Con artist builds a crooked road in Death Valley

Feb. 9, 1969: Death Valley naturalist Dwight Warren checks a portion of Titus Canyon Road, which had been closed by a cloudburst. This photo by staff photographer Frank Q. Brown was published in the Feb. 21, 1969, Los Angeles Times.

Posted By: Scott Harrison
Los Angeles Times Framework

The history of Titus Canyon Road was explained in a May 22, 1977, Los Angeles Times article by staff writer Charles Hillinger:

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL MONUMENT – It is undoubtedly the longest one-way, no-other-way road in the country.

The 27-mile road winds its way west through a scenic gorge in two states – California and Nevada.

It is so narrow in spots there is barely enough room for a car to squeeze between the 500-foot-high sheer limestone walls that rise spectacularly from the canyon floor.

Titus Canyon Road is, for good reason, the least used of nine roads into Death Valley, America’s hottest and driest place.

Its 27 miles are miserable, none of it paved, strewn with dirt and rocks.

The road was built by a con artist who pushed it through the canyon in 1925 to provide access to one of the most notorious mining hoaxes of the century.

It was in Titus Canyon that Chauncey C. Julian “salted” the Grapevine Mountains and spawned a town near Bloody Gap he called Leadfield.

He proclaimed the hills in “his” canyon were alive with pockets and veins of lead, and published brochures showing ships steaming up Death Valley’s Amargosa River to the mouth of Titus Canyon to take on ore.

The Amargosa River is bone dry.

In March, 1926, Julian ran a 15-car “Leadville Special” train from Los Angeles to Beatty, Nev., for 340 investors – 24 of them women – to visit their diggings. The investors were driven from Beatty through the winding gorge to Leadfield in a caravan of cars.

A hotel, stores and homes were built in Leadfield. But the town lasted only two years. There was a post office from August, 1926, until February, 1927.

Then the bubble burst.

Julian skipped the country and fled to Shanghai where he committed suicide in 1934.

A handful of decaying structures still stand at Leadfield on the Titus Canyon Road, named after Morris Titus, a miner who entered the narrow canyon to do some prospecting in 1906 and never was seen again.

It gets so hot along the road that the National Park Service closes the canyon from mid-May to mid-October – so that nobody gets stranded and perishes in the scorching sun.

World’s Tallest Thermometer in Baker lights up again

LaRae Harguess, daughter of the original owners Barbara and Willis Herron, holds up a pair of souviners avaliable in the Thermometers adjacent gift shop, and original light, which have since been replaced with LED's, and hot sauce. After 3 years of being dark the World's Tallest Thermometer, at 138 feet, lit back up on Thursday July 10, 2014 after the original owners of the Baker, California, landmark repurchased the property through a foreclosure. (Will Lester/Staff Photographer)

By Grace Wong,
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

BAKER -- Cheers erupted when LaRae Harguess flipped the switch to officially re-light the World’s Tallest Thermometer in Baker.

Harguess, the daughter of the late Willis Herron, creator of the World’s Tallest Thermometer, said the celebration was “festive” and “fun.”

“It was so, so cool,” Harguess said. “I know I was beaming from ear-to-ear. My mom was here and she was really happy, too. I think it’s so neat that so many of the townspeople and tourists came to say ‘thank you’ for restoring this thermometer. One local even said ‘You have given hope back to our townspeople,’ and that’s what my dad would have wanted. That is what this is all about.”

The date was also significant: It was the 101st anniversary of the hottest day ever recorded officially, 134 degrees in nearby Death Valley.

Harguess said more than 100 people were there for the re-lighting of the thermometer at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

Herron erected the 134-foot red and white thermometer in 1991 but when he became ill, sold it. The thermometer changed hands several times, falling into disrepair before its glowing numbers finally went dark.

Barbara Herron, now 79, decided she would use her savings to reclaim the thermometer and in March of this year, the family got their giant landmark back.

“All of the family members, at different times, felt the presence of my dad here yesterday,” Harguess said. “He was just smiling down on us, and we were just overjoyed and of course, had a huge sense of relief.”

The thermometer’s gift shop also opened for the first time and among t-shirts and keychains, plaques with original lightbulbs from the thermometer are also available for sale.

