Ghost Towns of the Salton Sea area, California

Ghost Towns of the

SALTON SEA area,

Imperial & Riverside Counties, California

CALIFORNIA’S SALTON SEA is a very interesting location for ghost towners to explore. I am currently completing a guide to those ghost towns, and below is a brief outline of that work. FADED DREAMS-GHOST TOWNS OF THE SALTON SEA should be available in early 2008. Please note any changes here.

PLEASE HELP! I’m looking for additional HISTORICAL INFORMATION AND PERIOD PHOTOS for the Marinas, Yacht Clubs and other sea-related places that once operated along the shoreline of the Salton Sea, in Imperial & Riverside Co., California from 1958-1976 or so. I especially would love to hear from folks that once frequented these places for fishing, boating or general relaxation, and would like to share stories from “the good old days”. Please let me know your impressions of these places then, and if you’d like to share any photos.

I am also looking for information on the Ghost Towns of Imperial County, CA.

PLEASE contact me if you ever visited any of these places OR know of any that are not listed. Thank you!

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AIR PARK ESTATES (Imp) el -98'

In a 1961 article this was one of the Aplanned communities in the making@. Location not determined, but it’s probably at or near the Salton City Airport.

AL & CHRIS= RV PARK (Imp)

...SEE Corvina Estates

BENSON(S) LANDING (Imp) el -233

AKA - Westmorland Landing

This old marina and landing was located on the southwestern corner shore of the Salton Sea, at the north end of Poe Road, two miles north of SH 86 at a point nine miles northwest of Westmorland, 6.9 miles southeast of the junction of SH 78/ 86. It was very active in the 1960s.

BERTRAM (SIDING) (Imp)

This Southern Pacific Railroad siding is located about four miles south of the county line on the east side of the Salton Sea between Railroad Mile Post (RRMP) 646.0 and 647.8. The buildings burned prior to 1965.

BETZ BEACH (Riv)

MAY BE an earlier name for Mecca Beach, or may be an earlier development that was superceded by Mecca Beach.

BOB=S PLAYA RIVIERA (Imp)

AKA - Playa Riviera

Located just south of the county line, west of SH 111 and about a quarter mile north of Corvina Estates. This was a private campground and a boat launch and boat rental facility.

BOMBAY BEACH (Imp)

This fading Class D town is located along the east shore of the Salton Sea, and has partially been flooded by the sea. A dike separates it from the sea now. It was established in 1929, and by 1966, had all the necessities of A…an expanding beach town.@ In the mid 1970s a pair of tropical storms raised the level of the Salton Sea, partially flooding the town.

BOMBAY BEACH - See one of my favorite photos of Bombay Beach here.

CALEB (SIDING) (Riv)

AKA - Caleb=s Siding

This Southern Pacific Railroad siding/loading point was located just west of Box Canyon, 3.8 miles southeast of Mecca and 4.9 miles northwest of Mortmar Siding (North Shore), north of the northern tip of the Salton Sea.

CHARLIE=S PLACE (Riv)

Location not determined, but it was just north of the county line along the eastern shore of the sea. That would place it in the vicinity of the highway just west of Durmid Siding.

COOLIDGE SPRINGS (Imp)

On Coolidge Springs Road, in the far northwest corner of the county, 0.5 mile west of SH 86, just southwest of Desert Shores, west of the Salton Sea. It is across the street from a privately owned house. Remains include a few concrete foundation slabs for what appears to have been a hotel type structure. Bricks remain from the fireplace base. Several other slabs remain of this Class B ghost.

CORVINA BEACH (Riv)

AKA - Salton Beach

In 1939, Salton Beach was a small resort on SH 111, four miles south of Date Palm Beach and 13.2 miles south of Mecca. That would place it right at Salton Siding/Corvina Beach. This appears to be the original name for what later became known as Corvina Beach. Corvina Beach is an unimproved campground located on the east shore of the Salton Sea, about three miles southeast of North Shore and due west of Salton Siding (#2).

CORVINA ESTATES (Imp)

AKA - Al & Chris= RV Park

Located along the west side of SH 111, 0.4 mile south of the county line. It consists of an abandoned café along the highway and an RV park located in a cluster of trees along the east side of the sea.

