Pilot Knob (Imperial County, California)
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Pilot Knob (also, Avie Quah-la-Altwa, Ha-bee-co-la-la, and San Pablo) is a peak in Imperial County,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. Pilot Knob is located southeast of Ogilby, It rises to an elevation of . Pilot Knob is a rocky landform, geologically a
Volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcano, volcanic object created when magma hardens within a Volcanic vent, vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if risi ...
, west of
Yuma, Arizona Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 95,548 at the 2020 census, up from the 2010 census population of 93,064. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, Metropolitan ...
Winterhaven, California Winterhaven (formerly, Karmack) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Imperial County, California, Imperial County, California. Winterhaven is east of Pilot Knob (Imperial County, California), Pilot Knob, The population was 390 at the 2020 censu ...
; it is connected to the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, the central portion of the mountains being about north. Pilot Knob was named for its prominence as a landmark for
riverboat A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury ...
traffic in the 19th-20th centuries on the
Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
which borders Winterhaven–Yuma. Pilot Knob is an Area of Critical Environmental Concern administered by the
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...
.


Pilot Knob description

Separated from the center of the Cargo Muchacho Mountains by 7 mi, the
volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...
landform is at the base of
alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to Semi-arid climate, semiar ...
s. Pilot Knob has a height of , and the entire mountain block is about 2 x 2 mi. The mountain has a rock
quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
on its north side, visible from Interstate 8.


Access to Pilot Knob

Pilot Knob is accessed from Interstate 8, the landform being east of the
Algodones Dunes The Algodones Dunes is a large sand dune field, or Erg (landform), erg, located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of California, near the border with Arizona and the Mexican state of Baja California. The field is approximately long ...
and east of El Centro, California in southeastern Imperial County. The
All American Canal The All-American Canal is an aqueduct, located in southeastern California. It conveys water from the Colorado River into the Yuma Project, the Imperial Valley (California), Imperial Valley, and to nine cities. It is the Imperial Valley's only w ...
is cut from the south border of Pilot Knob, and can be seen in aerial views traversing the Algodones Dunes to the west. The Bureau of Land Management administers the Pilot Knob Long Term Visitor Area campground at the base of Pilot Knob.


History

When
Juan Bautista de Anza Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was a Novohispanic/Mexican expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as on ...
sighted the peak in 1774 he named it ''Cerro de San Pablo''. The
Saint Thomas Yuma Indian Mission The Saint Thomas Indian Mission is a Catholic Mission (Christianity), mission in Winterhaven, California, Winterhaven, California. It was dedicated in 1923, and its design replicates the Mission Puerto de Purísima Concepción, which once stood o ...
was located to the east. During the
California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...
, Pilot Knob was the landmark on the Southern Emigrant Trail for what was called Emigrant Crossing, the center crossing of three major crossings of the
Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
in the vicinity of what is now
Yuma, Arizona Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 95,548 at the 2020 census, up from the 2010 census population of 93,064. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, Metropolitan ...
. The
Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service in ...
located its Pilot Knob Station, near the river and the Knob in 1858. The
Alamo Canal The Alamo Canal () was a long waterway that connected the Colorado River to the head of the Alamo River. The canal was constructed to provide irrigation to the Imperial Valley. A small portion of the canal was located in the United States bu ...
intake was placed at Pilot Knob due to the availability of a solid rock foundation for the head gate.
KIVA (TV) KIVA (channel 11) was a television station in Yuma, Arizona, United States. It was the first local television station in Yuma and, for more than half of its existence, the only local station. It signed on October 8, 1953, and signed off January ...
Yuma, Arizona transmitted from Pilot Knob from 1953 to 1970.


External links

* Pilot Knob aka at Peakbagger.com


References

{{reflist Yuma, Arizona Winterhaven, California Lower Colorado River Valley Mountains of Imperial County, California Volcanic plugs of California Mountains of Southern California Protected areas of Imperial County, California Volcanoes of California