|
California State...
|
|
|
|
|
| |
California Counties
|
|
Click Image to Enlarge
California Counties
The U.S. state of California is divided into fifty-eight counties.
On January 4, 1850, the California constitutional committee recommended the formation of 18 counties. They were
Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mount Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San
Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter. On April 22, the counties
of Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba were added. Benicia was
renamed Solano, Coloma to El Dorado, Fremont to Yola, Mt. Diablo to Contra Costa, San Jose to Santa Clara, Oro
to Tuolumne, and Redding to Shasta. One of the first state legislative acts regarding counties was to rename
Branciforte County to Santa Cruz, Colusi to Colusa, and Yola to Yolo.
The last California county to have been established is Imperial County in 1907. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
San Bernardino County, California
San Bernardino County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: San Bernardino
Year Organized: 1853
Square Miles: 20,062 |
Court House: 385 North Arrowhead Avenue
County Government Center
San Bernardino, CA 92415-0110
|
Etymology - Origin of County Name
Saint Bernard is the patron saint of mountain passes. The name
Bernardino means "bold as a bear." The Spanish gave the name San Bernardino to
the snowcapped peak in southern California, in honor of the saint; from him the
county derived its name.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick
Facts
History
Father Francisco Dumetz named San Bernardino on May 20, 1810, feast day of St. Bernardino of Siena.
San Bernardino County was formed from parts of Los Angeles County in 1853. Parts of the county's territory were given to
Riverside County in 1893.
Paleo-Indian sites dating from c. 10,000 BC show that the San Bernardino county area has been inhabited for at least
12,000 years. Artifacts in the Calico area suggest much earlier human occupation, but this has not been confirmed. In
the past three thousand years various Indian tribes flourished in the area: the Gabrielenos occupied the West Valley;
the Serranos lived in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains; the Vanyumes lived along the Mojave River; the
Mohave lived along the Colorado River; and in the 1500s the Chemehuevi moved into the Mojave Desert.
The first explorers to enter the area were Pedro Fages, Military Commander of California, in 1772 and Fr. Francisco
Garces, a missionary priest, in 1774. On May 20, 1810, Franciscan missionary Francisco Dumatz, of the San Gabriel
Mission, led his company into a valley. In observance of the feast day of St. Bernardine of Siena, Dumatz named the
valley San Bernardino. This name was later given to the nearby mountain range, and later the city and county.
In 1842 the Lugo family was granted the Rancho San Bernardino, a holding of 37,700 acres encompassing the entire San
Bernardino Valley. Captain Jefferson Hunt, of the Mormon Battalion, led a group of settlers into San Bernardino. In 1851
the Mormon Colony purchased the Rancho from the Lugos.
In 1860 gold was discovered in Holcomb and Bear Valleys in the San Bernardino Mountains, and placer mining began in
Lytle Creek. Silver was being mined at Ivanpah in 1870, and the rich silver mines of the Calico district were developed
in the 1880s. Borax was first discovered in 1862 in the Searles Dry Lake area near Trona, and transported out by
twelve-, eighteen- or twenty-mule team wagons.
In 1857 three orange trees were set out on a farm in Old San Bernardino; by 1882 a rail car load of oranges and lemons
grown in the East Valley was being shipped to Denver. As early as the 1840s vineyards were planted in the Cucamonga area
and in the 1870 census San Bernardino County was credited with producing 48,720 gallons of wine.
In 1850 California was admitted into the United States. On April 26, 1853, San Bernardino County was created from parts
of Los Angeles, San Diego and Mariposa Counties. In 1854 the city of San Bernardino was incorporated as the county seat.
In 1893 Riverside County was created out of parts of San Bernardino and San Diego Counties.
Many noted people have been associated with San Bernardino County history. Jedediah Smith was an early explorer (1826);
Kit Carson traversed the Cajon Pass with a group of trappers in 1830; as a teenager Wyatt Earp and his family traveled
to San Bernardino by wagon train, arriving in 1864; President Lyndon Johnson worked as an elevator operator in the Platt
Building in San Bernardino in 1925; and President Bill Clinton visited the recently closed Norton Air Force Base in May
1994.
Geography
The Mojave National Preserve covers some of the eastern desert, especially between Interstate 15 and
Interstate 40. The desert portion also includes the cities of Needles next to the Colorado River, and
Barstow at the junction in Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. Trona is at the northwestern part of the
county west of Death Valley. This famous national park, mostly within Inyo County, also has a small
portion of land within the county. The largest metropolitan area in the Mojave Desert part of the county
is the Victor Valley with the incorporated localities of Apple Valley, Victorville, Adelanto, and
Hesperia. Further south, a portion of Joshua Tree National Park overlaps the county near Twentynine
Palms. Additional places near and west of Twentynine palms include Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, and
Morongo Valley.
The Arrowhead natural feature is the source of many local names and icons, such as Lake Arrowhead and
the County of San Bernardino's seal.The mountains are home to the San Bernardino National Forest, and
include the communities of Crestline, Lake Arrowhead, Running Springs, Big Bear City, Forest Falls, and
Big Bear Lake.
The San Bernardino Valley is at the eastern end of the San Gabriel Valley, and is part of the Inland
Empire. The San Bernardino Valley includes the cities of Ontario, Chino, Chino Hills, Upland, Fontana,
Rialto, Colton, Grand Terrace, Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, Loma Linda, Highland, Redlands, and
Yucaipa.
The Inland Empire area of Southern California is made up of the southwestern portion of San Bernardino
County and western portion of Riverside county.
Neighboring Counties:
- Northeast: Clark County, Nev.; Mohave County, Ariz.
- Southeast: La Paz County, Ariz.
- South: Riverside County
- Southwest: Orange County; Los Angeles County
- West: Kern County
- Northwest: Inyo County
Cities and Towns:
|
- Adelanto |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Apple Valley |
town |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Barstow |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Big Bear Lake |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Blythe |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Chino |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Chino Hills |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Colton |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Fontana |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Grand Terrace |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Hesperia |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Highland |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Loma Linda |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Montclair |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Needles |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Ontario |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Rancho Cucamonga |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Redlands |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Rialto |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- San Bernardino
(County Seat) |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Upland |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Victorville |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Yucaipa |
city |
Incorporated Area |
|
- Yucca Valley |
town |
Incorporated Area |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
|
|
County Resource Guide
|
|
|
The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
|
|
| |
|
