The San Francisco call., 1906-10-07
RQ.diSCWeIy Of 137syeaI;
old pieCe Of MaSOIny in
San Diego County rqy yealsl
also tho Romantic TRAGEDY
which occurred there
By Lucille Vivian Pierce.


and lies far from the haunts Of the
tourist over an exceptionally rough
nd additionally damaged by the late
wsshouts This is the reason that, ex-
capt to the very few who have become
everlasting and discerning lovers OF
California. and TO a few natives who
love a lazy day OF fishing, the Old MIS-
sion Dam. twelve miles below the MS
sion OF san Diego de Alcala, and built
at the same time-17G9-has not been
advertised and spoiled. It has escaped
the tourist; il has escaped the camera
fend. Il has escaped the awful picnic
crowds leaving havocs Of lunch refuse
in their trail ana until last spring
II had for wears escaped those who
love 10 look back TO the beginnings OF
pastoral California. And this old Dam.
too. was the setting Of romantic
tragedy.
BY chance We learned that last
spring the debris that had buried the
old dam had been washed away, giving
I'D after scores. OF years in sandy
grave the great work OF the Mission
Fathers and their children, the Mis-
sion sInd5aus. with their smoloering
resentment and outward submission so
many California lovers have described
the dam .as il was a few years ago. we
we lear1ed from an old Mission Val
ley resident-were TO see il as it had
been in the old days,
Tt was drive through wonder
ful country with little to remind one
Of the present. one forgot the pre-
carious road. We PASSED the Old Mis-
sion standing Oh its Hill. beautiful yet.
with that poignant beauty that dead
things SO often take on. and rode on
down the smiling valley green with
the late luxuriance that told of the
foOded spring. Olive trees. every
where, rOadsidea sentineled by tall
sunfowers and doorysrds filed with
the rosy fame Of oleander and hibiscus
and pOmegranate bloom.
Then of a sudden we left the valley
and found ourselves in a changed land.
The bare hills rose straight above the
road on either hand. covered with huge
gray boulders. their shadows in the
intense heat that purple against the
ocher hill And it was down this
sinister trail, we remembered. that the
dam builders must have walked, a sui
len little band led by the brown clad
friers.
We doubled back upon San Diego
River again. The road turned and we
were looking down into a cool, exquisite
fairyland of shifting greens and shall
low. shimmering water. II was like
u we were away from the rutty, dust
deep road. driving through the silver
river sands and pretty shadows.
Trees everywhere, We didn't believe
there were so many in the whole of
Southern California-sycamore in
gnarled groups. their golden green
foliage just limiting of the end OF sum-
rner. their silver trunks flashing like
light against the green, end poplars
glimmering like candles and rustling
delicately in the blue air, and a dense
willow growth on every hand. The
shadows are covered with strange va
rieties OF cress and bordered by late
wild flowers. crimson and blue and yell
low.
Dam Built by Neopfytes.
The great dam spans the river al
tins point 1t was built in 1853 under
the direction Of the fathers, by the
sornber-eyed Indians of the Mission
village and for at leas. a quarter of a
century has been buried so deeply in
the sands OF the dry bed OF San Diego
River that as a work Of skill there
was little TO see. Last year the south
was Hooded, the first great rain for
fifteen years. San Diego River, ..the
river turned upside down." they call it.
overf1oweo and. sweeping away the
dozens OF snug vegetable gardens that
pave Mission Valley like a brilliantly
striped carpet, rushed completely over
the old dam OF the fathers, whirling
away the debris Of scores of. years
tearing a great break In its unique
masonry and Incidentally restoring the
Gam to US.
Now that the food has subsded, in
stead OF a couple OF feet Of crlnbline
stone one sees ssn embankmeat twelve
solid feet high at its deepest point and