Eagle Mountain, California
Encyclopedia
Eagle Mountain, California is a modern day ghost town
, in the Colorado Desert
, in Riverside County
founded in 1948 by noted industrialist Henry J. Kaiser
. The town is located at the entrance of the now-defunct Eagle Mountain iron mine, once owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad
, then Kaiser Steel
, and located on the southeastern corner of Joshua Tree National Park
. The town's fully integrated medical care system, similar to other Kaiser operations in California, was the genesis of the modern-day Kaiser Permanente
health maintenance organization. Eagle Mountain is accessible by Riverside County Route R2, twelve miles (19 km) north of Desert Center
, midway between Indio and the California/Arizona state line along Interstate 10
. The town's relative youth and brief time of abandonment make Eagle Mountain among the country's best preserved ghost towns.
, Eagle Mountain is located at the entrance of the now-defunct Eagle Mountain iron mine. As the mine expanded, Eagle Mountain grew to a peak population of 4000. It had wide, landscaped streets lined with over four hundred homes, some with as many as four bedrooms. Two hundred trailer
spaces and several boarding house
s and dormitories
provided living space for Kaiser's itinerant workforce. Other amenities included an auditorium
, a park, a shopping center, a community swimming pool
, lighted tennis
courts, and a baseball
diamond. Businesses included a bowling alley, two gas stations, eight churches and three schools.
In the late 1930s, Kaiser decided to build the West Coast's first fully integrated steel mill
. In 1942, Kaiser built such a mill at Fontana, California
, which is located 112 miles (180 km) west of the Eagle Mountain Mine. Today the Fontana mill site includes other successor mills and the Auto Club Speedway (formerly the California Speedway
). Kaiser then purchased the idle mines from the Southern Pacific as a source of high-grade iron ore. This was a contingent strategy Kaiser used to utilize rail and raw materials for an industrial operation in a previously agricultural (pig farm) area.
Production at Fontana was initiated during World War II, increased iron shipments began in 1948, and a mining town was constructed below what was soon to become Southern California’s largest iron mine. It connected to the Southern Pacific via a 51-mile-long (82 km) railroad branch known as the Eagle Mountain Railroad
. It ran southwest from the mine to the northeast shore of the Salton Sea
, just north of the Riverside–Imperial county line. Ore shipments to Fontana steel plant began in October, with five to eight 100-car trains running weekly.
, some sixty miles (97 km) west.
On November 3, 1981, Kaiser Corporation announced the phasing out of half the Fontana works and the entire Eagle Mountain Mine operation over several years. The population dwindled as layoffs began. The grocery store closed in October 1982 and the post office, which had been active since 1951, closed in January 1983. In June of that year the last official graduating class celebrated their commencement at Eagle Mountain High School, followed by closing of both the mine and mill. The old high school is now the current site of Eagle Mountain School, which continues in operation (as of 2008).
The ZIP Code was 92241 until Eagle Mountain shut down, mail is now sent to nearby Desert Center at 92239. The community is within area code 760
.
proposed placing a unique privately operated prison for low-risk inmates in the town. The shopping center was converted by 1988 into just such a facility which operated until State budget problems led to the closing of the prison in December 2003. Talks resumed in 2005 to reopen the prison facility.
1988 also saw a proposal to turn the gigantic 1.5 mile (2.4 km) long by half-mile (800 m) wide open-pit mine into a massive, high-tech sanitary landfill. The landfill, to be operated by a partnership of two privately operated trash collection firms and the successor to Kaiser Steel, Kaiser Ventures, would ship trash by train from metropolitan Los Angeles area via the Eagle Mountain Railroad. A company subsidiary, Mine Reclamation Corp. of Palm Desert, is the landfill developer. Due to numerous lawsuits regarding the environmental effects of the landfill, the project was repeatedly delayed. The private partnership decided in late 1999 to terminate the project. Their share of the project was bought by Kaiser Ventures, making it controlling owner of the project.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved the project in October 1992 after EPA
approval of the project. In August 2000, Kaiser Ventures reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Sanitation District (a public entity comprising several Los Angeles public waste collection agencies), to purchase the landfill project as a replacement for the Puente Hills Landfill
, which would soon be nearing the end of its useful life. Trash would be shipped by rail from the Los Angeles area via the abandoned Eagle Mountain Railroad
line. However, since the sale agreement states that all lawsuits and claims regarding the project must be resolved, the transaction has yet to begin. As of 2008, there was only one lawsuit still pending. However, much has changed in the waste business since 2000. A reduction in waste generated because of recycling has reduced the urgency for the new landfill. In addition, the Los Angeles Sanitation District has purchased another landfill site in Imperial County that is fully licensed and ready to use. It is unclear if the Sanitation District still intends to make Eagle Mountain a landfill. As of 2009, the project has yet to begin.
