Arrowhead, California

Arrowhead is a popular place name (toponym) in and near the western San Bernardino Mountains of the U.S. state of California.

The name is derived from a natural geographic formation of light quartz on the side of the mountains near San Bernardino. The city of Lake Arrowhead, California and the adjacent lake, Lake Arrowhead Reservoir, take their names from the formation as does Arrowhead Water. The Native Americans of the San Bernardino Valley thought the Arrowhead pointed to the artesian hot springs below (which became the site of the Arrowhead Springs Hotel, currently closed.

I worked at Arrowhead Springs Hotel in 1956 as a waiter when I was 16. Many Hollywood actors and dignitaries came to the hotel for R & R, and to spend time at the resort with their friends. The hot springs and dining were favorites. Expensive! We used to hike from my home on Harrison St. to the hotel up through Waterman Canyon. The actors would fly into the airport in Devore. I heard later that the hotel was sold to a religious group. I lived in San Bernardino from 1944 to 1961. My dad worked at the "bomb plant" which is no longer listed in any government records. There was a Japanese internment camp near the plant, but is not cited in any of the records that I can find. You can see the Arrowhead from I-10 as you traverse through San Bernardino. My father died from a brain hemmorhage caused by a tumor at the age of 45, from being exposed to radioactive material sent from Livermore Labs to White Sands, New Mexico to construct the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan in 1945.

Fact|date=June 2007); the Mormon settlers thought it pointed to the site which became San Bernardino, California; and Peruvian writer Carlos Castañeda refused to visit San Bernardino because he thought it pointed to an entrance to Hell.

External links

* [http://www.notfrisco.com/calmem/arrowhead/ The Arrowhead]
* [http://www.arrowheadspringsresort.com/ Arrowhead Springs Resort]