@cliffordbeshers I don’t remember having seen anything like that myself, but I remember it from the movie Zabriskie Point. I think it was pretty revolutionary at the time.
@odd I've read about it, never seen it. ZP is right where all the Borax was mined, When that demand flagged, the company started the tourism trade there. I am guessing the movie was an evolution of that concept, as Death Valley National Monument was designated in 1933, but it didn't become a National Park until...1994! In between, I bet the NPS and other agencies were experimenting with revenue sources.
@cliffordbeshers I didn’t know that ZP was a big Borax mining place. Is that the reason for those big heaps, and not a natural process? I think they stopped by a NPS info-stone in the ZP movie.
@odd Other way around. The big heaps are eroded lake bed, tilted up. The mining is there because the material collected in the sediment and was exposed by the erosion. "20 Mule Team", which remains the slogan for Borax, is the name of the road and canyon just beyond this shot. www.nps.gov/deva/lear... (My knowledge is very shallow. I'm regurgitating what I picked up on Thursday.)
@cliffordbeshers That’s a fascinating piece of history. It must have been really hard work. I read about Borax on Wikipedia, and that it had/have many uses.