Wonder Valley is a sparsely populated

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the Morongo Basin of Southern California's High Desert region, straddling Amboy Road and State Route 62 in

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of th ...

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 ...

, United States, approximately east of the city of Twentynine Palms.

Geography and climate

Wonder Valley occupies the gently sloping basin between the Sheep Hole Mountains and Bullion Mountains to the north and the Pinto Mountains to the south. Elevations in Wonder Valley range from in the valley's western reaches to near the eastern frontier of population within the valley. The nearest incorporated community is the city of Twentynine Palms, which lies about to the west. State Route 62 and Amboy Road both pass through Wonder Valley; most other roads in the community are unpaved. Due to its low elevation relative to other communities of the Morongo Basin, Wonder Valley lies near the intersection of the higher-elevation

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

and the lower-elevation

Colorado Desert The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...

. Wonder Valley's subtropical desert climate is characterized by very hot summers and cool winters with considerable

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...

throughout the year. Moisture from the North American Monsoon contributes to summer precipitation and thunderstorm activity, and most non-monsoonal precipitation can be attributed to winter Pacific storms. Wonder Valley is approximately northeast of the east entrance to

Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, US National Park located in southeastern California, straddling north-central Riverside County, California, Riverside County and part of southern San Bernardino County, ...

Infrastructure

Local

Wonder Valley is unincorporated and is under the jurisdiction of San Bernardino County. Residents of Wonder Valley are served by San Bernardino County's County Service Area (CSA) 70M, a special services district with taxing authority that provides residents with fire protection, park, and road maintenance services. Many residents of Wonder Valley live on large parcels of land consisting of , a result of the community's growth after the enactment of the Small Tract Act of 1938.

State and federal representation

In the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

, Wonder Valley is in , and in . In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, Wonder Valley is in .

History

Wonder Valley was not substantively populated until the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

approved the Small Tract Act (STA) of 1938, a homesteading law that facilitated the leasing and public-to-private transfer of ownership of parcels of up to five acres to United States citizens willing to improve the land by developing a residence, business, or recreational structure. Wonder Valley Homestead Cabin

Thousands of cabins and other structures built by homesteaders, particularly during a period of popularity in the 1950s and 60s, have since been left abandoned. Although a cleanup effort in the early 2000s resulted the demolition of hundreds of abandoned structures, numerous structures built by Small Tract Act homesteaders still exist in various states of use and repair. More recently, Wonder Valley has earned a reputation for being a fashionable destination for artists, a trend which is frequently attributed to Wonder Valley's association with nearby Joshua Tree National Park.

References

External links

Wonder Valley CSA

Jackrabbit Homestead
a project by Kim Stringfellow {{Authority control Unincorporated communities in San Bernardino County, California