|
Bruce Wilson
For Terry and Shayne:
All courtesy of the Bonita Museum
Shayne may have made more trips to Mission Valley than I. I can only remember going with her once either near the end of high school or first year of college. I cannot remember what the purpose of the trip was. I must have been struck by her un-dairyman-ishness.
The Dairies
Lemon orchards were a big industry in Bonita as were dairies, with mostly Holstein and Jersey milk cows. They provided milk, but also fertilizer for the orchards. There were at least thirty separate dairies between the years 1916 and 1950. A majority of the dairies were small operations where 20 to 30 cows were milked.
A notoable exception was the Samuel Williams dairy in the eastern end of the valley where several hundred cows were milked on a ranch of approximately 3,000 acres in size. In addition to having ample land for pasture, the owner was able to grow his own feed, and for several years, beginning in 1917, approximately 500 acres were devoted to growing lima beans.
In 1945 the Williams Ranch was sold to Union Oil Company of California.
Two additional noteworthy dairies were those operated by William Dolan from 1910 to 1930 and the Levi Kincaid dairy 1912 to 1931 between the present sites of Sweetwater Manor and Bonita Woods subdivisions. Another large dairy operation was the Burris Ranch, which began operations in 1922 on two tracts totaling more than 500 acres. The Burris dairy discontinued operations in 1945. Other dairies were the Eaton dairy at the intersection of Bonita Road and Otay Lakes Road and the Roilin dairy at the east end of the valley. These are the only two that still survived into the 1970’s. Today, the lemon orchards and dairies are a memory of the past.
Few Acres Jersey Farm
|
.jpg)
