The Coachella Valley ( ) is an arid rift valley in the Colorado Desert of Southern California, United States. The valley has been referred to as Greater Palm Springs and occasionally the Palm Springs Area due to the historic prominence of the city of Palm Springs. The valley extends approximately southeast from the San Gorgonio Pass to the northern shore of the Salton Sea and the neighboring Imperial Valley, and is approximately wide along most of its length. It is bounded on the northeast by the San Bernardino and Little San Bernardino Mountains, and on the southwest by the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains.
The Coachella Valley is notable as the location of several wintertime resort cities that have become popular destinations for full time retirees and seasonal residents known as snowbirds. The valley is also known for a number of annual events, including the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the Stagecoach Country Music Festival, and the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival, all held in Indio. Other events include the Palm Springs Modernism Week, Palm Springs International Film Festival, the ANA Inspiration and Desert Classic golf tournaments, and the Indian Wells Open tennis tournament.
Cities in the Coachella Valley include but are not limited to: Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Mecca and Salton City; with the Northernmost city being Desert Hot Springs and the southernmost city being Salton City.
Summers in the valley are extremely hot and valley winters are mild. As such, the valley's population tends to fluctuate; from nearly 500,000 in April, to around 300,000 in July and August, to around 600,000 by January. It was stated by the Riverside County HR Department that "Palm Springs and the Desert Communities" were being visited by 3.5 million conventioneers and tourists annually.
The Coachella Valley connects with the Greater Los Angeles area to the west via the San Gorgonio Pass, a major transportation corridor, traversed by Interstate 10 and by the Union Pacific Railroad. The valley is considered part of the Low Desert and is included within the Desert Empire to differentiate it from the broader Inland Empire of Southern California.
History
The first inhabitants of the Coachella Valley were the Cahuilla Native American Peoples who have resided in the area for thousands of years. they set up villages throughout the valley floor such as Palm Springs, Martinez, Indian Wells, Torres, Fish Springs, Dos Palmas, and many more lost to time. The Cahuillas would travel the entirety of the valley from San Gorgonio Pass to Dos Palmas via an ancient trail known as the Cahuilla-Halchidhoma Trail. This prehistoric trail was later used by Mexican and American explorers.
Legend says In 1615, Juan de Iturbe, a Spanish explorer, set sail from Acapulco and headed north along the Sea of Cortez. He eventually reached the ancient Lake Cahuilla, which at the time was connected to the Sea of Cortez and was also its northernmost point. There, his ship became beached in the shallow waters, and his precious cargo of black pearls was lost forever in the vast desert. The legend of his lost treasure gained attention after the Great Flood of 1862, when locals reported seeing the outline of an ancient Spanish Galleon nearby in the Salton salt marshes in the southern limit of the Valley.
In December 1540 Spanish soldiers led by Melchior Diaz first arrived in the Colorado Desert searching for a land route to the Pacific Coast, it's unsuccessful after Diaz mortally wounded himself. 235 years later on Christmas Eve in 1775, Cahuilla Natives encountered a Spanish colonization party and share a camp with Juan Bautista de Anza in both events the explorer's party traversed through the Imperial Valley the area immediately south of Coachella Valley. For many years the Coachella Valley is left undiscovered by Europeans due to Algodones Dunes forming a natural barrier, but primarily for the existence of the Anza Trail that the Spanish take from San Diego down to the Colorado Desert to reach the Province of Sonora. Hostile Yuman Tribes on the Yuma Crossing however attacked and massacred 50 Spanish in July 1781. This closed the Anza Trail and severed California's land communication from New Spain reducing it to communication by sea
Beginning in 1815, Spanish missions throughout Alta California collectively recruited soldiers to begin a long journey from the Pueblo of Los Angeles to collect salt from brine pools at the Salton sink known as the evaporating ancient Lake Cahuilla. The Spanish would collect salt near the Salton salt marshes. This practice went on yearly until the 1830s; the salt journeys were referenced at the time as Jornadas de Sal.
Romero Expedition In September 1822, forty-one years after the Closure of the Anza Trail, California has now become a part of the Mexican Empire and the emperor gives a royal decree that a land route be restored between the Mexican Empire and California. The year prior in 1821 a Gila River Native named Jose Cocomaricopa arrived at San Gabriel Mission to open trade with the Mexicans. He surprises officials with a courier letter from a Military Officer in the Presidio of Tucson. The Mexicans tell him to go back home to the Gila River, they are perplexed on how he appeared at San Gabriel first rather than San Diego which is customary on the Anza Trail. lieutenant José María Estudillo supervising his departure writes down the route Jose the native took back into the Colorado Desert via the San Gorgonio Pass at the frontier of the Californian province.
