Fall 2026

For Roberts, the three days of chaos began shortly after midnight on April 23, 1894, in Seaside, with shouting and a loud rap on the door. A man from Big Sur had arrived on horse- back.The man told Roberts about the wreck of the steamship Los Angeles on rocks near Point Sur Lightstation, and of many injured passen- gers. Roberts regularly made house calls in Big Sur and was well-known to residents. Roberts gathered his instruments and supplies. He loaded them on his two-wheel cart, attached his horse and headed south. Soon after summiting Carmel Hill, Roberts was on the Old Coast Road, a crude and winding dirt road, “crooked as a Ram’s horn,” he later recalled. The pair moved at top speed, and the horse began to tire. When Roberts reached Doud Ranch near present-day Garrapata, Tom Doud met him on 116 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 6 After the 1894 wreck of the steamship Los Angeles off Point Sur, Dr. Roberts of Seaside tended to injured passengers for three days and nights. Dr. Roberts, in middle age, with horse Daisy and cart. Roberts continued to make house calls to treat Big Sur coast residents via the Old Coast Road for many years after the wreck of the steamship Los Angeles. Photo: California History Room / Monterey Public Library Photo: Courtesy of Central Coast Lighthouse Keepers Continued on page 120