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WESTEC Services, Inc1
3211 Fifth Avenue
San Diego, CA 92103

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A HISTORY OF LAND USE IN THE
CALIFORNIA DESERT CONSERVATION AREA

CONTRACT NO. YA-5 1 2-RFP7- 1 4 0

PREPARED FOR:

DESERT PLANNING STAFF

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

3610 CENTRAL AVENUE, SUITE 402
RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA 92506

PREPARED BY:

WESTEC SERVICES, INC.

3211 FIFTH AVENUE
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 92103

FRANK NORRIS
HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHER

RICHARD L. CARRICO
PROJECT ARCHAEOLOGIST

AUGUST 1978

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Title Page

Summary v

Preface x^

1 Pre-Contact Native American

Knowledge and Use of the Land 2

2 The 1540-1846 Period:

Spanish and American Exploration

and the Opening of the Desert 15

3 The 1846-1868 Period:
Americans in the Desert;
Exploration, Railroad Surveys

and Military Activity 31

4 The 1868-1885 Period:
Initial Mining and

Railroad Impacts Occur 43

5 The 1885-1895 Period:
Mining Production Continues
While Homesteading Develops,
Particularly in the

Antelope Valley 51

6 The 1895-1907 Period:
Agriculture Booms in the
California Desert; Mining
Discoveries Spread to New
Areas as New Railroads

Make Ore Sites Accessible 57

The 1907-1917 Period:

Mining Impacts Continue

While Homesteading Develops 65

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued)
Chapter Title Page

8 The 1917-1925 Period:
Highway Settlements Develop;
Home steading and Other

Activities Slowly Decline 75

9 The 1925-1932 Period:
Highway Settlements Develop,
While the Amenities Gain More
Importance as a Desert

Attraction 81

10 The 1932-1940 Period:

Government Work Projects and

a Mining Revival Impact the

Desert; Parklands Appear 87

11 The 1940-1945 Period:

The Military Impacts the Land;

The Desert is Further Classified, ,

While Some New Mining Impacts Occur 97

12 The 1945-1951 Period:

Residential Boom- on the Metropolitan

Fringe; Larger Towns and Intensive

Agriculture Grow While More Small-

Scale Activities Decline 105

13 The 1951-1960 Period:

Postwar Growth Trends Continue;

Recreational Use of the Desert

Becomes More Noticeable 113

14 The 1960-1978 Period:

Continuation of Growth on the
Metropolitan Fringe; Freeways
Proliferate; Off-Road Vehicle
Use Becomes Widespread; Desig-
nated Wilderness Areas Appear 121

li

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued)

Title Page

Epilogue :

Projections for the Future 129

Appendix A-l

References Cited R-l

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Title Page

1 Linguistic Groupings, Native
American Territories and
Lithic Sources In and Around

the Study Area 2

2 Approximate Locations of
Unratified Treaty Land
(1851-1852) In and Around

the Study Area 36

3 Major New Dry-Farming Areas,
California Desert Conservation

Area, 1900-1925 67

4 Annual Visitation to Selected
Parks and Monuments, California

Desert Conservation Area 90

111

IV

SUMMARY

The history of the California desert, as a rule, has been one
of continually increasing land use intensity. With the exception
of mining, agriculture and grazing, all sectors of the economy have
generally grown more complex with the passage of time. Due largely
to the population growth in more coastal portions of southern
California, growth in desert areas has been particularly rapid
since World War II, However, there are still many significantly-
sized areas which have received very little, if any, alteration in
land use in historic times.

Prior to the arrival of the first exploring parties in the
mid-16th century, native Americans had little effect upon the land.
Native foraging and hunting required only insignificant alteration
of natural vegetation and landform. Farming, where practiced, was
accomplished by using natural flooding for irrigation, although
springs and water sources were sometimes expanded or improved by
wells. Well-worn, although unimproved, trails served as transpor-
tation routes throughout the desert. In brief, native land use was
of a more passive, and therefore less altering, nature than the
land use of later peoples.

Although several traverses of the desert were made by Spanish,
Mexican and American groups from 1771-1850, non-native land use
impacts were non-existent aside from grazing, some intermittent
small-scale salt extraction, and minor attempts at improvement of
water sources.

After the desert came under the jurisdiction of the United
States, minor impacts began to occur. Grazing was one of the first
industries to grow; by the 1870s, large cattle ranches had estab-
lished themselves over most of the more well-watered areas. They
continued to grow in importance until around 1900, when due to
overgrazing, cattle usage began to stabilize.

Mining also became important in the pre-railroad period, first
in districts along the more well-traveled routes, and later in
scattered, remote areas. Many of the early miners were Mexican
immigrants; discoveries at Picacho, Cerro Gordo and the El Paso
Mountains testify to their presence.

As coastal southern California grew in popularity, various
roads were established. The Southern (Butterf ield) route, dating
from 1846, and the Old Spanish Trail, dating from 1830, were the
earliest major routes; these were augmented by the Old Government
Road-Mohave Road in about 1860, and the Bradshaw Trail (new Gov-
ernment Road) in 1862. Each road system had a few way-stations
scattered along its route.

In the late 1870s and 1880s, the importance of trails was
diminished considerably by the coming of the railroad. Railroads
made all desert points more accessible, and created population
clusters of their own. In general, the presence of the railroad
did not greatly improve the fortunes of the various mining camps.
Scattered first over the northern desert, and later in many desert
areas, mining camps continued to proliferate through the 1880s,
1890s and 1900s. Major ore sites were located at Calico, Rands-
burg, Stedman, Hedges, Providence and Dale. Many new camps of the

VI

1900s were in the northern deserts. With few exceptions, the camps
lasted less than a decade; by World War I, the heyday of precious
mining had essentially elapsed. Since that time, mining develop-
ment has continued strong, with a few large corporations extracting
soda ash, gypsum, salt, borax and other materials. This has been
augmented, however, by some subsistence mining during the Great
Depression, and small-scale precious mining, primarily for recrea-
tional value, continues to the present day.

With the chaotic growth and development of the many early
mining districts came a series of mining railroads connecting the
major transcontinental lines, principally the Santa Fe route. Spur
lines reached to Stedman, Barnwell and Randsburg, and an entire new
north-south line was constructed to supply the Death Valley and
adjacent Nevada mining areas. Lines from Mojave to Lone Pine and
the Salt Lake route northeast of Barstow completed the railroad
framework by 1915 before abandonments began.

Homesteading appeared in the Antelope Valley in the 1880s, and
by 1910 had spread to many of the higher-elevation basins. Few
were successful, however, due primarily (although not exclusively)
to lack of water. Agricultural development in Imperial Valley and
in various areas along the Colorado River, however, was not compar-
able due to water availability. Imperial Valley was opened in 1901
with water from the Colorado; although a major flood wreaked havoc
on the area in 1905-07, growth of the Valley continued until 1925,
when the area became almost as fully planted as today's acreage.
Canal development brought similar growth to the Blythe and Bard

VII

areas by World War I, but the Coachella Valley saw only limited
development until after the Second World War.

Large-scale aqueduct projects brought periodic booms to the
desert. The Owens Valley Project of 1907-13, the Metropolitan
Water District Project of 1934-41, and the All American/Coachella
Canal Projects of 1934-48 are the major impacts, although the
recent California Water Project and various canals within agri-
cultural areas have also been built. The road system of today is
largely a hybrid feature; auto routes began in the prewar period
as graded trails along railroad tracks, and the major routes were
paved between 1925 and 1935. Connecting roads were built and
paved after World War II, while most of the desert Interstate
System was constructed between 1960 and 1972.

The desert's designated open spaces -- national monuments and
state parks -- were primarily designated in the 1930s, although
several smaller parks have been created since 1950. Military
areas began to be set aside in the 1930s; they exploded into the
dominant desert land use in World War II with General Patton's
armored-division exercises and many other bases and stations, and
have continued to be a major component of desert land use during
the postwar period.

Postwar years have seen new levels of interest in the desert,
as the desert's population, which had always been increasing at a
fairly rapid pace, doubled its previous growth rate. Many large
towns appeared which had once been quite minor, and other towns
were created where none had existed before. Population pressure,

Vlll

from local areas but especially from the Los Angeles and San Diego
areas, has had detrimental effects, primarily in off-road vehicle
impact areas. Accordingly, the BLM has had to categorize certain
areas for their use, while other areas have been designated for
wilderness values.

IX

PREFACE

This report, Historical Land Use Study of the California
Desert, has been written in accordance with Contract No. YA-512-
RFP7-140. It is intended for use by both Bureau of Land Management
planners and interested citizens; its goal is to provide a single,
brief overview of the historical land use development that has
occurred in the California Desert Conservation Area in historic and
recent aboriginal periods. Because of the terms set forth in the
contract, the history presented must, by necessity, be generalized
in its content, though specific examples of land use development in
a particular area have been provided where possible when they
appeared representative of similar situations in other areas. For
similar reasons, the text material by necessity has had to be
limited; however, the various maps that have been prepared have
allowed a slightly greater degree of detail, particularly in regard
to mining districts. Additional notes of interest have been added
to the maps where space permits.

A note is in order regarding source materials. The informa-
tion included here has been distilled from a representative sample
of the local histories, magazine articles and other secondary
materials available, and various governmental bureaus, private
companies and individual experts have also contributed. However,
the historical progression given here is by no means thorough, and
the person who wishes to uncover more detailed data should consult
any of several libraries or historical societies for this purpose.

xi

Cultural resource overviews have been written for the BLM for some
desert areas, and others will soon be completed. The bibliography
to this volume may also prove to be of some help.

The historical development described has been aligned on a
strictly chronological basis, using dates which appear to be most
important in signifying changes in land use patterns. It is
realized that historic periods can never conveniently fit into
such rigid, non-overlapping classifications; therefore, generali-
zations are made from adjacent periods when growth or decline of
specific land use occurs over an extended period.

Accompanying this text are a series of maps of the California
desert, prepared at a scale of 1:500,000 (about eight miles to the
inch). The maps, like the text, chronicle the land-use develop-
ment of the study area and are designed to correspond with the
various chapters in the text. However, direct references to the
maps have not been made in the text. Because most readers will
not have access to the maps, every effort has been made to keep
place names general enough to allow the reader to follow the text
by use of any good-quality California map.

A few points of definition should be made here. While it is
realized that, strictly speaking, there are several other areas of
California desert land than those included in the California
Desert Conservation Area, the terms "California desert," "the
CDCA" and "the study area" will be used interchangeably for the
purposes of this report. "Native Americans" refers to the native
peoples of California prior to European contact and will be used

XII

interchangeably with "native." Although the term "native Ameri
can" can be considered synonymous with "Indian," we prefer to
avoid further use of the term "Indian."

Xlll

XIV

CHAPTER 1. PRE-CONTACT NATIVE AMERICAN

KNOWLEDGE AND USE OF THE LAND.

At the time of significant European contact and intrusion,
circa 1771, the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) was
occupied by fourteen major native groups: the Mono, the Kawaiisu,
the Koso, the Tubatulabal, the Ute-Chemehuevi , the Serrano, the
Vanyume , the Cahuilla, the Kitanemuk, the Kamia, the Kumeyaay
(Southern Diegueno) , the Yuma, the Halchidhoma and the Mohave. The
boundaries shown in Figure 1 represent the approximate territories
at time of contact. Because native American land use and concept
of territory were not as specific nor politically based as were
European systems, these boundaries are at best graphic aids rather
than clear territorial markers. Additionally, it should be under-
stood that between the time of initial European contact and the
establishment of reservations, the territories were in a state of

flux because of warfare between the Mohave, Yuma, Halchidhoma and

2
Pima/Maricopa .

Native American land use in the study area can generally be

classified into six major categories: (1) major village sites or

rancherias ; (2) temporary seasonal campsites or special activity

areas; (3) trails; (4) quarries and mines; (5) farming areas; and

finally, (6) landmarks, sacred complexes or points of interest.

Some of these land uses are not mutually exclusive; for instance, a

village site may have been chosen because of its proximity to

quarries, fertile land and water.

§>

WESTEC Services. Inc.

GABRIELINO

CDCA BOUNDARY (APPROXIMATE)

MOHAVE

UNOCCUPIED

■

AREAS?

■

OBSIDIAN QUARRY SITES

D

LIMONITE

A

JASPER

•

TURQUOISE

HALCHIDHOMA
YUMA

Source: Heizer and Treganza,
1947.
Kroeber, 1970.

Linguistic Groupings, Native American Territories and
Lithic Sources In and Around the Study Area.

FIGURE

1

The degree to which native American activities within the
study area would have affected or impacted the land is a function
of duration and intensity of the activity. Kamia irrigation and
farming near the Colorado River and the lower Salton Sea basin did

not involve the drastic land alteration required by nineteenth and

3
twentieth century Anglo-American farming. Similarly, pre-contact

Chemehuevi and Koso quarrying activities were done without metal
tools or western technology, thus avoiding the later effects that
large scale mining caused. However, one should not view the
native Americans who lived within the study area as passive occu-
pants nor as noble savages who lived in perfect harmony with nature
and left the land unmarked; as discussed briefly below, such was
not the case.

Native American village sites or major campsites dot the
landscape throughout the CDCA, with a concentration adjacent to the
western foothills and along major water courses. It is not within
the scope of this analysis to document even a small portion of the
known native village sites, although it will be instructive to
outline the location, size and impact of a few major native settle-
ments .

Ethnographic and ethnohistoric data on several villages
throughout the study area indicate that they were generally sea-
sonal settlements that were occupied during the winter and spring
months. During the summer and fall months the majority of the
populace, although not the entire village, dispersed, broke into
small units (clans or families) and exploited the areas beyond

their rancheria bases. Although populations varied greatly from
village to village, a settlement containing 50 to 80 individuals
was average, while a population of over 200 was extremely high.

In most cases the impact of a native settlement upon the
surrounding land was minimal and ephemeral as witnessed by the
inability of many recent researchers to accurately locate ethno-
historically known villages. Construction of relatively small
brush huts, excavation of wells (where possible) and overall main-
tenance of a village complex required little landform alteration
or construction of lasting features. In some areas, however,
burning was performed to flush out wildlife, while along peren-
nial streams flood irrigation was often practiced.

Native American impacts upon the land were perhaps most pro-
nounced in and around Cahuilla ranaherias at Palm "Springs (Kauwis),

7
Indio (Pal-te-wat) , and the present-day Torres-Martinez area.

The earliest historical accounts of these settlements noted the

extensive agricultural lands, the large, carefully maintained

g
wells (at Toro, for example) and relatively dense occupation.

Native mining activities predate European contact as evi-
denced by the presence of exotic lithic materials in prehistoric
midden deposits. The mines and quarries shown in Figure 1 repre-
sent only a small portion of the probably hundreds of such ex-
ploitive areas within the study area.

Exotic stones such as obsidian were quarried from Obsidian
Butte within Kamia territory, Travertine Point in the Cahuilla
sphere of influence, and near Coso Hot Springs in the southern

9
segment of Koso territory. Jasper quarries were located in Ute-

Chemehuevi territory near Sheephole Mountain and near Baker; in
Serrano/Cahuilla territory near the Mecca Hills and in the Pinto
Wash/Dos Cabezas area within Kamia territory. A major source of
limonite is situated near Picacho Peak in traditional Yuma terri-
tory.

Native American mining and quarrying at the above locations,
and for most locations throughout the study area, consisted pri-
marily of shallow pits and exploitation of surface gravels and
float. By contrast, turquoise mines in San Bernardino County
north of Baker were extensively worked in large open pits often
extending as deep as twelve feet; other turquoise was mined by
the Vanyumes near Oro Grande. It is of special interest that
these rich turquoise veins in Ute-Chemehuevi territory were worked

by stonesmiths from the Arizona region, thus implying a regularized

12
travel route between the Southwest and these distant resources.

Native American trails across the land comprise one of the
most enduring effects and evidence of native land use, although
they are often indistinguishable from game trails. Several of the
major trails are documented in native American travel songs and
dream songs, by ethnographic data and historical/ethnohistoric
documents. The hundreds of small, and perhaps shorter, subsidiary
trails are not shown nor are they well-documented, except in
archaeological field notes and site forms.

The routes depicted in Map 1 and generally described below
should be perceived as a corridor rather than as a specific route.

Individual travellers might vary their route because of personal
endurance, lack or presence of water, nature of goods being trans-
ported, i.e. driving horses across the desert might require a
different route than individual runners would need, and tangential
stops made for the purpose of trading.

The Mohave Trail, spanning the 270 miles (420 kilometers)
between Needles and Mission San Gabriel, is perhaps the most sig-
nificant native transportation route across the study area.
Colorado River natives, including the Mohave, used the Mohave Trail
in pre-contact times as a trade route across Chemehuevi territory
to the coastal plains and foothills of southern California. The
extensive trading network of the Mohave allowed them to receive
rabbit-skin blankets from the Paiute in southern Nevada; eagle down
and chicken hawk down from the Chemehuevi; shell and steatite from
the distant coastal Chumash; and baskets from various other groups.
In return, the Mohave supplied gourds, beadwork, pottery and prob-
ably other goods.14 After the introduction of the horse in the
16th century, the Mohaves became noted for their ability and
daring as horse traders and horse thieves, often driving the horses
across the Mohave Trail to eager native American consumers. As
discussed later, major portions of the original Mohave Trail later
became the Government Road/Mohave Road.

The Cocomaricopa Trail constituted the second major native
system across the CDCA. The antiquity of this trail is not as
well-documented as that of the Mohave Trail, although most scholars
agree that the Cocomaricopa Trail was a significant trade and
travel route prior to its use during the early Spanish period.

Beginning east of Blythe, the Cocomaricopa Trail travelled in
a west/northwest direction paralleling Highway 10 below Chuckwalla

Valley, south to the Mecca Hills and then sharply northwest through
Indio, up the Coachella Valley to White Water and then west into
the coastal plain. Trade goods from the Yuma and Mohave, including
gourd rattles and tobacco, were brought across the trail and traded
at the several villages situated at Blythe, Mecca, Indio, Indian
Wells, Palm Springs, White Water, and Cabazon.

A third major native trail system, the Yuma-Needles Trail,
originated southeast of Yuma and travelled northwest between Pi-
cacho Peak and the Chocolate Mountains. From this point, the route
crossed the eastern border of California staying on the western
side of the Colorado River. Near Needles the trail crossed the
Mohave Trail, thus marking a major junction of native American
trail systems.

This route linked together the large Yuma settlements near
Yuma with the Yuma/Halchidhoma villages near Blythe and with Mohave
rancherias in and around Needles. Gourds and eagle feathers

travelled south from the Mohave to the Yuma, and tobacco was traded

17
north by the Yuma. The route also served as a major raiding

trail for Mohave warriors in their attacks along the Colorado

River. Francisco Garces probably followed the general course of

the Yuma-Needles Trail during his 1776 trek up the western bank of

1 8
the Colorado River, as discussed later.

As documented in Chemehuevi myths and journey songs, several

well-known trails travelled north-south along the boundary between

the Chemehuevi and their Mohave/Halchidhoma neighbors.19 During
times of peace the Chemehuevi also used the Needles-Yuma Trail to
travel up and down the river's edge. However, sporadic warfare
with the Mohave, and between the Mohave and the other Colorado
River peoples, resulted in the closure of the riverine route, and
increased Chemehuevi traffic on the more easterly route between
Needles and the Chuckwalla Valley.

The extreme southern portion of the study area was traversed
by an east-west trail system that originated east of Picacho Peak.

This Picacho-San Diego Trail was a major transportation route

— 2D

linking the Yuma, Kamia, Kumeyaay and Northern Diegueno together.

