Solomon Hills

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Solomon Hills
Relief map of California.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
location of Solomon Hills in California [1]
Highest point
Elevation 401 m (1,316 ft)
Geography
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
District Santa Barbara County
Range coordinates 34°50′5.929″N120°22′59.579″W / 34.83498028°N 120.38321639°W / 34.83498028; -120.38321639 Coordinates: 34°50′5.929″N120°22′59.579″W / 34.83498028°N 120.38321639°W / 34.83498028; -120.38321639
Topo map USGS  Orcutt

The Solomon Hills are a low mountain range in the western Transverse Ranges, in northern Santa Barbara County, California. The Hills separate the Santa Maria Valley and Santa Maria to the north, from the Los Alamos Valley and the Santa Ynez Valley to the south.

Mountain range A geographic area containing several geologically related mountains

A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills ranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arisen from the same cause, usually an orogeny. Mountain ranges are formed by a variety of geological processes, but most of the significant ones on Earth are the result of plate tectonics. Mountain ranges are also found on many planetary mass objects in the Solar System and are likely a feature of most terrestrial planets.

Transverse Ranges mountain range in California

The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Kern counties. The Peninsular Ranges lie to the south. The name Transverse Ranges is due to their east–west orientation, making them transverse to the general northwest–southeast orientation of most of California's coastal mountains.

Santa Barbara County, California County in California

Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is a county located in the southern region of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 423,895. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria.

Contents

History

The Solomon Hills are named for Salomon Pico, the 19th century Mexican—Californio patriot and bandit of Alta California, that is said to have ambushed, robbed and killed many of his victims in the area between 1849 and 1852.

Salomon Maria Simeon Pico was a Californio, a cousin of former governor Pío Pico, who led a bandit band in the early years following the Mexican–American War in the counties of the central coast of California. Pico was considered by some Californios to be a patriot who opposed the American conquest of Alta California and its subsequent incorporation into the United States. He was hated for his banditry by the newly arrived Americans but protected by some as a defender of his people.

Californio term for Hispanic natives of California

Californio is a term for a Hispanic person native of California, who is culturally or genetically descended from the Spanish-speaking community that has existed in the Californias since 1683, of varying Criollo Spaniard, Mestizo, and Indigenous Californian origin. Alongside Tejanos and Neomexicanos, Californios are part of the larger Chicano/Mexican-American/Hispano community of the United States, which have lived in the American Southwest since the 16th century.

Alta California province of New Spain

Alta California, known sometimes unofficially as Nueva California, California Septentrional, California del Norte or California Superior, began in 1804 as a province of New Spain. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of Las Californias, but was split off into a separate province in 1804. Following the Mexican War of Independence, it became a territory of Mexico in April 1822 and was renamed "Alta California" in 1824. The claimed territory included all of the modern US states of California, Nevada and Utah, and parts of Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico.

The Orcutt Oil Field, discovered in 1901, [2] occupies the westernmost portion of the Solomon Hills range. [1]

Orcutt Oil Field

The Orcutt Oil Field is a large oil field in the Solomon Hills south of Orcutt, in Santa Barbara County, California. Discovered in 1901 by William Warren Orcutt, it was the first giant field to be found in Santa Barbara County, and its development led to the boom town of Orcutt, now the major unincorporated southern suburb of Santa Maria. With a cumulative production in 2008 of 870,000 barrels (138,000 m3) of oil, it is the largest onshore producing field in Santa Barbara County.

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Southern California Place in California, United States

Southern California is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises California's southernmost counties, and is the second most populous urban agglomeration in the United States. The region contains ten counties: Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, and Kern counties.

Santa Maria, California City in California, United States

Santa Maria is a city near the Southern California coast in Santa Barbara County. It is approximately 65 miles (105 km) northwest of Santa Barbara and 150 miles (240 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Its estimated 2018 population was 108,470, making it the most populous city in the county and the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA Metro Area. The city is notable for its wine industry and Santa Maria-style barbecue. Sunset magazine called Santa Maria "The West's Best BBQ Town".

Pacific Coast Ranges mountain ranges in North America

ThePacific Coast Ranges, are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico.

Santa Monica Mountains mountain range in Southern California, United States

The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, paralleling the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in California. Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is located in this mountain range.

Santa Susana Mountains mountain range in Southern California, United States

The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in Southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west, separating the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley on its south from Santa Clara River Valley to the north and Santa Clarita Valley to the northeast. The Oxnard Plain is to the west of Santa Susana Mountains.

Chino Hills

The Chino Hills are a mountain range on the border of Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties, California, with a small portion in Riverside County. The Chino Hills State Park preserves open space and habitat in them.

Sierra Madre Mountains (California) mountain range

The Sierra Madre Mountains are a mountain range primarily in northern Santa Barbara County and extending into northwestern Ventura County in Southern California, western United States. It is a range of the Inner South Coast Ranges group, and is the southernmost reach of the California Coast Ranges, which are themselves part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America.

Simi Hills mountain range in Southern California, United States

The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range of the Transverse Ranges in eastern Ventura County and western Los Angeles County, of southern California, United States.

Diablo Range mountain range in California, United States of America

The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges. It is located in the eastern San Francisco Bay area south to the Salinas Valley area of northern California, the United States.

Santa Ynez Valley valley in California, United States of America

The Santa Ynez Valley is located in Santa Barbara County, California, between the Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and the San Rafael Mountains to the north. The Santa Ynez River flows through the valley from east to west. The Santa Ynez Valley is separated from the Los Alamos Valley, to the northwest, by the Purisima Hills, and from the Santa Maria Valley by the Solomon Hills. The Santa Rita Hills separate the Santa Ynez Valley from the Santa Rita and Lompoc Valleys to the west.

Santa Maria Valley is an American Viticultural Area located in Northern Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County, California United States.

Cuyama Valley valley in California, United States

The Cuyama Valley is a valley along the Cuyama River in central California, in northern Santa Barbara, southern San Luis Obispo, southwestern Kern, and northwestern Ventura counties.

Santa Teresa Hills

The Santa Teresa Hills are a mountain range in Santa Clara County, California, located partly in the city of San Jose. They are one the landforms around the Almaden Valley.

Cat Canyon Oil Field

The Cat Canyon Oil Field is a large oil field in the Solomon Hills of central Santa Barbara County, California, about 10 miles southeast of Santa Maria. It is the largest oil field in Santa Barbara County, and as of 2010 is the 20th-largest in California by cumulative production.

Purisima Hills

The Purisima Hills are a northwest-to-southeast trending low mountain range of the Outer Southern California Coast Ranges, located in Santa Barbara County, California. They divide the Santa Ynez Valley on the south from the Los Alamos Valley on the north.

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.

References

  1. 1 2 "Solomon Hills". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  2. ↑ "Oil and Gas Statistics: 2007 Annual Report" (PDF). California Department of Conservation. December 31, 2007. Retrieved August 25, 2009.


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