PALOMAR MOUNTAIN HISTORY RESOURCES
Peter Brueggeman
email: peterbman(at)gmail.com

selective historical resources pertaining to the history of Palomar Mountain in San Diego County, California.
Website started in 2004

• Palomar from Teepee to Telescope
  First book on Palomar Mountain history. Topics include Native American history, Joseph Smith, George Doane, Mendenhalls, Frazier sisters, Louis Salmons, Birch Hill, Bailey hotel, schools, lumbering, Esther Hewlett, post offices, mountain lions, bears.
  Catharine M. Wood and Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  Edited, corrected & expanded from Wood's original work, which is in the public domain, and was originally published in San Diego by Frye & Smith in 1937.
  • PDF

• Palomar and the Stars
  Second book on Palomar Mountain history. Topics include Indian sites, Joseph Smith, Nate Harrison, George V. Dyche and his son Will Dyche, the Mendenhalls, George Doane, Theodore Bailey, Nellie McQueen, Harry Birch, Ben Lockhart, Clark Cleaver, Alice Lonnon Perkins Hill, Winbert Fink, Frazier sisters, Bill Nelson, Louis and Hodgie Salmons, George Cook, French Valley.
  Edward H. Davis
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  Abridged, corrected & expanded from Edward Davis' 1947 memoir, which was originally published in Palomar Mountain Views Volume 1, by Palomar Mountain Views of Palomar Mountain, in 1982.
  • PDF

• Palomar Mountain : Past and Present
  Third book on Palomar Mountain history. Topics include Joseph Smith, Nathan Harrison, Enos Mendenhall, Nellie McQueen, Theodore Bailey, George Doane, William Bougher, Palomar schools.
  Marion F. Beckler and Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  Edited, corrected & expanded from Marion F. Beckler's original work, with permission of Stanworth Beckler, which was originally published in Palm Desert, California by Desert Magazine in 1958.
  • PDF

• Palomar Mountain
  Fourth book on Palomar Mountain history with many photographs.
  Corrections & Amendments:
  • Page 23, CRYING WOLFE: Woolf, not Wolfe.
  • Pages 30-31: Salmons, not Salmon.
  • Page 36, APPLE RANCHING: Clark Cleaver at right in photo, not Theodore Bailey.
  • Page 37, BUTTERFLIES NOT INCLUDED: photo is the Smith and Douglass' Palomar Mountain Hotel, with the Smith family out front with the colt Romeo. Roberts owned the property much later.
  • Page 44, PALOMAR MOUNTAIN, RFD. Charles Beishline's windmill was not erected near the site of the old Planwydd Hotel. It was on the fourteen acres below the eight acres formerly owned by Barbara Waite, near the Bonnie Phelps residence on State Park Road.
  • Page 51, MR. JOLLY: Peter B. Jolley, not Jolly. Mail was three times a week and not two times a week according to Jolley's son and Elsie Roberts.
  • Page 71: ANYTHING YOU SAY, C.B.: The lake scenes in the Crater Lake Monster film were filmed at Huntington Lake in the Sierras and at San Vicente Reservoir. Doane pond doesn't appear. There were many non-lake scenes filmed on Palomar.
  • Page 96, STREETS IN AND PAID FOR: Birch Hill subdivision was not marketed as the National Forest Country Club; it was marketed as Campsites by Reid Wallace and others (and the Campsites clubhouse was later called Edgewood Tavern and Skyline Lodge). The National Forest Country Club was a failed enterprise by Jack Roberts and others on the west end of Palomar Mountain located at his property near the State Park.
  Brad Bailey
  Charleston SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2009
  • Available for purchase at the Palomar Mountain Store
  • Available at Arcadia Publishing

• Elsie's Mountain: Memories of Palomar & Southern California 1897-1987
  Diary of Elsie Roberts of Palomar Mountain
  Barbara Anne Waite
  San Marcos, Calif.: Palomar Mountain Bookworks, 2015
  • Amazon Books

