The Colorado Desert is a very arid region in southwestern North America.  Extending from the San Gorgonio Pass in the San Bernardino Mountains in southeastern California to Baja California in northwestern Mexico. Several mountain ranges, including the San Bernardino and the Chocolate, separate the Colorado from the Mojave Desert. Much of the region, about 200 miles long and 50 miles wide, lies below sea level. The depressions include Salton Sea, the Imperial Valley, and the Coachella Valley. The area, where irrigated by canals from the Colorado River, is noted for the production of fruits, cotton, and vegetables. Temperatures change suddenly from 32° F to 115° F with a mean of about 90° F. Precipitation rarely exceeds 4 inches annually.

The Salton Sea is was formed between 1905 and 1907, when the Colorado River broke through an embankment at Parker, Arizona, and overflowed into California. The lake at first covered an area of approximately 450 square miles and had a maximum depth of 67 ft, but its area has since decreased by at least one-third through evaporation. The floor of the Salton Sea is approximately 280 ft below sea level.  Currently the lakes salinity level is about 25% greater than that of the Pacific Ocean.

The Salton Sea is in the Pacific Flyway, which sustains numerous migratory bird species, particularly the waterfowl and shore birds. Nearly 400 bird species have been observed at the sea, about half of the known bird species existing in North American.

Development

In 1955, on the Western Shores of the Salton Sea, the east three fifths of Section 9, Range 9 East, Township 9 South, was chartered by the State of California as the Desert Shores Community Services District.   In 1957, M. Phillips and Holly Corporation of Dallas, Texas began development of Salton City.

Throughout the 1960's and early 1970's the area was all a bustle with tourists and winter vacationers enjoying the areas many recreational opportunities such as fishing, speedboat racing, kayaking, hiking, bird watching, and golfing.   The permanent resident population stayed below 3,000 and its further growth was stymied by back to back once in a 50 year type record rainfalls in the late 1970's and mid 1980's.  The resulting rise in the seas elevation and its' increasing salinities toll on the fish stocks made the area non-conducive to further real estate speculation and the areas population growth stagnated.

Starting in 2003 the effects of the ever increasing cost of real estate in California was beginning to be felt in the area and residential development began to blossom.    By the year 2010 the permanent population may be as high as 10,000.