As of July 18, 2007, the town of Eagle Mountain is no longer openly accessible. The perimeters of both the town and mine have been fenced and gated, with a site manager appointed to handle access requests. The fencing isn't presently visible from either Google Earth
or Google Maps
, so it's easy to believe that the town is still accessible.
Eagle Mountain was used in 2005 by elements of 5th Battalion 14th Marines as a work up site to prepare for deployment to Fallujah Iraq.
at one time operated four schools in the Eagle Mountain and Desert Center areas. Eagle Mountain Elementary School was located in the center of the town, Henry J. Kaiser Junior High School and Eagle Mountain High School were located on the east and Desert Center Elementary School was located in Desert Center, 11 miles away. The class of 1983 was the last to graduate from Eagle Mountain High School. In 1983, the school district converted the high school into the Eagle Mountain Elementary School, (in operation since 1983), educating students in the grades Kindergarten through 8th.
The remaining three school sites were closed and boarded up. Local high school students are bused to Palo Verde High School in Blythe, CA, making the 120-mile round trip every day. The remaining students in the school district are children of the few full-time residents of Desert Center and children of the employees of the two nearby Metropolitan Water District pumping plants.
Colorado Desert topics
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
, in the Colorado Desert
Colorado Desert
California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert, which extends across southwest North America. The Colorado Desert region encompasses approximately , reaching from the Mexican border in the south to the higher-elevation Mojave Desert in the north and from the Colorado River in...
, in Riverside County
Riverside County, California
Riverside County is a county in the U.S. state of California. One of 58 California counties, it covers in the southern part of the state, and stretches from Orange County to the Colorado River, which forms the state border with Arizona. The county derives its name from the city of Riverside,...
founded in 1948 by noted industrialist Henry J. Kaiser
Henry J. Kaiser
Henry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel. Kaiser organized Kaiser Permanente health care...
. The town is located at the entrance of the now-defunct Eagle Mountain iron mine, once owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
, then Kaiser Steel
Kaiser Steel
Kaiser Ventures is an American corporation, headquartered in Ontario, California. It was founded by Henry J. Kaiser to provide steel plate for the Pacific Coast shipbuilding industry, which expanded during World War II, then shrank, then expanded again during the Korean War...
, and located on the southeastern corner of Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park is located in southeastern California. Declared a U.S. National Park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act , it had previously been a U.S. National Monument since 1936. It is named for the Joshua tree forests native to the park...
. The town's fully integrated medical care system, similar to other Kaiser operations in California, was the genesis of the modern-day Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
health maintenance organization. Eagle Mountain is accessible by Riverside County Route R2, twelve miles (19 km) north of Desert Center
Desert Center, California
-"Desert Steve" Ragsdale:The town was founded in 1921 by Stephen A. Ragsdale, also known as “Desert Steve”, and his wife, Lydia. Ragsdale was an itinerant preacher and cotton farmer, originally from Arkansas. In 1915, he left his farm in the Palo Verde Valley along the Colorado River to attend to...
, midway between Indio and the California/Arizona state line along Interstate 10
Interstate 10
Interstate 10 is the fourth-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, after I-90, I-80, and I-40. It is the southernmost east–west, coast-to-coast Interstate Highway, although I-4 and I-8 are further south. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean at State Route 1 in Santa Monica,...