• My Palomar
  Memoir by Robert Haley Asher. Robert Haley Asher was born 28 March 1868, to Josephus Marion Asher who was the first commercial nurseryman in the San Diego area, providing buyers with fruit trees, shrubs, and vines from his Fruit Vale ranch in Paradise Valley, National City. Robert Asher settled on Palomar Mountain in 1903, and ultimately had 160 acres, living in the Pauma Creek / State Park area. Robert Asher also lived off Palomar Mountain part of the year working as a nurseryman. On Palomar, Asher took and sold photographs of summer campers, sold postcards of his photos, trapped animals for pelts, collected and sold wild plants, picked apples, and worked odd jobs. Asher moved off Palomar Mountain in 1946 to his sister Mrs. Josephine A. Vacher’s place on Fuerte Drive in El Cajon, and continued to visit Palomar Mountain until 1951. Asher passed away on 25 April 1953.
  Robert Haley Asher. Peter Brueggeman, editor
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• George Edwin Doane of Palomar Mountain
  George Edwin Doane homesteaded in 1880 in Doane Valley in what is now Palomar Mountain State Park. Doane was a well known and colorful person, married a young wife, and left Palomar Mountain in 1907.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Clark Cleaver, Apple King of Palomar Mountain
  Clark Cleaver came west in the gold rush and moved onto Palomar Mountain in the late 1880s, living at the road bend outside the State Park. Cleaver farmed and had apple orchards, and was prominent in the community. Newspapers at the time of his death in 1912, called him the "apple king" of the Escondido country which encompassed Palomar Mountain.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Esther Parnell Hewlett, Butterfly Queen of Palomar Mountain
  Esther Hewlett's family moved to Palomar Mountain outside the east entrance to the State Park in 1913, and Esther started capturing and raising local butterflies and moths for sale to collectors as specimens or in frames, trays, etc. She was known as the "Butterfly Girl" on Palomar Mountain. This grew to become a family business and continued in much greater scale after the family relocated to Upland in 1919. This was the only butterfly farm in the United States, and Esther became known as the "Butterfly Woman," "Butterfly Lady," and "Butterfly Queen." Esther Hewlett was very creative in crochet design, and while she was on Palomar Mountain started selling crochet designs to magazines. Crochet design grew into her main business and though Esther Hewlett died in 1975, she is well known for crochet design to this day.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• The Fraziers of Palomar Mountain
  The Fraziers of Palomar Mountain, James Frazier and his sisters Maria and Elizabeth, lived on Palomar Mountain from about 1891 when James arrived by himself, to 1918 when Maria died and Elizabeth left. They were well known, and active locally. Frazier Point on Palomar Mountain is named after them. The Frazier sisters and Maria in particular became known for their hard work, and the death of Maria Frazier became part of Palomar Mountain legend.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Fire on Palomar Mountain
  Due to wind, hot weather and topography, Palomar Mountain fires can be challenging. Fire maps on the Internet show Palomar fire history back to 1910; newspaper accounts go back to 1861. Most of Palomar has burned, and undoubtedly all of it has burned reaching back in time.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Palomar Mountain logging and lumbering
  History of logging and lumbering on Palomar Mountain, starting with the Striplin and Wilhite sawmill in Pedley Valley in the 1890s. Later, Everett Clyde Linthicum ran a sawmill nearby in the Crestline area.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• History of Campsites and Crestline on Palomar Mountain
  History of the Birch Hill / Crestline development on Palomar Mountain, which was originally known as Campsites. Includes history of the Oceanview Resort and the Campsites clubhouse/lodge aka Edgewood Tavern and Skyline Lodge.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Palomar Mountain Schools
  By 1900, when Palomar Mountain was populous with children, three schools high up on Palomar Mountain had been established: Malava, Palomar, and Cedar Grove. Going from east to west, the Malava School District started in 1877, the Palomar School District started in 1891, and the Cedar Grove School District started in 1898. Due to population changes, the Malava School combined with the Palomar School in 1903, the Cedar Grove School closed in 1906, and the Palomar School closed in 1908. In subsequent years, schools opened and closed on Palomar Mountain, and the final school closed in 2008.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Racing Up Palomar Mountain
  The first automobile hillclimb competition up Palomar Mountain's Nate Harrison Grade from the gate off Pauma Road to Baileys was in 1912, with a time of 35 minutes. Successive hillclimb runs through 1923 lowered that time to 28 minutes and 39 seconds. After 1924, there are no further newspaper reports on hillclimb runs up Nate Harrison Grade.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Louis Salmons of Palomar Mountain
  Louis Salmons farmed and ranched in Pauma Valley and then on Palomar Mountain in Dyche Valley and on leased land in Doane Valley. Salmons was a pioneering cattle rancher and active in local affairs.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Palomar Mountain Views
  • Volume 1 (Palomar Mountain, California: Palomar Mountain Views, September 1982)
    • Edward H. Davis' Palomar Mountain memoir (including Indians; Joseph Smith; Nate Harrison; George V. Dyche; Enos T. Mendenhall; George Doane; Theodore Bailey; Nellie McQueen; Harry Birch; Ben Lockhart; Clark Cleaver; Alice Hill; Winbert Fink; Frazier sisters; Bill Nelson; Louis and Hodgie Salmons; George Cook; French Valley; Iron Springs camping: Palomar Mountain trees and plants; telescope; Francis G. Pease)
    • Palomar Mountain Fire Department history
    • Project Hug-a-tree, Jimmy Beveridge death, February 1981
    • Grizzly bear on Palomar Mountain
    • Forest rangering in the old days: Phil Angel, Nellie Angel
    • Observatory then and now
    • George Doane beard growing contest
    • Artists view the Mountain
    • Luiseno lines
    • Mountain King snake
  • Volume 2 (Palomar Mountain, California: Palomar Mountain Views, 1983)
    • Palomar Mountain State Park history
    • Yoga Center, Mother's Kitchen and Store
    • Elsie R.H. Roberts' Palomar memoir
    • LeRoy "Roy" Bonham's 1921 Boy Scout trek to Palomar Mountain
    • Borden Cabin memories, Phoebe Borden. Including Ralph Payne Middlebrook, Camp Comfort rock
    • Palomar Mountain bear account, Otis Kilgore
    • Plane down on Palomar Mountain, Cessna 170B, March 21, 1983
    • Palomar Mountain Volunteer Fire Department, plus 1982 BBQ
    • Observatory, 1982-1983
    • Thelma Samsioe
    • Rodney W. Ballie
    • Pearl Schrader
    • Roy Tillinghast
    • Vic and Kay Butler
    • Mildred Koenig and Skyline Lodge (now known as Lodge on Palomar Mountain, at the end of Crestline Road), including Art Koenig
    • George Doane beard growing contest
    • Palomar photo album at Baileys, 1916
    • Mountain arts, crafts, and prose
  • Available for purchase at the Palomar Mountain Store
  • Available through Bookfinder.com

