Black Mountain, Santa Rosa Island

Black Mountain, Santa Rosa Island (Cerro Negro, Monte Negro), situated prominently inland from Bechers Bay, is 1298 feet in elevation. Its name is derived from the pine and oak trees on it. Survey station Black Mountain was established by Stehman Forney in 1872. He noted this station was “on the top of a mountain, known on the island by the above name. The signal is in plain view from the ranch house at the landing on the east end of the island. The north slope of the mountain is covered with stunted pine and oak trees.” In 1934 Charles K. Green relocated the station and marked it with a standard disk stamped BLK. MT. 1872-1934. “The best way to reach the station is to follow the oil-surfaced road that leads from the anchorage at Becher’s Bay around the summit of Black Mountain. Turn right at the pass, up to the station.” This triangulation station appears on the Santa Rosa Island North topographic map. [UTM 10: North 3,763,640 East 769,881; UTM 11: North 3,764,066 East 215,559].

In the News~

April 16, 1911 [SBMP]: “A Summer Cruise in the Sunset Sea-... it was thought better to make headquarters in Bechers Bay on Santa Rosa Island, five miles across the passage from Santa Cruz Island; Mr. White having been invited by his friend, the manager of the island, to camp near the ranch house, and to use the company's horses in trips through the interior. Santa Rosa Island is devoted almost exclusively to cattle, and there are many good trails made for vaqueros leading in many directions, and to the highest point, Monte Negro, 1565 feet.”

In May 1929, Ralph Hoffmann wrote: “Black Mountain is named from a number of groves of the dark-foliaged Island Oak (Quercus tomentella) which flourish at the heads of the canyons which radiate from the ridge. A few pines are also fighting for existence on the slopes of this ridge.”