Providence Mountains

The Providence Mountains are found in the Mojave Desert of southern California, USA. They lie southeast of the small community of Kelso, and northwest of Essex, California. The range reaches an elevation of 2,148 meters, and is home to the Mitchell Caverns in the Providence Mountains State Recreation Area. Vegetation on the lower parts of the mountains is creosote bush scrub, with barrel cactus and Joshua trees farther up and a scattered forest of pinon pine and juniper at the higher parts of the mountains, above 4-5000 feet. This forms a sky island where numerous animals and plants flourish in the added moisture caught by the mountains. Mitchell Caverns itself is home to two species of insects found nowhere else.

The early traveler Francisco Garces, a Franciscan priest, crossed the Mojave and referred to the New York and Providence Mountains as the Sierra de Santa Coleta. (As they are arguably one mountain range stretching from Van Winkle Mountain to Crescent Peak in Nevada, his use of a single name is understandable). Garces crossed through Cedar Canyon between the New York Mountains and the Providence Mountains. Later 19th century travelers found springs and streams in this area and thanked Divine Providence, resulting in the range receiving its present name.Mining in several areas has continued off and on for decades. In 1994 the range was made part of the Mojave National Preserve.