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Escondido History
Escondido History | Escondido Agricultural History A History of Agriculture in Escondido"Avocados, citrus, poultry, turkeys, beef cattle and dairy cows are the back-bone of Escondido's present economy. They give the City and all the surrounding country a very bright outlook for the future." --The Southern California Rancher, 1956
The Escondido Valley, six miles long and four miles wide with mostly flat level land, is an ideal place for crop cultivation. Even where the land was gently sloped, early local farmers found the geography ideal for citrus. In addition, the climate, free from coastal fog and dampness and without excessive summer heat, was responsible for agriculture's success in the Escondido valley. Agriculture was introduced into the Escondido Valley by Native American peoples, who some anthropologists believe managed oak groves. Frances Ryan theorizes that Spanish explorers discovered a large grove of oaks in rows where Orange Glen Elementary School was built. They called it "La Huerta." Native Americans subsisted on acorns and native plants until the Padres of the California Missions introduced European agricultural techniques. The Native Americans continued to cultivate fields, or milpas, using digging sticks, and to construct ditches or zanjas, to irrigate crops. After the Missions were secularized in 1835, a number of Native American families from the San Diego Mission were sent to the San Pasqual valley to begin a pueblo, or town. A decade later in the neighboring Escondido Valley, Juan Maria Alvarado was granted title to the rancho "Rincon del Diablo." During the Mexican Rancho era, cattle were raised for meat, hide and tallow. On a typical rancho in the north county, orchards of pears, peaches, quinces and pomegranates grew along with vineyards. One example is from the 1851 Tax Assessment Roll lists. The following entry is for rancho owner, Francisco Maria Alvarado:
Ohio native Oliver Witherby purchased rancho land from Alvarado's heirs and continued the cattle trade. He introduced other types of agriculture as well. Hay and grain were the early settlers' chief products. By the 1880s, basic irrigation methods included flooding the land, constructing furrows, creating basins around tree roots and laying underground pipes. Later hand pumps and windmills were used. (Rustvold, Marjorie McMorrow, San Pasqual Valley: rancheria to greenbelt, 1968.) Arid Escondido's struggle for water is a long and complicated story. Major issues included: the formation of irrigation and water districts; the difficult construction of aqueducts, flumes, dams and reservoirs; water bonds that failed and later passed; natural disasters that destroyed sections of the water distribution systems; and legal battles between Native Americans and the city over rights-of-way, use and compensation. Grapes were a significant crop as early as the 1870s. The early vineyards needed neither fertilization nor irrigation, and Escondido became famous for table grapes and gold medal winning raisins. Today, an Escondido historic landmark, the Ferrara Winery, as well as the Orfila Winery in San Pasqual, continue in business. The expansion of the railroad to Escondido in 1888, the invention of refrigeration, the use of trucks and the improvement of the road system enabled the rapid development of Escondido's agriculture. Dairying was undertaken by small farmers, who often had a small herd of cows, fruit trees, chickens and vegetables. Raising poultry was another industry, one which owed its success to the climate, low cost local grain, local hatcheries and a Poultry Producers Association, which furnished feed and expertise. The first avocado trees were planted in Escondido on the W. W. Prior Ranch in 1892. The original tree died out about 1977 after a long life. Early growers traveled to such places as Nicaragua and Mexico to research new varieties and were eager to use experimental plantings. The California Avocado Association, begun in 1915, reported current advances and commercial possibilities. Locally, the boom in avocado productions reached new heights in the 1960s, the Hass and Fuerte varieties being the most popular. In 1892, Prior also planted the area's first Lisbon lemon in the area, a short thorn strain. The tree, a Florida seedling from a nursery in San Diego, was brought to Escondido in a horse-drawn wagon and planted on the Prior Ranch on El Norte Parkway. A new strain of lemon was later known as the Prior Lemon. Owners of the Eureka Ranch, known for its citrus groves, employed Japanese workers. Some are listed in the 1910 census records. Later Filipino workers were hired as an agricultural labor force, but when World War II began, this group left to join the armed services and Mexican nationals were hired to harvest crops. A labor camp was built for the workers on Sunkist Association Property on West Valley Parkway. At one time, the camp had living quarters for 200 persons. Source: This history of agricuture in Escondido was adapted from a curriculum compiled by The Pioneer Room at the Escondido Public Library, an excellent repository of documents about Escondido history. |
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