. The town's relative youth and brief time of abandonment make Eagle Mountain among the country's best preserved ghost towns.
History
Founded in 1948 by industrialist and tycoon Henry J. KaiserHenry J. Kaiser
Henry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel. Kaiser organized Kaiser Permanente health care...
, Eagle Mountain is located at the entrance of the now-defunct Eagle Mountain iron mine. As the mine expanded, Eagle Mountain grew to a peak population of 4000. It had wide, landscaped streets lined with over four hundred homes, some with as many as four bedrooms. Two hundred trailer
Mobile home
Mobile homes or static caravans are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied...
spaces and several boarding house
Boarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
s and dormitories
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
provided living space for Kaiser's itinerant workforce. Other amenities included an auditorium
Auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens.- Etymology :...
, a park, a shopping center, a community swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
, lighted tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
courts, and a baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
diamond. Businesses included a bowling alley, two gas stations, eight churches and three schools.
In the late 1930s, Kaiser decided to build the West Coast's first fully integrated steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
. In 1942, Kaiser built such a mill at Fontana, California
Fontana, California
Fontana is a city of 196,069 residents in San Bernardino County, California. Founded in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area...
, which is located 112 miles (180 km) west of the Eagle Mountain Mine. Today the Fontana mill site includes other successor mills and the Auto Club Speedway (formerly the California Speedway
California Speedway
Auto Club Speedway is a two-mile , low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. The track was also used for open wheel racing events until 2005. The racetrack is located near the former locations of Ontario Motor Speedway and...
). Kaiser then purchased the idle mines from the Southern Pacific as a source of high-grade iron ore. This was a contingent strategy Kaiser used to utilize rail and raw materials for an industrial operation in a previously agricultural (pig farm) area.
Production at Fontana was initiated during World War II, increased iron shipments began in 1948, and a mining town was constructed below what was soon to become Southern California’s largest iron mine. It connected to the Southern Pacific via a 51-mile-long (82 km) railroad branch known as the Eagle Mountain Railroad
Eagle Mountain Railroad
The Eagle Mountain Railroad was a private railroad in California, owned by the Kaiser Steel Corporation, and is owned today by Kaiser Steel's successor, Kaiser Ventures, Inc. of Ontario, California. The EMRR is long and is located in Riverside County, California...
. It ran southwest from the mine to the northeast shore of the Salton Sea
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial Valley. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death...
, just north of the Riverside–Imperial county line. Ore shipments to Fontana steel plant began in October, with five to eight 100-car trains running weekly.
End times
Increased environmental concerns in the 1970s led to a reduction in iron output and a drop in population to a low of 1890. In the summer of 1980 the mine shut down briefly, reopening on September 23rd. Only 750 workers were brought back to the town with an additional 150 (with uncertain employment futures) in IndioIndio, California
Indio is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, and east of Los Angeles. It is about north of Mexicali, Baja California on the U.S.-Mexican border...
, some sixty miles (97 km) west.
On November 3, 1981, Kaiser Corporation announced the phasing out of half the Fontana works and the entire Eagle Mountain Mine operation over several years. The population dwindled as layoffs began. The grocery store closed in October 1982 and the post office, which had been active since 1951, closed in January 1983. In June of that year the last official graduating class celebrated their commencement at Eagle Mountain High School, followed by closing of both the mine and mill. The old high school is now the current site of Eagle Mountain School, which continues in operation (as of 2008).
The ZIP Code was 92241 until Eagle Mountain shut down, mail is now sent to nearby Desert Center at 92239. The community is within area code 760
Area code 760
Image:Area_code_442.svg|right|Map of California area codes in blue with 442/760 in redrect 65 82 92 100 Area code 916rect 220 242 245 256 Area code 909rect 243 274 265 287 Area code 951rect 136 323 160 338 Area code 858...
.
Resurgence
Eagle Mountain experienced a resurgence in 1986 when the California Department of CorrectionsCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. CDC&R is the second largest law enforcement or police agency in the United States behind the New York City Police Department which employs approximately...
proposed placing a unique privately operated prison for low-risk inmates in the town. The shopping center was converted by 1988 into just such a facility which operated until State budget problems led to the closing of the prison in December 2003. Talks resumed in 2005 to reopen the prison facility.
