Bale Grist MillState Historic Park - California |
Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park is a California state park located in Napa County between St. Helena and Calistoga. The park is the site of a water-powered grist mill that was built in 1846 is one of only two water-driven mills remaining west of the Mississippi River.
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https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=482
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bale_Grist_Mill_State_Historic_Park
Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park is a California state park located in Napa County between St. Helena and Calistoga. The park is the site of a water-powered grist mill that was built in 1846 is one of only two water-driven mills remaining west of the Mississippi River.
Our Mission
Bale Grist Mill
State Historic Park
The mission of California State Parks is
to provide for the health, inspiration and
education of the people of California by helping
to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological
diversity, protecting its most valued natural and
cultural resources, and creating opportunities
for high-quality outdoor recreation.
Families gathered at
the mill to have their
grain ground into flour
while they socialized
and caught up on the
news from around
California State Parks supports equal access.
Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who
need assistance should contact the park at
(707) 963-2236. If you need this publication in an
alternate format, contact interp@parks.ca.gov.
CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001
For information call: (800) 777-0369.
(916) 653-6995, outside the U.S.
711, TTY relay service
www.parks.ca.gov
Discover the many states of California.™
Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park
3315 St. Helena Highway
St. Helena, CA 94574
Mail to: 3801 St. Helena Hwy.
Calistoga 94515 • (707) 963-2236
© 2015 California State Parks
the valley.
T
he Bale Grist Mill played an important
role in the settlement of the Napa Valley
in the mid- to late 1800s. The mill is a
significant part of California history.
Wheat, corn, oats, and barley were the
main cash crops for farmers in the Napa
Valley. Farmers brought their grain to the
mill to be ground and bagged. Today, the
mill is still operational, milling grains into
flour and meal. The mill demonstrates its
pioneering role in industrialization during
the 19th century.
PARK HISTORY
Native People
From about 6,000 BCE, the Koliholmanok
(“woods people”) lived within the area
now known as Bale Grist Mill State Historic
Park and Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.
Their tribe’s central area, now the upper
Corn grinding demonstration
Napa Valley, was called Mutistul. These
hunter-gatherers made fine obsidian
tools — knives, scrapers, arrow and spear
points — as well as intricate baskets and
ceremonial objects.
When Spanish settlers arrived in this area
of Alta California, it is believed that they
called the native people guapo for their
bravery, daring, and good looks; the native
people eventually became known as the
Wappo. Mexican land grantees and gold
seekers upset the Wappo balance of life,
introducing such diseases as smallpox that
devastated the Wappo population.
By 1855, nearly 20 years after Missouri fur
trapper George C. Yount planted the area’s
first grapevines, only a fraction of the Wappo
people remained. Wappo descendants in
Napa and Sonoma counties continue to
practice and honor their ancestral traditions.
Early Pioneers
Edward Turner Bale was an English citizen
who came to Monterey, the capital of Alta
California in the 1830s. On March 21, 1839,
Bale married into the prominent family of
General Mariano G. Vallejo, commandant
of the Mexican army. His bride, Maria
Soberanes, was the niece of brothers
Mariano and Salvador Vallejo.
General Vallejo appointed Bale as
surgeon-in-chief of the Northern Mexican
army in 1840, and Bale applied for Mexican
citizenship. The following year, Governor
Juan B. Alvarado granted Edward Bale
four leagues of land in upper Napa Valley.
More than 17,000 acres in Wappo territory
were given to Bale; they encompass today’s
Calistoga and St. Helena.
Bale’s land grant, issued in 1841, was
known by various spellings and names.
Perhaps referring to the Koliholmanok
Dr. Edward T. Bale, ca. 1845
native people, Bale called his rancho
Colofolmana; others referred to it as
Caligolmana and Huilac Nama. The
grant’s official recorded name (ratified
in 1845) was Rancho Carne Humana, a
Spanish term translating to “human flesh.”
The reason for the name has been lost.
The Bales built an adobe home off
what is now known as Whitehall Lane in
St. Helena. Edward Bale commissioned
Ralph Kilburn to build a sawmill near the
Napa River. Bale also had a small, animalpowered grist mill built for neighbors to
grind the grains they grew.
In 1843, Bale contracted to build a
larger grist mill, paying the builders with
portions of his rancho land or selling
off parcels to pay debts. The new mill’s
water came from Mill Creek, through a
ditch system with a wooden flume. The
water powered a 20-foot waterwheel that
turned locally quarried milling stones.
In 1848, Bale left to find a lucky strike
in the gold fields. He returned ill the
following year, and died in October of
1849. His young wife was left with six
children and huge debts, liens, and
mortgages against Bale’s property.
In 1941 the Native Sons deeded the mill
to the Napa County Historical Society,
which hired caretakers to live in the
granary — converting the interior into a
Maria Soberanes Bale
house. In the 1970s, California State
The census of 1850 recorded
Parks acquired the property and
that 27-year-old widow Bale
began a major restoration project
had only 1,500 acres of
with funding from the California
unimproved la
Nuestra Misión
Parque Estatal Histórico
Bale Grist Mill
La misión de California State Parks es proporcionar
apoyo para la salud, la inspiración y la educación
de los ciudadanos de California al ayudar a
preservar la extraordinaria diversidad biológica
del estado, proteger sus más valiosos recursos
naturales y culturales, y crear oportunidades para
la recreación al aire libre de alta calidad.
