Just as the Trussells arrive in Southern California, a tremendous land boom occurred. At first A. D. Trussell responded by building homes in the Sierra Madre/Pasadena area, but eventually it appears that he, too plunged into land speculation. In fact, it may be that was what he was up to originally when he bought the Kennedy place in San Pasqual. In the San Diego area entrepreneurs were marking off lots all over the county. In fact in H. G. Fenton's autobiography, he notes that, even the San Pasqual ranch he lived on at the time was subdivided into 50x120 ft. lots and called, "San Pasqual City". A similar effort was made to subdivide Twin Oaks Valley in San Marcos. In the spring of 1888, the boom went bust and financial depression settled over the entire county. "Paper Millionaires" found they were now poverty-striken. Indications are that both Ray and his father suffered some serious financial damage during this period. In any case, as this picture, taken from McKeever's Short History of San Diego is designed to dramatize the experience.
