Month: September 2025

1604 – Juan de Onate meets the Mohave while seeking a route to the Southern Sea.
1772 – Deserting soldiers from San Diego Mission cross along the north foot of the San Gabriel Mountains; Capt. Pedro Fages pursues.
1776 (March) – Father Francisco Garces travels west along the Mojave River, passing the future Camp Cady site, bound for San Gabriel Mission.
1776 – Spanish explorers pass through what is now southern Nevada.
1810 (May 20) – Padre Francisco Dumetz names the San Bernardino Valley for St. Bernardine of Siena; Politana asistencia established.
1812 – Earthquakes damage Alta California missions; Serrano destroy the Politana chapel.
1819 – Fr. Joaquin Pasqual Nuez with Gabriel Moraga leads punitive expedition; Moraga camps at future Camp Cady.
1826 – Jedediah Smith crosses from the Colorado River to San Bernardino via the Mojave.
1827 – Smith attacked by Mohave on return; ten men killed. Ewing Young’s trappers trouble Mohave villages.
1829 – Rafael Rivera scouts Las Vegas Valley; Antonio Armijo leads caravan to California via Mojave River and Cajon Pass. San Bernardino asistencia rebuilt. Ewing Young and Kit Carson use the trail and camping sites.
1830 (Jan 28) – Armijo’s caravan descends Mojave River to Cajon Pass, fixing the first regular Old Spanish Trail.
1831 – William Wolfskill and George Yount travel the trail.
1832–1834 – Trade expands; missions suffer livestock thefts; caravans increase.
1837 – William Pope and Isaac Slover enter via the North Branch.
1838 – Lorenzo Trujillo and others settle near San Bernardino.
1839–1841 – New Mexican settlers arrive in California; John Rowland and William Workman lead immigrant parties.
1842 – Agua Mansa and Politana communities form.
1843 – Rancho Muscupiabe granted to Michael White (Miguel Blanco).
1844 – Fremont and Kit Carson cross Mojave; Carson and Godey avenge Resting Springs massacre.
1845 – Benjamin Wilson leads posse into San Bernardino Mountains, names Big Bear Valley.
1846 (May 13) – Mexican-American War begins; Californios defeat Kearny at San Pasqual in December.
1847 (Jan 13) – Capitulation of Cahuenga ends fighting in California.
1848 (Jan 24) – Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill.
1848 (Feb 2) – Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; U.S. acquires California.
1848 – Salt Spring, first recorded gold discovery in San Bernardino County.
1849 – Lost 49ers cross Death Valley. Capt. Jefferson Hunt leads Mormon Battalion members across the Mojave Road.
1850 – California becomes a state. Early gold reported in San Bernardino Mountains.
1851 (June 11) – Mormon colonists arrive in San Bernardino; Hunt brings first Mormon immigrant train. Hunt begins mail service from Mojave River base, lasting three years.
1852 – Mormon lumber road built toward Crestline.
1853 – Lt. Williamson surveys Mojave River; San Bernardino County petitioned.
1854 – Fort Tejon established.
1855 – First gold at Big Bear; Oasis of Mara noted. Mormon missionaries establish Las Vegas fort.
1857 (Jan 9) – Fort Tejon earthquake; San Bernardino disincorporated. Edward F. Beale notes Camp Cady site.
1858 (Jan) – Beale, Mercer, and 45 dragoons march toward the Colorado, passing site of future Camp Cady. Butterfield Overland stages begin service.
1859 (Jan) – Companies B and K, First Dragoons, scout Mojave River. Sept 29, dragoons return to Fort Tejon. Oct 21, Capt. Hancock sends wagon train of supplies via Mojave Road. Oct 29, J. Winston establishes depot at future Camp Cady.
1859 – Bodie, California, discovered by Wakeman S. Bodey.
1860 (Feb 11) – Lt. Col. B. L. Beall sends dragoons from Tejon in search of Indians. (Mar 31) Los Angeles Star calls for military post. (Apr 14) Maj. James Carleton establishes Camp Cady, named for Col. Albemarle Cady. (Apr–Jul) Patrols build redoubts at Soda and Bitter Springs; Carleton recalled to Tejon.
1860 – Coso discovered by Dr. E. Darwin French. Tecopa and Cerro Gordo ores found.
1861 (Jan 29) – Supply train sent to Fort Mojave via Camp Cady. (Apr) Civil War begins.
1861 – White Mountain City established; mining begins in New York Mountains; Sage Land District discovered.
1862 (Jan–Feb) – Floods damage Mojave roads. (Apr 14) Lt. Nathaniel Pierce and detachment briefly garrison Camp Cady.
1862 – Cerro Gordo worked by Mexican miners; Turtle Mountains, Whipple Mountains, and Copper Basin mined.
1863 – Camp not permanently garrisoned; visited by Federal troops.
1863 – Freeman District organized; Irataba copper district formed; Rock Spring silver discovered.
1864 (Jul–Sep) – Capt. John Cremony and Company B, 2nd California Cavalry, patrol Mojave Road from Cady to Rock Springs.
1864 – El Paso Mining District active.
1865 (Apr 23) – Official establishment date of Camp Cady. Rotations of California Infantry and Cavalry serve. Pvt. Somerindyke dies by accident; Elliot Coues visits in November.
1865 – Cerro Gordo revived by Coso miners; Tecopa developed; Bullion Mine in Ivanpah discovered.
1866 (Jan) – Capt. Benjamin West commended for building work. (Jul 29) Skirmish near Mojave kills several soldiers.
1866 – Anthony Mill Ruins noted.
1867 (Feb–Aug) – Lt. Manuel Eyre commands Camp Cady; Indian fights at Marl Springs and Pahute Springs. Store at camp burned; Eyre dismissed in 1866.
