San Diego County CA Archives History - Books .....The Lower Coast Division 1888
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Book Title: The City And County Of San Diego

CHAPTER IX.
THK LOWER COAST DIVISION.

   PASSING directly from the coast to the highest tracts of arable land in the
county, the reader will now be prepared to examine it intelligently in detail.
He will now understand the great difference caused by increase of elevation, and
distance from the coast: how the good land in this county is broken and
scattered into a thousand shapes; how a greater variety of climates can be found
here than in any other county; and how a greater variety of productions can be
raised in perfection. Ask any one of the old stockmen of Los Angeles or San
Bernardino Counties where their horses and cattle were saved in such disastrous
years as 1864. They will tell you it was not to their own mountains that they
drove them, but to the highlands of San Diego. The reason is simple. In those
counties when you pass an elevation of fifteen hundred feet above sea level, you
leave below you about all the good land there is. Here, at that elevation you
just reach the best, that is, from the old standard of values,—a standard that
for many purposes is still useful. This county has ten times the area of arable
land lifted into a region of certain and abundant rainfall, that both those
counties together have; their highlands being generally quite barren, with a
very few small mountain valleys, although the general elevation of those
mountains is much higher than those of San Diego County.

   Nevertheless, by the new standard, the lower lands here are the more valuable
for some purposes, because the colder winter nights of the higher levels do not
permit the raising to any extent of oranges, lemons, and other delicate fruits,
because their greater rainfall makes them less desirable for the invalid, and
because they are less easy of access. We will examine first the sections nearer
the coast, returning to these highlands.

   Beginning at the Mexican line, at a little above tide water, we find in the
Tia Juana Valley some three thousand acres of fine gray granite alluvium, with
water but a few feet below the surface, making the raising of all deep-rooted
vegetation easy without irrigation. This soil, which is found in all the river
bottoms, is the finer wash from the interior hills, wonderfully rich, and it can
be plowed in any condition of moisture. It is always fine corn and alfalfa land,
excellent also for vines, deciduous fruits and vegetables. This valley is all
taken up with farms. There is no trouble hero with our Mexican neighbors, the
rowdy element that is spoiling for a fight being absent on both sides of the
line, and the best of feeling prevailing.

   The Otay mesa has already been mentioned. Between that and the National
Ranch, at an elevation of from fifty to two hundred feet, lies the Otay Valley,
containing, with adjacent slopes, some two thousand acres of good land, most of
which is now cultivated and dotted with vineyards, orchards, and houses, nearly
all done within the last two years. The upper part of this valley is included in
the Otay Rancho. a fine body of valley, slope, and mesa from two hundred to
eight hundred feet high, containing some four thousand acres of arable land,
lying from eight to twelve miles from the coast.

   On the northeast, a little farther from the coast, and separated from Mexico
by the blue range of San Ysidro, is the Janal, a rancho already mentioned,
containing about the same amount of arable land as the Otay, but with less
valley land and more mesa and slope. Both this and the Otay are composed of red
granite soil and a brown adobe of extraordinary richness, with an elevation of
from four hundred to eight hundred feet above the sea. Some six miles easterly
from the Janal, at an elevation of about five hundred and fifty feet, lies the
Jamul Rancho, containing about five thousand acres of arable land, nearly all
fine red granite soil. This is bounded on the east by a high rocky range from
three thousand to four thousand feet high, which, like all other ridges, hides a
score or more of mountain valleys and parks.

   Between the Janal and the coast lies the tract of the National Rancho,
already mentioned as given to the railroad. North of this we come to the valley
of the Sweetwater, part of which is included in the National Rancho. Passing
several miles up this valley, which contains several thousand acres of rich
bottom land like the Tia Juana, with long, tillable slopes on either side, we
come to the Jamacha Rancho, at an elevation above the sea of from two hundred
and fifty to five hundred feet. This has some four thousand acres of fine red
land and is about sixteen miles from the coast. Upon this is the new town of La
Presa. one of the best and most picturesque of all the suburban town sites. Over
the ridge on the north lies El Cajon. Behind the peak of San Miguel, which
towers four thousand feet upon the south, lie the Janal and Jamul; and over the
low hills on the northwest lies Spring Valley, a choice body of some three
thousand acres of Government land, now cut up into farms and green with
vineyards and orchards, lying about twelve miles from the coast and from four
hundred to seven hundred feet above it. At its upper end is the new town of Helix.

   Continuing up the Sweetwater several miles we pass farm after farm, and place
after place where good farms can be made, and pass as usual numerous farms
hidden from sight by hills or timber. About twenty-five miles from the sea the
Sweetwater bottom narrows to a rocky canon in which there is scarcely any arable
land for nearly twenty miles. We leave the valley on the south, however, and
turn north upon one of its tributaries along which are several farms and several
places for others, until at an elevation of twelve hundred feet and twenty-five
miles from the coast we reach Alpine District just east of El Cajon; a point to
which we will again return.

   North of the Sweetwater the coast lands are composed, as far as the San Diego
River, some ten miles in all, of the mesa lands already mentioned as lying
around and behind National City and San Diego, the elevation ranging from one
hundred and fifty to six hundred feet above the sea. Back of National City the
slope is very gentle. Back of San Diego the land rises at first faster than at
National, and then from a general level of three hundred feet slopes gently
inland. All these mesas are bounded on the east by Spring Valley and El Cajon.

   The lower valley of the San Diego River, called Mission Valley, is well
settled and contains some four thousand acres of gray granite alluvium, with
slopes of red land on either side, in all some five thousand acres, all very
rich. Some ten miles from the coast it narrows into a canon, which about four
miles farther east runs into El Cajon.

