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The First Atlas Map of the area around Escondido, California
Finely detailed cadastral map of the area centered on Rancho Rincon del Diablo, published only 24 years after its first incorporation of Escondido as a city on October 8, 1888.
The map identifies dozens of small lots, mostly 10-50 acres
This is from W.E. Alexander's 1912 Plat Book of San Diego County, California published by the Pacific Plat Book Company of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Rancho Rincon del Diablo
Rancho Rincon del Diablo was a Mexican land grant in present-day San Diego County, California given in 1843 to Juan Bautista Alvarado. The rancho lands include the present day city of Escondido and Rincon Del Diablo.
Alvarado, a native of San Diego, received the three square league Rancho as a land grant after the area was taken from the lands of the Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Alvarado, built a large adobe house overlooking Escondido and raised cattle on his land.
With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican–American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Rincon del Diablo was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1852, and the grant was patented to the heirs of Juan B. Alvarado in 1872.
The Alvarado children did not want to settle in the area and each sold their shares of the Rancho to a San Diego judge named Oliver S. Witherby. It took him about a decade to acquire all of the land. He farmed extensively and increased the size of his cattle and sheep herds. In the early 1860s Witherby began mining gold on his property and formed the Rincon del Diablo and Escondido Mining Company.
By 1868, Witherby was already short of money and sold his Rancho to Edward McGeary and the three Wolfskill brothers. They changed the predominantly cattle ranch into a sheep ranch with John Wolfskill as the resident manager. For many years a part of the Escondido Valley was known as Wolfskill Plains.
In 1883, a group formed the Stockton Company and purchased Rancho Rincon del Diablo. A year later these landowners transferred their interest in the valley to the Escondido Company. They planted a large vineyard of Muscat grapes that required little irrigation. The Escondido Company's ownership of the valley did not last long. In 1886 they deeded the area to the Escondido Land & Town Company, which set to work subdividing the land and planting more vineyards and citrus groves.
Rarity
In over 25 years of business in San Diego, this is the first time we have offered the map for sale.
