Searles Valley is a valley in the northern
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...
of
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, with the northern half in
Inyo County and the southern half in
San Bernardino County, California
San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is locat ...
, United States.
Searles Valley is located between the
Argus Range to the west and the
Slate Range to the east.
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth during summer.
Death Valley's Badwat ...
is to the northeast. The valley contains the
landform
A landform is a land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. They may be natural or may be anthropogenic (caused or influenced by human activity). Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement ...
features of
Searles Lake
Searles Lake is an Endorheic basin, endorheic dry lake in the Searles Valley of the Mojave Desert, in northwestern San Bernardino County, California. The lake in the past was also called Slate Range Lake and Borax Lake.
The mining community of ...
and the
Trona Pinnacles.
The valley was named after
John Wemple Searles.
mojavedesert.net John W. Searles
/ref>
Settlements
The Searles Valley Minerals company town
A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...
of Trona
Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate, also sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate, Na2CO3·NaHCO3·2H2O) is a non- marine evaporite mineral. It is mined as the primary source of sodium carbonate in the United States, where it has replaced ...
is the primary settlement. Other towns in the Searles Valley include: Westend, Argus, Borosolvay, Pioneer Point, Homewood Canyon, and Searles Valley. Sometimes Argus, Westend, Pioneer Point, and Trona are collectively referred to as Trona.
See also
* Trona Railway
* Panamint Valley
*Indian Wells Valley
Indian Wells Valley is an arid north–south basin in east-central California. In the geologic sense, it is a southern extension of Owens Valley to the north, with the recent volcanics of the Coso Range being the separator. It is defined by a maj ...
* Potash wars (California)
References
External links
The Searles Valley Historical Society
July 4, 2019 6.4 Magnitude earthquake
Valleys of the Mojave Desert
Valleys of San Bernardino County, California
Valleys of Inyo County, California
Valleys of California
{{InyoCountyCA-geo-stub