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Chapter 3:
Mexican Period
agriculture that demanded ever more develop-
ment of the meager water resources. Local
water supplies were i
mpounded, pumped and
diverted to where they were needed. Soon,
ranchos clai
med just about every spring and
perennial stream. For the most part, however,
these water-rich locations were already occu-
pied by Indian rancherías (villages), which had
to relocate to ever-drier lands.
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During this period, Southern California
struggled through a severe 10-year drought,
interrupted only by a flood in 1825. As pump-
ing and diversions continued, the water table
dropped and the springs dried up. Today,
there are few, if any, traces left of the region’s
once numerous artesian springs, most of
which are so long dry that
most current
residents are unaware they ever existed.
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THE BEGINNING OF
SAN DIEGO’S WATER DISPUTES
The pueblo of San Diego began with an
independent
municipal government. It was
later incorporated under the laws of
Mexico in
1834. Those laws, which were derived from
Spanish law, became pivotal
in San Diego’s 20th century
water disputes.
Under Spanish and Mexican
law, the inhabitants of
pueblo lands and ranchos
were entitled to a certain
amount of land for their use
and benefit. These land
rights included water rights,
since land without water is
worthless in arid cli
mates.
The first house of Juan Osuna, Rancho Santa Fe
The San Diego Historical
Society
THE MISSI
ONS’
DEMISE
As the ranchos increased in prominence, the missions declined. They had partially fulfilled
their “mission” of establishing a Spanish Catholic community in this distant land. Mexico
shifted the missions to secular control in 1842. Shortly thereafter,
Mission San Diego de
Alcalá, the former center of Spanish culture in Mission Valley, was in disrepair and ruins.
Another intended “mission” was not fulfilled, however. The missionaries had planned for
the mission Indians to inherit the buildings and enough land and water to assure their well
being. Only a few Indian pueblos were actually established, including the small towns of
San Dieguito, San Pasqual and Las Flores from Mission San Luis Rey.
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Nevertheless, the
missionaries left a legacy of communal
water law that would eventually color the way water
was distributed throughout the county.