Ventura County, from Wikipedia

Ventura County, from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventura_County,_California

Ventura County ...is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It is located on California's Pacific coast, and forms the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. It is often referred to as the Gold Coast, and has a reputation of being one of the safest populated places and one of the most affluent places in the country. It is ranked as one of the top 100 highest-income counties in the country and as the thirteenth wealthiest county in California. Median Home Prices range from $400,000 to around $2 million.

As of the 2000 census, the county had a population of 753,197. A more current California Department of Finance estimate places the population at 813,052. The county seat is the city of Ventura (formally known as San Buenaventura). Ventura County's largest city is Oxnard, with a population of about 200,000.

History
Prior to the arrival of Europeans in California, the area was home to the Chumash tribe of Native Americans.


Spanish period
In October of 1542, the expedition led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo anchored in an inlet near Point Mugu, becoming the first Europeans to arrive in the area that would become Ventura County.[1]

Active occupation of California by Spain began in 1769. Gaspar de Portolà led a military expedition by land from San Diego to Monterey, passing through Ventura County in August of that year. A priest with the expedition, Father Juan Crespi, kept a journal of the trip and noted that the area was ideal for a mission to be established and it was a "good site to which nothing is lacking".[2]. Also on this expedition was Father Junípero Serra, who later founded a mission on this site.

On March 31, 1782, the Mission San Buenaventura was founded by Father Serra[3], named after Saint Bonaventure. Buenaventura is composed of two Spanish words, buena meaning "good" and ventura meaning "fortune." The town that grew up around the mission is named San Buenaventura, which came to be known as Ventura.

In the 1790s, the Spanish Governor of California began granting land rights to Spanish Californians, often retiring soldiers. These grants were known as ranchos and consisted of thousands of acres of land that were used primarily as ranch land for livestock. By 1822, there were 19 rancho grants in Ventura County.[4]


Mexican period
In 1822, California was notified of Mexico's independence from Spain and the Governor of California, the Junta, the military in Monterey and the priests and neophytes at Mission San Buenaventura swore allegiance to Mexico on April 11, 1822. California land that had been vested in the King of Spain was now owned by the nation of Mexico. By the 1830s, Mission San Buenaventura was in a decline with fewer neophytes joining the mission. The number of cattle owned by the mission dropped from first to fifteenth ranking in the California Missions.[5]

In 1836, Mission San Buenaventura was transferred from the Church to a secular administrator. The natives who had been working at the mission gradually left to work on the ranchos. By 1839, only 300 Indians were left at the Mission and it slipped into neglect.[6]


United States of America period
The Mexican–American War began in 1846 but its effect was not felt in Ventura County until 1847. In January of that year, Captain John C. Frémont led the California Battalion into San Buenaventura finding that the Europeans had fled leaving only the Indians in the Mission. The Fremont and the Battalion continued south to sign the Treaty of Cahuenga with General Andrés Pico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo formally transferred California to the United States in 1848.[7]

By 1849, a constitution had been adopted for the California territory. The new Legislature met and divided the pending state into 27 counties. At the time, the area that would become Ventura County was the southern part of Santa Barbara County.[8]

The 1860s brought many changes to the area. A drought caused many of the ranchos to experience financial difficulties and most were divided, sub-divided and sold. Large sections of land were bought by eastern capitalists based on favorable reports of petroleum deposits. A United States Post Office was opened at Mission San Buenaventura in 1861. On April 1, 1866, the town of San Buenaventura was incorporated becoming the first officially recognized town in Ventura County.[9]

On January 1, 1873, Ventura County was officially split from Santa Barbara County bringing a flurry of change. That same year, a courthouse and wharf were built in San Buenaventura. A bank was opened and the first public library was created. The school system grew with the first high school opening in 1890.[10]

Other towns were starting in the county. A plan for Port Hueneme was recorded in 1874 and Santa Paula's plan was recorded in 1875. The community of Nordhoff (later renamed Ojai) was started in 1874.[11] Piru, Fillmore and Montalvo were established in 1887.[12] 1892 saw Simi (later Simi Valley), Somis, Saticoy and Moorpark. Oxnard was a late-comer, not being established until 1898.[13]

The Southern Pacific Railroad laid tracks through San Buenaventura in 1887. For convenience in printing their timetables, Southern Pacific shortened San Buenaventura to Ventura. The Post Office soon followed suit. While the city remains officially known as San Buenaventura, it is more commonly referred to as Ventura.[14]

It had been known that oil existed in Ventura County as far back as the Chumash people who used tar to make baskets and canoes waterproof. in the 1860s, several attempts were made to harvest the petroleum products under Ventura County but none were financially successful and the oil speculators eventually changed from oil to land development. In 1913, oil exploration began in earnest with Ralph Lloyd obtaining the financial support of veteran oil man Joseph B. Dabney. Their first well, named "Lloyd No. 1", was started on January 20, 1914. The well struck oil at 2558 feet (780 m) but was destroyed when it the well went wild. Other wells met a similar fate until 1916 when a deal was struck with the Shell Oil Company. Other deals followed with General Petroleum in 1917 and Associated Oil Company in 1920. At its peak, the Ventura Avenue oil field was producing 90,000 barrels of oil a day with annual production of over a million and a half barrels.[15]

In the early hours of the morning of March 13, 1928, the St. Francis Dam collapsed sending billions of gallons of water rushing through the Santa Clara Valley, killing 385 people, destroying 1,240 homes and flooding 7,900 acres (32 km²) of land, devastating farm fields and orchards.[16] This was the largest single disaster to strike Ventura County.


