Banner | |
|---|---|
  Banner Location in California  Banner Banner (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 33°04′08″N116°32′46″W / 33.06889°N 116.54611°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  California |
| County |  San Diego |
| Elevation | 836 m (2,743 ft) |
Banner (formerly Banner City) is an unincorporated community in San Diego County, California. [1] It lies at an elevation of 2743 feet (836 m). [1] It is located on California State Route 78.
Banner has a relatively dry climate due to its close proximity to the Anza-Borrego desert. [2] . The city can receive snowfall because of its higher elevation, although it is usually only a couple inches per year.
Banner City was founded in August 1870 by Louis B. Redman, east of Julian, serving several gold mines in the surrounding hills in the Julian Banner Mining District. It had a hotel, two stores, three saloons, and stamping mills. The town received its name after a miner marked his claim with an American flag (in reference to the Star-Spangled Banner.) 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. [3] The greatest period of mining activity was from 1870 to 1880. [4]
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 while climbing and found that it had flecks of gold inside. He and a few friends established adjoining land claims and founded the Golden Chariot mine. The mine grossed US$6,000 from its first five tons of gold, creating notoriety for Banner throughout the southwestern United States. The mine exported over US$80,000 of gold within its first year of operation. Mark McDonald and W. A. Whitney purchased the Golden Chariot mine for US$100,000. The new owners installed a 10-stamp mill and replaced the modest mining equipment used by the previous owners. Under the new supervision, the Golden Chariot mine produced nearly US$2,000,000 worth of gold within a decade. [3]
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. [3]
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. [5] 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.
On May 29, 1989, five men exchanged fire in a deadly dispute over a gold claim in the historic Chariot Canyon gold field. [6] 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), 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 District Attorney is on record as stating, "It is our conclusion upon sifting [through the] facts as adduced from the reports and supplemental review[...], that no criminal complaint can be filed as a result of this incident.” [7]
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.
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.
Borrego Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. The population was 3,429 at the 2010 census, up from 2,535 at the 2000 census, made up of both seasonal and year-round residents. Borrego Springs is surrounded by Anza-Borrego State Park, California's largest state park.
Julian is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,768, up from 1,502 at the time of the 2010 census.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a California State Park located within the Colorado Desert of southern California, United States. The park takes its name from 18th century Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and borrego, a Spanish word for sheep. With 585,930 acres (237,120 ha) that includes one-fifth of San Diego County, it is the largest state park in California.
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.
Cuyamaca is a region of eastern San Diego County. It lies east of the Capitan Grande Indian Reservation in the western Laguna Mountains, north of Descanso and south of Julian. Named for the 1845 Rancho Cuyamaca Mexican land grant, the region is now dominated by the 26,000-acre (110 km2) Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. Within the park is the prominent Cuyamaca Peak, the second-highest mountain in San Diego County at 6,512 feet (1,984.9 m).
The Lost Ship of the Desert is the subject of legends about various historical maritime vessels having supposedly become stranded and subsequently lost in the deserts of the American Southwest, most commonly in California's Colorado Desert. Since the period following the American Civil War, stories about Spanish treasure galleons buried beneath the desert sands north of the Gulf of California have emerged as popular legends in American folklore.
The Cuyamaca Mountains, locally the Cuyamacas, are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System, in San Diego County, southern California. The mountain range runs roughly northwest to southeast. The Laguna Mountains are directly adjacent to the east, with Palomar Mountain and Hot Springs Mountain more distant to the north.
Earthquake Valley is a desert valley east of Julian, California, which contains parts of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. It is the location of the Shelter Valley Ranchos subdivision, which is also known as the unincorporated community of Shelter Valley. The official USGS place name for the geologic feature in which Shelter Valley is situated is "Earthquake Valley", and the 1959 USGS Topographic map makes no reference to Shelter Valley. The name of the unincorporated community Shelter Valley is typically used both locally and by the media to refer generally to the geological feature of Earthquake Valley, and it is common for both names to be referenced in publications after the 1962 establishment of the subdivision. Author, poet, artist and primitivist Marshal South lived in and wrote about the general area, in a series of articles for Desert Magazine between 1941 and 1948. A number of notable trails pass through the valley, including the Pacific Crest Trail, the California Riding and Hiking Trail, and the Southern Emigrant Trail.
Shelter Valley is a community in San Diego County in the U.S. state of California. The town is located along County Route S2, two miles (3.2 km) south of its intersection with State Route 78 and 12 miles (19 km) east of Julian. It lies within the boundaries of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the geologic feature known as Earthquake Valley. The Pacific Crest Trail passes along the northern boundary of the community.
Coleman City, also called Emily City, is a ghost town in San Diego County, California. It lies at an elevation of 3601 feet. It is located on State Highway 78 where it crosses Coleman Creek, about four miles west of Julian.
San Felipe Creek is a stream in Imperial and San Diego Counties of California. It arises in the Volcan Mountains of San Diego County 33°11′57″N116°37′35″W, and runs eastward, gathering the waters of most of the eastern slope of the mountains and desert of the county in the San Sebastian Marsh before it empties into the Salton Sea. It is probably the last remaining perennial natural desert stream in the Colorado Desert region. In 1974, the San Felipe Creek Area was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.
The Palm Spring Formation is a Pleistocene Epoch geologic formation in the eastern Colorado Desert of Imperial County and San Diego County County, Southern California.
The Ocotillo Formation is a Pliocene fluvial-alluvial fan geologic formation in the Colorado Desert of Southern California.
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.
Goat Canyon is a valley in San Diego County, California, United States, located within the Carrizo Gorge in the Jacumba Mountains. The rock forming the canyon is crystalline basement. One feature of the canyon is a dry waterfall. The canyon is bridged by a wooden railroad trestle, the Goat Canyon Trestle, which is the world's largest curved all-wood trestle. The canyon is accessible by trail by traveling west from Mortero Palms.
Yaqui Pass is a mountain pass on CR S3 in San Diego County in the U.S. state of California. The pass lies at an elevation of 1,742 ft (531 m) and is located within the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park approximately 2 mi (3.2 km) east of the SR 78 and traverses the Santa Rosa Mountains.
Yaqui Well is a historic spring located in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southeastern San Diego County, California in the United States about 21.4 mi (34.4 km) east of Warner Springs. The watering hole can be reached by a popular 1.64 mi (2.64 km) one-hour hiking trail starting at Tamarisk Grove Campground. The trail was described in the New York Times as a "flat, gentle hike—the kind that wraps around small, sloping hills, abuts a shallow canyon, and rewards its guests with an otherworldly view of the desert at the finale."
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