Bautista Canyon may not be one of the more familiar place names in Riverside County, but it is one of the oldest. The canyon itself is a rugged yet beautiful natural drainage and travel way between the San Jacinto Valley and the Anza Valley, leaving the former in the far southeast corner of that region (southeast of Hemet and Valle Vista), and entering the latter at the far northwest corner of what is today the Anza Valley. Bautista Canyon is named for famed Cahuilla leader Juan Bautista, who represented Cahuilla people in both the Anza Valley and San Timoteo Canyon. Lengthy research by place name historian Jane Davies Gunther shows that by at least 1852, the area we today call the Anza Valley was known as “Juan Batista’s country.” Fifteen years later, while surveying the Anza Valley for the US Government, Henry Hancock noted that he crossed a “trail leading to Bautista Valley.”  From this, we can surmise that the naming of the canyon for Juan Bautista is more than 150 years old. So who was Juan Bautista? He was a Cahuilla leader who had attempted to smooth relations between various Native American villages in Inland Southern California and the incoming American settlers and their government. He was a signatory to the 1852 Treaty of Temecula, which promised huge swaths of land to various groups of indigenous people, but was never adopted by the US government. Bautista also aided in some fugitive round-ups that benefitted local law enforcement. Some people have (wrongfully) surmised the canyon was named for Juan Bautista de Anza, the Spanish explorer. It is true that Anza used the canyon for his exploratory trek between Sonora and Mission San Gabriel, but the route Anza used was quickly forgotten and was unknown in the mid- to late-1800s. It was only when Dr. Herbert Eugene Bolton retraced the route using Anza’s diaries in the 1920s that his use of the canyon was discovered. That said, once Anza’s route was discovered, the valley was quickly renamed the Anza Valley from its former name of Cahuilla Valley. Related Articles Local News | 3 men mistaken for bandits had a long drive through Riverside County in 1925 Local News | Where exactly was Juan Bandini’s home in Riverside County? Local News | Banning was once known as a ‘TB tourism’ destination Local News | UCR’s bell tower will soon be 60 years old Local News | Citrus packers held a special Christmas dinner in Riverside in 1905 Today, one can drive a windy road through Bautista Canyon and see the region as Anza and Bautista had hundreds of years ago. It was not until 1914 when residents of Cahuilla (today’s Anza in the Anza Valley) petitioned for a proper road to connect the two valleys. That road was not constructed until 1931, only later being paved as it is today. If you have an idea for a future Back in the Day column about a local historic person, place or event, contact Steve Lech and Kim Jarrell Johnson at [email protected].