Herbert Graham Gibson established the first store at Cima in 1900. In 1905 the first post office opened in the store. Gibson refused to pump the gas for his customers and therefore may have created the first self-service station in the country.[1] The site served as both a railroad siding and a commercial center for ranchers and miners.
Few people now live in the area. In fact, like the neighboring town of Kelso to the southwest, Cima is now usually considered a ghost town.[2] Nevertheless, both towns still see considerable activity on the Union Pacific rail line that brought the towns into being. Between Kelso and Cima lies the Cima Grade, the steepest part of the line between the Los Angeles area and Las Vegas. The tracks rise 2,000 feet (610 m) in 20 miles (32 km). Both sites also lie within the Mojave National Preserve, with the attendant tourist activity.
Climate
For Cima, the average high temperature in July is 93 °F (34 °C), with an average low of 67 °F (19 °C). January averages are 51 °F (11 °C) and 29 °F (−2 °C). The highest temperature on record is 110 °F (43 °C) in 1967, and the lowest is −2 °F (−19 °C), recorded in 1972. Cima receives less than 10 inches (250 mm) of rain in an average year.
^David W. Kean, Wide Places in the California Roads: The encyclopedia of California's small towns and the roads that lead to them (Volume 1 of 4: Southern California Counties), p. 45.
