Following the creek bed along Valle Arroyo the vaqueros drove the herd up the steep canyon, wearing the vigorous ones down, and keeping a close eye. Hazing of the herd would begin as early as the 4th Station. And Mocho like all vaqueros carried a 14 inch blade honed to cut through the thick gristle of a stallion’s neck. It was a necessary evil that came with the job, for without weaning the herd, one defiant horse could ruin the entire drive. I write about this in other posts so I wont go any further here. Hazing must have been a difficult task for any vaquero, with the profound connection they had for their animals and the stoutest of the breed having to be destroyed. When they reached the fork at Colorado Creek the trail headed upward toward the ridge, passing through Blackbird Valley before cresting over the pass along where Mines Rd is now. Latta references this as Mocho Valley – Valle de Mocho, and here Mocho was station master increasing the herd from horses rounded off the San Joaquin Valley south of Tracy, the the vales that coursed the Diablo range south of Altamount.
I’m on Mines Rd, headed up the Tesla grade, I keep looking into the valley below, thinking I see a trail, or a creek or some way coming from across the valley floor, but I could be a ridge or two over from Valle Arroyo, so I don’t know where I am. I’m driving on a trail, I’ll call it La Vereda del Monte, what the hey, one scar is as good as another when it comes to chopped off heads, eh?