Greetings family, friends and neighbors, today's little story is about a very big tree and some local history.....Bill

Historic Ramblings

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DIRT

For more than a century between the mid 1800’s and mid 1900’s

the alluvial plane at the base of Mission Peak that drained

Alameda and Mission Creeks was one of the richest farming

areas in California. On the rich fertile land where olives, figs and

palms were first planted by missionaries, John Horner harvested

wheat and potatoes, A.O. Rix grew almonds and there were acres

and acres of apricot and plum orchards. The Gallegos and Los

Amigos wineries had extensive vineyards, the Gomes family grew

tomatoes for Rancho Soup, the Irvington Packing Co. was kept

busy in season canning pickles from locally grown cucumbers, the

Driscoll Brothers began a strawberry empire in the rich soil and

longest growing season in the country, and George Roeding

established the California Nursery Company, at it’s peak the

largest ornamental nursery west of the Mississippi.

When the old fish hatchery at Yosemite’s Happy Isles was

demolished and replaced with a Nature Center a large window was

installed facing an enclosed native flower garden, pond and

collection of established trees. Inspired to replicate the tranquil

scene with our own “Little Yosemite” front yard we built a fenced

enclosure blocking the view of the street and neighboring homes.

One of our first planting was spindley three foot tall Coast

Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) native to the foggy canyons

along the Northern California Coast, not Fremont’s hot and dry

summers. Planted in the rich soil a few feet in front of our living

room window forty years ago, the three foot tall tree with a two inch

diameter has grown to more than sixty feet in height with a

circumference of nearly ten feet.

Unlike it’s slow growing Giant Sequoia cousins (Sequoiadendron

giganteum) of the Sierra Nevada range that take thousands of

years to reach their towering heights, Mission Valley’s moderate

weather, long seasons, high water table and rich former farmland

soil is responsible for the astonishing growth of our coast redwood,

and at this rate….. potential future National Park.

It’s all about the dirt. -Bill 2/24