Place: Upper Otay Lake in Chula Vista, California.
Date: January 10, 2008
The Otay Valley is the last major open space area left in San Diego County. Almost 9,000 years ago stone age man mined metavolcanic rocks found on the sides of the Otay River Valley near lower Otay Lakes. They probably were migratory people who used the area as a stone quarry. 3,000 years ago there was a large Indian Village near where the salt works are now. There was a plentiful amount of water and food for these people. Unlike the Inland Kummeyaii Indians these people stayed here year round hunting and gathering at there own pleasure. In the 1800's history says that Father Sierra spent his first night in a river valley in the southern part of San Diego. There is no way to prove if this was the Tijuana River Valley or the Otay River Valley but I think that on June 30 he crossed Smuggler's gulch into the Otay Valley. This began the process of change for the valley. During the mission period of history cattle raising was a big enterprise in this area. The coast was largely coastal grassland which was burned by the natives every 5-10 years in order to keep it healthy and prevent the growth of shrubs. The native grasses provided grain for the missionaries and the Indians as well as a massive supply of free food for their livestock. After the Mexican Revolution in 1810, retired soldiers seeking a peaceful lifestyle complained that the missions had all the good land. The new government secularized all the land and allowed the citizens to petition for its ownership. The Otay Valley soon became the property of the Estudio family. The big ranches in Otay were: Janal, La Punta, Otay and Rancho De La Nacion. The livestock reproduced like crazy under these new owners. When gold was discovered in California in 1849, the state population went from a total of around 300,000 to 100,000 increase each year. Most of the immigrants went north but some stayed in San Diego to mine. The Otay Ranch owners were making money left and right selling their meat to the miners. After the Mexican American War ended both sides signed the Treaty of Guadalupe. Under this treaty all ranchers in California could keep their land, but in 1850 a Land Act was passed, which stated that all land claims must be proven by the claimants. This was a very long and tedious process which could take up to 20 years. By the 1870's many of the old owners had to mortgage their property and sold all their cows in order to pay the expenses of proving their titles. The J.P. Morgan Bank of N.Y. got the Estudio ranch through foreclosure. In 1829 Otay Ranch was a brushy place of 6,677 acres. It was farmed with lima beans, hay, and wheat but there is no evidence of permanent structures so it can only be assumed that the people lived in the town. Between 1850 and 1870, Arguella, his wife and five children were the only permanent residents between San Diego and the border. In 1887 Bobcott started to build a steel dam at Lower Otay Lakes. He knew the future of San Diego depended upon a reliable supply of water for large numbers of people. With the backing of Speckles he later built another dam at Upper Otay Lakes. The years to follow were very harsh. The people suffered through a great drought. After seeing the community suffering from the extreme heat, the city agreed to pay Hatfield to make it rain. He was very successful in fulfilling his commitment to make it rain, so successful that on January 27, 1914 both dams broke and the famous Hatfield flood wiped out the town of Otay, all the farms, and the Santa Fe Railroad. About this time cars were being more widely used and there was no longer a need for a market town, so Otay was never rebuilt. The housing boom between 1947 and 1959 increased mining tenfold. This crushing of the rocks, gravel and sand of the river bottom and mesa made up of 94% of the mineral production in the county. In 1959 the value of this rock mining was twice the value of all the gold ever mined in San Diego County.
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No Way Out, Part 1by dstone3034,056 views
gotta love the tagging
KR3WOW9 1 year ago
@KR3WOW9 I have up more recent video of the Upper Otay Dam, that shows it much more clearer, if you haven't seen the more recent one yet.
cvcaproductions 1 year ago
How many of the trees in southern california are evergreen, when you look around?
carljohnson25 3 years ago
Kinda a vague question really. Only because if you're asking in general or asking native type trees, that is. In general, wouldn't know, there's many. Native trees, there isn't really many trees here, but the little native trees there are, are evergreen. We're desert here.
cvcaproductions 3 years ago
I mean just in general. Like when you look around in winter around where you live. Is it very green and are there many changes when the summer ends?
carljohnson25 3 years ago
On the edge of the city, and out in country side areas. It pretty much looks like this almost year. But, this is about the time it starts raining here, so depending how much rain we get here. The hills can look as green as Ireland, for about a month or alittle longer. In city, it's pretty green all year here, due to a recycled water program, that goes to watering city land. (Parks, Landscape and such.)
cvcaproductions 3 years ago