Monday, August 15, 2016

Visiting Trona

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.

To Trona, Calif., residents, that awful smell spells $$$ : http://tronahistory.com/to-trona-calif-residents-that-awful-smell-spells/

The first abandoned house in Trona that we entered

abandoned house interior: living room with a fire place was a nice touch

kitchen

bedroom

this house seems just burnt down

inside a purple house

Another abandoned house that seems to just burnt in fire

yellow house interior

Searles Valley Minerals

Abandoned houses

Interior

this building was for lease or sale for a few years now. Any takers?

Abandoned Bar

Abandoned bar , interior

More abandoned trona houses

abandoned brick house, not sure what it was but it does not have a wall in a back

Trona's abandoned gas station

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Ballarat: Death Valley Ghost Town

Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova

Ballarat is located at the western entrance of Death Valley at the base of Panamint Mountain Range. Ballarat started in 1897as a supply point for the mines in the canyons of the Panamint Mountain Range. The main mine supporting the town was the Radcliffe in Pleasant Canyon just east of town. Radcliffe produced 15, 000 tons of gold ore between years of 1898 and 1903.

Ballarat is named after Australian gold camp by Australian immigrant and one of the earliest residents, George Riggins. Ballarat in Australia was a town where the first gold was found in that country in 1851. Perhaps settlers of "new" Ballarat in United States, California thought the name will bring them luck and it really did. It was here, in Ballarat, CA where the world's largest gold nugget was found, weighing almost 143 pounds. California - The Golden State was truly living up to its nick name.

A year after the town was established it had almost 500 residents . Ballarat residents were forced to live in extreme weather conditions with a summer temperature reaching 120 degrees and bitter cold winters. At this remote location, everything that needed for survival had to be brought in from great distance including water, food, and timber. Pioneers then had to preserve the goods for as long as they could.

The settlement was built from adobe bricks and soon the town had seven saloons, three hotels, a Wells Fargo Station, post office, school, a jail and a morgue. But it was no a single church ever built in this town. It was not that kind of town. Wild and wooly, the settlement was where the miners went to blow off some steam and relax after a hard day in the mines. With a large population of men, the settlement catered to them, providing a number of "painted ladies” for their enjoyment.

The town was also home to several legendary desert figures including Frank ”Shorty” Harris, "Seldom Seen Slim,” and Wyoming gambler and gunman Michael J. "Jim” Sherlock.

In 1903 Radcliff Mine suspended its operations and the towns start fading into history. Soon afterward, other mines began to fold as the gold played out. The post office closed in 1917 and the only remaining residents were a few die-hard prospectors including Shorty Harris, who lived here on and off until his death in 1934.

In the summer of 1904, Harris partnered with a man named Ernest "Ed" Cross and on August 9th, they discovered the Bullfrog Mining District. The way the story is told as two partners were to head out for a day, Ed was cooking breakfast when one of Shorty's mules took off . Shorty run chasing after the mule , he stubbed his toe on a rock and fell down. As he was getting up, he looked around before letting out a yell: "There it is, the strike of the century! Forget the breakfast Eddie, let’s get to a Goldfield and get this assayed!" "Incredibly, the ore samples came back to be worth $3,000 per ton and Shorty wasted no time going to the saloon to celebrate. While Shorty is on a binge for almost a week, Ed was working on lining up a sale for the mining rights. Unfortunately, Shorty would come out on the "short-end" of this great find as while he was "celebrating," he gambled away his share for $1,000 and a mule to a man named J.W. McGaliard. His partner Cross, however, joined with McGaliard and formed the Original Bullfrog Mine. Later, Ed sold his share for $25,000 and he and his wife bought a big ranch in Escondido, California".

Shorty continued to prospect for the rest of his life, though he never had a mine he could call his own. After being ill for a while , Shorty died in 1934 at the age of 78 in his cabin at Big Pine, California.

Perhaps Ballarat's the most legendary prospector that touched a lot of Americans hearts was Seldom Seen Slim. Can you imagine living in a deserted ghost town in a Mojave desert without water and electricity? Can you imagine living in a place that once was referred as " suburbs of hell"? Who would want to live here ? Well, one man did . His name was Charles Ferge, aka Seldom Seen Slim. Slim was a prospector who lived and worked his claims in Ballarat for over 50 years.

