Introduction

the Hawaiian diversion of surf-board riding can be enjoyed.(244)

Carpinteria, California
In 1769, the Spanish Portola expedition came west along the beach from the previous night's encampment at Rincon. The explorers found a large native village on the point of land where Carpinteria Pier is today. The party camped nearby on August 17. Fray Juan Crespi, a Franciscan missionary travelling with the expedition, noted that "Not far from the town we saw some springs of pitch. The Indians have many canoes, and at the time were building one, for which reason the soldiers named this town La Carpinteria" (the carpentry shop).[15]

The Chumash people used the naturally occurring surface asphalt to seal their canoes, known as Tomols.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpinteria,_California

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Page 141

Carpinteria, because it was on the route usually taken in going towards the village of that name, the origin of which dates back to the time when Portola's expedition coming up the coast, found near the mouth of Rincon Creek a number of Indians,

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making canoes, paddles, and other articles of wood, hence Carpinteria, a wood-working establishment.

Page 159

Santa Barbara Bay has much in common with the famous Bay of Naples, which it greatly resembles in contour, but its surroundings are even more beautiful.
From the lighthouse,

Page 160

which stands like a white sentinel at Point Santa Barbara, eastward to Rincon Point, the shore sweeps in a circle of uniform curve, extending fifteen miles, now with wave-kissed sandy shore, then rising into low palisades, that skirt mesas covered with oak and sycamore trees.
The Bay opens to the wide channel of Santa Barbara, some seventy miles in length, with a width of from twenty-five to thirty miles.
Its water maintains a wonderfully even temperature, the difference being but ten degrees the year round; the breezes passing
over its surface serve to cool in summer and warm in winter the love-

Valley.

For yachting and boating the Santa Barbara Channel offers the finest stretch in the world, with ample sea room, yet so protected by the mountainous island chain on the south and the elevated shore of the mainland on the north, as to be entirely safe at all times.
Fishing in the Santa Barbara Channel is a feature that appeals to sportsmen, and some wonderful catches are made.

Page 161

Santa Barbara stands pre-eminent for sea bathing facilities over any other sea coast town in California.
The water is of so mild a temperature that an ordinarily healthy person can enjoy a dip in the sea every month in the year.
Sheltered as the harbor is on all sides, it is a rare exception for the sea to be rough or the breakers at all high.
Twenty-nine days out of the thirty (with the exception of February) the sea is as smooth as a mill-pond, and the most timid bather
need have no fear of battling with the surf; the bete noir of the swimmer, the undertow, is absent.
The slope of the beach is so gradual that the bather can wade out quite a distance without getting out of his depth.
The highest temperature of the water has been 66 degrees in the middle of the summer, and in the winter has never fallen below 59 degrees, the latter figure being but rarely reached.

Page 243
The Carpinteria valley lies to the east of Montecito, separated from it by Ortega Hill - a long, low, oak-covered elevation rising suddenly at the water's edge.
From the top of this rise, Carpinteria is seen extending eastward to Rincon.

This valley is one of the richest tracts of land in California, and enormous crops of walnuts and lima beans are harvested there. The trees are mainly live oaks, and the houses are set among gardens rich with flowering shrubs.
Nearer the mountains, which rise steeply along its northern side, the valley rises into low hills, which merge into the range through many canyons, clothed with vegetation.

The marshes, seen from the dunes, offer a remarkable picture, especially with the roofs of the village nestling in the trees, across their broad wastes.
The three-mile stretch of beach is in most places three or four hundred feet wide at low tide; at high tide, the breaking power of the wide flat and the bar outside pile up a grand surf, even when the other parts of the coast near by are becalmed.
This large surf breaks far out, and there is no undertow; consequently, bathing

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is safe, and at the same time exciting, as the Hawaiian diversion of surf-board riding can be enjoyed.

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Southworth, John R.: Santa Barbara and Montecito, Past and Present. Drawings by H.H. Halliday. .Oreña Studios, Santa Barbara, California, 1920. Hathi Trust https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044086444668

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