by Dylan M. Almendral (Author)
Victorville, California, was inhabited by settlers in 1858. It was not founded formally until 1895, when the town was named Victor in honor of California's Southern Railroad general manager Jacob Nash Victor. In 1901, the name was changed to Victorville to end much confusion with the town of Victor, Colorado. Victorville is many things: a historic crossing for the mass migrations and expeditions to the West, a historic railroad depot, a ranch town, a hideaway for the glamorous of Hollywood during the Golden Era, and a stop on the Mother Road of Grapes of Wrath fame. Several Native American sites are located in Victorville and along the Mojave River, which spans its northernmost borders. Petroglyphs and pictographs, prehistoric symbols etched or drawn by the first High Desert occupants, can still be seen along the rock walls of the Narrows where the river sliced into slabs of solid granite over thousands of years.