San Diego County, CA History Transcribed by Kathy Sedler This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to their own work. An Illustrated History of Southern California - The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago - 1890 POINTS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY. AROUND THE BAY.� THE HARBOR. San Diego bay is a land-locked sheet of water, twelve miles long and from one to two miles wide, with abundance of deep water for thousands of vessels, and miles of good wharfage front, quite safe and sheltered. It is formed by on the west, the long, high promontory called Point Lorna, which extends out from the main land about eight miles, like a gigantic finger pointing southward; on the north, the land rises in gradual slopes, sweeping from west to east like a crescent, and from the east curving southward, to where begins "the sandspit " that encloses the bay on the south as it runs, a narrow ribbon of sand, that leaves between its point, widened into Coronado beach, a narrow but excellent channel, whose bar has twenty-three feet of water at low tide, the water being so smooth that the largest ships can enter, even in the roughest weather and sail all the way up the channel to a wharf or an anchorage, without a harbor-pilot or a steam-tug. During the great storm of February, 1878, when the wind reached the highest point ever registered by the signal service at San Diego, the Hassler, a large steamer of the United States coast survey, lay directly upon the bar during the whole storm, taking soundings and surveying the harbor. During the same storm, the coast-line steamer Orizaba dared not put in at any stopping-place between San Diego and San Francisco; and even at the latter-named port she had to lie off outside three days before venturing to cross the bar. The report of the United States coast survey furnishes abundant and incontestable proof of the superiority of San Diego's harbor. Surrounding the bay for miles and miles stretch gentle slopes and pine mesa land, suitable for farms, for detached villa homes, or for town sites, and the bay coast and adjoining ocean coast are both already thickly dotted with links in the chain of growing cities. Next to San Diego, southeasterly, toward the boundary line of the Mexican republic, and at present next in importance also, lies NATIONAL CITY. This is one of the most enterprising towns on the coast, and it is destined to attain great commercial importance in the near future. Its position is at the extreme northwestern corner of the Rancho de la Nacion, which comprises a part of the San Diego Land and Town Company's great tract. This is the terminus of the great Santa Fe Railway, which corporation has located its principal machine and car shops, yard, etc., here. besides a pier or wharf, extending into the bay 2,300 feet. The terminal grounds at National are the largest in the United States, comprising 225 acres, on which thirty tracks have already been laid. The company owns six miles of bay water front, its round-house accommodates forty eight locomotives, and it has erected here the other buildings suitable and necessary to a transcontinental line terminus. The city lies some four miles distant from San Diego, with which it is connected by the California Southern, which has its machine and car-shops, yard, wharf, etc., here, and by the National City & Otay Railroad, of which George J. Lockie is superintendent; this is a standard-gauge steam motor line. This city owes its birth to the foresight and enterprise of the Kimball Brothers. Some twelve years since these gentlemen noted the " superior quality " of the lands of the old "Rancho de la Nacion," or Nation's Farm of the Spanish regime; the freedom of the track from gullies, gravel, etc.; also the fine water front, with deep water, and the great reaches of fine lands sloping gently upward into fertile mesa or table lands. Foreseeing the prosperous future for which this section was so eminently fitted by its natural characteristics, they purchased the rancho, which comprised some 27,000 acres, and on the tract laid out National City, building a wharf and a number of edifices, and making many sales of land. Indeed, so great was the immediate prosperity of the new city that a foolish jealousy sprung up lest this should prove a formidable rival of San Diego. It is pleasant to note that this unworthy sentiment, whose indulgence for some years injured both places, has been slain by the prosperity, and still more, by the vicissitudes, which they have passed through together. It has already been seen how the Kimball Brothers gave 17,000 acres of their best land to bring the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to San Diego, and what a wise investment the offer proved to be. During the building of the California Southern, National City grew until her population numbered 1,000 people. But the speedily ensuing stagnation caused it to lose at least one-half this, and it almost seemed that a majority of the buildings were vacant. But, with the extension in 1885 of the California Southern to Barstow, National City felt the impulse of improved times, and entered upon a new, and this time an assured, epoch of prosperity. The present population is something over 1,500, refined for the most part, and among the most progressive and enterprising of California's citizens. The city has a postoffice, with daily mail service, express and telegraph offices, telephone service, a grange hall, a horticultural hall, and Episcopalian and Congregational church edifices, the latter having a fine pipe organ. There are also other flourishing congregations. There is a two-story public school building of fine proportions; well planned for graded classes. There is a fine hotel of fifty rooms, each of which has hot and cold water laid on, the house surrounded by porches commanding a grand view, and by a fine large yard filled with tropical flowers. Besides the usual conveniences of bathroom, bar and billiard room, etc., this hotel has connected