Near Harper's Well the Picacho-San Diego Trail intersected with
another trail system that travelled north-south along the western
edge of the Salton Sea linking Kamia and Cahuilla peoples. From
Harper's Well the Picacho-San Diego route dipped southwest around
the Fish Creek Mountains, traversed Vallecitos and San Felipe
creeks and left the CDCA in the foothills of the Laguna Mountains.
The Picacho-San Diego Trail was used by Yuma raiders on their
frequent forays into San Diego County. Its main purpose, however,
was as a well-travelled trade route. The Kumeyaay supplied acorns
to the Mohave, tobacco, baskets, eagle feathers, acorns and yucca
fiber to the Kamia, acorns to the Yuma and eagle feathers to the
Cocopa. In return, the Kumeyaay received salt from the Cocopa,
gourd seeds from the Mohave, salt and vegetal foods from the Kamia,

gourd seeds from the Yuma and a large variety of food stuffs from

21
non-specific sources in the desert.

As was the case with many of the trails throughout California,
small sections of the Picacho-San Diego Trail were used for local
traffic. The Kumeyaay inhabitants of a large summer camp in the
Mount Laguna area of San Diego County made yearly treks down this

trail, or one of its spurs, on their way to their winter village at

22
Vallecitos (or Met-nook) .

One of the longest and most extensive trail systems in Cali-
fornia leads south out of Owens Valley on its way to the Mohave/
Tehachapi Pass area. North of Owens Valley this route continues to
a point beyond the Oregon-California border. Within the CDCA, the
route skirts the Sequoia Mountains travelling along the present
route of Highways 14 and 395. Specific data about this route are
vague because of its late discovery by Europeans and thus a lack of
ethnohistoric information. However, ethnographic data indicate
that salt, obsidian, deerskins and a large variety of seeds were
transported over this route by Koso, Ute-Chemehuevi and Serrano
traders .

Other shorter but no less significant trails include the trail
system previously mentioned as traversing the western shore of the
Salton Sea. This route skirted the San Bernardino Mountains and
linked together large raneherias at White Water, Palm Springs,
Indian Wells and Torres Martinez. At its northern terminus near
White Water, this route intersected with the Cocomaricopa Trail.
The Cahuilla used this trail to travel through Kamia territory and
make contact with the Yuma. The Yuma provided the Cahuilla with
gourd rattles. Red pigments were also traded in from the east.

Sea shells from the Gulf of California were brought up this trail
by Cocopa traders.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of spur or adjunct trails spun off
from the major routes noted above, forming a web of well-trod paths
across the study area and well beyond. Many of the major trails
later became European and American transportation routes, as dis-
cussed later, while others continued to be used by native Americans
well into the twentieth century. Today the remnants of these early
routes can often be seen etched into the desert landscape. Arti-
facts and trail shrines often mark routes of these highways of the

past.

Features and landforms often possessed significance to native
American groups and are indicative of native American land use or
knowledge of the landscape. Picacho Peak was a landmark and sacred
area to the Kumeyaay;24 the pinnacle formations at Needles are
mentioned in Chemehuevi hunting songs; the Whipple Mountains are
important Chemehuevi mythological origin points; and Dead Mountain
(near Needles) was a sacred peak (Avikwame) to the Mohave, Yuma
and Kumeyaay.25 Piute Spring was a ceremonial center for the
Chemehuevi (Pa1 ash) and the Mohave (Ahakuvi lya) , as witnessed by
the numerous pictographs located there.26 Black Mountain, located

in the El Paso Mountains, was the reported site of sacred cere-

27
monies for natives from as far away as Utah and Colorado.

Significant landmarks or ceremonial/sacred areas beyond the

CDCA abound; those of importance to this study include Mount San

Jacinto in San Bernardino County, a mythological dwelling place for

a Kumeyaay diety, Chaup .28 Further removed is Eldorado Canyon

10

along the Colorado River in Nevada. This canyon (Aha'av 'ulypo)

2 9
has religious significance to the Mohave and to the Yuma.

Charleston Peak (Nuvant) , also in Nevada, was also of significance

30
to the Chemehuevi.

Native American placenames dot the CDCA landscape, including

such native-derived words as: Panamint; Ubehebe ; Tucki (sheep);

Ivanpah, derived from ?Avimpah or TAavimpah (White Clay Water) ;

Yuma; Koso; Piute (Paiute) ; Shoshone, from tso-so 'ni; Mojave;

31
Chemehuevi; Coachella or Cahuilla or Coahuila; Yuha; and Inyo.

Many of the non-European placenames of the area reflect native
American cognates or derivations. The prefix ha or ja is signifi-
cant (as in Jacumba) because it denotes the Yuman word for water.
Numerous American or Spanish words denoting places named after
native American groups or otherwise indicating their past presence
include Indian Wells, Indio (Spanish for Indian), and Degeynous/
Diegueno .

In summary, the pre-contact land use pattern of native Ameri-
cans within the CDCA was primarily one of seasonal occupation and
sporadic flood farming (especially near the lower Salton Sea, the
Colorado River and near Palm Springs) . Mining and quarrying
activities, while often extensive, were limited in their effect
upon the landscape. Major and minor transportation arteries
crisscrossed the study area, revealing an elaborate native trade
network and indicating the seasonal movement of people in their
quest for food and materials. Small-scale well excavations were
conducted to improve upon, or widen, existing natural wells,
particularly in Coachella Valley.

11

Landmarks, ceremonial features and points of interest through'
out the CDCA appear frequently in the songs, myths and oral tradi-
tion of the various native Americans who inhabited the region.
Mythological and everyday descriptions of distant water sources,
landforms and human occupants as revealed by these same songs and
stories clearly indicate an awareness and knowledge of distant
environs .

12

CHAPTER 1 FOOTNOTES

1. Kroeber 1970:Plate 57

2. Spier 1933

Ezell and Ezell 1970:168-173
Kroeber 1970:797
Forde 1931:103
Aschmann n.d.:248

3. Kroeber 1970
Gifford 1931

4. Heizer and Treganza 1947:300-310

5. Spears 1892:77-78

6. Lantis 1963:42, 68

7. Ainsworth 1965:20
Hussar 1977 :E2

Wilke and Lawton 1975:23

8. Bean and Mason 1962:36-37
Blake 1856:95-96, 435

9. Heizer and Treganza 1947:305-306
Bard 1973:35

10. Bard 1973:35

11. Federal Writers'
Project 1939a:637

12. Heizer and Treganza 1947

13. Davis 1974:30

14. Davis 1974:29-30

15. Ezell 1968:28-34

16. Sample 1950
Schroeder 1952:40, 43

17.

Davis 1974:45

18.

Bard 1973:38

19.

Laird 1976

20.

Weide and Barker 1974

Figure 2

21. Davis 1974:20
Spier 1933:349

Gifford 1931:23, 25, 37-40
Drucker, 1941:172

22. Lucas 1976:personal
communication

23. Davis 1974:27, 32, 36

24. Kroeber 1970:788

25. Kroeber 1970:788

26. Kroeber 1970:596

27. AAUW 1953:26

28. Kroeber 1970:711

29. Kroeber 1970:788

30. Kroeber 1970:596

31. Gudde 1949

13

14

CHAPTER 2. THE 1540-1846 PERIOD: SPANISH AND AMERICAN
EXPLORATION AND THE OPENING OF THE DESERT.

In mid-summer 1540 the Spanish explorer Hernando de Alcar6n
sailed up the Colorado River in small boats as part of a major
overall expedition directed by Francisco Coronado. Although it is
unclear exactly how far upstream Alcaron and his party travelled,
it appears that he sailed at least to a point significantly above
the Colorado-Gila confluence near the head of the Colorado River
Delta. Alcaron encountered as many as ten native American groups
during his travels. The names applied by Alcar6n to the native

groups are, in some cases, known to document the presence of ethnic

2
groups that occupied the area in later, better-documented years.

A second Spanish intrusion was made in September 1540 when

Melchior Diaz marched from Sonora toward the Colorado River in

3
search of Alcaron. Diaz failed to meet up with Alcaron, who had

headed back to New Spain. Ironically, Alcaron was impaled on his

own lance during a hunting mishap, and following a three-week bout

with infection and fever, succumbed and was buried in the uncharted

.,, 4
wilds .

More than six decades later, Juan de Onate marched downstream
along the Colorado River entering its floodplain somewhere near
Bill Williams Fork. On January 25, 1605, Onate and his party, led
by native guides, encountered the mouth of the Colorado River.
Based on Onate 's description of the land and of several large na-
tive settlements (OiTate estimated as many as 5,000 inhabitants),

15

the Spanish viceroy proposed that a presidio be established at the
river mouth, but no action was ever taken to implement such a
plan.

Over the next two hundred years Spanish missionaries, colo-
nists and military focused their attention on the development of
Spanish strongholds throughout present-day Sonora, Arizona and
southern parts of Baja California. The Colorado River and the vast
stretch of land to the California coast went unexplored and unno-
ticed until impetus rose for future colonization and exploration.

Two short and seemingly unimportant (for the purposes of this
study) overland treks were made to the Colorado River by a Jesuit
priest, Father Eusebio Kino. Father Kino's visits in 1701 and
1702 were instrumental in advancing the idea that California was a
land mass contiguous with the rest of New Spain and not an island
as others had suggested. Acceptance of Kino's idea fostered hope
of an overland route from Sonora to Baja California and the Cali-
fornia Desert. Thus, although Kino probably did not cross the
Colorado River and enter the CDCA, he may have laid the groundwork
for events to come.

Mission San Diego de Alcala* was founded in 1769 following an
overland expedition from Loreto, Baja Calfornia, supplemented by
supply ships from San Bias in Nayarit. The establishment of the
mission and presidio at San Diego was the first link in the forging
of the California mission chain. The hardships and ardors of
supplying the burgeoning California missions further stimulated
exploration and charting of the Yuha Basin/Imperial Valley region.

16

In 1771 Father Francisco Garc€s led an expedition from Tucson
to the general area of present-day Yuma. From Yuma Garc6s went to
the mouth of the Colorado River and travelled south into Ba j a
California, staying north of the Cocopah Mountains. Somewhere near

the Mount Signal/Calexico area, Garces reversed himself and re-

7
turned to Tucson. Garces excitedly told Juan Bautista de Anza of

his trek and insisted that a route through the mountains west of

the Yuha Basin could be found and that a route to the California

g
Coast was assured. Anza acted on Garces' recommendation and

secured permission from Spanish authorities to attempt an overland

crossing from Tubac to Mission San Gabriel.

Ironically, the desertion of two soldiers from the Presidio de

San Diego in 1772 prevented Anza from being the first European to

traverse the seemingly formidable mountain barrier between the

coast and the desert. Instead, it was Commandant e Pedro Fages who,

while in pursuit of a pair of deserters, breached the Cuyamaca

Mountains, travelled down Oriflamme Canyon and entered the Yuha

q
Basin. Fages and his men, however, left only scant documentation

of their travels in the Yuha area.

Almost two years later Anza and Garces left Tubac, led by a

Christian native runaway (Sebastian Taraval) , with the intent of

opening a southern route from Arizona/Sonora to coastal California.

When Anza and Garces arrived at the Yuma settlements at the mouth

of the Gila River, they were well-treated by friendly Yumas. From

this point to approximately Calexico, the party followed the route

traversed three years earlier by Garces. This route kept the

17

explorers south of the present-day International Border. Near
Calexico the expedition entered California and continued in a
general northwesterly direction.

The explorers passed Yuha Well, San Felipe and Carrizo Creeks,
Borrego Springs, up Coyote Canyon to San Jacinto Valley and then
across the broad plain to Mission San Gabriel. With his arrival at
San Gabriel on March 22, 1775, Anza had established a 600-mile-long
southern overland route to western California. The following
year Anza made a similar trek across the desert, thus solidifying
the feasibility of the route.

Between 1776 and 1781 the Anza/Sonora Route was the major
transportation route between the California missions and the
Arizona/Sonora region. Two outposts, as yet poorly documented,
were founded near the Yuma settlements along the mouth of the
Colorado River to ensure safe travel through the area. The La
Purisma Concepcion settlement was established in 1781 near the Gila

River-Colorado River junction, apparently on the west bank of the

1 2
Colorado. Farther south, a second outpost was begun at San Pedro

— 13
y San Pablo de Bicuner.

Following a year of harrassment by Spanish settlers and severe

depletion of native food stuffs by grazing cattle, Yuma warriors

attacked both ill-equipped settlements on July 17, 1781. The

churches and other structures were razed and the male occupants,

including Garces, were slain; females and children were taken

14 r

captive. Although Pedro Fages and his men spent part of the next
year travelling the Anza Trail and ransoming captives, the Yuma

18

insurrection of 1781 effectively closed the Anza/Sonora Route to
most travellers with the exception of occasional treks such as that
of Jose Joaquin Arillaga in 1796. Arillaga traversed the western
portion of the trail when he left northern Baja California and
entered present-day San Diego County on his way to the Mission San
Diego de Alcaic.

In 1829-1830 Antonio Armijo journeyed from New Mexico to
California seeking a commercial trade route across the California
Desert. Wary of Yuma attacks, Armijo entered the study area at a
point north of Needles, thus avoiding Yuma settlements. Exactly
where Armijo entered California is a hotly contested academic
problem. Traditionally, his route, and thus the opening of the Old
Spanish Trail, has been ascribed (by LeRoy Hafen) to an entry point
near Pahrump Valley, then on to Resting Spring, Salt Spring, Bitter
Spring, and southwest to the Mo j ave River-Barstow area. From
Barstow, Armijo followed the Mo j ave River to the base of the San
Bernardino Mountains and then through the Cajon Pass into the
flatlands east of San Gabriel.

More recent research by Dennis Casebier indicates that Armijo
may have entered California south of the route generally accepted
by historians. Originally, Casebier hypothesized that Armijo

passed into California near the Mesquite Valley area on his way to

1 7
Kingston Spring. However, following the research of Elizabeth

Von Till Warren, Casebier and others now speculate that Armijo may

have travelled through the Piute Valley and linked up with the

ancient Mohave Trail. Based on current research, this more southerly

19

route for Armijo and for what became known as the Old Spanish Trail

1 8
seems well-founded.

The route opened by Armijo became the major, although by no
means sole, trade route between New Mexico and California. Woolen
goods and other manufactures were transported along this route to
California where they were traded for horses and mules, which were
driven back to New Mexico. The Old Spanish Trail served not only
as a busy commercial trade route between 1830 and 1848, but it was
also used by emigrants and, occasionally, by trappers. Horse
thieves from New Mexico and Sonora made periodic raids on Cali-
fornia communities and drove their spoils back to Sonora where
there was a ready market for pack animals.

Two other alternative routes have been proposed for the Old
Spanish Trail and are relevant to this study. One route entered
California north of Armijo1 s route between Death Valley and Shadow
Mountain, crossed the Amargosa River, entered Greenwater Valley,
skirted the Saddle Peak Hills and linked up with Armijo' s route
southeast of Saratoga Springs and north of Silurian Lake. Although
this route was no doubt used during the 1830-1848 period, it was
probably not as popular as the more southern route unless trav-
ellers came from the Salt Lake area. In later years this route
became the Salt Lake-Los Angeles Wagon Road.

A third possible alternative for the Old Spanish Trail entered
California north of Mesquite Valley within Pahrump Valley, trav-
elled west to Resting Springs at the southern end of Chicago
Valley, and then dropped down to Salt Spring (later Mormon Diggings)

20

where it joined with the more northerly route from Salt Lake. This
route is the more traditional route ascribed to Armijo and thus, by
implication, for the Old Spanish Trail. This route was probably
used by those persons seeking a more northern exit from California
or by persons seeking to avoid contact with fellow travellers (such
as horse thieves).

Further research will be required to determine the actual
route of the Old Spanish Trail and its correlation to Armijo's
trail. It seems probable that over the years (circa 1830-1848)
traders, emigrants, horse thieves, and adventurers could have used
any, or all, of the suggested routes. Choice of a particular route
would have been dependent upon the ever-changing availability of
water and the point of origin, i.e. Salt Lake versus Las Vegas.
The unpredictable attitudes of Mohave villagers toward non-Indian
travellers in and around Piute Valley may have dictated against use
of that entry point and forced a shift to the north. Later pioneer
American travellers who entered California through the general area
between Needles and Death Valley Junction noted that they had
followed portions of, or the entire length of, the "Old Spanish
Trail," perhaps indicating that over the years a general label or

title came to encompass a variety of trails or routes. The first

20
Americans came over the trail in 1841. With the outbreak of the

Mexican-American War, traffic on the Old Spanish Trail slowed,

21
became sporadic, and by 1848 ground to a halt.

The effect of Old Spanish Trail on historic land use in the

CDCA was minimal because the trail served as a passage route

21

between New Mexico and coastal California rather than as an artery
to serve the desert regions. This major transportation route
across the eastern California Desert instead had more effect on
land use at both ends of the route, i.e. Los Angeles/San Gabriel
and Tucson/Sonora, than it did across the hundreds of miles it
traversed.

Existing springs or natural wells such as those at Salt
Spring, Resting Spring, Bitter Spring and Piute Spring may have
been expanded or altered somewhat, but the forces of nature and the
impacts of later travellers have erased whatever scant marks would
have been left on the land. Similarly, Spanish or Mexican tempor-
ary or overnight campsites near water or shelter are reflected more
in historical documents than in physical manifestations. There is
no record of the establishment of permanent outposts, forts or rest
areas along the Old Spanish Trail during this period.

The extensive Mohave Trail, forged and frequently used by
Mohave traders and raiders between Piute Valley and the California
coastal plain prior to Spanish contact, became a second major
European trade route. In 1775-1776, Francisco Garces and Juan
Bautista de Anza began a second major expedition to central Cali-
fornia. Anza entered California via the Anza-Sonora Route while

Garces continued up the Colorado River to the Mohave villages north

2 2
of Needles. Although some historians have suggested that Garces

did not go beyond Needles but instead struck out westward toward

the Piute Mountains, it seems more likely that he made it to the

Mohave villages near present-day Fort Mojave.

22

Garces left the Mohave villages with native guides leading

23
the way across the desert to the west. Although it is probable

that the major Mohave Trail was located south of the Garces
route, the Mohave guides may have led Garcls along the more cir-
cuitous northern route because it afforded more water and pas-
turage than did the southern route. It is an interesting aspect
of variable land use to realize that native American runners and
travellers could and did make regular use of trails and routes
that were impractical for European pack animals, wagons and
mounted men.

Garces apparently crossed Piute Wash near the site of Kline-
felter Springs, travelled through Foshay Pass in the Providence

Mountains, skirted the Kelso Dunes near present-day Flynn, to a

24
point on the west shore of dry Soda Lake near Soda Springs. At

Soda Springs, Garces crossed what would later be the intersection
of his more southerly, less travelled route and the northern route
which would become the famous Mohave Trail/Mohave Road-Government
Road route, as discussed later.

From Soda Springs Garces pioneered (at least for Europeans)
the Mohave Trail parallel to the Mojave River from the Cady Moun-
tains southwest to the southern edge of the Calico Mountains.
Near present-day Yermo, Garces crossed a point that would become
known as "Forks of the Road" because eastbound travellers could
elect to branch off at this point and head northeast up the Old
Spanish Trail.

23

Garces left Forks of the Road, passed near what is now Barstow
and generally followed the Mojave River drainage along its southern
course to the foothills of the San Gabriel/San Bernardino Mountains
and out of the CDCA. Garces found, or more correctly was shown, a
pass through the mountains and pushed on across the Cucamonga Plain
to Mission San Gabriel. After a short rest and resupply period at
San Gabriel, Garces and his native guides reversed their travels.
They left the Los Angeles Basin, proceeded through Cajon Pass,
travelled across the western Mojave Desert to a point near Forks of
the Road (Yermo) and then continued to retrace his route east to
Soda Lake.

