Death Valley Junction, California

History

The town was created in 1907 when the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad was constructed through the Amargosa Valley and a spur from their main line was built to the Lila C. borax mine in the hills to the west. The town was originally owned by Robert Tubb, who operated a saloon, store, and brothel. The town first appears on the 1910 Furnace Creek Quandrangle USGS topographic map.

In 1914, the Death Valley Railroad started operating between Ryan, California and Death Valley Junction. It carried borax until 1928, when operations ceased. From 1923 to 1925 the Pacific Coast Borax Company constructed buildings in the town, hiring architect Alexander Hamilton McCulloch to design a Spanish Colonial Revival whistle stop centered at the hotel, theater and office complex building, now known as the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel.

The town began to decline in the mid-20th century. In 1967 dancer and actress Marta Becket visited due to an automobile repair. She became enamored with the theater, and with help from benefactors, she leased, then purchased, the hotel and theater complex.

The Death Valley post office opened in 1908 and transferred to Furnace Creek Ranch in 1961. The Amargosa post office opened in 1962, changed its name to Death Valley Junction in 1968.

In 1980 the town was included in the National Register of Historic Places as the "Death Valley Junction Historic District."

When the Death Valley Railroad was established in 1914, it used 3.19 mi of tracks belonging to the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad east-southeast of Death Valley Junction to Horton.

Telephone history

Local wired telephones were manual telephone service until the 1980s. To reach a phone in Death Valley Junction when the area was under manual service required dialing the operator and asking for "Death Valley Junction, California, Toll Station" (and the one-digit number). Placing an outbound call required lifting the receiver and waiting for an operator. The operator who answered was in Los Angeles (over 150 miles away). Death Valley Junction is now in area codes 442 and 760.

Politics

In the state legislature, Death Valley Junction is in , and .

Federally, Death Valley Junction is in .

Notable people

• "Shotgun" Kitty Tubb – wife of the original owner of the town, Robert Tubb
• Marta Becket – actress, dancer, choreographer and painter
• Harry Rosenberg – engineer who was instrumental in creating useful alloys of titanium

References

Notes

References

1. {{gnis. 1656477
2. {{NRISref. 2008a
3. Charlene Dean. (10 February 2012). "Soiree Planned for Becket's Final Stage Performance". Pahrump Valley Times.
4. Sandomir, Richard. (2017-02-03). "Marta Becket, Dancer Who Built a Theater in the Desert, Dies at 92". The New York Times.
5. "Amargosa Opera House Inc - GuideStar Profile".
6. {{California's Geographic Names. 1159
7. (January 2024). "Tonopah & Tidewater - Chronology - 1901 to 1910".
8. E., Lingenfelter, Richard. (1986). "Death Valley & the Amargosa : a land of illusion". University of California Press.
9. "S.Y. Valley to help preserve theater". [[Santa Maria Times]].
10. Chamings, Andrew. (December 13, 2022). "The death of a forgotten town on the edge of California". SFGATE.
11. "Senators". State of California.
12. "Members Assembly". State of California.
13. {{Cite GovTrack. CA. 8
14. "Amazon.com: Fire and Forge: A Desert Railroad, a Wonder Metal, and the Making of an Aerospace Blacksmith eBook: Kathleen L. Housley: Kindle Store".
15. While the post office designation may have been called Amargosa for a time, the town has always been referred to as Death Valley Junction going back to 1907 in maps, newspaper articles, and official documents.