Banner (formerly Banner City) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It lies at an elevation of 2743 feet (836 m). It is located on

California State Route 78 State Route 78 (SR 78) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from Oceanside east to Blythe, traversing nearly the entire width of the state. Its western terminus is at Interstate 5 (I-5) in San Diego County and its e ...

Climate

Banner has a relatively dry climate due to its close proximity to the Anza-Borrego desert. The city can receive snowfall because of its higher elevation, although it is usually only a couple inches per year.

History

Banner City was founded in August 1870 by Louis B. Redman, east of Julian, serving several

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

mines in the surrounding hills in the Julian Banner Mining District. It had a hotel, two stores, three saloons, and

stamping mill Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents ...

s. The town received its name after a miner marked his claim with an

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(in reference to the

Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bo ...

.) Chariot Canyon, a small canyon south-adjacent to the town, was where most of the town's mining took place. Some claim that the yield of Banner's mines even surpassed those of rivaling town Julian's. The greatest period of mining activity was from 1870 to 1880. In the fall of 1870, a miner named George V. King came to Banner after finding that all the mines in Julian had been claimed. One day in Chariot Canyon, King broke off a piece of

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical f ...

while climbing and found that it had flecks of

inside. He and a few friends established adjoining land claims and founded the Golden Chariot mine. The mine grossed from its first five tons of gold, creating notoriety for Banner throughout the southwestern United States. The mine exported over of gold within its first year of operation. Mark McDonald and W. A. Whitney purchased the Golden Chariot mine for . The new owners installed a 10-

stamp mill A stamp mill (or stamp battery or stamping mill) is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operati ...

and replaced the modest mining equipment used by the previous owners. Under the new supervision, the Golden Chariot mine produced nearly worth of gold within a decade. Several other mines such as Ready Relief, Big Blue, Warlock, Antelope, and Chaparral operated in Banner and collectively excavated millions of dollars worth of gold. Bringing in heavy machinery for the mines proved to be a tough task as they had to be lowered via stone sleds down the Banner Gilbert Slide. The Wilcox toll road opened in 1872 which greatly reduced the difficulty of getting mining equipment into the area. The Banner post office operated from July 29, 1873, to November 24, 1876, Dec 5, 1876 to Oct 31, 1877 and from 25 Apr 1883 to Dec 28, 1906 when it was moved to Julian. Unlike its rival, Julian, the town suffered from multiple floods in 1874, 1916, and 1926. In the 1930s, it suffered a fire that left little trace of the old town.

1989 Memorial Day Killings

On May 29, 1989, five men exchanged fire in a deadly dispute over a gold claim in the historic Chariot Canyon gold field. Originally, two individuals (Benjamin Haimes of Encino and Gustav Oran Hudson of El Cajon) had become involved in a land dispute over the Ready Relief and Hubbard Mines in Chariot Canyon (historically owned by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...

), as both had intentions to prospect in the area. Hudson and his family happened to arrive at the property at the same time as Haimes’ appointed caretaker, Chris Zerbe. After a verbal altercation, the resulting escalation involved multiple weapons and resulted in the death of Zerbe and his companion. Due to an unsavory reputation in the neighboring town of Julian, Zerbe was labeled as the main aggressor and no charges were filed against Hudson. The

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

District Attorney is on record as stating, "It is our conclusion upon sifting hrough thefacts as adduced from the reports and supplemental review .. that no criminal complaint can be filed as a result of this incident.” Nicknamed the “Chariot Canyon Massacre,” this incident is understood to be the first gold prospecting-related killing in the area since the gold rush of the late 1800s.

References

External links

Ramona 1901 1:125,000 U.S. Geological Survey Topography Map
Shows Banner in 1901.
USGS Map Name: Julian, CA from Topoquest website, accessed 2/25/2013
Shows Banner in a current USGS topographic map, and mine locations. 1870 establishments in California Ghost towns in California History of San Diego Former settlements in San Diego County, California Mining communities in California Populated places established in 1870 {{coord, 33, 04, 08, N, 116, 32, 46, W, display=title