At Soda Lake Garces veered off from his earlier route and
traversed a more northern trail that led him along Indian Creek and
Willow Wash then to a spring that would be known later as Marl
Spring. From this point Garces meandered across the Kelso Wash,
found a pass through the Mid Hills, and drove on through the wide
Lanfair Valley to Piute Creek. At Piute Creek, Garce"s headed
south-southeast along the creek to Klinefelter Springs and joined
with his original westward route. Garces exited California and the
CDCA north of Needles and returned to Tubac.

The contribution of Garces and his trek was that he opened up
a new Spanish route between Sonora and western California, thus
proving that a more central route than the Anza-Sonora Route was a
feasible means of supplying the California missions and settlements
The Garcgs-Mohave Trail route took on particular significance with
the closing of the Anza-Sonora Route as a result of the Yuma up-
rising in 1781.

24

If Casebier and Warren are correct in their assertion that the
Old Spanish Trail entered the CDCA near Piute Springs, then its
linkup with the Garces-Mohave Trail was almost immediate of that
point and the Garces-Mohave Trail constituted a major segment of
the Old Spanish Trail. If traditional historians are correct, the
Old Spanish Trail entered California considerably north of Piute
Creek and did not intersect with the Garces-Mohave Trail until
Forks of the Road near present-day Barstow. The significance of
this argument to the current study is one of academic preciseness
rather than of historic land use. If the Garces-Mohave Trail and
the Old Spanish Trail are one major trail system, then that route
received the bulk of activity between 1781 and 1848. However, if
the more northern entry points for the Old Spanish Trail are cor-
rect, then the Garces-Mohave Trail from Forks of the Road east to
Needles went virtually unused by Europeans until the American
Conquest .

The unmarked and apparently unknown nature of the Mohave Trail
is evident from the difficulty experienced by Gabriel Moraga in
1819. Moraga led an ill-fated military mission across the desert
with the intent of raiding the Mohave villages as punishment for

their recent attacks through southern California, including a major

25
incident at Mission San Buenaventura. Although in pursuit of the

fleeing Mohaves, Moraga was unable to chart a clear path across the

formidable desert. Somewhere east of Devil's Playground near

Kelso, Moraga and his fifty-man punitive party ran dangerously low

on water and supplies. The squadron that had hoped to enter the

25

Mohave homeland and punish the infidels instead found themselves

returning to San Gabriel without finding the apparently elusive

27
Mohave Trail, or the equally elusive Mohave.

The virtual abandonment of the Anza-Sonora Route between 1781
and 1848, and the circuitous route afforded by the Old Spanish
Trail made the search for a shorter, more direct inland route to
coastal California a high priority. Native American traders had
probably used a direct route between their settlements near pres-
ent-day Blythe and friendly villages in the Los Angeles Basin, as

2 8
described earlier. When a Cocomaricopa (Maricopa) chief or

leader arrived at Mission San Gabriel in 1821, he announced that he

and his companions had covered the distance from the Colorado River

29
in six days. Although this chief, Jose* Cocomaricopa, had come to

trade for Mexican wares, a year later he and other Cocomaricopa

runners were carrying official documents between San Gabriel/Los

Angeles and Sonora.

Spanish use of native American mail carriers was a common
practice by 1822. In 1692 Father Saeta of Tubutama, Sonora used
a native messenger to deliver his dying words to Father Kino, who
was stationed in Dolores. Subsequent use of native runners and
messengers, in particular Halchidhomas and Cocomaricopas , was well-
recognized.

The so-called Cocomaricopa Trail, as described in the previous
chapter, travelled from points east of Blythe westward along a
route approximating present-day Highway 10 across Chuckwalla Valley,
traversed the Mecca/Indio area through Coachella Valley and continued

26

32
over San Gorgonio Pass to San Gabriel. The realization that

native runners could make the eastward trek in six days, coupled

with the fact that the route avoided the unpredictable and often

dangerous Yumas in and around Yuma Crossing, tantalized the Mexican

officials. The Governor of Sonora, Antonio Narbona, and other

officials advocated exploration and use of the Cocomaricopa Trail

as a major mail route. To that end, Jose* Romero and Jose Maria

Estudillo were sent to find the trail and report back to Mexican

officials .

Romero and Estudillo left Mission San Gabriel in 1823, led by

a Juaneno guide who had been to Tucson several years earlier and

reputedly knew the Cocomaricopa Trail. Although the guide managed

to steer the Mexican explorers through San Gorgonio Pass, down

Coachella Valley and out into the Colorado Desert, he was unable

to lead them beyond that point. Romero and his weary, parched

party probably got as far as the Chuckwalla Valley/Palen Lake area

before they aborted their mission and turned back. They were

unaware that they were less than thirty-five miles from the

33
Colorado River.

A second expedition by Romero in November 1824 was led by

Cocomaricopa guides and proved successful. On the second trek the

Romero party followed a more southern route upon leaving the Oro-

copia Mountains/Salt Creek area and in doing so stayed within

range of water sources while travelling along a route well-known

to their native guides. Romero later reported that although the

Cocomaricopa Trail was passable, it was inferior to the Anza-

27

Sonora Route. However, it was used during the Mexican period for

35
salt entradas to the Salton Sink.

The length of the Anza-Sonora Route was drastically dimin-
ished by the discovery of the San Felipe Valley corridor linking
Carrizo Valley and San Jose Valley. This time-and-energy-saving
route was discovered by Santiago Arguello while pursuing native
horse thieves eastward from the Presidio de San Diego. Arguello's
discovery of San Felipe Valley occurred between the two Romero
treks and seriously diminished the significance of Mexican dis-
covery of the Cocomaricopa Trail.

Mexican officials compared the Arguello-Fages-Anza Trail with
the Cocomaricopa Trail and opted for the former. This trail was
soon known simply as the Sonora Trail or Sonora Road and began to
see some use by early 1826. Sporadic native attacks and intra-
tribal warfare caused some disruption of travel and led to aban-
donment of an as yet poorly documented outpost of Laguna Chapala.
The exact location of this small redoubt, which lasted less than a
year before natives sacked it, is not known, although researchers
from Imperial Valley College may be excavating its ruins at a
point east of Westmorland. Because of native hostilities, real or
rumored, and the fact that few persons outside of the Southwest
knew of the Sonora Road, the more well-known, and by now well-
established, Old Spanish Trail/Mohave Trail complex continued to
serve as the major trail system into California in spite of its
inconvenience .

28

As the war between Mexico and the United States broke out,
the Colorado Desert, the Mojave Desert and Yuha Desert still
remained largely uncharted, untrammeled and ill-perceived. The
Old Spanish Trail served as an emigrant trail, a commercial road
and a marauders' escape route. Pack trains, horse drives and
trapping parties had passed across this route (or routes) , but
with little effect on the surrounding area. Natives still con-
trolled the land, nature still prevailed, and permanent settle-
ments or use of the land beyond the trails themselves were neither
desired nor pursued.

The Cocomaricopa Trail was never a major Spanish-Mexican
trail. It ceased to serve as a mail route via Cocomaricopa
runners sometime between the great meteorite shower of 1833 and
Halchidhoma migration to the Gila River in 1838. The Anza-Sonora
Road was perhaps the most travelled road during this period, al-
though comparisons with the Old Spanish Trail are difficult to
assess. One contemporary estimate notes that almost forty percent
of the Spanish colonists traversed the Anza Trail before the Yuma
uprising in 1781. However, again it should be noted that the
trail, or trails, constituted the sole land use throughout the
area. Construction of permanent wells, way stations, mining
towns, and military installations was several years and another
culture removed from the sunset of the Mexican period in 1846.

29

CHAPTER 2 FOOTNOTES

1. Federal Writers'
Project 1939a:636

2. Aschmann n.d.:247-248

3. Steere 1952:27

4. Aschmann n.d.

5. Aschmann n.d.:246-247

6. Federal Writers'
Project 1939a:636

Aschmann n.d.:247

7. Lindsay 1973:42
Pourade 1971:12-13
Bolton 1930:1:31-32

8. Bolton 1930:1:209-219

9. Lindsay 1973:44

10. Lindsay 1973b: 42
Bancroft 1885:11:43
Bolton 1930:i:65

11. Pourade 1960:157-158

12. Federal Writers'
Project 1939a:636

13. Edwards 1969:252

14. Aschmann n.d.:248
Bean and Mason 1962:3

15. Leadabrand 1969:119

16. Hafen and Hafen 1954

17. Casebier 1975:31-32

18. Warren and Roske 1978:1-20

19. Edwards 1969:149
Casebier 1975:31-32

20. Bard 1973:43

21. Casebier 1975:37

22. King and Casebier 1976:283-284

23. Bard 1973:38

24. Otis 1977:113

25. Turner 1974:125-126
Bancroft 1885:11:332-336

26. Bard 1973:40

27. Bancroft 1885:11:336

28. Bancroft 1885:11:332

29. Turner 1974:125

30. Baxter 1968:40
Bancroft 1885:11:507-508

31. Oneal 1957:21
Ezell 1968

32. Turner 1974:124

33. Turner 1974:123-124
Bean and Mason 1962
Bancroft 1885:11:507

34. Lindsay 1973:54

35. Edwards 1969:100, 242

30

CHAPTER 3. THE 1846-1868 PERIOD:

AMERICANS IN THE DESERT;
EXPLORATION, RAILROAD SURVEYS
AND MILITARY ACTIVITY.

Although several American trappers and adventurers are known
to have passed through California in general, and desert areas
specifically, during the Mexican period, their impact was probably
negligible. Men such as Jedidiah Smith in 1826-27, James and
Sylvester Pattie in 1826, David E. Jackson in 1831, Richard Camp-
bell in 1827, and Thomas Coulter in 1832 used either the Sonora
Road or the Old Spanish Trail to enter or leave California. The
fragmentary nature of their descriptions and their ephemeral
effect on the land dictate that only a passing note be made of
these men. Although the literature on the exploits and adventures
of Smith, Pattie and Jackson is abundant, the significance to the
current study is minimal.

The Mexican War brought several famous and significant ex-
ploration parties to California. In 1846 General Stephen M.
Kearny (Kearney) and Kit Carson marched into the CDCA from Pima
territory along the Gila River. Kearny and his Advance Guard of
the West had gone into Baj a California probably along the old
Sonora Road out of Yuma. After skirting Alamo Mucho, the party
travelled northwest and entered present-day California east of
Signal Mountain.

From the Signal Mountain area, Kearny continued northwest but
travelled farther north than the more western-trending route taken
by Anza and other early emigrants. Near present-day El Centro,

31

Kearny headed almost due west past the wells later known as Sack-
ett's and into the well-travelled Carrizo Corridor. Kearny and his
parched, weary men camped at Vallecito near a large Kumeyaay vil-
lage, then marched on the abandoned village at San Felipe. After
finally crossing the mountains, they marched out onto San Felipe
Valley near Warner's Ranch. After insufficient rest and resupply,
Kearny and his men continued their 1,500-mile odyssey, to meet
their fate at the battles of San Pasqual and Mule Hill. Seven days
after their weary arrival at Warner's, at least nineteen members of
Kearny's army were dead. Kearny himself had received two severe
punctures through the buttocks, the handiwork of Andreas Pico and
his Californios.

A large party of more than 350 Mormons were less than two
months behind Kearny and generally followed his route. However,
their large wagons necessitated some route alterations, or in the
case of Box Canyon, alterations in landform. In order to pass
through the slender gorge at Box Canyon, the emigrants actually
picked, quarried and smashed a corridor just wide enough for their
wagons. The successful passage of the Mormons, coupled with
Kearny's march, opened up the Emigrant Trail or Gila Trail into
southern California.

Although this route from Yuma west followed the Sonora Road
for the most part, its first extensive use was marked by pack train
and wagon alike. The traffic which plied the Emigrant Trail included
military units, Sonorans bound for the gold fields up north, Ameri-
can emigrants, commercial traders and occasional natives. The trail

32

was not without its hardships. Yumas still made sporadic raids on
ill -defended wagon trains, lack of water felled even the hardiest
livestock, and broken wagons were abandoned for want of spare
parts and spare teams. Cherished articles, extra food and other
"surplus" items were cached or outright discarded to lessen the
load or to make room for less fortunate travellers. Yet, the
march west continued. In 1849 one authority noted that as many as
12,000 emigrants had travelled the trail since 1846.

The southern portion of the CDCA and the general area tra-
versed by the Emigrant Trail had become generally well-known to
experienced travellers, military men and wagon masters by 1848-
1849. Boundary surveys by Amiel Whipple, Cave Couts Jr. and
William Emory provided government officials with a better knowl-
edge of the area and have left researchers with a wealth of ethno-
historic and anthropological data.

Increased and steady traffic, combined with the need for
military protection from natives and white vagabonds, led to the
establishment of several early way stations along the Emigrant

Trail. At Vallecitos, a small number of soldiers, horses and

2
supplies were kept as early as 1850. Apparently, the depot was

adjacent to the then still-inhabited Kumeyaay village at the same

location. Similarly, the much larger camp at Fort Yuma was also

founded among native villages, in part as a control mechanism and

in part because the site was at a major intersection of trails.

The first occupation of Fort Yuma proved to be short-lived. In

early summer of 1851, the majority of the troops and equipment at

33

Fort Yuma were transferred to Santa Ysabel, and the small squad
left at the fort departed in late summer of that year. In later
years Fort Yuma was re-garrisoned and was a significant factor in
pacification of the Yumas and in asserting military might in
California.

Thousands of emigrants poured into California from the
south, and an impressive number of gold seekers and settlers
traversed the Old Spanish Trail near Death Valley. Perhaps the
best-known of these were the so-called 49ers, who entered Cali-
fornia well above the Old Spanish Trail and stumbled into Death
Valley in their haste to make a shortcut to reach western Cali-
fornia. Their numbers were few; consequently, they had little
effect on the land. Leaving the valley, they split into several
groups. The Manly Party left Death Valley along the Amargosa
River, went across the Panamint Range towards Searles Lake and
into Indian Wells Valley; they left more descriptions of their

plight than impacts upon the land, beyond initiating the use of

3
Death Valley as a traffic corridor. The Jayhawkers and other

parties, who stayed west of the Amargosa River and travelled over

Emigrant Pass to Panamint Valley and then across Searles Lake,

initiated a route that was important during the later mining

periods .

South and east of Death Valley, the Mohave Trail once again

came into use and soon became a major traffic corridor. Portions

of the Mohave Trail from Cajon Pass to a point east of Forks of

the Road were traversed by John Charles Fremont during his 1843-

1844 trek from Tehachapi Pass to the Colorado River. Fremont, and

34

other trapper-explorers who followed a similar route, made it
clear that the Mohave Trail-Old Spanish Road was a feasible route
across the Mohave Desert. It has been speculated that American
travellers apparently thought that they could tame the insolent
natives, forge shorter and better routes to the south, and gener-
ally succeed where the Spaniards and Mexicans had failed.

During this time -- about 1851-1852 -- the Federal Government
sent Indian Commissioners to assess the location, numbers and
needs of thousands of native Americans throughout California. The
over-zealous commissioners formulated treaties that they were not

authorized to establish and made promises of land grants which the

4
government had not authorized.

It is difficult to assess the role, if any, played by natives
within the CDCA in the treaty negotiations. Several villages in
or near the study area were officially represented during the
illegitimate treaty negotiations; among them were Vallecitos, San
Felipe, Tecate, and Santa Ysabel.

Apparently, large blocks of land were unofficially set aside
as reservations or tracts for the exclusive use of native Ameri-
cans. One large tract was within the southern portion of the CDCA
(Figure 2) and two other tracts were situated along the west-
central boundaries. The entire package of 18 treaties was not
accepted by the Federal legislature and the unauthorized treaties
went unratified. Because they were never established nor settled,
the unratified reservations in and around the CDCA had no effect
on land use.

35

^>

WESTEC Services, Inc.

CDCA BOUNDARY (APPROXIMATE)

LAND SUPPOSEDLY CEDED
BY NATIVE AMERICANS IN
THE 1851-1852 UNRATIFIED
TREATIES

Source: Heizer, 1972

Approximate Locations of Unratified Treaty Land (1851-
1852) In and Around the Study Area.

FIGU

2

36

Between 1853 and 1860 a series of railroad surveys were
conducted in various areas, one of which centered around the
Mohave Trail. Well-known surveyors such as Amiel Whipple, as well
as then unknowns such as Francis X. Aubrey, Edward F. Beale and
R.S. Williamsen, spent several months surveying and evaluating
possible routes for permanent wagon roads and potential railroad
beds. Aubrey travelled with an entourage of well-armed men and
went unmolested by natives or white marauders. Whipple also had a
minimum of troubles with natives, although Beale and others were
harrassed.

One of Beale 's tasks was to determine the feasibility of
opening a wagon road across the desert following the Mohave Trail
or 35th parallel route. Feasibility was dependent upon avail-
ability of water and grass, ease of travel, and safety. Beale
regarded this route as able to fulfill all of these criteria and

suggested that camels be used as pack animals to augment the wagon

7
trains.

Beale 's optimism for the Mohave Road failed to take into

account the warlike Mohave villages near Needles. The increase in

emigrant activity and traffic across the Mohave Road provided an

opportunity for the Mohave to exploit the American travellers as

they had the Spaniards and Mexicans. Small bands of raiders made

sporadic raids on wagon trains without fear of serious reprisal

and effectively closed down the road itself and emigrant activity

across the river.

37

Mohave control of emigrant traffic was short-lived. The
establishment of Fort Mojave, coupled with increased military
activity under Captain Winfield Scott Howard and a series of
native battles that proved unsuccessful for the Mohaves, broke
their stranglehold on the Mohave Road by late 1859. To further
protect the route, outposts were founded at Camp Sugar Loaf (near
Barstow) in 1858; Fort Piute or Fort Beale in 1859-60; Camp Cady
in 1860; Camp Marl in 1865; Camp Rock Springs in 1865-66; and Fort
Soda in 1865-66. Farther north, a redoubt at Resting Spring was
established in the early 1860s along the Old Spanish route.
None of the forts were occupied past 1870, but by that time they
had become unnecessary.

With protection of the route assured, the way was opened to
civilian growth. Among the first to populate the route were sup-
pliers; in this fashion, Lane's (Oro Grande), Grapevine (near
present-day Barstow), Fish Pond (later Nebo) , and Hawley's (near
Yermo) were established to serve the needs of travellers. And to
an increasing degree, miners began to filter out into heretofore
undiscovered areas. Some mining activity had begun earlier; for
example, gold had been intermittently extracted from the Salt

Spring "Mormon Diggings" area as early as the 1830s and again

10
about 1850. The Potholes area near Laguna Dam saw the state's

first mining boom back in 1781. However, the growth of mining

towns and mining activity did not begin in earnest until after

subjugation of the Mohave about 1859. Discovery sites, largely

prompted by a search for the Lost Breyfogle Mine from the Death

38

Valley 49ers' trek, centered in the northern deserts; mines in

the 1860s were often worked by Mexicans, as the El Paso, Picacho

12
and Cerro Gordo areas suggest. Other discoveries before 1868

occurred at Vontrigger, the Slate Range, the Coso District, the

13
Wildrose area, and near Camp Rock Springs. The latter camp

brought about the desert's first post office, but none of these

areas were significant nor long-lasting. As well, many miners

going to La Paz, Arizona (near Blythe) traversed the Bradshaw

Trail after it opened in 1862; however, no significant mines and

14
only a few way stations resulted from the traffic.

