BGuthrie Photos: CA -- Valley Wells Visitor Center

CA -- Valley Wells Visitor Center:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. VWVC_130715_01.JPG: Westward Expansion In 1776, while Spain was establishing missions in California, Father Garces became the first known European to travel along Indian trails here. Mojave Indians helped guide Garces west to the San Gabriel Mission. In 1826, famed trapper and explorer Jedediah Smith crossed the desert, followed by other trappers and settlers. The discovery of gold in eastern California, Nevada, and Arizona in the mid-1800s led to the development of wagon routes across the desert and changed this area forever. The Old Spanish Trail, a major trade route between Los Angeles and Santa Fe, followed near the route of Interstate 15 between here and Los Angeles. Many other short-haul routes developed after the turn of the last century. This stagecoach traveled between Nipton, California and Searchlight, Nevada. Would camels work as pack animals in western deserts? In 1857, they were put to the test during a survey for a wagon road from New Mexico to the Colorado River. Edward F. Beale, who led the camel expedition, found them to be superior to other pack animals, but the teamsters who handled the animals thought they were aggressive and caused horses and mules to panic. With Civil War politics intervening, the camel project soon ended.
2. VWVC_130715_03.JPG: Who Has Lived Here? Humans have lived in the Mojave Desert for perhaps 12,000 years. The earliest humans inhabited this region during times of higher precipitation, when the dry lake beds of today were filled with water. Their projectile points, scrapers, and other simple stone tools are sometimes found near ancient lake shores. The bow and arrow came into use, as did pottery and basket making. As the climate became more arid and the lakes went dry, the people of the Mojave began traveling with the seasons over large areas to collect food. Grinding stones were used to process seeds and tough vegetable foods. By 1200 AD, native groups across the region were diversifying. Marine shell beads found in the Mojave are evidence of trade with coastal groups.
3. VWVC_130715_11.JPG: Grinding Stone: Native people of the Mojave -- Paiutes, Mojave, and Chemehuevi ate was the available -- mesquite, prickly pear and tule roots. They used metates and mortars from stones for food preparation.
4. VWVC_130715_13.JPG: Movement in the Desert: To cross the dry and rugged Mojave Desert, early inhabitants developed foot trails traveling from spring to spring. These trails evolved from footpaths to pack routes and then wagon roads as Euro-Americans entered the desert. Railroad routes strayed from the wagon roads in search of easier grades, and the first automobile roads followed the rail lines, as trained could be flagged down in an emergency. The Southern Pacific line from Mojave to Needles, completed in 1883, was the first rail line to cross the central Mohave Desert. As automobile travel became popular in the 1920s, the Automobile Club of Southern California created a uniform signing systems, posting thousands of porcelain-on-steel signs. Wagons share the road with automobiles near Ludlow, 1915. The road here was destine to become part of ...
5. VWVC_130715_20.JPG: Clark Mountain: Clark Mountain, at 7,929 ft, is the highest mountain in the Mojave Desert. Among the limestone crags of its summit grow one of three isolated white fir forest stands in the entire California desert. It is also home to a healthy bighorn sheep population.
6. VWVC_130715_21.JPG: The sign borders are pretty creative for some of these
7. VWVC_130715_23.JPG: Hidden Riches in the Desert: How do Plants and Animals Survive Here? Sun, wind, and rain have continuously sculpted the Mojave Desert over time. Changing weather patterns dramatically influence how and where humans, animal and plant species are able to survive. Desert plants and animals have evolved and adapted to survive in this harsh environment. There is an outstanding assortment of beautiful and ecologically important desert terrain in the Mojave. There are salt flats that back in the 120 degree summer heat as well as dense stands of creosote plants, home to the endangered desert tortoise. Joshua tree forests flourish here and have come to symbolize the Mojave Desert. Forested mountaintops provide for outstanding views and backdrops in this diverse living desert.
8. VWVC_130715_25.JPG: Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia): The largest of the yuccas, the joshua tree grows only in the Mojave Desert. Natural stands of this picturesque, spike-leafed evergreen grow in forest communities on high desert slopes.
9. VWVC_130715_38.JPG: Sundials and Polaris -- "The North Star": Polaris remains nearly stationary in the sky, enabling its use to orient sundials. To find Polaris, locate the Big Dipper and follow the two stars at the end of the basic upward. Polaris is the last star in the tail of the Little Dipper. The sundial's groove points to Polaris.
10. VWVC_130715_41.JPG: Water and Deserts: Water, or more accurately the lack of water, is what defines a desert; these areas usually receives [sic] less than ten inches of rain per year while its evaporation exceeds ten inches. Average yearly rainfall in some areas of the Mojave Desert is as low as two to four inches. The now-abandoned community of Bagdad once went an incredible 767 days without rain! Desert temperatures tend to the extremes. It is often hot -- the "World's Tallest Thermometer" is Baker records summer temperatures exceeding 120 degrees -- but it can be below freezing on winter nights. Good rains can create vast fields of spring wildflowers in the desert. Many flowers are annuals, meaning they live only one season. Their seeds are dormant during dry spells, but they can sprout very quickly when water is available. Numerous factors combine to produce a desert. Global weather patterns, long distances from water sources and mountain blockades prevent moisture from reaching desert regions. The Mojave is one of four deserts in North America and is a transition between the hot Sonoran Desert to the south and the cold Great Basin Desert to the north. Factors such as sporadic seasonal rainfall patterns and tall mountain ranges that block precipitation combine to create deserts. Groundwater is found beneath much of the Mojave Desert. Groundwater is replenished by precipitation. Gravity causes groundwater to move through faults and cracks in the rock, which sometimes lead to the surface, creating springs, seeps, and ephemeral streams. Groundwater quality and quantity is critical to the survival of desert plants and animals. Seventy-five percent of the species in this region are associated with the streamside landscape. Summer thunderstorms can turn dry streambeds into raging torrents that flow across desert roads, temporarily stopping traffic. Motorists should not cross these streams, which subside quickly, making for a safe crossing. Campers are advised not to set up in dry streambeds when stormy weather is predicted.
