Goffs, California

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Goffs, California
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Goffs, California
Location within the state of California
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Goffs, California
Goffs, California (the United States)
Coordinates: 34°55′09″N115°03′46″W / 34.91917°N 115.06278°W / 34.91917; -115.06278
Country United States
State California
County San Bernardino
Founded1893
Elevation
[1]
2,595 ft (791 m)
Population
 (January 2009)[ citation needed ]
  Total23
Time zone UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP codes
92332
Area codes 442/760
FIPS code 071-30266 [2]
GNIS feature ID242776 [1]

Goffs, an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, California, is a nearly empty one-time railroad town at the route's high point in the Mojave Desert. Goffs was a stop on famous U.S. Route 66 until 1931 when a more direct road opened between Needles and Essex. Goffs was also home to workers of the nearby Santa Fe Railroad, with Homer east, Fenner south, and Blackburn and Purdy north. Goffs is also known as the "Desert Tortoise Capital of the World." [3]

Goffs was known as Blake between 1893 and 1902. It was named for Isaac Blake, the builder of the Nevada Southern Railway (later the California Eastern Railway 18951923) [4] that commenced here.

An early 20th Century general store was the town's largest building until it was destroyed by a fire on June 8, 2021 [5] . A historic schoolhouse, built in 1914 and almost totally deteriorated by the early 1980s, has since been renovated to its original plans by the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association (MDHCA). [6] The schoolhouse and grounds now house a museum primarily specializing in the area's mining history. Remnants of Goffs's mining days still dot the town.

During World War II, the town was the home of Camp Goffs, a large US army depot and training center.

Goffs is accessible off Interstate 40 at U.S. Highway 95 north. A left turn onto Goffs Road, the pre-1931 alignment of US 66, becomes a desolate forty-mile (64 km) stretch that served as home to several towns that have mostly vanished, including Bannock, Ibis, and the aforementioned Homer. Continuing west on Goffs Road brings motorists back to I-40 at Fenner.

Goffs Road is featured in the opening scene of the 1984 cult classic Repo Man.

Goffs is located at the foothills of the northern terminus of the Piute Mountains; the location is also the southern terminus of the Lanfair Valley, which drains south from the east region of the Mojave National Preserve. The drainage is the Sacramento Wash, which turns due east to meet the Piute Wash, just west of the Colorado River. Goffs is on the foothill bajadas that drain northward into Sacramento Wash.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohave Valley</span> Landform along the Colorado River in Arizona

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dead Mountains</span> Landform in San Bernardino County, California

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacramento Mountains (California)</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piute Range</span> Landform in the Mojave Desert, California

The Piute Range is located in the Mojave Desert, primarily in northeast San Bernardino County, California, United States, with a north portion in Nevada. Most of the range is the eastern border of the Mojave National Preserve, a National Park Service natural area and park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lanfair Valley</span>

Lanfair Valley is located in the Mojave Desert in southeastern California near the Nevada state line. It is bounded on the north by the New York Mountains and Castle Mountains, on the east by the Piute Range, and on the south by the Woods Mountains and Vontrigger Hills. Joshua Trees can be found in most of the valley. Elevation is 4,045 feet.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mojave Road</span> Historical trails and roads

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacramento Wash</span> Waterbody in Mohave County, Arizona

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Manchester</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piute Wash</span> River in California, United States

The Piute Wash of extreme southeastern Nevada and northeast San Bernardino County California is the south-flowing drainage of the Piute Valley. The wash and valley are located northwest of Needles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piute Valley</span>

The Piute Valley is a 45-mile-long (72 km) north–south valley southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and northwest of Needles. The north of the valley is at Searchlight, with some of the valley extending northwest from Searchlight. At the center-north lies Cal-Nev-Ari, Nevada.

Barnwell, originally a rail camp named Summit, then Manvel, was a former railhead serving local mining camps, now a ghost town, in San Bernardino County, California. It lies at an elevation 4806 feet in the New York Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Eastern Railway</span>

California Eastern Railway, is a defunct 45-mile (72 km) short-line railroad that operated from 1902 - 1911. The railroad ran from Goffs, California, to Ivanpah. It was first a private line operated by a mining company, that was acquired by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

The Sacramento Wash (California) is the drainage southward, then east from the Lanfair Valley of extreme eastern San Bernardino County, California. The drainage combines with the Piute Wash-(mostly of Nevada) at the south terminus of the Dead Mountains, and immediately enters the Colorado River, just north of Needles, California. Another Sacramento Wash occurs across the Colorado, as an eastern drainage from northwest Arizona, also at Needles, CA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp Goffs</span> Former U.S. Army Camp in Mojave Desert, California

The Camp Goffs was a sub camp of the US Army Desert Training Center in Riverside County, California. The main headquarters for the Desert Training Center was Camp Young, this is where General Patton's 3rd Armored Division was stationed. Camp Goffs was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.985). The site of the Camp Goffs just north at the former Santa Fe Railroad station at Goffs, California. Goffs, California is on U.S. Route 66 5 miles north of the current Interstate 40, 25 miles (40 km) west of Needles in San Bernardino County, California. Currently at the south east end of the Mojave National Preserve. Camp Goffs was 20 miles southeast of Camp Essex and Camp Clipper.

References

  1. 1 2 "Goffs". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved April 10, 2015.
  2. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  3. "Goffs, Route 66 California". www.theroute-66.com. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  4. Myrick, David F., 1963, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California Vol. 2, (Howell-North Books: Berkeley) pp. 841-848
  5. "Goffs, Route 66 California". www.theroute-66.com. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  6. CSEDesign. "Mojave Desert Heritage & Cultural Association". Mdhca.org. Retrieved January 6, 2012.