Zzyzx, California

 unincorporated area / community, scientific research institute / centre

49441 Zzyzx Road
Baker, CA 92309
(657) 278-2428

Soda Springs, a natural spring, has long seen human activity. The area was a prehistoric quarry site and projectile points and rock art can be found in the area. The Mojave Road ran past the spring, as did the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad. Remnants of a wagon road stop and railroad artifacts are readily seen. Evaporative salt mining and mill sites can be found here as well.

The name Zzyzx (pronounced as "Zei-zix" with the accent on the first syllable, rhyming with "Isaac's", not "physics") was given to the area in 1944 by Curtis Howe Springer, claiming it to be the last word in the English language. Springer made up the word's pronunciation. He established the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa at the spot, which was federal land that he had no permission to use. He used Zzyzx until 1974, when he was arrested by the United States Marshals for misuse of the land as well as alleged violations of food and drug laws, and the land was confiscated by the government.

Until the formation of the Mojave National Preserve, the Bureau of Land Management allowed California State University to manage the land in and around Zzyzx. Zzyzx is now managed by the National Park Service (NPS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Interior, as public land. It is the former site of the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa and now the site of the Desert Studies Center, a consortium of CSU campuses. The site is also the location of Lake Tuendae, originally part of the spa, and now a refuge habitat of the endangered Mohave tui chub.

www.roadsideamerica.com/story/21414
nsm.fullerton.edu/dsc/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Studies_Center