Escondido (Spanish for "Hidden") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States.

San Diego Judge Oliver S. Witherby suggested placing the capitol of the new territory in Rancho Rincon del Diablo.

[10] He planned to profit from the town that he believed would be established from the dividing point on the railroad below the eastern hills.

[12] The proposal for splitting the state and creating the new territory passed in the California legislature, but died in Congress in the run-up to the Civil War.

With Witherby's vision of owning a bustling state capitol unrealized, he set up a mining operation on the rancho instead.

Wolfskill had frequent conflicts with the Couts family, owners of the neighboring Guajome, Buena Vista, and San Marcos ranchos, over grazing lands and watering holes.

[10] In October 1883, a group of Los Angeles investors purchased Rancho Rincon del Diablo.

It originates at the Lake Wohlford Dam [ceb] in the northeast, passes through downtown and leaves the city through the Harmony Grove area in the southwest before eventually emptying into the San Elijo Lagoon.

The Daley Ranch Preserve north of the city provides a good location to view these natural vegetation types.

Owing to its inland setting, it is considerably warmer than coastal cities like San Diego, Carlsbad or Oceanside during the summertime, and cooler in the winter.

Snow is virtually unheard of, though occasionally winter and springtime thunderstorms will drop small hail.

However, all anglers eight years and older will need daily lake fishing permits, which are available at the concession stand.

Throughout the year, the city keeps stocking different types of fish, which include bass, bluegill, carp, catfish, crappie, and trout.

Grape Day Park also hosts the Escondido History Center, an independent non-profit museum.

The History Center features the city's original Santa Fe Depot, first library, Victorian house, barn, and blacksmith shop.

The Pioneer Room of Escondido Public Library (located in the Mathes Center building next to the Main Library) offers photographs, maps, oral histories, genealogical collections, directories and yearbooks documenting Escondido's history.

At the Western Regional in San Bernardino, the Escondido team won four straight games to earn the trip to Williamsport.

[51] In October 2010, Merritt Paulson, owner of the AAA Portland Beavers franchise, announced that the team was being sold to the North County Baseball ownership group, led by Jeff Moorad, part-owner and CEO of the Beavers parent team, the San Diego Padres.

[52] The ownership group discussed building a stadium in Escondido to become operational for the 2012 baseball season at the earliest.

[55] The San Diego Sabers of the United States Premier Hockey League played at Ice-Plex in Escondido until relocating to Carlsbad Icetown in 2020.

Current City Council members are Consuelo Martinez, Jose M. Garcia, and Michael Morasco.

Since 2010 federal immigration officials have worked out of the Escondido police station in an unprecedented city-federal partnership.

[68] In 2006 the city council proposed and then abandoned an ordinance to punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants.

[76] In the United States presidential election of 2008, 53.3% of voters residing in incorporated Escondido voted for John McCain, 44.9% for Barack Obama, and 1.8% for a third-party candidate.

Escondido Adult School is a member of the Education to Career Network of North San Diego County.

The Escondido Public Library system consists of the Main Branch, the Pioneer Room, Computer Center, and a bookmobile.

The highway follows surface streets and leaves the city heading east into the San Pasqual Valley.

The Sprinter hybrid rail service, operated by NCTD, links the transit center to Oceanside using the existing 22-mile (35 km)-long Escondido Branch trackage of the San Diego Northern Railroad.

[84] Deer Park Monastery is a Buddhist sanctuary that occupies 400 acres (1.6 km2) in the hills north of Escondido and west of Daley Ranch.

It is one of three monasteries in the United States under the direction of well-known Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.