Chiriaco Summit, California facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Chiriaco Summit
Unincorporated community
The Chiriaco Summit Coffee Shop, October 6, 2012
Chiriaco Summit Location in California Show map of California Chiriaco Summit Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	California
County	Riverside
Elevation	1,706 ft (520 m)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code	92201
Area code(s)	442 and 760
GNIS feature ID	240569

Chiriaco Summit is a small, quiet community and a popular stop for travelers in the Colorado Desert of Southern California. It's located right along Interstate 10, a major highway. This spot is about 19 miles (30 km) west of Desert Center and sits at a height of 1,706 feet (520 meters) above sea level. It's a place where you can find gas, food, and a place to rest during a long drive through the desert.

The area uses the ZIP Code 92201 and phone area codes 442 and 760.

Chiriaco Summit also has a small airport called Chiriaco Summit Airport for private planes. You might also see a rest stop called "Cactus City" nearby on Interstate 10. It's a funny name because there's no actual city there, just a rest stop! Public transportation is available through the Palo Verde Valley Transit Agency, connecting to nearby towns like Indio and Blythe.

History of Chiriaco Summit

Chiriaco Summit was first known as Shaver Summit. It was the highest point on Box Canyon Road. This was a gravel road that went alongside the Bradshaw Trail. It connected the Coachella Valley to Blythe.

How Joe Chiriaco Started the Town

The land was bought by Joe Chiriaco, a smart businessman from Alabama. After visiting California for a college football game in 1925, he decided to stay. He found a job with the Los Angeles Bureau of Water and Power. Joe heard that Box Canyon Road would be paved soon. So, he bought Shaver Summit and started building a service station and a general store.

His guess was right! On August 15, 1933, the same day cars started using the new U.S. Route 60, Shaver Summit opened for business.

Building the Colorado River Aqueduct

The area became even busier in the mid-1930s. This was when construction began on the Colorado River Aqueduct. This huge project brought water to Riverside from Lake Havasu. It involved digging tunnels through the mountains north of the town. Joe worked on this project as a surveyor. Around this time, he met his wife, Ruth, who was a nurse from the Coachella Valley.

General Patton's Training Camp

In 1942, Joe had an unexpected visitor: General George S. Patton. General Patton had a very important job. He needed to train a million soldiers to survive the tough conditions of the Sahara desert in northern Africa. He found the perfect place for this training in California. It was an 18,000 square mile (46,620 km²) area of the Mojave and Colorado Desert. This area was called the California/Arizona Maneuver Area (CAMA).

Patton chose a spot about a mile east of Shaver Summit for his main headquarters, called Camp Young. While the base was active, many soldiers visited Joe's general store. It was well-stocked and very popular. The training operations continued until 1944. That's when the Allies won the war in the Sahara.

A Memorial to General Patton

In 1945, General Patton died in a car accident in Germany. The Chiriacos decided to create a memorial for him at the Summit.

In 1958, a post office was opened, and the town was officially renamed Chiriaco Summit. In the 1960s, Interstate 10 was built. This new highway replaced U.S. Route 60 and bypassed Box Canyon Road. Even though the Summit was no longer the only high point on the route, the name Chiriaco Summit stayed.

The Patton Museum Today

In 1989, the Bureau of Land Management and Patton’s family expanded the Chiriacos' memorial. They opened a museum at the site of Camp Young. This museum honors General Patton and teaches visitors about the history of the Desert Training Center.

A special part of the museum is "The Big Map." This is a huge, 5-ton relief map. It shows the area where the Colorado River Aqueduct was built. Patton's staff later used this map. It also shows where the 11 training camps for Patton’s big operation were located. You can also see a statue of Patton at the museum from Interstate 10.

Joe and Ruth Chiriaco both passed away in 1996. In 2015, they were honored with a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. Today, their son, Robert, and daughter, Margit, run the businesses at Chiriaco Summit. These include a gas station, a store, a motel, and the Chiriaco Summit Airport (L77), which has a 4,600-foot (1,402-meter) long runway.

In 1999, Chiriaco Summit finally got electricity from the main power grid. Before that, the town had to rely on Diesel generators for power.

Climate at Chiriaco Summit

Chiriaco Summit has a hot desert climate. This means it gets very hot and dry. The hottest temperature ever recorded here was 118°F (48°C) on June 22, 2016. The coldest temperature recorded was 22°F (-6°C) on January 1, 2015.