Salt Spring (San Bernardino County)
Salt Spring, sometimes called Salt Springs, was a spring in the Mojave Desert, in San Bernardino County, California. It was a spring along the course of Salt Creek a tributary of the Amargosa River.
History
Salt Spring was a water source for the native people of the surrounding desert. From 1829 it was a water hole and stopping place established by Antonio Armijo on the Old Spanish Trail between Nuevo Mexico and Alta California.[1]: 99 In 1849 the spring became a stop for wagons traveling along the Mormon Road between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. The first party of wagons to visit the springs on their way to California found gold in the hills to the east, which became known as the Salt Spring Hills and the mining settlement later established was called Salt Spring.[2]: 77, n.3
Today the location of Salt Spring, once on Salt Creek, is now buried by debris brought down Salt Creek by flooding in the early 20th century that changed the course of the creek, but it was located about 0.5 miles north of the intersection of California State Route 127 and Saratoga Springs Road. [3]: 11, #166
References
- Armijo's Journal, LeRoy R. Hafen and Antonio Armijo, Huntington Library Quarterly Vol. 11, No. 1 (Nov., 1947), University of California Press, DOI: 10.2307/3816035
- Gary L. Shumway, Larry Vredenburgh, Russell Hartill, Desert Fever: An Overview of Mining History of the California Desert Conservation Area, Prepared For: DESERT PLANNING STAFF BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 3610 Central Avenue, Suite 402 Riverside, California 92506, February, 1980
- Reynolds, Robert E., Field Trip Guide, The Changing Face of the East Mojave Desert Abstracts from the 2001 Desert Symposium and Robert E. Reynolds, Editor, LSA Associates, Inc., 1650 Spruce Street, Suite 500, Riverside, California 92507. California State University, Desert Studies Consortium, Department of Biological Science, California State University, Fullerton, California 92834; in association with The Western Center for Archaeology & Paleontology, Western Center Community Foundation, 1160 University Avenue, Suite G, Riverside, California 92521, April 2001