Las familias se reunían
en el molino para molturar
sus granos y convertirlos
en harina mientras que
socializaban y se ponían
al tanto de las novedades
California State Parks apoya la igualdad de
acceso. Antes de llegar, los visitantes con
discapacidades que necesiten asistencia
deben comunicarse con el parque llamando
al (707) 963-2236. Si necesita esta publicación
en un formato alternativo, comuníquese con
interp@parks.ca.gov.
CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001
Para obtener más información, llame al:
(800) 777-0369 o (916) 653-6995, fuera de los
EE. UU. o 711, servicio de teléfono de texto.
www.parks.ca.gov
Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park
3315 St. Helena Highway
St. Helena, CA 94574
Mail to: 3801 St. Helena Hwy.
Calistoga 94515 • (707) 963-2236
© 2015 California State Parks
de los alrededores
de valle.
B
ale Grist Mill cumplió un papel muy
importante en el asentamiento del Valle
de Napa a mediados y fines de 1800. El
molino es una parte muy importante de la
historia de California.
El trigo, el maíz y la cebada eran
la principal fuente de agricultura
comercial para los granjeros en el Valle
de Napa. Los granjeros llevaban los
granos al molino para que se moliese y
envasase. Actualmente, el molino aún
sigue funcionando, moliendo granos y
convirtiéndolos en harina y molienda. El
molino demuestra su función pionera en la
industrialización durante el siglo XIX.
HISTORIA DEL PARQUE
Los indígenas
Desde aproximadamente el año 6,000 a.C.,
los koliholmanoks (“pueblo del bosque”)
Demostración de molturación de maíz
vivieron dentro del área actualmente
conocida como Parque Estatal Histórico
Bale Grist Mill y Parque Estatal Valle
Bothe-Napa. El área central de su tribu,
que ahora constituye el Valle de Napa se
denominaba Mutisul. Estos cazadores y
recolectores fabricaban finas herramientas
de vidrio volcánico — como cuchillos,
raspadores, flechas y puntas de lanzas.
Se cree que cuando los colonos
españoles llegaron al área de Alta
California, llamaron “guapos” a los nativos
por su valentía, audacia y agradable
apariencia, y como resultado se hicieron
conocidos como los wappos. Los
concesionarios mexicanos de tierras y los
buscadores de oro alteraron el equilibrio
del estilo de vida que llevaban los wappos
al introducir enfermedades como la viruela,
lo cual devastó al pueblo nativo.
Para 1855, casi 20 años luego de que
el trampero de Missouri George C. Yount
plantara los primeros viñedos del área,
permanecía solo una parte del pueblo
wappo. Los descendientes de los wappos
en los condados de Napa y Sonoma
continúan practicando y honrando sus
tradiciones ancestrales.
Los primeros pioneros
Edward Turner Bale fue un ciudadano
inglés que llegó a Monterey, la capital de
Alta California, en la década de 1830. El
21 de marzo de 1839, Bale se casó con una
mujer de la prominente familia del General
Mariano G. Vallejo, comandante del ejército
mexicano. Su esposa, María Soberanes,
era la sobrina de los hermanos Mariano y
Salvador Vallejo.
En 1840, el General Vallejo designó
a Bale como jefe cirujano del ejército
mexicano del norte, y Bale solicitó la
Dr. Edward T. Bale, ca. 1845
ciudadanía mexicana. Al año siguiente, el
gobernador Juan B. Alvarado de concedió
a Edward Bale cuatro leguas de tierra
en lo alto del Valle de Napa. Más de
17,000 acres del territorio wappo fueron
cedidos a Bale; actualmente comprenden
Calistoga y Santa Helena.
La concesión de tierra de Bale,
emitida en 1841, se conoció bajo
diversos nombres y grafías. Es posible
que haciendo referencia a los nativos
koliholmanoks, Bale haya llamado a su
rancho “Colofolmana”; otros se referían a
él como “Caligolmana” y “Huilac Nama”.
El nombre registrado oficialmente en
la concesión (ratificada en 1845) fue
“Rancho Carne Humana”. La razón por
la cual se lo denominó de esta manera
es desconocida.
Los Bale construyeron una casa de
adobe en lo que actualmente se conoce
como Whitehall Lane en Santa Helena.
Edward Bale le encomendó a Ralph
Kilburn la construcción de un aserradero
cerca del río Napa. Bale también tenía
un pequeño molino harinero de tracción
encuentra colocada hasta hoy.
a sangre construido para que los vecinos
La hábil María Bale se las ingenió para
pudieran moler los granos
pagar las deudas de su marido y retener
que cosechaban.
partes de Rancho Carne Humana como
En 1843, Bale encargó la
herencia para sus hijos. María se volvió
construcción de un molino
a casar y su hija Isadora Bruck
harinero de mayor tamaño y
vendió el molino en 1860.
le pagó a los constructores
Una seguidilla de propietarios
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