RAMONA
In the
GoldenValley of
Little Ranches
Chamber of Commerce, Ramona, CaliforniaSPECIAL COLLECTIONS
THE LIBRARY OF
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELESRAMONA
In the Golden Valley of Little Ranches
TO those who long for a little place in a little valley, where they may build a little home and raise a little family; where a little water will nourish a little
garden or orchard and slake the thirst of a little flock that will produce a little income; where the children may attend a little school and the grown folks can get a little pleasure; where sky, trees and flowers bring to one a little glimpse of God's goodness in a land where one’s neighbors each possess a little of the milk of human kindness— this little book is dedicated in the hope that here in this GOLDEN VALLEY OF LITTLE RANCHES, they may find the things that will make life worth while.
Published, 1923, by the CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Ramona, California and the
San Diego County, California, Board of SupervisorsBeautiful homes in the Golden Valley of Little Ranches
Page TwoRAMONA
IN THE GOLDEN VALLEY OF LITTLE RANCHES
THIS is the story of a land that is old, yet new. The Red Man fished and hunted over it for centuries before Columbus discovered America. That was the age of the Indian. Of its history practically nothing is known.
But when Junipero Serra and his Franciscan brothers trudged wearily up from Old Mexico across the Great American Desert and down to the shores of San Diego bay, the age of romance began for this land. Its history dates from 1769 when the Mission Fathers built the cradle of western civilization at San Diego and through suffering, privation and terrible sacrifice slowly brought the Indian from his slothful and pitiable state to industrious comfort. Their influence extended far back into the mountains and upon this land bestowed the name of Santa Maria Valley.
A Guardian Saint
On the western side of this valley stands a gigantic pile of granite known as Mt. Woodson. The fanciful eye of the Indian perceived in the conformation of its crest the prone figure of a woman, with head, breast, body and feet clearly outlined. When the Indians became converted to Christianity, they named this figure Santa Maria (Saint Mary) and evolved the legend that this saint, guardian of the fertile valley, spent the days reclining on the mountain top to watch over her children; that with the passing of years, she turned to imperishable stone and will remain on the heights for all time. She has seen the Indian flee before the wild gallop of the cowboy, and the latter, in turn, give way to the steady march of the farmer, whose plowshare turns up hundreds of Indian arrowheads or now and then a silver spur dropped by a Spanish caballero, and whose children find in the rocky foothills grinding bowls carved out of the overhanging granite by the patient aborigine.
On the Kearny Trail
Most of the history of this valley during that period reposes in the archives of the California missions. In secular literature, practically the first mention of the valley occurs in “Reconnaissances is
Page ThreeCalifornia and New Mexico” by Lt. Col. W. H. Emory, who was an aide in General Philip Kearny's little army when it made a march of 1 500 miles overland from Fort Leavenworth to San Diego to wrest California from Mexico, and on December 6, 1846, at San Pas-qual, adjoining Santa Maria Valley, fought the only battle in the War with Mexico on California soil.
Wild, Picturesque Land
For nearly half a century, Santa Maria Valley was owned by the Stokes family, which came into possession of it through marriage by one of its members into a Spanish family. Wild cattle and mustang ponies roamed over it, and in the fall the Indians gathered from the hills to harvest the acorns. In the early 70’s, 6000 acres were sold to Bernard Etcheverry, who grazed sheep in flocks of 30,000 or more for some years, gradually increasing his holdings. In the 80’s a land company bought a vast acreage, and subdivided it. With the exception of the Etcheverry ranch, now being subdivided, the Valley has become a place of little ranches for the man of modest means. Bed Springs Lacking
When the gold rush began at Julian in the early 80’s, a store was started in the northern end of Santa Maria Valley by Amos Verlaque to accommodate the stage line from San Diego to the mines. At first oxen, and later four, six or eight-horse teams were used to haul freight. Ramona was a night stop, but there was no hotel, and teamsters and passengers slept on the ground in their blankets.