Seldom Seen Slim was not an ordinary man. He found peace and joy in solitude in the desert. He was a prospector who was always seeking the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I don't know who came up with a name "rainbow chaser" but that what Slim was. Slim focused on his mining claims. The comfort afforded by society were no interest to him . He did not care about material wealth. Slim just needed enough money to maintain his life style as a desert prospector in order to buy food, tobacco , gas for his car, water, and some cloth.

Slim was about 32 years old when he came to Ballarat in 1914 before the town became deserted. Ballarat became Slims home . He had a whole town to himself. At one point or another , Slim lived in every abandoned building in Ballarat. One time there was a fire and it burned some buildings including the one Slim was living in . Slim decided to roughed it for a while and eventually got himself a trailer to live in. In reply to the common question of whether he got lonely living in the desert, his response was “Me, lonely? Hell no! I‘m half coyote and half wild burro.”

There used to be a water in Ballarat , but the water table had dropped and the water had dried up. So Slim had to go 30 miles to Trona to bring water back to his camp. Seldom Seen Slim was living without water or electricity for years. He would tell his visitors that he bathed twice a year in Trona and that the rain water keeps his skin soft. Even though Slim enjoyed his solitude he also loved his visitors. He acted as unofficial curator of Ballarat telling visitors the stories and showing them around the town.

One question that everyone would like to know is how Slim made money? No one knows for sure if Slim had money when he arrived to Ballarat. Slim says that he was an orphan and had no people. His early years are undocumented . Slim made some money from what he produced from his mining claims. Mines in the area had produced money for some of the larger operations. What Slim produced from his own claims is unknown. In later years, he made some money selling rock samples to tourists and rock hounds. He even sold photos of himself, as he had become quite the celebrity over the years.

"As the sole resident of a ghost town and a true character of the wild west, Slim became the subject of many articles. Harry Oliver, also a “desert rat,” published a pocket newspaper called Desert Rat Scrap Book. It was published four times a year and it became so popular that he gained international subscribers. Readers enjoyed Oliver‘s colorful descriptions of desert living. Slim was a regular celebrity in the Desert Rat Scrap Book. His infamous sayings and singular lifestyle fascinated readers. Slim was one of the poster boys for all desert rats and old-time prospectors. He represented both freedom and adventure to those who read about him. When tourists and rock hounds met Slim they wanted their photo taken with him. They wrote stories about him and they told stories about him. He captured the attention of everyone who crossed paths with him".

Slim was a simple man who led a very simple life. he never aimed to be rich and never tried to do anything specific to be famous. He just lived the life the way he wanted to. It was this very act that brought him popularity and fame. The U.S. Department of the Interior even named a peak in the Panamint Mountains in honor of Slim, calling it Slim‘s Peak. Slim loved to share his stories and experiences with visitors . He died from cancer in 1968 at the age of 86. Seldom Seen Slim was what one may call a living window to the past .

Seldom Seen Slim, photo courtesy http://www.desertusa.com/desert-people/seldom-seen-slim.html

In the 1960’s, Neil Cummins bought the private land east of Ballarat. He was hoping to create another Palm Springs , a tourist spot . He built a cinder-block store and set up a trailer park with electrical hookups. His attempt to turn Ballarat into a tourist spot failed and in 1988, he finally gave up.

Today most Ballarat's building returned to earth, but some are still standing including Ballarat's jail and morgue. As of July 2009 Ballarat's sole full-time resident is Rocky Novak. Rocky lives on a site in his generator-powered home and runs a general store to supply the tourists and he is working on repairing water pipes that supply the town for which he is paid by the government. We met Rocky while visiting Ballarat. He is very friendly , he loves to show around the town and tell the stories. Rocky told us that every summer a woman named Jun and her son stay in former jail/morgue. It is rented to visitors for $5 a night. Rocky told us that some couples spend a night in a jail/morgue on Halloween night and later tell a funny story to their friends about spending a night in a mourge. Are you a couple looking for adventure? This could be a very spot for you too.

Ballarat is used today as a meeting point for four-wheel drive expeditions into the area and in winter up to 300 people camp in the grounds of the town. This is a place to see and visit if you are up for an adventure.