In summary, the American influence on the desert, particu-
larly from 1846 to 1868 (and beyond, as discussed in subsequent
chapters) was profoundly different from that of the Hispanic
period. Whereas the Spanish and Mexican periods were typified by
movement across or through the study area (as a result of explora
tion or military action) , American efforts became focused on
extracting and exploiting the resources within the study area
itself.

The Spanish and Mexican influence consisted of thin strands
of trails that linked together settlements on either side of the
desert. The early American period witnessed the improvement of
these still primitive trails and some effort to transform them
into maintained roads with way stations, outposts and supplies;
also, ranching was begun in the western Antelope Valley. The
native groups that had virtually controlled the desert between
coastal California and Sonora during the Hispanic period were

39

subdued by Americans, conquered by the Mohave, or migrated beyond
the study area into Arizona, Baja California and Sonora.

Human impacts or marks on the land were increased from
temporary camps and sparsely travelled trails during the earlier
periods to relatively substantial (albeit sometimes ephemeral)
towns. The beginnings of large-scale mining to include stamp
mills, tailings and water diversion took place during the 1846-
1868 period. Permanent forts were constructed, thus laying the
foundation for larger settlements and providing security that
would be a growth inducement.

By 1868, those impacts or activities that would seriously
alter the face of the landscape or have a direct effect on the
land had begun in the form of livestock grazing, military bases,
major transportation arteries, large scale mining, and the growth
of permanent settlements. The remaining chapters detail the
ultimate effects and history of these land uses and several others
not yet present in 1868, including farming and recreational
activity.

40

CHAPTER 3 FOOTNOTES

1. Bard 1973:45
Hayes 1929:46

2. Edwards 1969:263

3. Miller 1976:11

4. Kelsey 1973:229-230
Heizer 1972

5. Heizer 1972:60-65

6. King and Casebier 1976:280

7. King and Casebier 1976:280, 291-292

8. Bard 1973:47

9. Belden 1964

10. Miller 1976:47-49

11. Edwards 1969:249

12. Leadabrand 1969:51

13. Strong 1975b:9

King and Casebier 1976:311

Federal Writers' Project 1939b:19, 69

14. Edwards 1969:167-168

15. Settle 1963:61

41

42

CHAPTER 4. THE 1868-1885 PERIOD: INITIAL

MINING AND RAILROAD IMPACTS OCCUR.

Though Americans had assumed jurisdiction over the California
desert for almost two decades by the late 1860's, their impacts
upon the desert had been minimal; away from the principal wagon
roads and scattered mining areas, land-use changes were almost
non-existent. However, the desert came to be nominally (if thin-
ly) populated during the ensuing two decades, and a framework of
settlements lasting to the present day began to be established.

During this period, mining became the dominant economy in the
desert, particularly in the years before the arrival of the rail-
road. Major discoveries were made in many areas, particularly in
the northern deserts. The first major strike occurred at Cerro
Gordo; silver and lead were discovered in 1865 by a group of
Mexican miners, though a major camp did not appear until about
1868. Cerro Gordo was truly a giant among camps; its importance

helped focus early interest into that area, and helped spawn

2
subsidiary growth in Owens Valley for supplies. Los Angeles

benefited as a freighting terminus, and a short-lived but active

3
steamship line was created on Owens Lake to transship ores.

Freighting stations such as Little Lake, Gyote Holes and Willow

4
Springs also came into existence at this time. The wealth at

Cerro Gordo proved almost limitless; it remained a major producing

area until the early years of the twentieth century and provided

an intermittent source of wealth for decades afterward through the

43

discovery of new veins and reworking of tailings dumps. Less-
successful adjacent camps, also located high in the Inyo Moun-
tains, were established in the 1870s at Belmont and Beveridge.

Other major camps appeared shortly afterwards, still princi-
pally in the northern desert. Ivanpah, a gold camp on the east

slope of Clark Mountain, came into its own about 1870; reaching a

7
peak in the late 1870s, production continued up to about 1900.

Activity also occurred about this time in Wyman Canyon in the

extreme northern desert; the site supported a minor town called

White Mountain City, of which little is known and even less can be

0

deduced from present remains. Less major strikes in the 1865-75
period took place near Stoddard Wells (east of present-day Helen-
dale), the Picacho and Oro Grande areas, and in the Twentynine

9
Palms area.

Perhaps the wildest desert camp ever appeared at Panamint, on
a high ridge opposite Death Valley. Ore was discovered there
early in 1873. Its site was in one of the most remote and
inaccessible parts of the desert, however; thus news about the
camp spread slowly. Panamint ' s peak years occurred in 1874 and
1875. During this period, it attracted many whose past was some-
what less than reputable; accordingly, the tortuous trip up the
canyon into the camp was under constant threat of holdup. So
dangerous was the trip that the Wells Fargo Company, the major
bullion carriers of the time, refused to even serve the camp; the
only way that the ore could be taken safely away from the camp was
to cast the silver into 500-pound balls, and haul it by wagon

44

across the desert to Los Angeles. Though the camp was already
failing by 1876, a July cloudburst washed almost the entire re-
mains down Surprise Canyon. Small revivals occurred in later
years .

Another major camp appeared at Darwin, where a silver-lead
strike occurred in 1874. Originally situated downslope from its

present site, the town immediately boomed, and soon had a popula-

12
tion of 1,500; an enterprising Japanese took advantage of the

year-round flow at nearby Darwin Falls to set up small vegetable

13
gardens in the narrow floodplain below. The town, after moving

a short distance, experienced several booms after the 1870s;

14
however, they never regained the activity of its initial boom.

Eventually becoming a corporate-dominated town, Darwin has never

entirely ghosted, though mining activity in recent years has been

small and intermittent.

To the east of Darwin, silver was discovered at about the

same time on the east side of the Argus Range. The Modoc, Minni-

etta and Defense Mines were the major area producers, and the

Lookout townsite was established as a supply center. A local

smelter was needed for the ore, but with no local wood available,

the adjacent Panamint Range was harvested instead. Charcoal kilns

were built there, and the end product was transferred back to the

Lookout smelter. Production of the mines continued into the

late 1870s; grain to supply the various freighting teams to this

and other camps came from Furnace Creek ranch, which had been

established in 1870. 17

45

Each of the above towns and camps were true frontier out-
posts, existing largely on their own and often connected to the
outside world only by occasional freighting and staging routes.

By the mid-1870s, however, this pattern became modified somewhat

1 8
as the railroad made sites somewhat more accessible. As ex-
plained in the following paragraphs, railroad accessibility did
help the general mining economy of the desert -- in fact railroad
companies, sensing the advantages of mining discoveries along
their service routes, actively promoted new sites -- but precious
metal production received relatively few benefits from railroad
accessibility.

The first railroad came into the area in early 1876, from

Tehachapi down to Mojave, then to Los Angeles via the Antelope

19
Valley and Soledad Canyon. Los Angeles became accessible by

rail late in 1876; that same year, construction began to the east.

Extending through San Gorgonio Pass, construction was completed to

20
Indian Wells (now Indio) by the end of 1876, and the railroad

21
reached Yuma by September, 1877. Later, the Atlantic and Pacific

(now the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe) Railroad built eastward

from Mojave to The Needles (now Needles) in 1882-1883. 22 Both

railroads were eventually linked up with eastern counterparts, but

23
not until 1883 and 1884, respectively.

Symbolically important as its presence was, the railroad had

little immediate effect on land use, with the exception of the

various section camps and station-houses constructed along the

route itself. There was some alteration of trade routes, however,

46

O A

and most trailside way stations were forced to close. Areas
away from the tracks were not settled because the advantages of
southern California had not yet been made known to much of the

rest of the United States. The deserts of California were even

25
less known, and thus generally feared. (The names given to the

early Santa Fe stations reflect this unfamiliarity . Stations in

mid-desert, for instance, were given sarcastic names, such as

Klondike, Nome and Siberia; and lacking other inspiration, stations

east of Bagdad were alphabetically arranged: Amboy, Bengal,

Cadiz, and so on.)

Land use impacts after the coming of the railroad continued
to be almost solely related to the mining of precious metals,
chiefly gold and silver. In Inyo County, the best-producing area
of the time, the mines at Cerro Gordo, Panamint and Darwin con-
tinued their large outputs, while major new activity occurred at
the Gunsight and Noonday Mines, creating old Tecopa (eight miles
east of the present town) .

In other areas, chiefly San Bernardino County, other discov-
eries were being made. In the late 1870s, a large silver deposit
was uncovered in the Providence Mountains; the resulting Bonanza

King Mine soon created Providence, a company town a mile north of

27
the mine site. The productive Waterman Mine was discovered in

1880, and Calico came into prominence north of present-day Dag-

2 8
gett. Calico was typical of many of the larger camps; discov-
ered in 1880, it boasted a population of 2,500 by 1885 and even

29
spawned its own residential area, Goblerville. Calico also

47

occupied a large area of its own, spanning the entire area between

30
Wall Street and Odessa Canyons. Along with most mining camps

before the turn of the century, it had its own Chinatown, a

school, a plethora of saloons, red-light spots and the usual

31
assortment of drifters, rowdies and tinhorns. Like many other

mining communities, it burned during its heydey, with the water

required to douse the flames being worth more than the structures

32
themselves .

The most celebrated activity during the period, though hardly

dominant in the economics of the desert as a whole, was the borax

33
trade. First operated from various spots in Death Valley, the

trade later became famous for its twenty-mule teams (actually

eighteen mules and two lead horses) when a manufacturing operation

adopted them for its symbol. Operations began in 1882 from the

Harmony and the short-lived Eagle Borax Works, the former acquired

by Francis C. "Borax" Smith. The Harmony operation was augmented

the following year when the Amargosa Borax works began production;

summer temperatures there, at a "cool" 110-degree maximum, allowed

34
operations that were impossible on the floor of Death Valley.

The one was carried to the railroad at Mojave via a series of

35
watering tanks.

Compared to mining and the railroads, grazing and other

activities were less economically significant, if more expansive.

Ranchers occupied the entire western portion of the desert area

and roamed along the mountain margins as far south as the Anza-

"7 C

Borrego area; extensive ranches also existed in the Chemehuevi

48

Valley, north and west of present-day Cima, and in the high coun-

37
try in and around Lanfair Valley. Trail drives were another

occasional feature of the economy; the Old Government Road, the

newer (Bradshaw) road, the Weaver Trail through the Twenty-nine

Palms oasis and the Southern (Butterf ield) Route were used for

38
this purpose.

Anglo agriculture also began at this time, though it was a
very small undertaking at first. The General Land Office, care-
taker of Federal lands, began its long history of agricultural
grants with a small tract of land in the southern Antelope Valley.

Settled in 1880, the small colony there was soon followed by

39
others later in the decade.

It is interesting to note that the Antelope Valley even
sported a lumbering episode during this period. Probably the only
example of commercial lumbering in the California desert, it
occurred in 1884 and 1885. An English corporation, called the
Atlantic and Pacific Fibre Company, was formed to harvest the
"yucca palms" (Joshua trees) in the southeastern Antelope Valley
for paper making operations. A pulp mill was set up at Ravenna,
west of Acton, and several shipments were processed and sent to
England. Operations ceased, however, when the first large ship-
ment spoiled in transit. Though non-productive after 1885, the

40
company continued to own land in the area as late as 1915.

49

CHAPTER A FOOTNOTES

1. Turner 196A

2. Murbarger 1964:9, 10

3. Nadeau 196A

A. Edwards 196A

Farnsworth 1965:1

5. Murbarger 196A:15

6. Miller 1976:61-62

7. Bard 1973:50

8. Leadabrand 1972:83-88

9. Myrick 1975 :A37
Miller 1976:37-39
Miller 1968:9

10.

Paher 1973:A2

11.

Paher 1973 :A2

12.

Miller 1976:29

13.

Federal Writers'

Project 1939b:59

1A.

AAUW 1953:15

15.

Murbarger 196A

16.

Neal 1975 :1A

17.

Paher 1973:7

18.

Nadeau 196A

19.

Settle 1963:27

20.

Baxter 1968 :A1

21. Myrick 1962

22. Cook 1967c:22

23. Mojave River Valley
Museum Association 1977

2A. Bard 1973:58

25. Hanson 1896 :3A

26. Strong 1975:21

27. Bard 1973:72

28. Edwards 1969 :2A7

29. Myrick 1962:816

30. Miller 1976:35

31. Otis 1977:122

32. Parker 1973: A3

33. Federal Writers'
Project 1939b:22

3A. Paher 1973:18

35. Beck and Haase 197A:92
Federal Writers'
Project 1939b:73

36.

Ernst 1977

37.

Bard 1973:51

38.

Edwards 1969

Cook 1969d:28

Bell 1932

39.

Settle 1963:28

A0.

Settle 1963:29

50

CHAPTER 5. THE 1885-1895 PERIOD: MINING PRODUCTION
CONTINUES WHILE HOMESTEADING DEVELOPS,
PARTICULARLY IN THE ANTELOPE VALLEY.

In the late 1880' s and early 1890's, a number of basic
changes occurred in the California desert. From a previous
emphasis on railroads and mining, dry-farming agriculture and
other attractions came into prominence, and previously-important
mining towns began to give way to other mining areas. Railroads
reached into some of these new areas, and transcontinental train
travel dramatically increased.

Though the Atlantic and Pacific (Santa Fe) Railroad had
completed its route from Mo j ave to Needles back in 1883, it did
not receive a great deal of use until 1885, when construction was
completed between Waterman Junction (later Barstow) and Los
Angeles through Cajon Pass. A major rate war ensued with the
Southern Pacific soon afterwards, which reduced fares from Mis-
souri Valley points to Los Angeles from $125.00 down to $50.00 and
less for a short time. As a result thousands of visitors and
emigrants entered southern California through the desert, touching
off a major real estate boom from 1886-1888. At the time, how-
ever, the desert was thought by most as a less-than-desirable

2
spot; it was a grim, lifeless place, to be avoided at all costs.

Even so, portions of the Los Angeles area boom were felt in the

desert. Several agricultural communities began in the southern

Antelope Valley as a result; Neenach, Fairmont, Manzana, Del Sur

and Almondale were several of the more successful towns, while the

51

Chicago, Kingsbury, John Brown and Wicks colonies proved more

ephemeral examples. Most of these colonies were founded by

farmers with no real grasp of desert farming; as stated by Glen

Settle, Antelope Valley historian:

The poverty of most of the settlers was one of the great
factors, as well as their inexperience and general ignorance.
Men were seen plowing only an inch deep and expecting the
grain to take root and develop. 4

Compounding the problems were rabbit invasions, poor crop
selection, and ignorance of deep-pumping or summer-fallowing
techniques; as a result, several of these colonies barely began
before they succumbed, even though these years were average or
above-average in rainfall. Other homesteading attempts took place
along the lower Mojave River, around Hesperia, in the Anza-Borrego
area and in the Indian Wells Valley, generally with even less
successful results.

Though small-lot subdivision activity from the boom of
1886-88 generally stayed in the Los Angeles basin and away from
the desert, the later months of the boom brought some of the more
flagrant, even fantastic examples of boom towns to the desert's
margins. There were four prime examples of these subdividers'
handiwork. Widneyville-by-the-Desert , a widely-advertised area
near Hesperia, sponsored several train trips to the property as
part of its sales campaign, and featured a grove of orange-laden
Joshua trees as the focal point of the salesman's harangue. Lot
sales were brisk, but no homes were built. Border City, near
present-day Pinon Hills, was totally devoid of amenities "save

52

that of a view," according to one report; and Manchester, near

7
Border City, had many of the same attributes. The cynical

claimed it was "accessible only by balloon," but since it was sold

exclusively to persons outside the region, the four thousand lots,

purchased by the developer at 2$ each, were all sold at prices

ranging up to $300 per lot. Palm Dale, today absorbed within

Palm Springs' Smoke Tree Ranch, was slightly more legitimate, and

even boasted its own rail spur; but like the others, it lasted

q
only a short while. Palm Springs itself had its first boom

during the late 1880s, but the failure of its irrigation system
from Whitewater Creek delayed its development for several dec-
ades.10

Due to the increased traffic and necessary facilities on the
route, the railroads played a more important role in the desert.
Barstow, with an 1890 population of 90, had not attained any
central function on the line yet; however Needles, with 285 peo-
ple, had become the second largest town in the desert next to
Lancaster. Mojave, with 231 residents, was next in rank, and

most of the thirty or more stations in the desert had a small crew

12
for maintenance-of -way and telegraph purposes.

Mining, particularly of gold and silver, continued to be

dominant. Cerro Gordo, Panamint and Darwin, the various borax

13
works and other Inyo County camps all decreased in importance;

mines in San Bernardino and Kern Counties, however, were discov-
ered and expanded. In the Clark Mountain area, Mescal, Nantan and
Ivanpah were each active, while to the south, the Vanderbilt gold

53

mine was enjoying its most successful period. The Nevada South-
ern (later the California Eastern) Railroad was constructed from
Blake (later Goffs) to Manvel in 1893, providing access to that
area.

Western San Bernardino County enjoyed continued mining
activity. Operations were concentrated in the Oro Grande and
Calico areas, though Copper City, the Dale District and other,
less significant locations were also mined. The Oro Grande dis-
trict, active since pre-railroad days, was the scene of a highly
successful marble mine in 1886, as well as two silver mines lo-
cated in 1890. Calico, which had become a corporate operation
in the mid-1880s, remained successful until the early 1890s, and
after 1888 operated a spur line from its Silver King Mine to a
mill located near Daggett. In 1892, however, the first of a

series of silver price drops occurred, first diminishing and later

17
eliminating the town's importance. Nearby, however, borate was

being developed at Bismarck, and as borax operations phased out in

Death Valley and adjacent valleys, they began to grow at this more

accessible location.

Perhaps the most isolated of the mining camps were the gold

mines at Dale, which had begun in the early 1870s and were to

19
last, more or less continuously, up to World War I. Dale was

actually a series of three camps; the Virginia Dale camp was the

site of the second Dale townsite, which lasted from the mid-1880s

2 0
to around the turn of the century. The peak of activity in the

area appeared in the early 1890s, with mines and prospects scat-

j -a 21

tered over a wide area.

54

The Kern County desert was the scene of extensive mining
activity, principally in the early 1890s. Though Mexican miners
had uncovered gold deposits in the El Paso Mountains as early as

the 1860s, renewed placer discoveries in Goler Gulch in 1893 began

22
a stampede of miners to that area. Red Rock Canyon, Last Chance

Canyon, Summit Dry Diggings, and Tropico Hill (near Rosamond) were

23
sites of ephemeral activity; most of these were past their peak

when the Yellow Aster lode was uncovered on the opposite side of

the valley. Discovered in April 1895, it soon spawned Rand Camp,

24
the predecessor of present-day Randsburg.

Finally, mining activity took place in the southeast corner
of the state in the Cargo Muchacho and Picacho Peak areas. Pri-
marily Mexican miners worked the Picacho diggings, which were

connected to the outside world by steamboats docking at the Pi-

25
cacho townsite. In the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, gold was

discovered by a Swedish trackwalker who had strayed off course;

within months, the mining camp population at the Hedges townsite

numbered over 3,000.

55

CHAPTER 5 FOOTNOTES

1. Dumke 1944

2. Edwards 1969

3. Settle 1963:30-36

4. Settle 1963:37-38

5. Bard 1973:74
Otis 1977:130
Lindsay 1973b: 75
AAUW 1953:29

6. Bell 1930:270

7. Dumke 1944:188

8. Guinn 1890:18

9. James 1911:291

10. Otis 1977:80

11. Rand McNally and Co. 1897

12. Krutschnitt 1978
Bard 1973:68

13. Miller 1976:18

14. Bard 1973:71-73

15. Myrick 1962:843

16. Federal Writers'
Project 1939a:613

Miller 1976:37

17.

