History

    Goodan Ranch, comprised of the only remaining structures in Sycamore Canyon at present, is located on the western side of the preserve. The ranch is located on either side of the dirt road that runs north-south through Sycamore Canyon. This canyon was named from the abundance of sycamore trees in the area and which still exist in the narrow green valley.

Early Settlement

    Maps indicate that the area of Goodan Ranch in Sycamore Canyon was sparsely settled in San Diego County’s early years. A survey map of Township 14 South, Range 1 West that dates from 1876 indicates a road through Sycamore Canyon, originating in Paguay Valley (Poway), leading through present-day Beeler Canyon along nearly the same route as the road today. The road terminates at the south end of Section 28 in Sycamore Canyon, however, and does not continue south to the San Diego River in El Cajon Valley. One cabin is indicated in Beeler Canyon at this time and a structure noted as “Francisco's House” is located at the same site as present-day Goodan Ranch. A “wood road” leads to the northeast out of Goodan Ranch area, into the canyon later known as Fischer Canyon (County of San Diego 1876). This road indicates possible lumber activity in Sycamore and Fischer Canyons in the 1870s. Another map of San Diego County in 1889 also indicates “Francisco” in the Goodan Ranch area and a road through Sycamore Canyon leading from Poway to the El Cajon Valley (Beasley 1889).

    At this writing, the “Francisco” who settled in Sycamore Canyon in these early years is unknown except by indication on maps. A Charles F. Francisco settled in the Lakeside area and had a lumber business in El Cajon Valley in the 1880s-1890s, but there are no legal indications that he owned land in Sycamore Canyon. It is possible that the “wood road” was used by him to secure wood for his business and he may have had a house set up in the canyon, but this is merely speculation. Further research may trace-title back to the Francisco family. The “Francisco” structure is the only perma­nent settlement indicated on the two early maps. Further evidence that a structure existed at Goodan Ranch in the 1870s is a piece of newspaper dating from 1872 that was found in the walls of an original structure being torn down on the ranch in 1938. (The newspaper was saved and is on display at Goodan Ranch at present.)

Community of Stowe, 1890-1906

    In the years before 1900, the present area of Sycamore Canyon and Beeler Canyon became known as the community of Stowe. In the 1880s, both El Cajon Valley to the south and Poway Valley to the northwest of the study area were experiencing a period of accelerated growth during San Diego’s boom. El Cajon Valley, including the present areas of Lakeside and Santee, was used exclusively for cattle grazing until the 1870s, when land was divided up and sold for agriculture, orchards and vineyards. Poway Valley also became a  center for cattle raising and fruit growing in these years. With the “no-fence” law of 1874 being enforced, more families settled into farming, planting orchards and vine­yards, and raising grain. Dairying and bee-keeping were also profitable, and by 1887 there were approximately 800 people in the Poway area. Settlement spread and homesteads were set up in the smaller inland valleys such as Sycamore Canyon and Beeler Canyon.

    Stowe was made up of several families of German and Prussian origin, including such names as Julius F. Buehler (Beeler Canyon was later named after him), Frederick Reetzke, Hermann Soltan, Joseph Fischer, Louise E. Knecht, David Bottroff, and others. Many of these families gained citizenship in the 1870s-1890s. The name Stowe, however, is of English origin, and was perhaps used as the result of an English firm, Baird and Chapin, subdividing parts of Poway Valley in the 1880s and assigning the sub­divisions English names. No evidence has been found indicating that a family by the name of Stowe settled or homesteaded in Sycamore Canyon. Other early settlers in the Stowe area included John Q. Adams, Walter H. Holmes, Abraham Danielson, M. Joy, R. Bidal, and Bion W. Maefield, the I. Most of the Stowe settlement was in present-day Beeler Canyon with a few families in Sycamore Canyon. The small canyon that branches off Sycamore Canyon to the northeast of Goodan Ranch became known as Fischer canyon after the Joseph Fischer family who homesteaded there.  

    Another reason for increased settlement in Poway Valley and the Stowe area in the 188Os was the suggestion of a proposed railroad line through the communities. A San Diego Union article of 1884 related that “a movement was on foot for a railroad to El Cajon, suggested by Thomas J. Fox of El Cajon, and that eventually a line be extended ascending Sycamore Canyon to Poway Valley" (Union 7/9/1884).  An El Cajon Valley map of 1886 indicates the proposed railroad leading from El Cajon Valley through Sycamore Canyon to Poway and north. The railroad, however, never materialized in Poway, and the closest line to Sycamore Canyon became an extension of the San Diego Cuyamaca and Eastern Railroad from Lakeside to Foster (at the southern end of present-day San Vincente Reservoir) in 1889-1890. A wagon road was built by San Diego County through Sycamore Canyon in 1886. 

    In September of 1890, Stowe School District was set up to accommodate the settlers in Sycamore, Fischer and Beeler Canyons. Still considered a part of Poway, the taxpayers voted a $400 bond to build the Stowe schoolhouse. The school was built at the hairpin curve of the road at the north end of Sycamore Canyon and east end of Beeler Canyon, on the east side of the road (SW 1/4 of NW 1/4 Section 22, Township 14 South, Range 1 West). Olive trees were planted at the site. 

    Enrollment at Stowe School ranged from eleven to seventeen students in its years of operation. The one-room wooden schoolhouse is described in early records as 14 feet x 18 feet in size with four windows. No water was available at the school, and two “water closets” were provided. Teachers were employed for 6 to 8 month terms with pay approximately $10/month. Teachers were young, ranging in age from 19 to 23.

    By 1897, Stowe School District had been expanded to encompass 21 sections of land, covering a large area known today as Beeler Canyon, Sycamore Canyon, West Sycamore Canyon, the east portion of Camp Elliott, Clark Canyon, Slaughterhouse Can­yon, Foster Canyon, and upper Poway Creek area.

    By October of 1889, Stowe community had its own post office. The road which led through Sycamore Canyon at this time was used as a horse and wagon thoroughfare from San Diego to Poway and points north. The post office was established on the Joseph Fischer homestead to the northeast of present-day Goodan Ranch. The Fischer homestead was made up of a main adobe ranch house surrounded by pepper trees, a prickly pear cactus garden and two wells. The Fischer family consisted of seven children.   In later years, it is possible that the location of the Post Office shifted from ranch to ranch as a 1903 topographical map shows Stowe as being located downstream in the Goodan Ranch area then owned by the Holmes family.