CORVINA MARINA (Imp)

...SEE Desert Shores

DAMASCUS (Riv)

Predating the formation of the sea by a decade, this Apaper town@ was platted in April, 1894 and the plat was recorded February 13, 1895. The proposed town covered an entire section (640 acres) a mile southeast of present-day Mecca. It never developed beyond the paper stage.

DATE PALM BEACH (Riv)

...SEE Desert Beach

DE ANZA BAY MARINA (Imp)

...SEE Lido Palms Marina

DEL MAR ESTATES (Imp)

...SEE Salton City. One of the several named subdivisions in Salton City.

DESERT BEACH (Riv)

AKA - Date Palm Beach, Eiler=s Salton Sea Resort, North Shore (GNIS)

This faded beach community is located on the northeastern shore of the Salton Sea about a quarter mile south of the North Shore marina complex and less than a mile north of the headquarters for Salton Sea State Park/Salton Sea State Recreation Area. This community was established in the early 1950s, at or near the original Gus Eilers’ and John Goldthwait’s 1926 development along the Salton Sea=s shores.

DESERT CAMP (Riv)

AKA - Palm Island Estates

This appears to be a mobile home development, and is located a quarter mile south of SH 111, 6.5 miles southeast of Mecca, between Arthur and Cleveland Streets, 2.2 miles west of the big curve northwest of North Shore.

DESERT PALM BEACH (Riv)

Was located north of the Salton Sea State Park (Now State Recreation Area) headquarters. A photo in the book AThe Salton Sea@ shows a marina and wharf with a couple buildings on it. However it was flooded out with the rising sea. It is probably the same location as Date Palm Beach/Desert Beach (above).

DESERT SEA RANCHOS (Riv)

This mobile home park site is located at the east end of Parkside Drive, 1.7 miles east of the junction of Parkside Drive/SH 111 at the Salton Sea State Recreation Area headquarters entrance south of Desert Beach/North Shore. It is located in the triangle formed by Parkside Drive, Powerline Road and Desert Aire Drive.

DESERT SHORES (Imp)

AKA - Corvina Marina, Fish Springs

With a 2000 population of 792, this Class E ACensus Designated Place@ community is technically not a ghost town. However, it has faded tremendously since its heyday in the 1958-1976 period. It was part of the late 1950s-early 1960s resort boom along the western shore of the Salton Sea and is located on the east side of SH 86, just two miles south of the county line. The community still consists of older and newer mobile homes, some abandoned. There are also a few regular homes, several existing and abandoned businesses.

This is our current Ghost Town of the Month (Sept 2007)

DOS PALMAS (Riv)

This site is located about one AIR mile southwest of Dos Palmas Spring, about 5.5 AIR miles east southeast of Desert Beach and 13 miles southeast of Mecca. It was one of many palm oases in the Coachella Valley region, and was a major stopping place for Native Americans. It also served as a stage station and prospecting center. In 1939 it operated as a guest ranch, then in the late 1940s Dos Palmas became a popular Hollywood celebrity retreat known as Rancho Dos Palmas. In 1989, the California Nature Conservancy obtained the property, and has turned it into a nature preserve.

DOS PALMAS STATION (Riv) el Unk

AKA - Dos Palmos Post Office

This Southern Pacific Railroad station along was established in 1877, also serving as a construction camp, railroad maintenance center and a terminus for travelers heading east via the Bradshaw Road. It was active until 1906, when the flooding Salton Sea forced the railroad to relocate its line to higher ground off to the east. A post office operated here briefly in 1877.

DOS PALMOS POST OFFICE (Riv)

...SEE Dos Palmas Station

DRY ICE WELLS (Imp)

This abandoned site is located on the east shore of the Salton Sea, four miles due west of Niland, west of the junction of Davis Road/Noffsinger Road. In 1950, these wells were operated by Cardox Western, Inc. A plant here produced dry ice from the gas wells. I have not explored this area, so do not know what remains.

