Every year on a weekend near July 25th a group of men and women make a 60-mile, three-day pilgrimage from near Madera, California, to Arroyo Cantúa. Most of the people ride horseback dressed in the finest Mexican regalia and exhibit a fine show of horsemanship and rope skills.
While history portrays Joaquín Murrieta as California's most notorious bandit and murderer, many people who lived in the region of Arroyo Cantúa knew him as an honest, hardworking person - who if he had committed any murders was only seeking to right an injustice that many Mexicans suffered at that time. The annual ride is to celebrate the Joaquín Murrieta that stood against the oppression that afflicted many Mexicans who lived in California following the mid 1800s.
The junction of Cantua Creek and Highway 33 is the approximate location where Capt. Love and his California Ranger allegedly caught up with Joaquín Murrieta and another murderous character known simply as "Three-Fingered Jack." The story says that both men were shot, killed and beheaded at this place. The head of Joaquín Murrieta was taken to Fort Miller where it was put in a jar filled with brandy to preserve it and was then paraded across the state.
For 20 years, horsemen have been chasing the legend of Joaquín Murrieta across the dry, dusty west side of California's San Joaquin Valley.
