Whenever I travel, I always do side trips. This past November, I decided to hit the south end of Death Valley and into the Mohave. Shoshone CA, population 31, is the southern gateway to Death Valley, with the last gas station before Furnace Creek. Within walking distance of the station is a little place called Dublin Gulch. Sometime between 1870 and 1910, silver and tin miners set up shop here.
These miners were obviously a resourceful bunch. They didn’t build little shacks like in some other places in the area, they built homes in the rocks.
Some of these little homes were just one room. Others were a little fancier, with multiple rooms, one even multi level. Some, like this one, also had stone work walls.
They built these homes with whatever materials they could find or afford. This one managed to scrape up a little red paint.
Stove pipes for those cold winter months. Unfortunately, they didn’t have central air…
There is very little vegetation in this area. There is also very little rain, but there is actually a river that runs nearby, the Amargosa. The tiny river is very important to the ecology of the area and in many places it is underground.
The miners ate a lot of canned goods and left their remains all around this little gulch. The area is private property, so if you visit, please be kind and leave it the way you found it. The property owners are very nice to let visitors explore this area.
Unfortunately, a lot of visitors have left graffiti and trash around the area, so the owners locked up all of the homes so you can no longer go inside most of them.
Some views of the surrounding area. Surprisingly, I didn’t catch any signs of wildlife on this visit. Normally I would see at least a lizard or two. Ant mounds were about it.
All B&W photos were shot on Film Ferrania P30 Alpha, a new film out from the resurrection of the old Ferrania Film works in Italy. This film was famous for it’s use in the Italian film industry, many famous films from the 1920’s through 60’s were shot on P30. Developed in HC110 dil B. Color shots are Fuji Sensia 100. The film was expired and I only got a handful of shots that were marginally presentable.
Analog America 