Stovepipe Wells | |
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 General store and sign at Stovepipe Wells, December 2017 | |
  Stovepipe Wells Location in California  Stovepipe Wells Location within the United States | |
| Coordinates: 36°36′22″N117°08′47″W / 36.60611°N 117.14639°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Inyo County |
| Elevation | 10 ft (3 m) |
| Reference no. | 826 |
Stovepipe Wells is a way-station in the northern part of Death Valley, in unincorporated Inyo County, California.
Stovepipe Wells is located at 36°36′22″N117°08′47″W / 36.60611°N 117.14639°W and is US Geological Survey (USGS) feature ID 235564. [1] It is entirely inside Death Valley National Park and along State Route 190 (SR 190) at less than 10 feet (3.0 m) above sea level. West on SR 190 is Towne Pass at about 4,950 feet (1,510 m) above sea level. Eventually, the road meets Panamint Valley Road at Panamint Junction in the Panamint Valley. East on SR 190 the road leads to Furnace Creek and Death Valley Junction.
Variant names listed for the Inyo County location by USGS include Stove Pipe Wells Hotel and Stovepipe Wells Hotel. The US Postal Service ZIP Code is 92328, and the locale name is spelled Stove Pipe Wells in some postal renditions. It is commonly referred to as Stovepipe Wells Village.
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Stovepipe Wells has a hot desert climate, abbreviated "BWh" on climate maps. [2] Its average high temperature is greater than 100 °F (37.8 °C) from June through September. [3]
| Climate data for Stovepipe Wells, California, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 2004–present | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 83 (28) | 90 (32) | 100 (38) | 110 (43) | 118 (48) | 126 (52) | 129 (54) | 126 (52) | 122 (50) | 110 (43) | 94 (34) | 82 (28) | 129 (54) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 76.3 (24.6) | 83.4 (28.6) | 93.0 (33.9) | 104.1 (40.1) | 112.1 (44.5) | 120.7 (49.3) | 123.1 (50.6) | 120.1 (48.9) | 115.6 (46.4) | 102.6 (39.2) | 89.1 (31.7) | 74.1 (23.4) | 123.7 (50.9) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 65.0 (18.3) | 70.6 (21.4) | 79.3 (26.3) | 88.1 (31.2) | 98.4 (36.9) | 108.6 (42.6) | 114.9 (46.1) | 113.0 (45.0) | 104.5 (40.3) | 89.1 (31.7) | 73.6 (23.1) | 62.6 (17.0) | 89.0 (31.7) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 53.6 (12.0) | 59.7 (15.4) | 68.1 (20.1) | 76.1 (24.5) | 85.8 (29.9) | 95.7 (35.4) | 102.3 (39.1) | 100.1 (37.8) | 91.8 (33.2) | 76.9 (24.9) | 62.1 (16.7) | 51.8 (11.0) | 77.0 (25.0) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 42.2 (5.7) | 48.8 (9.3) | 56.8 (13.8) | 64.1 (17.8) | 73.3 (22.9) | 82.7 (28.2) | 89.8 (32.1) | 87.3 (30.7) | 79.0 (26.1) | 64.7 (18.2) | 50.6 (10.3) | 41.0 (5.0) | 65.0 (18.3) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 31.9 (−0.1) | 37.7 (3.2) | 45.9 (7.7) | 53.7 (12.1) | 61.2 (16.2) | 71.7 (22.1) | 81.1 (27.3) | 78.6 (25.9) | 67.7 (19.8) | 52.9 (11.6) | 39.0 (3.9) | 32.3 (0.2) | 30.9 (−0.6) |
| Record low °F (°C) | 25 (−4) | 29 (−2) | 40 (4) | 47 (8) | 58 (14) | 66 (19) | 76 (24) | 72 (22) | 60 (16) | 38 (3) | 32 (0) | 28 (−2) | 25 (−4) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 0.23 (5.8) | 0.55 (14) | 0.21 (5.3) | 0.11 (2.8) | 0.10 (2.5) | 0.04 (1.0) | 0.23 (5.8) | 0.12 (3.0) | 0.04 (1.0) | 0.09 (2.3) | 0.09 (2.3) | 0.14 (3.6) | 1.95 (49.4) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 3.2 | 3.2 | 2.7 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 22.9 |
| Source 1: NOAA [3] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: National Weather Service (mean maxima/minima 2006–2020) [4] | |||||||||||||
The first temporary settlement at Stovepipe Wells came into being when a road between Rhyolite and Skidoo was begun in 1906 to ameliorate the approach to the mine at Skidoo. A collection of tents was erected to serve travelers with food, drink and lodging. During the bonanza days of Rhyolite and Skidoo, it was the only known water source on the Cross-Valley road. When sand obscured the spot, a length of stovepipe was inserted as a marker; hence, its unique name.