Paher 1973:43

18.

Federal Writers'

Project 1939a:605

19.

O'Neal 1957:50

20.

Miller 1968

21.

Leadabrand 1966:159-165

22.

Starry 1973

23.

Federal Writers'

Project 1939a:521

24.

Miller 1976:19

25.

Myrick 1975:440

26.

Federal Writers'

Project 1939a:638

56

CHAPTER 6. THE 1895-1907 PERIOD: AGRICULTURE
BOOMS IN THE CALIFORNIA DESERT;
MINING DISCOVERIES SPREAD TO NEW
AREAS AS NEW RAILROADS MAKE ORE
SITES ACCESSIBLE.

In this, by far the most active period up to this date,
several major events dramatically changed the appearance of the
California desert. Most of these events occurred in the later
part of this time period; by the time the Panic of 1907 loomed, to
again alter the face of the land, the area was the scene of rapid
change and the evolution of a wholly different landscape.

In terms of the desert's future importance, the creation,
then loss of a canal between the Colorado River and the Imperial
Valley probably rate as the most important series of events in the
entire history of the California desert. For over fifty years,
irrigation of the Valley had been the dream of Dr. Oliver P.
Wozencraft; while the idea was generally regarded as impracticable
and otherwise foolish, he tirelessly fought for funding that would
bring about the construction of a canal. Creation of the pro-
ject, however, was to wait for the combined efforts of engineers
Charles Rockwood and George Chaffey; construction finally began

late in 1900, and the canal was finished in May of the following

2
year.

The successful completion of the canal brought an immediate

3
blossoming to the seemingly sterile desert soil. Imperial, the

4
first town in the Valley, became a boom town virtually overnight,

and by 1904 Silsbee, Calexico, Heber (Bradtmore) , Holtville

57

(Eastside) , and Brawley (Braly) had also become established com-
munities. By the same year, the major Valley towns had been
linked to the main line at Imperial Junction. El Centro was
founded in the following year.

Then came the flood. Due to faulty and ill-timed repair work
at the headgate of the dam near Yuma, the Colorado River over-
flowed its west banks in May of 1905 and streamed instead across
Mexico and into the Imperial Valley. After the flood stage had
passed, the river was restored to its former channel. Within

months, however, the river again went on a rampage, this time

7
flooding 488 square miles of farmland, and was not re-aligned

back into its former channel until a combined effort from the

g
railroad, farmers, and even President Roosevelt had been made.

Finally closed in February of 1907, the canal left a dramatic
imprint on the Valley: the town of Silsbee had been entirely
washed away; many acres of farmland had been rendered unmanage-
able; and the once-level Alamo and New Rivers were left in 50-foot

q
deep trenches. The Southern Pacific Railroad's right-of-way, an

early victim of inundation, had to be moved five times. But the

flood did not permanently impair most areas of the Valley, and

indeed, the depressed river levels later proved beneficial in

washing away the salt buildup from the Valley soils.

As much of a boon as this period proved to San Diego County's

desert, the agricultural situation was much the opposite in Los

Angeles County and other areas. Antelope Valley's agriculture up

to that time was almost solely dependent upon rainfall for its

58

water needs; consequently, when a succession of drought years
occurred between 1895 and 1906, the region almost collapsed.
Marginal farmland became totally unworkable; the most favorable
farmland became, at best, operable with minimal crop yields.

Lancaster became a ghost of its bustling former self, and several

12
other farm communities came perilously close to extinction.

In other areas, agriculture showed some modest growth. The

Lower Colorado River Valley near Yuma began to be settled by non-

1 3
Native farmers, though development proceeded slowly, and the

Palo Verde Valley likewise began to show real signs of develop-

14
ment . In the Coachella Valley, the discovery and proliferation

of artesian wells allowed agriculture to expand substantially;

dry-farming areas were homesteaded around Newberry, the Cronise

Valley, around Superior Dry Lake, Apple Valley, and various parts

of the present-day Anza-Borrego area.

Spurred on by past discoveries and easier accessibility,

miners fanned out into many previously unknown areas and found

riches in other areas thought to be thoroughly prospected. As a

result, highly successful mining ventures -- still chiefly gold

and silver -- were widely established through the desert regions,

creating several new short-line railroads. More minor strikes

were found in almost all the desert ranges; some of these, manipu

lated by skilled financial entrepreneurs, became the region's

best-known towns. Oil drilling also began during this period in

17
the Anza-Borrego area; however, it was generally unsuccessful.

59

Chronologically, the mining boom began with the development
of Randsburg as a major gold mining area. The Yellow Aster Mine
"glory hole" proved to be deep and exceedingly rich -- one of the

two richest ever in the California desert -- and the town around

1 8
it soon grew into the thousands before the turn of the century.

The Randsburg Railroad arrived in Johannesburg in late 1897; it

19
became a part of the Santa Fe system in 1903.

In the south, the Hedges-Picacho area boomed as well. The

general area included the American and Golden Dream Mines along

with several operations in the Chocolate Mountains; the mines'

prosperity also brought increased activity to Picacho, Ogilby and

Glamis, supply towns for the area. Picacho's gold was primarily

found in loose placers, difficult to extract on a small scale; as

a result, a railroad was built in 1902 from the mine to the mill

20
on the Colorado River, where production was more efficient.

To the north, the Dale area continued its boom. With the

development of the Supply, Los Angeles and Brooklyn Mines, the

Dale townsite once again moved east, to what is now known as New

21
Dale. A small amount of mining to the southwest of Dale oc-

2 2
curred at the El Dorado and nearby mines, and the Copper World

Mine/Rosalie mill complex near Clark Mountain was able to grow due

23
to an extension of the railroad to that area in 1899. In addi-
tion, the Old Woman Mountains erupted into a short but feverish

boom in 1898 which quickly turned Danby from a placid railroad

24
way-station into a bustling supply center.

60

Other stations along the Santa Fe were equally fortunate.
Blake (now Gof f s) , the junction point of the California Eastern
Railroad, diversified into a major supply center. Fenner bene-
fited from its accessibility to the Columbia Mines, which flared

25
brightly but briefly in 1901-1902. Vontrigger grew due to

nearby copper mines. Amboy grew because it was a shipping point

for the mines around Dale; Bagdad likewise benefited from the Dale

27
success. Ludlow enjoyed its biggest boom ever; not only was it

the supply point and railroad junction for the rich, newly dis-
covered Stedman area, but Ludlow also served as the construction

camp, from 1904 to 1907, for the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad to

2 8
the north. Lavic had some success from isolated mines and

29
prospects to the south, and Daggett was the wild frontier supply

30
town for the Borate-Calico Mountains area. The Borate area is

of special note. Though Francis M. "Borax" Smith had earlier

moved his operations to this area, it stagnated due to Italian

31
competition. The area became more prosperous by the late 1890s,

however, and to make his product more marketable, he finally

eliminated his twenty-mule teams with the 1899 construction of the

32
Daggett and Borate Railroad.

Some of the most celebrated mines of the period, however,

were those in the northern deserts. This area had been generally

ignored by miners since the early successes of the 1860s and

1870s, and the spreading out of prospectors, or "pocket hunters,"

brought discovery of many new claims.

61

Ballarat was the focus for many of these discoveries.
Though not a mine town itself, it proved a successful supply town

for a wide area, chiefly along the west side of the Panamint

33
Range. Located near Post Office Spring in 1897, the town had

easy access to the Pleasant Canyon (Ratleff) Mines, and enjoyed a

roughshod existence for much of its twenty-year life span.

Other major camps, settled chiefly in the mid-1900s, included
Harrisburg (Aguereberry Camp), Hoveck (Skidoo) , Schwab, Lee, and
the Greenwater camps. Most were short-lived (the post office at
Schwab, for instance, both opened and closed in 1907), and several
were of the trumped-up, boom-town variety.

Greenwater, a copper town in the Black Mountains east of
Death Valley, was perhaps the prime example of the latter type.
Located in late 1904 by agents of wealthy mining interests, the
lode provided such eminent figures as industrialist John Brock,

copper magnate William Clark, and steel baron Charlie Schwab the

37
opportunity to invest in sure riches. Their respectability

brought tens of thousands of investors into support for the

various enterprises, which brought to the area thousands of

hopeful miners, shopkeepers and other mining-camp characters with

varying reputations. On various sites, Greenwater quickly became

38
a respectably sized tent town by early 1907. According to one

39
account, it had all the spirit and drive of a city of 100,000

but the ore was simply not there. Eventually, financial panic

creating stock deflations and ore price dips occurred; together,

they were more than the town could withstand. It emptied virtually

62

overnight, its occupants drifting to wherever the next real or
imagined strike occurred.

Set against the prevailing pattern of short-line railroads
and mines developing in concert, the building of the Salt Lake
Route from Daggett northeast in 1903-04 emerged as a distinct
anomaly. Appearing twenty years after the first trans-desert
routes, the railroad had little effect on mining or other local
activities. It was originally called the San Pedro, Los Angeles
and Salt Lake Railroad, and became part of the Union Pacific
system in 1921.

63

CHAPTER 6 FOOTNOTES

1. Steere 1952:11-13

2. Henderson 1978

3. James 1911:361

4. Lantis 1963:61

5. Henderson 1978

6. Lantis 1963:60

7. Beck and Haase 1974:79

8. Pepper 1972:48-49

9. Steere 1952:20

10. Beck and Haase 1974:79

11. Lantis 1963:61

12. Settle 1963:35, 45

13. Myrick 1975:419

14. Dekens 1962:12

15. James 1911:268

16. Bard 1973:75
Lindsay 1973b: 76

17. Lindsay 1973b: 76

18. Federal Writers'
Project 1939a:521

19. Miller 1976:21

20. Myrick 1975:440

21. Leadabrand 1966:159

22. James 1911:483

23. Bard 1973:72-73

24. Bard 1973:64

25. Bard 1973:65

26. King and Casebier 1976:306

27. Bard 1973:63

28. Myrick 1962

29. • Miller 1976:43-45

30. Bard 1973:60

31. Federal Writers'
Project 1939b:23

33. Paher 1973:40

34. Miller 1976:30

35. Federal Writers'
Project 1939b

36. U.S. Post Office
Department, various dates

37. Myrick 1962:597

38. Murbarger 1964:16

39. Paher 1973:10

40. Myrick 1962

64

CHAPTER 7. THE 1907-1917 PERIOD: MINING IMPACTS
CONTINUE WHILE HOMESTEADING DEVELOPS.

The period leading up to World War I was a time of growth on
many fronts. Overall, it was an era of steady growth; specific
areas, however, experienced only ephemeral growth from mining and
homesteading ventures. A large aqueduct and several large canals
were built during this time, creating a host of subsidiary land
use impacts.

Unquestionably, the largest single event during this time
period was the construction of the Owens Valley aqueduct. The
233-mile pipeline had been in the planning stages for some time;
in fact, the covert methods used by the City of Los Angeles in
acquiring water rights created a good deal of civil unrest in the
Owens Valley, whose agricultural economy was seriously hurt by the
water diversion. After acquisition was completed, construction
finally began in 1907. The building of the aqueduct took six

years; it was considered a remarkable achievement of its day, the

2
first major undertaking of its kind in the country.

Though aqueduct waters did not benefit the desert in the

slightest, project construction proved a boon to the area anyway.

Pumping stations and construction camps were scattered along the

aqueduct, and in order to facilitate transport, a major new

railroad line was constructed, roughly paralleling the pipeline

3
route from Mojave north to the vicinity of Lone Pine. The line

was completed in late 1910, creating many trackside "boom towns"

at vital transshipment points. Narka, Little Lake, Haiwee,

65

Craft, Neuralia, Ricardo, and others were created from this flurry
of activity, and most quietly decayed once the construction
activity subsided. Two large bodies of water -- Haiwee and
Fairmont Reservoirs -- were created as part of the project. A
railroad spur line to an aqueduct station north of Red Rock
Canyon was constructed as well, but was removed two years later
after that section of the aqueduct was completed.

Elsewhere, the most dramatic changes to occur to the desert
were caused by homesteading farmers (see Figure 3) . Highland
valleys and alluvial slopes near playas were the scene of home-
steading attempts in many areas, chiefly in well-drained areas
above 2500 foot elevation; towns developing within these areas

bore such names as El Mirage, Adelanto, Mesaville, Crumville,

7
Chanz, Muroc, Lucerne Valley and Lanfair. In general, the land

was only spottily developed in the areas described, as homestead-
ers settled on only the more favorable sites; and because of the
subsistence nature of the lifestyle, several areas did not have a

0

central town. Such efforts had mixed success. A few areas, such

as Lucerne Valley and Adelanto, have succeeded as agricultural

q
areas to the present; other areas, such as Muroc, Cronise Valley

and Lanfair Valley, continued as producing areas for several

decades. Most areas, however, were clearly not suited for

farming. Floods, inaccessibility to markets, and lack of water

all took their toll -- even the lure of the World War has been

cited as a reason -- and today little besides an interruption in

climax vegetation patterns exists to show past efforts.

66

VVESTEC Services. Inc.

LEGEND

• Dry-farming homesteading areas
C.D.C.A. boundary

60

BAKERSFIELD

MILES

LONE PINE

rumvi

J #CHANZ

K
)

ROGERS DRY

LAKE'CMuroc)

,' *

'-EL^MIRAGE.
LLANO"'

SUPERIOR DRY
LAKE AREA

•CRONISE
VALLEY

APPLE
VALLEY

AREA

Major new dry-farming areas, California
Desert Conservation Area, 1900-1925

FIGU

3

67

A remarkable example of one community which did not succeed
in the long run is that at Llano del Rio, east of present-day
Pearblossom. Beginning in 1914, a Utopian colony formed there,
organized by Job Harriman, an irrepressible Socialist lawyer.

Though the territory appeared clearly unfit for farming --a

12
colony there in the 1890s had likewise failed -- the Utopian

colony grew steadily until 1917, at which time over a thousand

resided there. Soon, however, internal pressure forced the

colony to disband, though lack of water was also a contributing

13

factor. Most moved to Louisiana; however, the Llano post

office has continued to the present day.

More established farming areas, however, had much better
success. Due to the introduction of deep wells for pump irri-
gation in the Antelope Valley, much land previously too dry for

14
tillage was reclaimable. The Imperial Valley was enjoying

large successes as well; with the Colorado River finally under
control, much of the rest of the Valley was now able to be cul-
tivated. The northern and eastern portions of the Valley, assisted
by the development of the East and West Highline Canals, were
opened up during this period. The towns of Calipatria, West-
morland, Niland, and a host of smaller, more ephemeral communities
were created, and by 1917, the number of irrigated acres there
probably exceeded eighty percent of today's acreage.

Irrigable areas along the Colorado River fared equally well.
The Bard Valley, near Yuma, came under large-scale irrigation at
this time due to the construction of the weir called Laguna

68

17
Dam. Calzona, along the newly-built line from Cadiz to Parker,

1 8
was the site of a lively boom between 1909 and 1914; though

much of the activity came from railroad construction activity and

local mines, date orchards and other crops were also attempted

without success. The Palo Verde Valley also came into prominence

at this time, owing to the construction of a weir (Palo Verde

Dam) and irrigation system originating northeast of Blythe.

Blythe, Rannells and Fertilla -- particularly Blythe -- sprang

into prominence at this time. Flooding, however, was a problem,

limiting development until the construction of Boulder Dam in the

mid-1950s.19

Though more controlled, mining continued as an important
sector of the desert economy. The days of the freewheeling pros-
pector were beginning to fade; though many new prospects were
found in this period, most were small and were actually profitable
for only a short time. Instead, corporate entities took over,
sometimes in precious metal production but also in borax, salt
and other non-precious minerals.

The northern desert continued to be a major focus of activ-
ity. Skidoo, emptied by the Panic of 1907, was quickly reborn
when the Skidoo Mines Company was formed, and with the help of a

23-mile-long water pipeline from the Telescope Peak area, lasted

20
until 1917. The Keane Wonder Mine, north of Furnace Creek, and

the Lila C (old Ryan) borax mine became active at this time, as

did the Gunsight and Noonday Mines, major mines of an earlier

day. Smaller camps were located along the east side of Death

Valley, and mills for processing the ores were established at

69

21
water sources near the valley floor. Short-lived camps were

also established at Avawatz and Crackerjack around 1908; the

2 2
latter site featured a full-sized townsite. The Tonopah and

Tidewater Railroad had been built from Ludlow up to this area in
1906-07, specifically to develop the minerals there and in Nevada;
however, the mines had become worked so much by the late com-
pletion date that the line was immediately dubbed as "the train

23
that went from nowhere to nowhere." Much extra business was

gained from the line's presence, however, and many mines owed

24
their presence to the T$T. The Acme, Gunsight and Noonday

25
Mines even had spur lines to the mine properties.

Mines were also active in other areas. The Dale gold mines

continued to be prominent until World War I , and were operated by

the United Greenwater Company in their final years. The Orange

Blossom Mine, near Bagdad, had a short but feverish boom shortly

27
after 1907. The camp at Hedges was taken over by The United

Mines Company about 1910; taking its name from an acronym for the

2 8
company, the town of Tumco operated until about World War I.

Stedman, a camp situated at the Bagdad Chase Mines, was also a

corporate venture. Perhaps the richest mine in the entire desert,

the town was notable for having its houses widely spaced as a

fire prevention measure. It was also somewhat staid, considering

its economic base, doubtless caused in part by the total prohi-

29
bition against liquor in the camp.

Borax continued to be a major product of the desert. The

deposits at Borate began to give out about 1907; therefore,

70

"Borax" Smith moved his operations to the Lila C. Mine near Death
Valley Junction. The town that grew up at the mine was called
Ryan. The ore was produced in commercial quantities until 1915,
when operations were moved west to a new site. Named New Ryan,
the operation lasted until 1927. 31 Both "Old Ryan" and "New
Ryan" were accessible by rail; also, the processing plant at New

Ryan had an additional seven miles of baby-gauged track that

32
connected it with its mines.

Locations for mines of other than precious metals were

scattered throughout the desert. Perhaps the largest of these

were the operations at Searles Lake, which resumed in 1913 after

33
almost a twenty-year lapse. At the time, it was primarily a

borax operation, but soon began producing potash, soda ash, and

34
other compounds. A company-owned railroad was built to the

35
area the same year. Gypsum, also a large producer at this

time, was also active near Amboy and Saltdale.

Salt also became a more important desert commodity. One new

operation opened in Saline Valley, an area which had been almost

entirely ignored up to this time; it became the site for a salt

37
works in 1913. Evaporation areas were set up on the lake edge,

and using a tramway going over the Inyo Mountains to near Swansea,

various companies kept up intermittent operations at the lake

until 1930. It was never a large-scale operation, however. Salt

also began to be extracted from Danby Dry Lake by 1910, where

38
operations were to continue for several decades.

71

Finally, major symbolic strides were being made in the
development of a road system. Hardly noticeable prior to this
time, a few roads began to be improved across new areas of the

desert. Most early roads followed the railroad tracks; in other

39
areas, previous wagon roads were used. Futuristic long-distance

highways, such as the "Ocean to Ocean Highway" and "The Midland

Trail" began to appear by 1915, but their major value at first

was for directional purposes only. Orientation was also helped

out by county-sponsored signposts; begun in San Diego County as

40
early as 1895, they became predominant by this period. These

signs were soon superseded, however, by the more complete signs

provided by the Automobile Club of Southern California, whose

members were among the few early motorists adventurous enough to

tour into the desert.