• Archaeological investigations at Molpa, San Diego County, California
  Molpa is a historically known Luiseno village located on the slopes of Palomar Mountain in the Boucher Hill quadrangle at elevation of 2,500 feet. Topics are site features, artifacts, cultural geography, dating, and interpretations and evaluations. With appendix covering archaeological resources in Palomar Mountain State Park, principally summer villages and temporary camps.
  Delbert L. True
  University of California Publications in Anthropology, Volume 11. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1974.
  • PDF: Borrow to read for 1 hour; renewable every hour, pending availability

• The Culture of the Luiseno Indians
  search the text for Palomar
  Philip Stedman Sparkman
  University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 8(4):187-234, 1908
  With Appendix. Plants used by the Luisenos.
  • PDF

• Luiseno Social Organization
  search the text for Palomar
  Raymond C. White
  University of California Publications in American Archeology and Ethnology 48(2):91-194, 1963
  • PDF

• The Religion of the Luiseno Indians of Southern California
  search the text for Palomar
  Constance Goddard DuBois
  University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 8(3):69-186, 1908
  With Appendix I. Games, Arts, and Industries of the Dieguenos and Luisenos, by C. G. DuBois. Appendix II. Notes on the Luisenos, by A.L. Kroeber
  • PDF

• Handbook of the Indians of California: Luiseno and Cupeno chapters
  search the text for Palomar
  A. L. Kroeber
  Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 78, 1925
  • PDF

• San Luis Rey River Basin: Overview of Cultural Resources
  search the text for Palomar
  Sue Ann Cupples & Ken Hedges
  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, LA District, 1977
  • PDF

• Common Plants Found in the Territory Exploited by the Villages of Molpa and Cuca
  D. L. True, C. W. Meighan, and Harvey Crew
  Excerpt from: Archaeological investigations at Molpa, San Diego County, California. University of California publications in anthropology volume 11. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974
  • PDF

