San Diego County sheriff’s officials said on 12 July 2001 that authorities had uprooted more than 46,000 marijuana plants in a remote canyon on Palomar Mountain.[1] The find was the largest in the 22-year history of the county’s marijuana eradication efforts.[1]

Sheriff’s deputies had first entered the growing area on 9 July, when several people fled and officers were unable to pursue them over the rugged mountain terrain.[2] By Friday 20 July, officers searching further along the slopes of Palomar Mountain had found considerably more marijuana growing at the same remote site, bringing the total number of plants uprooted there to more than 100,000.[2]

San Diego County Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Baxter described the bust as by far the largest in the 22-year history of the county’s eradication efforts and the largest marijuana farm found in California that year.[2] No arrests had been made in connection with the gardens, and the reports name no suspects and give no charges or later court outcomes.[2]