Gerstley is a former settlement in

Inyo County Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It was located on the

Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad was a former class II railroad that served eastern California and southwestern Nevada. The railroad was built mainly to haul borax from Francis Marion Smith's Pacific Coast Borax Company mines located just eas ...

, north of Shoshone. Gerstley was founded around 1921, and named in honor of James Gerstley, Sr. by his business associate

Francis Marion Smith Francis Marion Smith (February 2, 1846 – August 27, 1931) (once known nationally and internationally as "Borax Smith" and "The Borax King" ) was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisc ...

who built the

. Together with Richard C. Baker, the three men had formed Borax Consolidated, Ltd. in 1899.(~6.5MB)

References

History of the Mojave Desert region Former settlements in Inyo County, California Populated places in the Mojave Desert Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Former populated places in California {{InyoCountyCA-geo-stub