Imperial Valley Pins and Buttons

The Salton Sea is the largest lake in California by surface area, and its very existence is a total accident. In 1905, flooding caused the Colorado River to spill over the man-made irrigation canals to pour into what was then known as the Salton Sink – a 40-mile-long dry desert basin. It took two years to stop the flooding, during which the Salton Sink had filled up and formed the Salton Sea. it didn’t take long before people began flocking to this desert oasis as a weekend getaway to picnic and play in the lake. While smaller settlements had popped up over the years, Salton City was established in 1958 and the town’s population quickly grew to 15,000 people, with thousands more arriving on the weekends.

The El Centro Imperials was an independent professional baseball team based out of El Centro, California. The team started play in 1947 in the Sunset League and was folded in 1952. Another team, the Imperial Valley Brahmas played in El Centro in 1995 as part of the Golden State League and the Imperials were revived on April 3, 2009, as one of the four charter members of the new Arizona Summer League, an instructional summer professional baseball league affiliated with the Golden Baseball League. That version of the team was managed by former Los Angeles Dodgers player Mike Marshall, but lasted just the one season.

120 degrees in July

Kicking up dust on the Yuma Road

Kicking up dust in Calexico Road

Looking down on the High Desert

Lone car driving along dirt road in Yuma, Arizona

From lizard eyes

Kicking up dust at the End of the Road.

Leaving Borrego Springs looking eastward