Searles Valley, CA

Searles Valley occupies a dry basin in the northern Mojave, with the Searles Lake playa at its center and Trona, Argus, Pioneer Point, and Searles Valley spread along the western side. John W. Searles began recovering borax from the lakebed in the nineteenth century, and the mineral wealth later brought soda ash and potash plants. The American Trona Company established Trona as a company town in 1913, built housing and civic facilities for workers, and connected the operation to the Southern Pacific line with the Trona Railway. The chemistry of the lake, not rainfall or farming, set the valley's original economy.

Today State Route 178 and local desert roads tie the communities to Ridgecrest, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, and the wider San Bernardino County network. Chemical-processing facilities, the Trona Joint Unified School District, local water service, and community organizations keep the scattered settlements connected. The Trona Pinnacles and the stark playa add a geological edge to the landscape, while heat, salt, and long distances remain part of every trip across the valley. Searles Valley is a working desert basin: industrial history on the lake shore, residential streets at its edge, and open Mojave country in every direction.