Long before the Spanish, white men and Mormons used the Mojave Desert as a route into southern California, no other route was known to exist....The Spanish believed that since their ships had sailed up the Gulf of California into the Colorado River Basin which according to some, including the Spanish, that their ships were able to sail as far north as the Lake Havasu Area.

One reason many believed that the Spanish or white men never traveled the southern deserts to the oceans what is now known as the Imperial valley and thru Banning....That era of discovery came during the civil war when the railroads were looking for a another route to hook up with the fledgling Santa Fe Railroad that was building north from San Diego.

Is nothing new....Although most people associate Solar and wind power as rather modern day creations, that is not really true....Wind power, in the form of small wind mills has been used in the desert southwest for over 400 years.....It is today, that we see the new modern evolution of giant Wind machines capable of producing enough energy to power 100 homes for a year....But it takes hundreds of them to power a city or geographic area.

In the Banning pass on the way to Palm Springs and the Southern Deserts you will see what is effectively the 2nd and 3rd generation of giant wind machines.....The first ones built in the 1960's were small and rather ineffective....In fact most of the companies that built them went bankrupt.....It wasn't until government subsidies and modern technology combined to create the new generation of wind machines seen today that are able to supply the power needs of most of the Riverside County area of the Desert.