The well defined bench beyond the pistachio farm midshot was once a towering mountain sitting on top of the mine in the distance and Blackhawk Mountain to its right. One day 17,000-20,000 years ago, for cause not known to us now, the mountain collapsed, crumbled into dust and slid down the slope. Spreading two miles wide and five miles long the totality of the event lasted 80 seconds. A popular theory indicates that the crumbled material rode on a cushion of air compressed under the slide, gliding across the desert before coming to a stop.-
