Salton Sea, Southern California
The Salton Sea was formed in 1905, when the Colorado River breached an irrigation diversion structure and flowed into the dry Salton Sink for nearly two years. Today, this extraordinary landscape faces an uncertain future shaped by both human activity and natural forces. During the 1950s and 1960s, it flourished as a destination for water sports and tourism. New communities were planned, marinas were built, hotels and resorts welcomed visitors. Yacht clubs and speedboat races attracted Hollywood stars, who made the short journey southeast from Palm Springs to enjoy its clear blue waters. Communities grew along the shoreline, including Desert Shores, Salton City and Salton Sea Beach, with its marina. On the eastern shore stood Albert Frey’s modernist North Shore Yacht Club, the resort community of Bombay Beach and Niland Marina State Park.
The Salton Sea is a place of remarkable history and stark beauty, worthy of care and preservation. Set beneath an expansive desert sky, its landscape bears the visible effects of changing natural conditions and decades of neglect. Abandoned structures are slowly yielding to salt and water as the sea recedes, tilapia are left along the shoreline, where their remains gradually become part of the sand. With previous water sources no longer available, the sea now depends primarily on agricultural runoff and occasional rainfall. Its continuing decline is exposing more of the lakebed, creating the risk that naturally occurring minerals and agricultural contaminants will become airborne. Carried westward by prevailing desert winds, this dust could affect communities from Palm Springs to Los Angeles and San Diego, making the Salton Sea one of Southern California’s most urgent environmental challenges.
Through all of this decay there is still a sublime beauty to see, it is the land time forgot but a few people still inhabit the small enclaves left on the edges of the sea.
Fine Art Prints