Dos Palmas Spring is an artesian spring in

Riverside County, California Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...

where it lies at the foot of the Orocopia Mountains. It is only one of several such springs in the area that create an oasis in the

Colorado Desert The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...

there.

History

Dos Palmas Spring, an artesian spring was a watering place in the

Salton Sink The Salton Sink is the low point of an endorheic basin, a closed drainage system with no outflows to other bodies of water, in the Colorado Desert sub-region of the Sonoran Desert. The sink falls within the larger Salton Trough and separates ...

for Native Americans traveling across the

between the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

and

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

for centuries. For many years the oasis was a camp and watering spot on a long used trail along the oasis's at the foot of the mountains east of the Salton Sink to the

Yuma Crossing Yuma Crossing is a site in Arizona and California that is significant for its association with transportation and communication across the Colorado River. It connected New Spain and Las Californias in the Spanish Colonial period in and also duri ...

and

Yuma, Arizona Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 95,548 at the 2020 census, up from the 2010 census population of 93,064. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, Metropolitan ...

to the southeast. From 1862, it became a camp and watering stop for gold seekers and other travelers along the Bradshaw Trail between

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

and the gold mining

boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although t ...

La Paz, Arizona La Paz (Yavapai: Wi:hela) was a short-lived early gold mining town along on the western border of current-day La Paz County, Arizona. The town grew quickly after gold was discovered nearby in 1862. ''La Paz'', Spanish for ''peace'', was chosen a ...

and later to nearby Ehrenberg that replaced it. A stage stop called Dos Palmas was established there for the Bradshaw and Yuma roads. This spring and stage station was the site of the murder of Herman Ehrenberg on October 9, 1866. Ornish, Natalie, "Ehrenberg, Herman", Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association, Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Accessed April 10, 2015
/ref> For a short time in May – June, 1877, there was a post office at that location.

Dos Palmas Preserve

The Dos Palmas Spring is now part of the Dos Palmas Preserve a 14,000-acre preserve created to protect important biological resources. The oasis with its hundreds of desert fan palms and pools fed by artesian springs and seepage from the nearby Coachella Canal form a wetland that offers shelter from the hot, dry

to a variety of both threatened or endangered and more common animal species. These include the endangered Yuma Rail, the

Desert Pupfish The desert pupfish (''Cyprinodon macularius'') is a rare species of teleost, bony fish in the family Cyprinodontidae. It is a small fish, typically less than 7.62 cm (3 in) in length. Males are generally larger than females, and have br ...

and the Orocopia Sage.

References

External links

Gary L. Shumway, Larry Vredenburgh, Russell Hartill, Desert Fever: An Overview of Mining History of the California Desert Conservation Area; February, 1980, complete pdf version

** ttp://vredenburgh.org/desert_fever/pages/riverside_county_end_notes.htm Desert Fever: An Overview of Mining History of the California Desert Conservation Area; Riverside County, End Notes
Randall Henderson, Waterhole on the Old Bradshaw Trail, Desert Magazine, January 1947
{{authority control Geography of the Colorado Desert Springs of Riverside County, California Former settlements in Riverside County, California Former populated places in California American frontier Stagecoach stops in the United States Bradshaw Trail 1862 establishments in California Oases of California