Charles Henry McKiernan, known as Mountain Charley, made his way from Ireland to the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1850 and became one of Los Gatos’ most well-known residents. The frame house he built at the corner of Redwood Estates and Summit Road is believed to be the first structure of that kind on the entire mountain. Charley also built several mountain roads that are still in use today. He and his wife ran a stagecoach business, providing a stopping point for travelers to enjoy a meal and have their horses and wagons tended to.
But Charley is best known for a life-altering event that occurred on May 8, 1854. Legend has it that he and a friend encountered a mother grizzly bear and her two cubs. Charley was attacked as he fired on the bear. She mauled Charley severely, crushing a portion of his skull and wounding his eye before dragging him to an oak tree at the edge of a clearing. She pawed at him and then left him, never to be seen again. The story goes that the doctor who treated Charley hammered a silver plate out of two Mexican dollars to patch the broken part of his skull. This procedure was repeated at least twice. Charley eventually married the Irish nurse who cared for him, Barbara Berricke Kelly and they had seven children together.
Charley lived an active life for another 38 years. The only outward evidence of his fight with the grizzly was the hat he wore for the rest of his life to cover his disfigured eye.