Road conditions in the desert varied widely. Contrary to

some reports, most roads were not able to be easily, conveniently

traveled, though road grading became more commonplace by this

time. To traverse sandy areas, roads of wooden planks were

used; a first appeared on the road between Mesaville and Blythe

Junction (Rice) , and shortly afterwards another crossed the

Algodones Sand Dunes near Yuma. In other sandy areas, such as

near Dos Palmas , straw was laid in the ruts, though carelessly

44
discarded cigarettes occasionally burned up the road.

72

CHAPTER 7 FOOTNOTES

1. Federal Writers'
Project 1939a:518

2. Lantis 1963:26

3. Turner 1964:6

4. Myrick 1962:208

5. AAUW 1953:40

6. Myrick 1962:205

7. USGS Quadrangles,
various dates

8. Starry 1973:64
Bard 1973:94-99

9. Goulding 1948

10. Johnston 1940:12

11. Otis 1977:114

12. Settle 1963:36

13. Leadabrand 1966:38

14. Settle 1963:63

15. ACSC, "Imperial County,"
various dates

16. Henderson 1978

17. Myrick 1975:440

18. Dekens 1962:50

19. Dekens 1962:13

20. Paher 1973:37

21. Paher 1973, various pages

22. Miller 1976:49

23. Myrick 1962

24. Strong 1975:22

25. Myrick 1962

26. Miller 1968:21, 51

27. Bard 1973:80

28. Johnston 1928:18

29. Myrick 1962:835

30. Paher 1973:14

31. Federal Writers'
Project 1939b:23

32. Myrick 1962

33. Miller 1976:27

34. Wynn 1963:238

35. Myrick 1962:798

36. Ver Planck 1952

37. Turner 1964:6-7

38. Ver Planck 1958

39. Bard 1973:88-89

40. James 1911:332

41. Bard 1973:87

42. Dekens 1962:55

43. Edwards 1969:250

44. Pepper 1972:90

73

74

CHAPTER 8. THE 1917-1925 PERIOD:

HIGHWAY SETTLEMENTS DEVELOP;
HOMESTEADING AND OTHER
ACTIVITIES SLOWLY DECLINE.

In this period, major new activity was brought about by the
extension of the road system. It was also a period of very
active (though not generally expanding) railroad activity.
Mining declined, as a rule, as did homesteading , though notable
growth areas existed in both economies.

During this period, roads came to be recognized as a major
transportation mode. Therefore, the road system began to develop.
Though most roads began along the side of railroad tracks, or
between waterholes, they often strayed away from them when the
road was improved. The Cajon Pass Road is a good example; it
forsook the Mojave River Valley and Hesperia for a more direct
route across Baldy Mesa in 1922. Because traffic was still
generally light, very few (if any) new locations were established
strictly to service highway traffic. More commonly, feed or
blacksmith shops or general stores converted to service stations,
and in some cases, such as Danby, an alternate set of buildings

was constructed to service the highway near an existing railroad

2
town.

While highways were gaining in importance, this was not at

the expense of other transportation modes. Both national and

area railroads were at the height of their popularity: They

carried more traffic over more miles of track than at any time in

their history. The opening of the San Diego and Arizona (later

75

San Diego and Arizona Eastern) Railroad between San Diego and El
Centro in 1919 proved to be the last major route addition in the
desert, while the abandonment of the Gof f s-Barnwell branch in
1923 proved to be the first of many in coming years. While not
causally related, railroad maintenance- and way-stations were
also at their peak at this time, creating a solid line of rail-
road "settlements" at 5-to-7-mile intervals over much of the
desert. While these sidings were usually small (with between
two and ten inhabitants) and not dependent upon the surrounding
desert for their needs, their sheer numbers -- perhaps 150 to 200
of them during this period -- made them a consistently important
part of the desert's land use and demography up to the Second
World War.

Mining continued, but with few exceptions, the feverish
prospecting days were gone. Extraction of borax increased along
Searles Lake, and mines continued strong at New Ryan and the

Tecopa area. The Goldstone-Goldbridge area boomed for the third

7
and largest time in the early 1920s under a corporate structure,

but elsewhere, few new strikes were reported; in fact several

operations, such as those at Panamint , Calico and Cerro Gordo,

reworked old deposits. World War I did bring some demand for new

minerals; accordingly, the Atolia area boomed from its large

g
tungsten deposits, and antimony made the much-less-accessible

9
Wildrose area bloom until the end of the War. The Copper World

iMine on Clark Mountain also was active at this time. Salt

extraction expanded; it remained active at its previous locations,

76

and new areas opened up on the west and north sides of Bristol
Dry Lake and at Bush, on the east edge of Dale Dry Lake east of

Twentynine Palms. Cement became important in the Victorville

12
and Oro Grande areas; it remains so today.

The single example of a feverish, pioneer-style mining town
existed on the slopes of Red Mountain, in extreme western San
Bernardino County east of Johannesburg. Here, a large vein of
silver ore was discovered in 1919 in an area that had been combed
by prospectors for decades, and a series of small mining camps
soon appeared. Main ones were called Hampton, Osdick, and In
City (called so, according to one account, because of a caretaker
who put up a sign saying "always in," and an itinerant prospector
who rejoined with the sign "seldom in"). The post office, when
established, was called Osdick, but due to intercamp rivalry was
eventually renamed Red Mountain.

The period proved a fruitful one for oddly mechanized
attempts at mineral extraction. A tramway was built up the

Yellow Grade to Cerro Gordo to assist with the reworking of

14 - •

minerals there, and a thirty-mile monorail was constructed in

1923 to extract epsom salts from the eastern slopes of Brown

Mountain. Though the Cerro Gordo tramway operated sporadically

for the better part of two decades, the monorail was less success

f ul . Mechanical problems dogged the operation from the start;

shortly after those were cleared up, the material was found to be

too dusty for commercial use, and the project was abandoned.

77

Homesteading decreased dramatically during this period. As
explained before, the teens were difficult years for homesteaders,

and by the early 1920s, acreage had either dramatically decreased

1 7
from former levels or was eliminated entirely.

In other areas, farming generally succeeded. The Kingston
area, in northeast San Bernardino County, was opened up, and due
to successful experiments at the Indio Experimental Station, date
palms were introduced to several small areas in the Coachella
Valley.18

Coupled with greater access to the desert via auto and train
travel, persons began to show greater appreciation for the desert
during this period. Throughout the 19th century, this had not
been the case; non-residents had usually held the desert with
disdain. Around the turn of the century, however, several sensi-
tive authors, among them John C. Van Dyke, George Wharton James,

Arthur Burdick, and Mary Austin, began to describe the desert as

19
a delicate, beautiful place. Their books were well-received;

but it was not until the 1920s, when the desert was more accessi-
ble, that outsiders began to visit the desert for recreation. As
a result, resorts began to flourish there. Palm Springs and
Victorville were perhaps the two major early foci for this activity,

but Twentynine Palms, Coso Hot Springs, the Phelan area and La

20
Quinta all became known as well.

Victorville in the 1920s was just beginning to emerge from

its previous tough mining and railroad days. Though more sedate

than before, its "western" appearance, coupled with its proximity

78

to Hollywood, made it attractive as an early movie-colony hide-
away before Palm Springs became de rigeur. To fit the image, the
town remained old-fashioned in appearance for many years; to

embellish its atmosphere, it had guest ranches, saloons, rodeos

a * 21

and western events.

Palm Springs, on the other hand, was as refined and digni-
fied as Victorville was earthy. It had been primarily a resort

for consumptives (tuberculosis victims), asthmatics, and others

22
who had real or imagined health ailments until the World War;

afterwards, the town began to attract a growing permanent pop-

23
ulation. The warm springs, around which the Cahuilla village

and early hotels had been located, became less important, and the

warm winter weather and gracious small-town hospitality soon

24
became a well-known product. Palm Springs was still in its

infancy in the early 1920s, but its development pattern had been

25
set by then. It is also important to note that the first real

attempts at large-public scale preservation in the California

desert were made at this time; in 1922, a national monument for

the Palm Canyon area was seriously considered. The bill, probably

inspired by early Palm Springs residents, was even passed by

Congress. However, a stipulation was placed on the bill requiring

the consent of the Agua Caliente Indian band. Such consent,

however, was refused, and it was to be another ten years before

the first designated parkland was created. In the same area,

sentiment grew for the preservation of the local bighorn sheep

population; Game Refuge 4D, the first controlled land-use area in

27
the desert, was implemented in 1917.

79

CHAPTER 8 FOOTNOTES

1. Otis 1977:130

2. Bard 1973:85-86

3. Henderson 1978

4. Mojave River Valley Museum
Association 1977

5. NRPC 1929

6. Khruttschnitt 1978

7. Farnsworth 1965:47-60

8. Wynn 1963:228

9. Paher 1973:38

10. Bard 1973:92

11. Ver Planck: 1958

12. Myrick 1962

13. Miller 1976:23

14. Turner 1964:8

15. Myrick 1962

16. Federal Writers'
Project 1939b: 63

17. ACSC maps, various
areas and dates

18. Steere 1952:59

19. Edwards 1969:14

20. ACSC maps, various
areas and dates

21. Federal Writers'
Project 1939a:6l4

22. Roske 1968:46
James 1911:282

23. Chase 1920:38

24. Federal Writers'
Project 1939a:628

25. Hussar 1977 :E2

26. Rinaldi 1978

27. Nathenson 1978

80

CHAPTER 9. THE 1925-1932 PERIOD: HIGHWAY
SETTLEMENTS DEVELOP, WHILE THE
AMENITIES GAIN MORE IMPORTANCE
AS A DESERT ATTRACTION.

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, several broad move-
ments were taking place. The development of a series of highway-
oriented settlements was perhaps foremost among these; in addition,
resorts and settlements were continuing to grow from their appeal
to the sun, warmth and other positive desert qualities.

Though still at a relatively small scale, desert auto traffic
increased dramatically during the late 1920s. With increased
leisure time, generally increasing income and more dependable
automobiles, people began to go automobile touring. To meet the
demand, highways were improved and way stations became established
to cater to the tourist trade. Therefore, perhaps fifteen to
twenty "settlements" were established in the desert during this

period, among them Miller's Corner, Mojave Water Camp, Paso Alto

2
Station and Midway Well. Simple but functional, most were a

cluster of buildings, containing a service station, and usually a

lunch room. Also included was a tourist court with several

small, detached cabins; because many motorists drove at night due

3
to daytime heat, cabins could often be used twice each day.

Most existing communities also added services during this period
to meet the demands of motorists; hotels near the railroad station
continued to provide lodging.

Public recreation on the desert expanded further as accessi-
bility increased. Cathedral City and other nearby areas were

81

settled largely by those who enjoyed desert living, and Palm
Springs grew quickly as the Hollywood colony began to discover it.
Small resorts were established in Morongo Valley, and at the top
of Mountain Springs grade near the Mexican border. Death Valley
also became a major tourist lure at this time; the Stovepipe Wells
Hotel was opened in 1926, reached by a toll road over Townes Pass,
and a year later, the Pacific Coast Borax Company opened up its
Inn and Ranch at Furnace Creek. Gun clubs also grew into promi-
nence, especially around the Salton Sea and Rosamond Dry Lake;
those around the Salton Sea are of particular note because the
hunting there helped bring about the desert's first federal wild-
life refuge, which was larger than the existing one. Due to
rising levels of the inland sea, however, most of the clubs there
were eventually flooded, and much of the present wildlife refuge
has been left well away from shore.

Agricultural acreage changed little during this period. Due
to more sophisticated farming methods, good farmland became more
productive, while marginal and sub-marginal land was generally
discarded. Homesteaders, partly because of an ugly series of
incidents with local ranchers, finally disappeared from the Lan-

fair Valley, while in other areas, particularly around Borrego

g
Springs, a few new farms were forming.

Mining also met with mixed success. As in previous periods,

precious metal production generally fared worse than borax,

cement, salt, and other non-precious commodities. New gypsum

plants were built in the mid-1920s at Midland and at Plaster

82

City; at the latter, a company -owned railroad was built northwest

9
from there to haul the gypsite necessary for its manufacture.

Around Searles Lake, the American Trona company became the American

Potash and Chemical Company in 1926, and further growth ensued.

Another significant change occurred in 1928, when the Pacific

Coast Borax Company decided to move its facilities from New Ryan

southwest to Kramer, near the Kern-San Bernardino County line.

The existence of a deposit of colemanite (borax-bearing ore) had

been known as early as 1913, but it was not until extensive

drilling and surveying had been completed that the Pacific Coast

Borax facilities were relocated.

Precious mining, as mentioned before, continued to deter-
iorate. Although prospectors still combed the hills, few new
discoveries were made, and methods for mineral exploration and
recovery became increasingly mechanized and scientific.

A notable exception to this general decline occurred at
Leadfield, where a feverish if short-lived boom took place. The
town was the brainchild of promoter C. C. Julian, and its develop-
ment followed the pattern preceded by Greenwater and other camps

12

influenced more by stock purchases than ore discoveries. The

activity occurred in 1926. Lead in some quantity was found in
Titus Canyon, east of Death Valley, and with the help of Julian,
an accomplished stock manipulator, the town was advertised widely.
A special train was brought from Los Angeles up to nearby Beatty,
and with the help of talented pitchmen leading the throng to
well-salted claims, the success of the community was assured.

83

The town grew to several hundred by mid-summer, and sported its

13
own newspaper among its many businesses. However, it soon

became apparent that the ore was of a grade too low for commercial

production. Among the last businesses to go was the post office;

when it closed in January 1927, only one person remained.

84

CHAPTER 9 FOOTNOTES

1. Bard 1973:85-86

2. ACSC maps, various areas
and dates

3. Bard 1973:92, 103-104

4. ACSC maps, various areas
and dates

5. Paher 1973:7, 35

6. ACSC, "Imperial County," 1938

7. King and Casebier 1976:320

8. Lindsay 1973b: 102

9. Ver Planck 1958

10. Leadabrand 1969:37

11. Miller 1976:41

12. Weight 1977:35

13. Paher 1973:33

85

86

CHAPTER 10. THE 1932-1940 PERIOD:

GOVERNMENT WORK PROJECTS
AND A MINING REVIVAL
IMPACT THE DESERT;
PARKLANDS APPEAR.

In this period, one of the most active desert periods ever,
the character of the desert changed significantly. Highway
traffic, roads and towns increased; railroad mileage and traffic,
on the other hand, atrophied. New mines were discovered and old
ones reworked, and due to a variety of government work projects
(in addition to road-building) , productivity and activity were
brought to areas previously ignored by man. Large areas were
also set aside as parklands, and the military began to show
interest in the desert for the first time since the 1860s.

In terms of its areal impact (or non-impact) on the desert,
the establishment of three large parks was the most significant
event of the 1932-40 period. The area surrounding Borrego Valley
was technically the first of these to be preserved; though the
preservation of parts of that area was seriously proposed as
early as 1926, legal protection of that area did not occur until
the early 1930s. In the earliest formal withdrawal, the Borrego
Palms Desert State Park was set aside in 1932. The rest of the
early park boundaries were formalized in the next few years, and
it was renamed Anza Desert State Park in 1938. The boundaries at
that time included much of the Borrego Valley, now in private
hands; today's park boundaries are the result of a 1939 land
trade, worked out to extend the park boundaries while simultaneously

87

providing agricultural interests with land for orchards and field

1

crops .

At over two million acres, Death Valley is the largest
national monument in the California desert -- and for that
matter, the largest in the coterminous United States. It was
signed into law in February of 1933, in the lame-duck days of the

Hoover administration, and was enlarged to approximately its

2
present size in 1937. The proclamation of the monument barely

affected activities in the area at all; existing facilities and
residences remained open and in private hands, and unlike most
other Monuments, mining continued to be allowed within its
boundaries .

Joshua Tree was the final major parkland to be preserved
during this period. Over 800,000 acres in extent, it was dedi-
cated in 1936, although the area had been withdrawn from settle-
ment three years before. The monument was largely the result of
the untiring efforts of Mrs. Albert Sherman Hoyt. An active
South Pasadena resident interested in the protection of the
Joshua tree (yucca brevifolia) , she formed the International
Desert Protective League in the 1920s and marshalled support for
a preserve with many influential local citizens. Creation of the
monument came about only after her repeated pleading with Interior
Secretary Harold Ickes; the acreage granted to the park was a
compromise from a previously-proposed parcel that had extended
south to the Salton Sea.4 As at Death Valley, livelihood patterns
were encumbered very little with Monument designation; in fact,

88

the Monuments as an attractive force proved to be a boon to
nearby retail business. Visitation of the parks, however, re-
mained relatively low until after World War II (see Figure 4).

The mid-to-late 1930s also proved to be a very strong
roadbuilding period. Two of the major east-west highways --
U.S. 66 (now Interstate 40) and U.S. 91 (now Interstate 15) --
were paved in 1932, and most of the other major desert roads
were paved shortly afterwards. Thus, by the time U.S. 60-70
(later to become Interstate 10) was paved from Indio to Blythe
about 1936, most of the present-day road pattern (except for
freeways) had been completed.

Because of the new ease of access into the desert, several
new way stations were established on each of the newly-paved
roads. Established towns added new services as well, partic-
ularly those (such as Baker) on major new tourist routes and
junctions. Much of the traffic on the new roads travelled to and
from Trans-Missipppi points; closer to home, dam workers and
recreationists to Boulder (later Hoover) Dam and Lake Mead also
attracted a large and growing number of visitors after the mid-
19305.6

While road mileage boomed, railroads were steadily losing
business. Because most of the stations in the desert had been
set up for maintenance purposes, their existence was not related
to traffic and they were thus unaffected by this loss. Coinci-
dental loss of mining revenues, however, forced several segments
of line to be abandoned. Specifically, the spur to Randsburg, as

89

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90

well as the Tonopah and Tidewater (T§T) route from Ludlow to
Crucero, was abandoned in 1933. The Stedman spur line had been

abandoned during the previous year, and the remainder of the T§T,

7
from Crucero up into Nevada, operated for the last time in 1940.

Mining enjoyed a welcome resurgence. Though sources differ

here, the Great Depression seems to have encouraged a rebirth in

precious-metal mining. Old mines were reworked, oftentimes on an

almost primitive basis, and exploration was again awakened for

g
new lodes and placers. As a result, a great deal of small-scale

q
mining occurred during the mid-to-late 1930s, and a major new

gold rush occurred near Mojave. Its locale was Soledad Mountain;
the mine was the Golden Queen, a corporate operation. The
settlements of Gold Town and Reefer City grew up just north of
the mountain; the latter was so named because its residential and
business buildings consisted almost entirely of railroad refrig-
erator cars, doubtless brought over from the Southern Pacific
scrapyard a few miles to the east. The mine was active only a
few years, though the settlement below probably continued to last
awhile longer.

The effects of the depression, however, were felt far beyond
the small mining resurgence. Though Civilian Conservation Corps
camps did not exist in the desert, several large water projects
were constructed with the inexpensive labor available, and as

well, a significant number of people probably migrated to the

12
desert to escape the depressed conditions of the cities. Their

numbers may never be known, but several examples exist of persons

91

who migrated to abandoned towns and buildings to eke out a "beans
and rabbit-meat" existence as an alternative to the soup lines of
the cities. Some of these persons still live in the desert

«. A 13

today.

In the southern desert, construction of two major water
projects enlivened what were otherwise fairly static conditions.
The projects included the construction of the Metropolitan Water
District Aqueduct from the Colorado River to the Los Angeles area
in 1934-41, and the building of the All-American and Coachella
Canals in 1936-40 as part of the Hoover Dam-Colorado River Pro-
j ect .

