An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day, Part 8

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1038

USA > California > Los Angeles County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 8
USA > California > San Diego County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 8
USA > California > Orange County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 8
USA > California > San Bernardino County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

For five long years the faithful few stuck to the mines and fought the grant, and they were suc- cessful in the end. The mines produced the coin to secure for their claimants a title. Since that time this district has added to the wealth of the nation $5,000,000 in gold, and to-day her development is only in its infancy. Men of business methods, with brains and capital, are coming in, and the dawn of a new and pros- perous era is here.

There are sixty-four mining locations in this district, according to the Recorder's books, and inany of them are being prospected. A dozen good mines are now working in the camp. There are four quartz mills and a fifth now build- ing. There are to-day 300 men working the mines of this district. Several good sales have been made lately, and more are under way; $6,000,000 of St. Louis capital is headed this way and the syndicate has already got a good hold on some of the best mines in the district. The sum of $200,000 has been expended in mining improvements this year in this district, and next year will see a much larger develop- ment than ever before.

But these are not the only mineral resources of this section. A few miles east of Julian, and on the line of the proposed railroad, is a deposit of lime and cement, covering 100 acres of ground. Here in time will be established an immense plant for the manufacture of these staple articles.

There are also at hand ledges of marble fifty feet in width, and large quarries will be put in operation as soon as transportation by rail can be had.

Moreover, iron and copper ore of a good qual- ity are known to exist, but in what quantity is yet to be determined. These things and many more are awaiting capital for development, which will find its way up here as soon as the Cuyamaca Railroad is completed, which will carry them to a market.

Although most of the inhabitants had desert- ed for the feverish excitement of mining the original pursuit of farming, a few still kept to

HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

their farm-holdings and derived a good revenue from the sale of supplies to the mniners. And when the mining interests declined, these ear lier wise ones received heavy reinforcements, stimulated by the example of their success, and by attachment to their mountain homes. It was the old story of early California experience over again; they who came for gold remained for grain, and found it the richer bonanza.

Great quantities of Government land were filed upon, and again immigration set toward Julian, this time with staying purpose, as evinced by the large and steadily increasing num- ber of farms and orchards in that section, whose interests of fruit and grain growing, stock-rais- ing and bee-keeping far surpass those of the three or four mines still working. Julian is distant from San Diego forty-three and one- third miles in direct line, and sixty miles by the route; it may be reached in two ways, of which the longer, via El Cajon and Lakeside, is the easier and more practicable. There is a steady ascent from El Cajon, bringing the traveler to an altitude of a little over 4,000 feet. The country round abont is partly plateau, with long, rolling sweeps of hills, dropping down by easy grades; partly mountain country so ab- rupt as to fall nearly 1,000 feet in three miles. On some of the mountain tops there is con_ siderable level land, where are raised many hogs and cattle. The three peaks of the Cuyamaca Mountain, the highest of which reaches 6,750 feet altitude, is a prominent landmark as far as San Diego, and very striking, especially when covered with snow in winter. The Julian coun- try has many characteristics of the climate of the Eastern States, with a much greater rain- fall and winter snows, often quite heavy. The water supply is abundant. The San Felipe is a large stream, and constant, from which some of the quartz mills took their power in past years. At the southern end of the Cuyamacas rises the San Diego river, joined here by four large trib- utaries. A large laguna, lake or pond, has al- ways existed in front of the Stonewall mine, at 5,350 fect altitude. Through the draining of

its ontlet by the San Diego Flume Company, this has become a lake nearly three miles long, and one mile wide, on an average. Moreover, the whole section abounds in living springs and small streams. The mountains still contain considerable quantities of oak and pine timber, but the furnaces of the quartz mills have made great inroads on the former forests.

Grapes and deciduous fruits are here grown in large quantities and of superlative flavor. The apple and pear orchard of Chester Gunn is the largest in the county.

BANNER

is on the desert side of the divide, and 1,500 feet lower than Julian, although only four miles away. It is a mining camp, and but few have turned their attention to fruits, but enough has been done by John Ryan to give an idea of the possibilities of the great San Felipe valley, which is only a mile away. This valley con- tains 10,000 acres, with water enough to irrigate it all. No one can estimate the wealth it will be made to produce as soon as a railroad shall be built here.