DURMID (SIDING) (Riv)

This Southern Pacific Railroad station and siding was located on the east shore of the Salton Sea, just north of the county line. It was removed prior to the early 1960s.

EILERS SALTON SEA RESORT (Riv)

...SEE Desert Beach

EL RANCHO DEL SOL (Riv)

This privately-operated campground/trailer park was located on the south side of SH 111, 0.3 miles east of Desert Camp, about 1.8 miles west of North Shore. It has also been shown on maps at:

$ Southwest corner of Grant St/SH111 (1976, 77) According to the Google Map/GNIS hybrid aerial photo, this is now cultivated farmland.

$ One half mile west of Desert Camp, three miles east of the above location (1982). This also appears to be cultivated land now.

FERRUM (SIDING)/JUNCTION (Riv)

AKA - Salton Siding (#2)

This railroad siding/junction was established in 1948 by Henry J. Kaiser at the Southern Pacific Railroad siding of Salton (#2). Here his Eagle Mountain Railroad branch line met the Southern Pacific. Both rail lines are still intact with a number of spurs and sidings in the complex. It is along the north side of SH 111 two miles north of the county line at MP 2.0. Rubble and a large bin also remain.

FIGTREE JOHN SPRINGS (Riv)

There are two locations for this historic old spring.

$ The original site was located just north of the county line on the west shore of the Salton Sea. It was established around 1875 by a Cahuilla named Juanita Razón, who planted a small orchard of fig trees at a freshwater spring. When the sea flooded in 1906-7, he moved 2.5 miles north and planted more trees.

$ The second site was located at the former Agua Dulce Spring, east of Oasis(?). In 1913, there was an oasis with a Aquicksand pool@, three or four palm trees, tall bushes and a fig orchard owned and operated by a 91-year old (in 1913) AFigtree John@ Razón.

FISH CAMP (#1) (Imp)

This location sits underwater about 4.5 miles northeast of Elmore Desert Ranch on a direct line between the junction of SH 78/86 and Calipatria.

FISH CAMP (#2) (Imp)

This name was shown on a 1947 era Riverside County map 1.1 mile west of Wister Station, northwest of Niland.

FISH SPRINGS (Imp)

This old site was located in the vicinity of Desert Shores, on the west side of the Salton Sea in the far northwestern corner of the county. In the 1960s the springs were close to the shoreline and were slightly alkaline, but drinkable. GNIS lists this as a variant name for Desert Shores. It appears the spring has been flooded out, and was located at Desert Shores.

FLOWING WELLS (Riv)

This place name appears to be located along SH 111 about three miles southeast of Mecca and three miles west of Desert Camp.

FRINK (SIDING) (Imp)

AKA - Frinks

This Southern Pacific Railroad siding is located on the northwest side of the junction of SH 111/ Niland Marina Road, 11.4 miles northwest of Niland. A Border Patrol Checkpoint is located adjacent to the siding, across from The Corners (see below).

FRINKS (Imp)

...SEE Frink Siding

HELEN=S BEACH HOUSE & HARBOR (Imp)

...SEE Salton Sea Beach

HELEN=S PLACE (Imp)

...SEE Salton Sea Beach

IMPERIAL SALT COMPANY PLANT (Imp)

This old salt processing plant was located 12 AIR miles northwest of Niland. The site is underwater now and was located just off the end of the Niland Marina Road.

LIDO PALMS MARINA (Imp)

AKA - De Anza Bay Marina

This marina was once located at the north end of Camino Drive, just north of Salton City. It was a private campground, and a boat launch with rental.

LOPP=S TRAILER PARK (Imp)

...SEE The Corners

MARINE VILLAS (Imp)

It was listed in a 1961 article a Aplanned communities in the making@. The location is not determined.

MECCA BEACH (Riv)

This improved campground is located 1.5 miles southeast of the Salton Sea State Recreation Area headquarters. Betz Beach adjoins it on the north.

MORTMAR (SIDING) (Riv)

AKA - Mortmer, Mortmere

This Southern Pacific Railroad siding and former station is located in the heart of North Shore, between the

highway and the residential district of North Shore Estates, along the north side of the Salton Sea, nine miles

southeast of Mecca. It was originally established as Mortmere in the early 1890s, but was flooded out in 1906.

