A 1926 Road Trip Through Death Valley Captured in 76 Remarkable Photographs

In 1926, a group of friends set out from Los Angeles on an automobile journey into Death Valley, documenting their trip in what would become a remarkable photographic record of early tourism in the American West. The resulting Death Valley Automobile Trip photograph album, which contains 76 photographs, captures the landscapes, people, and remote settlements of one of North America’s most unforgiving environments during the early age of motor travel.

The photographs show a wide range of subjects encountered along the route. Automobiles and sightseeing travellers appear alongside stark desert scenery, abandoned mines, isolated homesteads, schoolhouses, and small desert hotels. Rather than focusing on a single theme, the album presents a broad visual record of Death Valley in the 1920s, offering a snapshot of both its natural landscape and the scattered communities that existed there at the time.

Accompanying the photographs are a few detailed captions describing the landscapes, landmarks, and individuals encountered during the journey. These diary entries provide valuable context, turning the album into more than just a collection of images. Together, the photographs and notes form a narrative of an early California road trip, when travelling by automobile through the desert was still something of an expedition.

Curiously, neither the photographer nor the diarist is identified, leaving the creators of this detailed travel record anonymous. Despite this mystery, the album remains an important historical document of early automobile tourism and desert exploration.

Today, the Death Valley Automobile Trip photograph album is preserved in the archives of the University of California, where the images provide historians and researchers with a rare visual glimpse into the landscapes, settlements, and travellers who passed through Death Valley a century ago.

I've included the original captions under the images where possible (some photographs have no captions)

Our camp in the canyon below Calico.

The lowest spot in U.S.A.

The Railway Depot in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada. This building was constructed of stone but time is slowly doing its work as may be noticed on the sign facing the machines.

The insides of these buildings were littered with glass. Evidently there were lots of brick throwers that came through Rhyolite after it was deserted. The National Bank Building in the middle. 

The rubble of the old Bottle House. The weather here is so dry that lots of the bottles still had the labels on them. Note the workings in the hills; a Bottle House which has taken a tumble.

The back porch of the Bottle House. Bottles were free and many of them. Other building materials were scarce. There were about 30 or more Saloons in Rhyolite.

What the sign said: Owl Springs–Death Valley–Saratoga Springs 45 m, Silver Lake 42, Shoshone 5, Automobile Club, So. Meet Mrs.Perrelet and Miss Muth

Crossing the Devils Golf Course

We pass Ashford mills — A deserted hope — Thousands of dollars of equipment left here. This mill was of the roller type and the building has a 75 horsepower engine in it in the foreground out of sight of the cameras eye is a big truck the rubber slowly rotting away. Mr Billyon and A. E. Dimock sitting on top; Ashford Mills.

Our first water after leaving, Atolia was named Granite Springs.

Photo opp at the entrance to the Silver King mine.

Mrs. Perrelet, the fliver & Miss Muth.

Calico. Mr. and Mrs. John Lane the sole survivors of a population of over 3000. Mr. Lane came in 1884 here he met the lady who became Mrs. Lane. They married and have been here ever since.

We explore Superstitious Canyon. The peak in the background is of soft white mineral into which a person sinks above the shoe tops.

We dine on Sweet Bread, Jan. 9, 1926.

---