Tecopa, California

The Old Spanish Trail and the later wagon road called the Old Mormon Road or Salt Lake Road, passed from Resting Springs, east of the modern site of Tecopa, 7 miles to Willow Creek (fed by Willow Spring within China Ranch Wash on the east bank of the canyon of the Amargosa River (then called Saleratus Creek)), south of Tecopa. In 1859, The Prairie Traveler, a popular handbook for overland travelers at that time described it: The spring is on the left of the road, and flows into Saleratus Creek. Animals must not be allowed to drink the Saleratus water." There the trail turned to follow the river south to Salt Springs. China Ranch Wash is named for the Chinese man known as either Quon Sing or Ah Foo, who developed Willow Creek around 1900 and raised meat and vegetables to sell to the miners. ==History of the community==

Original town In 1875, brothers William D. and Robert D. Brown, had discovered lead and silver ore at what would become the Resting Springs Mining District and began promoting it. They established a townsite, calling it Brownsville, southeast of Resting Springs near the head of Willow Creek. Kasson, California was nearby. A camp was established at the site as mines were developed at Noonday Mine in the late 1870s. In 1878, it was determined that the townsite was 300 yards within Inyo county, settling a dispute with San Bernardino County of who controlled the township. Soon thereafter, the town went into decline, with most of the miners moving to Resting Springs in July 1879. Inyo County Sheriff William Welch considered Tecopa a costly mistake because, "it costs five cents a pound freight from San Bernardino here." The original townsite was occasionally occupied but never revived and in 2006 the Amargosa Conservancy acquired it for preservation purposes The townsite is currently located in the vicinity of "The Triangle", a small piece of land surrounded by the arms of three "Y's" at the intersection of two roads. It was reestablished in 1907 when the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad reached the site, which was the closest point from the railroad to the mines. (now closed) to the intersection with the Furnace Creek Road. Southwest of the intersection is most populous part of the community, originally known as "Jackrabbit Flat." In the 1950s, the General Land Office, then the BLM began offering parcels under the authority of the Small Tract Act of 1938 as recreational properties to become known as "Jackrabbit Homesteads. The first round of five acre parcels were proofed and patented prior to 1959. After a change in policy, a second round of parcels were offered at fair market value by BLM. The lands offered under the first two rounds remain largely undeveloped. The third round of 2.5 acre parcels were offered in 1964 to provide inexpensive land for housing retirees that were squatting at the Hot Springs. Seven parcels were sold, six of which were purchased by the Thilenius and Parrish families who subdivided them and developed water systems. Those parcels now constitute the densest population of what is now known as "Tecopa Heights," the area offered under the Small Tracts Act. The cemetery is on the west side of Tecopa Heights. Since Tecopa lacks proper water infrastructure that is capable of properly filtering ground water to state standards, the Southern Inyo County Fire Protection District in 2014 received a grant to install a water kiosk for the community. The community water kiosk was opened in 2017 east of Tecopa Heights on an R&PP lease granted by the BLM. ==Geography==

In 1976, the U.S. Congress designated the federal lands within the CDP part of the "California Desert Conservation Area" in Title VI, Section 601 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. Tecopa is on the east side of the Amargosa Range which lies between the CDP and Death Valley, which was designated a National Park in the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 CDPA. The Nopah Range, a designated wilderness area in the CDPA, is to the east. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and of it is water. ==Economy==

Historically, Tecopa's economy was based on silver and lead mining. A major attraction in the area is the Tecopa Ecological Reserve, which hosts an undeveloped natural ground-fed hot spring. However, the natural hot spring is subject to closure because of impacts to protected Amargosa vole (a subspecies of Microtus californicau) habitat from camp fires and human waste. Agriculture in Tecopa is limited, revolving mostly around date farming and cannabis cultivation. The town has a growing microbrewery and bakery scene that caters to the patrons of Tecopa's three hot springs resorts during the fall and winter seasons. ==Arts and culture==

Tecopa holds an annual firehouse fling in November. It is hosted by the Southern Inyo Fire Protection District as a way to raise funds for the rural fire department In November, Tecopa also hosts the Tecopa Takeover Music Festival, which began in 2014 ==Demographics==

Tecopa first appeared as a census designated place in the 2000 U.S. census. The whole population lived in households. There were 74 households, out of which 8 (10.8%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 24 (32.4%) were married-couple households, 3 (4.1%) were cohabiting couple households, 20 (27.0%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 27 (36.5%) had a male householder with no partner present. 38 households (51.4%) were one person, and 15 (20.3%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 1.62. The age distribution was 4 people (3.3%) under the age of 18, 1 person (0.8%) aged 18 to 24, 19 people (15.8%) aged 25 to 44, 48 people (40.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 48 people (40.0%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 59.0years. There were 51 males and 69 females. There were 147 housing units at an average density of , of which 74 (50.3%) were occupied. Of these, 32 (43.2%) were owner-occupied, and 42 (56.8%) were occupied by renters. ==Infrastructure==

Transportation Public transportation in Tecopa is operated by Eastern Sierra Transit Authority as a fixed route lifeline service to residents of Tecopa to Pahrump twice a month. In October 2020, service was suspended because the contractor serving this route, Pahrump Senior Center, sold the route to a third-party vendor and failed to meet contractual obligations. Eastern Sierra Transit Authority is in the process of finding an alternative provider for the Tecopa bus route Utilities Tecopa receives electrical power through Southern California Edison. There is no gas utility serving Tecopa. The community instead relies on propane gas deliveries from companies located in Pahrump The telephone carrier for Tecopa is AT&T. The county acknowledges that AT&T fails to maintain their network by providing unreliable telephone and internet service. The community instead relies on fixed wireless internet service providers and satellite internet Tecopa does not have residential waste services. Instead, residents use communal dumpsters, which are serviced by Pahrump Valley Disposal. ==Politics and government==

In the state legislature, Tecopa is in , and . Federally, Tecopa is in . Education Children in Tecopa attend schools operated by Death Valley Unified School District. Library The Tecopa Branch Library, of the Inyo County Free Library provides internet access to community members who lack affordable internet. Public Safety Law enforcement services to Tecopa are provided by the Inyo County Sheriff's Office Fire fighting services is provided by Southern Inyo Fire Protection District, which is headquartered in Tecopa. Cemetery Cemetery services in Tecopa have been managed by the Tecopa Cemetery District since February 2022 In popular culture Tecopa was the subject of an extended article by writer John Gregory Dunne published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1965 and reprinted in Dunne's book Quintana & Friends, published by E. P. Dutton in 1978. ==See also==