Summer 2011, Volume 57, Number 3 - San Diego History Center

The Day the San Diego River Was Saved
Fig. 1. Mildred Falls on Ritchie Creek showing its
300-foot drop. Photo courtesy of the San Diego
River Park Foundation.
productive wildlife habitats—riparian
forests. And they harbor surprises:
many county residents are not aware
that a couple of the river’s tributaries also
contain two truly spectacular wet-season
waterfalls, Cedar Creek Falls and Mildred
Falls. 1 The latter, located a few miles west
of Pine Hills, drops some 300 feet down
a sheer rock face (Figure 1). A more arid
Yosemite comes to mind.
The River, of course, was the birthplace
of the City of San Diego and, by extension,
the State of California as well. Long before
the arrival of Father Junípero Serra in 1769,
the benefits of living near the river were
well known to the Kumeyaay Indians who
resided in its valley. Both the Native Americans and the missionaries knew it as
a source of both food and potable water, although the latter was not necessarily
reliable twelve months of every year. To overcome this problem, the Spaniards
Fig. 2. Coast Highway bridge on the San Diego River destroyed by the 1916 flood. ©SDHC #6015.
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