Caliente (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "Hot") is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Kern County Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It is located east-southeast of Bakersfield, at an elevation of . Caliente has a population of 1,019. Telephone numbers in Caliente follow the format (

661 Year 661 ( DCLXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 661 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the ...

) 867-xxxx and the ZIP Code is 93518. It is located south of a small community named Walker Basin in the same telephone exchange area.

History

Established in the 1870s, Caliente was originally named Allens Camp for a cattle rancher and settler named Gabriel Allen. Later, the name Agua Caliente, coming from hot springs in the area, was proposed and may have been used. This name conflicted with the community of the same name in

Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino ...

. With the railroad's arrival in 1875, the shortened name Caliente was adopted. Caliente prospered during

Southern Pacific 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 ...

Railroad's construction of Tehachapi Pass line. For a time, the Telegraph Stage Line and the Cerro Gordo Freighting Co. also ran through Caliente and its full-time population grew to 200. There were approximately 60 buildings, including 20 or more saloons. The Caliente post office opened in 1875, closed in 1883, and was re-established in 1890. The Caliente General Store was remodeled in 1980 to house the post office which is still in operation today. Bealville is a district about to the south toward SR58 and along Caliente-Bodfish Road. It is named for

Edward Fitzgerald Beale Edward Fitzgerald "Ned" Beale (February 4, 1822 – April 22, 1893) was a national figure in the 19th-century United States. He was a naval officer, military general, explorer, frontiersman, Indian affairs superintendent, California rancher, ...

who served in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, and also as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California and Nevada. He was also appointed as US Surveyor General of California.Army and Indian assignments from: "Kern County," ''California Historic Landmarks,'' (Sacramento, California: State of California, Resources Agency, 1996) pp. 80. Surveyor General title from, Dulme, Glenn, "Chapter 11: The San Bernardino County Flurry," ''Boom of the Eighties in Southern California,'' (San Marino, California: Huntington Library, 1944) pp. 127. Beale established a home in this area about 1855. The location is now registered as

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

#757 California Historical Landmark reads: :''NO. 757 CALIENTE - Originally known as Allen's Camp after Gabriel Allen, who in the 1870s had a cabin and stock pasture near here, the settlement was named Caliente when railroad construction reached this point in April 1875. The town became a railroad terminal for about 16 months while a force of up to three thousand men, most of them Chinese, labored on the heavy railroad construction on the mountain.''

Today

The sound of diesel locomotives and railroad horns are present day and night. The community is along the track of the Union Pacific Railroad, Mojave Subdivision. The track loops around the post office as it winds through the local hills. Trains climb toward the Tehachapi summit eastbound or descend toward Bakersfield if westbound.

California State Route 58 State Route 58 (SR 58) is a major east-west state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs across the Coast Ranges, the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Tehachapi Mountains, which border the southern Sierra Nevada, and the Mojave ...

is about two driving miles south of Caliente.

Images

Image:Caliente California Burlington Northern Santa Fe.JPG, A BNSF freight passing through Caliente climbs eastbound toward Mojave, California. Image:Caliente California Post Office Kern County.JPG, Post office with sign showing the ZIP Code. File:Caliente, California area state historic marker for Bealville.jpg, Bealville marker along Caliente-Bodfish Rd.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Kern County, California Unincorporated communities in California California Historical Landmarks

History

Today

Images

See also

References