• Palomar Mountain's High Point and Taakwish Pu'shappila
  Eleanor Beemer wrote My Luiseno Neighbors, Excerpts from a Journal Kept in Pauma Valley Northern San Diego County, 1934 to 1974 [Ramona, California: Acoma Books, 1980] about her extensive experiences with the Luiseno people. High Point is the highest peak in the Palomar Mountain range, and the Luiseno knew High Point as a Taakwish Pu'shappila. Taakwish is a devil and a Pu'shappila is a pounding up place where Taakwish ground up his victim's bones.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman, 2010
  • PDF

• Morgan Hill and Laqalqa
  Eleanor Beemer wrote My Luiseno Neighbors, Excerpts from a Journal Kept in Pauma Valley Northern San Diego County, 1934 to 1974 [Ramona, California: Acoma Books, 1980] about her extensive experiences with the Luiseno people. Beemer writes of Laqalqa in the Morgan Hill area of Palomar Mountain, an exposed rock face about five miles beyond upper French Valley, and overlooking Frey and Aqua Tibia canyons. Young Luisenos would come to Laqalqa for a test of manhood and bravery, by trail from Pauma.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman, 2010
  • PDF

• Field-work among the Mission Indians of California
  last Native American house on Palomar
  J. P. Harrington
  Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1932. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1933. pp. 85-88
  • PDF

• Fire on the Mountain: Archaeology in Palomar Mountain State Park before and after the 2007 Witch/Poomacha fires, San Diego County, California
  Arleen Garcia-Herbst
  Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology, Volume 23, 2009
  • PDF

• Born a Slave, Died a Pioneer: Nathan Harrison and the Historical Archaeology of Legend. Seth Mallios. 1st edition. New York: Berghahn Books, 2019

• Nathan Harrison: Born Enslaved, Died a San Diego Legend
  • Virtual Exhibit. San Diego History Center, 3/2021
  • Virtual Exhibit Opening & Tour. San Diego History Center and Seth Mallios presentation. San Diego History Center, 3/18/2021
  • How Archaeology Helped Reveal The Personal Life Of Nathan Harrison. Beth Accomando. KPBS, 3/23/2021
  • The Most Important Story to Tell. SDSU Alumni, 3/2021

• Seth Mallios' archaeological work at Nate Harrison cabin site: "The writers of history can make up anything they want, but old garbage doesn't lie."
  • Guns, sundown towns, and the multi-ethnic Old West: Nathan Harrison and firearm ownership in late 19th and early 20th century San Diego County. Michael Hoke. SDSU thesis, 2022
  • Archaeology team digs up answers to old questions on Nathan Harrison, San Diego's first Black homesteader. Lisa Deaderick, San Diego Union Tribune, 24 October 2021
  • Archaeologist finds camp of San Diego's first Black homesteader. CBS 8 San Diego, June 16, 2021
  • The Amazing True Story of Nathan Harrison. Daniel Weiss. Archaeology, March/April 2021
  • Nathan Harrison: Discovering the Man behind the Legend. video of talk given on 10/10/2020 for the San Diego History Center (starts at 10:00)
  • Why Nathan Harrison Was and Is Important.. The Journal of San Diego History. Volume 66, Number 1, pp. 1-12
  • Historical Photography and its Impacts on the Life and Legends of Nathan Harrison.. The Journal of San Diego History. Volume 66, Number 1, pp. 27-40
  • An Archaeology of Space and Everyday Life at Palomar Mountain’s Nathan Harrison Site.. The Journal of San Diego History. Volume 66, Number 1, pp. 41-60
  • San Diego County Pioneer Nathan 'Nate' Harrison and the Historical Archaeology of Legend. video of talk given on 7/28/2020 for the San Diego County Archaeological Society.
  • The Implications of Food Preservation at the Nathan Harrison Site. Haley Alexander and Seth Mallios, Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology 34:155-160, 2020
  • "Born a Slave, Died a Pioneer", the Nathan Harrison Story with Dr. Seth Mallios. Audio, The Archeology Show, episode 77, 2019
  • Digging deep: uncovering the history of Nate Harrison with Dr Seth Mallios. Audio. On the edge with April Mahoney, Blog Talk Radio, 9 October 2017
  • Archaeological Myth Busting at Palomar Mountain's Nate Harrison Site. Seth Mallios. Save Our Heritage Organization, volume 42, 2011
  • Scientific Excavations at Palomar Mountain's Nate Harrison Site: The Historical Archaeology of a Legendary African-American Pioneer. Journal of San Diego History 55(3):141-160, Summer 2009
  • The Archaeology of Nate Harrison: Legends and Legacies of an African-American Pioneer in San Diego County. SDSU Library exhibit, 2008
  • SDSU Archaeological Excavations Unravel Historical Myths on Palomar Mountain. Gina Speciale, SDSU NewsCenter, 2007
  • Preliminary Excavations at the Nate Harrison Site. Seth Mallios and Sarah Stroud. Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology 19:71-74, 2006

