DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Out here along the banks of Verde Creek — Arroyo Verde, if you're feeling formal — there was once a place called Vandenburg. Founded in 1846, it was one of the colonies established by Empresario Henri Castro.
Immigrants came, settled nearby, and got to work farming that land. Now, this was raw country, and they knew it. So they dug a trench — eight feet wide, six feet deep — to protect themselves and keep their cattle close.
Think about that for a second. Eight feet wide. Six feet deep.
That's not a ditch, that's a statement. A statement that said: we are here, and we intend to stay. For worship, there were no grand church buildings.
Visiting ministers came through, and the congregation gathered in homes or under an arbor, making do with what the land and the moment provided. But the land had other plans. Drought hit in 1847 and didn't let go until 1849.
Crops failed. And then came cholera. Many settlers died.
The trench, the arbor, the hard-won fields — none of it was enough against that particular combination of dry skies and disease. By the 1860s, most families had moved on to other communities. Vandenburg, which had announced itself so boldly with that great dug trench, quietly emptied out.
What's left now? Two cemeteries. Among the few physical remnants of the whole place.
The people who dug eight feet wide and six feet deep to say they were stayin' — in the end, the only ground that held them was the kind you don't come back from.
What the marker says
Located on the banks of Verde Creek (Arroyo Verde), Vandenburg, founded in 1846, was one of the colonies established by Empresario Henri Castro. Immigrants settled nearby and began farming. They dug a trench eight feet wide by six feet deep to protect them and keep their cattle nearby. Worship services conducted by visiting ministers were held in homes or under an arbor. Drought in 1847-49 caused crops to fail. Many settlers died from cholera. Most families moved to other communities by the 1860s. Two cemeteries are among the few physical remnants of Vandenburg. (1996)