with it a livery stable, and a bureau for supplying guns, fishing tackle, etc. Among the industries of National City are the following: An olive-oil factory where are practiced the processes of crushing, drying and pickling this rich and nutritious berry. In 1888 this mill turned out 210 cases of oil, or 420 dozens of bottles. It will be an important factor in commerce and prosperity, as nursery�men report 30,000 to 40,000 olive trees to have been planted in the county during 1889; besides this the increasing product of the trees already in bearing will result in establishing an industry of large proportions. This mill has no near competitor, and there are in the State but two others of considerable magnitude, namely, at Santa Barbara and Los Gatos. Then there is the West Coast Parlor Match Company, with a capital stock of $15,000, of which $10,000 has been paid in. This is the only match factory on the coast producing parlor matches. There is a reduction works, which has kept a five-stamp mill running most of the time during 1889, reducing ores shipped thither from various points. There is the Commercial Company, conducting the largest business of its kind south of San Francisco. Throughout the dull season this firm has been kept busy shipping to various points on the coast, as well as into the interior and Arizona, its manufactures, consisting of agricultural implements, wagons, buggies, water pipe and wire goods. During 1889 there has been established a feed and barley crushing mill. There has also been established a tree-wash manufactory, producing preparations to aid fruit-growers in the extermination of fruit pests. There is the Pawnee Medicine Company, which is constantly filling large orders and doing an extensive business. The Bank of National City, which is now in the third year of its existence, had recently added a savings bank department for school children and other depositors. There is a large lumber yard, a planing mill of the latest and most improved system, several drug stores, and several stores for the sale of dry goods, groceries or general merchandise. Another enterprise of the year 1889 is the organization of a fire department, consisting of two hose companies with 2,100 feet of three-inch hose, and a hook and ladder company, all well manned with efficient officers and men. Hydrants are so distributed that all portions of National City can readily be reached for water supplies in case of fire. There are in National district four commodious school-houses, including that recently built at Chula Vista. These accommodate the 300 children recorded for the year's attendance, who are under the charge of a popular and scholarly principal and seven experienced assistant teachers. National City has the only free kindergarten in the county. It was founded in 1888 by Mrs. Frank A. Kimball, who largely supports it, financially and otherwise. It has a principal and three assistant teachers, and sixty children have been under their charge during the past year. A Town Improvement Society has been organized for the purpose of fostering home adornment, and encouraging the beautifying of the city by planting trees along the streets. There is something really remarkable in the class of residences to be seen in this little city and its environs. No matter how small and modest the home, the owner of each seems to have been fired with a spirit of emulation which prompts him to aim at equaling, in beauty and attractiveness, the more imposing dwellings of his wealthy neighbors. The carefully tended orchards, the scrupulously kept gardens, the trees, fruit-bearing and ornamental, the cheerful flower-beds, the innumerable bits of beautifying effort, often modest, but always tasty, convey an impression of thrift and prosperity about all the homes of this section. Partly within the city's limits is the beautiful Paradise valley, which adds to the other conveniences and luxuries a Sanitarium and Invalid's Home. Many important enterprises are being developed by the San Diego Land and Town Company, which is a corporation composed almost entirely of directors and stock�holders of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Among their other improvements is the National City Otay Railroad, the motor line already mentioned, which runs one branch to the Sweetwater darn and the little town of La Presa, and another to Chula Vista, Otay City, Oneonta, and Tia Juana, on the Mexican border, making a standard-gauge line thirty miles long. Another splendid achievement is the Sweetwater dam across the Sweetwater river. This is the greatest structure of the kind in the United States, and there are in the world but four or five of greater height. This was begun by the company already mentioned, November 17, 1886, and it was completed April 7, 1888. It is built in a rocky ca�on at the outlet of a fine natural reservoir, of a heavy granite rock, containing some mineral which makes its weight about twenty per cent greater than New Hampshire granite, the rock being laid in Portland cement. The dimensions are: length at base, 76 feet; length at top, 396 feet; thickness at base, 46 feet: thickness at top, 12 feet; height from bed-rock, 90 feet; height from river bed, 80 feet. The reservoir covers 700 acres, and it will hold 6,000,000,000 gallons of water. The water is conveyed from the dam through wrought-iron pipes to the surrounding lands, and it supplies, at low rates, National City for household and irrigation purposes. Not less than sixty-five miles of wrought-iron pipe has been laid already. Adjoining National City lies a tract of 5,000 acres of beautiful mesa land, with a rising slope toward Otay and Tia Juana on the east, which is known as CHULA VISTA. This name (being the Spanish for " Lovely View") could hardly be more aptly applied than to this tract, commanding a view of the bay, the sea, the distant Coronado islands, the city of San Diego and its surrounding satellite towns, National City as well, and behind all, as a splendid background to the wide scope of