San Diego County CA Archives History - Books .....Miscellaneous 1888
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 20, 2006, 11:05 pm

Book Title: The City And County Of San Diego

CHAPTER XVI.
MISCELLANEOUS.

THE arable soils of San Diego County, though very varied, may be classed under
two heads, the granite and the adobe, though there is sometimes a mixture of the
two that at first glance resembles pure adobe.

   The adobe is mainly clay, and is of four prominent colors, though these
sometimes shade into one another. These are dark, light-grayish brown, red, and
dark brown. The general character of all is the same. They are all very strong
soils, probably standing longer cropping without fertilization, rest or
rotation, than any other soil in the United States. They are, however, all hard
to work unless taken in the right stage of moisture, when they are very
tractable, and then, if well cultivated, they retain moisture as well as any
soil. With sufficient moisture they raise the heaviest grain, and for some kinds
of vegetables, such as beets, and for such fruits as pears, they cannot be
excelled. But in general they are not as desirable as the granite soils.

   The granite soils are all formed from the disintegration of the soft red, or
gray granite, which forms the bed-rock of most of the interior hills. If
dissolved in water, mica will be seen shining in the finest of them, and
sometimes fine quartz crystals are mixed with it. With it all is an abundance of
vegetable matter, but more in a state of pulverization than of decay; so that
this soil generally lacks that fine rich shade which elsewhere is deemed a sure
test of goodness. The eye cannot be relied upon as a judge of any soil in
Southern California. Even that which appears to be pure sand, when well treated
to seed and water, under the California sun, will give results that will
astonish the most experienced farmer or gardener from any other land. These
granite soils run through all shades of color between dark red, caused by the
presence of iron, and light gray, and through all degrees of fineness, from the
fine red soils which show no mica, unless dissolved in water, to heavy gray
sand, coarse enough to make a gravel walk.

None of these soils as yet need any fertilization, although some, such as the
coarse granite last mentioned, would, for many things, be improved by it; and
the time will doubtless come when all of them will be bettered bv it, especially
for those trees and vines which bear heavily and need fruit of full size to be
marketable, such as oranges and raisin grapes. Scarce any of these soils require
any clearing that is at all expensive, and no "breaking," such as is needed in
many countries— a common plow readily turning up the soil ten inches or more
after the first rain. Under the pipe system of distribution, which is fast being
adopted in the land to prevent waste of water and improve its delivery. scarce
any of these soils now require leveling or any preparation for irrigation.
Probably nowhere in the United States can virgin soil be so quickly and cheaply
prepared for cultivation, while all the expense of preparing, watering, and
keeping in order, does not equal the expense of clearing and fertilizing in
Florida.

   Though California is probably the only State in the Union where crops and
many other kinds of produce can sometimes be grown without any plowing at all,
it is probably also the only State where rich land often refuses, for no
apparent cause, to bear, while unplowed, even a moderate crop of the native
grass, or other vegetation, though the same land when plowed will raise anything
in luxuriance. Still, other tracts ma}' be covered with a dense growth of grass
or brush and be rich for some things, yet may be very inferior for many of the
most valuable products that can be grown. Hence it may be safely said that from
the absence of native vegetation nothing can be inferred against the land; while
any inference drawn from its presence may possibly be delusive in another way.
Within a few years, such wonderful results have been obtained by careful
cultivation, with judicious irrigation, that it may be said that there is no
such thing as poor land in Southern California, provided it can be plowed at all
and watered. And at the present rate of development of land, but live years ago
deemed worthless, it may be almost predicted that in ten years more, water,
climate, and prospect will give a high value to land that will require an outlay
of Sioo an acre to clear of bowlders and cobble-stones.

   San Diego has a line of large steamers to San Francisco, and also to Mexico
and Guatemala. The county now has over three hundred miles of railroad, of which
nearly one-half belongs to the Southern Pacific, and lies upon the desert. The
California Southern enters the habitable part of the county near Riverside, and
terminates at National City. A branch line from Perris to San Jacinto will soon
be finished. The branch from Oceanside through San Marcos to Escondido is
already done, and that from San Diego to El Cajon will be built at once, and
continued on through the interior. The continuation of the coast line from
Oceanside to Los Angeles is nearly finished. All these are owned by the Santa Fe
Company.

   A new road is under way from Pomona to Elsinore, and the character of the
incorporators indicates that it is no trifle. Elsinore is no terminus for any
road, neither is Temecula, nor any other point north of San Diego. This means
that San Diego is the objective point, and the road is without doubt the
Southern Pacific.

   The San Diego and Cuyamaca Railroad Company is preparing to build a
narrow-gauge road to the beautiful Cuyamaca Mountains. This will open up the
interior, as well as the finest summer resort in Southern California, the
Cuyamaca Lake, and adjoining woods and hills.

   A railroad will soon be built from San Diego to San Quintin, in Lower
California. Lower California, for over three hundred miles below the line, is
much like San Diego County, with the same climate, plenty of good land, and a
high and broad mountain rain belt with plenty of water to take upon the
table-lands of the coast. There are also numbers of well-watered valleys. It is
a fine country. All the upper part for over three hundred miles is now in the
hands of a strong-American company called the International Company of Mexico,
having a grant from the Mexican Government of eighteen million acres. This they
are rapidly colonizing. Two steamers to Ensenada, some sixty miles below the
line, are now running: also a steamer to San Quintin. The greater part of this
fine country will be tributary to San Diego Bay and the railroads, there centering.