Why Ramona was so named is unexplained, except that it sprang up during the period when Helen Hunt Jackson’s novel was popular. Soon after the name was adopted, it was changed to "Nuevo” (Spanish for “new”), as a town in Santa Barbara County, California, bore the name of Ramona. Later the other town went out of existence, whereupon the capital of Santa Maria Valley promptly readopted the name of the Indian heroine.
Ramona, encouraged by the stage traffic, slowly grew. Pioneers started a grocery, a drugstore and a harness shop. Eventually, a hotel offered shelter. Ramona now is the cultural and commercial capital of Santa Maria Valley, which has more than 1200 inhabitants. Ramona has a hotel with accommodations for 75 persons, several apartments and lodging houses, a commodious town hall, a public library, a motion picture theatre, a bank with deposits of $205,000 and 850 depositors, a telephone exchange with 100 local subscribers, garages, billiard and pool halls, barber shops, and a weekly newspaper.
Page FourPublic Buildings of Ramona. Left to right, top—Ramona Telephone Exchange; Congregational Church. Center—Friends' Church; Ramona Town Hall and Ramona State Bank. Below— Kenillworth Inn and Ramona Union High School.
Page FiveChurches and Education
Ramona has two churches, the Congregational and the Friends. Catholic and Christian Science congregations conduct their services in temporary quarters.
A union high school and a union grammar school have a combined attendance of 150 and a faculty of eight teachers. The high school is housed in a fine concrete building.
Social Activities
The social and charitable life of Ramona and Santa Maria Valley center in the Ramona Women's Club, organized in 1913. It has done more for the civic improvement of Ramona than any other organization. In 1916, it had grown to such proportions and was doing so much Red Cross work that quarters became necessary. Generous Ramona citizens donated a lot, architect’s plans and labor, and a charming and roomy clubhouse was erected. The lot is being planted to trees, and the clubhouse, enhanced by a wisteria-covered pergola, is surrounded by beautiful lilac bushes. Through the club's efforts, the lilac has been made the civic flower, for Ramona is one of the few places in California where this fragrant shrub grows well.
Community betterment is the aim of this club, which has been instrumental in the opening and grading of the streets around Collier Park, and every year puts on a Spring Flower Show and a Chrysanthemum Show, as well as exhibiting at the annual Valley Fair.
In its list of civic organizations, Ramona also numbers a live Chamber of Commerce with a wide-awake publicity club, a Farm Bureau, a Men’s League and Masonic and Red Men’s lodges.
Topography and Water
Santa Maria Valley has an average elevation of 1400 feet. Its arable lands comprise a tract nine miles long and three miles wide, from southwest to northeast, with a rise to the west of 15 feet to the mile. A large portion of the valley is undulatory and well drained, affording ideal locations for poultry farms and fruit orchards, while the floor of the valley is especially adapted to general farming.
An average annual rainfall of 18 inches and scores of wells furnish the water for the Santa Maria Valley. The only surface flow is that of Santa Maria Creek, which winds the length of the valley. During the dry season, the water sinks below the sands.
Page SixThe greatest amount of water is obtained from wells, the average depth of which is 25 to 40 feet.
These wells yield sufficient water for practical irrigation. The cost of pumping is approximately the same as in other localities. Gas pumps and windmills are used for pumping power. Plans are now on foot for the construction of a gigantic reservoir at Sutherland, ten miles east of Ramona, and a portion of this water is to be used for gravity flow irrigation in Santa Maria Valley.
Soil
The soil in the valley is Placentia sandy loam, reddish-brown, non-micaceous and rather friable, with a heavy clay subsoil. Without irrigation it is excellent for grain and hay and deciduous fruits and grapes, where climatic conditions are favorable. With irrigation, a wide range of fruits, especially citrus fruits, and garden crops is profitable.
In the foothills is the Sierra sandy loam, reddish-brown, micaceous, friable and usually free from stone fragments. The subsoil is a heavy clay. This loam is valuable for fruit and other intensive crops. Along Santa Maria Creek, the Foster loam abounds. It is moist, deep and friable and is an especially rich soil.
