Apple Valley
Apple Valley is an incorporated town in the Victor Valley of San Bernardino County, in the U.S. state of California. It was incorporated on November 14, 1988, and is one of the 22 incorporated municipalities in California that use “town” in their names instead of “city”. The town is east of and adjoining to the neighboring cities of Victorville and Hesperia, 35 miles south of Barstow, and 49 miles north of San Bernardino through the Cajon Pass.
History
The area was explored by various Spanish gold seekers in the 18th and 19th centuries. Jedediah Smith established the Old Spanish Trail through the southern Mojave and Cajon Pass. Smith was in the area in 1826 and again in 1827.
Throughout the 19th century, Apple Valley became a thoroughfare of people traveling to Southern California for various reasons. Ute horse thieves, led by Chief Walkara, brought through an estimated 100,000 horses from their raids on the Lugo Rancho and San Gabriel Mission.
In 1848, members of the Mormon Battalion, mustered out of the U.S. Army after constructing the first wagon road across the southwest to San Diego and up to Los Angeles, brought 135 mules and the first wagon through the Cajon Pass up through the Mojave River Valley on the way to the Salt Lake Valley. Battalion leader Jefferson Hunt and a crew of cowboys followed the trail with the first cattle drive from Southern California to hungry Mormons in Utah. Hunt led a Mormon group of settlers to the San Bernardino Valley in 1851.
Education
Apple Valley is highly regarded in San Bernardino County and the State of California for its excellent schools and education options. Apple Valley Unified School District operates two comprehensive high schools (9–12), one charter school (K–12), one independent-study (hybrid/online course) school (K–12), three academies (K–8), and 10 elementary schools (K–6). The one private school offers prekindergarten to grade 12.
Geography
Apple Valley is located at the southern edge of the Mojave Desert. It is bordered by the cities of Victorville on the west and Hesperia on the southwest sides, with the census-designated place of Lucerne Valley a distance to the east and the city of Barstow about 30 miles to the north. Apple Valley, along with Victorville, Hesperia, Adelanto, and immediate surrounding areas, are commonly known as the Victor Valley.