Ken Cooke
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Smuggler's Gulch won't live up to its' name anymore
A massive earth-moving project is transforming Smuggler's Gulch near San Diego from a narrow canyon used by cattle thieves, bandits and illegal
immigrants into a plugged breach.
LIKE A DAM: Posts are installed for the 15-foot-high fencing that will run along the filled-in canyon on theƒoU.S.-Mexico border famously known as
Smuggler¡¦s Gulch.
Reporting from San Diego -- Smuggler's Gulch lived up to its infamous name.
For a century, the narrow canyon leading into California from Mexico provided cover for cattle thieves and opium dealers, bandits and booze runners.
More recently, it has hidden thousands of illegal immigrants on their journey north, sealing its place in border lore.
Now, it's a fading memory.
The canyon has been all but wiped off the landscape, its steep walls carved into gentle slopes, its depths filled with 35,000 truckloads of dirt as
the federal government nears completion of an extensive border reinforcement project at the southwesternmost point of the United States.
In 2005, the Bush administration waived state and federal environmental laws to overcome stiff opposition to the massive earth-moving effort, which
entails cutting the tops off nearby hills and pushing about 1.7 million cubic yards of dirt into the gulch and neighboring Goat Canyon.
Environmentalists and conservation groups fear that the project, scheduled to be completed in May, will harm the Tijuana River estuary, threaten
endangered species and destroy culturally sensitive Native American sites. With construction well underway, it's clear that few of the 500 miles of
new border fencing projects are transforming the environment as radically as the three miles from the Smuggler's Gulch area to the coast.
Once a breach in the coastal hills, the gulch is now more like a dam than a passage. Anyone attempting to cross confronts a 150-foot-high berm that
will soon be topped with stadium lighting, video surveillance cameras and 15-foot-high fencing. Eventually, an all-weather road will run atop the
filled-in canyons and smoothed-out hills and mesas all the way to the ocean.
For those who see the canyon border as blight, the gulch is a victim of its notorious past and deserves to be buried forever. "Good riddance," said
Donald McDermott, a former U.S. Border Patrol assistant chief who once patrolled the area. "Anything that makes it easier to control the border is a
good thing."
The canyon figured in some of California's earliest history. Charles W. Hughes, a local historian, said many of California's earliest settlers came
through the pass. "It's very discouraging. We talk about trying to preserve our history . . . and yet they can come in and do this," he said.
Father Junipero Serra, on his first journey to what was then called Nueva California, probably passed through the area in 1769, according to
historians who have studied the missionary's journals.
"Serra described going over the hills in Tijuana and saying he could see the sails of the ships in San Diego Harbor. The only place you could possibly
do that . . . comes out at Goat Canyon or that immediate area," said Harry Crosby, a historian who wrote a book on Baja California's history.
Smuggler's Gulch started earning its nickname in the 1880s after the U.S. government established customs duties at the port of entry at San Ysidro a
few miles east. Ranchers took to the hills, leading their herds of cattle, horses and sheep through the canyon.
Later, to avoid paying duties, people smuggled cigars and even Mexican-produced lace undergarments through the gulch.
In the 1980s, the canyon became a symbol of illegal immigration run amok as tens of thousands of immigrants funneled through the pass into California.
It became a dangerous no-man's land, filled with bandits who raped and robbed immigrants and charged tolls for safe passage. The occasional sniper
targeted Border Patrol agents. For many years, agents were not allowed to venture alone into the gulch, where their radios didn't work.
Rampant crime in the area prompted the formation of a daring San Diego police unit that was featured in the Joseph Wambaugh book "Lines and Shadows."
They dressed as bedraggled illegal immigrants and pounced on bandits who tried to assault them.
Border Patrol Agent Jim Swanson, who was not part of the team but patrolled the area, remembers hiding in a bush and jumping on suspected robbers, one
of whom turned out to be a Tijuana police lieutenant. "That whole area was very chaotic," he said.
Foot chases on the steep slopes caused numerous ankle and leg injuries for agents. One agent died in 2002 when her car toppled into the canyon.
In the mid-1990s, increased enforcement in the San Diego area pushed immigrant flows farther east, to other border areas. Smuggling has continued
through the gulch, but at much-reduced levels.