In December 1823, Governor Luis Antonio Argüello dispatched Captain José Romero and Lieutenant José María Estudillo to lead the first recorded expedition into the Coachella Valley. The Mexicans were attempting to reopen a northern undiscovered route to Tucson reestablishing land route connection to Sonora. They were escorted by the amicable Cahuilla via Cahuilla-Halchidhoma Trail to Dos Palmas, reaching it on December 30, 1823. They agreed the trail should only be used as a courier mail route due to the rough terrain and opted to use the Southern Anza Trail as the preferred traveling route after peace talks with the Yuma tribes. In the following years, the Mexicans used the Cahuilla-Halchidhoma trail as a mail route from California to Sonora, although it was used sporadically.
In January 1847 California is acquired by the United States 1850s In 1850, an American immigrant wagon train heading west from Iowa, led by Isaac W. Smith, entered California, the Union's newest state, via the Yuma Crossing. Smith reaches Dos Palmas via Algodones Dunes and uses the Cahuilla Trail into San Gorgonio Pass.
In December 1853 Lieutenant Robert S. Williamson conducted a survey for the Pacific Railroad they survey the San Gorgonio pass and travel into the Coachella valley using the Cahuilla trail.
A survey of the area was compiled by Edward Fitzgerald Beale in 1857, whose survey party used camels to cross the desert, primarily along the path of the Cahuilla trail. The Mountain band of Cahuillas offered protection to Beale's party from Ute warriors
The Bradshaw Trail 1860s In early March 1862, during the early stages of the American Civil War, Company A of the 1st California Cavalry the vanguard unit for the California Column marched through the Coachella Valley on their way to contest enemy presence in the Arizona Territory. The Company was involved in two battles along the way through Arizona.
In June 1862, William D. Bradshaw connected La Paz Gold mines to Los Angeles using the prehistoric Indian Cahuilla-Halchidhoma Trail shown to him by Cahuillas and a Cocomaricopa. Bradshaw renamed it the Bradshaw Trail. This trail was used by many travelers traversing from Arizona to California. The railroad would eventually replace the stagecoach trail.
In early 1863 Cahuillas have a massive die off during a winter smallpox epidemic claiming 80% of their Population. Chief Juan Antonio dies during the plague.
1870s On December 27, 1875, US President Ulysses S. Grant signed an executive order forming 13 Indian reservations in the Southern California Area. The Cahuillas had their land divided, and reservations were established across the Valley
During 1876, In need of a halfway point between Los Angeles and Yuma, Arizona, the Southern Pacific arrives in what would become Indio, where it builds the craftsman-style Southern Pacific Depot station and hotel that became the center of social life in the area.
Southern Pacific Rail Road 1880s Southern Pacific constructed a railroad connecting Yuma to San Bernardino via the Coachella Valley. The railroad began construction in 1879 and was completed in 1883. During the construction, a handful of rail stations were established. The Train Stations were the catalyst that led to the first population centers of the valley
In 1889, the Railroad boom towns of Mecca and Thermal are built
In the same year of 1889, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians invited non-Natives to settle near their healing hot mineral spring. Following reports of the water's restorative qualities, the tribe and settlers entered into a three-year lease agreement to build a bathhouse over the site.
1890s
In 1893 Riverside County is created and the Coachella Valley is in its immediate borders
Salton Sea
1900s In 1900, Jason L. Rector became the valley's first recorded non-Native permanent resident In Coachella (originally called Woodspur) Alongside his brother Lon, he drilled a well at Grapefruit Boulevard and Fifth Street, tapping into a groundwater supply that turned the local landscape into productive farmland.
In 1903, Bernard Johnson introduced the first commercial Deglet Noor date shoots to the region by importing them from Algeria and planting them near Mecca. This established a thriving crop that continues to flourish in the Eastern Coachella Valley today.
From September 1905 to February 1907, the Colorado River overflowed into the Salton Sink, which had an ancient history of previous iterations of lakes. This time, the engineering disaster led to the creation of the modern Salton Sea.
In 1905, John Muir visits Palms Springs hoping the warm desert air cures his Daughter's respiratory illness, they camp for six days at Andreas Canyon.
In August 1907, the Martinez school built by Government was opened for the Martinez Village. It is currently the oldest standing US Indian Agency buildings still standing.
In 1909, the Desert Inn Is opened, it's originally a health sanatorium, for people seeking warm climates especially leukemia. 1910s In 1910, the valley hosted its first annual Date Festival to the residents
In 1912, the valley gets its first bank the "First National Bank" in the city of Coachella.
In May 1912, a violent melee broke out at the Cahuilla Reservation during which Federal Superintendent of the Mission Indian Agency William H. Stanley was fatally wounded. He died shortly after. The Cahuilla Tribesmen involved in the murder were sent to a federal penitentiary.
In 1914, electrical lines arrive from San Bernardino.
1920s
Hollywood actors began vacationing in Palm Springs resorts from the time of the 1920s, and the area became synonymous with resort culture from that time reaching its heyday with mid-twentieth century celebrities including Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Dinah Shore, Marilyn Monroe, Gene Autry, amongst many others.