In March 1883, Diego took the horse of a white man named Sam Temple in order to ride home from San Juacinto.

[1] For the Cahuilla and other California tribes, baskets were useful for preparing and storing food, were given as gifts to strengthen kinship ties, and were also an art form.

Baskets had symbolic meaning, representing Native people's relationship with the land, and were a form of self-expression, with each weaver having a distinct style.

The novel is a romanticized story about a Native man named Alessandro who is murdered in front of his wife Ramona after they are forced from their homes by white settlers.

During her research Jackson visited many reservations in the area but never met Lubo,[2] only finding out once the novel was half-written that Diego's wife coincidentally had the same name as her heroine.

"[11] However, this vision was not realized since Jackson died of cancer shortly after Ramona was published and the novel ended up serving more to contribute to a romanticized view of California than it did to draw attention to the experience of Native peoples.

[2] The novel was extremely popular and brought many tourists to the area, including Rancho Camulos, a private residence that an 1886 article identified as the setting of the novel, and the Estudillo abode, which the San Diego Union named "Ramona's Marriage Place" in 1887.

[2] The postcards and the book made the public aware of Lubo's existence, and James' titling of her as the "real Ramona" brought tourists to her home.

[2] Lubo earned money by selling baskets to tourists, posing for photographs, and appearing at Southern California events such as fairs and orange shows,[3] but she remained poor.

"[1] In February 1922 Lubo contracted pneumonia when she appeared at the National Orange Show in San Bernardino to promote the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley.