Bridge to the Past

Faced with a severe drought at the end of the 1700s, the Franciscan padres at Santa Barbara Mission designed an ingenious system of dams, reservoirs and aqueducts to channel water down to their settlement.

It was the local Chumash who supplied the labor, hauling boulders to build the dams and the lengthy rock-lined troughs. The construction was nothing short of back-breaking. But the Native Americans did find other ways to manifest their creativity and ingenuity, such as using plants to make everything from baskets to canoes.

You can see the know-how of both groups in a new, unusual exhibit at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. A portion of the old aqueduct has been restored and reactivated on garden grounds, just below Mission Dam. Nearby, the garden has cultivated plants used by Native Americans, and on display are examples of their basket weaving and other handiwork.

The two exhibits would appear to have little in common, but history intertwines them.

“The padres used the labor of the Chumash--we wanted to honor not just the Chumash but all native people of California,” said Stanley Bernstein, public relations and marketing manager for the botanic garden.

To get to the exhibits, you walk about a quarter of a mile under sprawling oaks, past a meadow and through a cool, shady grove of redwoods down to the old dam on Mission Creek.

A footbridge takes you on top of the dam, a massive stone structure 18 feet thick and 110 feet wide. It was from this spot that the padres diverted water into a trough that meandered 1.5 miles down to the mission.

The dam, finished in 1807, has withstood earthquakes and other disasters. The water system worked fine into the 1840s, after the mission era ended. But by the 1870s, it had fallen into disrepair and become overgrown. Flooding over the last two winters exposed a portion of the old channel on the botanic garden’s property.

With this 50-foot section along the creek restored, you can see how Chumash workers used sandstone cobbles to form the U-shaped trough, cementing them together with a mortar made of ground seashells.

Originally, water from the dam flowed to the aqueduct via a cobble bridge, which has since washed out. The botanic garden has replaced it with a new 80-foot redwood flume. Last weekend, when the exhibit opened, a small gate was lifted and water flowed from the dam, down the flume, and into the trough, much as it did nearly 200 years ago--except the water is diverted back to the creek.

Back then, about 1,100 people--mostly Chumash--lived at the mission, according to Joe Schwab, administrator of the mission. The Mission Canyon aqueduct provided drinking water and irrigated fruits and vegetables. It also was channeled into a laundry and fountain. Another aqueduct, now on private property in Rattlesnake Canyon, powered a grist mill.

“It was an amazing achievement for the time,” said Schwab. What the Chumash got out of that experience and the whole mission system continues to be a debatable issue for many. “They were not slaves,” Schwab asserted. “But they were not free by modern standards.” Nor were they paid for their labor.

That contentious issue is avoided in the waterworks exhibit. Instead there is a neighboring plant exhibit that honors California Native Americans in different ways--for their plant knowledge, respect for the environment, and skill at making baskets, clothing, fishing nets, baby carriers and ceremonial objects.

Next to the creek, the botanic garden is cultivating three planting areas that feature Indian rush, deer grass, western redbud, giant chain fern, and other plants used in basket making by Native Americans from around the state.

A fourth bed includes plants used for fishing nets, twine, clothing and homes. Visitors can see how the Native Americans used tule, dogbane and willow to make their houses, or how their canoes were crafted from redwood, dogbane or milkweed, and held together with tar and pine pitch.

The display--put together with help from Native Americans--explains how indigenous people managed their plants, gathered plant materials, and prepared the fibers for weaving or other uses.

The art of weaving baskets goes back thousands of years in California, and it flourishes today, a tradition still passed down, according to Julie Cordero, a Chumash, who worked on the exhibit. “This is a good way to honor native people,” she said.

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1212 Mission Canyon Road, is open weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and weekends 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and teens, $1 for children 5-12, and under 5 free. For information, 682-4726.