Environmentalists for years stalled the $60-million plan to double-fence the three miles of border canyons and mesas. They pushed for projects that
would improve border enforcement without harming the environment. In 2004, the California Coastal Commission refused to grant permits to complete the
fence, saying the harm to sensitive habitats outweighed the security benefits.
But the Department of Homeland Security in 2005 waived all environment laws, the first time it had done so since Congress granted it the authority.
Border Patrol officials argued that thousands of people every year still tried crossing through that stretch of the border, and that the rugged
terrain prevented agents from accessing the area.
When the project is finished, Border Patrol officials say, agents will be able to cut valuable minutes off the time it takes to get from the gulch to
the coast, and some of them will be freed up to patrol other areas. They also say the project includes measures that will safeguard the environment,
including retaining walls and other erosion-control measures to protect the Tijuana River estuary.
Environmental groups monitoring the construction say the recent floods in the Tijuana River Valley suggest that sediment from erosion is already
filling the estuary. They plan to seek federal and state money to fix the problem.
"We've lost sensitive habitat, and the estuary is now threatened," said Jim Peugh, conservation chairman of the San Diego Audubon Society. "I'm really
disappointed that our system wasn't allowed to work the way it has historically and is required to by law."
One thing appears certain: Smuggler's Gulch won't live up to its name anymore.
Though smugglers still live on the Mexican side, camping under tarps and charging tolls to cross or be guided across the border, the walls of dirt and
the fencing will probably block most incursions, Swanson said. "It's logistically impossible," he said. "It'll be pretty much in a lockdown state."
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ken Cooke
Environmental groups monitoring the construction say the recent floods in the Tijuana River Valley suggest that sediment from erosion is already
filling the estuary. They plan to seek federal and state money to fix the problem.
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If their claims weren't so pathetic, they'd be ludicrous. Why arn't they decrying the tons of trash that are sent from Tijuana into the river all
year long, clogging drainage lines and causing deadly flooding on the U.S. side during storms?
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Ken Cooke
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
| Quote: | Originally posted by Ken Cooke
Environmental groups monitoring the construction say the recent floods in the Tijuana River Valley suggest that sediment from erosion is already
filling the estuary. They plan to seek federal and state money to fix the problem.
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If their claims weren't so pathetic, they'd be ludicrous. Why arn't they decrying the tons of trash that are sent from Tijuana into the river all
year long, clogging drainage lines and causing deadly flooding on the U.S. side during storms? |
Decrying isn't going to do anything. The birds need a place to bathe.  
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ken Cooke
Decrying isn't going to do anything. The birds need a place to bathe. |
Even birds wont bathe in raw sewege.
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CaboRon
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Good Report ......
It is welcome news .....
CaboRon
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rayfornario
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Just an FYI, I have horses in the TJ River Valley and have been there for 20 years. The "gulch " could have been fixed with a single better fence. The
destruction to the habitat in the valley is extensive and this fence project was the mistigating factor that caused the flooding in the valley in this
past December. The silt runoff clogged the drainage canals which then caused the berm to breach in 2 places flooding the ranches in sewage. This lead
to deaths of several horses and other livestock.
The fact that this sewage and trash is even allowed to drain into the US is a disgrace but the enviormental damage to the habitat that the
construction that fence has caused is extreme.
Many Border Patrol agents I have spoken to do not even like the double fence because it creates more patrol problems then it solves. They said a
single improved fence would have been better.
The fact is that, we have lost a historically important site to San Diego history. The Spanish settlers crossed through Smugglers on their way to
settling in San Diego. It was also the site to a major Indian Village and we have found artifacts in this area over the past 20 years I have ridden
in the area.
One other thing we are going to lose is Friendship Park, adjacent to the Bull ring by the sea, to this idiotic double fence idea. Families will no
longer be able to visit each other by the fence once the new fence project is done...no more bi-national religious services, Yoga classes or even a
game of volley ball will be able to take place there.
This whole fence project irritates both myself and other people that us the valley for recreational purposes.
Even a bad day in Baja is better then a good day somewhere else!
