Kim_Johnson
I went on a fun hiking trip with my son and daughter in law yesterday for my 55th birthday. We went to Lake Wohlford in Escondido, California. Escondido is a small town known for it’s oranges back in the day, and about 10 miles inland from where I currently live in Oceanside, California.
I was looking for somewhere off the beaten path to explore and learn about when I came across this old postcard from the 70’s of people boating and swimming on Lake Wohlford. No one is allowed to touch this water now. No human contact. This was not so in the 70’s.
I have often wondered around this lake, and the water shed below and wished we could swim in it, so it was really awesome to see people did enjoy these activities here back then. Times have sure changed.
When I started researching where this old resort was that was featured in the postcard I came across a sad, cool, and tragic love story, but for now I will tell you a little about how this Lake and Dam came to be.
Escondido became a town in 1888. The city officials boasted about how great of a place it was to grow food and crops while raising a family. Clean clear artisan water from several wells were offered to its residents. Soon people came, a lot of people came! When the town reached over 100 residents the wells started running dry in the summers, so it was becoming apparent that the wells were not enough to supply the towns people with water. Within a year the local farmers and residents formed Escondido Irrigation District to come up with an idea on how to fix the water problem. The district decided to bring water from our town of Oceanside’s San Luis Rey River through a 15 mile long canal and flume system to a reservoir in Bear Valley Escondido.
The results are seen below… enjoy!
