Anza Valley, formerly known as the Hamilton Plains, [1] is a basin in Riverside County, California. Anza Valley trends southwest from Bautista Canyon, west of Thomas Mountain to Terwilliger Valley, 2.8 miles west-southwest of Table Mountain and 12 miles south of Idyllwild. The valley lies at an elevation of 4,157 feet (1,267 m), west of the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains. It is drained by Cahuilla Creek, a tributary of the Santa Margarita River. [2]
Anza Valley is named after the Spanish soldier explorer Juan Bautista de Anza who first passed through the valley on March 16, 1774, and again on December 27, 1775. [3] De Anza originally named the valley "San Carlos"; it was renamed in his honor from Cahuilla Valley to Anza Valley on September 16, 1926. [4]
In the later 19th century, Anza Valley was named after its early pioneer settler, Jim Hamilton, an African American man who settled there after he lost his land in Butterfield Valley in a lawsuit over ownership of the Rancho Pauba in the early 1880s. [5] Hamilton moved out to the lands of the Cahuilla, where he and two of his sons continued to raise cattle at their ranch in what is now the Anza Valley, which was first known as the Hamilton Plain. Hamilton Creek, originating east of Anza still bears his name. Hamilton School in Anza was also named after him. [6] The school has been divided into a K-8 School and Hamilton High School since 2006-2007. [7] [8]
Hamilton was married to a Native American woman and had three sons. Two became U. S. Marshals, and one was killed in the line of duty at San Jacinto, California. The two surviving sons also married native women. [9]
Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding fathers of Spanish California and served as an official within New Spain as Governor of the province of New Mexico.
Banning is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. Its population was 29,505 as of the 2020 census, down from 29,603 at the 2010 census. It is situated in the San Gorgonio Pass, also known as Banning Pass. It is named for Phineas Banning, stagecoach line owner and the "Father of the Port of Los Angeles."
San Jacinto is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. It is located at the north end of the San Jacinto Valley, with Hemet to its south and Beaumont to its north. The mountains associated with the valley are the San Jacinto Mountains. The population was 44,199 at the 2010 census. The city was founded in 1870 and incorporated on April 20, 1888, making it one of the oldest cities in Riverside County.
San Jacinto Peak is a 10,834 ft (3,302 m) peak in the San Jacinto Mountains, in Riverside County, California. Lying within Mount San Jacinto State Park it is the highest both in the range and the county, and serves as the southern border of the San Gorgonio Pass. Naturalist John Muir wrote of San Jacinto Peak, "The view from San Jacinto is the most sublime spectacle to be found anywhere on this earth!"
The Santa Rosa Mountains are a short mountain range in the Peninsular Ranges system, located east of the Los Angeles Basin and northeast of the San Diego metropolitan area of Southern California, in the Southwestern United States.
The Cahuilla, also known as ʔívil̃uqaletem or Ivilyuqaletem, are a Native American people of the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the inland areas of southern California. Their original territory encompassed about 2,400 square miles (6,200 km2). The traditional Cahuilla territory was near the geographic center of Southern California. It was bounded to the north by the San Bernardino Mountains, to the south by Borrego Springs and the Chocolate Mountains, to the east by the Colorado Desert, and to the west by the San Jacinto Plain and the eastern slopes of the Palomar Mountains.
The Cahuilla Band of Indians is a federally recognized tribe of Cahuilla people located in Southern California. They were formerly the Cahuilla Band of Cahuilla Indians of the Cahuilla Reservation.
State Route 371 is a state highway in Riverside County, California, serving as a 20.75-mile (33.39 km) connector from SR 79 near Aguanga to SR 74 near Anza. The highway crosses through the private community of Lake Riverside, as well as Cahuilla and the Cahuilla Indian Reservation. It is the primary road running through Anza but mostly serves rural areas.
Anza is a census-designated place located in southwestern Riverside County, California, in the Anza Valley, a semi-arid region at a mean elevation of 3,921 feet (1,195 m) above sea level. It is located 13 miles (21 km) south of Idyllwild, 32 miles (51 km) east-northeast of Temecula, 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Palm Springs, and 90 miles (140 km) northeast of San Diego, being traversed by State Route 371. Anza is on the Pacific Crest Trail and the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail. The population was 3,075 at the 2020 census.
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.
The San Jacinto Fault Zone (SJFZ) is a major strike-slip fault zone that runs through San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, and Imperial Counties in Southern California. The SJFZ is a component of the larger San Andreas transform system and is considered to be the most seismically active fault zone in the area. Together they relieve the majority of the stress between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates.
The San Jacinto Valley is a valley located in Riverside County, in Southern California, in the Inland Empire. The valley is located at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains in the east and Santa Rosa Hills to the south with the San Gorgonio Pass to the north. The average elevation is 1,500 feet (460 m), with the highest points in the foothills south of Hemet and the western slopes of the San Jacinto Mountains. It is home to two cities, Hemet and San Jacinto, and several unincorporated communities. According to the 2020 census, the valley has a combined population of over 190,000 residents, including more than 143,000 residents within the city limits of Hemet and San Jacinto. The valley is also where the story and play "Ramona" was set; the story was written after author Helen Hunt Jackson visited the valley in the 1880s. The valley is also known for being an area of agriculture, which has given way to more urbanized development.
Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the United States. The name was derived from the city of Riverside, which is the county seat.
The Ramona Band of Cahuilla is a federally recognized tribe of Cahuilla Indians, located in Riverside County, California.
The Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indians is a federally recognized tribe of Cahuilla Indians, located in Riverside County, California.
The Morongo Band of Mission Indians is a federally recognized tribe in California, United States. The main tribal groups are Cahuilla and Serrano. Tribal members also include Cupeño, Luiseño, and Chemehuevi Indians. Although many tribes in California are known as Mission Indians, some, such as those at Morongo, were never a part of the Spanish Missions in California.
The Perris Block is the central block of three major fault-bounded blocks of the northern part of the Peninsular Ranges. The Perris Block lies between the Santa Ana Block to the west and the San Jacinto Block to the east. The Perris Block, was named by Walter A. English in 1925 for the city of Perris, located near the center of the block.
Butterfield Valley is a valley along the course of Temecula Creek, in Riverside County, California. Its lower end is now filled by Vail Lake. It heads at 33°27′39″N116°55′34″W and its mouth is at the site of the Vail Lake Dam at the head of the deep canyon Temecula Creek has cut through Oak Mountain to the Pauba Valley.
Hamilton Creek is a tributary stream of Cahuilla Creek,, in Riverside County, California. Its mouth is found in the Anza Valley at an elevation of 3,865 feet (1,178 m). Its source is at 33°32′46″N116°34′36″W at an elevation of 4,800 feet on the southwest facing slope of Lookout Mountain in the Santa Rosa Mountains.
Cahuilla Creek is a tributary stream of Wilson Creek which is in turn a tributary of Temecula Creek, and the Santa Margarita River in Riverside County, California. Its mouth is at its confluence with Wilson Creek at an elevation of 2,106 feet (642 m). Its source is at 33°36′40″N116°40′10″W, at an elevation of 5,800 feet, on the west slope of Thomas Mountain 0.6 miles west-southwest of Tool Box Spring. It flows southwest through the Anza Valley and Cahuilla Valley in the Cahuilla Indian Reservation to Wilson Creek, 7 miles south-southwest of Cahuilla Mountain and 20 miles south-southeast of San Jacinto.