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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCT 99-04; VILLAGES OF LA COSTA OAKS & RIDGE; RESULTS OF MITIGATION WORK; 2004-02-04• 1927 f:h1 ,U,verue Sen Diego C:>, 92i0l-2355 P 619 308 9333 F 619 308 933.c \V\V\v.recsr·-us cor., February 4, 2004 Mr. Tim O'Grady Morrow Development 1903 Wright Place, Suite 180 Carlsbad, CA 92008 Reference: Results of Mitigation Work for LC Ridge-1 in the La Costa Ridge Portion of La Costa Villages (RECON Number 3719A) Dear Mr. O'Grady: This letter is to inform you of the results of the mitigation program RECON has completed on the rock wall site LC Ridge-1 on the La Costa Ridge portion of La Costa Villages. The work fulfills a mitigation requirement adopted by the City of Carlsbad. The mitigation program included measuring, describing, and photographing the walls, and archival research to determine if any written or photographic information on the walls was available. Construction techniques lead to the determination that the walls are of historic period construction. There are no architectural characteristics of the walls to help determine a date or period of construction, and no datable artifacts were found in direct association with the walls. County of San Diego 1928 and 1953 aerial photographs were checked for evidence of the walls. No evidence of the walls was visible on the photographs. No written references to the walls was found in the RECON archives. A California Department of Parks and Recreation site record form has been prepared and is being submitted to the Southern California Information Center. As a result of this work, RECON feels all potential information has been obtained from the walls and no further work is recommended. RECON archaeologists Harry J. Price and Russell 0. Collett conducted the fieldwork on January 12, 2004. The walls were cleared of brush, measured, photographed, and their location mapped with a Trimble global positioning system (GPS) unit. The area around the walls was checked for additional wall segments or other structures and none were found. LC Ridge-1 is in Section 30, Township 12 South, Range 3 West, in the city of Carlsbad (Figures 1 and 2). It is on both sides of an unnamed drainage on the east side of a hill that rises to 738 feet above sea level. The unnamed drainage empties into San Marcos Creek, to the south. Rancho Santa Fe Road is approximately 1,600 feet to the east and San Marcos Creek is about 850 feet to the southeast. A water treatment plant is about 900 feet to the southeast, next to San Marcos Creek, and there is a residential development about 700 feet to the northeast and an industrial park on the east side of Rancho Santa Fe Road. LC Ridge-I consists of two dry laid fieldstone walls (Figure 3). One wall is straight, approximately 316 feet long, and the intact areas vary between 16 and 32 inches in height. The second wall is L shaped, measures 19 feet 4 inches on the long arm, 7 feet 9 inches on the short arm, and the intact areas are about 30 inches in height. No historic or prehistoric artifacts were found in association with either wall. The lack of associated artifacts or datable architectural features on the walls makes it impossible to determine a date of construction, or even a general era to associate the walls with. • Mr. Tim O'Grady Page 2 February 4, 2004 The longer of the two walls is oriented in a northeast-southwest direction (Figure 4), on the north side of a small unnamed drainage. It is composed of dry laid fieldstone available in the immediate vicinity (Photograph 1). The rocks vary in size from fist-sized cobbles to boulders measuring up to 30 inches in length and 12 inches in thickness (Photograph 2). They are of varying angularity, looking weather worn instead of water worn. The wall tapers in thickness as it gains height, a consistent batter of approximately 16 percent on both faces. There are no running joints. The footing is mostly cobble-sized rock, with very few boulder-sized rocks being used in the base. The footing rock is laid in a footing trench approximately seven inches deep. There is no use of gravel or other bedding material. The outside faces of the wall are made of medium to large cobbles. Boulder-sized rocks are used throughout the wall levels as bond stones to tie both sides of the wall together (Photograph 3). They also serve to exert downward pressure to help seat the interior fill rocks. Small cobbles and pebbles are used as fill between the two faces of the wall. The top is not finished out with any specific shape or size of rock. The ends of the segments are finished, but do not use boulders to emphasize corners or to anchor the wall terminus (Photograph 4). The long wall runs gently downhill to the northeast, between the 440-foot and the 460-foot elevation contours. The wall measures approximately 316 feet long, with four intentional breaks (Photographs 5 and 6). Two breaks are near the southwest end, the