   On the north side of the San Diego River the land rises again into a fine
mesa from three hundred to seven hundred feet high, as yet but little settled,
but containing long sweeps of fine land, with a climate equal to any. This
reaches with but few breaks to Penasquitos Creek on the north, and Poway and El
Cajon on the east.

   Poway is a well-settled interior valley like the Jamul, about fifteen miles
from the ocean and about five hundred feet above it. It contains about six
thousand acres of fine red land, but, like everything else we have seen, has
numerous branches and side valleys, not discovered except by special search,
which increase considerably the amount of arable land. Over the low ridge on the
south lies El Cajon; over the high rocky range, from three thousand to four
thousand feet high, on the east, lies the Santa Maria; hidden among the rolling
hills on the west, lies Penasquitos Rancho; and on the north is the rancho San
Bernardo.

   The San Bernardo, about twelve miles from the coast, and five hundred to
seven hundred feet high, contains about twelve thousand acres of fine red land
with several very thriving farms. It joins Escon-dido on the north and shares
largely in the general advantages of that large valley. The greater part of it
is rich mesa and slope and is above the frost belt of the bottom of the Bernardo
River. Easterly from Bernardo, about eighteen miles from the sea and five
hundred feet above it, lies the valley of San Pasqual, now well settled and
containing some four thousand acres of bottom land and slope, all very
productive and threaded by the Bernardo River.

   Penasquitos Rancho is a long, narrow valley nearly west of Poway, about
twelve miles in length, and some four miles from the coast at its lower end. Its
elevation is from one hundred to six hundred feet above the sea and it contains
with slopes and all some four thousand acres of good, arable land. At its lower
end it opens into Soledad, a small valley having considerable good land at its
upper end. Just around the opening of Soledad Valley upon the sea lies the
handsome seaside town of Del Mar, with some three hundred inhabitants. East and
north of Del Mar, are two or three miles of mesa covered with brush but mostly
good land, and then we descend into the valley of the San Dieguito River.

   Here are some six thousand acres in all of line alluvium with slopes of red
land, and then the land suddenly rises into another mesa similar to the last. In
about two miles this falls again into the valley of San Elijo, a small valley of
rich land with slopes of adobe and granite loam and running back some six miles
from the sea to an elevation of about three hundred feet. This again rises into
a narrow mesa of red land, a part of the Encinitas Rancho, which descends again
into the valley of Encinitas. Encinitas is a small Mexican grant of four
thousand acres, of which twenty-five hundred are arable, consisting of rich gray
loam, adobe, and red granite soil at various elevations from one hundred and
fifty to five hundred feet above the sea and about four miles distant. West of
the valley on a fine table-land is the town of Encinitas with some two hundred
inhabitants. Passing Encinitas Rancho the land is rougher for a few miles, with
salt washes reaching up from the coast with fine strips of mesa between,
reaching to the very coast; that between Encinitas and the sea being especially
fine.

   A few miles farther on lies the Rancho Agua Hedionda lying immediately on the
coast and running back some six miles to an elevation of five hundred feet. This
contains some ten thousand acres in all of plow land, mostly red fertile mesa
rolling and abounding in most picturesque building spots that look down upon the
sea, with rich valley land between. Just north of this is Carlsbad, a new
watering-place with a mineral spring whose waters are attracting much attention.
A few miles north of Carlsbad is Oceanside, a fast-growing seaside town of over
a thousand people.

   East of Agua Hedionda is the San Marcos Rancho, a fine combination of valley,
slope, and low mesa running from six to twelve miles from the sea at an average
elevation of six hundred feet. It contains in all some six thousand acres of
arable land. Upon this some six miles from the sea is .the new town of San
Marcos in a very fertile and picturesque spot.

   Joining this on the east and San Bernardo on the south, lies the Rancho
Escondido, generally known on the map as Rincon del Diablo, twelve miles from
the sea and seven hundred feet above it. This has some eleven thousand acres of
fine arable land mostly in valley alluvium, smooth plains, and low mesa land of
fine red granite soil, the whole lying in an almost solid body. Escondido is
rapidly settling and has now a population of about eight hundred, of which some
six hundred are in the town.

   Between Escondido, San Marcos, San Bernardo, and the coast the land is
mountainous and rough for several miles, but scattered around in various parts
of it are many settlers in small valleys and on mesas.

   On the north San Marcos and Escondido merge in a wide range of rocky and
brushy hills reaching to a height of some two thousand feet and running through
nearly to the San Luis River, containing as usual numbers of hidden valleys in
which are dozens of farms.

   Northwest of San Marcos the land breaks away into low, smooth hills which
speedily run into mesa and valley land, of which there are fully twenty thousand
acres, all fine arable land lying between Agua Hedionda, the San Luis River, and
the coast, the elevation ranging from fiftv to five hundred feet. This is
largely Government land and contains some of the finest mesa in the county, much
of it commanding a view of the sea.

   Included in this, however, are two small ranchos of about twenty-two hundred
acres each, of which about two thousand in each are arable and of fine quality:
Buena Vista, about eight miles from the coast and about five hundred feet high,
and Guajome, same distance and from one hundred and fifty to four hundred feet
high.


Additional Comments:
From:

THE
CITY AND COUNTY
OF
SAN DIEGO.
ILLUSTRATED,
AND CONTAINING
BI0GRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF
PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS.

SAN DIEGO, CAL.
LEBERTHON & TAYLOR
1888


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