Persistence in the Dust: Wonder Valley, California

Jackrabbit Construction and Depression-era Homestead Act.

Feb 14, 2025

A vacant cabin in Wonder Valley, CA. San Bernadino Mountains in the distance.

Turning south from the Route 66 pit-stop that is Amboy California, you head into the high desert of the Morongo Valley.

Heading down Amboy Road towards 29 Palms you pass through a desert landscape dotted with small shed-like structures set on sweeping scrubland acreage. These curious structures are largely abandoned, though sections of the drive are alive with a dedicated population.

Welcome to Wonder Valley, California.

Wonder Valley, California

In 1938, Congress passed the Small Tracts Act with the promise of a piece of the American (California) Dream. 5 acres would be provided to anyone who could build a small structure on their plot.

Thousands of these cabins were built in the sandy scrubland in the Morongo Valley of the Mojave Desert. The rugged landscape, a lack of infrastructure planning and changing socio-economic factors led to hundreds of these parcels being abandoned to the unforgiving climate.

From “The Last Homesteads of Wonder Valley, California”:
There weren't many other settlers out there in 1948, when Anderson's father, James Hart, obtained his five sandy acres through the Bureau of Land Management's Small Tract Act. As a WWII veteran, Hart got priority in his application for the land, just a short distance from the Mojave Desert's Joshua Tree National Park. Arid, undeveloped, and sparsely beautiful, Wonder Valley was deemed “useless” by the federal government, and so was portioned out for mostly recreational use at $10 to $20 an acre. The sole requirement was that the applicant "proved up" the land with a small house.1

Today, Wonder Valley’s population hovers around 600 souls. The advent of affordable solar and other “off-grid” tools have perhaps handed out a lifeline, and with the proximity to fashionable Joshua Tree, the area has seen speculation once again.

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Small Tracts Act

In 1938 Congress passed a law, called the Small Tract Act (STA) of 1938, by which it is possible for any citizen to obtain certain lands from the Federal Government for residence, recreation, or business purposes. These tracts may not usually be larger than 5 acres. A 5-acre tract would be one which is 660 feet long and 330 feet wide, or its equivalent. The property was to be improved with a building. Starting July 1955, improvement was required to be minimum of 400 sq. feet of space.^[44] 4,000 previously classified Small Tracts were offered at public auction at fair market value, circa 1958, by the Los Angeles Office of BLM.^[44]

From publicland.org:
Some of the problems that evolved from the Small Tract Program were:
*Failure to reserve proper road right-of-ways (ROW). In some cases no ROW's were set aside in classification orders, and in such cases reserves were made around the perimeter of each individual tract. This restricted the use of the entire tract when in reality only one side needed to be encumbered.
*Classification for small tract disposal of unsuitable lands. Some early classifications were made from inadequate maps with no land examination. Steep terrain and blow-sand areas were classified, resulting in impassible roads and non-buildable sites.
*Unsightly or inappropriate structures.
*Leap-frog types of development.
*Inadequate subdivision because of survey limitations. Compare Yucca Valley (mostly privately developed) and Morongo Valley (Small Tracts).
*Limited commercial development.2