Pounding Salt





This artificial road sign is the first thing visitors
of the local historical museum will see.

 

   The other morning I was talking to my sister Lauren during a long morning jump.  It was the perfect time to catch up on each other's lives.  I had a long drive on a lonely highway.  The kids were asleep and being 3 hours behind Lauren's eastern standard time made it convenient for her to chat for a while.  The show had only been in California for a day and we started talking about some of the memorable towns we've visited in the state over the last 15 years or so.  Towns like Corcoran where the prison that houses Charles Manson and the Menendez brother is located.  And Salton Sea, a former Las Vegas type resort town that reached it pinnacle in the '50's & '60's until a natural increase in saline wrecked the aquatic life, the fishing and the tourism.  It is sort of a ghost town now.  And of course we reminisced about Trona.  An isolated town established long ago by John Searles who developed the borax and potash mining industry.  To my surprise the following day, the show was headed to Trona.

   On the outskirts of town I pointed out the above ground water pipes that ran along highway 178 for a few miles.  To us they sort of looked like roller coaster tracks.  As we drove into town Georgia and I talked about what it must have been like for John Searles and his fellow visionaries to travel to such a desolate area so long ago.  We also took in the massive  boulders, rocky cliffs and Joshua trees that were on either side of us. 



 

Dirt ball field

 

  The population of this desert town is about 2,700.  It's located in the Searles Valley in the greater Mojave Desert southwest of Death Valley.  The town takes its name from the mineral trona which is abundant in the dry lake beds.  There are a little over 150 students that attend the high school.   The Trona Tornadoes play on dirt football and baseball fields.  There are a couple of restaurants, gas stations, a few small stores, churches, houses, trailers & mobile homes that dot the neighborhoods.  We couldn't help but notice a makeshift fence encircling someone's backyard made entirely of doors.  Different colors and made of different materials.  Grass does not grow in Trona because there is too much salt in the ground.  In fact the dirt resembles beach sand.

  I did make a quick stop into the historical society museum.  As I stepped inside, I wondered what this old, very long white wooden structure was originally built for.   It was quite impressive with nice displays of photographs, mule team statuettes, and lots of historical artifacts including clothing worn by John Searles.  You can purchase plenty of souvenirs: mugs, sot glasses, shirts, fridge magnets (I bought 2), and pieces of pure borax, hanksite and many other hunks of local rocks. 

  Though the town was officially established around 1913, it took Hollywood many years to discover its natural settings, particularly the famous Trona Pinnacles would be ideal sets for such movies at Planet of the Apes (Georgia's most recent fascination after having been to Trona) and Star Trek V, the final Voyage.  In fact a movie called Trona was made in 2005 and Just Add Water was filmed there around 2008.

The Trona Pinnacles

  It doesn't seem to be the kind of place that has a rather steady influx of new folks in the neighborhoods.  After all, there are no shopping malls, no resorts, no condos, no fishing, no beaches or movie theaters in Trona.  The locals don't seem to mind the lack of grass, shrubs, flowerbeds or town landscaping.  I imagine they have a deep appreciation for the vast stretch of mountains all around that maybe make up for the lack of color.   They are awfully nice and very hospitable.  I got the impression that everyone knows everybody and no one locks their doors at night.