1988 also saw a proposal to turn the gigantic 1.5 mile (2.4 km) long by half-mile (800 m) wide open-pit mine into a massive, high-tech sanitary landfill. The landfill, to be operated by a partnership of two privately operated trash collection firms and the successor to Kaiser Steel, Kaiser Ventures, would ship trash by train from metropolitan Los Angeles area via the Eagle Mountain Railroad. A company subsidiary, Mine Reclamation Corp. of Palm Desert, is the landfill developer. Due to numerous lawsuits regarding the environmental effects of the landfill, the project was repeatedly delayed. The private partnership decided in late 1999 to terminate the project. Their share of the project was bought by Kaiser Ventures, making it controlling owner of the project.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved the project in October 1992 after EPA
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
approval of the project. In August 2000, Kaiser Ventures reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Sanitation District (a public entity comprising several Los Angeles public waste collection agencies), to purchase the landfill project as a replacement for the Puente Hills Landfill
Puente Hills Landfill
Puente Hills Landfill is currently the largest landfill in the United States, rising 150 meters high and covering . Puente Hills accepted four million tons of waste in 2005. The landfill is located in the Puente Hills, in southeastern Los Angeles County near Whittier, California and is part of the...
, which would soon be nearing the end of its useful life. Trash would be shipped by rail from the Los Angeles area via the abandoned Eagle Mountain Railroad
Eagle Mountain Railroad
The Eagle Mountain Railroad was a private railroad in California, owned by the Kaiser Steel Corporation, and is owned today by Kaiser Steel's successor, Kaiser Ventures, Inc. of Ontario, California. The EMRR is long and is located in Riverside County, California...
line. However, since the sale agreement states that all lawsuits and claims regarding the project must be resolved, the transaction has yet to begin. As of 2008, there was only one lawsuit still pending. However, much has changed in the waste business since 2000. A reduction in waste generated because of recycling has reduced the urgency for the new landfill. In addition, the Los Angeles Sanitation District has purchased another landfill site in Imperial County that is fully licensed and ready to use. It is unclear if the Sanitation District still intends to make Eagle Mountain a landfill. As of 2009, the project has yet to begin.
As of July 18, 2007, the town of Eagle Mountain is no longer openly accessible. The perimeters of both the town and mine have been fenced and gated, with a site manager appointed to handle access requests. The fencing isn't presently visible from either Google Earth
Google Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
or Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
, so it's easy to believe that the town is still accessible.
Eagle Mountain was used in 2005 by elements of 5th Battalion 14th Marines as a work up site to prepare for deployment to Fallujah Iraq.
Schools
The Desert Center Unified School DistrictDesert Center Unified School District
Desert Center Unified School District is located in the eastern part of Riverside County in California. The district services the unincorporated areas of Eagle Mountain, Desert Center, Lake Tamarisk and Chiriaco Summit.-Closed schools:* Desert Center School...
at one time operated four schools in the Eagle Mountain and Desert Center areas. Eagle Mountain Elementary School was located in the center of the town, Henry J. Kaiser Junior High School and Eagle Mountain High School were located on the east and Desert Center Elementary School was located in Desert Center, 11 miles away. The class of 1983 was the last to graduate from Eagle Mountain High School. In 1983, the school district converted the high school into the Eagle Mountain Elementary School, (in operation since 1983), educating students in the grades Kindergarten through 8th.
The remaining three school sites were closed and boarded up. Local high school students are bused to Palo Verde High School in Blythe, CA, making the 120-mile round trip every day. The remaining students in the school district are children of the few full-time residents of Desert Center and children of the employees of the two nearby Metropolitan Water District pumping plants.
Film
- Films using Eagle Mountain locations
- Tough GuysTough GuysTough Guys is a 1986 comedy starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Eli Wallach and Dana Carvey. It was directed by Jeff Kanew.Lancaster and Douglas made several films together, including I Walk Alone , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Devil's Disciple , and Seven Days in May , becoming something...
