
Cima (
Spanish for "Summit") is a small
unincorporated community in the
Mojave Desert of
San Bernardino County,
California, in the United States. It lies in a mountain pass on the divide between the
Ivanpah Valley
The Ivanpah Valley is in southeastern California and southern Nevada in the United States. The valley is between the New York Mountains and the Ivanpah Mountains in San Bernardino County on the California side, and in Clark County on the Nevada ...
and the
Mojave River basin, at an elevation of . The
Ivanpah Mountains
The Ivanpah Mountains are located in the southeastern Mojave Desert of California in the United States. The range lies to the south and east of the Mescal Range and Clark Mountain Range. Paute Valley lies between the Ivanpahs and the Mescal Range ...
and
Interstate 15 are to the north, the
New York Mountains are to the east, and the
Providence Mountains are to the south. To the northwest is the
Cima volcanic field, which contains Cima Dome at above sea level, a prominent landmark along I-15. Cima is also home to one of the densest
Yucca brevifolia forests in
California, located in the Cima Dome.
History
Herbert Graham Gibson established the first store at Cima in 1900. In 1905 the first post office opened in the store. Gibson refused to pump the gas for his customers and therefore may have created the first self-service station in the country. The site served as both a railroad siding and a commercial center for ranchers and miners.
Few people now live in the area. In fact, like the neighboring town of
Kelso to the southwest, Cima is now usually considered a
ghost town.
Nevertheless, both towns still see considerable activity on the
Union Pacific rail line that brought the towns into being. Between Kelso and Cima lies the Cima Grade, the steepest part of the line between the
Los Angeles area and
Las Vegas. The tracks rise in . Both sites also lie within the
Mojave National Preserve, with the attendant tourist activity.
Climate
For Cima, the average high temperature in July is , with an average low of . January averages are and . The highest temperature on record is in 1967, and the lowest is , recorded in 1972. Cima receives less than of rain in an average year.
Cima does have a
post office, with the
ZIP code 92323 and the
area code 760. The 92323
ZIP Code Tabulation Area had a population of 21 at the
2000 census.
References
*
* National Park Service
{{authority control
Mojave National Preserve
Ivanpah Valley
Unincorporated communities in San Bernardino County, California
Populated places in the Mojave Desert
Ghost towns in California
Unincorporated communities in California