• The Murder of Joseph Smith of Palomar Mountain
  From 1869ish until 1901, Palomar Mountain was known as Smith or Smith's Mountain, named after Joseph Smith. Smith was the first Anglo settler on Palomar Mountain, having a ranch in Dyche Valley on the east side of Palomar mountain range, where he had sheep and cattle and farmed grains. Well known in San Diego county, Smith was murdered in 1868 by a hired hand, who was tracked down and lynched.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Nellie McQueen, Harriet Jessee, and the early history of the post offices of Palomar Mountain
  The first post office on Palomar Mountain, as well as its postmark, was “Nellie” from 1883 to 1920… who was Nellie? Angus McQueen and his daughter Ellen “Nellie” McQueen moved to Palomar Mountain by 1882. It was a long ride to Warner's Station for supplies and mail, and whoever happened to be going, got the mail for everyone. Nellie McQueen wrote to the U.S. Post Master General, asking for a post office on Palomar, offering herself as postmaster. She suggested the name "Fern Glen" for the post office, and got her postal contract on April 2, 1883. However the U.S. Postal Service turned down the name "Fern Glen" and to her chagrin, gave the post office her name: "Nellie." The Nellie post office on Palomar Mountain was first located in Dyche Valley on the eastern side of Palomar. After it relocated to Bailey's, a second postoffice on Palomar Mountain was established, named Jessee, after William W. Jessee, a minister homesteading land on the east side of Palomar Mountain.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• George V. Dyche of Palomar Mountain
  The east road up Palomar Mountain from Lake Henshaw passes through a large grassy valley, ... Dyche Valley, which is named after George Dyche who lived there from 1869 to 1892. Previously Dyche had lived at the rincon of Warners Ranch, working for John Rains of Rancho Cucamonga, who ran cattle at Warners Ranch. After Rains' murder, Dyche purchased Joseph Smith's land on Palomar after Smith's murder (and participated in the lynching of Smith's murderer). Dyche homesteaded and purchased more land on Palomar to add to his holdings. George and his wife Mary had four children, and were well known locally. In 1892, Dyche and family moved off Palomar to nearby Mesa Grande.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Apples on Palomar Mountain
  Before 1890, apple trees were planted on Palomar Mountain aka Smith Mountain, with the first crop harvested in 1890. Many varieties were subsequently planted & harvested over the years; production was considerable though not up to the levels of Julian & Wynola. Before automotive tranport, transport to sale in Escondido was arduous given the steep & rough roads.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Hotel Palomar on Palomar Mountain
  Hotel Palomar was located at what is now the Silvercrest picnic area in Palomar Mountain State Park, with a spectacular view overlooking San Diego County. In 1902, Bertrand R. Douglass and his wife Lillie May Johnston Douglass purchased 160 acres there, and the Douglass' opened a summer resort known as Hotel Palomar. They ran the resort along with Marion Smith, who ran a four horse stage two trips a week to Escondido, which would bring customers to the resort. The Douglass' sold the hotel and land in 1907 to the Ed Fletcher and Frank A. Salmons syndicate, and the Hotel Palomar was then run by the Bailey brothers in conjunction with their hotel and campground located nearby at Baileys. In 1913, it was reopened as Camp Silvercrest, and then in 1920 it was reopened as Planwydd run by Jack and Elsie Roberts, later aiming to become the membership-based National Forest Country Club in 1924, which failed.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Nathan Chaffin Pedley and Pedley Valley of Palomar Mountain
  In 1910, Nathan Chaffin Pedley of Pomona and friends purchased from Samuel Striplin what became later known as Pedley Valley, with Pedley becoming the sole owner in a few years. N.C. Pedley and sons planted apple trees, and spent periods of time there with family on what they called El Molino ranch. Subsequent owners of some of the Pedley land were Charles Darby of La Jolla and the Palomar Mountain Water Company.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• The Cooks of Palomar Mountain
  Who are Jeff and Will of Jeff Valley and Will Valley on the east side of Palomar Mountain? Jeff Valley is named after Jefferson Madison Cook, and Will Valley is named after William H. Cook, a son of Jefferson Cook from his first marriage. There were a lot of Cooks on Palomar Mountain, living there from 1877 to 1903.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Ski Palomar Mountain
  A ski resort on Palomar Mountain opened in the winter of 1966/1967, and closed the following season. In May 1966, a San Diego County special use permit was granted to Charles Darby for a ski resort on an eighty acre site owned by Carl (Wog) Bergman, on the west side of the S6 road at the 5,200 foot level about a mile and a quarter north of the post office, and four miles from the Observatory. The temperatures were often too high for making snow, and snow falls were not numerous.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF
  • YouTube: CBS TV Channel 8 film on Ski Palomar Mountain, broadcast on 24 December 1966: script in the YouTube video's description

