Teofulio Summit, formerly Warner Pass, a

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits *Mountain pass, a lower place in a mountai ...

that lies at an elevation of 3681 feet in the San Felipe Hills of the

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

. This pass was named for Teofulio Helm (1874-1967), a prominent member of the Cupeno Band of Mission Indians, who homesteaded in the area. Teofulio Summit is the lowest crossing of the Peninsular Ranges between

San Gorgonio Pass The San Gorgonio Pass, or Banning Pass, is a elevation gap on the rim of the Great Basin between the San Bernardino Mountains to the north and the San Jacinto Mountains to the south. The pass was formed by the San Andreas Fault, a major trans ...

, fifty miles north in Riverside County, and

San Matias Pass San Matias Pass, or Paseo San Matias, is a pass at the crest of the east west divide between the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California watersheds of the Baja California Peninsula located in Baja California. The pass lies between the Peninsular Ran ...

, two hundred miles south in the Baja California Peninsula. Teofulio Summit, is a watershed divide between the eastern watershed that flows into the

Salton Sink The Salton Sink is the low point of an endorheic basin, a closed drainage system with no outflows to other bodies of water, in the Colorado Desert sub-region of the Sonoran Desert. The sink falls within the larger Salton Trough and separates the ...

and the west-flowing streams of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

watershed. Exploring the Anza-Borrego Desert, Warner Ranch Junction to Earthquake Valley
Published: 29 Apr 2002, last Updated: 8 Nov 2010. Details mentioned in this article were accurate at the time of publication. Read more

/ref>

History

First discovered by Mexican soldiers, Teofulio Summit became the route of the

Sonora Road Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...

into the coastal region of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. The Sonora Road reestablished land communications between

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

and

Sonora, Mexico Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...

in the late 1820s. This route had been cut off by the

Yuma Revolt Fort Romualdo Pacheco also called Fuerte de Laguna Chapala was a Mexican (Mexico consumed his independence in 1821 from Spain) fort built in 1825 and was abandoned a year later in 1826. The fort was 100 feet square with thick stone and adobe wall ...

in the 1780s. Later, known as Warner Pass, named after

Juan Jose Warner ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

the owner of Warner's Ranch, it was the place where the Southern Emigrant Trail, the major southern route into

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

for Americans from the east in the middle 19th Century, passed over the mountains from the

Colorado Desert California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella and Imperial valleys. It is home to many unique flora and fauna. Geography and geology The Colorado De ...

to the coastal regions of Southern California. This made it important as the major gateway to

until the completion of the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

through

Yuma, Arizona Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...

in the 1870s.

References

External links

R.S. Williamson, General Map of Explorations and Surveys in California, A.O.P. Nicholson, Washington, 1861, from davidrumsey.com accessed September 29, 2013
Shows Southern Immigrant Trail in Baja California and Southern California with location of Warners Pass, circa 1854. {{coord, 33, 12, 17, N, 116, 36, 13, W, display=title Mountain passes of California Landforms of San Diego County, California Peninsular Ranges