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Gary Goldsmith/Daily Republic Suisun Valley Road travels north through the valley just west of Fairfield. The valley’s first known human inhabitants were the Southern Patwin Indians. |
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road near the Lums’ Suisun Valley
house during rush hours these days. It
can take 10 minutes for Doreen Lum to
make the short trip to her produce
store. Like it or not, change already came to Suisun Valley. Suisun Valley’s early history There are a variety of reasons Suisun Valley is considered a precious place in Solano County. There’s the beauty of the nearby oak-covered hills. There’s the fertile soil that is a farmer’s dream. And there’s the valley’s rich human history that ties in with Solano’s origin as a county. |
Gary Goldsmith/Daily Republic
Jimmy Jao of Saechao Family Farm on Rockville Road holds some fresh strawberries grown in their fields.
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The valley’s first known human inhabitants were the Southern Patwin Indians, including the triblet called the Suisunes.
Suisunes Chief Sem Yeto,
baptized by missionaries as Solano,
lived there at times. Legend says he
was buried in the valley upon his death
in 1850. His name ultimately graced
the new county formed in 1850. But Spanish, Mexican and American settlers came to the region during the 1800s and the Suisunes’ days in the valley were numbered. “In the fall of 1850, the greater part of the tribe removed from the Suisun Valley to Napa, carrying upon their heads one thousand bushels of grain,” the 1877 atlas of Solano County said. Suisun Valley in 1823 had a brush with getting a mission, something that today might be the type of tourist draw valley residents badly want. Father Jose Altimira looked at the valley as a potential site, but decided the land couldn’t support a large population. He instead founded Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma later that year. The 1877 atlas names Daniel Berry as the first American settler in Suisun Valley. He came with five other family members in 1848, relocating from Cache Creek. From that point on, Suisun Valley was prized for its farming. First came wheat, then fruit. Families such as the Pierces, Chadbournes and Hatches moved there, creating mini-empires with their orchards of apricots, pears, cherries, nuts and peaches. “The fruit industry of Suisun Valley is only in its beginning, but it is immense,” Tom Gregory wrote in his 1912 book “History of Solano and Napa Counties.” Fruit went to the big packing houses and canneries in the then-small towns of Fairfield and Suisun City, which depended on the agricultural economy. It got shipped east in refrigerated train cars. It was sold as dry fruits. “No irrigation is needed for these orchards, but they earn each year probably a million dollars,” Gregory wrote. Today, that $1 million from 1912 is equivalent to $19 million. |
Developing in fits and starts Development periodically came to Suisun Valley. The small town of Rockville was built in the mid-1800s along the old stage road. It at various times had such ventures as a blacksmith shop, post office, hotel and store. But Rockville never really took off, not after the railroad went to Suisun City in 1868. Today, Rockville exists as the area known as Rockville Corner, with a few businesses such as a gas station and Rockville Inn restaurant. The state highway originally had its route through Suisun Valley along Rockville Road. A few small businesses sprang up. Bandanna Lou’s opened in 1927, offering people a place to buy fried chicken for 50 cents and to dance. The building remains today as Willotta Ranch store, which sells kiwis during the fall and winter. Even though Suisun Valley had a major thoroughfare linking the Bay Area with Sacramento, farming remained king. The state highway moved to the present-day I-80 alignment around 1948, leaving Rockville Road a simple, rural road again. Another development came in 1960 and 1970s, the neighborhood of custom homes called Willotta Oaks. The name comes from the names of Will Pierce and his wife, Loretta Pierce. Betty Quinn bought a lot at Willotta Oaks in about 1960 and built a home there a decade later. “I think we’re in one of the nicest areas of the valley,” Quinn said recently. “It’s really secluded here. It isn’t overgrown. There’s probably only a hundred houses, if that many.” Willotta Oaks was – and remains – unique, a pocket of houses amid this farmland. But, except for some events in the 1970s, it could have ended up one of many Suisun Valley neighborhoods, a pioneer instead of an aberration. Deals to preserve the valley Fairfield by the early 1970s seemed poised to expand toward the valley. The threat of growth concerned the Solano Irrigation District, which provides Lake Berryessa water to county farms. Less farmland meant fewer people to spread water costs across and higher bills for the remaining customers. The district saw its chance in 1974. Fairfield was trying to get Anheuser Busch to build a brewery. |
The brewery
would need Lake Berryessa water. SID
threatened a lawsuit that might scuttle
the deal. Instead, Fairfield and SID reached an agreement: Neither Fairfield nor the district would provide water for urban development in Suisun Valley. The threat of subdivisions covering Suisun Valley vanished. Additional protections came. County voters in 1984 passed the county’s orderly growth law. The county Board of Supervisors could no longer rezone most county farmland as urban without voters approval. Finally, in 2003, Fairfield voters passed Measure L. It sets growth boundaries for the city that exclude Suisun Valley. But the SID water agreement and the county’s orderly growth law both sunset in 2010. The county is launching its General Plan update. That will include doing a special section on Suisun Valley. Meanwhile, Suisun Valley farmers have fallen on hard times. Global competition, the closing of the local Tri Valley cooperative, a glut of grapes and other factors combined to cause problems in recent years. “The farming as it is isn’t paying enough to make ends meet,” said farmer Linda Tenbrink, echoing a common complaint. “This is not new. This has been going on.” All of these factors are converging. Suddenly, there’s a window of opportunity to reshape Suisun Valley’s future, whether it be as suburban neighborhoods, a Napa/Sonoma-style destination spot with wineries and bed-andbreakfasts or something else. No matter what happens, Suisun Valley is likely to change. It’s less a question of “if” than “how.” Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or beberling@dailyrepublic.net. |
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