Trona pinnacles

Article and pictures by Natasha Petrosova

Visiting Trona one absolutely must stop by mysterious Trona Pinnacles National Landmark. It's in a middle of nowhere but its one of those places that have to be seen. "Known as one of the most unusual geologic wonders in the California Desert, the Trona Pinnacles are more than 500 tufa - they were formed with calcium carbonate - spires of rock that rise from the bed of the Searles Dry Lake basin". Some of those rocks rich more than 140 feet

This unusual landscape consists of 500 tufa spires. Pinnacles differ in size and shape from short and squat to tall and thin. They primarily composed of calcium carbonate (Tufa).

"During the Pleistocene, massive runoff spilled from the Sierra Nevada into a chain of inland seas. The system of interconnected lakes stretched from Mono Lake to Death Valley and included Searles Lake.

Deep beneath Searles Lake, calcium-rich groundwater and alkaline lake water combined to grow tufa formations. Similar (modern) formations can be found today at Mono Lake to the north".

Those tufa pinnacles formed under water for 10, 000 to 100,000 years ago. They did not all formed at the same time . The pinnacles divided by age and elevation into three groups. The groups named northern, middle and southern groups because they formed during three ice ages.

The youngest group is northern group only 11, 000 to 25, 000 years old. The small middle group claims only 100 spires, but boasts the tallest "tower", rising 140 feet (43 m). The southern group includes 200 tufa formations aged 32,000 to 100,000 years old. Those ancient spires were once called "Cathedral City".

"The Pinnacles are recognizable in more than a dozen hit movies. Over thirty film projects a year are shot among the tufa pinnacles, including backdrops for car commercials and sci-fi movies and television series such as Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Disney's Dinosaur, The Gate II, Lost in Space, and Planet of the Apes".

While making plans we knew that we will make a stop here, so i took my dog, Rex on this trip. I thought it would be nice from him to run free in a desert and after sitting in a car for several hours. When i finally let him out from the car , Rex was ready for his free run. It was ultimate and absolute doggie freedom. Off Leash run in a desert by surrounded by a mysterious landscape.

It's a dirt road that leads to trona pinnacles. If you go there see if your car would make it. You can drive the dirt road right to the pinnacles but you have to have a right vehicle for it. If you don't drive 4x4 track or something similar don't even try going down that road. Park your fancy "city" car and do the hike to the pinnacles. You will hike a distance but it will be totally worth it.

References:
David Kelly, Stark Beauty, Solitude, Squalor and Sulfur -- Trona Has It All, The Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2006, Accessed December 28, 2006.

my dog, rex running at Trona Pinnacles

Planet of Apes : photo courtesy by Paull Bunnell http://themoviemaker.net/gallery/pota.php

Rihanna's music video for official song for the new star trek movie: photo courtesy http://geekologie.com/2016/06/outerspace-rihannas-music-video-for-the.php

Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova

After visiting Ballarat, we drove 30 miles to Trona. Trona is a mysterious place located at the northwest corner of San Bernardino County in Searles Valley. Trona is home to the Trona Pinnacles National Monument, Searles Valley Minerals and The Gem-O-Rama Mineral Show. You know that you are approaching Trona when you feel this disgusting rotten egg smell. Don't worry, thought, it's just a smell of chemical plants and from what i was able to tell the smell does not stick to your clothing. When you first visit Trona you may likely feel depressed, disgust and overwhelmed by feelings of pity. Trona is in a middle of nowhere , left in economic woes. Trona is not a ghost town but almost every second building here is abandoned. Some seem to be just burnt down by a fire. Despite that Trona has a very rich and interesting history. I am personally impressed that this town continues to survive, and that the people who live here have a true sense of community that is missing from much of modern day America. Trona is a town where people would want to know where you are going , so they know where to start looking in a case you would not make it back.

Town of Trona was established in 1913. The town is named after a mineral trona abundant at the lake. Trona stands near Searles dried up lake. The mining in Searles lake begun in 1874. John W. Searles and his brother Dennis first discovered dried up lake in 1862 while they were searching for gold in the Panamint Mountains. John did not think much of his find but he took a sample of crystal encrusted crust and stuck it in his ore sack. Many years went by when John met Francis Boarx Smith and learned that Smith was recovering borax from almost identical crystal as the one he found at Searles Lake nearly 10 years ago. John Searles hurried back to the dry lake and staked claims to 640 acres and formed San Bernandino Borax Mining Company. In his first year of operation, the company produced 1 million pounds of borax.

John Searles ended up selling his San Bernardino Borax Mining Company in 1895 to Francis Borax Smith and his Pacific Coast Borax Company. Smith was working diligently to corner the borax market and ended up shutting down the plant after making the purchase.

In early 1990s many of promoters and miners were trying to recover soda ash from the dry lake's surface. But no one seemed to be able to succeed , everyone failed. The California Trona Company gave this its best shot. They borrowed $2million to build two plants to recover soda ash, potash, borax and sodium sulfate. Unfortunately, they went under before they even were able to complete the facilities because of their debt.

