2006 01 NV CA

2006 02 20 North Shore, Bombay Beach, Niland

I was so tired this morning I did not even attempt to get out for dawn. I did get up at 5:oo, but I was beat and it was very cold. Instead I got some more sleep and went back to this packing plant for a while. The interior of this plant has been used for paintball wars for a long time and it is all shot up. I got some good shots in here.

Before going any further I would like to insert a couple of notes about the Salton Sea. The most important fact about the sea is that it is the result of an engineering accident in the very early 1900s. At the time the Colorado River was being partially diverted for agricultural reasons, and a levee burst. As a result essentially the entire flow of the Colorado River went into the Salton Sink for over a year. This resulted in a huge inland sea, about 25 miles long and 5 to 10 miles across. The levee was eventually repaired, after significant effort, and the Colorado resumed normal flow into the Gulf of California.

There has been a lot of recreational development on the shore, but essentially all of it is gone now. Changing sea level, flooding, increasing salinity, fish and insect die-offs, and agricultural pollution all have a part in creating the current environment.

The sea is now a major stopover point for migrating birds in the Pacific Flyway. There are at times millions of birds on and around the sea, and birdwatching is a source of tourism. This area is now a destination if you are a birdwatcher.

Here is a good collection of information on the sea, including history.

Here are a few books that are worth looking at.

Salt Dreams: Land & Water in Low-Down California

Salton Sea Atlas

Greetings from the Salton Sea : Folly and Intervention in the Southern California Landscape, 1905-2005 (Center for American Places-Center Books on American Places)

 

Later in the day I went to see the "Aces and Spades" club, on the northeast side of the lake in North Shore. This definitely looks like it was quite a swell marina and club at one time, but the lake went salty and became more polluted and people stopped coming. The club closed and it just sits.

It's got a very swoopy late 50s early 60s look to it, and sits on a beautiful stretch of beach.

The next four pictures are also Aces and Spades, the bottom left being a beach house that has been taken over by pigeons. I can imagine the pool being full of people enjoying the sun and having a purple or green drink with an unbrella in it, relaxing and feeling quite swell.

The following four shots are of a motel that is about 300 yards from the Aces and Spades club and marina. It also looks like it was quite a nice place at one time, but it's now boarded up and abandoned. It also looks like the 50s and 60s.

The following five shots are all in Bombay Beach, which is on the east side of the lake. These shots were all taken in the "old" Bombay Beach, which has been abandoned since the early 70s. I believe that there were two extremely wet winters and the lake level rose quickly and significantly, which is why all these trailers are still here. You'd think that the owners would just tow them away as the lake rose, but I was told that much of the flooding around the lake was due to two hurricanes off either the Gulf of California or the Pacific.

You can see that all of these structures have been both flooded and buried by moving sand. The salt water gets into the wood and then evaporates, leaving the salt behind as a solid and basically exploding the wood.

I shot a lot of film here as the sun set.

The "new" Bombay Beach is behind a 10 or 12 foot berm that is not far from all these structures. The "new" Bombay Beach seems to be mostly retirees and people that just want to "be away". There is still some fishing in the lake, but very little other recreation.

The sea has become a major stopping point for migrating birds, and birdwatching is a big draw for the area at certain times of the year.

The day turned into sort of a tour of the east side of the sea. I will be back at all of these locations.