clog up the irrigation pipes and fill up the well. Much of this “well cover” has deteriorated, though Vida reports it was intact 2 years ago, and appears to have demolished on purpose, as pieces of the 1x4 sheering is floating in the well.

4. DOCENT REPORTED STONE / TILE LINED CHANNELS ABOVE THE WELL: The winter of 2018 / 2019 produced massive amounts of rain on the central coast, including Lompoc, causing a large volume of bio-growth. This created a profusion of plant growth that we saw at the site in reported in this article. However, in 2017, the docent recalled some type of lined channels running ABOVE the well (with little foliage coverage to hide them), also indicating a possible tie to the La Purisima mission era. There was no sign of these channels on this day, buried as they were under the POISON OAK, but I have every reason to believe these functional channels are extant. Exactly what purpose they served is still to be investigated.

CONCLUSION: I believe this could be meaningful find for the mission, and we should attempt to identify the ownership of the property where it is situated. Way to go, unnamed docent and her son!

WARNING: The site is absolutely consumed with poison ivy, so you have been warned. Also, please do not attempt to find this site, until we identify the property owners. Plus, I GUARANTEE YOU WILL NOT FIND IT WITH THE PALTRY SITE LOCATION INFORMATION PROVIDED HERE. The well is situated on a steep, loose, and somewhat dangerous slope, and may require skilled passage through a rather sharp barb wire fence. Also, traffic along the road shoulders posed a hazard to this intrepid group! (people no longer no how to drive!).

PHOTO ABOVE: Dr. Farris with my "Docent Boss", State Park Employee Ann Boggess, Interpretive Manager at La Purisima State Historic Park, and the best volunteer coordinator EVER! Ann, you ROCK ROCK ROCK! Thanks for your friendship...

Note that Ann and I are both wearing Archaeology Day "artifacts" around our necks in our respective photos to support the fun for the day. I'm wearing Spanish glass Trading Beads, and Ann is wearing arrow point re-purposed as decorative neckless jewelry of the indigenous people.

RESOURCES:
Dr. Glenn Farris - Mission La Purisima Warehouse Excavation Site
https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22724
www.pcas.org/vol33N4/334farrs.pdf

Mission La Purisima Archaeology Day 10/19/2019
http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/401121/28187547/1568406863253/arch_day_flyer_2019.pdf?token=7ZJOjFMrMJprdRHATeKPwxWlPpc%3D