Box Springs Mountain

The mountain is east of downtown Riverside, and northwest of Moreno Valley, a partial border between the two large cities. Most of the mountain is part of the Box Springs Mountain Reserve, a {{convert|1155|acre|km2|adj=on}} park operated by the county.{{cite web

| url = http://www.riversidecountyparks.org/locations/regional-parks/box-springs/

| title = Box Springs Mountain Reserve

| publisher = Riverside County Parks

| accessdate = 2009-09-17

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090712061045/http://www.riversidecountyparks.org/locations/regional-parks/box-springs/

| archive-date = 2009-07-12

| url-status = dead

}}

UC Riverside manages the Box Springs Reserve adjacent to its campus, part of the University of California Natural Reserve System.[http://nrs.ucop.edu/reserves/box_springs/box_springs.htm University of California Natural Reserve System: Box Springs Reserve] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824111451/http://nrs.ucop.edu/reserves/box_springs/box_springs.htm |date=2011-08-24 }}. Retrieved 2013-10-01. It protects a transitional ecotone zone between coastal sage scrub and chamise chaparral.[http://boxsprings.ucnrs.org UC Riverside: Box Springs Reserve]. Retrieved 2013-10-01.

Because the mountain is one of the more prominent features in the Inland Empire (Riverside-San Bernardino urbanized area), the summit is used for numerous telecommunication towers, including transmission towers for the KOLA 99.9 and KGGI 99.1 radio stations.

{{wide image|Riverside DSCN0700 Ver2.jpg|600px|Box Springs Mountains, with Riverside in foreground.||none}}

File:Box Springs Reserve 005.JPG.]]

Image:M on Box Springs Mountain.jpg on the mountain, lit in 2009.]]

Image:BigC Box Springs Mountain.jpg

Box Springs Mountain is said to have gotten its name during the 1880s. Teamsters with horse-drawn wagons would stop at a natural spring in an arroyo of the range to water their horses. A teamster surrounded it with a box to maintain water access, later giving the spring, Box Springs, and the range their names.Holtzclaw, Kenneth M. [https://books.google.com/books?id=VNnKgvVBuWcC&dq=Box%20Springs%20Mountain%203047&pg=PA61 Images of America: Moreno Valley], Arcadia Publishing, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-7385-5569-0}}.

The letter "C" is embedded on the Riverside-facing side. The "Big C" was built in 1957, mostly by UC Riverside students. E.L. Yeager donated the materials for it. The "C" is approximately 1,500 feet above the UCR campus, and was the world's largest poured-concrete block letter,{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} 132 feet high by 70 feet wide.{{cite web |url=http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory/general_history/campuses/ucr/traditions.html |title=Riverside: Traditions |publisher=University of California |accessdate=2009-07-03}} The "C" is often vandalized with graffiti.{{cite web |url= http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~marek/thecstuff/ |title=UCR's Trail of Shame |author=Marek Chrobak |accessdate=2010-04-24}}

The letter "M" was embedded on the Moreno Valley side of the mountain in 1966 as a symbol of Moreno Valley High School which was then in the town of Sunnymead. The City of Moreno Valley was officially incorporated as a municipality on December 3, 1984 comprising Sunnymead, Edgemont and the little town of Moreno. The mountain with "M" were included on the new city logo.[http://www.moreno-valley.ca.us/community/about/city-history.shtml City of Moreno Valley, California: History] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006011621/http://www.moreno-valley.ca.us/community/about/city-history.shtml |date=October 6, 2013 }} During the first week of December 2009 Moreno Valley and Southern California Edison lit up the "M" to celebrate the 25th anniversary of cityhood.Between December 2, 2009 and December 6, 2009{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

Box Springs Mountain provides wildlife habitat in the fast-growing Inland Empire Metropolitan Area, with populations of snakes, lizards, coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, deer and burros, some of which wander into the populace below.{{cite news |last=Lee |first=Dan |url=http://www.pe.com/localnews/corona/stories/PE_News_Local_burro18.107de.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070812151336/http://www.pe.com/localnews/corona/stories/PE_News_Local_burro18.107de.html |archivedate=2007-08-12 |title=Annoying yet loveable; Untouched by law, they face challenges |newspaper=The Press-Enterprise |date=2004-12-18 |accessdate=2014-02-22}} There are several large eucalyptus trees that were planted at its base that originally marked sources of water.

The mountain is susceptible to wildfires which char the hillsides and pose a danger to residences at the base of the mountain. However, they are a natural part of fire ecology in the chaparral and woodland natural habitats.

• Box Springs Mountains
• University of California Natural Reserve System

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Lech|first=Steve |title=More Than a Place To Pitch a Rent: The Stories Behind Riverside County's Regional Parks |year=2011 |publisher=Steve Lech |location=Riverside, CA |pages=150 |isbn=978-0-9837500-0-0}}

{{Commons category multi|Box Springs Mountain|Box Springs Mountains}}

• {{cite web

| url = http://nrs.ucop.edu/Box-Spring.htm

| title = Box Spring Reserve

| publisher = University of California Natural Reserve System

| accessdate = 2009-12-22

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091022054844/http://nrs.ucop.edu/Box-Spring.htm

| archive-date = 2009-10-22

| url-status = dead

}}

• [https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=33.971178,-117.302034&spn=0.004342,0.007317&t=k&om=1 Google Maps Satellite view of Box Springs Mountain showing the large painted concrete letter "C"]
• [https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&om=1&z=16&ll=33.959758,-117.279026&spn=0.008685,0.014634&t=k Google Maps Satellite view of Box Springs Mountain showing the large painted letter "M"]

{{Geographic location

| Centre =Box Springs Mountains

| North = Redlands

| Northeast =Yucaipa

| East =Yucaipa

| Southeast = Mentone

| South = Moreno Valley

| Southwest = Riverside

| West = Grand Terrace

| Northwest =Loma Linda

| image =

}}

Category:Mountains of Riverside County, California

Category:Geography of Riverside, California

Category:Mountains of Southern California