Julian, Banner and Spencer have good school- houses. The population of Julian and its out- lying dependencies is 2,500 to 3,000. These settlements have telephone communication with one another and with San Diego, with which city they will soon have railroad communica- tion. Julian has a postoffice and tri-weekly mail service, a public hall,.and the necessary complement of stores and shops. There is still good Government land in the mountains, al- though it is being taken up with great rapidity. Other than Government land can be had for $10 to $50 per acre, according to situation, quan- tity, etc.

In this section there are such varieties of al- titude as to affect very noticeably the wooding of the region, which pretty well covers tlie 20,- 000 acres of tillable land hereabonts. There is an oak much like the Eastern red oak, which grows at a height of 3,500 feet, and a new, a mountain variety of the live oak, which resem-

HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

bles the Eastern white oak. An occasional pine is here seen, and presently the " bnll "-pines be- come abundant, to give way to tall specimens of the silver fir, the cedar, and regular pines often six feet in diameter.

There are within a radins of fifteen miles, taking Julian as the center, 16,000 head of horses and cattle, and about 10,000 head of sheep, which make their own living winter and summer. The stock are of a good grade, many of the cattle being milk stock.

The survey of the Cuyamaca Railroad runs through the heart of this district, Santa Ysabel, Warner's ranch and San Felipe, and when it is completed San Diego city need not send out of the county for her produce. In all the sub- districts named above, except the last, no irri- gating is required or practiced, although plenty of water is at hand. Every kind of fruit and other products are grown except citrus fruits.

But a few miles to the eastward the country slopes suddenly to the Colorado desert, 5,000 feet below, a waste of sand, sterile, level, vast, fiery and awful; a region so entirely different from the rest of its political division, that its classification therewith is purely formal, and this is not taken into account at all in treating of San Diego County proper.

THE CUYAMACA DISTRICT.

The Cuyamaca district comprises a series of plateaus, rising gradually from the eastern sides of Santa Maria and Escondido valleys, and extending back into the mountains some twenty miles, and attaining an altitude of froin 2,500 to 4,400 feet, culminating at Julian and Mesa Grande, the latter name meaning " big plateau."

The surrounding peaks of Palomar, Volcan and the Cuyamaca mountains rise some 2,000 feet higher, and are densely covered with ever- green forests of pine, cedar, fir and oak, aggre- gating 50,000 acres of timber. Several of these plateaus are nearly surrounded by neighboring hills and are therefore called valleys. They contain shady groves of California live-oak, and lazy streams move peacefully along their path

to the sea. The ocean is from thirty to forty miles away, and scores of miles of its silvery surface and several of its islands may be seen from many points on this slope. Some points in Mexico are also visible, and, with a good glass, the light-house on Point Loma.

With this general view of the climate and scenery of the " backbone of the back country," let ns take a cursory glance at each of the sub- districts which form the Cuyamaca.

BALLENA.

Located about thirty-five miles northeast of San Diego, Ballena is a flourishing agricultural settlement, on some of the best farming lands in the county. The principal interests are grain-growing (hay also being raised in abund- ance), cattle-raising and bee-keeping.

The orange is found to do moderately well in some of the most sheltered cañons, while the fig is one of the standard productions. The raisin grape does exceedingly well, and the out- pnt, though small as yet, is increasing each year. No disease has ever appeared among the vines. It has been but a few years that the farmers have paid any attention to fruit-grow- ing, but the excellence of their apples, pears, peaches and plums has caused such a demand for their fruits that they now have over 6,000 fruit-trees and 20,000 grape-vines growing.

The immediate Ballena valley contains, with its slopes, some 2,000 acres, and it is the center of a settlement over 6,000 acres. This tract lies 2,500 feet above the sea. There is always sufficient rainfall for the crops, which have never failed since the first settlement. Land prices are quoted at $15 to $50 per acre. The population is some 400. There is a postoffice with tri-weekly mail service, a public school- house with two departments, a hotel, a church and a blacksmith shop. There is room in this valley for the settlement of fifty more families.

SAN JACINTO VALLEY.

Mountain region also, but in quite another section than that of Julian, being in the ex-

HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

treme northern part of the county, and also in its highest portion, is San Jacinto. The alti- tude of the valley averages 1,400 feet above the sea-level. This region resembles the mountain- ous parts of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, rather than the general corresponding portion of San Diego.

It is some fifty miles from the sea coast, and is consequently free from the dense fogs which are so frequently blown inland. It is protected by the high mountain wall on the east, and northeast froin the desert winds and sand storms.

