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Volume 034-2 - April 1980 (8 pages)
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Page: of 8
~ Nevada County Historical Society
Bulletin
Volume 34, No. 2 April 1980
CHRISTIAN HENRY KIENTZ,
FOUNDER OF NORTH SAN JUAN
In addition to the literature mentioned
at the end of this article, information was
obtained from two descendants, his
granddaughter Ida Kientz Valdespino and
his great granddaughter Miss Elsa
Mangelsdorff. These two narratives differ
in some detail, when such was the case,
both views are mentioned.
North San Juan is the principal
town of the series of villages and
mining camps, situated at intervals of
two or three miles along the north side
of the ridge, and from this central
position has enjoyed a great degree of
prosperity. In the spring of 1853,
Jeremiah Tucker and Christian Kentz
developed rich diggings on the west
end of what is now known as “San
Juan Hill’. The news of their success
caused a great influx of adventurers,
and the entire surface of the hill was
soon covered by the eager locators.
These words were written by
George D. Dornin in his Sketch of
Bridgeport Township, published in 1867
in Bean’s Directory. The family name
of Kientz is usually misspelled, Kentz,
Keinz, Kintz and perhaps others all
refer to the same man.
Dornin continues as follows:
The origin of the name of the
embryo town, suggestive as it is of the
early Spanish Missions, has several
traditions, of which the following is
perhaps the most reliable: Kentz, the
pioneer miner, had been a member of
the Mexican expedition under General
Scott, which landed at Vera Cruz. At
the time of his mining operations on
San Juan Hill, he resided in
Sweetland. On one occasion, while
approaching the scene of his labors, he
was impressed with the fancied
resemblance of the bluff hill to the
castle of San Juan d’Ulloa, which
By Peter W. van der Pas
CHRISTIAN HENRY KIENTZ
guards the entrance to the port of Vera
Cruz, expressed his opinions accordingy, and gave the name of “San Juan” to
a hotel afterward erected by him,
about half a mile east of the present
town.
San Juan Hill is located about three
quarters of a mile west-north-west of
San Juan and an equal distance north
of Sebastopol. Its summit is about 2000
feet above sea level and about 100 feet
above the general surroundings. San
Juan de Ulloa is (or was) a castle on an
island, off the coast of Vera Cruz. It
consisted of a quadrangle of ramparts;
CATHARINE WITTHAAR KIENTZ
whether or not it actually resembled
San Juan Hill is hard to say.
If Dornin’s story that Kientz was a
veteran of the Mexican-American War
is actually true he must have been in
General Winfield Scott’s army which
landed in Vera Cruz. However, the
files at the National Archives and
Record Center in Washington D.C. do
not contain his name, neither in the
pension files, the bounty land files or
the military files.
At that time, Kientz lived in
Missouri and it is therefore possible
that he served in the Missouri
7.