• Winbert Fink of Palomar Mountain
  Winbert Clarence Fink lived in the Will Valley area on the east side of Palomar Mountain for thirty-seven years … a long stretch compared to other early residents of Palomar Mountain. About him, Robert Asher said: ""Little Fink" was a fixture on the mountain when I first arrived [in 1903]. His place was on the extreme easterly end of the mountain, a short distance from Will Cook Valley. He had a several-roomed cabin and a good sized barn. Winbert Fink ... had lost his health and reports had it that he was just about on his last legs when he landed on Palomar and took up his homestead. However that may be, Fink was with us for many years and was able to accomplish much more than most of the men who took up lands on Palomar about that time. ... Then, too, he built a fairly good road all the way up from Warner’s Ranch all by himself. Anyone having knowledge of the cost of the county-built road up from Henshaw Dam would know that this one thing would mark Fink as a remarkable man."
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Outlaws and Fugitives on Palomar Mountain
  Newspaper accounts of rustlers, thieves, outlaws, and fugitives passing through and hiding out on Palomar Mountain.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• William Jasper Kolb and Colb Valley on Palomar Mountain
  Misspelled as Colb Valley and located adjacent to the Observatory, William Jasper Kolb and family settled and lived in Colb Valley on Palomar Mountain for several years. In 1865 he came west on a wagon train from Texas with his wife and children and other family members. After several years, he settled with his family on Palomar Mountain.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• The Foussat brothers and French Valley on Palomar Mountain
  French Valley and French Creek on Palomar Mountain are named after Hubert Alberto Foussat and Jean Baptiste Foussat.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Birch Hill on Palomar Mountain
  Birch Hill on Palomar Mountain is named after Englishmen Henry Clarkson Birch and his younger brother Arthur Clarkson Birch, who lived there from 1891 to 1893. The Englishmen made such an impression on local residents that the hill where they lived became known as Birch Hill.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Pedley Valley and Darby's Palomar Mountain Resort
  Charles Darby was a home builder living in La Jolla and wanted mountain property that had snowfalls to enjoy; he bought the upper 40 acres of Pedley Valley in 1951 or 1952 (that area was called Old Bull Pasture). Darby built four cabins and opened Darby's Palomar Mountain Resort. The Darbys continued living in La Jolla, and spent most weekends and holidays at their property, renting cabins to visitors; the property was purchased for their enjoyment and not intended as a business endeavor. The Darbys sold the property in 1967 to three doctors from San Diego, and the pond there is now known as Doctors Pond.
  Robin Howell and Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Barker Valley on Palomar Mountain
  Barker Valley on Palomar Mountain is named after Joseph R. Barker of whom there is little information. His daughter or ward Emma Barker married Louis Shannon Salmons, who was famously connected with Palomar Mountain.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• The Peyregnes and Parayne Hill of Palomar Mountain
  Parayne Hill is located southeast of Will Valley and north of Love Valley on the east side of Palomar Mountain. Parayne is a misspelling of Peyregne, referring to twin brothers, Jean Bertrand and Jean Louis Peyregne, and a relative, William Louis Peyregne, who owned adjacent land.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Thompson’s Summit Grove
  • Thompson’s Summit Grove of Palomar Mountain
    In 1947, Wayne Thompson and his brother Russell Thompson along with Russell's wife Noreen started Thompson's Summit Grove on Palomar Mountain, located at the intersection of Highway S6 and State Park Road. The business grew to encompass a gas station, store, snack bar, and then a restaurant. Russell and Noreen Thompson's share of the business was sold to Carl Henry 'Wog' Bergman. Wayne Thompson met his future wife Shirley there and she became part of the business. Wayne and Shirley Thompson along with then co-owners Ralph and Lelia Kulk sold the business in 1977.
    Peter Brueggeman
    Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
    • PDF

