San Diego county real estate
City: Campo


Campo Valley is a pleasant rural community with a population of approximately 1100 including Cameron Corners named after the pioneer family. Descendents of the original inhabitants are still in the Milquatay, now living ranch type life at the northwest portion of the valley.

The whistles, bells and horns of the railway of yesteryear have returned with the present activities and developments of the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association just north of the Campo depot. Information courtesy San Diego Historical Society.

1941 - 1985. One of the Regimental squadrons of the 11th Cavalry arrived at Campo on Thanksgiving Day 1941 after 54 days of maneuvers at Live Oak Springs. The Regiment was ordered to Camp Seeley in the Imperial Valley November 4, 1940 and rode in to Camp Lockett the night of December 10, 1941 under wartime organization with 70 officers and 1351 enlisted men. The camp of the World War II years (1941-1945) was officially named for Colonel Lockett, a highly resected cavalry officer with a brilliant career spanning forty-four years of service from U.S. Military Academy entry in 1875 to retirement in 1919. ground was broken June 23, 1941.17.

Later there were as many as 5000 troopers of the 10th, 11th and 28th Cavalry Regiments based at the Camp. With mechanization and departure of the cavalry the Camp was converted for use as Mitchell Convalescent Hospital. As many as 200 Italian, prisoners of war were assigned to Camp Lockett from the larger Camp Haan in Riverside County. They worked in hospital services, mess halls, warehouses, shops and on the roads and grounds. The stockade in which they were housed never had a locked gate! None tried to escape. Campo residents describe them as being cheerful, singing as they went out on their work parties and feeling lucky to be alive. Their masonry work is still evident at many locations about the Camp.18.

The expanse of the Camp is still apparent and nearly all the structures within the site today are of World War II construction. George Duckworth's barn was an Army blacksmith shop. The gymnasium constructed in 1943 on Sheridan Drive was used later by the Mountain Empire Union High School until occupancy of the new facility on Buckman Springs Road half way between Campo and Pine Valley in 1976. The gymnasium building is now the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Car Shop. The Camp Lockett complex was declared surplus by the General Services Administration June 19, 1946. By 1949 thirty-nine acres with all improvements had been transferred to the Mountain Empire Union School District for use as the Junior and Senior High School. San Diego County acquired 600 acres with all improvements in 1950.

The final passenger run on the SD and AE to Calexico was Thursday, January 11, 1951. Freight runs continued with interruptions after Hurricane Kathleen September 10, 1976. Willis Kyle, a short line contractor, was finally able to run freight trains again in 1982. A brush fire burned two trestles June 18, 1983. That, coupled with diminished freight traffic, terminated through runs to El Centro. The Campo Milling Corporation building next to the railroad towards the northern edge of the valley stands as a landmark to mining and milling of feldspar from Houser Canyon Mine 1921 - 1934 for vitreous china products, enamel and porcelain.

Campo Valley today is still a pleasant rural community with a population of approximately 1100 including Cameron Corners named after the pioneer family. Descendents of the original inhabitants are still in the Milquatay, now living ranch type life at the northwest portion of the valley. The whistles, bells and horns of the railway of yesteryear have returned with the present activities and developments of the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association just north of the Campo depot.