San Felipe Valley and Stage Station

The bronze lists four peoples whose trade routes crossed here, and two of the four are the same nation under different colonial names. Kamia is a Mohave word for the Kumeyaay; Diegueño is what the San Diego mission called them. The other two are the Ivilyuqaletem, whom the plaque calls Cahuilla, and the Payómkawichum, whom it calls Luiseño. The routes were theirs, and were old. Warren F. Hall's Butterfield home station, where crews slept and drivers changed, opened across the creek in 1858.

What the plaque says

San Felipe Here the southern trail of explorers, trappers, soldiers, and emigrants crossed ancient trade routes of Kamia, Cahuilla, Diegueño, and Luiseño Indians. On the flat, southwest across the creek, Warren F. Hall built and operated the San Felipe home station of the Butterfield Mail, 1858 - 61, used later by Banning Stages and by the military during the Civil War. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 793 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Squibob Chapter, No. 1853, E Clampus Vitus, April 19, 1964.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Anza-Borrego Desert State Park — 11 mi
  Six hundred thousand acres of badlands, slot canyons, and palm oases, and the biggest state park in California.
• Borrego Springs — 13 mi
  A dark-sky town ringed by state park, with 130 metal beasts loose in the desert around it.

More markers nearby

• Box Canyon — 6.5 mi
• Pedro Fages Trail — 8.2 mi
• Chapel of Santa Ysabel (Site of) — 11 mi
• Vallecito Stage Depot (Station) — 12 mi