Modern period
Ventura County can be separated into two major parts, East County and West County. East County consists of all cities east of the Thousand Oaks / Camarillo city boundaries, which is known as the Conejo Grade, or simply "The Grade." This area, geographically, is the end of the Santa Monica Mountain Range which the Conejo Valley resides in, and where there is a large change in elevation. Communities east of this area which are considered to be in the East County are Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Lake Sherwood, Hidden Valley, Santa Rosa Valley, Oak Park, Moorpark, and Simi Valley. A majority of these communities, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Lake Sherwood, Hidden Valley, parts of Santa Rosa Valley, Oak Park reside in the Conejo Valley, one of the most affluent areas in the country. West County, which everything west of the Conejo Grade, consists of communities such as Camarillo, Oxnard, Somis, Point Magu, Port Hueneme, Ventura, Ojai, Santa Paula, and Fillmore. West County consists of some of the first developed cities in Ventura County. Ventura County's largest beach communities are located in West County on the coastline of the Channel Islands Harbor.


East County
Ventura County consists of a number of suburban areas. Starting in the mid-1900s, there was a large growth in population in the East County, moving from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles and out into the Conejo Valley, which consists of Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills, Agoura, Oak Park, and parts of Westlake Village belonging to Los Angeles County. The other half of the Conejo Valley , which belongs to Ventura County, consists of Lake Sherwood, Hidden Valley, Oak Park, parts of Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, and Newbury Park which was formerly an unincorporated area that is now the most westerly part of Thousand Oaks. Much of the working class whites migrated to this area during the 1960s and 1970s out of East and Central Los Angeles. As a result, there was a large growth in population into the Conejo Valley and into Ventura County through the US 101 corridor. Making the US 101 a full freeway in the 1960s and expansions that followed helped make commuting to Los Angeles easier and opened the way for development westward. The communities that have seen the most substancial developement are Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, and Newbury Park. Developement moved farther down the US 101 corridor and sent population rising in West County cities as well. Largest population growth there has been in Camarillo, Oxnard, and Ventura. Develpement in the East County and along the US 101 corridor is becoming more rare today due to the fact that most of these cities were master planned cities, such as Thousand Oaks, and are approaching towards build out. Although the area still has abundant amount of open space and land, almost all of it was put aside and mandated never to be developed as part of the master plan of each city. Because of this, it's private low key location, it's country feel, and it's close proximity to Los Angeles, the Conejo Valley area has become a very attractive place to live. It once had relatively inexpensive real estate, but this has changed due to sky rocketing real estate prices. Median home prices in the Conejo Valley for instance, now range from $700,000 to $2.2 million. The Conejo Valley Area is one of the most affluent areas in the country.


West County
While much of the East County consists of master planned cities that have a set maximum population for build out and limited developement allowed per year, West County's older cities have had to take different actions in order to slow or completely stop population growth and developement. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ventura County surged to the forefront of the smart growth movement through a series of voter initiatives that barred development on large swaths of open space surrounding its cities. These measures have limited sprawl, allowing the county to maintain its status as one of California's leading agricultural areas and limiting air pollution in its narrow valleys. However, residents' unwillingness to embrace greater population density has led to a severe housing shortage, to the extent that in 2004, the county's new housing bureau chief resigned due to his inability to purchase a home in the county on his $80,000 salary. As is the case in many areas of California, the struggle to meet the demand for housing while preserving its rural character dominates the county's politics.


[edit] Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 5,719 km² (2,208 mi²). 4,779 km² (1,845 mi²) of it is land and 940 km² (363 mi²) of it (16.43%) is water. Anacapa Island of Channel Islands National Park and San Nicolas Island are located in the county.

Most of the population of Ventura County lives in the southern portion of the county. The major population centers are the Oxnard Plain and the Simi and Conejo Valleys.

North of Highway 126 the county is mountainous and mostly uninhabited, and contains some of the most pristine, rugged and inaccessible wilderness remaining in southern California. Most of this land is in the Los Padres National Forest, and includes the Chumash Wilderness in the northernmost portion, adjacent to Kern County.

The highest peaks in the county include Mount Pinos (8831', 2697 m), Frazier Mountain (8017', 2444 m), and Reyes Peak (7525', 2294 m), all in the San Emigdio Mountains (Pinos and Frazier Mountain are sometimes assigned to the Tehachapis). The uplands are well-timbered with coniferous forests, and receive plentiful snow in the winter.

Mount Pinos is sacred to the Chumash Indians. It is known to them as Iwihinmu, and was considered to be the center of the universe; being the highest peak in the vicinity, it has a spectacular view, unimpeded in three directions.

The Santa Clara River is the principal waterway. Lake Casitas, an artificial reservoir, is the largest body of water.