The South Edge of Death Valley

What a fine place to stop and view homes carved into caves and dine in a saloon, serving rattlesnake chili.

Shoshone, California borders the south side of Death Valley National Park.  From the road, it’s a quaint micro town that has maintained its nostalgic look with rows of stately ungroomed palm trees, original 50ish signage for the market and the ‘famous’ bar. 

You have to stop.

With the slam of the car door, you may envision wearing well weathered cowboy boots as they kick up dust on your walk to the swinging screen door of the CrowBar.  You might whistle a little Cash or Haggard tune, since your whistle may soon be wet.  CrowBar is a cafe on the left and a saloon on the right.  

For a stopping point, Shoshone has everything.  A clean motel (with a pool warmed by natural springs), a post office, an abbreviated market with souvenirs, a gas station and a bar.  The north end of town features RV hook ups and camping spots.

But, it’s the Shoshone extras that are the attraction.  They include a sanctuary patch for the resident desert tortoises, a town cemetery with many unmarked graves and a cluster of cave homes where people like a bootlegger and members of the Manson Family hid for a while. It’s called Dublin’s Gulch. Conspiracy theorists can draw their own conclusions about the connection with members of a cult in hiding and the anonymous folks in the graveyard. 

The cave homes were dug into the side of a large embankment by miners in the early 1900s.  As with all caves, they are naturally air conditioned, a must for scorching summers.  Cooler months were warmed with stovepipes.  It’s a little strange to see black chimneys sticking out of a clay embankment but okay, we’re close to Death Valley.  What other strange findings await us?  As with all “neighborhoods”, there’s also another street (dirt road) about a half mile away that features a larger house on a hill.  It’s called the Castle in Clay.  There are a few more rooms and carved dwelling areas surrounding that cave-mansion.

For dining, there’s the, one and only, well run cafe that specializes in small town diner style entrees.  It’s the type of menu where the majority of people can be happy. Those that are good with a hamburger, salad or typical breakfast will provide yet another great review.   The  rattlesnake chili is in name only, but it works well for impressing the family.

The town was born in 1910 because of the railroad station stop.  An early prospector turned entrepreneur found a shady grove of mesquite, planted roots and named his town.  His descendants were few, but included a son-in-law who later became a California state senator.  A remaining family member owns Shoshone today and competently provides well run services along with its history and archives at the museum.   Yes, they (she) owns the whole town. A very cool thing for the resume and much more efficient for operations when you control everything. She’s done a great job saving an ex-mining town from it’s end of life transition to ghost town. (Rhyolite, Nevada also borders Death Valley and suffered such fate.) One of Shoshone’s loyally employed persons casually mentioned to this writer/tourist, with raised eyebrow, that the family has no heirs. A budding entrepreneur-ish heir is born.  

The steward of this small town has, for a near lifetime, nursed the environmental health and preservation of the area.  For some visitors, it’s the geological interests and paleo sites well beyond the town that are the attraction.  Even the rare pupfish of Shoshone is nurtured and protected through a collaborative effort between several agencies.

Water and springs at the edge of Death Valley?  Cool caves?  Yep, they exist.