11. VWVC_130715_44.JPG: Footprints in Time: Today, Valley Wells is part fo the Great Mojave Desert, but as recently as 15,000 years ago, this area was home to grasslands and temperate forests. As the environment of an area changes, so must its inhabitants either adapt or perish. How many footprints of these past visitors to Valley Wells can you find here today?
12. VWVC_130715_47.JPG: Coyote
13. VWVC_130715_50.JPG: Unfortunately, the simulated footprints eventually get covered up with people who don't properly toss out their gum. I stopped chewing gum after realizing how often it got dumped by irresponsible people.
14. VWVC_130715_53.JPG: Horse and Dinosaur
15. VWVC_130715_57.JPG: Sidewinder or Horned Rattlesnake
16. VWVC_130715_60.JPG: Native people (adult and children) and desert tortoise
17. VWVC_130715_63.JPG: It's interesting how the AAA of Southern California got involved in doing road signage from the very beginning and they still work on them.
18. VWVC_130715_71.JPG: Ranching and Mining: Gold and silver discoveries during the mid-1800s brought hundreds of prospectors trekking across the eastern Mojave. Ephemeral camps sprang up throughout the desert as miners discovered copper and silver in nearby mountains. Ranchers moving into high, grassy valleys, exploited the market for beef created by the miners, and soon developed commercial operations. The Southern Pacific Railway crossed the Mojave in 1883, giving ranchers access to larger markets east and west, and their operations expanded. Ranching and mining continue today. Dry land farmers homesteaded the high valleys of the east Mojave during the 1910s-40s. Homesteaders Harry Trehern built this store in Nipton to serve homesteaders, Trehearme, and ranchers. Water tank of the OX Cattle Company on Lanfair Road. Cowboys of the Rock Springs Land & Cattle Company, the biggest operation in the east Mojave until it broke up around 1930. Mule team hauling ore to smelter at Valley Wells from Copper World Mine, circa 1900. During World War II, Kaiser operated the Vulcan Mine in the Providence Mountains. Iron ore from the mine was used to make steel for Liberty Ships crucial to the war effort. Top: Miners use a drill to create a hole for blasting. Middle: Ore was trucked nine miles to Kelso where it was loaded onto trains for shipment to a Fontana, California steel mill. Bottom: Cooks at the Vulcan mine.
19. VWVC_130715_74.JPG: Railroads Revolutionize Transportation: By the late 1800s, transcontinental railroads were uniting the nation. The Southern Pacific was the first to cross the Mojave Desert in 1883. Train routes provided economical transportation for raw materials like minerals and cattle to larger markets such as Los Angeles. Short lines developed, creating a web of routes serving remote desert valleys. The Kelso Depot was one of several train stations built by the Union Pacific Railroad in the early 1920s. Although these stations were all built at remote desert locations , the UP designed them in the ornate Spanish Mission Revival Style to complete with the Sante Fe Railroad's Harvey Houses. Today the Kelso Depot serves as the Visitor Center for Mojave National Preserve. Abandoned boxcar from the Tidewater and Tonopah, a short line connecting mines in the Beatty, Nevada area with the Southern Pacific Railroad at Ludlow, California from around 1906 to 1940. First train into Daggett on the Southern Pacific, 1883. Kelso was a company town, and a one-room school served residents until 1975. Steam locomotive leaves Lanfair on the California Eastern, in operation from 1895 until 1902.
20. VWVC_130715_78.JPG: Modern Highways: Cars completed the transportation revolution. Two lane roads like Route 66 and the Arrowhead Highway (road the Interstate 15 replaced) crossed the Mojave, and connected with a network of often dirt roads that gave motorized access to the desert. Since then, much time, planning and resources have gone into making travel through the Mojave Desert a safe and enjoyable experience for motorists. Hotels like this one in Amboy, California were tacked with travelers in the 1950s. When Interstate 40 between Needles and Barstow opened in 1973, business at Amboy dried up. "I had three big wreckers. We had an average of three wrecks a day. The roads weren't marked, and all the bridges was blind, so there were head on collisions all the time. The bridge rails were made with eight-by-eight redwood; they'd run right through the radiator, up the side fo the motor, through the firewall, and through the driver -- pin him right to his seat. We'd have to cut him out with a handsaw." -- Buster Burris, Roy's Cafe, Amboy Early travelers in the desert, like this young man, had to be prepared for anything. This early facility in Baker provided services for the traveler. Notice the burros in front of the bus.
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2013 photos: Trips this year: three Civil War Trust conferences (Memphis, TN, Jackson, MS [to which I added a week to to visit sites in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee], and Richmond, VA), and my 8th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including sites in Nevada and California). Ego Strokes: Aviva Kempner used my photo of her as her author photo in Larry Ruttman's "American Jews & America's Game: Voices of a Growing Legacy in Baseball" book. Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000 and Nikon D600. Number of photos taken this year: just over 570,000.
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