westernmost being 3 feet wide and the second being 6 feet 10 inches. A second set of breaks occurs close to the northeastern end of the wall, both being approximately 11 feet 6 inches wide. The width of the wall remains very regular where it has not been disturbed. The width at the base averages 30 to 32 inches and the width at the top averages 20 inches. These measurements remain constant no matter what the height of the wall is. The base width remains approximately 32 inches and the top 20 inches, both in area where the wall is 16 inches high and where it is 32 inches high. The tallest segments are on the southwestern portion of the wall. Over half of the wall on this side appears to have been over 20 inches high. It is somewhat difficult to tell if this was the original design, since much of the northeastern half has been disturbed. Rock may have been removed from the northeastern side for use in some other construction project no longer evident. There is not enough fallen rock remaining around the wall to build it back to a 20-to 30-inch height. The remaining wall sections on the northeast side averages from 8 to 16 inches in height. The wall crosses a small drainage and dirt has built up behind the uphill face. There is a change in the linear design of the wall between the two breaks near the southwest end. A segment approximately 11 feet long widens into what appears to have been an open circle with narrower walls than the rest of the wall (Photograph 7). This area is approximately 7 feet 3 inches wide. It does not look like a fallen wall section, because there are no footing rocks left on the route of the wall. This area also is the point where the wall makes its only obvious change in direction. There is nothing visible to give a clue as to what the function of this variation was. The shorter wall is oriented in a northwest-southeast direction on the south side of the same unnamed drainage (Figure 5). This wall is L shaped, with the longer segment, measuring 19 feet 4 inches, running northwest-southeast (Photograph 8). The small segment, measuring 7 feet 9 inches, runs to the northeast from the south end of the long segment. The long segment runs downhill toward the drainage bottom at a slope of approximately 24 degrees (Photograph 9), and ends about 35 feet from the drainage bottom. The width of the wall at the base is 36 inches at the ends and 24 inches in the middle. The intact parts of the wall are approximately 30 inches tall. The wall does have the approximately same batter as the long wall. The outside comer angle is very close to 90 degrees, while the inside angle is approximately 80 degrees. Mr. Tim O'Grady Page 3 February 4, 2004 This wall is constructed using the same techniques as the large wall, with the exception that a larger percentage of the rocks are small to medium boulder size. This is most pronounced on the down slope end of the long segment, where larger rocks would be more stable than a greater number of smaller rocks stacked up. Both ends of the wall are tapered from approximately 30 inches to the ground, as opposed to finishing at a vertical face (Photographs 10, 11, and 12). This appears to be intentional, since there are not a large number of tumbled rock lying around the ends. No additional wall segments or other stone structures were found. A small cluster of olive trees is located approximately 120 feet northwest of the northeast end of the long wall (see Figure 4 ), but there is evidence present to be able to tie the trees with the walls. The basic construction techniques, size, and shape of the walls are typical historic Mexican or American period construction. Nothing could be found during the fieldwork to help identify a construction date, or the function the walls served when they were built. There are no other rock or wood structures or remnants of structures connecting to or adjacent to the walls to suggest that they were some kind of foundation for a now destroyed structure. There are no remnants of rock structures in the drainage to indicate the small wall was part of a dam or other water-related system. There is no evidence of wood and wire fences associated with either of the walls. No gate remains were found at the breaks in the long wall, or any other means of closing the openings off. There is no visible change in the vegetation on one side of the walls to indicate they marked a boundary between different land uses, i.e., grazing versus agriculture. A review of the 1928 and 1945 aerial photographs at the County of San Diego Mapping Department showed no evidence of the walls. There were no structures in the vicinity of the wall locations they could have been associated with on either photograph. All fence lines visible on the 1928 aerial photograph were running north-south or east-west, conforming to section, half-section, or quarter section lines. This was not part of a rancho land grant, which could account for odd parcel boundary angles. No fence