RON HENGGELER

 

Mount Diablo is sacred to many California Native American peoples; according to Miwok mythology and Ohlone mythology, it was the point of creation. Prior to European entry, the creation narrative varied among surrounding local groups. In one surviving narrative fragment, Mount Diablo and Reed's Peak (Mount Tamalpais) were surrounded by water; from these two islands the creator Coyote and his assistant Eagle-man made Indian people and the world. In another, Molok the Condor brought forth his grandson Wek-Wek the Falcon Hero, from within the mountain.

About 25 independent tribal groups with well-defined territories lived in the East Bay countryside surrounding the mountain. Their members spoke dialects of three distinct languages: Ohlone, Bay Miwok, and Northern Valley Yokuts. The Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone from Mission San Jose and the East Bay area, called the mountain Tuyshtak, meaning "at the dawn of time". Most of Mount Diablo, including its peak, was within the homeland of the early Volvon (sometimes spelled Wolwon, Bolbon or Bolgon), a Bay Miwok-speaking tribe, and as early as 1811, the mountain was called (in Spanish) "Cerro Alto de los Bolbones" (High Point of the Volvon) or sometimes "Sierra de los Bolgones". The Nisenan of the Sacramento Valley called it Sukkú Jaman, or as Nisenan elder Dalbert Castro once explained, "the place where dogs came from in trade".

A Southern Miwok name was Supemenenu. It has also been suggested that an early Indian name for the mountain is Kawukum or Kahwookum, but there is no evidence to confirm the assertion. According to Indian historian Bev Ortiz and "Save Mount Diablo" "The name "Kahwookum" was made up in 1866—with no real Indian connection—referred to the California Legislature's Committee on Public Morals, and tabled. It resurfaced as a real estate gimmick in 1916 with a supposed new translation, "Laughing Mountain", attributed without documentation to Diablo area Volvon Indians.

Rock City on Mt Diablo

The conventional view is that the peak derives its name from the 1805 escape of several Chupcan Native Americans from the Spanish in a nearby willow thicket. The natives seemed to disappear, and the Spanish soldiers thus gave the area the name "Monte del Diablo", meaning "thicket of the devil." Monte was later misinterpreted by English speakers as mount or mountain.

General Mariano G. Vallejo, in an 1850 report to the California State legislature, gave this much romanticized story of the derivation of the name of Mount Diablo from its Spanish to Anglo form, related to the mountain and an evil spirit. Vallejo's report could be interpreted to align with Gudde's account.

This name was later applied to Salvio Pacheco's Rancho Monte del Diablo, the present-day site of the city of Concord. The name's origin was misinterpreted by English-speaking newcomers to refer to the mountain rather than the settlement.

The name Monte del Diablo (‘Mount of the Devil’) appears on the "Plano topográfico de la Misión de San José" about 1824, where there was an Indian settlement at the approximate site of the present town of Concord {Pacheco}. On August 24, 1828, the name was applied to the Monte del Diablo land grant for which Salvio Pacheco had petitioned in 1827.

One attribute that makes the name Mount Diablo appropriate is that the mountain glows red at sunset.

 

Rock City on Mt Diablo

Rock City on Mt Diablo

Rock City on Mt Diablo

 

Mt Diablo summit

The Devil's Pulpit on Mt Diablo

Mt Diablo Summit Museum and Visitors Center

The Devil's Pulpit on Mt Diablo

The Devil's Pulpit on Mt Diablo