ocean, beach, valley and plateau land, the great majestic mountains. It is now some three years since Colonel W. G. Dickinson outlined his scheme for the subdivision of what is now known as Chula Vista, a scheme which contemplated a suburban town of fruit farms, ranging in area from two and a half to ten acres each, whose owners, as a condition of purchase, would be required to build houses upon their tracts to cost not less than a certain sum, eventually fixed at $2,000. In due time this scheme was worked out and the lands placed upon the market. This tract is six miles from San Diego. Although it was put upon the market too late to participate in the boom, Chula Vista has progressed remarkably. Many miles of avenues have been graded and set to trees, and water has been put upon the entire tract. A. Barber's place, on Third avenue, is a five-acre tract, whose improvement was begun less than two years ago. It is set to a variety of fruits, both citrus and deciduous. Its productiveness is attested by the fact that the trees have this year yielded all the fruit Mr. Barber's family could use. Numerous illustrations were seen on these grounds of the ambition of the young trees to bear fruit. A lemon tree, less than two years in the ground, has over 100 lemons on it. Mr. Barber decorated the lapels of each of the visitors' coats with a handsome boutonniere. At Mrs. E. L. Williams' place, on Second avenue, another example of rapid progress is seen. This is a five-acre place, upon which are over 400 trees, chiefly orange and lemon, in the proportion of about two of the former to one of the latter. The trees show a remarkable growth, especially the lemon trees, which have distanced the orange by nearly one-half. The land at Chula Vista is evidently especially good for lemons. Two years hence some of these avenues will be nothing short of lovely. Their grades are good and they extend from National a distance of some eight miles. More than fifty fine residences have been built at Chula Vista, and twenty others are under contract. Some of these improved places are worthy of note, as illustrating the quality of the soil when supplied with water and cultivated with industry. Colonel Dickinson's place, a little farther north, occupies one of the most commanding sites about the bay of San Diego, and is one of the best improved. The house is a fine piece of architecture, its interior arrangement and finish being conspicuously convenient and attractive. There is a blue-grass lawn in front that is so thickly matted that one cannot part the blades with the hand so as to expose the ground without the greatest effort, and which feels as soft and velvety under the feet as a Brussels carpet. At another part of the grounds a circle of fountains play into a reservoir, in which sport a number of beautiful gold fishes. There is also a sixteen-acre Eureka lemon orchard, set out in July, 1889, by Professor W. A. Henry, of the Madison, Wisconsin, University. Mr. J. M. Johnson is making somewhat of a nursery of his place and is not afraid to experiment. He shows some orange buds a month old, set in sprigs sprung from seeds planted last March. He believes he can hasten production by budding in this way. One of his curiosities is a three-foot growth of orange from a seed planted last March. Mr. Johnson's local pride will not permit him to admit the possibility of such a growth anywhere else than at Chula Vista. On National avenue, is the place of J. L. Griffin. This is a pioneer place, and antedates Chula Vista. It is a seven-year-old improvement, and is noteworthy for this, that it effectually disproves the assertion so often heard that citrus fruits can't be grown near salt water. Mr. Griffin's place is less than a mile from the bay, yet one can see there as fine oranges and lemons as ever were grown, the trees fairly groaning under their burden of fruit, and both trees and fruit bright and clean from every species of scale or smut. And the windward sides of the trees are just as full of fruit and just as clean as the leeward. Mr. Griffin has a lemon tree from which he has picked from January to January 1,302 lemons by actual count. This tree is now very full of fruit. He has 200 apricot trees, from which he sold this year eight and one-half tons at $70 per ton. This was an "off year" for apricots. Mr. Griffin's place contains ten acres and he has repeatedly been offered $10,000 for it, and one would-be purchaser not long ago was willing to raise this offer $2,000. It is to be noted, too, that in achieving these results, Mr. Griffin had to rely upon a wind�mill for his water supply, whereas now an abundant supply can be had from the company's pipes. Chula Vista is fast realizing the ambition of its projectors, in spite of dull times. Two years hence it will be a beautiful and thrifty place, and not many years will be required to make it one of the prettiest and most productive places in Southern California. There is no idleness in this prophecy. The groundwork of it has already been realized, and all the conditions of soil and water and climate are there to carry it to a perfect fulfillment. One cannot look upon Chula Vista's progress without feeling a revival of faith in the destiny of the bay region. From a point on the northern verge of Chula Vista a view is had of almost the entire Sweetwater valley below the dam. From this point the advantages of irrigation are apparent in the numerous gardens and orchards that are being made all along the course of the stream. It is from this source that strawberries find their way to the San Diego market during every month of the year. Six miles below Chula Vista lies the Otay valley, with its nucleus, OTAY. Otay proper embraces the mesa and valley of the Otay, deriving its name from this level mesa tract, six miles in width and twelve miles long, which signifies in the Indian dialect, " wide, level knoll." This section of mesa and valley land is situated twelve miles south of the capital town of San Diego County, the principal port of the