1868 (Oct 6) – Old site abandoned; new Camp Cady built half a mile west with permanent adobe buildings.
1868 – Clark Mountain copper discovery.
1870 (Oct 19) – Gen. Stoneman designates Camp Cady a military reservation.
1870 – Darwin rediscovered; Avawatz area named.
1871 (Mar) – Camp Cady abandoned; property turned over to local stockmen.
1871 – Chloride Cliff ore discovered.
1872 – Oro Grande/Silver Mountain district organized.
1873 – Old Woman Mountains discovery; Twentynine Palms finds; Panamint boom.
1874 – Darwin silver-lead bodies located.
1874–76 – Southern Pacific completes Tehachapi Loop, connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles.
1875 – Savahia Peak, Exchequer, Waterman, and Riggs mines discovered.
1876 – Ord and Fry Mountains claims located; Lookout district silver-lead discovered.
1877 – Wildrose kilns operate; Beveridge district mined.
1879 – George G. Lee dies, linked to Calico discovery.
1880 – Providence Bonanza King silver discovered; Nantan mine located.
1881 – SP builds Mojave to Calico Station. Harmony Borax Works founded; Calico camp grows; Alvord Mine consolidated.
1882–83 – SP extends track to Needles.
1882 – Providence Mountains gold-iron ores.
1883 – Atlantic & Pacific builds to Kingman; Carson & Colorado reaches Keeler. Needles Reduction Works opens; Ballarat’s Panamint Valley Mine located.
1883 (Aug 21) – Machinery for Alvord Mill delivered to Camp Cady.
1884 – A&P crosses Colorado River and acquires SP line Waterman Junction to Needles. Kramer siding established.
1884 (Jul 5) – President Arthur declares Camp Cady useless for military purposes.
1888 – Paradise Mine discovered.
1890 – Vanderbilt gold discovered by Bob Black.
1893 – Nevada Southern links Goffs to Manvel/Barnwell. Lost Horse Mine established in Joshua Tree region.
1895 – California Eastern begins service.
1897 – Stone Hammer and Orange Blossom mines discovered.
1898 – Randsburg Railway opens. Bagdad-Chase gold discovered; Copper City and Goldstone developed.
1899 – Rosalie post office moved from Ivanpah.
1900 – Coolgardie placers found.
1902 – Ludlow & Southern and Barnwell & Searchlight railroads built. Halloran Spring mines recorded.
1903 – Keane Wonder Mine discovered.
1904 – Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad opens. Rhyolite, Nevada founded.
1905 – San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad completed; Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad opens. Inyo Mine developed; Leadfield begins; turquoise discovered at Halloran Spring.
1906 – Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad built. Skidoo founded; Goldbend and Death Valley Mine discovered. Albert Johnson and Walter Scott make first trip to Death Valley.
1906–1922 – Johnson and Scotty visit Death Valley intermittently.
1907 – Bullfrog Goldfield connects Nevada camps. Garvanza Mine; Hart boomtown founded; Gold Belt discovered.
1908–10 – Arizona & California line links Cadiz, Rice, and Parker. 1908 – Gold Valley discovery.
1909 – Gypsite discovered at Koehn Dry Lake.
1910 – Slocum and Opal camps founded.
1911 – Silver Lake talc mines opened; Saltdale noted.
1912 – Southern Pacific builds Jawbone Branch to Owens Valley.
1913 – Trona Railway opens. Clipper Mountains discovery.
1915–16 – California Southern (II) built between Rice and Ripley. Crutts mining camp appears.
1915–1917 – Johnson acquires ranches in Grapevine Canyon, names them Death Valley Ranch.
1921 – Johnson plans permanent structures. Eichbaum opens Towne Pass toll road.
1922 – Johnson hires Frederick Kropf as superintendent.
1922–1924 – Garage, main house, cookhouse built.
1924–1925 – Stables, chicken coop, workshop built.
1925 – Matt Roy Thompson hired.
1925–1926 – Commissary constructed.
1926–1931 – Architect MacNeilledge designs Spanish-style complex, replaced by de Dubovay in 1931.
1927 – U.S. Borax opens Furnace Creek Inn.
1929 – Dewey Kruckeberg landscapes Death Valley Ranch.
1930 – Hoover withdraws land for study; Johnson learns surveys flawed. Eichbaum completes road to Grapevine Canyon. Tourist traffic increases.
1930–1931 – Daily visitors range from 40 to 100 during construction.
1931 – Johnson halts construction over title issues.
1933 (Feb 11) – Hoover proclaims Death Valley National Monument. Johnsons move to Hollywood, visit monthly.
1934 – Johnson opens informal public tours; Burton Frasher postcards produced.
1935 (Aug 22) – Roosevelt allows Johnson to repurchase Grapevine Canyon land.
1936–1937 – Formal tours begin, $1 admission. Bessie Johnson manages.
1937 (Nov 17) – Johnson receives land patent.
1938 (Mar) – Flood washes away last traces of Camp Cady.
1941 (Oct) – Bessie Johnson publishes 10,000 castle guidebooks.
1942–1945 – WWII rationing reduces castle visitation.
1943 (Apr 22) – Bessie Johnson dies in auto accident on Towne Pass.
1946 – Johnson creates the Gospel Foundation.
1947 (May 19) – Johnson wills property to Gospel Foundation.
1948 (Jan 7) – Johnson dies; Foundation continues operating castle as “museum-hotel.”
1970 (Jul) – NPS purchases Grapevine ranches and castle for $850,000; furnishings donated.
1970–1973 – National Parks Concessions administers castle tours and upkeep.
1973 – NPS assumes full responsibility for Scotty’s Castle.

