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Zzyzx, California facts for kids

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Zzyzx, California
Zzyzx, showing Lake Tuendae (left) and the Desert Studies Center
Zzyzx, showing Lake Tuendae (left) and the Desert Studies Center
Zzyzx, California is located in California
Zzyzx, California
Zzyzx, California
Location in California
Country  United States
State  California
County San Bernardino
Time zone UTC-8 (Pacific)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code
92309
Area codes 442/760
GNIS feature ID 1662336

Zzyzx ( ZY-ziks), formerly Soda Springs, is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, California, within the boundaries of the Mojave National Preserve, managed by the National Park Service (NPS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Interior, as public land. It is the former site of the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa and now the site of the Desert Studies Center. The site is also the location of Lake Tuendae, originally part of the spa, and now a refuge habitat of the endangered Mohave tui chub.

Zzyzx Rd
Interstate 15 exit sign for Zzyzx Road

Zzyzx Road is a 4.5-mile-long (7.2 km), part paved and part dirt, rural collector road in the Mojave Desert. It runs from Interstate 15 generally south to the Zzyzx settlement.

The nearest populated area is the small town of Baker, California, 7 miles (11 km) north on Interstate 15. Las Vegas, Nevada, is the nearest major city, about 100 miles (160 km) northeast.

History

Soda Springs

Soda Springs, a natural spring, has long seen human activity. The area was a prehistoric quarry site, and projectile points and rock art can be found in the area. The Mojave Road ran past the spring which was guarded by the Hancock Redoubt in 1860, during the Bitter Spring Expedition and by Camp Soda Springs, garrisoned by the U. S. Army from 1867 to 1870. Later Soda Springs was the name of the station of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad that passed there. Remnants of a wagon road stop and railroad artifacts are readily seen. Evaporative salt mining and mill sites can be found here as well.

TonopahTidewaterRailroadBed
Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad railbed crossing Soda Lake at Zzyzx

Zzyzx

Curtis Howe Springer gave the made-up name Zzyzx to the area in 1944, claiming it to be the last word in the English language. He established the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa in 1944 at the spot, which was federal land, after filing mining claims for 12,000 acres (49 km2) surrounding the springs. He used the springs to bottle his water and provide drinks for travelers through the hot desert. Springer also imported animals from around the country to attract more families to visit his ranch. He used Zzyzx until 1974, when the land was reclaimed by the government.

Since 1976, the Bureau of Land Management has allowed California State University to manage the land in and around Zzyzx. A consortium of CSU campuses use it as their Desert Studies Center.

Lexicography

The name appeared as "Zzyzx Springs" in Dmitri Borgmann's 1967 book Beyond Language. In 1977 Borgman noted his source as being "an old, undated map of San Bernardino County published by the Automobile Club of Southern California" and repeated his description of the settlement as being "a hydrologic feature and privately owned spa in San Bernardino County, California, about 8.5 miles south of Baker, on the western edge of Soda Dry Lake, off the abandoned right-of-way of the old Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad." After Borgmann's book, the 1973 Hammond Ambassador World Atlas began to show the place, labeling it as "Zzyzx" without the "Springs"; the 1976 Rand-McNally Commercial Atlas and Marketing Guide followed suit.

Zzyzx as a settlement, and Zzyzx Spring as a water feature, were approved as a place name by the United States Board on Geographic Names on June 14, 1984. As is the case with the road, Zzyzx, California, is the USBGN's lexicographically greatest (alphabetically last, at least in Latin alphabetical order) place name. It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.

In popular culture

Desert Studies Center, Zzyzx Springs, California - 20050320
Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx Springs
  • A 1997 song called "Zzyzx Scarecrow" by the band Stavesacre from their album Absolutes.
  • A 2003 album called Zzyzx by Zeromancer.
  • In the 2004 novel by Michael Connelly called The Narrows, Zzyzx Road is where the bodies are buried.
  • A 2005 suspense film, Zzyzx, was directed by Richard Halpern.
  • A 2006 rock song called "Zzyzx Rd." by Stone Sour from their album Come What(ever) May.
  • Zzyzx is the name of an amoral research facility in the 2007 American TV series Kyle XY

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