Prehistoric
Lake Cahuilla (also known as
Lake LeConte and
Blake Sea) was an extensive freshwater lake that filled the
Coachella,
Imperial, and
Mexicali valleys of southeastern California and northeastern Baja California during the centuries prior to Spanish entry into the region. The
Salton Sea, now about long, wide, and at an elevation of 69 m (226 ft) below sea level), which was
accidentally created in 1905, is a much smaller analog of its prehistoric predecessor Lake Cahuilla, that was about long, wide, and rising to above sea level, drowning the present sites of the cities of
Mexicali,
El Centro, and
Indio.