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The Antelope Valley is a
3,000-square-mile high desert closed basin that straddles northern Los Angeles
County and southern Kern County. One of nine California valleys with the same
name, this one lies in the western Mojave high desert and includes the
communities of Lancaster, Palmdale, Rosamond and Mojave. Populated by
different cultures for an estimated 11,000 years, the Antelope Valley was a
trade route for Native Americans traveling from Arizona and New Mexico to
California's coast. Though the first wave of non-native exploration took place
in the early 1770s, a later exploratory period starting in the 1840s led to the
valley's first permanent settlement during the following decade, fueled by
California's Gold Rush and new status as American territory. The 1854
establishment of the Fort Tejon military post near Castac Lake and Grapevine
Canyon created a gateway for valley traffic.
Several developments were integral to the valley's growth starting in the
mid-1800s, including gold mining in the Kerns and Owens rivers; cattle
ranching; the start of a Butterfield stagecoach route in 1858; construction of
the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco telegraph line in 1860; completion of the
Southern Pacific Railroad line in 1876; and ample rainfall during the 1880s
and early 1890s, which attracted many farmers. The decade-long drought that
began in 1894-the worst in southern California's recorded history-decimated the
regional economy and forced many settlers to abandon their homesteads, but
after the turn of the twentieth century irrigation methods and electricity
brought back local farming. The 1913 completion of the aqueduct spanning 233
miles between the Owens Valley and Los Angeles also revived the valley's
economy. Today the Antelope Valley retains elements of its agricultural past
but its economic base is now supported by aerospace and defense industries.
Website Links:
Print Sources:
- Palmdale: How It All Began (City of Palmdale, 1998)
Images:
- Aerial view showing Antelope Valley Joint Union High School, 1955
[Courtesy of the West Antelope Valley Historical Society]
- Drawing showing a bird's-eye view of the Antelope Valley, c. 1880
[Courtesy of the West Antelope Valley Historical Society]
- Antelope Valley Joint Union High School, 1920s
[Courtesy of the West Antelope Valley Historical Society]
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