The All-American Canal was a project designed to circumvent
the problems which the earlier Imperial and Alamo Canals had
caused. Unlike the earlier canal system, the All-American Canal
was located entirely in the United States, and was built in a
concrete-lined channel away from natural drainageways . As part
of the project, the Imperial Dam was built in 1935, and the canal
itself was under construction from 1936 to 1940. The plan
required the creation of several large settling ponds near the
Colorado River to remove silt; in addition, several hydroelectric
power plants were constructed at critical waterfall points along
the route. The Coachella Canal was an offshoot of the All-
American Canal, designed to deliver water to the Coachella Valley
The All-American Canal was completed by 1940, but due to wartime
delays, the Coachella Valley did not receive canal water until

1948. Winterhaven and Calexico served as construction camps

17
for the projects.

92

The Metropolitan Water District (MWD) project was even
larger in scale than the Colorado River project aqueducts. Two
hundred and forty-two miles long, it was built to deliver water
from the Colorado River to Lake Mathews, near Riverside; from
there it travelled by several smaller lines to various cities in
the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Like the Owens Valley project,
it brought no water to desert points themselves. The project
called for the crossing of several mountain ranges; therefore, in
addition to the two hundred-odd miles of open and closed aqueduct
in the project, four pumping plants were built in the desert
alone. The project also required the construction of Parker Dam,

near the easternmost point in the state, and several long trans-

1 8
mission lines, among the first to be constructed in the desert.

Though the MWD aqueduct was authorized in 1933, construction
did not really begin in the desert until 1934, when work began on
Parker Dam. Construction along the entire route was soon flour-
ishing. Cross Roads and Rice were busy as major supply points to
the aqueduct, and Berdoo Camp, on the Coachella Valley side of
the Little San Bernardino Mountains, was a large headquarters
camp for the construction work going on in that area. The Coachella
Valley section of the aqueduct was almost entirely underground;
to accomplish the difficult task of boring numerous tunnels,

smaller camps located in the major canyons of the Little San

19
Bernardino Mountains were set up as construction sites.

The MWD project brought more than water across the desert.

In addition to the high-voltage transmission lines mentioned

93

previously, aqueduct construction also brought underground gas

20
pipelines and roads. Pumping plants were located at Parker

Dam, Iron Mountain, Eagle Mountain and Hayfield, and remain there

21
today with a small but permanent number of maintenance personnel.

Finally, the military began to show renewed interest in the

desert. With the advent of aircraft as a major tactical weapon,

the desert's lack of vegetation and high visibility became distinct

advantages. Accordingly, the Army set up the Muroc Bombing and

22
Gunnery Range on the east side of Rogers Dry Lake in 1933; in

time, it was to evolve into Edwards Air Force Base.

94

CHAPTER 10 FOOTNOTES

1. Lindsay 1973b: 89-97

2. Rinaldi 1977

3. Cook 1967a:7

4. O'Neal 1957:120

5. Bard 1973:113

6. U.S. Department of the Interior 1904-40

7. Myrick 1962:593, 798

8. Leadabrand 1966:107

King and Casebier 1976:306

9. Federal Writers' Project 1939a: 544

10. Treolar 1975:36

11. Federal Writers' Project 1939a:545
ACSC "Kern County," various dates

12. Bard 1973:108-109

13. King and Casebier 1976:323

14. Lantis 1963:38, 61, 163

15. Lantis 1963:61

16. Lantis 1963:61

17. Federal Writers' Project 1939a:637
Steere 1952:27

18. Weymouth 1939

19. Weymouth 1939:55

20. Bard 1973:110

21. ACSC "Riverside County," various dates

22. Leadabrand 1966:62

95

96

CHAPTER 11. THE 1940-1945 PERIOD:

THE MILITARY IMPACTS THE LAND;
THE DESERT IS FURTHER CLASSI-
FIED, WHILE SOME NEW MINING
IMPACTS OCCUR.

During World War II and the period immediately preceding it,
the military and war effort exerted almost total control over the
affairs of the California desert, just as it did over most of the
rest of the country. In the desert, however, there existed vast
land use impacts as well, as the military took advantage of the
sun, dryness and unique desert terrain.

As mentioned previously, the Army Air Corps had realized the
advantages of the desert several years before when the Muroc
Bombing and Gunnery Range was established. By 1940, however,
preparations were being made for war, and, for training purposes,
two large tracts were opened that year. One was a greatly ex-
panded gunnery range in the Rogers Dry Lake-Muroc area, while the
other was the Camp Dunlap Aerial Gunnery Range, in the Chocolate
Mountains east of the Salton Sea. In connection with the Muroc
facility, a large tract of land northeast of Barstow was set

aside that same year; called the Mo j ave Army Antiaircraft Range,

2
it was later renamed Camp Irwin. The Army Air Corps likewise

took advantage of the desert conditions in the Twentynine Palms

area, and in 1941 established a glider training base which they

3
named Condor Field.

Significant as these prewar training-oriented bases were,

they comprise only part of the military's impact on the land

97

in the early 1940s. War broke out in December of 1941, and with
war came the necessity for quickly training a large number of men
for combat readiness.

Military planners knew that, because of the Axis occupation
of North Africa, the Allied forces had to be trained in the art of
desert warfare. Many areas in the California desert closely
resembled North Africa's desert conditions-- in fact, the motion-
picture industry had consistently used various parts of it as a
backdrop for its "Arabian" desert movies. Therefore, a huge
sector of the eastern California desert was given over to this
purpose. Called the Desert Training Center (DTC) , the area

encompassed all land between Searchlight, Nevada and Yuma, Ari-

4
zona, and between Desert Center and the Colorado River. Not all

of this area was used for the army's training exercises, but
judging by the jeep and halftrack marks still visible, much of the
non-mountainous area in the eastern desert was the site of some
military maneuvers. Operations, of course, had a marked negative
effect upon the slow-growing perennial desert vegetation, and the
planned military destruction of many desert waterholes resulted in
severe effects upon desert wildlife. In addition to DTC opera-
tions, several existing bases west of the DTC, such as Camp Irwin
and the basin north of Twentynine Palms, were also employed as
armored-division training sites.

The whole operation was under the auspices of the Armored
Division of the Army, commanded by General George C. Patton. A
man who oftentimes dispensed with personal and organizational

98

protocol in order to accomplish his goals, he is given a large
share of the credit in preparing his troops for the North African
invasion in a remarkably short time. He chose as headquarters
camp a site just south of the Iron Mountain Pumping Plant, and
established several subsidiary camps. They included Camp Young
(between Indio and Desert Center) , Camps Granite and Coxcomb
(between Rice and Desert Center) , Camp Essex (near Danby) , Camp
Ibis (near present-day Searchlight Junction), and other locations

for POW's and deserters. 6 Patton's men used the Clipper, Dead

7
and Eagle Mountains as artillery ranges, and before the camps in

the eastern desert were set up, his forces used the Anza-Borrego

desert, particularly the Borrego Badlands around Font's Point, as

0

the scene for weekend tank- training maneuvers.

The war brought on the demand for many other facilities. For
pilot training and other functions, Air Force bases or Army air

fields were established near Daggett, Victorville, Blythe, and

q
Rice, and war materials were distributed through supply depots

located at Nebo (near Barstow) and near Yermo. Additional

gunnery ranges, as needed, were created northwest of both Twenty-

11
nine Palms and Plaster City, and at sites east of the Chocolate

Mountains. The war also brought about the need for weapons-
testing facilities. The 750,000-acre Naval Ordinance Test Station
(NOTS) was therefore established in 1943, transforming the south-
ern Indian Wells Valley into an instant urban complex, as 16,000

12
construction workers and base personnel descended upon the area.

99

Massive as the various military operations were in size of
their impact, most were relatively short-lived. Patton's forces
were in large part gone by early 1943, and the various Air Force
bases eventually stopped operations as well, though most con-
tinued to function for a few years after the war. Camp Irwin,

with a peak wartime population of 17,000, was deactivated in

13
1944; however, NOTS and most of the gunnery ranges continued to

be used due to ever- increasing sophistication in weaponry.

In the non-military sector of the economy, it was a rela-
tively quiet period. Predictably, some of the new activity was
related to military needs. Much of the desert economy stagnated,
however, due to wartime travel and use restrictions.

Aside from the relatively permanent extraction industries on
the desert, such as salt, borax, limestone and allied chemicals,
traditional mining operations were generally inactive during the
World War II period, and some mines were not allowed to operate.
The war effort, however, encouraged the production of iron and
other needed raw materials. As a result, favorable government
price supports brought about tin, lead and zinc mining in the
Mountain Pass area; a mill was established near Windmill
Station to process these ores. The Bagdad-Chase Mines, south of
Ludlow, also continued to operate at this time, among the few
gold mines in the country allowed to operate during the war
years. An active but short-lived calcite mine also operated in
the Borrego Badlands during the war.

100

Far larger in scale for the desert economy was the Kaiser
Vulcan Mine. An iron mine near Kelso, it was opened in con-
junction with a smelter in Kelso and a mill near Fontana to
provide the country with dependable inland steel production on
the west coast. Liberally supported by the government, the
mine and smelter produced prodigiously through the war years,
creating a road, a large mining and smelting complex and a town

of three thousand people at Kelso in the process. A sizeable

17
population also existed at the mine site itself.

Agricultural development was mixed. The Harper Lake area,

an alfalfa-growing area northwest of Barstow, became prominent at

1 8
this time, utilizing deep wells for its water. Elsewhere, as in

the Anza-Borrego area, wartime gas restrictions curtailed pumping

19
and limited production to largely subsistence levels. The

Needles area also lost some of its farming but for an entirely

different reason; due to the rising level of Lake Havasu, much of

the irrigable farmland on the California side of the river was

A ♦ A 20

inundated.

Urban growth occurred despite the war, particularly in the
Palm Springs area. The town was by this time quite well-known;

described in a contemporary work as "one of the newest playgrounds

21
of rich America," it attracted visitors and residents not only

to itself but to nearby communities. La Quinta, a town "as

22
uneffusive as Palm Springs is flamboyant," grew quickly during

the war as a restful retreat for those of some means, while

Desert Hot Springs, conversely described as "a poor man's Palm

101

23
Springs," grew during the same period. Other nearby towns saw

comparable growth.

102

CHAPTER 11 FOOTNOTES

1. Morain 1963:24

2. ACSC "San Bernardino County," various dates

3. O'Neal 1957:136-137

4. Meller 1946

Beck and Haase 1974:86

5. Cook 1967d:30

6. Bard 1973:125, 139
Meller 1946

7. Bard 1973:138

King and Casebier 1976:324
Miller 1968:64

8. Parker 1957:84

9. Otis 1977:128

USGS maps, various areas and dates

10. Bard 1973:108

11. O'Neal 1957:137
Lindsay 1973b: 100

12. AAUW 1953:29

13. Lantis 1963:52

14. Bard 1973:109

15. Lindsay 1973b: 103

16. Lantis 1963:45

17. Bard 1973:109, 135

18. ACSC "San Bernardino County," 1941

19. Lindsay 1973b: 102

20. Bard 1973:122

21. Federal Writers' Project 1939a: 628

22. Lantis 1963:76

23. Lantis 1963:76

103

104

CHAPTER 12. THE 1945-1951 PERIOD: RESIDENTIAL
BOOM ON THE METROPOLITAN FRINGE;
LARGER TOWNS AND INTENSIVE AGRI-
CULTURE GROW WHILE MORE SMALL-
SCALE ACTIVITIES DECLINE.

The postwar period was one of alarming growth in many
portions of the California desert. By 1950, desert population
figures stood at over 175,000 (see Appendix). Combined with the
World War II period growth, population growth during the decade
of the 1940s was over 60,000, an increase greater than that which
had occurred in the two previous decades combined. Most growth
occurred in subdivided areas on the fringe of the metropolitan
area, while most of the rest of the desert continued with previous
activities or showed declines. Mining experienced little new
activity; highway, railroad and other dispersed settlements
generally declined. Public enjoyment of the desert boomed,
helping to create much higher traffic volumes, and initial in-
terest in off-highway vehicle recreation appeared.

The postwar period in the desert, however, is best known for
its city growth and subdivision activity. The growth in the late
1940s was relatively small in comparison with that occurring in
the 1950s and 1960s, but the late 1940s were important because
patterns for later decades were established at that time. Growth
occurred in four major areas: 1) from Palmdale east and southeast
to Apple Valley; 2) in the upper Coachella Valley around Palm
Springs; 3) around the northern and western shores of the Salton
Sea; and 4) on the high desert between Morongo Valley and Twentynine
Palms. More minor subdivision areas also appeared in extreme

105

northeastern Los Angeles County, and in the Borrego Springs area.
Specific sites of settlement included Victorville, Desert Springs
(Pinon Hills), Palmdale, Pearblossom, Alta Vista, Hi Vista, Yucca

Valley, Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms, Apple Valley, Hesperia,

7
Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert and Borrego Springs. Most communities

had been only crossroad villages before the postwar period, and a

few were totally nonexistent. Among the best known of these

areas, to the contemporary Los Angeles-area resident at least,

was the Tri-Cities area comprising Victorville, Apple Valley, and

Hesperia. This area, particularly Apple Valley, was heavily

3
advertised in the Los Angeles area.

The boom in postwar desert housing was one of the first

large-scale voluntary migrations ever to any desert area.

Several reasons were responsible for its attraction. First,

urban southern Californians were beginning to feel confined by

their metropolitan surroundings; they needed a place for relative

solitude. Similarly, they were beginning to appreciate the

beauty of the desert and its lack of urban problems -- traffic

jams, air pollution, and such. Cheap federal land allowed a wide

range of people to settle with a vacation or retirement home, and

the availability of air conditioners and swimming pools made it

4
comfortable to live in the desert the year round.

Both year-round residents and Los Angeles-area weekend

recreationists lived in the Tri-Cities area, as well as in other

areas north of the Transverse Ranges. The same general types of

desert resident settled the other areas, with the exception of

106

the Palm Springs area. In that area, from Palm Springs southeast
to Palm Desert, most residents lived year-round, or at least for
most of the non-summer months. Homes were therefore well-constructed
and even elegant, and arranged in a close, suburban style.

In other areas, a housing arrangement began to proliferate,
known as the "jackrabbit homestead." These dwellings were
minimal in size and services, built simply to satisfy the residency
requirements laid out in the Federal Small Tracts Act of 1938.
First built in 1949, their effect (less than two square miles by
1951) was at first small, but their popularity grew quickly.
They were usually sold in five-acre plots, and with the exception
of a graded road to the house site, few other improvements existed
except for those supplied by the buyer. Though large areas were
put up for sale simultaneously, financing and other problems with
dwelling construction created a widely-spaced housing pattern,
with only ten to fifty percent of the lots improved. Lots
adjacent to the Salton Sea deviated slightly from this pattern.
Tracts built close to the water, as a general rule, were normally
more substantial and laid out in a more closely-spaced suburban
situation, while those further away were typical of "jackrabbit"
homesteads in other areas.

Closely connected to the residence and vacation-home boom in
the desert was the further growth in desert resort activities.

Most of the commercial facilities were located at either the

7
Colorado River or Salton Sea, and several were operated next to

o

or in conjunction with residential developments. Enjoyment of

107

the desert away from the major paved roads was becoming more
commonplace, and with the wartime development of the four-wheel

drive Jeep and the air-cooled engine, off-road vehicle (ORV)

9
travel began to occur.

While subdivisions and resorts were generally causing
demographic statistics and attention to be focused in specific
areas of the desert, conditions in much of the rest of the
desert were generally stagnating. Even though most highways were
receiving more traffic than ever before, the greater speed and
dependability of autos caused most people to travel farther
between stops. Therefore, only a few new stations were opened up
in the postwar years, most being on the more recently completed
highway between Indio and Bly the . Several desert way stations
closed down.

Railroad settlements fared even worse. In the early 1940s,
steam locomotives with greatly enlarged boilers came into standard
use on the main lines, almost eliminating the need for water
stops; and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, diesel engines
replaced steam as the primary power source. The new engines were
almost maintenance-free during their run, thus eliminating water
stops entirely. Railroads at this time also began to operate
their maintenance-of-way stations from mobile road gangs rather
than from fixed trackside facilities. By the late 1940s, then,
the number of trackside facilities had been sharply reduced,

leaving less than fifty operating stations or maintenance spots

12
along all California desert railroads.

108

Mining, on the whole, became more and more a large-scale
enterprise. By and large, it stayed at previous locations, but
with the playing out of the iron ore at the Kaiser Vulcan Mine,

operations were transferred in 1948 to Eagle Mountain, north of

13
Desert Center. A company-owned railroad was built to the site

soon after, and to facilitate development of this and many smaller

mines in that area, Joshua Tree National Monument was reduced to

14
its present size in 1950. Another designated open-space area,

Anza Desert State Park, was expanding during the same period,

however; it was finally able to patent its lands by 1948, making

a deeded park approximating today's boundaries.

Agriculture enjoyed renewed growth during this period.

Several new areas were opened for expanded farming use, most

important of which was the Coachella Valley south of Indio. The

Coachella Canal had been planned for decades prior to the late

1940s, and construction had begun in the mid-1950s. World War II

halted work, however, and the canal was not opened until 1948.

Predictably, the canal was a boon to the area. Acreage, which

had been previously watered from artesian and deep wells, soon

tripled in extent; new acreage was planted in a variety of field

17
crops, as well as citrus, vineyards, and date groves. The

Newberry area opened up to specialized agriculture -- chicken and

turkey ranches --as well as field crops, and the areas around

Harper Lake and Borrego Springs, with their efficient pumping and

1 8
irrigating operations, also expanded at this time.

109

The military, in general, spent the immediate postwar years
converting to peacetime levels. Therefore, Rice Air Base and
Blythe Army Base were deactivated. The three supply depots near

Barstow converted to Marine Corps jurisdiction soon after the

19
war. Other areas boomed, however; a parachute test range was

developed near El Centro, and a major new base was added in 1947
when the Mojave "B" Range was established southeast of the NOTS
facility at China Lake.

Finally, grazing became more regulated after the war. The
Taylor Grazing Act, passed in 1934, had earlier established the
precedent of private leasing of Federal lands, but its implemen-
tation had not brought immediate change to former grazing patterns.
In 1946, however, stewardship of public lands came under the
authority of the Bureau of Land Management. The new organization
designated areas for grazing on an annual basis and regulated the
number of cattle applicable to the various rainfall and vegetation
zones .

21

110

CHAPTER 12 FOOTNOTES

1. Lantis 1963:53

2. ACSC maps, various areas and dates

3. Lantis 1963:53

4. Lantis 1963:53

5. Bard 1973:112

6. Dana and Krueger 1958:126

7. ACSC maps, various areas and dates

8. Bard 1973:123

9. Lindsay 1973b: 104

10. Bard 1973:126

11. Bard 1973:105

12. NRPC 1948

13. Miller 1968:64

14. Rinaldi 1977

15. Lindsay 1973a:258

16. Lantis 1963:61

17. Lantis 1973:72

18. Lantis 1963:69

19. Bard 1973:108

20. King 1978

21. Bard 1973:111

111

112

CHAPTER 13. THE 1951-1960 PERIOD:
POSTWAR GROWTH TRENDS
CONTINUE; RECREATIONAL
USE OF THE DESERT BE-
COMES MORE NOTICEABLE.

Not remarkably different from the immediate postwar period,
the period encompassing the 1950s basically continued and ac-
centuated previous trends. Specifically, urban and dispersed
settlements on the metropolitan margins continued to grow, while
highway service clusters found mixed success. The Korean War did
provide a definite increase to both military and mining economics
for a while, and new mining facilities opened up for cement
manufacture in the western desert; otherwise, these economies
remained rather static. Resort and off-road vehicle recreation
continued their growth trends.