“Our first sale was one of those lightbulbs to a lady from Paris,” Harguess said. “We have a limited amount and we didn’t want to throw them away and we just thought that it’s kind of a cool thing to sell. All the kids and the grandkids have one and I told them, ‘I’m giving you this so you can look and remember to always keep this in the family, no matter what.’ ”

The family is also planning a dedication ceremony Oct. 11 and grand opening of their store. The ceremony will include a plaque dedicated to Willis Herron and is open to the public.

“You don’t realize you appreciate something until you don’t have it any more,” Harguess said. “It was almost more special this time because we now know what it is to not have it. Last night, after everyone went home, we all just stood out there and seeing this thing at night, it’s just so beautiful.”

Authors talk about Rufus, Death Valley’s “rescue dog”

Story will be the subject of talk at ECM.

by News Staff
Sierra Wave

Authors John and Barbara Marnell will be making a presentation and signing copies of their book “Good Samaritans of Death Valley: Lou Westcott Beck and Rufus,” at the Eastern California Museum in Independence on Saturday June 21.

The slide show and presentation will begin at 1:30 p.m. In addition, the authors will be at the Museum to sign copies of their book from 1 to 4 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

The book documents a rather unique era in Death Valley history in the early 1900s when visitors started driving cars into the desert, and explores the unique, live-saving team of Lou Westcott Beck and his dog, Rufus. The pair took it on themselves to provide directions, instructions and, when necessary, rescues to stranded or distressed motorists. With Rufus decked out in custom “boots” made of elk skin, and Beck driving a big, lumbering touring car named “Chuckwalla,” the team was a welcome sight to many desert travelers.

In the early 1900s when automobiles first started to cruise through the barren and often dangerous terrain of Death Valley, there were virtually no road signs or informational signs that directed motorists and visitors to the places in the sprawling desert where they could find water. The era’s automobiles could be quite unreliable in the desert, since they were prone to overheating without a steady supply of water for the radiator. Tires went flat so often most travelers carried multiple spares and patch kits.

Beck had a life-changing event himself in Death Valley, when he ran out of water and Rufus came to the rescue by locating a spring.

That prompted Beck to become a tireless promoter of safe travel through the desert.

Rufus, thanks to his booties and other unique gear, quickly became a bit of a celebrity. The Siberian bloodhound carried a “packsaddle” on his back with food and water, and a camera case around his neck containing snake bite antidotes and other medical supplies. A pair of yellow goggles, to protect his eyes from the dust, completed his outfit.

The Chuckwalla was also customized for desert travel. One of the most interesting adaptations was Beck’s homemade “tire chains,” which consisted of wire wrapped around the tires to provide better traction in the sand. The car also carried water, food and a full array of tools.

The pair were quite a sight, and even participated in the Pasadena’s famed Rose Parade to bring attention to their mission.

Besides roaming the roads of Death Valley and offering hands-on help to travelers, Beck also worked tirelessly to get the state to put up road signs and informational signs along the region’s roads. When the state dragged its feet, Beck went ahead and painted and placed his own signs. Many of them directed travelers to water or shade or provided information about various services available in desert towns.

The Marnells, a husband-and-wife writing and research team, have thoroughly researched Beck’s life and his Death Valley days. The book’s lively style provides interesting insights and information about the early days of motor travel in the desert.

The Eastern California Museum is located at 155 N. Grant St. in Independence. Call 760-878-0258 for more information.

Author brings history in Mojave Desert to life

This 1918 photo shows an old Tonopah & Tidewater railcar that was used as a schoolhouse at Tecopa, north of Baker. (Collection of Mark Landis)

By Mark Landis
San Bernardino Sun

The history of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, a nearly forgotten desert mining railroad that carried untold tons of mineral riches from California and Nevada, has been brought to life in a new book by local author Phil Serpico.

A resident of Palmdale, Serpico has been writing books on Southern California’s railroad history since 1988. Serpico’s latest work titled “Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad — The Nevada Shortline” is the author’s 7th book on railroading history.

The book focuses on Francis M. “Borax” Smith and the “no frills” desert railroad he built to carry borax and other minerals from the mines in California and western Nevada, to the mainline railroads and ports in Southern California.

The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, better known as the “T & T” spanned 166 miles of the most inhospitable desert territory imaginable, from Ludlow, Calif., north to Gold Center, Nevada.

F.M. Smith (also called Frank) was born on a small farm near Richmond, Wis. in 1846. In the spring of 1867, Smith struck off to find his fortune in the west. His travels took him to the mining districts of western Nevada, where he located a large deposit of high-grade borax in a dry lake bed known as Teel’s Marsh.

