updated 10/19/23
Prayer podcasts: for the city | for the officials
Location: It is an unincorporated community off of State Route 395; the community sits at the western edge of Searles Lake which is a dry lakebed in Searles Valley southwest of Death Valley. The community got its name from the mineral trona which is abundant in the lakebed. It's approximately 170 miles from Los Angeles on State Route 178. It is isolated and desolate as well as the nearby trona pinnacles; the high school football team plays on a dirt field because the searing heat and high saline soil kills grass. Searles Valley is next to it.
Demographics; estimated population [2021] 87 Trona; 1,597 Searles Valley; overall crime grade is D- [see below for more information]; 62% Hispanic; 37% white; average family size 3; 36% own; 27% rent; 36% vacant; average home value $80K; $52 average income.
Location of Trona in SBC
In the late 1880’s the mining industry set up around the Searles Dry Lake area to mine borax; Trona was officially established in 1913 as a self-contained company town operated by its resident mining company to house employees who were paid in company scrip instead of cash. The company also built a library, a scrip-accepting grocery store, a school, basic housing and minimal recreation facilities. The Trona Railroad was built in 1913-14 to provide the town with rail connection to the Southern Pacific Railroad (now called Union Pacific Railroad) lines at Searles; the railway is still in operation today.
Trona’s most notable boom occurred during World War I when Trona was the only reliable American source of potash (an element used in the making of gun powder); Trona also served as a headquarters and base of operations for the Trona Railway which is a short-line railroad.
Trona is a seismically active area which was heavily damaged by the 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquake; the community is located in the Eastern California Shear Zone which is a seismically active zone that accommodates approximately 25% of the fault movement between the Pacific and North American Plates.
Trona Unified School District operates 2 schools: Trona Elementary and Trona High School. The high school football field is known as “the pit” and has received National attention from the New York Times, Good Morning America and the Los Angeles Times as the only dirt field in the United States.
Numerous Hollywood films have been shot in Trona and the surrounding area including Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Planet of the Apes; at the start of the 21st Century, other films such as Trona, Just Add Water, and Lost Lake were also shot in or near Trona. A live concert was also held in the Trona Pinnacles by Toro y Moi who traveled to the area to record his concert called Toro y Moi – Live from Trona.
The town is, the last stop for supplies before climbing over the Slate Range Pass and dropping into the hostile environment of deep and desolate natural troughs named Panamint, Eureka, Saline and finally Death Valley. In most cases, the turn around the mountain into Trona and Searles Valley is preceded by the pungent smell like rotting eggs from sulfur and other chemicals. Trona sits on the edge of the lake named for John Searles, who established mining around the dry lake in the 1870s.
The plant workers unionized long ago and led strikes in 1941 for better housing, wages and an end to racial discrimination. Newsreel footage of the time shows the strike ended July 29, 1941, but ill feelings among townsfolk (some workers crossed the picket line) lasted decades. The workers walked out again in 1970 resulting in the shooting of a striker by a guard. In 1981 another strike led to numerous arson fires in town and death threats against the “upper management” personnel. Molotov cocktails were hurled at the homes of the bosses.
"Home of the famous Pit - the only dirt football field in America."
Specific Prayer Points
Spiritual: intercessors to pray for economic growth, new ideas to draw tourists back, churches to grow, gospel to be preached with boldness, revival to break out; lives transformed, people set free from drugs, Bible studies that help people be accountable, churches offer courses on how to be free from addictions
Governed by: San Bernardino County 1st District; San Bernardino County Special Districts - A Division of the Department of Public Works [County Service Area 82 Searless Valley]
Schools: Trona Elementary & High School & Trona Joint Unified School District
Points of interest: Trona Pinnacles, Museum in town, Salt Wells Canyon [Poison Canyon]; Indian Joe's canyon; Valley Wells, Great Falls Canyon
Environmental: earthquakes [Earthquake Video & Football] | 2020 update after earthquake; The largest earthquake within 30 miles of Trona, CA was a 7.1 Magnitude in 2019. Risk Level: Very High Total Number of Earthquakes in Trona since 1931 within 30 miles 36,171
Crime statistics: [2022] TRONA: A crime occurs every 34 days 22 hours (on average) in Trona; over grade D+; violent crime F; property crime C and other crime F; top crime issues are drugs at 16% [high]; vandalism 11%; burglary 9%. SEARLES VALLEY crime occurs every 3 days 18 hrs. Overall crime grade is D; violent is D-; property is D; other is C-. Top issues are drug crimes 18% [high]; theft 14%; burglary 10%; vandalism & robbery 6%.
Churches [not exhaustive]
St. Madeline church [Roman Catholic]
Christian Fellowship [hosts AA/Narc Anonymous Meetings]
Trona Community Church [United Methodist]
First Baptist Church [Larry Cox, Senior Pastor]
New Hope of Searles Valley [Foursquare]