In 1925, entrepreneur Bob Eichmann began construction of the hotel at Stovepipe Wells, along with a scenic toll road through Death Valley. This marked the beginning of the transition from mining community to tourist destination.
The settlement is now registered as California Historical Landmark #826. [5]
Stovepipe Wells Village is home to the Stovepipe Wells Hotel, [6] a full-service hotel with swimming pool. A general store offers sundries and food and is adjacent to a gas station. Stovepipe Wells Village also houses the Badwater Saloon and Toll Road restaurant, The Nugget Gift Shop and a ranger station.
The default format for wired telephone numbers in the community is in the Death Valley exchange: (760) 786-xxxx. The community had manual telephone service until the late 1980s.
The community is contained within the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District.
There are three California Historical Landmarks in Stovepipe Wells. [8]
California Historical Landmark number 826, Old Stovepipe Wells, founded on August 7, 1968, reads:
California Historical Landmark number 848, Eichbaum Toll Road, founded on May 19, 1971, reads:
California Historical Landmark number 441, Burned Wagons Point, founded on October 24, 1949, reads:
Municipalities and communities of Inyo County, California, United States | ||
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Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka Valley and most of Saline Valley.
Independence is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California. Independence is located 41 miles (66 km) south-southeast of Bishop, at an elevation of 3930 feet. It is the county seat of Inyo County, California. The population of this census-designated place was 669 at the 2010 census, up from 574 at the 2000 census.
The Old Plank Road is a plank road in Imperial County, California, that was built in 1915 as an east–west route over the Algodones Dunes. It effectively connected the extreme lower section of Southern California to Arizona and provided the last link in a commercial route between San Diego and Yuma.
Saline Valley is a large, deep, and arid graben, about 27 miles (43 km) in length, in the northern Mojave Desert of California, a narrow, northwest–southeast-trending tectonic sink defined by fault-block mountains. Most of it became a part of Death Valley National Park when the park was expanded in 1994. This area had previously been administered by the Bureau of Land Management. It is located northwest of Death Valley proper, south of Eureka Valley, and east of the Owens Valley. The valley's lowest elevations are about 1,000 ft (300 m) and it lies in the rain shadow of the 14,000 ft (4,300 m) Sierra Nevada range, plus the 11,000 ft (3,400 m) Inyo Mountains bordering the valley on the west.
Places of interest in the Death Valley area are mostly located within Death Valley National Park in eastern California.
The Death Valley '49ers were a group of pioneers from the Eastern United States that endured a long and difficult journey during the late 1840s California Gold Rush to prospect in the Sutter's Fort area of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada in California. Their route from Utah went through the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, and Death Valley and the Mojave Desert in Southern California, in attempting to reach the Gold Country.
Panamint City is a ghost town in the Panamint Range, near Death Valley, in Inyo County, California, US. It is also known by the official Board of Geographic Names as Panamint. Panamint was a boom town founded after silver and copper were found there in 1872. By 1874, the town had a population of about 2,000. Its main street was one mile (1.6 km) long. Panamint had its own newspaper, the Panamint News. Silver was the principal product mined in the area. The town is located about three miles northwest of Sentinel Peak. According to the National Geographic Names Database, NAD27 latitude and longitude for the locale are 36°07′06″N117°05′43″W, and the feature ID number is 1661185. The elevation of this location is identified as being 6,280 feet AMSL. The similar-sounding Panamint Springs, California, is located about 25.8 miles at 306.4 degrees off true north near Panamint Junction.
The Panamint Valley is a long basin located east of the Argus and Slate ranges, and west of the Panamint Range in the northeastern reach of the Mojave Desert, in eastern California, United States.
State Route 190 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that is split into two parts by the Sierra Nevada. The western portion begins at Tipton at a junction with State Route 99 and heads east towards Porterville before ending at Quaking Aspen in the Sequoia National Forest. The eastern portion begins at US 395 at Olancha, heads east through Death Valley National Park, and ends at State Route 127 at Death Valley Junction. The 43.0-mile (69.2 km) portion over the Sierra Nevada remains unconstructed, and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has no plans to build it through the wilderness areas. SR 190 is a National Scenic Byway known as the Death Valley Scenic Byway.
