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Garden City
Garden City was located between Trona and Mojave, California. It has a short history associated with the mining boom in the Mojave Desert in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was never officially founded as a town but more of a community formed due to local resource extraction developments. (at first as a dry camp for the twenty mule teams) and later as a connection to the Jawbone Branch of the Southern Pacific Railoroad to Mojave.
Preliminary Development
In the vicinity of Garden City, prospectors and miners were attracted to the area for silver, gold, and borates. Mining activity in nearby Trona, a center for borax mining, along with smaller mines in the area, brought transient populations. Garden City was likely born as a camp or settlement to support mining activities.
Economy and Activity
The settlement's economy was mostly based on mining activities. It most likely included small-scale operations and related businesses, like a general store or saloon, to supply the miners working in local claims. Settlements of this nature were typical in the Mojave Desert and provided essential services for isolated mining camps.Decline
As with many mining settlements, Garden City likely declined once when larger and better-equipped mining towns, like Trona, attracted more permanent residents and businesses. The transient nature of the population and the harsh desert conditions made it difficult to sustain a permanent community.Current State Today, very little of Garden City remains, and it is mainly remembered as a footnote to history, overshadowed by the more prominent mining towns in the area. Physical remains of the settlement, such as foundations or ruins, are scant and scattered. This site memorializes the many small, transitory settlements that once dotted the Mojave Desert as a mining region during its heyday.
