Cedros Island

Cedros Island is located in Ensenada Municipality, off the west coast of the Mexican state of Baja California, from which it is separated by 100-kilometre-wide (62 mi) Sebastián Vizcaíno Bay. It is 22 km (14 mi) northwest of Punta Eugenia in Mulegé Municipality - the westernmost point of the state of Baja California Sur mainland. It also lies 15 km (9.32 mi) north of Isla Natividad (off Punta Eugenia, and also part of Mulegé Municipality) from which it is separated by the Canal de Keller, and some 500 km (311 mi) from San Diego.[2] The island has an area of 348.295 square kilometres (134.477 sq mi), being the fourth-largest island in Mexico (following Tiburón Island, Isla Ángel de la Guarda, and Cozumel). It has a maximum length of approximately 38 km (24 mi), and a maximum width of about 17 km (11 mi).[3]

Between Cedros Island and Isla Natividad runs the 28th parallel north, which defines the border between the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. The Islas San Benito to the west, about 25 km (16 mi) west and 3.899 km² (1.505 sq mi) in area, are administratively part of Cedros Island.

The Isla de Cedros was named by early Spanish explorers who mistakenly associated the large amounts of redwood and cedar driftwood arriving with the California current for local pines visible on the crest of the island.

The two main elevations are Cedros hill, located at the south-center of the island, and Pico Gill to the north.[3]

Cedros Island has a desert climate, BWh in the Köppen climate classification system and BWab (desert, hot summers, warm winters) in the Trewartha climate classification. Most precipitation occurs during the winter.

The only weather station on the island is located on the southeastern coast. The northern and western parts of the island are several degrees cooler because the cold waters surrounding the island cause heavy fog and clouds, especially during spring and summer. The condensation from the fog permits lusher vegetation to flourish, similar to the "fog oases" (lomas) of the arid Pacific Coast of South America. Precipitation is also greater at the higher elevations of the island, reaching possible annual totals of 200 millimetres (7.9 in). Rarely, heavy rains caused by unstable tropical air masses and chubascos cause flooding.[5]

Annotated Space Shuttle photo of Cedros Island

It constitutes one of the 24 subdivisions (delegaciones) of the municipio of Ensenada. The 2005 census[6] showed a total population of 1,350 persons.

The borough "seat" is Cedros, also known as Isla Cedros or Cedros town ("Pueblo Cedros"), on the southeast coast. The town was founded by fishermen in 1922, and in 2010 the town had a population of 747 people.[7] The local economy is dependent on fishing, and largely associated with Pescadores Nacionales de Abulón, the lobster and abalone fishing cooperative based on the island.

The second town is Puerto Morro Redondo (in short, El Morro), close to the southeastern point of the island, El Morro. It is a "company town," built by the joint Mexican Government and Mitsubishi Corporation to house the workers of the salt-transshipment facility on the island. Salt from the salt evaporation ponds of Guerrero Negro on the Baja California peninsula is taken by barge to a deepwater salt dock near Puerto Morro Redondo, at the south end of Cedros Island, where it is loaded onto ships for export. There is regularly scheduled air service to the island from Ensenada, departing every Monday and Wednesday, and landing at an airstrip at the south end, adjacent to the "company town," while a 10 km (6 mi) road leads to "Pueblo Cedros". Open launch rides across the channel between Cedros and the mainland can also be arranged at the Abarrotes Ramales store in Bahia Tortugas, but travellers opting for this transport should be prepared to have a flexible schedule with several extra days in case of inclement weather conditions in the Channel.

The remaining settlements are smaller. Jerusalem is just west of El Morro, but on the western side of the airport, with regularly arranged residential units. It is frequently considered part of El Morro.

Lomas Blancas, a mining town with 17 buildings, is located between Cedros town and El Morro.

San Agustín, a typical fishing village with about 20 buildings, is located 1 km (0.6 mi) northeast of the southwestern point of the island, Cabo San Agustín.

La Colorada, on the southwest coast, with about 10 buildings, is 4 km (2 mi) north of San Agustín.

Wayle, 15 buildings on the western side of the southern bight Bahía del Sur, is 3 km (1.9 mi) northeast of San Agustín.

The mining town of Punta Norte (about 25 buildings) is located on the northeast coast, 3.5 km (2.2 mi) southeast of the northern end of the island, which is also called Punta Norte. Two kilometres (1 mi) to the southeast is Los Crestones mine.