The extensive valley has a length, east and west, of thirty miles, and a width of fifteen iniles. The main valley contains something like 100,000 acres, while with its tributary val- leys there are perhaps 300,000 acres of highly fertile and easily tillable prairie land.

Until quite recently the sole occupants of this vast territory were the Spanish and Mexican shepherds, herders and the native Indians. Vast tracts of land were granted by the Mexican government to those who had served them in a military capacity.

San Jacinto Viejo, for example, a tract of some 36,000 acres, was granted to Señor Estu- dillo. In making his selection Señor Estudillo ran his lines in such a manner as to include the choicest land, with abundant water privileges. Many miles of the San Jacinto River are in- cluded in the grant, as is the beautiful Diamond valley. Angles were run out here and there to inclnde flowing springs.

This grant has been subdivided again and again, and is now held by many owners. It in- cludes the towns of San Jacinto, South San Jacinto, Valle Vista and Hemet, all of which have inade a good start toward prosperous growth. It includes the Fairview, Hemet, Hemet-Estudillo, San Jacinto Land Asso- ciation, Byrne and other tracts. Most of these have been subdivided into farm lots of ten, twenty and forty acres each. Many of these are sold to individuals who have improved them or intend to do so.

There is a large tract of this land in which artesian flow of water is obtained at a depth of from 50 to 2000 feet.

A branch of the Santa Fé penetrates this re- gion, and has the reputation of being one of the best paying pieces of road in the entire system. At its terminus is

THE THRIVING TOWN OF SAN JACINTO,

situated in the artesian belt, surrounded by natural groves of cottonwood timber. The rap- idly growing little town and its immediate en- virons has a population of some 1,500, being the second in size and importance in the coun- ty, after National City. This is the old tract of San Jacinto Viejo, of which a number of capitalists purchased 18,000 acres of land here, and proceeded to lay out San Jacinto. The town was incorporated April 9, 1888, compris- ing sections 25, 26, 27, 34, 35 and 36, except one-fourth of the two last named, which are in- side the city limits, being called South San Jan- cinto.

The town has a bank of $100,000 capital, a $5,000 school-house, three good churches, with another now building, three large storage ware- houses, some twenty-five good two-story brick buildings, with many of one-story. Here is published the San Jacinto Register. Among the professional men are three physicians and two dentists. There are three large general merchandise establishments, two grocery stores, two drug stores, two each in the hardware and the furniture line, two blacksmith shops, two livery stables, two meat markets, two carriage shops, four shoe stores or shops, three real estate offices, one millinery store, one billiard room, one harness shop and one bakery.

In South San Jacinto there are some 250 inhabitants. Here stands the old adobe build- ing that first served San Jacinto as a hotel and store, close by a large brick block of recent construction, containing the present good mod- ern hotel-a notable contrast between the old and the new. There are here six religions con - gregations and three Sunday-schools, a G. A. R.

HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

post, and a court of the Independent Order of Foresters.

The future of San Jacinto is assured through its situation as the shipping point for a large agricultural tract, having tributary some 200,- 000 acres of choice land adapted to grain cult- ure and diversified fruit crops. The mountains near by abound in timber for lumber and fuel purposes, large forests of pine, hemlock, sugar- pine and tamarack existing in the San Jacinto and the Toemitch Mountains to the eastward, where two saw-mills are kept busy sawing out lumber the year round. These mountains also contain a fine deposit of marble, and althoughi it has been used hitherto only for burning into lime, of which it produces the finest quality, it is admirably adapted for building purposes.

While it is probable that a large proportion of these immense plains will continue to be cul- tivated as grain fields, yet many thousand acres will in the near future be turned into the more profitable fruit farms.

Already many orchards of deciduous fruits, nuts, olives and vines are planted and are doing well without irrigation, but they require, for perfect development of the best fruit, some irrigation.

Surface water is plentiful at a depth of seven to thirty feet, and besides the eighty-three arte- sian wells irrigating several thousand acres, one alone yielding 1,500,000 gallons per diem, ex- tensive irrigation enterprises are on foot, engi- neered by two water companies. One proposes to build at the month of a Hemet valley gorge, at an elevation of 4,375 feet above the sea, a granite dam seventy feet through at its founda- tion. This structure, which is to cost $130,- 000 to $140,000, will create a lake three miles long, covering 600 acres, with an average depth of sixty-five feet, and containing the enormous volume of 6,000,000,000 of gallons of water, which will thence be conducted in twenty-two- inch iron pipes to the tracts in question. Then there is the San Jacinto Land, Flume and Irri- gation Company, a stock company with $50,000 capital, which has been recently organized and is

constructing works for the purpose of supplying water to thousands of acres of this mesa land.

