This is footage from a drone flight over the northern end of the El Paso Mountains.
Briny Koehn Dry Lake can be seen in the distance; the nearby town of Saltdale was founded in 1914. The town of Saltdale was a "company town" owned by the Consolidated Salt Company, which mined the salt from the lake bed.
For the workers, living in Saltdale was a rather isolated existence, made worse by the fact that the prime salt harvesting season was the summer months!
By the late 1940's, salt production here had begun to wane- largely due to diminished rainfall during 1945. By 1975, the Saltdale operation had ceased altogether.
Drone's-eye view of the old Goler town site. This town came into being during 1893, in the wake of prospector John Goler's claims of having found gold nuggets lying on the ground near a local spring.
Although gold was found, it was not enough to sustain the town. By the early twentieth century, most prospectors had moved on to the nearby Rand Mountains(which can be seen in the distance.)
Today, only some rusty pipe and a few crumbling foundations remain. At least one old foundation can be seen in this photo, if you look closely.
