Historical Society plans tour of Mill Creek Zanja

REDLANDS - The Redlands Area Historical Society has announced plans for a trolley tour of the historic Mill Creek Zanja from its source east in Mill Creek to the west in Loma Linda.

The society will use the trolley bus of Braswell's Chateau Villa retirement center. The trolley is limited to

The three-hour tour will board the trolley at Stater Bros. Market parking lot on the corner of Lugonia and Wabash avenues at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 18. One short restroom stop is planned in Sylvan Park.

Reservations for the tour must be made by calling (909) 307-6060 and mailing a check for $25 to the Redlands Area Historical Society, P.O. Box 1024, Redlands, CA 92373.

The tour visits the original dam site that diverted Mill Creek into the artificial ditch in 1819. This "Zanja" or irrigation ditch is the oldest artifact in the county. The construction is an example of the cooperative effort to bring agriculture to the valley through the vision of Franciscan missionaries and Native Americans.

Remnants of the Zanja are visible for nearly seven miles of its original course of some 12 miles.

Research for the tour has been the work of the Redlands Junior Historical Club of Redlands High School. Members have spent many Sunday afternoons poring over history books, newspaper clippings, maps, photographs, obituaries, water suits and historical memorabilia, writing historical plaque text for a History Channel Grant.

Under the direction of Tom Atchley, Historical Society president and club adviser, some 15 students have unearthed some interesting history of the Zanja and the settlers along its banks.

The tour will discuss the beginnings of Greenleaf, Greenspot, Crafton, Eastberne, Chicago Colony, Lugonia, Lugonia Heights, Redlands, Barton, Old San Bernardino and the Mission District.

The Zanja had the first furniture factory in Southern California, the first water wheel for electric lights and the first pioneers of the east San Bernardino Valley along its artificial banks. Predating the Lugo San Bernardino Land Grant by two decades, the Mill Creek Zanja was built while Spain claimed California. Dating to the Mission Period, the Zanja was built with engineering expertise and Native American manpower. The Zanja's water has been fought over since the 1860s with a major water suit nearly every two decades.

Tour participants will learn the location of the Crafton Retreat, Paine Ranch, Cram furniture factory, Nicholas Earp ranch (Wyatt's father), Craig Red Hill Ranch, Bryne Ranch, Dearborn Reservoir, Cave Reservoir, Redlands' Fire Department bell tower, Osbun water wheel, Zanja Festival, Stillman Winery, Barton Winery, Cottonwood Row, Hinckley Ranch, Van Leuven Ranch, Frink American adobe and the site of the first orange trees in the valley. The trolley will park on the site of the Alvarado Ditch and Serrano-Cahuilla work camp of early Redlands.

The Mill Creek Zanja has both state of California historic designation and is on the National Register of Historic Places.