When it was relocated, it was renamed Mortmar. Foundation of a section house, tamarisk trees and rubble remain.

MORTMER (Riv)

...SEE Mortmar

MORTMERE (Riv)

...SEE Mortmar

MULLET ISLAND (Imp)

In the early 1950s the island was actually a peninsula on the southeast shore of the Salton Sea five AIR miles west-southwest of Niland and just north of the mouth of the Alamo River. Now it is a small island just over a mile offshore, as the sea level has risen. In the 1920s and 1930s it was a well-known duck-hunting club and retreat.

NAVAL AUXILIARY AIR STATION - SALTON SEA (Imp)

AKA - Naval Air Facility - Salton Sea, Salton Sea Base, Salton Sea Naval Base, Salton Sea Naval Test Base, Salton Sea Test Base, US Salton Sea Base

This historic old Navy Air Station was in operation 1942-1979, and was located on a small peninsula/point, on the southwestern shore of the Salton Sea a little more than a mile north of where San Felipe Creek flows into it and 3.2 miles east of SH 86. The site is now owned by the Bureau of Land Management and other government agencies. Rubble remains, and the site is CLOSED TO VISITORS.

NEVA=S STORE (Riv)

...SEE Skip=s Store

NEW LIVERPOOL SALT WORKS (Riv) el -

The salt works were established around 1884 when salt was harvested from the dry playa. The salt was then hauled to Salton (#1) for shipping. A spur line ran out into the dry lake bed west of the station. In 1906, the salt works were flooded out. It still underwater due south of North Shore and west of Corvina Beach.

NILAND MARINA (Imp)

Located 1.9 miles west of The Corners, this abandoned marina and campground is partially flooded by the Salton Sea. Remains include several restroom buildings and concrete rubble of what was once the marina. In 1966, there was a store here sold groceries, ice, bait & tackle and refreshments. There was also a campground and boat launching ramp.

NORTH SHORE (Riv)

AKA - North Shore Estates, North Shore Marina & Yacht Club

The community sits on both sides of SH 111, on the northeastern Acorner@ of the Salton Sea about nine miles southeast of Mecca. Several hundred people still live here, but it looks a lot less. Remains include a boarded up, motel, nearly forgotten marina/yacht club and a closed market. Scattered mobile homes and other structures dot the desert around it, especially to the north. North Shore was established in 1958, and in 1960, the North Shore Yacht Club & Marina and the adjacent 48-unit, two-story North Shore Motel were built to accommodate celebrities and other visitors to the Salton Sea resort trade. After the sea flooded in 1977, the heyday was over. In 1984 the yacht club finally closed.

(OASIS) LANDING (Riv)

An UNNAMED boat Alaunching ramp@ was shown on several mid-1960s maps on the western Salton Sea shore, east of Oasis and the junction of SH 86/81st Avenue.

OLD SALTON CITY (Imp)

...SEE Salton City (1^st site)

PALM ISLAND ESTATES (Riv)

...SEE Desert Camp

PLAYA RIVIERA (Imp)

...SEE Bob=s Playa Riviera

POPE (SIDING) (Imp)

This former Southern Pacific station and siding was located 1.8 miles west of the Hot Mineral Spa Road crossing and 1.0 mile northeast of the Bombay Beach Road turnoff from SH 111 on the east side of the Salton Sea. In November 2006 all that remained were some concrete and rubble from what may have been the former station. No siding remains.

RANCHO DOS PALMAS (Riv)

This site is located about one AIR mile southwest of Dos Palmas Spring and about 5.5 AIR miles east southeast of Desert Beach. It was an Aexpansion@ of the habitation at Dos Palmas oasis.

...also SEE Dos Palmas (above)

RANCHO MARINA (Imp)

This marina included boat launching and rentals, and had a privately owned campground. It was located a half mile north of Desert Shores along the western shore of the Salton Sea.

RED HILL MARINA (Imp)

I have not visited this marina, which is still shown on maps southwest of Niland on the east side of the Salton Sea. I believe it is still active.

