The Southern Emigrant Trail through Riverside County

The Trail in Riverside County, California In the early 1850s the southern part of California was in San Diego County, a much larger county than it is today. In 1853 a small portion of northern San Diego County became part of San Bernardino County. Forty years later in 1893, Riverside County was established from parts of San Diego and San Bernardino Counties. The Southern Emigrant Trail in Riverside County today is about seventy miles long, starting east of Aguanga at the San Diego County line, heading west-northwest to Temecula, then north-northwest to Corona, and finally northwest toward Chino and the San Bernardino County line. Other towns along the trail today include Murrieta, Wildomar, and Lake Elsinore. Although some points along the Southern Emigrant Trail in Riverside County have been known for years, the location of many portions of the trail was uncertain. There have been varying opinions about the route in a number of locations. The purpose of this project was to document the location of the trail through Riverside County as accurately as possible. Because of the variations in terrain and the more rural nature of the area between the San Diego County line and Temecula, this portion of the trail was more difficult to map than the portion north of Temecula to the San Bernardino County line. Today there is almost no remaining evidence on the ground of the old trail in Riverside County. While some occasional evidence of wagon trails remains today, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for on-site research alone to determine whether those trails are remains of the Southern Emigrant Trail or of trails created after the 1880s. While this book contains a considerable amount of information about the trail, it is quite likely that additional evidence will be found in the future that will enhance our understanding of the Southern Emigrant Trail through Riverside County.