Antelope Valley

Canada geese take flight over wildflowers near Lancaster, 2011.
A truck passes eastbound along the busy Highway 58 through the Antelope Valley. The Tehachapi Mountains are visible in the distance.

Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert.[1] It is situated between the Tehachapi and the San Gabriel Mountains.[2] The valley was named for the pronghorns that roamed there until being eliminated by bad weather in the 1880s and hunters.[2][3] The principal cities in the Antelope Valley are Palmdale and Lancaster.

Geography

The Antelope Valley comprises the western tip of the Mojave Desert, opening up to the Victor Valley and the Great Basin to the east. Lying north of the San Gabriel Mountains and southeast of the Tehachapis, this desert ecosystem spans approximately 2,200 square miles (5,698 km2). Precipitation in the surrounding mountain ranges contributes to groundwater recharge.

Flora and fauna

Joshua trees in snow, near Lancaster, California

The Antelope Valley is home to a wide range of plants and animals. This includes hundreds of plants such as the California Juniper, Joshua tree, California Scrub Oak, Creosote, and wildflowers, notably the California poppy. Winter brings much-needed rain which slowly penetrates the area's dry ground, bringing up native grasses and wildflowers. Poppy season depends completely on the precipitation, but a good bloom can be killed off by the unusual weather in the late winter and early spring months.

The Antelope Valley gets its name from its history of pronghorn grazing in large numbers. In 1882-85, the valley lost 30,000 head of antelope, almost half of the species for which it was named.[3] Unusually heavy snows in both the mountains and the valley floor drove the antelope toward their normal feeding grounds in the eastern part of the valley. Since they would not cross the railroad tracks, many of them starved to death. The remainder of these pronghorn were hunted for their fur by settlers. Once abundant, they either died off or migrated into the Central Valley. A drought in the early 1900s caused a scarcity in bunch grass, their main food source. Now the sighting of a pronghorn is rare, although there are still a small number in the western portion of the valley.

Water issues

Human water use in the Antelope Valley depends mainly on pumping of groundwater from the valley's aquifers and on importing additional water from the California Aqueduct. Long-term groundwater pumping has lowered the water table, thereby increasing pumping lifts, reducing well efficiency, and causing land subsidence.[4] While aqueducts supply additional water that meets increasing human demand for agricultural, industrial, and domestic uses, diversion of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in northern California has caused and causes adverse environmental and social effects in the delta. "Over decades, [the] competing uses for water supply and habitat have jeopardized the Delta’s ability to meet either need. All stakeholders agree the estuary is in trouble and requires long-term solutions to ensure reliable, quality water supplies and a healthy ecosystem."[5]

The Antelope Valley's population growth and development place considerable stress on the local and regional water systems. According to David Leighton of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), "A deliberate management effort will be required to meet future water demand in the Antelope Valley without incurring significant economic and environmental costs associated with overuse of the ground-water resource."[6]

Human history

The first peoples of the Antelope Valley include the Kawaiisu,[7] Kitanemuk, Serrano, and Tataviam. Europeans first entered in the 1770s during the colonization of North America. Father Francisco Garces, a Spanish Franciscan friar, is believed to have traveled the west end of the valley in 1776. The Spanish established El Camino Viejo through the western part of the valley between Los Angeles and the missions of the San Francisco Bay in the 1780s. By 1808, the Spanish had moved the native people out of the valley and into missions.[8]

Panoramic view of Lancaster

Jedediah Smith came through in 1827, and John C. Fremont made a scientific observation of the valley in 1844. After Fremont's visit the 49ers crossed the valley via the Old Tejon Pass into the San Joaquin Valley on their way to the gold fields. Later, a better wagon road, the Stockton – Los Angeles Road route to Tejon Pass, followed in 1854. Stagecoach lines across the southern foothills came through the valley along this wagon road, and were the preferred method for travelers before the coming of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1876. The rail service linking the valley to the Central Valley and Los Angeles started its first large influx of white settlers, and farms and towns soon sprouted on the valley floor.

The aircraft (now called aerospace) industry took hold in the valley at Plant 42 in 1952. Edwards AFB, then called Muroc Army Air Field, was established in 1933.

Demographics

In recent decades the valley has become a bedroom community to the Greater Los Angeles area.[9] Major housing tract development and population growth took off beginning in 1983, which has increased the population of Palmdale around 12 times its former size as of 2006. Neighboring Lancaster has increased its population since the early 1980s to around three times its former level. Major retail has followed the population influx, centered on Palmdale's Antelope Valley Mall. The Antelope Valley is home to over 475,000 people.

Non-Hispanic whites make up approximately 48% of the population of the Antelope Valley and form a majority or plurality in most of its cities and towns. Hispanics are the next largest group, followed by African Americans and Asian Americans.

Some long-term residents living far out in the desert have been cited by Los Angeles County's Nuisance Abatement Teams for code violations, forcing them to make improvements or move. One of the properties is a church building which was used as a filming location for Kill Bill. The code enforcers have arrived on some of their visits in SWAT team formats.[10]

Military base

Discovery (STS-114) touches down in the Antelope Valley (Edwards Air Force Base), (August 9, 2005)

Edwards Air Force Base lies east of Rosamond, 37 miles (60 km) northeast of Palmdale. Edwards AFB's dry lakebeds are the lowest geographic elevation in the valley. Significant amounts of U.S. military flight testing are performed there, and it has been the site of many important aeronautical accomplishments, including the first flight to break the sound barrier, accomplished by Chuck Yeager. NASA space shuttles originally landed at Edwards because the lake beds offer a vast landing area. NASA built a huge landing strip at Kennedy Space Center, and Edwards was retained as the backup in case of bad weather at Cape Canaveral.

NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center is a tenant organization at Edwards AFB. The Center is best known for the X-15 experimental rocket ship program. It has been the home of NASA's high-performance aircraft research since it was founded for the X-1 program. The Orbiter was serviced there when it landed at Edwards.

Industry

Aerospace

SpaceShipOne (Flight 15P) landing at Mojave Air & Space Port (June 21, 2004)

U. S. Air Force Plant 42 in northeast Palmdale is home to Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and BAE Systems, among other aerospace-related companies. Notable projects assembled and/or designed there include the Space Shuttle orbiters, B-1 Lancer bomber, B-2 Spirit bomber, F-117 Nighthawk fighter, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, a passenger jet aircraft.

This region also houses the newly dedicated Mojave Air & Space Port. The spaceport is famous as the base of operations for Scaled Composites, the company that designed SpaceShipOne and won the X-Prize.

Much of the work done at these facilities is performed in coordination with Edwards Air Force Base and the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (see above), from the creation and testing of proof-of-concept X-planes, to Space Shuttle operations, to the manufacturing and integration and testing of new military aviation equipment.

Agriculture

Antelope Valley in spring covered by a carpet of goldfields Lasthenia californica.

The valley's first main industry as a part of the United States was agriculture. Historically known regionally for its extensive alfalfa fields and fruit crops, farmers now are growing a wider variety of crops, such as carrots, onions, lettuce, and potatoes. As housing tracts continue to build in the middle of the valley, the farm operations are now found farther to the west and east sides than in previous decades.

Mining

The world's largest borax open-pit mine in the world is located near Boron. Public touring is available.

Manufacturing

  • U.S. Pole Company Inc.
  • Senior Systems Technology
  • Delta Scientific
  • Lance Camper Manufacturing Corporation
  • Harvest Farms Inc.
  • BYD

Education

Colleges and universities

High schools

There are also several private and home school high schools in the area, most notably:

School districts

Culture

The Antelope Valley Symphony Orchestra is a professional ensemble that performs four concerts each year at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center. It is an auxiliary of Antelope Valley College, and performs regularly with the Antelope Valley College Civic Orchestra.

Parks

Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, March 2008

Hospitals

The Antelope Valley was formerly served by a county hospital, High Desert Hospital, which was converted into an urgent care clinic in 2003 due to the county's budget problems. As a result, indigent patients with serious but non-life-threatening medical conditions must seek treatment at Olive View – UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, which is over 50 miles away.

Transportation

Space Shuttle Discovery touches down at Edwards Air Force Base, 2009.

Major highways and roads

Include:

On the ridgeline of the San Gabriel Mountains, the Angeles Crest Highway (State Route 2) snakes 60 miles (100 km) through the Angeles National Forest to La Cañada Flintridge and the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan region.

Rail

Bus

Airports

Notable people

Chuck Yeager with Glamorous Glennis at Muroc, circa 1947

Some people of note have spent time in the valley, including:

See also Aerospace Walk of Honor - downtown Lancaster sidewalk tribute to the U. S. Air Force flight test community.

Valley place names

Cities over 100,000 population

Cities less than 100,000 population

Unincorporated towns and districts

Over 10,000 population

Under 10,000 population

References

  1. ↑ "Antelope Valley". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  2. 1 2 Dale Pitt (2000). "Antelope Valley". Los Angeles A to Z: an encyclopedia of the city and county. University of California Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-520-20530-7.
  3. 1 2 William Bright; Erwin Gustav Gudde (30 November 1998). 1500 California place names: their origin and meaning. University of California Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-520-21271-8. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  4. ↑ Ikehara, Marti E. and Phillips, Steven P. (1994) Determination of Land Subsidence Related to Ground-Water Level Declines Using Global Positioning System and Leveling Surveys in Antelope Valley, Los Angeles and Kern Counties, California, 1992, Water-Resources Investigations Report 94-4184, United States Geological Survey
  5. ↑ Department of Water Resources
  6. ↑ USGS
  7. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20080505080632/http://home.att.net/~write2kate/artbyhorseindex.html
  8. ↑ "Antelope Valley Frequently Asked Questions: 16. What Indians lived here?", County of Los Angeles Public Library: Lancaster Library
  9. ↑ Peevers, Andrea Schulte Lonely Planet, California, 3rd Ed. ISBN 9781864503319, p.476
  10. ↑ Melnicoff, Mars (2011-09-16). "L A County's Private Property War". :A Weekly News. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  11. ↑ University of Antelope Valley (2011–2012).Master's degree Academic Catalog, p. 5. Lancaster, California: University of Antelope Valley "in-house publishing" Retrieved, Sunday, April 15, 2012 from "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-22. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  12. ↑ About Sandra. (2012). Retrieved, Sunday, April 15, 2012, from http://votesandrajohnson.com/about_sandra
  13. ↑ Stallworth, Leo "University of Antelope Valley pays employers for jobs" (c)KABC-TV/DT. Friday, September 09, 2011. Retrieved, April 15, 2012.
  14. ↑ KABC-TV Video

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Antelope Valley.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Antelope Valley.

Coordinates: 34°45′05″N 118°15′08″W / 34.751371°N 118.252297°W / 34.751371; -118.252297

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