SALT CREEK BEACH/CAMPGROUND (Riv)

This unimproved campground is located on the east shore just south of Salt Creek and 1.5 miles north of the county line.

SALTON (#1) (Riv)

This Southern Pacific Railroad, station and siding served the New Liverpool Salt Company facility about a half mile west. It was a company-owned salt camp and had the appropriate housing and commercial development needed to support the salt mining camp. In 1906 it all closed when the rail line and salt works were flooded by the rapidly forming Salton Sea. The railroad relocated northeast to higher ground and established a new Salton Siding. The site is underwater.

SALTON (#2) (Riv)

...SEE Salton Siding (#2)

SALTON BEACH (Riv)

...SEE Corvina Beach

SALTON CITY (Imp)

The fortunes of this quiet Class E community have gone up and down with the fortunes of the sea itself. Originally envisioned as a major resort, it was established in 1958 by M. Penn Phillips, a subsidiary of the Holly Corporation. By 1959, the town was heavily promoted and subdivided, while development began in earnest. By 1962 some 160 homes had been built on the 19,600 acre site. A yacht club was built, motels, restaurants, a championship golf course, airport and other amenities followed. Sailing regattas, powerboat races and fishing derbies attracted crowds of countless thousands of people.

At the time of my visits in November and December 2006, several hundred homes were under construction, but construction appeared to have stopped, victims of the current real estate bust. Existing homes lie scattered about the large townsite interspersed with long stretches of graded lots covered with scrub. Lines of telephone poles outline undeveloped lots. Roads are crumbling and hundreds of imported palm trees lining those roads are dying. A number of still-active businesses remain.

This is going to be an interesting town to watch.

SALTON DEL MAR ESTATES (Imp)

...SEE Salton City. One of the several named subdivisions in Salton City.

SALTON PARKSIDE (Imp)

Mobile home development (???) It was located on the west side of Range Road, 1.5 miles north of its junction with SH 111, due east of Bertram Siding.

SALTON PARKVIEW ESTATES (Imp)

Possibly a failed mobile home development located on the east side of the road and 3/4 mile southeast of Salton Parkside.

SALTON SEA (town) (Imp)

Shown on 1940s era maps on the west side of US 99 (no SH 86), 2.4 miles due south of the Salton Sea Beach road junction and 3.0 miles north of Truckhaven. That puts it in the same vicinity of the Salton Sea Service Station, Salton Sea Oasis and Sea View Park.

SALTON SEA BASE (Imp)

...SEE Naval Auxiliary Air Station - Salton Sea.

SALTON SEA BASE B-2 el 52' -

About a quarter mile south of where the Truckhaven Trail crosses Amerosa Wash, about 0.9 miles north of the golf course, west of the town of Salton City.

SALTON SEA BEACH (Imp)

This Class D ACensus Designated Place@ is technically not a ghost town as it had 392 folks in the 2000 census. However it has faded tremendously since its heyday in the 1958-1976 period. It was another major development in the late 1950s-early 1960s resort boom along the western shore of the Salton Sea. It is located on the east side of SH 86, just four miles south of the county line.

SALTON SEA NAVAL BASE (Imp)

...SEE Naval Auxiliary Air Station - Salton Sea.

SALTON SEA NAVAL TEST BASE (Imp)

...SEE Naval Auxiliary Air Station - Salton Sea.

SALTON SEA OASIS (Imp)

This Class B ghost is located on the east side of SH 86, 1.3 miles north of Treadwell Avenue, which is 3.7 miles north of Salton City. This may have been another ill-fated subdivision or trailer park planned in the area strung between Desert Shores and Salton City.

SALTON SEA SERVICE STATION (Imp)

On the west side of SH 86 where it crosses over Gravel Wash. It was on the north side of the wash six miles south of the county line, four miles east of the county line. The site of this old service station is PROBABLY covered by the modern Torrez-Martinez Travel Center on the west side of SH 86, 1.6 miles south of the Salton Sea Beach turnoff and 2.0 miles north of Treadwell Avenue (turnoff for the north end of Salton City).

