Recorded Early History

The Spanish, Mexican Rancho, and Early American period had no land claims attached to this land.  Rancho San Bernardo was the nearest  Mexican California land grant which skirted the area of Felicita Park, five miles away. To the northeast were the boundaries of Rancho El Rincon del Diablo.   

Little is recorded before 1900 regarding the use of this area known for its steep-rugged mountains and coastal sage scrub and chaparral.  The presence of water from both natural springs and the nearly adjacent San Dieguito River would have made the area a desirable for agriculture, especially cattle and sheep grazing.  

This rugged, yet breathtaking ranch site was no doubt a permanent village site for Native Americans prior to the arrival of the Spanish.  The area is associated with both the Kumeyaay and Luiseno Indians where this overlapping territory provided diverse resources. For the native people, travelling a bit to the north, they could easily reach the Escondido Creek, while the east side was the edge of the San Dieguito River (San Bernardo River/Lake Hodges). The springs, pond, creek and river provided a rich habitat to sustain village life in prehistoric times.

A 1912 Plat map marked the land of this original homestead as "impassable mountains."  The geographic corridor of granite and gabbroic rock from Harmony Grove to south Lake Hodges was known for its pockets of rock mining.  The occurrence of green gabbroic rock was mined nearby Mt. Israel Road for use as decorative roof granules. 

Growing Neighborhood:  Lake Hodges, Del Dios, and Rancho Santa Fe

The early 20th century bore witness to a dramatic change in this corner of isolated farmland in present-day Lake Hodges/Del Dios.  Within view range of Hidden Lake Ranch, a massive undertaking, the creation of a lake and dam was planned and under construction. Five miles west of the Lake Hodges dam, another ambitious project was under development.  A structured community was planned with the sale of small agricultural areas for family use. With the newly acquired water, "Rancho Santa Fe" moved into the area's limelight as having the most desired properties in the mid-1920s.  At the same time at the western water's edge of the lake, lots were being plotted and a cabin community for resort fishing and camping began to take shape and the name of "Del Dios".

Lake Hodges and Lake Hodges Dam  

Property on the east side of Hidden Lake Ranch was owned by members of the Carroll family. The trade off for their land came about when their original ranch  was flooded over for the creation of Lake Hodges and building the dam. The first owner of Hidden Lake Ranch, Louis Marquette Richard may have visited the construction site of Lake Hodges dam when it began in 1917. Without a doubt, Richard, a mining engineer, observed the creation of Lake Hodges since he needed to survey his proposed 320 acre homestead in advance of filing a land claim in 1922..  

Col. Ed Fletcher, famous for the development of San Diego County water ways was one of the forces behind the construction of Lake Hodges. He convinced Santa Fe Railroad executives if a dam were built, providing a source for drinking water for coastal cities, more people would ride trains between San Diego and Oceanside.  Fletcher was also responsible for naming the lake and dam. On one occasion when Fletcher dined with the railroad executives, he offered to name the lake after W.E. Hodges, VP of the railroad. Hodges accepted. The name of the former owners of the property name, and neighbors of Richard witnessed their name vanish from Carroll Lake and Carroll Dam to Hodges.  In 1932, when the City of San Diego leaders proposed returning the Lake Hodges water project back its original owners, Louis Richard wrote a terse editorial (insert left) to the San Diego Union reprimanding the City leaders to stop political bickering and to look to the critical need in the future for this water supply.  

Del Dios 

In Spring of 1922, Louis Richard constructed a house on his homestead.  From his view above Lake Hodges, Louis would have observed a small real estate boom along the edge of the western shoreline of Lake Hodges.  Los Angeles land investors, Townsend and Wagner, purchased 400 acres there with plans to sell lots to develop cabins for a boating resort. "Camp Santa Fe." was a work in progress by June, 1923.  Changing hands, and the name in summer of 1925, the California Outing Company boasted of having completed 35 cabins, a general store, a service station and lumber yard within the growing community of "Camp del Dios."  Over 700 lots had been sold for cabins, each lot averaging a generous 50 x 100 feet in size. An oak grove turned into a picnic area and a small community center gathered residents and part-timers into experiencing social life. 

Rancho Santa Fe

In 1906, all but 374 acres of the original 8,000 acres of Rancho San Dieguito, a Mexican Land grant owned by Jan Osuna was purchased by Santa Fe Land Improvement Company to grow eucalyptus trees, for use as railroad ties. By 1914, over 3000 acres had been planted with eucalyptus, but the next year the project was abandoned when it was discovered that eucalyptus wood was not suitable. In the 1920s, this subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, developed Rancho Santa Fe as a community of "gentlemen's ranches." For Louis Richard and his family, Hidden Lake Ranch was merely six miles from the center core of RSF by  automobile travel on a windy road that connected downtown Escondido to Del Mar. 

In 1922, Rancho San Dieguito was renamed Rancho Santa Fe, and the development plan was launched.  Lilian Rice, of the San Diego firm of Requa and Jackson, and one of the first female graduates of the University of California, Berkeley School of Architecture, was hired as the resident architect.  Ms. Rice designed buildings in the Spanish Revival style that became the standard for architectural controlled communities. It is not known why Louis Richard picked the "Spanish type" style architecture for his homestead, but clearly the style was in vogue, both in San Diego and Los Angeles.