A California History Fulfilled in Fiction

THE INDIAN LOVER, a novel by Garth Murphy

 

The Indian LoverPeriod IllustrationsAnother ChapterReviews/AfterwardAcknowledgments

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Las Flores, a native town and sub-mission in what is now Camp Pendleton Marine Base.

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Mission San Luis Rey, north San Diego.
At 600 feet on a side, the largest building in California until the 1860's.

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Deer Hunting

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Cupa at Agua Caliente - Kuupiaxchem capital - Warner Hotsprings

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A well dressed native woman, in a tule skirt, buckskin apron, shell-laced belt and jewelry, waterproof basket and sea otter cape. Her hacked-off hair is a sign of mourning. The elegant sea otter cape was California's first export, quickly becoming the rage in Peking, Moscow and Paris.

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A Californio spent a fortune on his silver-studded riding outfit, spurs, reins and saddle...to display his wealth and to distance himself from the animal-skin clad Indios.
The Indians kept the hills in lush bunchgrass and brush-free, by regular burnings and the sowing of beneficial seeds.

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Dragoons camp, General Kearny's California campaign, 1846. Canvas tents are copies of plains-Indian teepees.

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Fremont's Volunteer Brigade: five Delaware Indians, a personal
guard, and assorted mountain men.

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Commodore Stockton's Naval Squadron
Stockton sailed with a fourteen piece Italian band, to nourish his love of music.

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Spanish lancer attack. The native's conical grass hut was easy to erect...and to burn when it wore out. Women's grass skirts added to the polynesian effect.