On this date in 1826 the American explorer Jedediah Smith and his crew set out from the Great Salt Lake, Utah, to cross the Mohave Desert, the first Europeans to do so. They arrived in San Diego the following November. 10 things you might not know about the Mohave Desert.
.jpg)
It is named after the indigenous Mohave people, and is sometimes spelled Mojave, which is the Spanish version of the name.
It covers an area of 54,000-square-miles (140,000 km2) over four American states: California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
The Desert contains various Silver, tungsten, Iron and Gold deposits, and has been an important centre for mining. Some of the mining towns, such as the silver and copper-mining town of Calico, are now ghost towns. There’s also an abandoned rail depot at Kelso, California.
That said, there are also some thriving metropolitan areas on its edges, including St. George, Utah and Lancaster, California; but probably the best known city in the area is Las Vegas.
The Mohave is known for extremes of temperature, meaning it is very hot in summer and freezing cold in winter. It gets about five inches of precipitation a year.
One of the unique living things the extreme climate has given rise to is the Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia) which is endemic to the desert and doesn’t grow anywhere else. If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably because U2 named one of their albums after it. The tree is said to have got its common name from some Mormons who crossed the desert in the 19th century. The trees were landmarks to them, helping them find their way, and they were reminded of the Biblical story in which Joshua keeps his hands reached out for an extended period of time to enable the Israelites in their conquest of Canaan (Joshua 8:18–26 if you want to look it up).
The Mohave has played a part in military history. During World War II, large portions of the desert were used for training soldiers in desert warfare, and today, Edwards Air Force Base and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake are located here.
The highest point is Charleston Peak, 11,918 feet (3,633 meters) above sea level. The lowest is Death Valley at 282 feet (85.5 meters) below sea level, also the lowest place in North America, which has contributed to making the valley one of the hottest and driest places on Earth.
Being a desert, it doesn’t have much in the way of rivers, but there are two significant ones which flow underneath it: the Mojave River and the Amargosa River. There are also some lakes, the Manix, Mojave, and the Little Mojave lakes, which although fairly large are shallow.
It’s a popular place for filming music videos. Bodies by Robbie Williams, Breathless by The Corrs, Desert Rose by Sting and That Don't Impress Me Much by Shania Twain among them.
No comments:
Post a Comment