Zayante, California facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Zayante
census-designated place
Zayante, California Location in California
Country	United States
State	California
County	Santa Cruz
Area
• Total	2.725 sq mi (7.058 km2)
• Land	2.725 sq mi (7.058 km2)
• Water	0 sq mi (0 km2)  0%
Elevation	699 ft (213 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	729
• Density	267.52/sq mi (103.29/km2)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
GNIS feature ID	2583188

Zayante (which the Ohlone people called Sayante) is a special type of community in Santa Cruz County, California. It's known as a census-designated place (CDP). This means it's a place with a name and a community, but it's not officially a city or town. Zayante is a quiet, residential area located right by Zayante Creek. It sits about 699 feet (213 meters) above sea level. In 2020, about 729 people lived in Zayante.

History

Early Inhabitants

Long ago, the Sayante tribe, a local group of the Ohlone people, lived in the Zayante area. They found shelter and hunted in the thick forests. The land gave them plenty of acorns, fish from Lompico and Newell Creek, and small animals. This allowed them to live a peaceful life. They enjoyed sweat lodges (called temascals), songs, and games. Fighting and stealing were very rare.

Spanish Arrival and Missions

In 1769, a Spanish explorer named Gaspar de Portolá arrived in the area. This place is now known as the City of Santa Cruz. Portolá named the river flowing from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the sea the San Lorenzo River. He named the hills above the river Santa Cruz, which means "holy cross."

Twenty-two years later, in 1791, Father Fermin de Lasuen started Mission Santa Cruz. This was the twelfth mission built in California. Over the next 20 years, many Ohlone tribes, including the Sayante, heard about the mission. They were told it offered food, warm shelter, clothes, useful items, and education.

However, once the Native Americans came to the mission, they were expected to work a lot. The missionaries wanted to teach them new skills and Spanish ways of life. This process, called cultural assimilation, changed the native culture across North America. Sadly, many Native Americans also became sick from diseases brought by the Europeans. By 1820, only small groups remained.

In 1821, Mexico became free from Spain, and California came under Mexican rule. In the 1830s, the Mexican government closed Mission Santa Cruz and other California missions. They slowly fell apart. The very last Sayante person was a woman who lived by Zayante Creek. She passed away in 1934 and was buried somewhere in the redwood trees of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Her grave, like her people, is now lost.

Gold Rush Era

The Lompico area became part of Rancho Zayante. This large piece of land was given by Mexico in 1834. It was about 2,658 acres (10.76 square kilometers) just north of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

In 1836, an American settler named Isaac Graham and his friend Henry Neale took over Rancho Zayante. In 1841, Graham and others built a sawmill on Zayante Creek. This was thought to be the first power sawmill in California. It was used to cut down trees from Lompico.

While building the mill, Isaac Graham found a large gold nugget. It was worth a lot of money, about $32,000 back then, which would be close to $1,000,000 today! This happened six years before the famous California gold rush began. In 1855, more gold was found along Zayante Creek in what is now Henry Cowell State Park. Miners could find three to ten dollars worth of gold a day. This caused a "gold panning fever" in the area. Even today, some gold remains in these creeks, but it's too expensive to get out.

Logging and Modern Development

By the 1850s, Felton became a center for the logging industry. The huge redwood trees in the area were the biggest export. Early loggers described the forests as very thick and hard to get through. They also saw fierce grizzly bears. The last grizzly bear in the area was said to be killed near Bonny Doon in the late 1880s.

Loggers also had trouble moving the timber. At first, they used oxen, but later they used wood-burning donkey engines. You can still find some tracks from these engines in Lompico today. Between 1890 and 1900, almost all the trees were cut down. Now, the forest is slowly growing back on the steep hills.

After the logging ended, the old Rancho Zayante land was divided up. It was sold to developers who created the neighborhoods of Olympia, Zayante, and Lompico.

The name Zayante might come from the Ohlone word sayyan-ta, meaning "at the heel." The name was used for land grants in 1834. Zayante was also a stop on the South Pacific Coast Railroad. This railroad ran from Oakland to Santa Cruz from 1880 to 1940. It mainly carried lumber and fruit. Zayante even had its own post office.

The railroad was bought by the Southern Pacific in the early 1900s. They added weekend trains until the big earthquake on April 18, 1906. The earthquake damaged the tracks, tunnels, and bridges. After repairs, the railroad kept running until March 1940. Later that year, State Route 17 was built away from Zayante.

Today, Zayante is not very crowded. It has one small "corner" market called The Zayante Market. This market started in 1947. It's a good example of how small towns can mix shops and homes together.

Geography

Zayante covers an area of 2.7 square miles (7.1 square kilometers). All of this area is land.

Demographics

The 2010 United States Census reported that Zayante had a population of 705 people. Most of the people (91.8%) were White. About 8.1% of the people were Hispanic or Latino.

All 705 people lived in homes. There were 304 households in Zayante. About 26.3% of these homes had children under 18 living there. The average household had 2.32 people. The median age in Zayante was 40.7 years old. This means half the people were younger than 40.7, and half were older.

Most homes (70.7%) were owned by the people living in them. The rest (29.3%) were rented.

See also

In Spanish: Zayante (California) para niños