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Steban Miranda
1860-1942 disputed
Block 61, Lot A3
From our research for this tour, there is a dispute whether this is truly the final burial place for the last Chief of the Tubatulabal Tribe, Steban Miranda. His descendants don‟t think so. Some descendents think it might be the grave of a Steven Miranda instead. The seemingly authoritative website FindAGrave.com says "This is probably the grave of Steban Miranda." Birth and death dates from CA death index.
Born in the area of Tejon Pass, CA, Ardis Manly Walker recalls in his The Rough and The Righteous of the Kern River Diggins (page 13) "As I paid my last respects to him in the little cemetery of old Whiskey Flat, it occurred to me that I never heard him utter a bitter word against any man." Steban Miranda is too important a figure in Kern Valley's history to leave out, even if he isn't buried here.
The birth/date dates shown on www.FindAGrave.com [Birth: 1860 Death: Oct. 13, 1942] can't be right either. That would have him 3 years old in 1860, but Ardis Walker wrote in his book noted above that as a boy of 13, Steban Miranda, was a survivor of the April 19, 1863 massacre at the Indian village of Pallgawan near old Whiskey Flat. Companies D and E of the California Calvary Volunteers under the leadership of Captain Moses McLaughlin surrounded the village, gathered 35 braves then shot and "sabered" them.
Steban watched as his father, his grandfather, and 2 of his uncles were killed. Steban, along with the women and other children had to gather the bodies and bury the dead. He years later watched again as the burial place was disturbed by excavation for water diversion canal for the Borel Power plant constructed by the Kern River Company circa 1904. The canal is visible when Lake Isabella is very low (like in December).
Steban Miranda worked as a farmhand and vaquero and was well respected by all who knew him. Steban Miranda was a true Chief to a gentle people. He had many living relatives in/near the Kern River Valley.
The Old Kernville Historic Cemetery Tour was researched and created by Kern River Valley Historical Society members Jenny Hanley, and Richard Rowe as part of the 2010 Kern River Valley Historical Society Annual History Days, celebrating the history of the Kern River Valley.
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