great southwest and the future gateway to the commerce of the world. The valley of the Otay slopes gently to the bay. It is skirted by the river and abrupt rise of the level mesa on the south and is four miles from the Mexican border. The valley embraces a large tract of fruit and garden lands that are easily watered by means of shallow wells or by irrigation systems, which naturally abound in the mountain range on the east, where the waters of the Otay, Cottonwood and Tia Juana rivers take their rise, affording an abundance of water that can be easily developed and which, doubtless, will soon be utilized and brought on to the vast area of mesa and valley lands of the Otay and Tia Juana. Windmills are now used to a great extent for supplying water in the valley, and quantities of grapes, guavas, oranges and figs are now marketed, and the vegetable gardens are yielding great profits by their ceaseless production the whole year round. Potatoes are dug here for the San Diego market, which find a ready sale at from two to three cents a pound. Here during the past season 90,000 gallons of wine were made, and up the valley adjoining the 6,000 acres belonging to the Land & Town Company, now used for a sheep pasture, 150 tons of wool were clipped and shipped from Otay. This season 3,000 tons of hay have been exported from here by rail, besides great quantities of grain, milk and eggs. The valley and the mesa are being occupied very fast. The town site of Otay is beautifully located; ensconced between the mountains and the sea, connected with San Diego by the National City & Otay Railroad, joining the beautiful Chula Vista tract on the north, now supplied with water from the San Diego Land & Town Company's pipe-line, which crosses through their 5,000-acre tract, from the Sweetwater dam. Three miles to the west of the town beats the ocean. The location is just far enough from the water to have the wind shorn of its sharpness, making it the most even, all-the-year-round climate on the face of the globe; invalids afflicted with various diseases soon find a speedy recovery, and the old renew their youth. The town is progressing and fast settling up with a happy and industrious population. Over forty houses, many of them fine villa homes, having been built during the past year. The watch factory, filling the great necessity of giving employment in the most favored clime, is a colossal enterprise. The building is of brick, three stories in height, 38 x 100 feet; the works will employ from 300 to 400 workmen, capable of turning out 250 watches per day. A syndicate of capitalists has been formed, comprising the leading men of wealth. Among the number are F. A. Kimball, E. W. Morse and other bankers, who have now taken stock in the factory, and the business of watch-making, now and well under way, will be pushed speedily forward. In no part of the State is there richer garden land than in the Otay and Tia Juana valleys, and nothing grows or is raised in California which does not thrive and grow to perfection here. On the fertile mesa and valleys are raised with profit the finest hay, wheat and barley, and all the cereals produced throughout the country; the orange and corn thrive side by side. It is the natural home of the orange, the lemon, the fig, olive, guava, walnut and vines of all varieties. The apple does well here, and the small fruits, such as strawberries, blackberries, etc., grow to perfection. Parties engaged in diversified farming find the soil adapted to all its branches, yielding a steady and perpetual income. A branch of the motor line runs from Otay to Oneonta, where there is a good hotel, and whence stages convey the traveler who desires to tread the soil of Mexico in this direction to the boundary line and the division monument. Somewhat north of east of the Otay mesa, than which it is further from the coast, and eighteen or twenty miles from San Diego, lies the Janal Rancho, containing some 6,000 acres, whose elevation is 400 to 800 feet. Some six miles yet further eastward, at an elevation of some 550 feet, is the Jamul Rancho of some 5,000 acres. This is bounded on the eastward by a tall, rocky range, from 3,000 to 4,000 feet high, which, like other ridges, harbors many mountain parks and valleys. The Janal is separated from Mexico by the blue range of the San Ysidro; the soil of this and the Janal is either a fine red granite or a brown adobe of extraordinary richness, which, together with the situation, is uncommonly favorable for vine and fruit growing. The orange, in particular, reaches perfection in the Jamul valley, one of whose inhabitants has taken, for his oranges, at district, county and State exhibitions, premiums attesting the superiority of his wares over every other orange-producing section in California. North of these valleys and east of the National Ranch, there is a series of plains and valleys, nearly all Government land, which are occupied by bee-keepers and stock-raisers. These are called the Jamacha plains, Lee's valley, Lyon's valley, Lawson's valley, Corte Madera, Cottonwood valley, Pine valley, Guatay valley, Laguna and Mataquequat. There is a very fine fruit orchard and farm, with an apiary, the property of Mr. B. S. Sheckler, in the Cottonwood valley, which is one of the most picturesque spots in the county. This section comprises a very extensive area of fine country, most of which will be brought under cultivation ere long, producing grain and the deciduous fruits, which are raised to some extent already. Dairy farming also will become a very profitable enterprise in these mountain valleys. The rainfall in this section is abundant and never-failing. The thickly-wooded mountains abound in game, and they are a favorite resort of hunters and camping parties. THE POTRERO. This is the center of a large area of country near the boundary line, of which the principal industries are farming, bee-keeping and stock�raising, including much attention to hogs. A good deal of grain and hay is raised, and some of the bacon cured hereabouts