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Joaquin Murrieta's Hideout LbNA #30950 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:May 13, 2007
Location:
City:Mission Viejo
County:Orange
State:California
Boxes:1
Planted by:Power Pig
Found by: macgirls
Last found:May 23, 2007
Status:FF
Last edited:May 13, 2007
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find the legendary hide-out of Joaquin Murrieta.

Navigate to Glen Yermo Elementary School at 26400 Trabuco Rd, Mission Viejo, CA (look for the Modesto intersection at a stoplight). Here you will find parking as long as school is not in session.

Head south towards the Bell and the Hut. However, do not cross to the over to the Zone. Instead, seek out a backwards sign which highlights the historic nature of your target. Note the type of tree you must locate.

From there the wide dusty path will be obvious, leading you gradually down into the glen. After 175 dusty paces into you will come close to the false trappings of civilization. Heed them not, but keep right on the wide path another 85 paces.

Here you must think like Joaquin – leave the path and seek out a hideout. To your right should be a dark grove of unusually large trees straddling the creek.

Find and approach a crooked tree named Nessie, for the resemblance to the lake monster of the same name. Although most stand upright, she runs to the side. Under the first hump is fresh loose earth. A mere inch down is your treasure.

Be sure to keep the location a complete secret when you leave, so only those who follow the clues can find Joaquin’s hide-out.

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Background:

Joaquin Murrieta (1829–ca. 1853), also called the Robin Hood of El Dorado, was a legendary figure in California during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. He was either an infamous bandit or a Mexican patriot, depending on one's point of view. Whatever the truth of the matter, his name has, for some political activists at least, symbolized resistance against Anglo-American economic and cultural domination in California.
It is said he first went to California in 1850 to seek his fortune in the California Gold Rush. Instead of opportunity, though, he encountered racism and discrimination. Unable to make a living legally, Murrieta became a leader of the band called The Five Joaquins, which also included Joaquin Botellier, Joaquin Carrillo, Joaquin Ocomorenia, and Joaquin Valenzuela. Between 1850 and 1853, these men, along with Murrieta's right hand man, "Three-Fingered Jack" (Manuel Garcia), were said to be responsible for the majority of cattle rustling, robberies, and murders committed in the Mother Lode area of the Sierra Nevadas. They are credited with stealing more than $100,000 in gold and over 100 horses, killing 19 people, and having outrun three posses and killing three lawmen. At the time, no one was certain of the name of the leader, so he was simply called Joaquin, and it was further uncertain if it was one or more bands.
On May 11, 1853, John Bigler, who was governor of California at the time, signed a legislative act creating the "California State Rangers," led by Captain Harry Love (a former Texas Ranger), whose mission was to arrest the Five Joaquins. The California Rangers were paid $150 a month and stood a chance to split a $5000 reward for the capture of Murrieta. On July 25, 1853, a group of these rangers encountered a group of Mexican males near Panoche Pass in San Benito County, about 100 miles from the Mother Lode and 50 from Monterey. A confrontation occurred, and two of the Mexicans were killed—one claimed to be Murrieta and the other was thought to be Garcia.
A poster advertising the display of the supposed head of Murrieta in Stockton, CA. 1853. The Rangers took Garcia's hand and Murrieta's head as evidence of their death and displayed them in a jar, preserved in brandy. The jar was displayed in Mariposa County, Stockton, and San Francisco, and traveled throughout California, where spectators could, for $1, see the remains. Seventeen people, including a priest, signed affidavits identifying the remains as Murrieta's, and Love and his Rangers received the reward money. However, a young woman claiming to be Murrieta's sister said she did not recognize the head and argued that it could not be her brother's since it did not have a characteristic scar on it. Additionally, numerous sightings of Murrieta were reported after his death was announced. Many people criticized Love for showing the remains in large cities far from the mining camps, where Murrieta might have been recognized. It has even been claimed that Love and his Rangers killed some innocent Mexicans and made up the story of the capture of Murrieta to claim the reward money. The head was lost in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.