Panamint Springs is private resort in Inyo County, California. It consists of a motel, cabins, RV and tent campsites, restaurant, and gas station, all operated by Cassell Enterprises, LLC. It lies at an elevation of 1926 feet.
The Kit Fox Hills is a mountain range located in east-central Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, California. The range is situated between the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes to the west and Grapevine Mountains to the east, along the North Highway, east of Stovepipe Wells and north of Furnace Creek.
Valley Wells is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California. It lies at an elevation of 1,749 ft (533 m). Prior to 2010, for census purposes it was part of Homewood Canyon-Valley Wells CDP. The 2010 census reported that population was zero. The town is now registered as California Historical Landmark #443; in 1849, several groups of midwestern emigrants settled here to secure water from nearby Searles Lake.
Burnt Wagons is a former settlement in Inyo County, California, near Stovepipe Wells. It was located in Death Valley 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Death Valley Junction. The name recalls the emigrants of 1849 who abandoned and burnt their wagons at the site. The site is now registered as California Historical Landmark #441. The monument's plaque reads:
Near this monument, the Jayhawker group of Death Valley Forty-Niners, gold seekers from Middle West, who entered Death Valley in 1849 seeking short route to the mines of central California, burned their wagons, dried the meat of some oxen and, with surviving animals, struggled westward on foot.
Desert Spring is a former settlement in Kern County, California in the Fremont Valley, south of Red Rock Canyon State Park. It was located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northeast of Cantil.
Lavers' Crossing is a former settlement in Kern County, California. It was located 1 mile (1.6 km) west-northwest of Glennville, at the current junction of White River and Jack Ranch roads.
The Santa Fe And Salt Lake Trail Monument was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.576) on May 17, 1957. Santa Fe And Salt Lake Trail Monument marks the place two Historic trail merged in Cajon Pass in San Bernardino County, California. The Old Spanish Trail and the Mohave Trail-Mojave Road merged in Cajon Pass. The large white marker is just off the Interstate 15 in Cajon Pass, was U.S. Route 66 in the past. It was built by the Pioneer Society of San Bernardino to remember and honor the pioneers that came west. The marker is 12 feet tall and 7 feet square at the base. Cajon Pass was home to the Serrano Indian, Native Californians that lived in the nearby Atongaibit village, in what is now Hesperia.
The Daley Toll Road Monument was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.579) on May 17, 1957. Daley Toll Road Monument marker is in the San Bernardino Mountains. The Monument is on the first wagon road built in San Bernardino Mountains. Engineer Edward Daley Sr. and his sons built and opened the toll road in 1870. They Daley family ran the toll road till 1890. The toll road ran from the city of San Bernardino to Lake Arrowhead. The road was called the Twin and City Creek Turnpike and the turnpike into the mountains. In 1890 the road became a San Bernardino County, California road called the Daley Canyon Road. The road is now a US Forest Service fire road and is closed to the public. The Monument is near the current city of Rimforest, California on California State Route 18 at Daley Canyon Rd, about 0.6 miles East of Rim Forest. The road made good money for Daley family. The road was used by lumber men, cattle men and sheep herders. Edward Daley became a San Bernardino county supervisor from January 5, 1880, to January 8, 1883. He opened a farm ranch called Dell Rosa at the entrance to the toll road. Edward Daley in Council Bluffs, Iowa, married in 1846, Nancy Ann Hunt, daughter of Capt. Jefferson Hunt. Hunt made three trips over the Cajon Pass and Mojave Desert one in 1847, second in 1849 and last in 1851. Each trip he was the leader of wagon trains, bringing pioneer west, down one of the westward Expansion Trails. Edward and Nancy came to California on the 1849 trip, together they had 11 children: Laomi, Celia, Edward Jr., Charles Jefferson, John, Grace, Annetta, Frank, Lou, May and Kate. The road he built went up Strawberry Creek, crossed over to the west fork of City Creek, passed by the east of Strawberry Peak and then dropped into Little Bear Valley. Little Bear Valley is where the towns of Blue Jay and Lake Arrowhead are located. At the end of the toll road John Commerford ran the top end of the toll road. John Commerford ran a store at the location.
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