How 9 Riverside County desert streets got their names
A few years ago,
I took a look at the origins of street names along the 215 and 60 freeways in the western part of Riverside County.
Now, let’s take a look at some along the 10 Freeway in the desert part of the county, between the Coachella and Palo Verde Valleys.
Box Canyon/ Cottonwood Springs Road
Both of these are descriptive names. Box Canyon runs from Mecca to Shaver Valley and is surrounded by high, straight formations that make it resemble a box. Cottonwood Springs, in Joshua Tree National Monument, was an important source of water to early travelers. It was recognized by its many cottonwood trees, hence the name.
Chiriaco Summit/ Summit Road
Summit Road is named because the area around it is the summit or highest point between the Chuckawalla and Shaver Valleys. Early accounts call the area Shaver Summit after Supervisor John Shaver, who did much to improve travel through the area in the early 1900s. In 1930, Joseph Chiriaco bought land there and established his own way-station there called Chiriaco Summit, the name by which it still goes today.
Hayfield Road
This area was known to early cattlemen as a source of galleta grass after winter rains. Because of the growth of this grass, the region became known as “the Hayfields” and was used for cattle raising in the early part of the 20th century.
Red Cloud Road
Named for the Red Cloud Mine that has been worked on and off for years several miles south of the 10 Freeway.
Rice Road/Desert Center
Rice Road is the cutoff for Desert Center, which is along the 10. Rice, however, was a small community and railroad junction several miles north of Desert Center, just inside San Bernardino County. It was named for Guy Rice, a former official with the Santa Fe Railroad.
Corn Springs Road
Corn Springs is a small oasis a few miles south of the 10. It got its name for the fact that local Indigenous people would plant corn there, where there was a year-round source of water.
Ford Dry Lake Road
Sometime in the 1910s, a person named Ford dug a well for travelers in the area. Within a few years, the large dry lake surrounding the well was also named for Ford. This person’s exact identity is not known, although it could be a homesteader named Albert Ford whose heirs patented land in the dry lake bed.
Wiley’s Well Road
It’s named for a muchneeded well dug by A. P. (Albert Prentice) Wiley around 1908. Wiley moved around quite a bit during his life, but for several years in the 1910s owned a store in Palo Verde.
Mesa Drive
This road goes along the top of the mesa that overlooks the Palo Verde Valley, hence the name. From here, the freeway descends into the Palo Verde Valley and the city of Blythe.
Hopefully, this information will shed some light for you the next time you’re on that long stretch of freeway!