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First gondola
of salt arriving at the Swansea terminal in Owens Valley in 1913. |
Saline-to-Owens-Valley
Tramway 3
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All
pictures from the Eastern California Museum unless otherwise
noted.
See USE NOTICE on Home Page.
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Daisy Canyon
Trail
[Photo
courtesy of Rich McCutchan archives]
[Photo taken by Miles O. Bolser circa 1912-1913] |
Daisy Canyon
Trail Detail
[Photo
courtesy of Rich McCutchan] |
Salt tramway
in operation early 1900's |
Photographs
of the mule trail system constructed to build and supply the
salt tram are virtually non-existent. This photograph (above
left) is a rarity.
The section shown is in the most rugged part of Daisy Canyon,
where the tram jumps between the north and south sides and the
cables hang some 700 feet over the bottom of the canyon. The
sides are of broken, ragged, crumbling rock at an angle of about
70 degrees.
Saline Valley is to the left. The photograph looks south. Coming
from Saline the trail has ascended to the last tram support on
the south side before the suspension across the canyon. The trail
leaves this support following a horizontal cut through the broken
rock and enters the photograph on the left at the top. It descends
the zig zags in a debris slide at the same 70 degree slope. Four
hundred vertical feet later, where the wall is not so steep,
the trail laterals west to intersect the bottom of the canyon
off the right side of the photo.
The zig zags are gone - claimed by rock slides. Two years ago
I followed the trail from Saline and stood at the upper lip of
the zig zags, the trail's apparent and unexplained end. Looking
down the debris slide I decided no trail could descend it an
instead scrambled up, looking for more trail - unsuccessful,
of course. A year later I was with a group following the tram
from the crest, discovered the bottom lateral, and realized that
the trail did indeed use the slide. We found occasional broken
remnants of the trail at a few of the switchback corners.
Miles Bolser did a magnificent job. Not only did he climb the
opposite wall, just as rugged as the wall he photographed, but
he timed it after a snowfall, then after traffic so the trail
would show better, and then waited for a descending mule train.
Looking closely you can see between six and eight mules and two
mule skinners.
[Text - Tom Budlong, August, 1993. Provided by Rich McCutchan,
April 2006] |
Salt dryer output
end circa 1916. |
Saline Valley
Salt Company production site in Saline Valley. |
Workers harvesting
salt in Saline Valley. |
Worker riding
tram over Daisy Canyon. This was the common mode of transportation
in and out of Saline Valley for the workers. |
Loaded cars
arriving at the salt works, post 1916. |
Salt works in
operation, early 1900's. |
Saline Valley Aerial Tramway Location/Map
A 12-mule team
pulling a salt works construction skid in 1912.
Salt Tram terminal
in Saline Valley, circa 1920. |
Saline Valley
Salt Company employees. |
Workers harvesting
salt in Saline Valley in early 1900's. |
Pack mules hauling
cable, all in one piece, through Daisy Canyon during construction
in 1912. |
Riders leaving
the Saline Valley terminal. |
Salt gondolas
waiting to b e loaded |
Sat being loaded into the tram cannisters. |
Cannister filled with salt on its way from Saline Valley to Keeler. |
Cannister filled with salt on its way from Saline Valley to Keeler.
Saline Valley |
Cannister filled with salt heading into the terminus at Keeler. |
Looking east
over Saline Valley, early 1900's |
Tramway in operation,
early 1900's. |
Salt Tram, west
side, after 1916.
Owens Valley Lake
can be seen in the background. |
Salt dryer in
the Saline Valley, circa 1916. |
Summit tower
construction circa 1912. |
Saline Valley
terminus post 1920. |
Saline Valley
Salt Tram, circa 1916. |
Construction
of the salt tram in 1912. |
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Saline Valley
Salt Tram, circa 1916.
L to R: Bob Crosby, unknown, unknown, George Diebert, Bill Chalfant,
Arthur Hess. |
Piles of harvested
salt awaiting loading. |
(for full size picture click here)
Piles of harvested salt.
L to R: Miles Bolser, H.J.R.
[Photo
Courtney of Rich McCutchan archives]
[Photo taken by Miles O. Bolser circa 1912-1913] |
Inyo Summit
Control Station ruins with Mt. Whitney and the High Sierra in
the background.
[Gene
Stoops photo] |
Salt Tram profile
from Saline Valley to Owens Valley. |
Salt tram tower
in the Inyo Mountains in the early 1900's. |
Saline Valley
Transfer Station. One of the problems confronting the tram operation
was the tremendous weight at any one time on the cables. This
had to be counter balanced by anchors in piles of rocks. The
piles of rocks were called "deadmen." This was one
location |
Saline Valley
Salt Works tram towers heading towards the Inyo Mountains and
Daisy Canyon. |
Saline Valley
Salt Company terminal at Swansea, circa 1916. |
Salt Tram terminus
near Swansea circa 1916. |
Further
Reading on the Saline Valley
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