  • Shirley Thompson speaking on Thompson's Summit Grove of Palomar Mountain
    Audio of interview of Shirley Thompson about Thompson's Summit Grove on Palomar Mountain, a service station and snack bar run by her and her husband Wayne Thompson, located at the intersection of Highway S6 and State Park Road.
    Audio of Shirley Thompson interview by Peter Brueggeman, 2006
    • MP3

• Donald Gordon and Gordon Point on Palomar Mountain
  Donald Gordon lived his later years on Palomar Mountain in a converted water tank near Gordon Point which is named after him. In his earlier years, he built a glider and several airplanes and made the first manned flight west of the Mississippi.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• John A. Love and Love Valley on Palomar Mountain
  Love Valley along East Grade on Palomar Mountain is named after John A. Love. Love farmed in South San Diego for several years, moved to Palomar Mountain, and then to Alpine, where he established The Oaks resort
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Morgan Hill and Fry Creek on Palomar Mountain
  Morgan Hill is named after William Henry Morgan. He and his family lived there before 1901. After a hard winter, they moved off mountain. In 1883, Andrew Fry purchased land along Fry Creek, lived there for sometime, and sold it to Enos T. Mendenhall.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Nathan Harrison
  • Nathan Harrison: in the words of those who spent some time with him
    From the late 1880s to 1919, Nathan Harrison lived on the west side of Palomar Mountain, on the west road up the mountain now named after him, Nate Harrison Grade. Harrison lived at a Pauma Indian summer camp site called To-ko-ma where there was a spring, located well up their trail up the west side of Palomar Mountain. Harrison became an attraction and celebrity for Palomar Mountain visitors, appearing in many photos. The outline of his life is well sorted out in Seth Mallios’ book Born a Slave, Died a Pioneer: Nathan Harrison and the Historical Archaeology of Legend. The focus of this work is substantial remembrances of and conversations with him. Excluded are brief mentions of him, or interviews that mostly tell Harrison’s history.
    Peter Brueggeman
    Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
    • PDF

  • Exploring the Past: The Life and Times of Nathan "Nate" Harrison in San Diego
    Vicki Morgan and Yvette Porter Moore
    San Diego Public Library, October 22, 2024
    • YouTube

  • Nate Harrison's "Cabin Collection"
    From the late 1880s to 1919, Nate Harrison lived on the west side of Palomar Mountain, high up on the west road up the mountain now named after him, Nate Harrison Grade. After he died, these materials were found in his cabin by neighbor(s). Subsequently they have been called the “cabin collection" in Seth Mallios’ book Born a Slave, Died a Pioneer: Nathan Harrison and the Historical Archaeology of Legend.
    Peter Brueggeman
    Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
    • PDF

  • Palomar Pioneers: The Water Bearer
    Jeff Smith
    San Diego Reader, May 26, 2010
    • PDF

  • Uncle Nate (Harrison) of Palomar
    Touring Topics 23(10):22-25, October 1931
    • PDF

• Palomar Pioneers: Of Travail and Tragedy
  Article on Joseph Beresford and the Frazier Sisters
  Jeff Smith
  San Diego Reader, June 2, 2010
  • PDF

• Camping in [Palomar Mountain] California
  Henry Bond Restarick writes about his family's annual Palomar Mountain camping trips which started in 1896.
  Henry Bond Restarick
  Chapter from: My Personal Recollections, the unfinished memoirs of Henry Bond Restarick, Bishop of Honolulu, 1902-1920. Honolulu: Paradise of the Pacific Press, 1938
  • PDF