Trona: The Mineral and the Lake That Made It Famous

When people hear the word “Trona,” they might think first of the tiny desert town in California’s Searles Valley. But long before there was a town, there was a mineral—trona itself—and long before that, there was a great Ice Age lake that left behind an astonishing chemical treasure chest. This is the story of the mineral, the lake, and the wider desert world it belongs to.

The Mineral Trona
Trona is a sodium carbonate mineral with the chemical formula Na3(CO3)(HCO3)·2H2O. At first glance, it doesn’t look impressive—grayish, sometimes yellowish, dull and earthy in texture. You can scratch it with a fingernail, since it ranks only 2.5 on the Mohs scale. But appearances deceive. Trona is the raw material that fuels the soda ash industry, and soda ash in turn is essential for making glass, detergents, paper, and countless industrial products.

Trona forms in dry, alkaline lakes where evaporation pulls water away and leaves dissolved salts behind. In crystal form, it can be fibrous, granular, or massive, and it’s often found alongside related salts like nahcolite, gaylussite, and halite. It belongs to the evaporite family—minerals that crystallize in the desert sun as lakes vanish.

Trona’s Desert Cousins
To understand trona, you have to meet its “cousins.” Borax, another evaporite mineral, forms in highly alkaline, boron-rich lakes. Borax is white and powdery, long known for its role in glassmaking and cleaning products, and it gained fame during the “20 Mule Team” borax days of Death Valley. Hanksite, a rare mineral found almost exclusively in Searles Lake, is more exotic. With its strange mix of carbonate, sulfate, and chloride, it grows in large hexagonal crystals prized by collectors. Thenardite, a sodium sulfate, appears later in the drying sequence, often after trona has already crystallized. And halite—plain rock salt—is the final curtain call in the evaporation process, forming thick beds of common salt.

Together, these minerals tell the chemical story of ancient lakes. Each one signals a different stage in the drying cycle: carbonates like trona first, then borates, then sulfates, then chlorides, with rare mixes like hanksite reserved for the most concentrated brines.