(1986) - Terminator 2: Judgment DayTerminator 2: Judgment DayTerminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong...
, 3-D Attraction, Universal StudiosUniversal StudiosUniversal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
(1998) - ImpostorImpostorAn impostor or imposter is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering, but just as often for purposes of espionage or law enforcement....
(2001) - Live from Baghdad (film)Live from Baghdad (film)Live from Baghdad is a television movie produced in 2002 by HBO. It was directed by Mick Jackson and written by Robert Wiener . The movie was released during the prelude stage of the Iraq War....
(2002) - Constantine (film)Constantine (film)Constantine is a 2005 American action horror film directed by Francis Lawrence as his directorial debut, starring Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, with Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, and Djimon Hounsou...
(2003) - The IslandThe Island (2005 film)The Island is a 2005 American science fiction/thriller film directed by Michael Bay and starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. It was released on July 22, 2005 in the United States, and was nominated for three awards including the Teen Choice Award....
(2005) - Unknown (2006)
- Battle of Los Angeles (film)Battle of Los Angeles (film)Battle of Los Angeles is a science fiction action comedy film by The Asylum, which premiered on the Syfy cable TV channel on Saturday March 12, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. EST and was released to DVD the following Tuesday...
(2011) - A portion of the Eagle Mountain RailroadEagle Mountain RailroadThe Eagle Mountain Railroad was a private railroad in California, owned by the Kaiser Steel Corporation, and is owned today by Kaiser Steel's successor, Kaiser Ventures, Inc. of Ontario, California. The EMRR is long and is located in Riverside County, California...
was used in the filming of the movie Tough GuysTough GuysTough Guys is a 1986 comedy starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Eli Wallach and Dana Carvey. It was directed by Jeff Kanew.Lancaster and Douglas made several films together, including I Walk Alone , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Devil's Disciple , and Seven Days in May , becoming something...
, which is a 1986 comedy starring Burt LancasterBurt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
, Kirk DouglasKirk DouglasKirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, Eli WallachEli WallachEli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
and Dana CarveyDana CarveyDana Thomas Carvey is an American actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for playing the role of Garth in the Wayne's World movies.-Early life:...
. Tough Guys was the final collaboration for Burt LancasterBurt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
and Kirk DouglasKirk DouglasKirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
. They played a couple of released cons who plan the last great train robbery. At the end, they hijack a train, pulled by famed locomotive Southern Pacific 4449Southern Pacific 4449Southern Pacific 4449 is the only surviving example of Southern Pacific Railroad's GS-4 class of steam locomotives. The GS-4 is a streamlined 4-8-4 type steam locomotive...
, and run it full throttle to the Mexican border. During the filming of the exterior shots of Southern Pacific 4449Southern Pacific 4449Southern Pacific 4449 is the only surviving example of Southern Pacific Railroad's GS-4 class of steam locomotives. The GS-4 is a streamlined 4-8-4 type steam locomotive...
the train was stored nightly at the Eagle Mountain rail yards. The local school children from Eagle Mountain School took a field trip in early 1986 to see and tour the train on the location of the shoot along the Eagle Mountain Railroad south of Interstate 10Interstate 10Interstate 10 is the fourth-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, after I-90, I-80, and I-40. It is the southernmost east–west, coast-to-coast Interstate Highway, although I-4 and I-8 are further south. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean at State Route 1 in Santa Monica,...
. - Also filmed in Eagle Mountain was Terminator 2's 3D Attraction, now showing at Universal Studios. The 3D film is an action sequence based on the original "Terminator 2-Judgment Day" movie-including Arnold Schwarzenegger on a motorcycle and the T1000 cop. Universal Studios in Los Angeles premiered its version of the Terminator 2 3D ride in 1999. The ride, which is also in Universal's Orlando, Fla., location, takes three-dimensional attractions to a new level-incorporating a story, real characters and beefed-up computer and robotics technology.The entire crew spent weeks at Eagle Mountain. This was the site for some big detonations, reportedly the largest explosion ever done in film.
See also
Colorado Desert topics