Q 01/05

Palm Springs lies in which California county?

A) San Bernardino

B) San Diego

C) Imperial

D) Riverside

Answer · why

D) Riverside

Riverside County: part of Palm Springs is Agua Caliente tribal land, and development there took off only after a 1959 law allowed long-term leases.

Q 02/05

Which Native American people originally inhabited the Palm Springs area?

A) Chumash

B) Cahuilla

C) Mojave

D) Serrano

Answer · why

B) Cahuilla

Cahuilla: in 1876 President Ulysses S. Grant set aside land there as their Agua Caliente reservation, and parts of it lie within the city today.

Q 03/05

Tahquitz Canyon, on the western edge of Palm Springs, is best known for what feature?

A) A 60-foot waterfall

B) A hot spring

C) A natural rock arch

D) A slot canyon

Answer · why

A) A 60-foot waterfall

A 60-foot waterfall: Tahquitz Falls plunges about 60 feet, and in the 1920s the canyon served as an outdoor theatre for the Desert Plays, one based on...

Q 04/05

Why is Palm Springs' reservation land laid out as a checkerboard?

A) Each family received one square

B) Ranchers bought every other square

C) Alternating sections were granted to a railroad

D) Spanish missions divided it that way

Answer · why

C) Alternating sections were granted to a railroad

Alternating sections were granted to a railroad: in the 1860s the government gave the Southern Pacific every odd-numbered square mile along its line, ...

Q 05/05

Which native palm grows wild around Palm Springs?

A) Date

B) Fan

C) Royal

D) Queen

Answer · why

B) Fan

Fan: the California fan palm is the only palm native to the western US, so the Coachella Valley's date palms all had to be brought in from abroad.