Thousand Palms Canyon Road

Thousand Palms Canyon Road is a four-mile highway which is located in Indio Hills of Riverside County. Thousand Palms Canyon Road is named after the Thousand Palms Oasis which is home to a grove of Californian Palms. Thousand Palms Canyon Road begins at the intersection of Washington Street/Ramon Road and ends at Dillon Road.

Part 1; the history of Thousand Palms Canyon Road

Thousand Palm Canyon Road lies in a fold in the Indio Hills which is filled with native Californian Palm Trees (Washingtonia filifera). The Californian Palm Trees of the Indio Hills grow in lands which water is pushed to the surface by the nearby San Andreas Fault. The Indio Hills are home to the Thousand Palm Oasis of the Coachella Preserve for which Thousand Palm Canyon Road is named.

Thousand Palms Canyon Road was constructed as a haul road to the Colorado River Aqueduct site north of the Indio Hills. The Colorado River Aqueduct spans 242 miles from Parker Dam on the Colorado River west to Lake Mathews near Corona. Construction of the Colorado River Aqueduct began during January 1933 near Thousand Palms and was made functional on January 7, 1939.

The intersection of Thousand Palms Canyon Road and Dillon Road can be seen in a photo dated to 1934 (courtesy Carl Schulz). A sign can be seen directing traffic to Thousand Palms Camp. Thousand Palms Camp was developed during the 1930s by Paul Wilhelm. Wilhelm constructed the cabin which is now the headquarters of the Coachella Preserve.

Thousand Palms Canyon Road and the Thousand Palms Oasis can be seen on the 1944 United States Geological Survey Map of Edom.

The Coachella Preserve as it is known today was created during 1986 and is managed by the Centers for Natural Lands Management.

Part 2; a drive on Thousand Palms Canyons Road

Thousand Palms Canyon Road northbound begins via a right-hand turn from Washington Street.

As northbound Thousand Palms Canyon Road begins the Willis Palms Trail and grove can be seen.

Northbound Thousand Palms Canyon Road passes by the Coachella Valley Visitor Center.

Northbound Thousand Palms Canyon Road terminates at Dillon Road. Thousand Palms Canyon Road sometimes appears on older United States Geological Survey maps continuing north of Dillon Road to mining claims at Fan Hill near the boundary of Joshua Tree National Park.

Comments

Paper Highways: The Unbuilt New Orleans Bypass (Proposed I-410)

There are many examples around the United States of proposed freeway corridors in urban areas that never saw the light of day for one reason or another. They all fall somewhere in between the little-known and the infamous and from the mundane to the spectacular. One of the more obscure and interesting examples of such a project is the short-lived idea to construct a southern beltway for the New Orleans metropolitan area in the 1960s and 70s. Greater New Orleans and its surrounding area grew rapidly in the years after World War II, as suburban sprawl encroached on the historically rural downriver parishes around the city. In response to the development of the region’s Westbank and the emergence of communities in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes as viable suburban communities during this period, regional planners began to consider concepts for new infrastructure projects to serve this growing population. The idea for a circular freeway around the southern perimeter of t

Huey P. Long Bridge (New Orleans, LA)

Located on the lower Mississippi River a few miles west of New Orleans, the Huey P. Long Bridge is an enormous steel truss bridge that carries both road and rail traffic on an old-time structure that is a fascinating example of a bridge that has evolved in recent years to meet the traffic and safety demands of modern times. While officially located in suburban Jefferson Parish near the unincorporated community of Bridge City, this bridge’s location is most often associated with New Orleans, given that it’s the largest and most recognizable incorporated population center in the nearby vicinity. For this reason, this blog article considers the bridge’s location to be in New Orleans, even though this isn’t 100% geographically correct. Completed in 1935 as the first bridge across the Mississippi River in Louisiana and the first to be built in the New Orleans area, this bridge is one of two bridges on the Mississippi named for Huey P. Long, a Louisiana politician who served as the 40th Gove

Legacy of US Route 466 Part 5: Old Highway 58 through North Barstow

Old Highway 58 is a relinquished portion of what was once US Route 466 in the North Barstow area. US Route 466 served the North Barstow area from 1933 until it was truncated to Baker during June 1964. The segment would become the easternmost portion of California State Route 58 which remained as an active highway until 1996 when freeway south of downtown Barstow opened. Old Highway 58 has numerous remaining Caltrans signs and more or less functions as an alternative northern bypass of downtown Barstow. US Route 466 can be seen branching from US Route 91 in North Barstow on the 1953 United States Geological Survey Map. Part 1-Part 4 of the US Route 466 Legacy Series can be found below: Legacy of US Route 466 Part 1: California State Route 46 Legacy of US Route 466 Part 2: Tehachapi to Bakersfield Legacy of US Route 466 Part 3: Morro Bay to Shandon via Rocky Canyon Legacy of US Route 466 Part 4: Hoover Dam Part 1; the history of US Route 466 and California State Route 58 in North B