The same collection of geologic forces which created the Searles Valley where Trona sits also created the natural resource of Searles Dry Lake, which contains rich deposits of chemicals, including dozens of minerals. Since its heyday, Trona's population has decreased, with more and more services relocating to the nearest town, Ridgecrest.
Searles Valley Minerals is the largest employer in Trona, and many employees live in Ridgecrest, California, commuting daily to Trona. Other operations nearby include evaporative salt extraction from the dry lake bed's surface, and a lime quarry. Today, Searles Valley Minerals Inc.'s soda ash processing plant remains the largest firm in town. Their attempts to make everybody leave was resisted by the inhabitants. In 1974, the company, now known as American Potash, was bought by Kerr-McGee, who did not want a company town. 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. The railway still operates today.Įconomic booms and busts followed. 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 mining company also built a library, a scrip-accepting for-profit grocery store, a school, basic housing, and minimal recreation facilities. Employees were paid in company scrip instead of cash. Trona was officially established in 1913, as a self-contained company town, wholly operated by its resident mining company to house employees. Starting in the late 1800s mining industry set up around Searles Dry Lake to mine borax.
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