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Eugenio
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| Quote: |
Father Junipero Serra, on his first journey to what was then called Nueva California, probably passed through the area in 1769,
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...on his way to exploiting and subjugating indigenous people in the name of the Church and Spain....
But if the indigenous people had placed a fence there in 1769 and controled their border maybe they wouldn't have to be building casinos now.
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DENNIS
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Thanks rayfornario....... That's an eye-opener for me. I live a bit south and rely on TV news as well as the SD Union. During our last storm and
flood in the valley, they attributed the problem to trash clogged storm drains, showing footage of huge piles of accumulated debris, plastic bags
and bottles predominantly.
Thanks again.
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Ken Cooke
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Posts: 8947
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Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
Thanks rayfornario....... That's an eye-opener for me. I live a bit south and rely on TV news as well as the SD Union. During our last storm and
flood in the valley, they attributed the problem to trash clogged storm drains, showing footage of huge piles of accumulated debris, plastic bags
and bottles predominantly.
Thanks again. |
I guess this is a good example of why we can't believe everything on the TV news. I always look at a lot of TV news as sensationalist, and here is a
clearcut reason why I just don't believe a lot of the hype.
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ken Cooke
I guess this is a good example of why we can't believe everything on the TV news. I always look at a lot of TV news as sensationalist, and here is a
clearcut reason why I just don't believe a lot of the hype. |
Yeah....Well, I take what I can get. I don't know what would be worse...to be misinformed or uninformed. Extrapolation is the name of the game.
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rayfornario
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Posts: 169
Registered: 2-23-2007
Location: Imperial Beach, Ca
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Ken Cooke
| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
Thanks rayfornario....... That's an eye-opener for me. I live a bit south and rely on TV news as well as the SD Union. During our last storm and
flood in the valley, they attributed the problem to trash clogged storm drains, showing footage of huge piles of accumulated debris, plastic bags
and bottles predominantly.
Thanks again. |
I guess this is a good example of why we can't believe everything on the TV news. I always look at a lot of TV news as sensationalist, and here is a
clearcut reason why I just don't believe a lot of the hype. |
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rayfornario
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The fact that the berm that broke comes out of Smugglers Gulch should have been a tip off but none of the TV stations bothered to check it out. If
one drives south on Hollister, you can see the temporary lakes made by the berm breaks. The berm is just west of the lakes. Also, if it rains heavy
again we will have a repeat of the flodding as the drainage canal is heavily silted again from the rain on Xmas Eve. heavily si
[Edited on 1-7-2009 by rayfornario]
Even a bad day in Baja is better then a good day somewhere else!
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Woooosh
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| Quote: | Originally posted by rayfornario
Just an FYI, I have horses in the TJ River Valley and have been there for 20 years. The "gulch " could have been fixed with a single better fence. The
destruction to the habitat in the valley is extensive and this fence project was the mistigating factor that caused the flooding in the valley in this
past December. The silt runoff clogged the drainage canals which then caused the berm to breach in 2 places flooding the ranches in sewage. This lead
to deaths of several horses and other livestock.
The fact that this sewage and trash is even allowed to drain into the US is a disgrace but the enviormental damage to the habitat that the
construction that fence has caused is extreme.
Many Border Patrol agents I have spoken to do not even like the double fence because it creates more patrol problems then it solves. They said a
single improved fence would have been better.
The fact is that, we have lost a historically important site to San Diego history. The Spanish settlers crossed through Smugglers on their way to
settling in San Diego. It was also the site to a major Indian Village and we have found artifacts in this area over the past 20 years I have ridden
in the area.
One other thing we are going to lose is Friendship Park, adjacent to the Bull ring by the sea, to this idiotic double fence idea. Families will no
longer be able to visit each other by the fence once the new fence project is done...no more bi-national religious services, Yoga classes or even a
game of volley ball will be able to take place there.
This whole fence project irritates both myself and other people that us the valley for recreational purposes. |
I agree. A single ELECTRRFIED fence would be better. They can run the extension cord to Juan Gabriels house!
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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The Sculpin
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Mood: Riding into the Sunset, looking for a sunrise.
