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This microhistory takes place on or May involve the Ancestral lands of the Muwekma, Tamien Nation, Ohlone, Confederated Villages of Lisjan, Popeloutchom (Amah Mutsun), and Yokuts Peoples of California.

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T.GB.1860.2 was a large adult Grizzly or North American Brown Bear of unknown sex, length, weight, and health startled or surprised by two men fishing for trout on an unknown fresh water tributary or stream in the foothills of the Diablo Mountain Range east of San Jose, Santa Clara County, California in the United States on June 6, 1860. The story was reported by the California newspaper the Daily National Democrat.¹

T.GB.1860.2 is a Tracks entry wherein the involved predator or predators survived and escaped the encounter. T.GB.1860.2 is a Tier 2 encounter, wherein no physical contact occurred regardless of proximity. Despite meeting preconditions for human-Bear conflict, this microhistory has neither relationship to human fatality nor human injury.

Wild (nondomestic) animal involvement within the California Interior Chaparral and Woodlands ecoregion and associated Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands and Scrub biome may offer dialogue with historical populations of California Grizzly, an extinct subtype of Grizzly or North American Brown Bear with critical relationships to nineteenth century settlement.²

This summer microhistory is associated with the period of normal activity following the winter rest period. Local, relevant prey species are referenced: although the specific stream is unknown, the presence of these fish may suggest dialogue with the Alameda Creek and greater Alameda Creek Watershed.³ 

The high number of trout fished by two individuals may suggest a spawning route, Grizzly feeding site, and may offer dialogue with the racial and social aspects of the labour networks powering extractivist practices in the American west (such as fishing). The use of the term “hombres” may represent poetic license on the part of the journalist contemporary to nineteenth century narrative qualities, rather than suggest the involved human actors’ interlinkages with Indigenous Mexican history and identity, but should be considered alongside other racialized depictions of nonwhite individuals or communities for comedic effect.

T.GB.1860.2’s relationship with maternity is not known. This microhistory is not known to involve domestic, companion, or livestock animals or human retaliation, and has no known association with bloodsport.

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“Fishing Extraordinary,” Daily National Democrat, 10 June 1860.

“Fishing Extraordinary.—On Wednesday last two gentlemen of San Jose started out on a trout-fishing excursion in the hills east of that place, and in the course of two hours succeeded in bagging two hundred and thirty-six fine speckled trout. In addition to this good luck, one of the hombres was so fortunate as to be treed by a huge grizzly bear. The only result of the last named adventure, was a mutual fright of the bear and trout catcher.”

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THIS MICROHISTORY IS NOT CURRENTLY IN DIALOGUE WITH ANY OTHER ENTRIES ON PMN.

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Notes:

1. “Fishing Extraordinary,” Daily National Democrat, 10 June 1860.
2. Alexis M. Mychajliw et al., “Coupled Social and Ecological Change Drove the Historical Extinction of the California Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos californicus),” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 291, no. 2014 (2024): 20230921.
3. Matthew Heberger, “Watershed of 1,690 km² with outlet near 37.587, –122.045,” Global Watersheds (web app), 2022, accessed October 1, 2025. Buy Matthew Herberger a coffee here; Steven dePaschalis, “The Bustling Fish Highway of the Diablo Range,” Save Mount Diablo (blog), August 21, 2025, accessed October 1, 2025.

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Cite This Page

Chicago

Caroline Abbott. “T.GB.1860.2.” Predator Microhistory Network. [Accessed Month, Day, Year].

MHRA

Caroline Abbott, ‘T.GB.1860.2’, Predator Microhistory Network Link. [Accessed Day Month Year]

MLA

Abbott, Caroline. “T.GB.1860.2.” Predator Microhistory Network, 1 October, 2025. Accessed Day Month Year.

APA

Abbott, C. 2025, October 1. T.GB.1860.2. Predator Microhistory Network.

Feature image: “View of a Creek,” San Jose, California, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views. Created c. 1868-1885. This image is available from the New York Public Library’s Digital Library under the digital ID G89F349_012F. Acessed via Wikicommons. Public Domain.

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