Place:California Valley, San Luis Obispo, California, United States

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NameCalifornia Valley
TypeInhabited place
Coordinates35.317°N 120°W
Located inSan Luis Obispo, California, United States
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

California Valley (Spanish: Valle de California) is an unincorporated community located in the eastern part of San Luis Obispo County, California, in the northern portion of the Carrizo Plain.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

California Valley is believed to have been visited by Native Americans passing through to the sacred site at Painted Rock, but no permanent Indian settlement existed due to a lack of easily accessible water. California Valley was a Spanish land grant, the El Chicote Ranch, that was used for seasonal cattle raising.

Local newspaper archives suggest that outlaws hid in California Valley from time to time up until the 1930s. The Spanish land grant was parceled out in 1960 into over 7,200 2.5 acre (10,000 m2) sections by optimistic real estate developers. According to their own advertising fliers, these 1960 developers believed that the California State Water Project might bring water to the area. After a more northerly route (closer to Highway 41/46) for the State Water Project was selected, many buyers lost heart, many properties were abandoned and the developers went bankrupt. Several ranches and other developments built dirt or gravel airstrips and at least one paved runway was built and was at one time listed on aeronautical charts.

A few hundred people have built homes in this isolated area since, but the mass growth once promised never materialized. A Community Services District (CSD) was formed to deliver services to these residents, which includes trash collection, improvement of roads and the upkeep of a Community Center with a small public library.

Between 1960 and 2000, refuse and a number of old cars were dumped in the California Valley area, much of it by local residents, posing serious environmental issues. In 2006, a combined effort by the California Highway Patrol, California Department of Motor Vehicles, San Luis Obispo County Code Enforcement, and local businesses worked together to remove abandoned vehicles and accumulated trash.

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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at California Valley, California. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.