While practically all varieties of fruit trees will do well in this valley, the nature of the soil is particularly adapted to culture of the stone fruits.
Transportation and Highways
Geographically, Santa Maria Valley is the heart of San Diego county. Twenty-five of the thirty-five miles of highway between Ramona and San Diego is paved, and the remaining distance will be concreted within two years. Ramona is the halfway point for traffic to and from the northeastern mountain region of the county and is served by daily mail, passenger and freight auto stage lines. It is 16 miles from Lakeside, the terminus of a branch line of the San Diego & Arizona Railway, and 18 miles from the Santa Fe Railroad at Escondido.
Climate and Health
The average summer temperature of Santa Maria Valley is 85 degrees, and the average winter temperature 60 degrees. Westerly winds prevail. Absence of fog and excessive moisture makes not only for the comfort of humans, animals and fowls, but, what is particularly
Page SevenHere are random views which show the diversity of scenery in Santa Maria Valley and the Mountain Empire: New highway near Santa Ysabel; typical little ranch in the Golden Valley; Indian Falls, Mesa Grande; brook on Ml. Palomar; contented kine in Santa Maria Valley.
Page EightRanch scenes in the Golden Valley. Three Ramona "kids," two of them only a day old. Orange tree thirteen months old. Herding sheep near Mt. Woodson. Typical dairy ranch in Santa Maria Valley. Picking the crop of a 40-year-old Bartlett pear tree near Julian. This tractor harvester does the work of 20 horses on the Etcheverry ranch. Grapes and pumpkin basket ivhich won the first prize at the 1922 Ramona Fair.
Page Nineimportant in citrus culture, a minimum of fruit blight. The altitude insures a crisp, clear air. The more elevated portions of the valley are practically frostless and snow is unknown, although it may be seen on the surrounding mountains. The nights are always cool.
The atmosphere of this valley is especially effective as a cure for asthmatic diseases. Its reputation in this regard has brought hundreds of sufferers to Ramona after traveling all over the United States, and even Europe, in search of relief. Here they have found it and have settled in the valley.
Produce
Santa Maria Valley has been chiefly a farming community with barley and hay prominent in the list of crops. However, water development through wells has given the rancher opportunity for a wide range of products and ample acreages are being planted to fruit orchards and to truck gardening.
Summer cabbage, planted in June and maturing in July or August, fall cabbage, cauliflower, sweet potatoes of the Nancy Hall and Red Bermuda Yam varieties and Irish potatoes of the White Rose variety, all are good income producers. Two crops of beans can be raised yearly under irrigation, the Kentucky Wonder, Speckled Valentine, Michigan Wax and Tepary varieties flourishing best. Peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, parsnips, pumpkins, squashes, strawberries, dewberries, kale and lettuce make fine crops.
The Burrel Gem cantaloupe and the Klondike watermelon have been unusually successful. Other varieties do well. Excellent casabas also are raised.
On the higher elevations where water is not available without pumping, the ideal crops are wheat, oats, barley, hay, Indian corn, milo, feterita and rape, grapes, apricots, peaches, pears and prunes. In the lowlands in the heavier soil alfalfa, corn and plant life requiring a heavier grade of soil do well. Citrus fruits generally require irrigation.
Poultry
A big signboard, “Ramona, Paradise for Poultry,” at the entrance to Ramona, introduces the traveler to an important industry.
At present, there are in Santa Maria Valley approximately 70,000 chickens, producing an income of more than a quarter of a million dollars. Turkey raising is popular, promising to be very profitable.
Page TenSome reasons offered by the camera why the Golden Valley of Little Ranches is a Paradise For Poultry." The center photo shoivs Biddy after "a good day's work," and just below is proof that .even the chickens like Ramona.
