The chope! and ranchcria at Las Cieneguitas are partlolly reconstructed in this drawing by Russell Ruiz. Crosses In the Indian cemetery indicate Christian burials, while the pole with hangirsg eogle feothers is on Idol to the pogan god of land and oir, a protector of crops, colled Chupu or Sup.
The Lost Chapel of Cieneguita By Gloria Brooks Forsyth Las Cieneguitas is a lovely, lilting word meaning little marshes or swamps. In the plural or singular form, it once described an area four miles west of the business center of Santa Barbara, where a tule-fiiled cienega extended in a rough Y-shape from St. Vincent’s School (Las Cieneguitas Ranch) southward beyond Modoc Road. Artesian springs provided pure water for the large rancheria of CanaUno Indians on the western edge of the slough, and the thick-growing tules and swamp grass were near at hand for thatching their willow-frame jacales. Undoubtedly, there was good fishing in the stream that flowed into the cienega, and good harvests of acorns in the oak grove on the hundredfoot knoll between the arms of the swamp. Waterfowl, small game abounded there. Long before the Canalino rancheria of Alcajeh, there had been a settle ment of “Oak Grove People” on the knoll. David Banks Rogers discovered II