The T&T Chronology

Head-on collision between the daily mixed train and a work extra near Dumont.
 

L.L. and his renamed talc company, Pacific Minerals & Chemical Co., go under due to financial overextension. Worked by a succession of leases and owners, the property ended up in the hands of Western Talc Co. in 1928. Final production figures are listed as some 300,000 tons of talc.
 

Poors Manual of Railroads reports that the DVRR carried 107,807 tons of revenue freight with earnings of only $110,313.00 while the Tonopah & Tidewater carried 99,360 tons but earned $522,375.00.          found by Michael Lumert
 

J. Sheridan accidently discovers a rich colemanite deposit 2 miles northeast of Shoshone. C. Rasor, P.C.B.'s Field Engineer, buys the claim for $50,000. He, not P.C.B., opens the mine.
 

After a dismal description published by Zane Grey, the P.C.B. builds a housing complex at D.V. Junction designed by A lexander H. McCulloh. This modern building has living quarters, gymnasium, pool, several shops and a movie theatre. It is air-cooled and all under one roof, at a cost of $300,000!
 

Naming the new mine Gerstley after one of the P.C.B.'s directors, Rasor builds a second "Baby Gauge". This time the little railroad is 2' gauge and about 3 miles long, running between the T&T's Gerstley siding and the mine works. Ore starts shipping this same year.
 

Brock has convinced five (or more) companies of the value of the 'Death Valley Clay' and mining begins in earnest. General Petrolium begins with a crew of 20 and ships 400 tons a month. By summer there were 50 men and production had risen to 1,200 tons. All of it hauled to the Bradford Siding of the T&T.
 

The T&T runs its longest excursion train, the "Julian Special". This Double Header with fifteen varnish rolls through Silver Lake at 1:15 AM. The town turns out to watch the 'nobs' heading for the new mining promotion of Leadfield (near Rhyolite).
 

The Lila C. shuts down again. The 3' tracks remain for a time until they are re-used at Boron.
 

C. Rasor finds bonanza ore deposits on the company's lands (Boron) in the Kramer District. Borates were known there since 1913, but were not in profitable quantities as first located. The new mine is named Baker.
 

The new Brill Gas-Electric Railcar begins service on the DVRR.
[#5 is now in the Laws Railroad Museum near Bishop, CA. - Ed.]
 

The ash Meadows clay works are now mechanized with gasoline shovels and a 3' gauge railroad to haul the clay. Production increases dramatically.
 

The five 'claimants', under the Pittman Bill of 1919, now had President Calvin Cooledge's signature on the deeds that "patented" the lands known as the T&T Ranch. The Leeland Water & Land Company is then formed and the land rights are transferred to P.C.B.
 

The American Carrara Marble Co. re-opens and the T&T builds a 3/4 mile spur to Carrara. The material for this effort comes from the abandoned spur between Morrison and Acme.
 

After two decades of mining in and around Death Valley and some $30,000,000 in Borates, the profitability of these mines is being challenged by American Potash & Chemical Co.'s lower prices. P.C.B. shuts down the operations in favor of the new discovery at Boron, CA. where they can compete in price. Rasor's colemanite mine at Gerstley also closes.
The Gerstley mine is worked just enough to supply some borate of a different composition to the pottery industry. This variation produced a top quality glaze. Gerstley is sealed in 2002 along with the Lila C.
 

The Bullfrog Goldfield runs its last train.
 

Boggs convinces Borax Consolidated (P.C.B.) to remodel the D.V. Junction plant to handle the processing of the clay. A third rail is laid on the T&T to permit the DVRR's equipment to operate between the pits and the processing plant. Up to 5,000 tons of clay are being processed each month, with a delivered value of around $200,000.
 

A typical tour to Death Valley costs $47.50, exclusive of Pullman charges. It includs Transportation via, U.P, T&T and DVRR. Meals (two at D.V.Junction) and automobile touring of Death Valley itself. Accomodations are at the Death Valley View Hotel in Ryan. (Letter by J. Newsome) The Death Valley Hotel Co. publishes a rate of $53.25 for a three day, two night stay for the 1928-9 season. One night is spent at Ryan and one is at the Furnace Creek Inn. A Lower Berth was $7.50, an 'Upper' was $6.00 and a Drawing Room was $27.00, all R.T..
 

Washed out track derails a mixed train near Soda, CA., resulting in the deaths of two employees.
 

The last trains run on the DVRR. The entire railroad is packed up and moved to the U.S. Potash operations at Carlsbad, NM.