Existing comment:
FURNACE CREEK INN and RANCH:
The idea to promote tourism in Death Valley began with Borax Smith, but it was Tonapah & Tidewater Railroad manager, Frank Jenifer, who transformed the idea into reality. He saw Death Valley as a place of beauty and solitude, mystery and wonder that would appeal to tourists looking for someplace [sic] out of the ordinary. If Palm Springs could become a popular desert resort, why not Death Valley?
Jenifer convinced Pacific Coast Borax to build a hotel on its Death Valley property. Renowned Los Angeles architect, Albert C. Martin, was hired to draw up plans for an impressive, mission-style structure. A low ridge overlooking Furnace Creek Wash near the site of ancient Native American ceremonial grounds was selected. The spot afforded a magnificent view of the Panamint Mountains rising to the west, and a plentiful supply of water was available from Texas and Travertine Springs.
In the early fall of 1926, a crew of Paiute and Shoshone laborers began making the adobe bricks needed for the project from soil found around Furnace Creek Ranch, and the day after Thanksgiving, construction began on the Furnace Creek Inn. A Spanish stonemason from Madrid, Steve Esteves, was hired to create the Moorish-style stonework and retaining walls of the Inn, much of it done with indiginous [sic] rock.
The lobby, dining room, kitchen and the first dozen rooms were just barely completed when the first railroad sponsored tour arrived February 1, 1927. The Inn was expanded and refined year by year. The Terrace Wing added twenty-two rooms in 1928. Tennis courts and a warm, spring-fed swimming pool was constructed in 1929 complete with portico views of the valley below. A nine-hole golf course and an airfield were constructed in 1929. When the North Wing was built in 1930, it added another twenty rooms of capacity to the Inn.
In 1934 the gardens were planted with their fan and date palm trees. The lower Lounge, since renamed the Marquez Room in honor of long-time resident Chef Marquez, was built that same year. All of the guests' rooms contained a fireplace for heating. In 1935 the Central Tower unit was built, and steam heat was installed in all the rooms. The massive timbers used in the 1937 excavation and construction of the Oasis Room, directly beneath the Inn Dining Room, were brought in from a dismantled trestle of the defunct Death Valley Railroad. The Barse Miller fresco of combative rams which graces the fountain wall of the Lounge was conceived from a story, told by Frank Jenifer. In 1938 a garage was constructed, and two years later a service station was added to service the increasing motor traffic into Death Valley. This completed construction of the Inn resort complex.
Furnace Creek Ranch was constructed at the site of the old Greenland Ranch. In 1924-25 PCB had planted 1500 date palm trees on the land around the ranch, which had earlier served to provide fresh produce to the Harmony Borax miners, and earlier yet to the local Native Americans. Construction of the Ranch resort was begun in 1933. All of the Boulder Cottages were purchased from the Hoover Dam construction crews and moved to the site. Additional old wood and corrugated metal cabins were relocated from the old Gerstley Mine near Shosone. The rest of the cabins were constructed between 1935 and 1939.
The lobby, store and dining room were built in 1934-35. The recreation hall was erected in 1936, and an enlarged kitchen was completed in 1952, as well as a new swimming pool.
In 1956, Fred Harvey Inc. took over management of the Furnace Creek Resort, and in 1969 the company purchased the facilities from U.S. Borax. |