Valley's history torched by Witch Creek fire

By: DARRYN BENNETT - Staff Writer | Saturday, November 10, 2007 9:53 PM PST ∞

SAN PASQUAL -- Flying over the fire scorched peaks and sloping canyons of the San Pasqual Valley in a small airplane last Saturday, Bruce Coons said he was devastated to see much of North County's history reduced to ashes.

"I was touring the greatest loss of historical sites to happen all at once in the history of this region," Coons, the executive director of the Save Our Heritage Organisation, a San Diego-based nonprofit historical group, said. "The damage done can't be recovered."

At least eight county landmarks east of Interstate 15 in the agricultural valley south of Escondido and north of Poway were destroyed in the Witch Creek fire, Coons said Friday.

Three adobe-style structures, including a 125-year-old schoolhouse in the valley, were the most significant historical fire damages in the county, Coons said.

The blaze burned 197,000 acres before containment on Oct.27.

From the losses he's confirmed, Coons said the fire consumed more historical buildings in the south side of the San Pasqual Valley than anywhere else in the county. Seven buildings were completely destroyed.

Replicas could be erected if funding becomes available, officials said.

Wendy Barker, the executive director of the Escondido History Center, said the losses are devastating for everyone in the region.

"Historical buildings help people feel rooted in their community," she said, "They remind us that we are just one person in this long continuum and that we are trustees on this land."

Beyond the loss of rustic artifacts and significant structures, historians said the fires also robbed residents of a tangible connection to the past.

"The houses were valuable because we could feel and touch them, and that provided a rich experience of valley life in the past," said preservation officer Milford Donaldson of the California State Parks Office of Historical Preservation. "It's more meaningful than a plaque on a rock at a site telling us something important happened that we'll never see."

Seven buildings destroyed

Among the torched buildings was the 1890s era Judson wooden farmhouse, famous for its high-beamed ceilings and stone floors on Bandy Canyon Road. Rebecca Judson, who had lived in the historic family home since 1921, died last year at age 105.

Built in 1872, the Clevenger house, the oldest building in the valley and the birthplace of Rebecca Judson, was completely destroyed, Coons said.

A second Judson house, an 1880s era dwelling built in the area by early pioneers was in the middle of an orange grove, was also lost.

On the north side of Highway 78, across the citrus groves from the Judson houses, a fire-scarred cemetery overlooks the charred foundation of the San Pasqual Store, all that is left of the structure that opened as a popular snack bar and gas station in the 1930s.

"In the 1930s and 1940s, it was the only place to stop in along that route," Coons said. "Travelers flocked there."

The store was part of the Rockwood Ranch House. Built in 1881, it's the only historic house Coons said survived the firestorm in the valley.

Adjacent to the store, the Rockwood Ranch barn, considered "the best Victorian barn in the county," Coons said, burned down as well.

Also lost was the rustic Fenton Ranch property, a popular "dude ranch" of its time, built in the 1930s, and the Peet-Haley house, built in 1908, Coon said.

Adobe losses

The eighth landmark in the valley destroyed in the fire was the Old Adobe Schoolhouse on Bandy Canyon Road, built in 1882.

Similar to the Sikes Adobe Historic Farmhouse in the San Dieguito River Park that burned in the Witch fire, only the adobe walls survived.

Both homes were owned by the city of San Diego and are eligible for federal restoration funds, Coons said.

But the city left the schoolhouse in disrepair without a roof and in danger of collapse for years, according to Coons, making it more structurally vulnerable when the fire swept through the valley.

"It was practically demolished by neglect before the fire," he said. "The city is partially to blame for this."

A third adobe, the Winnetka Ranch in Jamul, was destroyed last month by the Harris fire.

Restoring the past

Although countywide damage assessments won't be completed for weeks, Coons said, county officials have said restoration and rebuilding efforts will get underway as soon as state, federal and donated funding is secured.

Because the schoolhouse is the only structure in the valley that wasn't a complete loss, Coons said, the first priority is to protect the scorched historical land parcels ---- now important archaeological sites ---- from being "bulldozed" before restoration plans are made.

Although the buildings weren't frequented by tourists, Coons said, restoration talks between historians and city planning officials, which had been underway for years, could have changed that.

Coons and other preservationists had lobbied for the River Park to annex the schoolhouse in order to encourage more visitors, and several of the valley buildings were being considered for use as a museum, Coons said.

Donaldson said that even though they weren't big tourist attractions, the buildings helped visitors to the valley appreciate the region's uniqueness.

"Without that, the valley becomes Anywhere, U.S.A.," he said.

Replicas of some of the burned buildings may be built later, but it's too early to know which ones, said Coons.

Replicas are "better than nothing," Barker of the history center said, especially if they're built on the original site.

"That way we don't lose the context," she said. "The building is new, but the view, for example, is historic. I can look out the window at the same valley the pioneers did in the 1800s."

But Donaldon said replicas definitely aren't substitutes for the real thing.

"Reconstructions can't capture the past or connect future generations to their history as soundly," he said.

Other historic North County buildings destroyed in last month's firestorm:

Ballena Valley:

- An 1880s era one-room vintage schoolhouse that remained as a residence, located in Ballena Valley, east of Ramona.

- The Littlepage House, a large Victorian-style ranch house that began as a schoolhouse in the 1870s and remained as a residence, on Littlepage Road in Ballena Valley.

Ramona:

- The William Flack house, built in 1895, in Ramona

Del Dios area:

- Several 1920s era Craftsman homes

San Dieguito River Park:

- Sikes adobe farmhouse built in 1869

Source: Save Our Heritage Organisation fire assessment report as of Nov.9.

Contact staff writer Darryn Bennett at (760) 740-5420 or dmbennett@nctimes.com.

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