The Evaporation Sequence
Picture a great lake in the desert slowly drying under the sun. As water disappears, minerals crystallize out in a sequence. First come the carbonates—trona and nahcolite—as the lake becomes alkaline. If boron is present, borax forms next. With more evaporation, sodium sulfate minerals like thenardite precipitate. Finally, halite—rock salt—deposits in massive beds, and in the last brine stages, unusual combinations like hanksite grow. It’s nature’s chemistry experiment written on the desert floor.

Searles Lake: A Desert Laboratory
Searles Lake in the Mojave Desert is one of the best examples of this process. During the Ice Age, between 30,000 and 12,000 years ago, Searles Lake was a deep freshwater body. Fed by the Mojave River, it was part of a chain of lakes stretching across the desert. When the climate dried, Searles Lake shrank and minerals built up, cycle after cycle, until its bed became one of the richest evaporite deposits on earth.

Today, companies mine Searles Lake for trona, borax, soda ash, sodium sulfate, and halite. They use solution-mining, pumping brines from beneath the playa into evaporation ponds, then refining the salts. The nearby town of Trona, California, owes its name and existence to this mineral wealth. Each October, the community hosts “Gem-O-Rama,” when collectors from around the world flock to dig crystals of hanksite, borax, and halite fresh from the brines.

The Mojave River Lake Chain

Searles Lake didn’t exist in isolation. It was one link in a chain of Ice Age lakes connected by the Mojave River. The river began in the San Bernardino Mountains, flowed through the Victor Valley, and filled Lake Manix near Barstow. When Lake Manix spilled north through Afton Canyon, water reached Soda and Silver Lakes, forming Lake Mojave. In the wettest periods, Lake Mojave overflowed into Searles Lake. From there, water sometimes spilled farther into Panamint Valley, filling Panamint Lake. In the very wettest times, the chain reached all the way to Death Valley, where Lake Manly stretched 80 miles long and hundreds of feet deep.

This chain acted like a conveyor belt for water and minerals. Each basin concentrated dissolved salts, but Searles Lake, being closed and rarely flushed, became a perfect trap. That is why its sediments are so rich in trona and other evaporites.

From Ice Age to Industry
When the Ice Age ended, about 12,000 years ago, the climate warmed, and the Mojave River carried far less water. Searles Lake dried into a playa, but its mineral layers remained. By the 1800s, prospectors discovered borax there. In 1873, John and Dennis Searles began mining borax with mule teams, one of the earliest borax operations in California. By the early 1900s, large-scale industrial mining was underway, and the town of Trona was established to house workers. Throughout the 20th century, operations expanded with new methods, and today the lake continues to support a thriving industry and a small desert community.

A Legacy Written in Salt
Searles Lake is more than a dry playa; it is a book of climate history, a record of ancient rivers, and a living source of industrial minerals. The mineral trona, dull to look at but essential to modern life, is both its namesake and its most important product. In the larger story of the desert, Searles Lake shows how geology, chemistry, and human enterprise meet in one stark basin. From Ice Age waters to the shelves of today’s stores, trona’s journey is a desert tale written in crystal layers.

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Out in the desert, most folks listen for the rattle-rattle warning of a rattlesnake. But did you know many other snakes are sharing the sand and rocks?

One day, a little Gopher Snake slithered by a farmer’s field. “Don’t worry,” it said, “I don’t bite like a rattler. I eat the mice sneaking into your grain.” And with that, it slipped into a hole and came out with a squeaking snack.

“Eeep, eeep, eep,” the vulnerable little mouse cried as it was manipulated headfirst into the snake’s mouth. Its cries muffled as the swallowing began. I have heard it said that going with the nap of the fur aids more efficient digestion.

A shiny Kingsnake stretched out in the sun. “Guess what I like to eat?” it grinned. “Other snakes—even rattlesnakes! Their venom doesn’t bother me one bit.” The rattler kept its distance.

Old Kingsnake had plenty of holes in his head and along his body to prove that he was immune to the rattlesnake bites.

Meanwhile, a Coachwhip zipped across the desert floor, faster than a kid on a bike, chasing lizards like a ribbon in the wind. And deep in the rocks, a Rosy Boa curled up, soft and calm, looking more like a coiled rope than a wild snake.

Every snake has its place, and while rattlesnakes warn with a rattle, the others work quietly to keep the desert in balance. So remember: not all snakes are scary—some are helpers too.