The failed California Trona Company was received by S.W. Austin. Austin began building roads onto the lake and was future exploring the possibilities. He discovered that majority of lake's minerals actually were beneath the surface. Austin's first discovery was of the mineral-rich layer of salt found 100 feet beneath the surface. Prior to this discovery all the miners only focused on the crystals from the surface.

The American Trona Company acquired California Trona Company in 1913. The American trona Company had funnds, they build previously abandoned Trona railway, completed work on unfinished processing plants and established the company town of Trona. American Trona Company did what nobody else before them was able to do. They begun production of potash. They produced 250 tons of potash in the year of 1915.

Being a town company meant that American Trona owned all the business and housing in town. the company supplied housing to its employees and paid in script rather than US Currency. The script could be used around the town at other company-owned business such as fo profit script accepting grocery store. American Trona company also provided public library, a school for children and other recreational facilities.

Trona begun to flourish during World War I. Searles Lake was America's only source of potash at the time. Potash is an important element in the creation of gunpowder. Potash production at Searles Lake grew to 36,000 tons in 1916. After the war, efforts the price of potash plunged , causing American Trona to improve is a recovery process.

"With the roaring 1920s and 1930s came the buy out of the American Trona Company by American Potash & Chemical Corporation, and the return of Borax Smith with his newly formed West End Chemical Company. In 1956 West End would merge with Stauffer Chemical Company, and Kerr-McGee would purchase American Potash & Chemical Corporation in 1967. Seven years later, Kerr-McGee would become the only game in town with the purchase of Stauffer’s Westend facility. Kerr-McGee would operate the plants until 1990".

Since 1990 the plants would change several ownership. That year the operations were purchsed from capital investor D. Gearoge Harris and Associates wich formed the north American Chemical Company. "Ownership changed yet again in 1998 when IMG Global Incorporation acquired North American Chemical Company".

In 2004 Sun Capital parteners purchased IMG Global Incorporation and renamed it Searles Valley Company. But they did not own it for long.

Today Searless Valley Company belongs to India as of November 2007. Nirma based in Ahmedabad, India purchased the company from Sun Capital Partners.

Nirma leads major operations in Searless Valey and Trona, California. It is a town's largest employer, employing well over 800 individuals from Trona and the nearby community of Ridgecrest. They currently extract and ship 1.75 million tons of chemicals per year. As it operates on goverment owned land Searless Valley Minerals INC. pays royalties of millions of dollars each year to both federal and state governments. Much of those royalties cover the expences of local school districts. Trona school system has about 760 students and receives 2.5 million in royalties each year. As a result of that, Trona's public school teachers are paid more than in any other public school teacher in a state of California,

One of the things that folks around here will tell you is that more wealth has been taken from Searles Lake than from all the gold mined in California since the Gold Rush of 1849. Buried beneath the lake’s crust are 98 of the 104 known chemical elements, valued by Kerr-McGee at $150 billion.

The sodium sulfate, borax, soda ash and other products made here find their way into the detergent in your cupboard, the insulation in your attic, the car in your driveway.

The chemicals of Trona also are used in the manufacture of fertilizer, baking soda, newsprint, brown paper, enamel, pottery glaze, cotton, rayon, leather, vacuum bottle liners, gypsum wallboard, laboratory and cooking glass, paper towels, tissues, tableware, sugar, beverage bottles, starch, charcoal briquettes, and grocery carts.

There is a little bit of Trona in every American household.

Trona is known for its strenuous weather conditions. Summer brings 118 degrees and winter brings dust storms. spring brings the year's rainfall - three inches, just enough for rattlesnakes, scorpions and tarantulas to stay alive and breed for another year. Searles valley historical museum in Trona displays a road sign to promote a local sign company that reads"End of the World, 10 miles: Trona, 15 miles" . Trona has the only dirt American football field in the United States. It also has a dirt golf course. The only green you see is on the hills with a green painted sand. Grass does not grow in Trona due to regions heat and salty soil.

Many buildings are abandoned , mostly left due to delinquent taxes. The county does not want to take over or be responsible for them. So those abandoned houses literally have no owner, they just left there to collapse on their own. those collapsing buildings with broken windows give Trona an impression of becoming a ghost town.

On a common question, why would people continue to live in Trona the locals will tell you " We like it here". Located near the Death Valley , many locals hope to turn Trona into travel spot. However , it is unlikely that developers will ever come here due to restricted water rights. Trona's small population is unlikely to attract retail investment. However, the city of Trona is full high hopes and expectations. Locals will tell you that Trona's hey - days are yet to come. "We can see this place becoming a tourist town. We’re the gateway to one of the most incredible things in the world, we’ve got people driving through this place all the time."We can not only rely on a plant, We can think bigger and we can do better " . One may say that the city of Trona is a city of hope

References:

"Searles Valley Timeline". Searles Valley Historical Society.
Justis, Ruth (May 31, 2007). "Royalty cut a mixed bag for Trona". The Daily Independent.

Justis, Ruth (November 28, 2007). "New owners for Trona plant". The Daily Independent.