is sent to market. The honey product is considerable. There is good land for raising fruit, especially apples, but very little attention has been given as yet to this matter. A large portion of the land of this section is Government land, and it is therefore likely to be settled quite speedily. Land is sold for $10 to $25 per acre. The population of this section is about 400; it has a postoffice with tri-weekly service, a school-house and four stores. TIA JUANA. Four miles beyond Otay, five miles from the coast, and sixteen from San Diego, is the Tia Juana valley, in which is situated the village of Tia Juana, on the boundary line partly in the United States and partly in Mexico, a custom�house being maintained on the Mexician side, where also, three miles farther down, are the celebrated hot sulphur springs. Strong indications warrant belief in the existence of similar springs on the American side. Both these valleys abound in rich farms and orchards. Lands range from $50 to $100 per acre within their limits. The voting precinct embracing the Otay and Tia Juana valleys is called Monument. Each of these settlements has its own church, school�house and other features of progress. To return to National City: No part of San Diego County produces more richly all the citrus fruits, all varieties of grapes, notably the raisin grape, many deciduous fruits and all of the berries reach about as near a state of perfection as fruits may, and the products of the section have repeatedly taken first premiums at county, district, and State fairs. Some six miles beyond National, at the lower end of the bay, is South San Diego; rounding the curve a narrow strip runs northward for several miles, completely shutting out the sea beyond the harbor. Opposite the city of San Diego, this unique peninsula broadens into a tract of land, which, if it had been square, would measure a mile and a half on each side. This is CORONADO BEACH, Which is one mile across the bay, from San Diego. Connected with this by a very narrow isthmus is another island-like tract, the estuary between them being called Spanish Bight. The history of Coronado Beach has been phenomenal. In 1886 there was not the semblance of a human habitation on the peninsula, and although streets and avenues had been mapped out earlier, not a house was built until after January 1,1887. Now there are hundreds of houses for dwelling and business purposes, three hotels, fine drives, nurseries, landscape gardens, foundries, lumber and planing mills, fruit-packing establishments, works for bituminous and asphalt paving, and boat and ship�building establishments. It is estimated that the sales made on this peninsula have amounted to between fifteen and twenty millions of dollars, and have well repaid the original outlay of something like a million and a half of dollars, expended in preparing the place for occupation. A large steam ferry connects Coronado Beach with San Diego, plying half-hourly. The soil here is a very rich loam, with a large admixture of disintegrated granite, underlaid by a stratum of decomposed shells. It is pronounced equal in fertility to the finest sea-island cotton soil on the Atlantic coast, and specially adapted to the development of rare tropical trees, shrubs and fruits, whose propagation in the United States has always failed hitherto. The water, which is piped to South San Diego, Coronado Heights and Coronado Beach, comes from a series of living springs in the Otay valley, and it is considered a most important feature among the general attractions. Besides being very soft, pure and pleasant to the taste, chemical analysis shows it to be highly medicinal, being peculiarly adapted for, and beneficial in, all kidney diseases. It is held to be quite equal to the famous water from the celebrated Waukesha Spring of Wisconsin. The supply is over 5,000,000 gallons per day, and this can be doubled if necessary. A table which compares the mean temperature at Coronado with that at the health resorts of Naples, Mentone, Rome, Nice and Florence, shows that the winter temperature of Coronado is 7.9� higher than at these most favored foreign resorts, and that the summer temperature is 10� lower, thus making an average of 8� in favor of Coronado as an all�the-year-round resort. The enormous Hotel del Coronado is almost indescribable, particularly within restricted limits. To say that it is the largest and finest hotel in the world; that it cost $1,000,000; that it has its own steam motor road to convey guests and visitors from the ferry landing; that twenty acres of handsomely decorated grounds surround it; that its interior court is a quadrangle of 250 x 150 feet, full of statuary, fountains, and choice exotic plants; that the length of its surrounding verandah is considerably over one and a half miles; that its apartments are, in many cases, of almost incredible dimensions; that the finishings and fittings are all of the most convenient, comfortable and luxurious; that the house has its own system of water-works, of sewage and electric bell and light plant, and its own large bathing and boating establishments, and its band of musicians; that its culinary department is complete and perfectly appointed, and the service exquisite as to quantity, quality, variety and style,�when all these things are said, they have only begun to shadow forth the fairyland�like charm of the marvelous Hotel del Coronado. Following the curve of the coast around northward from San Diego, to the quarter where Point Lorna joins the mainland, and the territory widens and slopes more gently away from the bay toward the city, there lies, five miles back from the shore, the historic OLD TOWN. It has already been seen how important a part in the history of San Diego has been played by this portion thereof, officially designated in the postoffice department as "North San Diego," and the incidents of its founding and earlier existence have been related. Up to 1868 this was the town, the county seat and business center, and many old citizens