Baker, Tecopa/Shoshone and Panamint and Death Valleys beyond

Baker is a census-designated place located in San Bernardino County, California, US.^[2] As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a total population of 442. Baker's ZIP Code is 92309 and the community is within area codes 442 and 760.

Baker was founded as a station on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad in 1908 and was named for Richard C. Baker, business partner of Francis Marion Smith in building the railroad. Baker later became president of the T&T himself.^[3][4]

Baker was established in 1929 by Ralph Jacobus Fairbanks (1857–1942), who was an American prospector, entrepreneur, and pioneer who established several towns in the Death Valley area of California, including Fairbanks Springs (1904–05) and Shoshone (1910).

It is the site of a vacant, 223-bed for-profit prison formerly operated by Cornell Corrections which experienced a major riot on December 2, 2003, four weeks before it was temporarily closed.^[5] It was permanently closed on December 25, 2009. GEO Group purchased Cornell Companies, its owner, on August 12, 2010.^[6] It had previously experienced escapes in August and November 1995 and two on July 15, 1997.^[7]

Baker is located in the Mojave Desert at the junction of Interstate 15 and SR 127 (Death Valley Road). Its elevation is approximately 930 feet (283.5 m) above sea level, which is much lower than either Barstow or Las Vegas, due to its location at the southern end of the Death Valley geological depression. The Cronese Mountains are located southwest of the community. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers an area of 2.7 square miles (7.0 km²), all of it land. Summer temperatures in Baker routinely exceed 110 °F (43.3 °C); 2007 saw a record of 125 °F (51.7 °C).

Tecopa is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Mojave Desert in southeast Inyo County, California, United States. Originally occupied by the Koso and Chemehuevi Indians, Pioneers began populating what would become the CDP in the late 19th century to support nearby mines. It is now better known for the natural hot springs in the northern part of the CDP.

The Old Spanish Trail and the later wagon road called the Old Mormon Road or Salt Lake Road, passed from Resting Springs, east of the modern site of Tecopa, 7 miles to Willow Creek (fed by Willow Spring within China Ranch Wash on the east bank of the canyon of the Amargosa River (then called Saleratus Creek)), south of Tecopa. In 1859, The Prairie Traveler, a popular handbook for overland travelers at that time described it:

The spring is on the left of the road, and flows into Saleratus Creek. Animals must not be allowed to drink the Saleratus water."^[4]

There the trail turned to follow the river south to Salt Springs.^[5]

China Ranch Wash is named for the Chinese man known as either Quon Sing or Ah Foo, who developed Willow Creek around 1900 and raised meat and vegetables to sell to the miners.^[6]

In 1875 two brothers William D. and Robert D. Brown, had discovered lead and silver ore at what would become the Resting Springs Mining District and began promoting it. They established a townsite, calling it Brownsville, 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Resting Springs near the head of Willow Creek.^[7] Kasson, California was nearby. A camp was established at the site as mines were developed at Noonday Mine in the late 1870s.^[7] Jonas Osborne bought out the Browns, and renamed the townsite after Paiute leader Chief Tecopa.^[7] The camp grew into a town; in 1877 a post office began operating at there.^[7][8]

In 1878, it was determined that the townsite was 300 yards within Inyo county, settling a dispute with San Bernardino County of who controlled the township. Soon thereafter, the town went into decline, with most of the miners moving to Resting Springs in July 1879. Inyo County Sheriff William Welch considered Tecopa a costly mistake because, "it costs five cents a pound freight from San Bernardino here."^[9] The original townsite was occasionally occupied but never really revived and in 2006 the Amargosa Conservancy acquired it for preservation purposes ^[10]

The townsite is currently located in the vicinity of "The Triangle", a small piece of land surrounded by the arms of three "Y's" at the intersection of two roads. It was reestablished in 1907 when the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad reached the site, which was the closest point from the railroad to the mines.^[11] A post office opened at the new site in 1907, was closed in 1931, and reopened in 1932.^[7] A church, some homes and seasonal eating establishments are also located by the Triangle.

The road heading north of the Triangle leads to the Hot Springs zone of the community where the State of California made indemnity selections in 1927. The State subsequently sold parcels to private citizens. In the early 1960s John Gregory Dunne documented that several low-income retirees were squatting in trailers within the zone.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) granted a 40 acre "Recreational and Public Purposes" (R&PP) lease to Inyo County for County run facilities. The Hot Springs area is currently where the Community Center, Fire Station, Library, several tourist facilities and some homes are located.

