Daggett, California
Encyclopedia : D : DA : DAG : Daggett, California
Daggett is a town located in San Bernardino County, California. The town is located on Interstate 40 10 miles East of Barstow. The town has a population of about 200.
History
The town was originally founded in the 1860s just before the discovery of silver mines nearby to the city. In 1882, the Southern Pacific Railroad from Mojave to Daggett was being completed and it was thought that a good name for the city would be Calico Junction. But this name would be too confusing since it was right next to Calico, CA -- where the silver was just recently discovered. It was decided to name the city after, then Lieutenant Governor of California, John Daggett, during the Spring of 1883.Not only did Silver define Daggett's history, but Borax was also important to the city's economy. This borax was being mined, around the turn of the century, out of the Calico Hills nearby. This operation required many more laborers to come to the city to help. The Borate and Daggett Railroad was built to haul borax ore from the mines up in the hills down to Daggett.
Airport
Daggett is the location of Barstow-Daggett Airport. The facility is a general aviation airport serving the Barstow area. It is also the regional weather information center.Statistics
As of 2003, 200 people lived in Daggett, though nearly 1500 live in the surrounding area. The town's altitude is approximately 2000 feet.Solar Power Generation
Daggett was home to a unique solar power plant named Solar I (after an upgrade, it became Solar II. The plant uses mirror-like "heliostats" to aim sunlight at a collecting sphere, through which oil flows. The large quantity of sunlight reflecting on the sphere superheats the oil, which is then used to create steam for power generation.During calibration of the power plant's thousands of heliostats, a ball of glowing light can be seen in the nearby area. This ball is caused by the heliostats reflecting sunlight onto a specific point in 3d space. As the intensity of the light increases, it tends to reflect off dust in the desert air. This phenomenon is sometimes seen by passerbys on the nearby interstates 40 and 15.
External links
- [Daggett Museum and town virtual tour]
- [Dagget, CA homepage] - Town homepage
- [http://www.ieesocal.org/review3.html] - Information on the SolarI and II power plants
- [Some images of the SolarI and SolarII power plants]
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