In 1906, a north-south railroad was completed from the transcontinental line near Ludlow, California, to Rhyolite, Nevada. The company, called the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, transported passengers and supplies to the mining camps of eastern California and southern Nevada while providing cheap transportation for ore to markets. North of Baker, California, the rail bed traversed arid valleys across alluvial fans where drainage channels were numerous but small. The company left inadequate drainage channels, and runoff accumulated in small reservoirs upslope of the railroad grade. Washouts were frequent before the rail bed was removed and salvaged for the war effort in 1942. Remnants of the railroad ties, which were untreated wood, remain on the rail bed. In 1981, the effects of the drainage disruption were studied along the rail bed in the Valjean Valley north of the former station of Valjean, California. This northerly view shows a truck parked on the sediment accumulation in the east (upslope) side of the rail bed. In the four decades of abandonment, Larrea tridentata (creosote bush) has regrown on the raised rail bed. Scattered Ambrosia dumosa (white bursage) are also present, particularly in the center of the foreground. (Robert H. Webb)