[tmnt mask]

the california high desert is strewn with small towns in remote areas that pinned their hopes on the mineral industry but inevitably gave out to the harsh desert conditions. some are abandoned and some are just hanging on by thread like the one i took photos of below. Trona is a company town named after the mineral there (trona) located on the dry searles lake.

this is a typical scene in trona where junkyards line the highway


one of the two main facilities where industry minerals are mined and extracted. its the sole employer in town and the only reason people still live there




















you can smell the brine coming in from the highway. it was a cool 60 degrees when I went, but I can't imagine being here in the summer where temps exceed 110F, combined with the stench from the dry lake and all the sulfur, borax and soda ash from the plants