Towns and subdivisions on the metropolitan margin continued
to grow. In the 1950s, fewer new communities were created than
before, but the population influx of 150,000 between 1950 and 1960
(see Appendix) was far higher than in any other decade, and
almost doubled the total population in the desert. Major areas of
influx were the Tri-Cities area around Victorville, Lancaster,
Palmdale, Barstow, the Palm Springs area, and the High Desert
areas of Morongo Valley, Joshua Tree, Yucca Valley, and Twentynine
Palms. Newly subdivided areas created Bell Mountain, California
City, Leona Valley, and Salton City; also, many new smaller
subdivisions were sprinkled near previously-developed areas.
Because of the speculative nature of many of these semi-rural

113

developments, however, large open areas remainded long after
subdivision took place, and other areas were only loosely settled.
Because of the overabundance of land, it was inevitable that
many ventures failed in their desert development plans. Salton
City, a prime example, was an extravagantly planned community on
the west side of the Salton Sea, which opened in 1958. Expecta-
tions were great; $10 million was invested in the project, and

2
streets were laid out for an 11,000-lot development. Many lots

were in fact sold; but, primarily because of the deterioration of
Salton Sea water quality, few were built there. Today, a still-
struggling, widely spaced collection of perhaps thirty houses and
a few businesses show what became of the dream. Scores of other
developments less ambitious in scope have been similarly doomed to
failure; located in many parts of the CDCA, they are known only by
the bladed roads, tottering street signs, and an occasional
marooned house or two.

Resorts and other forms of desert recreation continued to
grow, even more rapidly than in the years immediately following
the war. Seaside and riverside developments continued to pro-
liferate and expand, capturing a major share of recreation traf-
fie. Mineral spas, most of which had existed for many years,

were located near Tecopa and Blythe, and near the Coachella Canal,

4
east of the Salton Sea.

In addition, many new avenues of recreation began to appear.

A number of private recreation ponds, interspersed among the newly

developed chicken and turkey ranches of the Newberry area,

114

were also opened, offering fishing, relaxation, motorcycle riding
and other pastimes. Recreated mining areas appealed to the
adventurous at Calico and at Tropico Mine. To the sightseer the
Anza-Borrego areas, Joshua Tree and Death Valley were protected
areas holding much of the desert's most valuable treasures;
though all were established in the 1930s, they did not begin to
receive a large number of visitors until the 1950s (see Figure
4) . This also held true for the Lake Mead National Recreation
Area; expanded in 1952 with the completion of Davis Dam, it drew
far more visitors than any of the California desert parks, and a
significant majority of them came from California. By the 1950s
there were also several other parks from which to choose. Salton
Sea State Recreation Area was established in 1951; Mitchell
Caverns (later Providence Mountains) State Park became a reality

in 1956, and Joshua Trees (later Antelope Buttes) State Park was

7
designated in 1957. None were particularly large, but each

protected a valuable part of the desert that had come under the

pressures of overuse. A State-administered burro sanctuary,

covering much of the Inyo County desert, was also established in

g
1957, though its impact on other land uses was negligible. For

four years in the mid-1950s, the Anza-Borrego area operated as

two separate entities; Anza Desert State Park was the portion

generally south of State Highway 78, while Borrego State Park was

the name given to the northern sector. They were reunited into

the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in 1957 and remain so today.

Serious proposals were advanced at this time to expand Anza-Borrego

115

to the northeast by 52 square miles; however, the plan was never

9
enacted.

Other forms of desert travel occurred in less structured
areas. Auto touring -- for weekend outings or long distance
trips -- became increasingly important, and new roads emanating
from Lancaster, Barstow, Trona, and Twentynine Palms were opened
to the public. The beginnings of the Interstate freeway system
were also seen in the late 1950s. Though the only portions
opened by 1960 were those southwest of Barstow, the completion
of the Barstow-Victorville segment was quite significant to the
Mojave River communities that it bypassed. A final automobile-
oriented impact was the off-road recreational vehicle. Its use,
and its consequent environmental damage, continued to be fairly
light, though its popularity steadily grew.

In other land use alterations, the advent of the Korean War,
between 1950 and 1953, provided perhaps the biggest force for
change in this period. It caused reactivation of several bases,
among them George Air Force Base and Camp Irwin, and also brought
about the establishment of the large Marine Corps Training Center
near Twentynine Palms in 1952. In contrast to military activity
after World War II, however, the various desert bases stayed in
operation after the Korean War. Also during the 1950s, the
Salton Sea Base was established, operated by the Atomic Energy
Commission and located entirely on the waters of the Salton
Sea.12

The Korean action also brought about renewed mining interest.
Tungsten and manganese were necessary war materials in short

116

supply; therefore, small mines in the Anza Desert State Park, Big

13
Maria Mountains and an area north of Barstow were activated,

while the Atolia and Darwin areas saw renewed activity.

Unrelated to military needs, the 1950s saw sharp growth in
the cement manufacturing industry. A large cement plant was
built at Cushenbury in 1957 near a large limestone deposit, and
a similar operation was built at Creel, west of Mojave, at about
the same time. Exhausting locally-available materials, the
cement plant at Victorville had also opened a series of new
mining operations by the early 1950s, and a newly-built railroad
spur connecting them reached northeast, then east to Sidewinder
Mountain. The Cushenbury and Creel plants were also connected
to the main railroad by industrially-owned spurs.

While the vast majority of money in mining was reaped by
the large-scale manufacturing concerns, the California desert by
this time had come to attract a sizeable number of persons who
enjoyed mining, regardless of whether it was particularly profit-
able. Called "desert rats" and other names by people leading a
more conventional life, their ranks were joined by others who,
without any particular mining knowledge, so loved the desert that
their dependence on conventional human concerns became increasingly
tenuous. Their presence in the desert was by no means new;
conversely, committed desert lovers (and some persons who were

simply antisocial) had lived in remote pockets of the desert for

17
years. However, with the playing out of most of the profit-
able, single-person mining prospects, the institution of Social

117

Security and pension plans, and the increased population and
visitor use of the desert, the confirmed "desert rat" came to be
viewed differently and became better recognized. A few of these
persons -- "Desert Steve" Ragsdale of the Desert Center area,
"Burro" Schmidt of the El Paso Mountains, "Death Valley" Scotty
and a few with literary inclinations -- have become well-known,
but most have intently avoided the general public. Highly indi-
vidual -- occasionally dangerously so -- and almost wholly anti-
thetical to governmental processes and interference, they are
persons entirely marginal to society who oftentimes live from no
economically logical base. They are somewhat ill-defined as a
group, but are probably the most basically sensible and colorful
of desert characters, and can even today be found in those other'
wise empty corners of the desert where one least expects them.

118

CHAPTER 13 FOOTNOTES

1. ACSC maps, various areas and dates

2. Lantis 1963:70

3. Lantis 1963:70
Cook 1967:17

4. ACSC maps, various areas and dates

5. Bard 1973:111-112

6. U.S. Department of the Interior, various dates

7. California State Department of Parks and Recreation, various dates

8. Nathensen 1977

9. Lindsay 1973b: 106-108

10. Bard 1973:115

11. Lantis 1963:52

12. ACSC, "Imperial County," date unknown

13. Lindsay 1973b: 108
Lantis 1963:45

14. Leadabrand 1965:55

15. ACSC, "Kern County," 1958

16. Myrick 1962

17. Federal Writers' Project 1939a:521, 544

119

120

CHAPTER 14. THE 1960-1978 PERIOD: CONTINUATION

OF GROWTH ON THE METROPOLITAN FRINGE;
FREEWAYS PROLIFERATE; OFF -ROAD
VEHICLE USE BECOMES WIDESPREAD;
DESIGNATED WILDERNESS AREAS APPEAR.

The period since 1960 has been characterized as one of
intense use of the desert. With technological progress and the
growth of the southern California metropolitan areas, visitors
have begun to use the desert to an ever- increasing degree.
Previously pristine areas have become roaded, and with the ex-
ploding popularity of the four-wheel drive vehicle, even the
poorest roads have received some weekend use. In large part, a
reaction to the overuse and consequent destruction of some parts
of the desert, the most recent period has also become one of
increasing governmental regulation: wilderness areas for the
ensurement of solitude have been created; off-road vehicle use has
been channeled to designated areas; and conflicts over land-use
have resulted in government oversight of previously unrestricted
desert activities.

As in previous decades, the 1960s and early 1970s brought
many more people to the desert, both to live and visit. The
larger desert communities -- Lancaster, Palmdale, the Tri-Cities
area, Twentynine Palms, Joshua Tree, Yucca Valley, and Morongo
Valley areas, and the cluster of communities around Palm Springs --
received the bulk of the new residents. However, several new
communities, in somewhat less accessible locations, were sub-
divided. Rimrock, Landers, Flamingo Heights, Timico Acres, and

121

several tracts east of the Indio Hills were opened up, primarily
with loosely clustered "j ackrabbit" housing; to the east, a large
broken area of similar housing stretched up to twenty miles east
of Twentynine Palms. To the west, the Quartz Hill and Lake Los
Angeles areas became new subdivisions featuring smaller, suburban-
style lots. Recreationally-oriented settlements, however, did not
limit themselves to the metropolitan fringe; several subdivisions
opened up on the west side of Lake Havasu opposite Lake Havasu
City, Arizona, and another appeared southwest of Parker. The
Colorado River developments were unique in that they were on
Indian Reservations; residents held their land via long-term
leases .

Simultaneous with the growth of these new subdivision areas,
other subdivisions were beginning to decay. Particularly in those
remote areas where the houses were built to minimal specifications
and sold at minimum prices, many houses ceased to be lived in
after a while and were often not able to be resold. Thus, several
subdivisions in the desert eventually became blighted by a high
percentage of abandoned, boarded homes, while interspersed among
them appeared currently occupied residences, along with a few
improved, larger-sized dwellings.

To accommodate the general increase in population, both in
the desert and particularly in the coastal areas, many new facili-
ties were built to ease transportation of energy and materials, as
well as to facilitate rapid communications. Throughout the 1960s,
the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company greatly augmented a

122

network of relay stations to facilitate telephone communications;
these stations had begun on a small scale as early as 1949, though
their numbers remained small previous to 1960. Though highly
visible because of their mountaintop or ridge location and their
connecting roads, they occupied less than an acre of ground. They
were not permanently occupied; therefore, few adjoining buildings
were required. Oil and gas pipelines and transmission lines have
likewise expanded greatly, chiefly to provide needed energy to the
Los Angeles area.

Accessibility to and through the desert, via the freeway, was
made markedly easier in this time period. Freeways had begun on
the desert in the late 1950s between Cajon Pass and Barstow. By
1968, however, well over half of the Interstate system had been
completed, and by 1973, it was nearly finished. Also, other
freeways were built separate from the Interstate system, such as
the Antelope Valley Freeway. By and large, the freeways had a
catastrophic effect on wayside highway stops; not only did they
speed traffic and make many stops largely inaccessible to the
traffic, but in several cases, the freeway was built directly over
the highway stop, forcing business owners to relocate or close.
Stops well away from the new rights-of-way, such as Helendale and

Amboy, withdrew into strictly local business, and many stops

3
largely dependent upon traffic folded up entirely.

Bolstered by the desert's easier accessibility, visitors to
the California desert, particularly from the Los Angeles metro-
politan area, came in greater numbers than ever before, and to

123

help accommodate them, new parks were created around Picacho and
Red Rock Canyon. They came seeking a variety of experiences, from
dune buggy driving to bird watching, from motorcycle enduros to
relaxing in a trailer by the Salton Sea. Off-road vehicle pur-
suits, in particular, rose dramatically after 1960, and due to
its detrimental effects on desert soils, air pollution, plant
cover, soil erosion, and other factors, ORV use began to cause
consternation among those concerned about desert ecosystems.
Furthermore, the increased use of the desert by all recreationists
began to cause inevitable disputes over which activities should
predominate. To help solve many of these conflicts, the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) began to take a more active role in its
stewardship of desert lands.

The BLM organized its desert efforts through the Desert
Planning Staff (DPS) , an ad hoc organization assembled in the
early 1970s to gather data and coordinate work solely on desert
problems. Among its first official decisions, the DPS proposed a
plan that would curb indiscriminate ORV use in the more pristine
areas of the desert, while designating other areas for specific
off-road vehicle use. Called the Interim Critical Management
Plan, it was presented to the public in 1973, and is still the
primary framework regulating motorized vehicle use in the desert.
The functions of the DPS were greatly expanded with the 1976
passage of the Federal Land Management and Policy Act (Organic
Act); BLM staff, in conjunction with extensive citizen input, is
now engaged in deciding matters on many aspects of desert activity.

124

During this most recent period, the desire for designated
wilderness areas, as well as open vehicle areas, also came to be
increasingly expressed. Though wilderness had begun as a concept
unique to the National Forests, the increased use and appreciation
of the desert made the concept more widely relevant. The State of
California, however, pioneered in the establishment of desert
wilderness areas when it designated the Santa Rosa Mountains State
Wilderness in 1975, as one of the first units in the state wilder-
ness system. A much larger wilderness preserve was created the
following year when eight separate areas in Joshua Tree National
Monument became designated wilderness; and with the passage of the
Organic Act in October of the same year, a process was established
for designating many of the BLM lands in the California desert as
wilderness. Open vehicle areas were also granted, through BLM's
"open" designation as well as by the State's Ocotillo Wells ve-
hicle area. Other areas received formal designations as well; for
instance, the Pinnacles became a National Historic Landmark in
1967, and other areas were set aside for scientific and research
purposes .

Other new impacts were relatively insignificant in comparison
to those discussed above. In balance, agriculture changed little;

the poultry ranches in the Newberry area declined, but new areas

7
became irrigated in Fremont Valley, north of California City.

The military changed little in its land use impact on the desert,

despite the long struggle in Vietnam. A few new parcels were

acquired by the military, chiefly in the Salton Sea area and

125

northwest of Barstow, but military parcels were surrendered in
the Algodones sand dunes area south and west of Glamis. (Fort
Irwin was detactivated by the Army in 1970, but is now admin-
istered by the California National Guard) . A fairly large area
in the California desert was impacted by a large 1964 wargames
exercise. Called Project Desert Strike, it extended into Nevada
and Arizona, but a majority of it took place on the California

side; among the impacted locations was a large area east of Cima,

g
which included much of the Lanfair Valley.

126

CHAPTER 14 FOOTNOTES

1. U.S. Bureau of the Census 1970

2. ACSC maps, various areas and dates

3. Bard 1973:115, 126

4. Bard 1973:137-138

5. California State Department of Recreation 1975-76
Rinaldi 1977

6. Bard 1973:135

7. ACSC, "Kern County," various dates

8. Bard 1973:139

127

128

EPILOGUE: PROJECTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

Based upon historical precedent, it can be safely assumed
that the California desert is going to experience only increased
levels of use in the coming years. Both residential and recrea-
tional use of the desert will increase, and other sectors of the
economy will experience similar increases.

As in recent years, the primary areas of land use conflict in
coming decades will be on the Los Angeles metropolitan fringe. By
the year 2000, for instance, the greater Los Angeles and San Diego
areas are expected to have a combined population of over fifteen
million; this will have resulting impacts on residential and
recreational preference, as overcrowding in these areas become
increasingly widespread. Therefore, the major desert communities
nearest the two metropolitan areas will continue to grow, although
at a more steady, less dramatic rate than in the 1940s and 1950s.

If recent trends continue, however, several new communities,
more distant from the metropolitan apron, may be created. This
urban dispersion is due to two factors: first, the continuing
popularity of Social Security and pension plans, allowing greater
choice of residence; it is also due to the continuing trend of
some businesses to locate in areas largely of their own choosing.
Many components manufacturers and other high value-added opera-
tions can locate independently of traditional transportation and
market sites; therefore, it may be expected that some such opera-
tions will move to desert areas.

129

Agriculture can be expected to stay at fairly stable levels,
at least in the near future. Specialized agriculture (primarily
truck crops and poultry farming) will continue to migrate to the
desert as poultry and milksheds are displaced by urbanization in
the Los Angeles basin, though the passage of prime agricultural
lands legislation, should it appear in the next few years, would
ideally delay this process by eliminating the fallow-lands stage
occurring between agricultural productivity and urban-fringe sub-
division. Depending on agricultural technology, soils and
available water supplies, new field crop (principally alfalfa)
areas may be located next to other desert dry lakes, using
methods similar to those employed around Harper and Koehn Dry
Lakes. Little agricultural land growth is seen in the southern
desert, however; the Colorado River's water supply appears to be
fully committed, and water tables are too low for economic pumpinj

The future of mineral production cannot be predicted as
easily. While it can be safely assumed that few new significant
strikes of precious minerals will occur in the coming years,
there will continue to be a large demand for borates, trona-
related chemicals, and rare earths. Based on recent trends, salt
will become a less important though continuing desert commodity.
Iron and cement will continue their recent production rates in
the near future. New deposits, however, are an obvious gray
area; with continually changing technology, deposits considered
uneconomic today may well be valuable in future years, and care

130

should be taken to allow access to needed deposits while amply-
considering environmental and other factors.

Grazing will probably decline in importance in coming years.
Though extensive in its operations, it employs very few people
today. Conflicts with other resource users, particularly back-
country desert recreationists , will continue to increase, usually
to the ranchers' detriment. Recent environmental regulations that
state a reduction in range carrying capacity may further hurt
grazing fortunes. In the northwestern desert, grazing and cattle-
driving will continue into the near future. However, due to low
pay and other factors, there is an increasing reluctance on the
part of the Basque stockmen to continue their livelihood in the
desert; should they leave, it isdoubtful that this economic
segment would continue in that area.

The military's presence will continue in a fairly static
fashion over the next few years. Land uses on the individual
reservations, of course, will change as defense requirements
permit. Barring an emergency situation, however, no new large
areas will come under military jurisdiction in coming years,
simply because there are few empty areas left. Smaller areas will
be acquired and released from time to time.

The remaining lands -- those not already spoken for by other
interests -- are going to be largely decided upon in the coming
years by the Bureau of Land Management, and by the various citizen
groups and individuals who will gather the necessary data and make

131

the crucial decisions concerning future land use. Inevitably,
some of the remaining land is going to be used for geothermal
sites and other energy-related facilities and transportation
lines, and these will doubtless take precedence over recreation
and most wilderness interests. Some of the land may well be
transferred out of BLM jurisdiction, and managed instead by the
National Park Service or another public organization. Some will
become wilderness areas; with the continuing population influx to
southern California, there will be an increased need for wilder-
ness, on alluvial slopes, mesas and playas as well as the more
traditional mountainous areas. Finally, there will be new areas
for recreation, though due to greater BLM concern in recent years,
such areas will probably come under increasing control and regu-
lation because of the harmful effects of overuse on fragile areas.
Wilderness areas as well as recreational areas will probably
suffer from overuse, though extensive wilderness controls will
most likely not be necessary in the near future.

The above predictions have been made largely as the result of
the continuation and maturation of present trends. Unknown
factors, physical and cultural, will doubtless appear to change
the best efforts of planners and private citizens alike; the
current legitimacy of various Native claims and demands in other
states offers a case in point. Buoyed by recent Native self-
awareness, demands for land based upon unratified Indian treaties
or reinterpretation of current treaties may well resurface in
coming years. Though some cases may be adjudicated with a cash

132

settlement, others may involve land transactions, particularly of
sacred sites, and population and burial concentrations.

133

134

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R-5

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R-10

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A History of land use in the
California Desert

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