page_title: Box Springs Mountain
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Box Springs Mountain / History
caption_attribution_description: English: 'M' lit up on Box Springs Mountain
context_page_description: Box Springs Mountain is the highest peak in the Box Springs Mountains range, standing 3,083 ft tall. The mountain is in northwestern Riverside County, Southern California.
context_section_description: Box Springs Mountain is said to have gotten its name during the 1880s. Teamsters with horse-drawn wagons would stop at a natural spring in an arroyo of the range to water their horses. A teamster surrounded it with a box to maintain water access, later giving the spring and range their names.
  The letter "C" is embedded on the Riverside-facing side. The "Big C" was built in 1957, mostly by UC Riverside students. E.L. Yeager donated the materials for it. The "C" is approximately 1,500 feet above the UCR campus, and was the world's largest poured-concrete block letter, 132 feet high by 70 feet wide. The "C" is often vandalized with graffiti.
  The letter "M" was embedded on the Moreno Valley side of the mountain in 1966 as a symbol of Moreno Valley High School which was then in the town of Sunnymead. The City of Moreno Valley was officially incorporated as a municipality on December 3, 1984 comprising Sunnymead, Edgemont and the little town of Moreno. The mountain with "M" were included on the new city logo. During the first week of December 2009 Moreno Valley and Southern California Edison lit up the "M" to celebrate the 25th anniversary of cityhood.
caption: The 'M' of Moreno Valley on the mountain, lit in 2009.
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