Their base of operations is the "cienega " or swamp, which begins at a point on the river some four miles above San Jacinto. Here has been located 5,000 miner's inches of water here- tofore unappropriated. From time immemorial the old Spanish settlers, during the seasons of dronth, when the river for miles both above and below was dry, at this " eienega" water al- ways came to the surface, and there was no time but thousands of head of stock could be watered there. The wet place or "cienega " in the river is about one-fourth mile in length and extends entirely across the river, a distance of some 800 feet wide. During the season of low- est water, workmen were engaged. Mr. Griffin engaged workmen to go into the river here and with a pile driver drive a number of wells with a view to ascertaining the cause of the water's rise at this point, and also to find the character of the bottom, if any. Some thirty wells were driven down through the sand and gravel and a fine solid clay bottom found at an average depth of fourteen feet; immediately below this point the clay drops off suddenly, and the water sinks and is seen no more. To this cienega, with its "upside-down river," a subterranean stream 800 feet wide, pouring over the hard pan of clay, and so filling the superincumbent stratum of sand and gravel that water always lies on the surface,-to this vast source of supply is to be run a tunnel 1,584 feet long, whose end will rest on the clay bottom, fifteen feet below the surface, completely draining the great basin, and diverting its flood into the flumnes of the company, for which to reach the mesa will be required over 500,000 feet of lumber. There is already completed one mile of ditching, and the work is to be pushed with great vigor. There are also in this vicinity numerous min- eral springs, at one of which a bathing-house has been erected.

VALLE VISTA

Is situated five miles southeast of San Jacinto. It is the town of the Fairview tract, formerly

HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

known as Florida. It contains a fine three- story brick hotel, costing $10,000 and con- structed, so far as bricks, lime and lumber go, entirely of the products of its own vicinity.

Valle Vista also contains a brick block in which is located the postoffice and a general store. Some twenty-five tasteful cottages are grouped around these. The streets are beautifully laid out, graded and ornamented with trees and shrubbery. The grounds about the liotel are especially beautiful with flowers and semi- tropical plants. At this writing, December 28, roses are in bloom there.

The Fairview Land and Water Company originally owned about 3,000 acres of land, upon which water was piped from San Jacinto River, twenty-five miles of pipe being laid at a cost of $60,000, making this tract at the present time the best watered land in the valley.

The land is subdivided into twenty and forty- acre tracts. About one-half of these have been sold. Many orange orchards have been set ont, and it has been demonstrated beyond a doubt that oranges will do well here.

Among surroundings for which nature has done so muchi lie the lands of the Hemet Land Company. These comprise about 10,000 acres, nearly level, with merely enough slope to favor irrigation, a mesa or table-land, witlı an eleva- tion of from 1,600 to 1,000 feet above the sea. The soil is all that could be desired, as the abundant native grasses indicate. There is ab- solutely nothing grown in California which will not flourish here. Alfalfa grows throughout the winter, and with water seven crops a year can be raised.

SANTA YSABEL.

Northeastward again, and still upward, among hills and valleys, forty-five miles from San Die- go, and 3,000 feet above the sea, lies the valley of Santa Ysabel, the center of the rancho of that name, which contains nearly 18,000 acres, of which this central valley, with its slopes and branches, comprises some 4,000 acres. A living stream of considerable volume, the Santa Ysabel creek, flows through the rancho the year round.

There are small streams in nearly every gulch, and springs on every hand, with every indica- tion of a heavy rainfall. The very best feed years here are in the coast "bad" years. The main valley and all the surrounding hills are superlative stock range, and among the line of timber on the rolling hills is rich range of grass and wild oats. This rancho was lately sold to Brackett & Co., Sonoma County farmers, who have stocked it with fine young cattle, and are carrying on an extensive dairy business, their cheese and "gilt-edged" butter finding a ready market.

The Santa Ysabel ranch has three large dairies on it, and milk 500 cows. This year they have sold sixty tons of the best butter to be found in the country. Here is the home of Shiloh, the now celebrated sire, with an endless progeny at his heels. He may be seen any day within two miles of Julian, at the ranch of his owner, James Madison.

