page_title: Trona, San Bernardino County, California
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Trona, San Bernardino County, California / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Trona, California, which abuts the NW of the dry Searles Lake bed.
context_page_description: Trona is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, California. In 2015 it had a population of approximately 1,900. Trona is at the western edge of Searles Lake, a dry lake bed in Searles Valley, southwest of Death Valley. The town takes its name from the mineral trona, abundant in the lakebed.
  It is about 170 miles northeast of Los Angeles, on State Route 178. The ZIP code is 93562.
  Trona is known for its isolation and desolation, as well as the nearby Trona Pinnacles. The local school plays on a dirt football field because the searing heat and highly saline soil kills grass. At one point it boasted an 18-hole golf course that was all sand except for the "greens", which were a softer grade of brown colored dirt.
context_section_description: Starting in the late 1800s mining industry set up around Searles Dry Lake to mine borax.
  Trona was officially established in 1913, as a self-contained company town, wholly operated by its resident mining company to house employees.  Employees were paid in company scrip instead of cash.  The mining company also built a library, a scrip-accepting for-profit grocery store, a school, basic housing, and minimal recreation facilities.  The Trona Railway was built in 1913–14 to provide the town with a rail connection to the Southern Pacific (now the Union Pacific) line at Searles.  The railway still operates today.
  Economic booms and busts followed.  Its most notable boom occurred during World War I, when Trona was the only reliable American source of potash, an important element used in the production of gunpowder.
  Today, Searles Valley Minerals Inc.'s soda ash processing plant remains the largest firm in town. Other operations nearby include evaporative salt extraction from the dry lake bed's surface, and a lime quarry.  Searles Valley Minerals is the largest employer in Trona, and many employees live in Ridgecrest, California, commuting daily to Trona.
  Trona also serves as the headquarters and base of operations for the Trona Railway, a short-line railroad.
  Since its heyday, Trona's population has decreased. Based on 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data, Redlands-based geographic information systems firm Esri estimates Trona had 1,883 residents in 2010 and 1,904 residents in 2015, down from a peak of about 6,000 several decades prior. Esri predicts a small rise in population to 1,941 in 2020.
caption: Trona abuts the dry Searles Lake bed
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