Salinas Valley

Salinas Valley is a fertile agricultural area located in the central coast area of California. It is situated west of the San Joaquin Valley and south of San Francisco Bay and runs approximately ninety miles southeast from the Salinas River Mouth toward King City. The valley, slightly less than ten miles wide, is sandwiched between the Gabilan and Santa Lucia Mountain ranges. Prior to the 1820s, Salinas Valley was inhabited by small tribes of Native Americans. Spanish settlers named the area after a nearby salt marsh. In 1872, Salinas became the seat of Monterey County and was officially incorporated in 1874. Around this same time, Salinas’s agricultural industry began to grow. The Southern Pacific Railroad built tracks through Salinas City in 1867. This increase in traffic and shipping opportunities, combined with the already fertile soil and ideal agricultural environment, helped make Salinas become one of the wealthiest cities per capita in the United States.

Brief History

Prior to colonization, the Costanoans occupied the central coast of California between Big Sur and San Francisco. South of the Costanoan people lived the Salinans, while the Esselen tribe occupied the Santa Lucia Mountain ranges. These Native American groups were hunters and gatherers who relied on the region’s natural acorn crops.

Historical records from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries often describe the banks of the Salinas River as steep or nearly vertical. Many types of habitats existed in the valley such as wetlands and forests. The Mediterranean climate and early settler agriculture laid the foundation for Salinas Valley to flourish both agriculturally and economically.

Eighteenth-century Spanish colonizers organized four missions: Carmel (1770), San Antonio (1771), Soledad (1791), and San Juan Bautista (1797). The Indigenous peoples provided these missions with products that served as the foundation of California’s commerce until the 1830s when the missions brought in more settlers who secularized the missions. The area was officially named Salinas, which translates to “salt lake” or “salt marsh.” Mexican governors deeded property to individuals who then developed the Rancho Nacional of Cicente Cantua and the Sausal of José Castro, ranches that formed the core of what is in modern times the City of Salinas.

Early-nineteenth-century settler Jacob Leese purchased the 10,000-acre Rancho Sausal from Castro and sold some of its land to a man named Elias Howe in 1856. Howe is often credited as the founder of Salinas because the area where he built his home later became the downtown. Agriculture and business flourished in the 1860s and the Southern Pacific Railroad laid tracks in the valley in 1879.

By the mid-1800s, Salinas had characteristics of a real town including a general merchandise store, blacksmith shop, stable, hotel, and a Post Office. It was one of the most modern cities for its size in the state at this time with its telegraph service, city gas works, paved streets, an efficient transportation system, water and electric systems, and three circulating newspapers.

Chinese American laborers played a huge role in improving the city’s agricultural commerce in the latter nineteenth century. They worked to clear and drain the swamps that surrounded the town and leased 1,000 acres of valley land for agriculture. By 1885, Salinas had the largest flour mill in the state south of San Francisco.

The population of Salinas Valley doubled from about two thousand in the mid-1880s to about four thousand in the 1920s. The diverse population included people of Chinese, Black, Japanese, Filipino, and Mexican ancestry. Agricultural production included grain, sugar beets, celery, beans, broccoli, strawberries, and lettuce. By 1924, Salinas was the wealthiest per capita city in America.

The 1930s was a time of physical change in Salinas, with the expansion of the city both geographically and architecturally. Modern buildings and designs mirrored the progressive spirit that already characterized the city. Salinas grew almost half of the nation’s lettuce in addition to a third of the nation’s spinach, half the nation’s broccoli and cauliflower, and more than 80 percent of its artichokes.

Overview

Salinas Valley is characterized by a Mediterranean climate with cool wet winters and warm dry summers. The area of the valley closest to the Pacific coastline is often overcast and cool due to coastal fog. The Salinas River, which drains the valley, is the longest river of the Central Coast region of California. It flows 175 miles (281 km) north-northwest.