SALTON SEA TEST BASE (Imp)

...SEE Naval Auxiliary Air Station - Salton Sea.

SALTON SEA TEST BASE B-1 (Imp) el -157 -

This small WWII- era military base is located just east of the southeastern tip of Salton City, northeast of the airport, north of Surprise Wash.

SALTON (SIDING) (#1) (Riv)

...SEE Salton

SALTON (SIDING) (#2) (Riv)

...SEE Ferrum (Siding)/Junction

SALTON (SIDING) (#3) (Riv)

This Southern Pacific Railroad siding was located two miles northwest of Ferrum Junction across from Corvina Beach, about five miles southeast of North Shore at the curve in the railroad. Nothing remains.

SEA VIEW BEACH ESTATES (Imp)

This was another (probably) failed mobile home park development on the sea side of SH 111, 1.5 miles west-northwest of Frink Siding/The Corners and due north of Niland Marina. The site is marked by a short crumbling, paved road west of SH 111. Where it ends is flat and appears graded, but there is no evidence of any development beyond grading.

SEA VIEW PARK (Imp)

Located on west side of SH 86, 1.1 miles north of Treadwell Avenue, which is 3.7 miles north of Salton City. It is at or near the same location shown on the 1996 map as Salton Sea. Nothing is visible, but there appears to have been some grading in the past. This appears to have been another failed development.

SKIP=S STORE (Riv)

AKA - Neva=s Store

This still active (Dec 2006) store is located on the south side of SH 111, 0.2 miles west of the junction of

SH 111/Bay Drive, at the west end of North Shore.

SQUEAKY SPRINGS (STATION) (Imp)

AKA - Winona

This place name was on the west side of SH 86 about 1.7 miles southeast of Salton City and a half-mile northwest of Salton City Airport Road. At the location noted, there was absolutely nothing visible, so I either was at the wrong location, or it is no longer there. I looked carefully for a half mile in each direction and noticed nothing.

SUNDIAL BEACH (Imp)

Located on the west side of the Salton Sea, about three miles south of the county line, and south of Desert Shores, this name was listed in a 1961 article as another of the Aplanned communities in the making.@

THE CORNER(S) (Imp)

This Class C site is located on the east side of the Salton Sea at the southeast corner of the junction of SH 111/Niland Marina Road, five AIR miles east of Bombay Beach. It was a corner store/gas station, propane filling station, and small RV camp (LOPP=S TRAILER PARK). The buildings were still standing in February 2007. Remains include: the gas pumps, store, bathroom, propane sales and the skeleton of an old mobile home. Behind the store are about 30 RV sites still marked by hookup pedestals and a few scraggly bushes. It appears to have been active into the early 1980s.

TRUCKHAVEN (Imp)

This old Chevron service station and café were located on the east side of US 99 (today’s SH 86), 1.3 miles northwest of Salton City. In the 1930s this was one of the few service (gas) stations in the area since Salton City, Salton Sea Beach and Desert Shores had not yet been developed. In 1955 it was listed as a gas station located three miles south of the turnoff to Salton Sea Beach. Remains include a cluster of tamarisk trees, concrete slabs and scattered debris.

U.S. SALTON SEA BASE (Imp)

...SEE Naval Auxiliary Air Station - Salton Sea.

WESTMORLAND LANDING (Imp)

...SEE Benson Landing

WHITEWATER COVE (Riv)

In 1966, it was the site of a trailer park, store and boat launching ramp located at the south end of Johnson Street, on the north side of the Whitewater River where it empties into the north end of the Sea.

WINONA (Imp)

...SEE Squeaky Springs

WISTER (SIDING/STATION) (Imp)

This Southern Pacific Railroad siding is located 8.0 miles northwest of Niland on the east side of the Salton Sea. Clumps of tamarisk trees mark the site east of Sand Wash. West of SH 111, across from the siding and north of the CA Fish & Game Wister Unit complex are three abandoned 1960s-1970s vintage houses and a couple outbuildings.

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FIRST POSTED: August 10, 2007

LAST UPDATED: Sep 12, 2007

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