The Triangle is the west endpoint of the Old Spanish Trail (OST) Heading east, the OST Road passes Tecopa-Francis Elementary School^[12] (now closed) to the intersection with the Furnace Creek Road. Southwest of the intersection is most populous part of the community, originally known as "Jackrabbit Flat." In the 1950s, the General Land Office, then the BLM began offering parcels under the authority of the Small Tract Act of 1938 as recreational properties to become known as "Jackrabbit Homesteads.^[13] The first round of five acre parcels were proofed and patented prior to 1959. After a change in policy second round of a few more parcels were offered at fair market value by BLM. The lands offered under the first two rounds remain largely undeveloped. The third round of 2.5 acre parcels were offered in 1964 to provide inexpensive land for housing retirees that were squatting at the Hot Springs. Seven parcels were sold, six of which were purchased by the Thilenius and Parrish families who subdivided them and developed water systems. Those parcels now constitute the densist population of what is now known as "Tecopa Heights," the area offered under the Small Tracts Act. The cemetery is on the west side of Tecopa Heights.

Since Tecopa lacks proper water infrastructure that is capable of properly filtering ground water to state standards, the Southern Inyo County Fire Protection District in 2014 received a grant in order to install a water kiosk for the community, The community water kiosk was opened in 2017 east of Tecopa Heights on an R&PP lease granted by the BLM.^[14][15]

In 1976, Congress designated the federal lands within the CDP part of the "California Desert Conservation Area" in Title VI, Section 601 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. Tecopa is on the east side of the Amargosa Range which lies between the CDP and Death Valley, which was designated a National Park in the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 CDPA. The Nopah Range, designated Wilderness in the CDPA is to the east.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 18.7 square miles (48 km²), of which, 18.6 square miles (48 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km²) of it (0.37%) is water.

Historically, Tecopa's economy was based on silver and lead mining.^{[16][17][18][19]} Those mines closed in 1957, by which time retirees were moving to the area to enjoy the hot springs. Nearby mines for other minerals such as talc continued operating for another 25 years providing employment for a few citizens of the area. Tourism to the hot springs increased and Tecopa began slowly transitioning to an ecotourist and resort area.^[20]

A major attraction in the area is the Tecopa Ecological Reserve,^[21] which hosts an undeveloped natural ground-fed hot spring.^[22][23] However, the natural hot spring is subject to closure because of impacts to protected Amargosa vole (a subspecies of Microtus californicau) habitat from camp fires and human waste.^[24]

Tecopa also has minimal agriculture activities; mostly revolving around date farming,^[25] and marijuana cultivation.^[26]

The town has a growing microbrewery and bakery scene that caters to the patrons of Tecopa's three hot springs resorts during the fall and winter seasons.^[27][28][29]

Tecopa holds an annual firehouse fling in November. It is hosted by Southern Inyo Fire Protection District, as a way to raise funds for the rural fire department^[30][31][32]

Tecopa also hosts in November Tecopa Takeover Music Festival since 2014^[33][34][35]

^{Shoshone was founded in 1910 by Ralph Jacobus "Dad" Fairbanks, (December 26, 1857 – October 3, 1943) a Death Valley businessman. [9] The town remains owned by his descendants; his daughter Estelle Francis (October 10, 1892 – March 6, 1970) married Charles Brown (December 12, 1883 – May 9, 1963) and they continued management of the town after Fairbanks left.[10] A post office operated at Shoshone from 1915, closed for part of 1920.[6] Shoshone was a stop on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad which shut down in 1940.}

^{Shoshone was founded in 1910 by Ralph Jacobus "Dad" Fairbanks, (December 26, 1857 – October 3, 1943) a Death Valley businessman. [9] The town remains owned by his descendants; his daughter Estelle Francis (October 10, 1892 – March 6, 1970) married Charles Brown (December 12, 1883 – May 9, 1963) and they continued management of the town after Fairbanks left.[10] A post office operated at Shoshone from 1915, closed for part of 1920.[6] Shoshone was a stop on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad which shut down in 1940.}

Shoshone is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States. The population was 22 at the 2020 census, down from 31 at the 2010 census.^[3]

The town was founded in 1910. Although small, it is notable as a southern gateway to Death Valley National Park; in addition to being a junction of roads leading from Baker, California and Pahrump, Nevada, it has the last services available before the Furnace Creek area in the park. The commercial district of the town, including a post office, gas station, restaurant, bar and coffee house, is just north of the southern intersection of California State Routes 127 and 178.

Shoshone has a single 2,380-foot (730 m) airstrip across SR 127 from the commercial district. It is open to the public and gets about 58 flights per month.^[4]

Shoshone, California, has a history as a railroad town and rich mining district.