M A G A Z •: - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

soon WORKS
The accompanying photograph of the old I. D.
Soda works near Keeler, California appeared
in the Desert Magazine's landmark contest in
January. No entries had been received when the contest closed, however,
and a second appeal for information was published in the March number.
Since then many answers have been sent in, giving the complete history of
the old plant. The Desert Magazine staff has combined the four most informative
manuscripts, and doubled the prize award and divided it four ways between
Mrs. Gertrude C. Sutliff and L. J. Dow of Independence, California,
Harry Gower of Death Valley junction, and C. J. Aronson of Pasadena, California,
who submitted the winning entries.
rHE picture of the ruins of an old
retort or furnace which appeared
in January issue of Desert Magazine
is part of a ghost mining camp on the
dry Owens lake shore known locally as
the old I. D. (Inyo Development company).
This old camp is situated two miles west
of Keeler on the Death Valley road which
branches off U. S. Highway No. 6 two
miles south of Lone Pine, California, in
eastern California.
The plant was started in the late 1880s
and continued in operation through the
first world war. Its purpose was to extract
the soda salts from the heavily mineralized
water of Owens lake. Later the city of Los
Angeles began diverting Owens river, and
the lake waters began to recede.
The original project was financed by
the D. O. Mills of San Francisco and finally
was sold to the Natural Products company.
A narrow gauge railroad once ran
to the plant.
An interesting description of the operation
is given by C. J. Aronson who was
master mechanic at the plant during the
world war. He wrote:
"1 was master mechanic at the old Inyo
MAY, 1 94 1
Photograph by Perry R. Brown
Development company's plant from 1916
to 1921 or 1922, and I am sending you a
picture as it looked when I was working
there. The hombre in overalls was yours
truly.
"We would throw up levees and make
a vat 1000 feet square and let the water
run in from Owens lake. We had a Chinaman
who had worked for the company 25
years watch the vat. When there was a
change in temperature the soda in the
water would settle in the bottom, and it
was then his job to drain off the water
and refill it again. He was on the job 24
hours a day, and he seemed to have developed
an extra sense that enabled him to
tell when the temperature was going to
change.
"There were 28 chemical ingredients
in the water and that is why the water was
drained off as soon as the soda had settled
to the bottom of the vat. The company was
interested only in the soda.
"When we were ready to work the vats
there was a six to 12 inch crust which we
called trona. We had about 200 Chinese
who would break up the crust, shovel it
in cars and haul it to the plant where we
would wash it with fresh water. Then it
went by conveyor to the kilns. There were
several oil burners on the side of the kilns
and the heat would melt the soda and it
would flow out in a trough in liquid form.
A large blower at this point would break
it up into little balls the size of a pinhead
and as white as snow. Then it would be
ground fine as flour and sacked. The Illinois
glass company was our best customer."
OLD ARIZONA PRISON
IS OPENED AS MUSEUM
Thousands of persons attended a twoday
celebration in Yuma, Ariz., March 29-
30, culminating the dedication of Yuma's
prison hill museum and park. Hundreds
of historical relics are housed in buildings
standing on the site of the old territorial
penitentiary messhall. Mulford Winsor,
pioneer editor and publisher, now Arizona
state librarian, was principal speaker on
the dedication program, which was broadcast
over a statewide radio chain.
I '
Photograph taken when the I. D. Soda works ivas in operation. C. J. Aronson, master
mechanic at the time, is shoivn in the foreground.