Page ElevenSanta Maria Valley is above the fogs and cold winds which spell roup and chicken pox. Plenty of sunshine and continuous mild temperatures encourage fowls to necessary outdoor life and exercise. Land reasonably priced enables the poultry raiser to own sufficient ground for large yards and ample ranging, as well as to raise quick-growing green crops for his birds the year round. Grain and straw is bought direct from producers in the valley, eliminating middlemen’s profits. Mill feed is purchased in carload lots.
Cattle
A quarter of a million dollars a year from beef cattle and $100,000 yearly income to dairying interests is the statistical story of cattle’s addition to wealth in Santa Maria Valley. Rough, broken land in the surrounding hills is ideal for ranging purposes, while dairies abound in the lowlands. A fleet of motor trucks takes the milk daily to San Diego.
Bee Culture
Apiculture in Santa Maria Valley flourishes in the foothills, where willows, manzanita, wild currant, alfalfa and sage, buckwheat, and countless flowers furnish food for the busy little bee. Foul brood is little known. Ramona honey brings a high price in the Eastern markets.
Land Values
Because little effort has been made, until recently, to develop water for irrigation, land in Santa Maria Valley ranges in price from $50 to $200 an acre for unimproved land. Unimproved town lots cost from $50 to $1000, according to location. Values are increasing rapidly with the influx of population and the development of water.
Conveniences
Already well supplied with telephone and postal service, as well as numerous freight and passenger stage lines, Santa Maria Valley has in prospect cheap electricity for lighting and power purposes within the next two or three years when hydro-electric development plans at Sutherland damsite, are realized. It is probable that within the next year Ramona will construct and operate a modern sewage disposal, plant.
Page TwelveTHE MOUNTAINS OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
In the northeastern mountains of San Diego County, to which Ramona is the portal, lies a vast and fertile empire, practically undeveloped agriculturally. This range, known as the Incopah, includes the Laguna, Cuyamaca, Agua Caliente, Pine and Palomar mountains.
Its scenery and vegetation, parks of magnificent oaks and forests of pine, fir, cedar and hemlock, its vistas, its cattle ranging “on a thousand hills,” and its wonderful orchards make the Incopah Range a delight to the city dweller.
In these mountains lie buried treasures worth millions—gold, silver, copper, tourmalines, kunzite, topaz, spinel, beryl, garnet, rock crystal, crystal and rose quartz, amethyst, aquamarine and hyacinth deposits, marble in varying shades, molybdenum, nickel and many other valuable gems or ores. Comparatively few of these deposits are being worked, but mineralogists declare that with intelligent development, San Diego county will some day justify the title she has had for many years of “The Gem Casket of the World.”
A Virgin Land.
Through the Incopah Range are scattered delightful little valleys and canyons in which nestle villages and mountain resorts. Fruits from these valleys have won medals at innumerable fairs, and as yet thousands of acres suitable for fruit culture have not felt the plowshare. Many of the large ranches are being subdivided into farms of from ten to forty acres.
An admirable system of fine highways, many of which are paved, threads the mountains. Each year more pavement is laid. Practically all unpaved roads are surfaced with decomposed granite. Thousands of motorists from all parts of Southern California come here yearly.
The fisherman and the hunter find this region a delight. Trout, bass, wild ducks, quail, doves, and even deer lure hundreds of sportsmen to the streams, lakes and mountains.
Julian
Gold and apples are two widely divergent products for which the Julian district is noted. The town of Julian is sixty miles northeast of San Diego by highway, at an elevation of 4190 feet. Here is the most southerly apple country in the United States, and its apples have won
Page Thirteengold medals at many world and state fairs. Its seasonal rainfall of thirty to fifty inches, with frequent snows; makes conditions ideal for apple culture. Jonathan, Roman Beauty and Newtown Pippins are favorite varieties.
Pear culture, especially that of the Bartlett, ranks close to the apple industry. Pear trees from 35 to 40 years old still bear heavy crops annually. Because of the elevation, the district is free from the dreaded pear blight. Peaches, plums, prunes, cherries, grapes, chestnuts, walnuts and many small fruits and berries do well in this region.
