Menifee Valley lies 80 miles east of Los Angeles in Riverside County, halfway between the cities of Perris and Temecula. Settlers originally ventured into this isolated wilderness of sagebrush and live oaks to stake out mining claims, dig for gold, and plant wheat. Others came for the healthy climate. Homes were built miles apart, and newly constructed schools became community focal points and information centers. Menifee Wilson, a native of Tennessee, staked several claims across this serene valley, and his name just never went away. Settlers bred horses, planted orchards, drilled wells, and...

Canyon Lake lies on the western edge of Menifee Valley, between Sun City and Lake Elsinore, and is both a private gated community and an incorporated city with a population approaching 10,000. This is quite a change from 1890 when only one family lived here near Salt Creek and San Jacinto River. In 1882, when the California Southern Railroad began service between Perris and Elsinore, the area was known as Railroad Canyon, but after three washouts, the line was abandoned. The Temescal Water Company later purchased the land and constructed a dam, thus creating Railroad Canyon Lake. The Evans...