References:

Seldom Seen Slim aka Charles Ferge: The Unofficial Curator of Ballarat Ghost Town by Lynn Bremner:http://www.desertusa.com/desert-people/seldom-seen-slim.html

CALIFORNIA LEGENDS Ballarat - Death Valley Ghost Town

: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-ballarat.html

Nevada Legends: Frank "Shorty" Harris Single blanket jackass prospector: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/nv-shortyharris.html

inside the ruins

Ballarat's former jail and morgue and now $5 motel

Jail and morgue

inside the jail and morgue

Rocky Novak in front of his general store

Points a road that leads to Ballarat

Monday, August 8, 2016

Atolia: The Richest Tungsten Mine in the World

Article and photography by Natasha Petrosova

Atolia was the richest tungsten mine in the world that now stands in ruins. Despite that , Atolia has a very interesting story. Atolia is a ghost town in a Mojave desert near Randsburg in San Bernardino County. You can see Atolia driving down hwy 395.

Atolia story begins in 1903 when Charles Taylor and Tom McCarty , discovered the tungsten deposits and shipped a carload of ore to Germany to be processed. They made a nice amount of money and in 1906 were bought out by E. B. Degolia and Mr. Atkins. Atkins and Degolia became area mining operators and they put up the first mill here in 1907. The town's name Atolia derives from a combination of names of its two founders Atkins and Degolia , hence Atolia.

The Atolia Mining Company produced close to $100,000 worth of ore in 1906, their first year of operation. By 1913, just 7 years later, they had produced $1,000,000 worth of ore. The town’s boom time were the years during World War I. The Atolia mine had a payroll of $60,000 per month and between the years of 1916 and 1918, nearly $10 million was produced, making it the richest tungsten mine in the world. All of the things a miner could need could be found in the town’s four restaurants, drug store, three general stores, three rooming houses, four pool rooms, two stationary stores, ice cream parlor, garage, three butcher shops, miscellaneous stores and picture show. There was even a new school house for 60 pupils and a newspaper to keep the citizens informed.

Atolia's biggest year was 1916, as the value of tungsten was skyrocketing. Doubling its production again, the Atolia Mining Company produced 108,000 units of ore at $33 a unit for a total of over three and a half million dollars. Atolia's population grew rapidly accounting for over 2000 residents.

"Eastern manufacturers sent buyers to Atolia to bid on tungsten ore like bushels of wheat or cotton, with prices for small amounts of high grade ore, in at least one instance, reaching $90 a unit. The buyers didn't ask too many questions as to where the tungsten came from, as highgrading was all too common. However, miners were watched as if they were mining South African diamonds; lunch pails were inspected daily, and ore was sealed before shipment by rail. Tungsten had become a precious metal ".

Water was also very precious commodity in Atolia. Ironically it was shipped from near by town, Hinkley. Why is it ironic? ..... well because most of you remember "Erin Brockovich" the movie and a town with a poison water. That town was Hinkley, almost 100 later after PG&E polluted Hinkley's ground water. A tank car of water shipped from Hinkley to Atolia cost between $15 and $28. The water was shipped from Hinkley till 1917, when the Randsburg Water Company pipeline reached Atolia, the mining company was doing it's best to conserve water and even caught rainfall with gutters on every building.

"People in the Randsburg area made thousands of dollars from tungsten overnight. One S. E. Vermilyea purchased a lease for $2,000 and worried that he'd never recover his initial investment. Three days later he hit high grade ore and refused an offer of $25,000. A canvas bag the size of a shopping bag filled with high grade scheelite float was worth $350. Even children gathered the ore and made big money".

This opportunity was huge but unfortunately, it did not last. In 1917 the Atolia Mining Company sold 116,000 units, 8,000 more than it produced in 1916. Although this was worth more than two million dollars, this represented a loss of one and a half million dollars over what the same amount would have brought in 1916. The price of tungsten had dropped to $18 a unit and Atolia's boom was on a decline.

"Atolia tungsten production for 1918 was $1,525,000 from 61,000 units of ore at $25 a unit, and in 1919, when only 4,000 units were sold at $16 a unit, the Atolia boom was over. The next year the Atolia Mining Company didn't ship a single unit of ore".

With the end of World War I the demand for tungsten diminished , not to mention that tungsten was inexpensively mined and shipped from China , sounds familiar, isn't it? People started to move away from Atolia, businesses would close and a town began to fade in history.

Atolia now stands in ruins. The town does not have any residents. There is a sing "Private Property" and it seems according to public records that the site is under BLM control. If you want to explore the area , go ahead, no one will stop you. However , please don't litter, no camp fires and no graffiti , please respect and help to preserve our mining history.

References:

"Atolia -Randsburg Tungsten Boom": http://mojavedesert.net/desert-fever/atolia-randsburg.html

"The Mojave Desert" http://cali49.com/mojave/2013/10/17/atolia-cal