San Timoteo Canyon, a river valley between Beaumont and Redlands, has long served as both a natural corridor and a place of layered history. For thousands of years it was part of the Serrano winter homeland, later becoming the site of a Spanish ranch outpost in 1819 and part of Rancho San Bernardino under Mexican rule. In May 1851, Juan Antonio and the Mountain Cahuilla pursued and killed most of the Irving Gang here, averting further violence when officials recognized the true circumstances. Later the canyon figured in regional transportation, from the Southern Pacific Railroad to proposed freeway routes, and it also preserves notable schoolhouse and fossil sites.