Origin of the Arrowhead landmark near San Bernardino, California

A seven-acre vegetational feature in the shape of a large arrowhead is visible from much of the San Bernardino Valley. There is a large number of legends that explain why the arrowhead exists, and a common theme of these legends is that the arrowhead is a natural landmark. The concentrations of 32 soil elements from within and outside of the arrowhead landmark were examined. The chemical and field measurements indicate that there do not appear to be any substrate controls that can account for the arrowhead landmark, and suggest that it might be a human-made or human-modified feature. A tentative conclusion of this work is that the arrowhead may be a human-made advertisement created sometime in the late 1850s or early 1860s, perhaps by the founder of the nearby hot springs resort.