RESN&GB4x4 - Death Valley Signs

Death valley signs AAA historical saline valley teakettle junction crankshaft crossing greenwater ballarat goler canyon lippincott grade

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The Death Valley Journal:
Desert Signposts

by David A. Wright

Within the confines of Death Valley National Park, there are an abundance of signs. Most are road signs, reminding us of our speed, direction and destinations, others point our way to curious scenic wonders or historical sites. All of these signs are designed and placed in their respective spots by committee, members of which are usually far, far away in some air conditioned room.

However, scattered throughout Death Valley are some curious signage of various parentage that have become icons by passers by and are always in a state of change.

Teakettle Junction is perhaps the most famous of these. It has been around in its present form for many years and has even made the pages of National Geographic. The old redwood Park Service sign has been festooned with numerous teapots of various lineage and brand, and it stands sentinel on the middle-western edge of Death Valley over the junction of the Ubehebe - Racetrack road and the road south by Burro Schmidt's Mine over to Hunter Mountain and eventually California Highway 190 near the semi-ghost town of Darwin.

My first visit to the Teakettle Junction sign, December 1996.	Click Image to Enlarge Teakettle Junction sign, March 2007. Note the evolution of the sign as people come and leave teakettles and such on the sign. Occasionally, it has been said, that the Park Service removes teakettles.	Click Image to Enlarge The Teakettle sign, May, 2008. Note again the evolution of signage, now including a pair of cowboy boots! This prompted a quip from a friend “I wouldn't drink tea brewed from any boots except for Tony Llamas!”

Crankshaft Junction / Crossing is found at the extreme northern end of Death Valley, once well out of the boundaries of the former Death Valley National Monument, but now within the confines of the National Park. It is found on the road Between Big Pine (in Owens Valley) and Ubehebe Crater area. It is placed on the junction of that road and one branching east then north through scenic and historic Tule Canyon just over the line in Nevada. Crankshaft took its name from the various automotive parts, including crankshafts and engine blocks. How the sign and placename started is anyone’s guess, but likely due to a breakdown and resultant discarded engine. Today various crankshafts, engine blocks and other automotive bric-a-brac is found on and around the sign.

Click Image to Enlarge Crankshaft Junction.	Click Image to Enlarge Crankshaft Junction, view south along Death Valley.	Click Image to Enlarge Crankshaft Junction. View north.

At the ghost of Greenwater, east of the valley over the Black Mountains and in Greenwater Valley, is found a road sign that did have a birth due to design by committee, but you would never know it now to look at it. Back in the first decade of this century, starting in 1905 and 1906, the Automobile Club of Southern California undertook the project of placing signs all around California, especially the wild lands east of the Sierra and north of Cajon Pass. These signs gave directions to communities, localities and water holes. Witness this article in the February 7, 1908 Inyo Independent [Independence, California]:

"Supervisor Edwards informs us that the work of distributing the sign posts over the deserts of Inyo county was completed last week. The placing of these sign posts will prove to be of great benefit of prospector and traveler. This is the first county in this state to place these guide posts in position."

Greenwater was afire due to all the feverish activity involving copper ore and free and easy money to be had by anyone with a scratched hole in the ground and saying it had gold, silver or copper in it. Greenwater originally began as two separate communities: Furnace and Kunze, the latter more accepted by the moniker of Greenwater. The problem was that Kunze was growing fast and expecting "millions" to come calling, and it was located in a small gulch up on the hillside without room to grow. So the town's fathers decided to plat a spot smack in the middle of a valley about three miles north, and moved the entire town in one day. Ramsey townsite was born, but still called Greenwater.

One item that immediately drew attention to their owners was the newfangled automobile, and newspapers of the region devoted front page newsprint to anything dealing with the noisy and smelly beast. The Auto Club came calling to Greenwater in 1906 and stuck the sign you see before you at the intersection of Greenwater's two main thoroughfares. Since then it has lost its paint, been well ventilated by wild west types totin' iron over the years, and has collected an odd assortment of desert scrap and junk, as well as scribbled comments.

Click Image to Enlarge Greenwater as it was designated on the 1913 Furnace Creek U.S.G.S. Topographic map.	Click Image to Enlarge The AAA sign at the main intersection in old Greenwater ghost town, probably taken in the 1960s. Image taken with my camera while researching the Death Valley National Park archives. Death Valley National Park image.	Click Image to Enlarge The same AAA sign today.
Click Image to Enlarge The “Sagebrush Reconnoiter” at the AAA sign in Greenwater.	Now, for a few examples of AAA and other old signs in the general Death Valley region	Click Image to Enlarge From website: U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library http://libraryphoto.cr.usgs.gov/ Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey. Department of the Interior/USGS
Click Image to Enlarge Image courtesy of Tom Budlong, desert hiker, who found and photographed this sign.	Click Image to Enlarge Image courtesy of Tom Budlong.	Click Image to Enlarge Old AAA signs in Butte Valley, Death Valley National Park, in 1976. Photo courtesy of Bob Nathanson.
Click Image to Enlarge Same sign. Courtesy of Bob Nathanson.	Click Image to Enlarge Ballarat. Note AAA sign on corner of building. Photo courtesy of Hallet Newman.	Click Image to Enlarge Goler Canyon. Photo courtesy of Hallet Newman.
Click Image to Enlarge Near Mengel Pass. Photo Courtesy of Hallet Newman.	Click Image to Enlarge Photo Courtesy of Hallet Newman.	Click Image to Enlarge Photo courtesy of Hallet Newman.
Click Image to Enlarge Ballarat. Photo Courtesy of Hallet Newman.

Then there’s a sign that’s not really a sign at all, but a monument to 1960s culture. But it does let the traveler know that he or she is on the right road to the famed Saline Valley hot springs. A steel bat and other “art” hang in the middle of nowhere from a steel pole along the side of the sandy path heading east about midway between the springs and the main north-south road running through the valley.

Click Image to Enlarge The Saline Valley bat sculpture.

And last but not least, there is one sign along an obscure path that once proudly announced that the occasional traveler of this road was entering Death Valley National Monument. It was a valid sign until the creation and enlargement of Death Valley National Park. It was made of solid concrete and metal and still stands along the Lippincott road between Racetrack Valley and Saline Valley. The modern day counter part to such signs has been updated and and more in line with the times. Examples can be found HERE.

Click Image to Enlarge The original steel plate sign on the Lippincott road annoucing to visitors until 1995 that they were entering Death Valley National Monument.

Today the signs that dot Death Valley roads don’t have the same feel for the land as those that have grown old with the land. Maybe one day some modern sign might become a legendary piece bejeweled in all sorts desert relics and junk.

Last Revision: 3/3/10