Julian first came into prominence in 1883 when gold was discovered there.
Scenes of Ramona. Above—Clubhouse of Ramona Womens Club. Center, left—Municipal open-air plunge in Collier Park. Right—Bird's-eye view of Ramona. Below—View of figure of Santa Maria along crest of Mt. Woodson.
Page FourteenWarner Hot Springs
Warner Hot Springs, elevation 2675 feet, is the center of the Warner Rancho comprising 47,000 acres in the heart of the Volcan Mountains. Historians of the Mission period write that Captain Anza marched through Warner’s in 1776 from the Mission Tubac in Arizona on his way to found San Francisco. The rancho was originally the property of Don Juan Warner, being deeded to him by the last of the Mexican governors of California. Warner’s was the first habitation in San Diego County that General Kearny and his army visited in 1846, and a few years later it became a station on the longest stage line in the world, the Butterfield Line, from St. Louis to San Francisco.
Prophecy Fulfilled
When Kearny visited Warner’s, he found herds of wild cattle and wild mustangs roaming over the vast rancho, while around the hot springs at the rancheria, a few nearly naked Indians huddled. Lt.Col. Emory, in his account of that march, wrote thus:
"A day will come, no doubt, when the invalid and pleasure-seeking persons of the white race will assemble here to drink and bathe in the waters, ramble over the hills which surround it on all sides, and sit under the shade of the great live oaks that grow in the valley.”
Warner’s Hot Springs today is one of the most popular resorts in Southern California for invalids and pleasure seekers. Its springs, with a temperature of 148 degrees Fahrenheit, have great curative powers. Hunters also find it a favorite spot.
Mesa Grande
Cherries and Indian fiestas come to mind when Mesa Grande is mentioned, for this plateau, 3300 feet above sea level, offers fine specimens of each. During the cherry season, Powam Lodge, the principal resort at Mesa Grande, is crowded, for the cherries are big, black ox-hearts, delightful in flavor, and guests are permitted to pick their fill. The verdure of this plateau is charming at all seasons. A branch of the Degueno Indians, fast dying out, have their reservation here, and add picturesqueness to the scene.
Palomar
This majestic, pine-clad eminence, is one of the highest peaks in San Diego County, rising 6100 feet above the sea. Its vistas are
Page Fifteenindescribably beautiful. Lack of good roads has handicapped this region as a playground, but those who once visit it gladly face the hardships of travel to return. The roads are being improved rapidly and soon the trip will be an easy one. Several mountain resorts offer modern accommodations.
Pine Hills
An artistic retreat, popular with Southern Californians because of its big pines and its wonderfully restful scenery. It is four miles from Julian and is easily reached from San Diego via Ramona. Many San Diegans have built summer homes adjoining the excellent hotel.
Santa Ysabel
A mission was the center of the first civilization in this little valley nearly a century ago. Of the mission nothing remains but the old bells, brought originally from Mexico and Spain. This year a festival will celebrate the 200th anniversary of their casting. A few stores and garages, and a charming wayside tavern constitute the hamlet, which is surrounded by general farming and grazing lands.
Conclusion
Many pages would be needed to give an adequate description of the resources, advantages and possibilities of Ramona and the Mountain Empire. The compilers have endeavored to give as much accurate and conservative information for homeseekers as space will permit. More details concerning any portion of this ‘‘Land of Heart's Desire’’ will be gladly given. This region is on the threshold of great and important agricultural developments in which newcomers will share. It needs new manpower to aid in that development, and there are thousands of persons throughout the United States who can find climate, scenery, agricultural opportunities, health, wealth and happiness at
RAMONA
In the Qolden ^Valley of Little Ranches
Page SixteenRAMONA AND SURROUNDING COUNTRY
Ramona and the Santa Maria Valley is sometimes called ״The Heart of San Diego County," being the geographical center. The map shows its admirable location especially with respect to the Incopah Range Country.
Compiled by Seymour & Seymour San Diego, Cal.
Printed by Frye & Smith San Diego