Searles Valley And The Indian Connection

 Searles Valley and the Indian Connection 

Returning from Death Valley we traced back the same route as the day before. The only gas station we came across was the one in Trona town. This time too we decided to take a break there. Besides the general store and gas station there are quite a few churches seen from the main road as well as a highschool. But these are not the highlights of this otherwise rundown town.

This is actually a very interesting place. It is located in the Searles V alley in northeastern Kern County. Seemingly middle of nowhere. Yet it is a very notable area.  You can see an expanse of salt ( borax) across the plains of the valley that looks like a light dusting of fresh snow. This is a very mineral rich area. There are two big factories of Searles Valley Minerals here. One within the boundaries of the town and other on the outskirts to the west. The factory makes products such as soda ash through solution mining from the land resource to be used in multiple applications such as glass, fertilizer, detergents. They transport the products mostly via rail to ports in Southern California. 31 miles of railroad is owned by the company.

Now here’s the bigger surprise. This multi billion dollar business is owned by Ahmedabad based detergent company we all know as Nirma !! Yes Nirma owns Searles Valley Minerals since 2007. We wouldn’t be surprised if there are Gujarati speaking families and Gujarati food cooked here. It is no wonder then that this remote tiny town has its own small airport as well as a golf course to serve its executives.