there be who still cling to it as a place of residence, whether for its superior charms of climate and quiet, or for the sake of old associations. Prior to 1868 the shipping did not come farther up the bay than La Plaza, where the custom-house was, as also the landing and the coaling station of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. This point is now a suburb and the First Ward of the city proper, from which it lies some three miles northwest, a beautiful mesa called Middle Town lying between. This mesa commands a magnificent view, and will no doubt be a favorite dwelling-site, becoming, like Old Town, continuous with San Diego, when the completion of the electric street railway, now far advanced, shall facilitate communication. Then also will there be a revival of activity from the temporary decay into which Old Town fell, with the building of "New" San Diego on the bay shore, and the transfer of the court-house and public buildings thither. The population is now about 1,000, and there is a postoffice, hotel, store, a fine large public school-house, a Roman Catholic church, which was dedicated September 29, 1851, and, not least of interest to the romantic, a small chapel which is credibly said to be the scene of Ramona's marriage to Alessandro, in Mrs. Jackson's popular novel. Through the lower part of Old Town runs the California Southern Railway, after skirting the Middletown shore of the bay; and there it crosses the former bed of the river, now once more diverted into False bay. At the foot of the promontory, Point Loma, nestle a good many houses dotted along the shore, one aggregation of them being termed ROSEVILLE, soon to be reached by the steam motor connect�ing San Diego and Old Town. Roseville boasts the only factory for making wire gauze in California. On the fine land beyond Old Town there has been laid out a fine tract of villa sites, lying about midway between Old Town and the suburb called PACIFIC BEACH, which is in the hands of a company who declare that their beautiful new colony shall rival Coronado itself. To that purpose they have already a stupendous hotel, a fine college, electric lights, street railroads, bathing houses and many other improvements which are under way, supported by good taste and capital. On the western slope and the northern side of Point Loma is Ocean Beach, a new and pleasant watering place. MISSION VALLEY. This valley is situated three miles from the business center of San Diego. It is traversed by the San Diego river, and it may be reached either by way of Old Town, which lies at the mouth of the valley, or by the road up the mesa and new grade, which enters some two miles farther up. The valley is about six miles long, and one-half mile to one mile wide. The ruins of the ancient mission church, with its attendant old olive orchard, are near the eastern terminus. This valley was well chosen by the Franciscan Fathers, for it contains some of the most productive land in the present San Diego County. On the higher benches grow fruits, vegetables and cereals, while the lower, more sandy portions are well adapted for the cultivation of alfalfa and other grasses. Good water, which may be found even during the dry season, at three to ten feet depth, abundantly underlies the whole surface. The larger portion of the valley, comprising the western end, belongs to the old Pueblo grant, and thus within the corporate limits of San Diego city. This valley land sells for $75 to $150 per acre. THE INTERIOR. Along the coast of San Diego County, as of most of the seaboard counties of Southern California, there slopes away from the shore a long line of plateau-land, more or less rolling, and also more or less diversified by valleys, ravines, creeks or rivers, and low hill-ranges. This plateau, or mesa, as it is generally called from the Spanish term for it, meaning a table, often looks sterile, when it is really good land, which only needs cultivation to yield prolifically. Its climate, too, is fine, and the prospect of scenery usually noble. In no other way can the modern history of San Diego County be so thoroughly understood, as by passing in review the relative phases of development of " the back country," whose sudden and rapid settling-up has been phenomenal, taking into consideration the fact that only during the last few years may this section be said to have had a history. Before that it was all blank pages, and literally as well as figuratively untilled ground. In going from San Diego to the interior, a belt of the above mentioned mesa land, some twelve miles wide, is traversed. Then it falls off suddenly some 250 feet, into the broad, rich valley called El Cajon, which is a part of the old El Cajon Rancho, the pioneer of the back country to be opened to settlement, this having occurred in 1869, when some few settlers went up thither from San Diego. About the same time the Julian mines were discovered, many miners came in, and a little town was started. Then some settlers took up certain of the little fruitful valleys round about, and many took up Government land adjacent to the large ranches, or climbed up among the foothills, or even higher. Some of these were impelled thither by considerations of health and climate; some by the restlessness which is a residuum in the character of the ex-miner; some were seeking enrichment in the golden stores laid up in the bee-hive. But, whoever, and whysoever, they appeared so steadily and so constantly that the back country more than kept pace with the city in growth, so that from a few hundreds in 1868, the American outside population in 1884 had swelled to some 12,000, almost five times that of the city. A steady increase of growth continues, and the incoming elements are of the classes most desirable for the firm building up of the country. EL CAJON VALLEY. The largest and most beautiful valley in San Diego County is the El Cajon, and, if not the best, it is certainly equal to any. The total area is about 20,000 acres, which is all or nearly all valley lands