   Several very rich gold mines have been discovered in the county, and four are
now being worked at a fine profit in the district around Julian. Gold-bearing
ledges exist in various parts, but as yet few attempts have been made to develop
them properly. The mines now paving so well at Julian were discovered several
years ago, but were abandoned as of little value. When new owners came with more
experience and improved methods, they soon proved them highly profitable. The
change that proper management has wrought proves that in the matter of mines the
resources of the county are yet quite unknown, while the number of places where
rich quartz ledges are known to exist indicates that under proper methods a
large number of mines will soon be worked at a large profit.

   There are also other kinds of valuable mineral in various places, not yet
worked, or even tested in any way that will prove whether they are profitable or
not. Asbestos is found in abundance in the San Jacinto region; clay that makes
excellent pottery is found near Elsinore in abundance, and exists in many other
places. Lignite, so closely approaching coal as almost to prove a certainty of
its running into it, is found near Elsinore in a vein of great thickness. So new
is everything that all such resources of the county remain comparatively
unexplored, and its inhabitants as yet know but little more than strangers of
its under-ground wealth. San Diego strikes the stranger at first as a treeless
country. But thousands and thousands of acres of fine timber lie in the high
mountains, and lire wood is abundant enough above two thousand feet, and along
the river bottoms. Eucalyptus, pepper trees, cottonwood, willow, sycamore, etc.,
can be grown in great quantity in a short time with a little water, or without
irrigation on low ground, and all make good fire wood.

   Hot springs, strong enough with sulphur, soda, and other minerals to suit
anyone, are found in various places. Some, like those at Warner's Ranch,
Murietta, and San Jacinto, are as large as those of Arkansas and of about the
same character. Others are smaller, but hut enough and strong enough to please
either taste or imagination. All are easily reached, and some of the larger ones
have bath-houses and accommodations for travelers. The Murietta Springs are but
three miles from the railroad. All of these will, in time, be fitted up in good
style.

   San Diego will soon have the finest educational advantages of any county in
the State. Not only are good schools abundant in all directions, but good
colleges are arising in several places. The colleges at Escondido and Ramona are
already under way. The colleges at San Diego, on University Heights and Pacific
Beach, will be a credit to any city. Both these are already heavily endowed with
the most valuable city property in quantity enough to insure the building of
magnificent buildings and a good annual income. They will be run on the most
progressive principles, and not be stifled in any fog of bigoted orthodoxy.

   Prices of living average about the same as in the East, some things being
higher, others cheaper. Taxes are much less than in most parts of the East.
Probably in the long run it costs less to live here, especially in the country,
the difference in the expense of getting through the winters overbalancing all
else. Southern California hotels and restaurants generally are much superior to
those of the East for the same price, and $1.00 a day here will secure as good
board and room as $2.00 will anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains, and without
any bed-bugs thrown in.

   There are, however, some things that by many who have never been here are
considered drawbacks that are not so, such as the long summers of six or eight
months. That feature of the land no resident would change if he could. Give San
Diego County twelve inches of rain from December to April inclusive, and half
reasonably distributed, and without another drop the land will excel in
production, acre for acre, any other part of the United States. Unless
sufficient for vegetation, summer rains would do more harm than good by injuring
the dried grass and ripe crops. If sufficient, the chief beauty of the climate
would be ruined; the land would be a tropical jungle full of malaria, with a
sultry, enervating air, full of mosquitoes and other insect torments. There are
other lands where one can spend a winter with comfort, but the chief glory of
the California climate is that one may enjoy the winter, and instead of running
away may remain and be more pleased with the summer.

   It is the only southern land where a residence is more enjoyable at any time
of year than anywhere east of the Mississippi River, and the great majority of
those now covering the land with beautiful homes are held here as much by the
summer as by the winter.

   Neither are earthquakes a drawback. They are no more frequent than in the
East, and are generally so light that a stranger will not know until told that
there has been one. Since the coming of the Americans no house or person has
been injured in the slightest, and the only case known before that was the
falling of an adobe tower of a church eighty years ago. All the other old
missions built of adobe, some of them like that of San Luis Rey, with high domes
and towers, have never been injured in the hundred years they have stood.

   There are no Indians here that anyone need fear. They are all brought up
under the Catholic Church, are generally industrious, and trouble no one.

   Neither are there enough Chinese here to interfere with any deserving white
person. The few there are generally find employment, but it is at work that
interferes little with the whites.

   San Diego County has been called the Italy of Southern California. Though in
one respect this comparison is as absurd as that of the newspaper poet who
compared the sunset to the robin's breast, it is in the main correct. It is to
Southern California what Italy is to Europe, the aggregation in its highest
development of all its beauties and advantages. Whatever is beautiful, fertile,
grand, sweet, or noble, in Southern California, one may find here heightened in
effect by its more southern position and the varied elevations of its good land.

   There are, of course, some objectionable features, as there are m even* land.
These may strike you all the more strongly because the whole of California has
been absurdly overpraised. Your very first contact may be with these. But when
you stay long enough to see the solid realities of the land, and learn that it
is not to blame for your overwrought imagination, or the unwise enthusiasm of
its friends, you will begin to like it. Year after year an affection that you
cannot and would not resist winds itself ever more closely around your soul.
Life comes so easily and so naturally; time flies so swiftly yet so softly. You
feel the thread of life fly faster from the spindle, yet you hear no whizz.
There are so few breaks or jars in the train of comfort as the long line of
cloudless days rolls on; appetite and sleep hang around you so wooingly in the
constant out-of-door life that you are enthralled before you know it. You feel
yourself enslaved, but in a slavery from which you would not escape. The few who
try it are only too glad to return to their chains after spending at their old
homes a few weeks of either winter or summer.




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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