Salinas Valley is home to some of the richest farmlands in the United States with an agricultural industry worth $10 billion. It is the world’s largest producer of lettuce, as well as a top producer of strawberries, broccoli, wine grapes, and other produce. Brands such as Dole, Driscoll’s, Earthbound Farm, and Taylor Farms call Salinas Valley their home. Located 60 miles (96 km) from Silicon Valley, the global center for technology and innovation, Salinas Valley serves as Monterey County’s economic hub.

Facing economic challenges including the loss of jobs and high unemployment in the early 2010s, the city embarked on a new venture to create an agriculture technology ecosystem. City leaders launched the AgTech Innovation Ecosystem with a focus on entrepreneurial development, workforce training, and marketing in the AgTech industry with the hope that this would drive innovation, attract entrepreneurs, encourage the development of educational and training programs, and market the region as an AgTech hub. City leaders observed farmers in the Salinas Valley already beginning to incorporate more technology into their businesses such as automation, drones, and wireless sensors. Farmers recognized the role of technology in helping them solve challenges related to labor, sustainability, water, food safety, and growing demands for food.

In 2015, Forbes launched Forbes Reinventing America: The AgTech Summit in downtown Salinas. The invitation-only event took place in a large tent on Main Street and brought together several hundred of the smartest minds in Silicon Valley and global agriculture to address the world’s biggest challenges in the agriculture industry. The success of this conference led Forbes to declare it an annual event, positioning Salinas as an AgTech hub and a thought leader in the industry.

In the early 2020s, the area encountered major setbacks as California experienced adverse weather that flooded the area and caused $600 million in damages to the agriculture industry. Along with flooding, the area faces increasing pressure on the area's water system as droughts persist in the area. As California continues to feel the effects of climate change, questions arise about sustainable practices within the region.

Bibliography

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Durham, David L. Geology of the Southern Salinas Valley Area, California. US Government Printing Office, 1974.

Flores, Lori A. “A Town Full of Dead Mexicans: The Salinas Valley Bracero Tragedy of 1963, the End of the Bracero Program, and the Evolution of California’s Chicano Movement.” Western Historical Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 2, 2013, pp. 124–43. JSTOR, doi.org/10.2307/westhistquar.44.2.0124. Accessed 2 Jan. 2025.

Keck, Aries. “Keeping America’s ‘Salad Bowl’ Full.” NASA, 19 Aug. 2021, appliedsciences.nasa.gov/our-impact/story/keeping-americas-salad-bowl-full. Accessed 2 Jan. 2025.

Moran, Jean E., et al. “Nitrate Fate and Transport in the Salinas Valley.” US Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Mar. 2011, DOI: 10.2172/1122241. Accessed 2 Jan. 2025.

Myrick, Andrew Myrick. “Planting the Seeds for an AgTech Innovation Ecosystem.” The Economic Development Journal, vol. 16, no. 4, Fall 2017, www.iedconline.org/clientuploads/Economic%20Development%20Journal/EEDJ‗17‗Fall‗Myrick.pdf. Accessed 2 Jan. 2025.

Nutter, Edward Hoit. “Sketch of the Geology of the Salinas Valley, California.” The Journal of Geology, vol. 9, no. 4, 1901, pp. 330–36. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30058783. Accessed 2 Jan. 2025.

Petrick, Gabriella M. “‘Like Ribbons of Green and Gold’: Industrializing Lettuce and the Quest for Quality in the Salinas Valley, 1920-1965.” Agricultural History, vol. 80, no. 3, 2006, pp. 269–95. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3744817. Accessed 2 Jan. 2025.

“Salinas River Long-Term Management Plan.” Monterey County Water Resources Agency, 19 Feb. 2019, www.salinasrivermanagementprogram.org/ltmp.html#:~:text=The%20purpose%20of%20the%20Salinas,and%20endangered%20species%20management%2C%20and. Accessed 2 Jan. 2025.

Smoley, Richard. “Beyond Drought: The Salinas Valley.” Produce Blue Book, 14 Dec. 2023, www.producebluebook.com/2023/12/14/beyond-drought-the-salinas-valley/. Accessed 2 Jan. 2025.