of the very best quality. It is situated about fifteen miles east of San Diego. The Cuyamaca Railroad, lately constructed, passes through the entire valley from west to east, four stations being established within its limits. El Cajon has become famous for its fine raisins, and might have been equally famous for its fine oranges, had not the orange industry been abandoned by some of the earliest horticulturists for the raisin grape, all because the young trees were injured the second winter after being planted, by the unprecedented cold wave that swept over the State in the winter of 1881-'82, and which proved so destructive to the orange groves of Riverside and other localities, now celebrated for their citrus fruits�trees several inches in diameter being frozen to the ground in some places. Not a few of the men who planted quite extensively in the spring of 1879 were congratulating themselves on the prospects of success, when the cold wave put a stop to their enthusiasm. Had they continued in their efforts to grow the orange, as did the horticulturists of Riverside, equal success would have been achieved. Instead, however, the young trees were dug up and thrown away. A few escaped this wholesale destruction, which grew up neglected and are now, ten years after, well loaded with choice golden fruit. The lack of railroad transportation, doubtless, had something to do with the abandonment of orange culture, as, at that time, the California Southern was not completed to San Diego. It was argued that the growing of fruits which could not be placed on the Eastern market would not pay. It was different with raisins. They would keep and bear long transportation and were profitable. El Cajon raisins were soon discovered to be unsurpassed and acquired a reputation which they have well maintained against all competition. The growing of oranges in the valley did not, however, stop. The valley contains a large area of splendid orange land along the slopes of the hills encircling it�a strip, in brief, twenty miles in length by an average width of a half mile�land that lies above the frost line and below the flume, hence admirably adapted for irrigation, and orange culture, and which can be purchased at prices ranging from $50 to $150 per acre. El Cajon Rancho was opened to settlement in 1869, and some few settlers from San Diego located there and took up bee-keeping and farming, the latter mostly in the line of wheat-raising, which has continued the chief industry of El Cajon until very recently. The Cajon Rancho has a total area of 57,000 acres. The valley is in the hands of two land companies, controlling some 15,000 acres of valley land, and about as much more mesa and hill land, especially adapted to vine-growing. The soil here, ranging from bright red to chocolate color, is a red marl, containing calcareous matter, and it is composed of a succession of deposits of sea water. It has been shown that soil taken from the bottoms of wells here produces richer vegetable growth than the top soil, proving that roots which strike down for water have more than sufficient nourishment. The water supply is abundant, whether from wells five to twenty-five feet deep, which can be successfully sunk in any part of the valley, from the river, or from the aqueduct of the San Diego Flume Company. This is a magnificent enterprise that consumed nearly three years' time in its construction and $1,500,000, and has brought pure mountain water in abundance. This great flume, which is planned to carry 5,000 inches of water when completed, forms a semi-circle at the upper edge of the orange land mentioned, on the east side of the valley, just where it should be to irrigate the groves and vineyards. A sufficient quantity is now running down its forty miles of length to irrigate the 20,000 acres contained in the valley, on the basis of one inch to twenty acres. It was completed only a year ago, and little has been done as yet to utilize the water for irrigation, but enough to demonstrate its great future value. The subject of forming an irrigation district is now being agitated. Besides the orange, the lemon and the grape, there are successfully growing in El Cajon valley the following kinds of citrus and deciduous fruits, viz.: the lime, citron, guava, apple, apricot, pear, peach, prune, plum, persimmon, pomegranate, quince, fig, olive, English walnut, almond, pecan, mulberry; and in small fruits, the strawberry, blackberry, raspberry�a list that might indeed be extended, but surely long enough and good enough is it to satisfy any one; a list, too, indicating the wonderful adapt�bility of soil and climate to grow the fruits of all latitudes in one locality. But the principal feature of El Cajon valley is the raisin industry. There are over 3,000 acres planted to the Muscat or raisin grape. A number of the vineyards are young and some are not even in bearing, yet the yield last season, packed and marketed, was nearly sixty car�loads. The raisins were shipped to the Eastern cities mostly, and brought the highest prices. Those of the Boston ranch�a ranch containing 500 acres of vineyard�were shipped to Boston, of course, and the parties who handled them wrote the general manager that they opened up fine and uniform, and were equal to those of the oldest packers of Fresno. The parties who did the principal packing in the valley have testimony as to the quality of raisins shipped by them respectively, to the principal Eastern cities, of like purport. In fact, they were pronounced equal to the best Spanish goods. El Cajon raisins are certainly all right. Another profitable crop is the hay crop. Many hundreds of acres are annually sown to wheat, barley and oats for that purpose, and the yield is sometimes prodigious. One gentleman cut last year four tons of oat hay, Texas Red variety, from a single acre, and the year previous four and one-half tons per acre of wheat hay. The land was fertilized but not irrigated. The average for the valley is about one and a half tons. The entire crop secured