Ripley, CA

Ripley is a Riverside County census-designated place in the Palo Verde Valley, where the 2020 census counted 538 residents, down from 692 in 2010. State Route 78 runs through the community between Palo Verde and Blythe, crossing a landscape of fields irrigated with Colorado River water. At 249 feet above sea level, Ripley sits in the low desert, but its daily scenery is agricultural: canals, crops, and long straight roads across the valley.

The town began in 1920 when the California Southern Railroad extended its line from Blythe. The townsite honored Edward Payson Ripley, a former Santa Fe Railway president, and early plans imagined Ripley as a resort. A flood damaged part of the valley in 1922, leaving the railroad-era water tower as one of the community's recognizable reminders. Water management is as important here as the highway, since farming depends on the river's reach. Ripley today is a small farming place tied to Blythe, Palo Verde, the Colorado River, and the highway that joins them.