Mojave National Preserve was established in 1994 as part of the California Desert Protection Act. The 1.6 million-acre park encompasses much of the Mojave Desert, as well as transitional elements of the Great Basin and Sonoran deserts. About half of the park is congressionally designated wilderness.

The the early 1900s, Union Pacific started construction of a railroad connecting Los Angelos and Salt Lake City. In 1905 the Kelso Station was constructed and in the same year the railroad was completed.
In the early 1920s the plans were made for the Kelso Depot. The building would include a conductor's room, telegraph office, baggage room, dormitory rooms for staff, boarding rooms for railroad crewmen, a billiard room, library and locker room. Construction started in 1923 and the depot opened in 1924.
In the 1940s business was at its peak when, thanks to mining labor in the Kaiser vulcanic mine, the population of Kelso expanded to nearly 2,000.
The closing of the mine and diesel replacing the steam engines, resulted in decline of the Kelso population and in 1962 the depot activitites in Kelso were discontinued, but the restaurants and rooms were still in use. Over time fewer people needed to eat or stay overnight in Kelso and in 1985 the Kelso depot was closed entirely.

Joshua trees are specific to the Mojave area. Even though they can grow 50 feet tall, Joshua trees are not really trees, but a species of yucca. They prefer flat areas or gradual inclines. The world's largest concentration of Joshua trees grows on the slope of Cima Dome, near Teutonia peak.