last year was over 3,000 tons. The hills at this time are covered with a luxuriant growth of wild oats, valuable for pasturage as well as beautiful to the eye. In May and June many tons of fine hay will be made from it. To show the rapid rate at which improvements are progressing, it is worth while to mention some of the newer establishments of the valley, ignoring the older, and locally better known places, such as those of Major Levi Chase, the late George A. Cowles, Mrs. Hill, J. M. Asher and others, and regarding only S. M. Marshall, one of the proprietors of the big 800-acre vineyard, who planted last season 3,000 orange and lemon trees, some of which have made between five and six feet growth. Besides at his ranch, he has also at his home in another part of the valley, a lovely place. To show the extent of his planting it may be stated that he took a large fruit catalogue and ordered from it every variety of fruit and ornamental trees and shrubs, that he might prove what is best adapted to the locality, as well as most beautiful. Mr. Marshall commenced his improvements only last February, and has expended a great deal of money upon them. It is really incredible that so much can be done in so short a time. He has built an elegant residence that cost at least $10,000, besides a large barn and other valuable buildings. The house stands upon high, sloping ground from which a fine view of valley and mountain is obtained. A beautiful lawn containing choice shrubbery is kept fresh and green by water from the flume, located on the heights just above, when needed. Mr. Marshall knows the value of water, and will use it extensively for irrigation. His orange grove embraces all the varieties, and is not only the making of one of the finest but largest in the State, as it is his intention to enlarge it from year to year. In addition to orchard planting he is engaged in the nursery business on quite an extensive scale. He already has 50,000 young orange and lemon trees and some 20,000 olive trees, besides other kinds. Mr. Marshall is an enthusiastic horticulturist and is having fine success. Upon a knoll commanding a magnificent view stands the elegant residence, which cost $10,000, of Mr. J. T. Gordon, surrounded with a lawn dotted with roses and choice shrubbery. Upon the upper slope of the land lies the orange groves�over 1,200 trees of budded varieties, and nearly 1,000 sweet seedlings, over 2,000 trees now in the second year, which have made marvelous growth and are quite full of beautiful fruit. An orchard of 3,100 trees of deciduous fruits of every variety grown in the valley is located upon the lower land. Many kinds are already in bearing. This splendid orchard embraces 500 Bartlett pears, 500 soft-shelled English walnuts, 500 olives, 400 prunes and 500 peaches. Mr. Gordon has also 1,000 guavas in bearing and 125 acres of vineyard, mostly in bearing. A substantial stone reservoir, capacity 130,000 gallons, stands high upon the hills, close by the flume, from which it is supplied with water. Pipes conduct the same to all parts of the grounds, and to the house where eighty permanent sprays are used to irrigate the lawn and trees around it. The whole place is so well cared for that it looks to be four instead of two years old. There are many other places worthy of special description, but the space allotted will not permit of more than a brief mention. Mr. W. H. Ferry, who owns more than 1,000 acres of rich valley land near Lakeside, on the north side of the San Diego river, has planted within the last two years very largely of fruit and ornamental trees, among which are 1,200 fig-trees now beginning to bear. He has a fine place. Mr. Barrett also has a valuable ranch containing a large bearing vineyard and an orchard of many kinds of choice fruits. He will use steam apparatus for pumping water for irrigation, having recently purchased an engine for that purpose while on a visit East. Mr. William Peel's large ranch in the central part of the valley shows good management as well as fine artistic taste in landscape gardening. It is one of the newest but most promising places. The ranches of Judge Richards and Dr. Gray, lying immediately opposite each other, in the upper part of the valley, attract much attention. That of Judge Richards contains over 200 acres, all in a high state of cultivation. Dr. Gray's residence and grounds are very handsome and the place is in every way a lovely one. In the lower or western end of the valley are also some fine places. The Fanita ranch of 10,000 acres, owned by H. P. McCoon, is mostly devoted to cattle raising, but a good many acres near the extensive buildings on the place are planted to fruit and ornamental trees and vines. It is a profitable stock ranch. Dr. S. Worcester, Mr. Mason and others in that part of the valley have excellent fruit ranches; the orange trees of the latter are as fine as any and of choice varieties. A monument of the past stands in this end of the valley �the old Mission dam�built more than a hundred years ago. Its masonry is still of the most substantial character and a large part of it has withstood the floods of the years gone by, standing to this day as built by the Mission Fathers. THE VILLAGE OF EL CAJON, Where the business of the valley is mostly done, contains one general store, and one combined drug and grocery store, postoffice, blacksmith and wagon shops, one church edifice (Presbyterian), Rev. H. I. Stern, pastor; a free reading room, under the auspices of the King's Daughters, two good hotels, a barber shop, livery stable, a meat market, a shoe shop and a number of private residences. EL CAJON HEIGHTS, The railroad station, three-quarters of a mile distant from El Cajon, was commenced on the completion of the Cuyamaca Railroad, only last spring. It contains about one dozen houses, a hotel building, now under construction, the large packing-house of the El Cajon Vineyard Company, and a lumber yard. A neat depot building was erected a few months ago and a telegraph office established.