• Marion Beckler's Palomar Mountain Memoir
  Memoir about teaching at the Palomar Mountain school, a Palomar Mountain childhood trip in 1900, and some local history
  Marion Beckler
  c1961. Edited by Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Gordon Stuart on Palomar Mountain
  In 1904, Gordon Stuart stayed for a month at Samuel Striplin's place in Pedley Valley on Palomar Mountain, and writes about Samuel Striplin, camping there, and the people he met, including George Doane, Clark Cleaver, and Bill Nelson.
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• Ed Fletcher and Palomar Mountain
  Ed Fletcher of San Diego and his involvement with Palomar Mountain
  Peter Brueggeman
  Mount Helix, Calif.: Peter Brueggeman
  • PDF

• History of Palomar Mountain As Remembered by Hank and Florance Saddler
  Henry William Saddler (1909-1987) and Florance Abby Butts (1898-1990). Married 1920. Hank and Florance Saddler were the first permanent or year-round park employees at Palomar Mountain State Park, from July 1, 1940 to April 24, 1948 (with a gap for military service from January 16, 1943 to November 30, 1945). The Saddlers write about his first trips to Palomar Mountain, starting and running the Palomar Mountain State Park, constructing a prison honor camp, building a reservoir in upper Doane Valley, the Park's apple trees and varieties, Robert Asher, Alice Hill, native American acorn gathering, and other topics.
  Hank and Florance Saddler
  Undated typescript
  • PDF

• Armchair Tour of Palomar
  Palomar Mountain history written by the students of Palomar Mountain School in 1965, covering the Observatory, schools, Gus Weber, French Valley, Mendenhalls, post offices, Skyline Lodge, valleys of eastern Palomar Mountain, Baileys, William Bougher, High Point, Nathan Harrison, George Doane. Includes maps.
  Students of Palomar Mountain School
  Palomar Mountain School, 1965
  • PDF

• The Hermit
  Essay on George Doane, with Robert Asher photographs
  Ethel Griffith Bailey
  The Overland Monthly 52:363-368, July-December 1908
  • PDF

• Butterflies for a Hobby
  The Hewlett family left Palomar Mountain and moved to Upland, California, where Esther Parnell Hewlett's butterfly collecting and sales became a family enterprise. Esther Hewlett published a booklet on it.
  Esther Parnell Hewlett
  Upland, California: Butterfly Art Shop, 1945
  • PDF

• Native Plants of Palomar
  Catharine M. Wood
  Excerpt from "Palomar from Teepee to Telescope," published in San Diego by Frye & Smith in 1937.
  • PDF

• The Hidden Cabin, a Pathetic Story in Condensed Form
  Not a history; this is a long poem set at Palomar Mountain
  David W. Edwards
  Los Angeles: Commercial Printing House, 1909
  • PDF

• Palomar Mountain excerpt from: Out of Doors, California and Oregon
  JA Graves
  Los Angeles: Grafton Publishing Co. 1912. pp. 3-8, plates
  • PDF

• What Do You Do on Top of Mount Palomar?
  Motorcycle ride to Palomar Mountain by the Quaff Barrel bar in Riverside
  Choppers 8(11):20-25, November 1975
  • PDF

• State Building Highway Link to Site of 200-inch Telescope on Palomar Peak
  includes map of planned route, and photos of the 1936 state of the road and the contractors' camp
  E. E. Wallace
  California Highway and Public Works, April 1936. pp. 2-5
  • PDF

• Big Eye on Palomar
  Greyhound Lines travel magazine article on Palomar Mountain
  The Highway Traveler 21(1):14-15,48, February-March 1949
  • PDF

• San Diego History Center
  • Palomar, After 50 Years ... about the telescope. Ronald Florence. The Journal of San Diego History 44(4), Fall 1998
  • Palomar's Friendly Hermit ... about Nate Harrison. Laura M. James. The Journal of San Diego History 4(1), January 1958

• Bailey's
  • Bailey's on Palomar, Our History
  • More Hours in My Day Soup - Terri Bailey on Big Blend Radio: Terri Bailey discussing the history of the Bailey family and Bailey's Palomar Resort. Terri shares Hodgie Bailey's "More Hours In My Day Soup" recipe (c.1920). Audio, October 20, 2018
  • Bailey's Apple Pie Filling Or Preserves: Terri Bailey on the Bell's apples at Bailey's, and cooking with them. Video, September 10, 2013.

• Historical Information, Bonnie Phelps

• Forest Fire Lookout Association San Diego-Riverside Chapter:
  Boucher Hill and High Point lookouts

• History of Palomar Observatory
  CalTech