Borax didn’t have the glamour of gold, but Smith realized the value of the find, and he began processing the crusty material and shipping it to San Francisco. Frank partnered with his brother Julius, and established the firm of “Smith Brothers” in 1873 to mine and sell borax products.

Smith’s operations expanded dramatically, and in 1886, he incorporated the Pacific Borax Salt & Soda Co. Smith and his competitor William T. Coleman drove the growth of the borax business in the west into one of the region’s must successful mining industries.

Smith eventually purchased Coleman’s bankrupted operations, and in 1890, he formed the Pacific Coast Borax Co.

The borax mines were generally profitable, but they all shared a major problem; remote locations and high transportation costs. The mines were located in desolate places like western Nevada, Death Valley, and the Calico Mountains.

Far removed from any established transportation, the borax freighters were forced to use mule teams to pull huge ore wagons to the railroads in Daggett, Barstow, or Mojave in Kern County. This excruciatingly slow method of transportation evolved into the famous “20 Mule Team” wagon trains. Each of the massive custom-built wagons could carry an impressive 20,000 pounds of ore, but this was still only about one-tenth of a railroad freight car’s capacity.

Smith knew he could increase his profits if he could construct a railroad network to transport the materials from his mines. The railroad would also allow him to tap into the growing freight business of the mining districts in Tonopah and Beatty, Nev.

Construction on Smith’s railroad began in 1905 at Ludlow, a small railroad town on the Santa Fe line, 50 miles east of Barstow. The T & T’s route passed through some of the hottest and driest regions of the Mojave Desert. In October of 1907, the line reached Gold Center, Nev., a small mining town south of Beatty.

Smith gave his railroad the ambitious name of “Tonopah and Tidewater” with the unrealized intention of reaching the port of Los Angeles. When asked about the ambitious name, Smith was quoted as saying; “Broad enough, is it not? It will put some of those railroad people guessing at any rate.”

At Gold Center, the line connected with the existing rails of the Bullfrog and Goldfield Railroad. From here, the T & T was able to reach the mining boom towns of Beatty, Rhyolite, Goldfield, and Tonopah. Smith also built a narrow-gauge railroad from Death Valley Junction on the T & T, to the mining camp of Ryan, located in the southern end of Death Valley.

In addition to hauling borax and minerals from the mines, the T & T became the lifeblood of dozens of small desert communities and mines along the route. By 1910, the western Nevada mining districts had all but played out, and it was only Smith’s borax freight that kept the struggling T & T alive until 1940.

Huge borax deposits were discovered in 1925 near the present-day town of Boron, and the site was located only a short distance from the existing Santa Fe Railroad mainline. This discovery along with other large deposits in the south, made the northern borax mines less profitable, and the T & T withered accordingly.

As the rails were pulled up, the small towns along the way either crumbled away, or struggled to stay alive. The town of Ludlow stayed alive as a stop on Route 66, and still serves travelers on I-40 today.

F.M Smith’s borax empire provided him with a lavish lifestyle, and he became one of the pre-eminent industrialists of his time. His Pacific Coast Borax Co. evolved into the U.S. Borax Co., which was later acquired by the Rio Tinto Group.

Serpico’s 296-page hardbound book details the birth of Smith’s great borax empire, and the collection of rugged individuals who built and operated the supporting railroads. Hundreds of photos, maps, and historic documents illustrate the struggles of working and surviving in harsh desert environments.

For more information on the “Tonopah and Tidewater — Nevada’s Shortline” and Phil Serpico’s other books, go to: www.omnirr.com.

Mysterious rocks stolen from Death Valley National Park

A roaming rock at Death Valley National Park's Racetrack Playa. (Ben Greenburg / National Park Service / May 30, 2013)

By Louis Sahagun
Los Angeles Times

Death Valley National Park officials are investigating the theft of several of the rocks that mysteriously roam across a remote ancient lake bed known as the Racetrack Playa.

Rocks of various sizes -- from baseball to basketball -- scoot across the 2.5-mile-long, oval-shaped mudflat on the north end of the park, leaving tracks that are straight, curved and even looped. Some tracks extend up to 600 feet.

Geologists theorize that the rocks slide after rain moistens the top few centimeters of the lake bed and a high wind pushes them around.

"We've had more instances of folks taking the rocks," Death Valley spokesman Terry Baldino said. "They don't seem to understand that outside of the Racetrack, these marvelous rocks have no value."