Named originally ‘San Francisco’ this natural water source was an important stop for travelers on El Camino Real, the mission road. Junípero Serra gave its name in his diary of the expedition from Loreto to San Diego, on May 4, 1769:
A 1792 road log of El Camino Real, includes San Francisco (a place with water) midway between Calamajué and Santa María. In Side Trip No. 9: Río de San Francisco = Arroyo San Francisquito/ Arroyo Las Arrastras:
The waterhole of San Francisquito provided the name for the arroyo it is in, which flows to the gulf at the Ensenada de San Francisquito (usually called ‘Gonzaga Bay’ along with the true bay of that name, to its north). The topo maps today call the arroyo ‘Las Arrastras’. The gold mill near Punta Final called ‘Molino de Lacy’ (sometime after 1897 when William Lacy, its founder, died), was originally called Molino de San Francisquito. The gold was sent out from the bay at today’s Punta Final Resort, but was then known as Puerto de San Francisquito. The gold came from the Mina de San Francisquito, which later was known as the Pioneer Mine.
In 1906, Arthur North describes the site in his 1910 Camp and Camino in Lower California, page 96:
San Franciscito [sic], or “Little San Francisco,” lying on the southern edge of these plains (Llanos de Santa María), proved, though located on the map, to be nothing but a few old arastras [sic], a small mining shaft and a waterhole from which we were driven in disgust by the presence of a dead coyote.
In 1954, Howard Gulick created a document to describe the route of El Camino Real. Here are his comments about this location:
Howard Gulick’s map of 1958, from the Lower California Guidebook:
Two more 1959 Howard Gulick photographs at San Francisquito:
Maps showing the waterhole of San Francisco or San Francisquito
1888:
1899:
1919:
1954:
1958:
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