Wednesday, May 21, 2014

The Mojave, Day 2




Now in the desert it is time to start exploring…  



I got up early… but took my time getting started.  Even with the relaxed start I was checked out and in Daggett before 8:00…  just before 8:00…  but still before 8:00

I was looking for evidence of the three narrow gauge railroads that operated here, as well as a fourth, which was about 10 miles away… I had done my research, and had a pretty good idea of where to look… and started finding things…   

I started with the town of Daggett… its not a big place… maybe 3 blocks by 5 blocks… the store is still open and in use, but the other commercial buildings have either burned or are in ruins…   next to the railroad tracks (the combined BNSF and UP) is an iron sheathed building, said to have been  built as a engine house, in Marion, nearby, but latter moved to town and used as a grocery store and garage…  Its siding is a mismatched mess… and while interesting the building doesn’t give up any clues.

I look for evidence of the narrow gauge railroad line through town, but find none… as expected… then move to the edge of town where rumor suggests one of the borax plants was located… I find building foundations, evaporation ponds with borax crystals, and the remains of the railroad transfer trestle…  first home run of the day… 

I move across the river to the site of a silver mill… here I hit an out of the park home run… I find mill foundations and machinery beds and the right of way for the railroad searving the place… then, having climbed the hill to look at remains realize that I have parked the jeep on a separate railroad right of way… a berm pointed at the remains of the borax plant across the river… 

Moving north I skip the made up ghost town of Calico but look at a mill site… then explore Oddessa Canyon…  then work east looking for marks on the ground seen from the high ground and  find more railroad scars… 

Next I head start looking for remains of the Borate & Daggett railroad…. The road to the mill site at Marion is closed, but the road up Mule Canyon is open…  I head up the canyon which once saw 20 mule teams, later a steam tractor, then finally a railroad…  The canyon bottom has been well washed out… there is little to see until I climb out one of the side canyons, then find where the railroad left that canyon…  the sites of two railroad bridges are nearby…   I continue along the road… and never locate the side road to the borax mines, but eventually work my way around and find the 4th railroad site I was looking for… this one rich with debris and foundations… 

Flush with success I head back to Barstow to check a local museum… they have a photo collection but it is not available to be viewed…  I buy a couple of books from a very nice volunteer,  pick up gas and head back into the desert… this time following the ghost of Rt 66, the Mother Road… 

I find ghosts, but more often failed dreams… Newberry Springs has the Bagdad Café…  and many other ruins of failed businesses…  Amboy has Roy’s… preserved by the man who owns the JuanPollo fast food chain in Southern California…   They don’t serve food but have working restrooms and gas… Ludlow, Cadiz and the other towns have abandoned buildings and such… wonderful for adventurous travelers and for taking pictures, but not exactly Disneyland….

I regained the interstate outside Needles, but got off in town  to explore… then back on I-40  heading to Kingman, and the El Trovatore Motel, my home for the next couple of nights…



The motel is a hoot… a 1930’s motel… the first in town with air conditioning and a bath in every room…  pretty fancy for its time…   the current owners are taking good care of the old place… Its clean and quirky and full of its own ghosts…  with owners who are attentive and talkative and characters in their own right…  Their dog… a somewhat rotund Chihuahua mix named taco will roll over on command…  It is all part of the experience…   they have restored the neon tower sign, and recently painted a mural, a map of Rt 66 across the building…  I am in the Paul Newman room…  which happens to fall on Amarillo on the map…

At the suggestion of the motel owners I walked down to the Dambar for a beer and a hamburger and watched the Giants win against the Rockies.  

Now, I am sitting outside my room, listening to the trains as they pass, writing this blog… it is nearly time for bed…

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