Reche Canyon (historically known as Homhoa Canyon, Homoa Canyon, and Homuba Canyon) is a

canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...

in the far northwestern foothills of the

San Jacinto Mountains The San Jacinto Mountains ()Munro, P., et al. ''A Mojave Dictionary''. Los Angeles: UCLA. 1992. are a mountain range in Riverside County, California, Riverside County, located east of Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles in southern California i ...

, northwest of The Badlands in the

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (commonly abbreviated as the IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County and Or ...

region of

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 ...

. The

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous peoples of California, Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Channel Islands of California, Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . In the precolonial era, the peop ...

village of Homhoangna, from which the canyon's alternative names derives, was located here. The

county line Borders are generally defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ...

between

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of th ...

and

Riverside County Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Unit ...

is at the approximate midway point of the canyon;The Changing Land of Many Hills: A History of Reche Canyon
/ref> the San Bernardino half to the north is mostly within the boundaries of Colton, with a small area in

Loma Linda Loma Linda (Spanish language, Spanish for "Beautiful Hill") is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States, that was incorporated in 1970. The population was 24,791 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, up from 23,261 a ...

,Reche Canyon Specific Plan
/ref> while the southern half is unincorporated territory of Riverside County. Reche Canyon Elementary School is located in the northern part of the canyon.

History

The canyon is said to be named for a 49er named Anthony Reche, who initially settled in Fallbrook and moved to the canyon in 1875. & Reche had 160 acres on which he farmed and "raised bees." In the 1890s, a settler named John Console built a one-room schoolhouse in the canyon for the use of his own children; other students began attending around 1910. The building was later moved and renamed Ferndale School. The school held classes until at least 1951, when the building was condemned by Riverside County. Canyon residents got electricity for the first time in the 1940s.

Ecology

In 1976, Console's son described the canyon as having been habitat for many wild creatures including bobcats, coyotes, quail, and rabbits. & In 1912 two of the Console girls killed a -long rattlesnake with 14 rattles. Wild burros, released from local ranches in the 1950s, number over a 1,000.

Transportation

Along with

San Timoteo Canyon San Timoteo Canyon is a river valley canyon southeast of Redlands, in the far northwestern foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. Geography The canyon runs from its southern inflow mouth in ...

and Pigeon Pass, the canyon links

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 its surrounding cities in the

San Bernardino Valley The San Bernardino Valley () is a valley in Southern California located at the south base of the Transverse Ranges. It is bordered on the north by the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernardino Mountains; on the east by the San Jacin ...

to the city of Moreno Valley. The road through the canyon is used as a shortcut and to avoid traffic by commuters looking for an alternative to Interstate 215 and

California State Route 60 State Route 60 (SR 60) is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California. It serves the cities and communities on the eastern side of the Los Angeles metropolitan area and runs along the south side of the San Gabriel Valley. I ...

References

External links

The Changing Land of Many Hills: A History of Reche Canyon
Canyons and gorges of California Landforms of Riverside County, California Landforms of San Bernardino County, California History of Riverside County, California History of San Bernardino County, California Colton, California Moreno Valley, California San Jacinto Mountains Inland Empire Loma Linda, California {{SanBernardinoCountyCA-geo-stub

History

Ecology

Transportation

See also

References

External links