List of settlements and locations:

1. Cedros, 28°05′45.5″N 115°11′12.4″W
2. Puerto Morro Redondo, 28°02′18.6″N 115°11′12.0″W
3. Jerusalem, 28°02′24″N 115°11′29″W
4. Lomas Blancas, 28°04′44″N 115°11′07″W
5. San Agustín, 28°04′54.6″N 115°20′20.6″W
6. La Colorada, 28°07′01.2″N 115°21′07.0″W
7. Wayle, 28°05′34″N 115°18′47″W
8. Punta Norte, 28°21′15″N 115°11′39″W

Native American shell fish hook from California. Auckland Museum

Mother of pearl fish hook. Collected from the Society Islands during Captain Cook's voyages to the Pacific, 1768-1780 Australian Museum

The long-held theory that the first human beings in the Americas arrived by land through an ice-free corridor in western Canada has been called into question by archaeological discoveries along the Pacific coastlines of North and South America. Many scientists now believe that the earliest inhabitants arrived by boat, and findings on Cedros Island bolster that theory. The Clovis culture, which began about 11,200 BCE, is the earliest universally acknowledged evidence of man in the Americas; but the remains of ancient people dating to earlier than 10,000 BCE have been found on Cedros Island. Cedros Island was attractive to humans because of its rich marine environment and its relative abundance of water compared to most of the desert coastline of Baja California. The early people of Cedros Island fished, gathered shellfish, and hunted seals, sea lions, and seabirds. Ancient spear points and shell fishhooks found on Cedros are similar to those found in a semi-circle of the Pacific coastline from Okinawa to Peru.[8][9] The fishhooks made of shell found on Cedros Island indicate a marine, sea-going culture some 6,000 years before similar cultures are known to have existed on the coast and islands of California.[10]

Spanish colonial period

In 1539, when the Spanish expedition led by Francisco de Ulloa landed on the island, it encountered several villages with populations at each estimated in the hundreds. Finding it difficult to reach the remaining Indians on the island, the Jesuit missionaries practiced Indian reductions and brought them all to Misión San Ignacio Kadakaamán, in San Ignacio on the Baja California mainland in 1732.[12]

Hunters seeking seals and sea otters worked out the island between 1790 and 1850.[13]

20th century

Gold and copper mining took place near Punta Norte between 1890 and 1914.[14] The fishing village and cannery at Puerto Cedros were established in 1920. The fishing cooperative was founded in 1943, and the deepwater salt dock at the south end of the island was built in 1966. The island was mapped in detail by Mexican and U.S. geologists during the 1970s.

Cedros Island is at most some 38 kilometres (23.6 mi) long in N-S direction and 6.4 to 8 kilometres (4 to 5 mi) wide in the northern half; the southern end is some 17 kilometres (11 mi) wide in a NW-SE direction.[15] The island consists of a variety of sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks, including part of an ophiolite complex and high-pressure, low temperature blueschists. Most of the rocks are of Mesozoic age, though some late Cenozoic strata crop out near the town in the southeastern corner of the island. Its highest peak, Monte Cedros, has an elevation of 1,205 metres (3,953 ft).

• History of the west coast of North America
• Isla de Cedros Airport

• California/Mexico Island Conservation Database (CMICD) (2007): Plant accounts: Guadalupe Island. Retrieved 2007-OCT-10.
• Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI) (2007): Principales resultados por localidad 2005 (ITER) ["Principal results of the 2005 census by locality"] [in Spanish]. Retrieved 2007-OCT-10.
• DigitalGlobe, Europa Technologies, NASA & TerraMetrics (2007): [Google Earth satellite image of Cedros Island]. Retrieved 2007-OCT-10.
• Thayer, John E. & Bangs, Outram (1907): Birds Collected by W. W. Brown, Jr., on Cerros [sic], San Benito and Natividad Islands in the Spring of 1906, with Notes on the Biota of the Islands. Condor 9(3): 77-81. doi:10.2307/1361136 PDF fulltext
• Des Lauriers, Matthew R., Island of Fogs: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Investigations of Isla Cedros, Baja, 2010. ISBN 978-1-60781-007-0
• Land area of islands in Mexico INEGI

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cedros Island—
Isla de Cedros.

• Mexico Desconocido Article in Spanish.
• Baja Quest Article about Cedros Island.
• Globe Trotters Travel Travelogs Travel experience to Cedros Island.
• Geologic Map
• Mining Map
• geology and minerals information