lines were visible running in the general area of the walls that could have been attached to them at one time. A literature search revealed no information on the rock walls. A historic adobe exists approximately one- half mile to the east, on San Marcos Creek just east of the present Rancho Santa Fe Road. According to research by Russell Kaldenberg for an earlier La Costa project (Kaldenberg 1976), the house was built around 1868 by three Frenchmen who worked a copper mine in Meadowlark Valley. In later years the adobe was occupied by the Jose Morales, Jose Maria Alvarado, and Juan D. Ortega families. There is no evidence to directly associate the walls with the adobe, but it is the closest ranch house to the walls and there may be a connection not provable by the existing physical evidence. A second ranch house and associated buildings lies 1.1 miles to the north of the walls. Originally part of Agua Hedionda Rancho, the site was developed by Matthew Kelly, Sr., in the 1860s, when the currently standing main house and several other structures were built (Brackett 1960:39). The ranch house and buildings were purchased in the 1930s by Leo Carrillo, a widely known motion picture actor. Carrillo renovated the existing buildings and constructed new ones. The distance from this ranch house makes it less likely that the walls would be associated with the Kelly/Carrillo development. The limited information available from the field and archival work leads to the conclusion that the walls are of historic construction, with their exact period and purpose undeterrninable. With such limited possibilities for additional information from more field or archival work, RECON concludes that all potential research Mr. Tim O'Grady Page 4 February 4, 2004 has been exhausted, and no further work is necessary. RECON has filled out a California Department of Parks and Recreation site record form for LC Ridge-I, and is submitting it to the Southern California Information Center. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at RECON. Sincerely, c:4zaft y!Z .I Harry J. Pnce Project Archaeologist HJP:sh References Cited Brackett, Robert W. 1960 The History of San Diego County Ranchos: The Spanish, Mexican, and American Occupation of San Diego County and the Story of the Ownership of Land Grants Therein. Union Title Insurance Company, San Diego. Kaldenberg, Russell L. 1976 An Intensive Archaeological Reconnaissance of the La Costa Land Company Property, Carlsbad, California. Unpublished manuscript on file at RECON, San Diego. ....... . . . . . . . . :: :::: :: :::: :: : ....... ' : < : <MCIL · \:\/\c~---:-:::::\ /\:~n~j . <> : : : : : : : : : : :: : \: \ \ \:: [Ci ' Pacific Ocean Batiquit Lagoon RECON {J' Project location FIGURE 1 Regional Location Mop Source: USGS 7.5 minut graphic mop series, Rancho Santo Fe ouodrongle [J La Costa Vmoges REC(JN Location .'/·. ,,100s2·.37] 9· o;:::\91S\'C_r;dge_,~ .aorl_ fig2 1usgs'. l /22 'Q..: 0 Feet 2000 FIGURE 2 LC Ridge-1 on USGS Map / I RECON . . • . . ·· ... . .. . .. . . .. .. . .. . •••••···· ••••· : ... :_ \ -:::::=~::::: 1/ ~ Rock Walls • Site datum C;;} Olive trees ~ Dirtroad •• •·•••••• Trails I ............... Seasonal drainage / o~~F§eeiiiiiiit --,-oo d FIGURE 3 Site Map of LC Ridge-1 REC(>N . . . . . . ~ RockWalls CJ Olive trees ~ Dirtroad .••"•••••• Trails f"'•. ,106s?.'-3719\g:s'-.a~c \~C _ R,c:ge _rpr.my /igJ (norf. ... ,c1:' 01 ·2910.:. .I 0 Feet 50 ~ FIGURE 4 LC Ridge-1, North Wall ......., RockWalls a. Site datum ~· Dirtroad .............. " Seasonal drainage RECON t-A. \jobs2\3 719\arc\gis \ic _ridge-rpt.apr\ fig5 (sou~+1wcl:) 1/29/0~ 0 feel 15 d FIGURE 5 LC Ridge-1, South Wall RECON PHOTOGRAPH 1 Looking Northeast along Long Wall from Southwest End M:\JOBS2\37l 9\orc\graphics\photos 1 -2.oi 01/30/04 PHOTOGRAPH 2 Looking Northeast Along Central Portion of Long Wall PHOTOGRAPH 3 Typical Use of Large and Small Rocks In Construction of Long Wall RECON M:\JOBS2\37 l 9\arc\grophics\photo3.ai 01/30/04 RECON M:\JOBS2\37 l 9\arc\graphics\photo4.ai O 1 /30/04 PHOTOGRAPH 4 Typical Long Wall Segment End PHOTOGRAPH 5 Opening in Southwestern Portion of Long Wall RECON M:\JOBS2\37 l 9\orc\grophics\photo5.oi 01/30/04 PHOTOGRAPH 6 Openings in Northeast Portion of Long Wall RECON M:\JOBS2\37 l 9\arc\graphics\photo6.ai 01/30/04 RECON PHOTOGRAPH 7 Northeast Section of Long Wall, Showing Low Average Height of this Section M:\JOBS2\3719\orc\graphics\photo7-8.oi 01/30/04 PHOTOGRAPH 8 Apparent Circular Section of Long Wall, Looking Northeast RECON • J,.r• •• ,. ... _. ~-· :~ .. i;·•· ~ .. ---~ - PHOTOGRAPH 9 Short Wall, Looking Southwest PHOTOGRAPH 1 0 Long Arm of Short Wall, Showing Angle of Slope, Looking Northeast M:\JOBS2\3 7 l 9\arc\graphics\photo9-1 0.ai 01/30/04 RECON M:\JOBS2\3719\orc\grophics\photo 11.oi 01/30/04 PHOTOGRAPH 1 1 Long Arm of Small Wall, Showing Taper RECON M:\JOBS2\37 l 9\arc\grophics\photo 12.ai • PHOTOGRAPH 12 Short Leg of Small Wall, Showing Taper of End 01/30/04