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Ahhh - forget about all this border crap - the filling in of smugglers gulch obliterated a line up marker for the sloughs! The top of the ridge is
what gave you your position for one of the peaks after it hit around 15 foot!
Once again, no one is thinking about the surfers! Sheeesh.....
Whoa there, Cowboy - pull back on those reins!
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mtgoat666
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So sad that communities and the environment are being ruined by prison-guard-bureaucrats who have large infrastructure budgets but lack imagination
and creativity in implementing budgets.
Homeland Security is the prime example of big government out of control, supported by political dinosaurs like Duncan Hunter and the Dukestir.
I suspect that Homeland Security has hired out of work East Europeans and Soviets wall architects (via Haliburton?) and allowed them to practice their
best in iron curtain land design. Or perhaps the wall is being designed by TSA agents who failed at airport gate x-ray duty?
But seeing such a wall makes me wish the Governator would build a similar wall along the Colorado River to keep out the Zonies that clutter and
pollute San Diego beaches 
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fdt
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Location: Tijuana, Baja California
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Mood: Yeah, what if it all goes right
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| Quote: | Originally posted by rayfornario
The fact is that, we have lost a historically important site to San Diego history. The Spanish settlers crossed through Smugglers on their way to
settling in San Diego. It was also the site to a major Indian Village and we have found artifacts in this area over the past 20 years I have ridden
in the area.
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Taken from http://www.sandiegohistory.org/books/pourade/explorers/explo...
THE EXPLORERS
By Richard F. Pourade
CHAPTER NINE: EXPEDITIONS BY LAND
On May 12th, they crossed over to the coast, near the present Tahiti Beach, halfway
between Rosarito Beach and the border, where they could see the Coronado Islands, and
finding a pool of fresh water named it the Pool of the Holy Martyrs. The next morning,
because of cliffs on the beach, they cut back up onto the mesa west of Tijuana and soon
saw
"in a long stretch the level shore that we were to follow, all the land being well
covered with green grass. From a height on this plain we could see that the ocean
enters far into the land. In the bay we saw the mainmasts of the two barks, which
were scarcely to be made out on account of the distance we were still away from
them. This sight was a great consolation and a joy for everybody, for we found
ourselves at last so near the desired harbor of San Diego."
Three hours of marching brought them to a populous Indian village along which ran "a
good arroyo of water," the Tia Juana River, and Fr. Crespi named the village Sancti
Spiritus. There they remained overnight, soaked by rain, and, departing on Sunday
morning, May 14th, despite more showers, continued north over the broad plain of the
South Bay area, withdrawing a little from the shore for fear that there might be marshes.
Indians were everywhere. Thus they circled the southern and eastern shores of San Diego
Bay, and in a march of six and a half hours drew near the camp which had been set up by
those who had come on the San Carlos and the San Antonio.
"As soon as we descried the camp the soldiers discharged their guns, giving a
salute, and immediately those who were in the camp, as well as those on the
packets, responded with their artillery and firearms. Immediately the three fathers
who had come in the barks, and also the officers who were on the land, came to
meet us and gave us hearty embraces and congratulations that we were now all
united in this port of San Diego."
They were the first white men to reach San Diego by land.
A well informed Baja California traveler is a smart Baja California traveler!
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Dave
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 11-5-2002
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I think it looks nice
| Quote: | Originally posted by mtgoat666
I suspect that Homeland Security has hired out of work East Europeans and Soviets wall architects (via Haliburton?) and allowed them to practice their
best in iron curtain land design. Or perhaps the wall is being designed by TSA agents who failed at airport gate x-ray duty?
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Better than the old rusty fence.
Of course, none of this would be necessary if people respected borders.
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BajaDove
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Location: La Paz
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This feels like the off topic and I wish it weren't Baja related or is that Baja negated.
If its not where it is, its where it isn\'t.
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Ken Cooke
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaDove
This feels like the off topic and I wish it weren't Baja related or is that Baja negated. |
Sorry, I saw the
news articles in the LA Times over the past 2 days, and I didn't know why these articles were not mentioned here in the Baja News section of this
forum.
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BajaDove
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In Off topic I meant some comments not the good cop job I asppologize
If its not where it is, its where it isn\'t.
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