The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Spring 1983, Volume 29, Number 2
Thomas L. Scharf, Managing Editor
Page 117. The Lucas homestead at La Laguna was built by Tom Lucas’ grandfather sometime in the 1860s using tools that he had earned working for the Butterfield Stage. The shy boy in the doorway is Tom Lucas. The woman in the foreground is his grandmother, Susaan Kallich and the woman closer to Tom is his mother, Maria Cesario Alto (c. 1912).
Page 118. Maria Sasada Cesario Alto in a posed studio portrait (c. 1890).
Page 119. Ethnographically Recorded Cultures of San Diego County.
Page 121. Amaay Kwakwas also known as Yellow Sky and Zeus (c. 1902). Born in Quechan territory where his father had gone to live with his mother’s people, Amaay Kwakwas moved to the Lagunas in his later years and was a venerated sage and healer. The mounted man (above) is Chief Valentine (Parakaan), the last recognized leader (kwaipai) of the Laguna Indians (c. 1890). Valentine’s brother was Baptiste (Parakaan), a noted shaman and a snake charmer.
Page 121. John Beyers, pioneer gold miner from the Deer Park area.
Page 122. Lucas Ranch in relation to surrounding settlements and placenames.
Page 127. Tom Lucas and a young friend at the site of the abandoned village of Hapacha above Green Valley near West Mesa. In the foreground and in Tom’s hand are Big Horn Sheep horns.
Page 128. Maria Alto holds the reins of her horse while a close friend, Gertrude Nejo sits outside of a ramada. Nejo was originally from the desert village of San Felipe and married into the Laguna Indian band
The Art of Maria Alto
Page 132-133. Examples of the whimsical and beautiful pottery of Maria Alto can be found in the collections of the San Diego Museum of Man and the San Diego History Center