Yet, although such might seem to be the only industries, there are large portions of the rancho, not needed for the dairy-farming enter- prise, which are peculiarly adapted to fruit- growing. This region is very beautiful as landscape. On the banks of the stream already cited an Indian village has existed for more than a century. Its inhabitants have a Roman Catholic chapel, and a school maintained by the United States government.

MESA GRANDE.

A long grade winds steadily upward to the section known as Mesa Grande, an extensive range of mountain country, most of whose top is level land, whence the name. This tract comprises somne 6,000 acres of splendid plow land, on which are a number, steadily in- creasing, of fine farms and orchards. This is 3,500 to 4,500 feet above the sea. The climate and the appearance of the country here are very much more akin to those of the eastern United States than those even of Ballena, and entirely dissimilar to the land thirty miles to the west- ward. Here again are plenty of springs and

HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

running brooks, and a scarcity of rain is un- known. In fact, the land sometimes has to be drained of the superabundant moisture, the rainfall sometimes going above sixty-six inches, the highest in the county. In 1877, the famous "dry year" in this State, the rainfall here, at an elevation of 3,500 feet, was twenty-four and a half inches. Until very recently almost the only interests were cattle and liog-raising and bee-keeping; a good deal of choice butter, bacon and lard are made on the mesa, finding ready sale at Julian and in the surrounding country. Of late this has been found to be a remarkably fine fruit-growing section, the grape being snc- cessfully grown, and the decidnous fruits ar- riving very near horticultural perfection. The cherries are of particularly choice quality. In this section there is a very rich gold quartz mine, the Shenandoah, from which large re- turns have been extracted. Owing to certain legal complications, this mine has of late been lying idle, bnt work will no doubt be resumed on it shortly.

Spencer valley contains abont 1,000 acres of first-class fruit land. There are now about 1,000 apple and other fruit trees in bearing, and 3,000 more in orchard. All kinds of de- cidnous fruits and berries do well here. The almond and olive also do well. The valley is already covered with marks of enterprise and prosperity. A large nursery, postoffice, good school, and homes for many are to be found here.

TEMÉCULA.

The Temecula country, so called from an In- dian word meaning "the valley of joy," is sit uated about the center of the northern half of San Diego County. The Menifee mountains bound it on the north, the Bladen hills on the east, the Palomar range on the south, and the Santa Rosa coast range on the west. This ter- ritory contains more than 100 square miles of valley and undulating plains. The general ele- vation is about 1,000 feet. The drainage is by the way of the Temecula canon, through the Santa Margarita rancho, to the sea. The view

from any elevated situation hereabouts is grand, the vast sweep of vision comprising the snow- capped San Jacinto mountains, the timbered belt of the Palomar, and the evergreen range of the Santa Rosa hills, the only evergreen range on the line of the California Sonthern Railway. The Temecula rancho is divided into three sev- eral tracts, known as the Little Temecula, the Pujol, and the Murrietta portion.

Included in this district are the celebrated Temecula Hot Sulphur Springs, whose tempera- ture ranges from 120° to 160°. A fine bathing es- tablishment has been erected at these springs, and further extensive improvements are projected.

The settlement or business center called Temecula is a railroad station on the California Southern, seventy-five miles north of San Diego. The population is about 600. There are two hotels, postoffice with daily mail, a public school- house, two stores, blacksmith and wagon shop, and telegraph office. A large and important section surrounds Temécula as a central point. The Temecula Rancho is bounded westerly by the high slopes of the Santa Rosa; it extends from where the Santa Margarita river enters the cañion skirted by the railroad, some ten miles along the line of that road. It contains about 10,000 acres of arable land, mostly red mesa or granite alluvinm, at from 1,100 to 1,500 feet above the sea, twenty-five miles distant. Ad- joining this is the Little Temnécula, a small grant of some 2,000 acres of plow land, with the same general features. Water is to be had four to twelve feet below the surface, and it is claimed that farming lands require little or no irrigation, the average annual rainfall being over eighteen inches. Large tracts have been subdivided by organized companies, a town site is laid out, and extensive improvements are in hand. The soil is adapted to a diversified agriculture; frnit and vine growing will be largely undertaken in the future. The present principal products are cat- tle, sheep, wool, grain and hay.

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Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1038

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1038