Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea's photostream

Welcome to the on-line still photo archive for the documentary feature film "Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea." This is a very small sampling of our huge archive of modern and historical photos that we collected while we were making the film. We are currently developing a book, which would include many of the photos shown here.

What is the Salton Sea you might ask? Well, the Salton Sea is actually not a sea at all, but rather a product of man’s folly.

Less than a century ago, during construction on an aqueduct designed to bring water to the burgeoning farms in the desert of Southern California, the Colorado River overran a shoddily built dam and flooded the nearby Imperial and Coachella Valleys. It took nearly 2 years for engineers to redirect the water flow with boulders and boxcars back into the Gulf of Mexico. By the time it was over, a 35-mile long by 15-mile wide freshwater lake had been created in this once arid desert valley. Within a few years, mineral deposits in the basin increased the Salton Sea’s salinity level dramatically, turning this lake into a small inland sea.

By the 1950’s this "mistake" had turned itself into a thriving success. Imported marine fish from the Pacific Ocean had turned the Salton Sea into one of the best sports fishing locations in the United States and its salinity and below sea level altitude made it ideal for waterskiing. The area also became a world famous bird watching location, due to its critical location on the Pacific Migratory Flyway. Fifty years after its creation, the Salton Sea was a premier working class vacationers’ destination, attracting more visitors per year than Yosemite National Park.

However, others had plans for the Salton Sea to become something more glamorous – perhaps a luxury resort on par with Palm Springs or the French Riviera. Promoters started building hotels, yacht clubs, and the infrastructure for a huge resort city. Celebrities such as Sonny Bono, Frank Sinatra, the Marx Brothers, and the Beach Boys started coming to the area, and the glorious future of the Salton Sea seemed secure.

However, through a curious combination of circumstance and a series of unfortunate events, the original Salton Sea dream as it was destined did not materialize. First was a miscalculation by promoters. While many lots were sold, few homes were built, as most buyers had purchased their lots for speculative investment or for future retirement. Next, a series of hurricanes swept through the area. Because the Salton Sea has no natural outlet, it is essentially a huge puddle, which rises and recedes dramatically depending on the amount of rain in a particular year. These hurricanes brought tremendous floods whose onslaught submerged yacht clubs, the boat ramps, and the shoreline properties.

In the late 1970’s, the area began to recover and some building was started over, but the harnessing of the Colorado River, which had allowed the “Sea” to manifest itself, had now become a problem. Fed by agricultural run-off from nearby Imperial Valley farms, the sea continued to enlarge over the years and even engulfed several shoreline communities, which worsened the damage done by the hurricanes. And with no outlet except for evaporation, pesticides and mineral deposits contaminated the water – increasing the salinity to well over 25% saltier than the Pacific Ocean. This notorious salinity level became the sea’s undoing, a curse that made its water deadly to countless fish and in turn killed thousands of migrating birds. The media soon arrived and incorrectly pegged the sea as an irreversible ecological disaster plagued by pollution from Mexico. In the aftermath of these events, the Salton Sea was abandoned almost as quickly as it was created.

Left behind was a community of stragglers, many of whom purchased land long ago and still continue to wait for the day when prosperity will return to the sea. For others, the Salton Sea is paradise just the way it is. Undeniably, it still offers some of the best winter weather in the entire country and despite the numerous wildlife die-offs, it still has some of the best sport fishing and bird watching in the West. In addition to these attributes, the low prices and anything goes attitude around the sea has made it a unique refuge for many who have abandoned the outside world. For them it has been easy to escape the past, in a place that has long been forgotten.

For decades, politicians have ignored the plight of the Salton Sea. Funds have occasionally been designated towards economic development and ecological restoration, but these monies have always been diverted into endless surveys and never into an actual solution. However, in 1998 the Salton Sea made headlines by a matter of happenstance.

Saving the Salton Sea had been a long time crusade of the late entertainer, Palm Springs congressman, restaurateur, and ex-husband of Cher - Sonny Bono. Sonny remembered how spectacular the sea had been in his youth and wanted to return it to recreational glory. Yet, before his dream could be fulfilled, an untimely skiing accident claimed his life. His death drew calls for a memorial to be dedicated in his name and the United States Congress reacted quickly with an allocation of $350 million towards the Sonny Bono Memorial Salton Sea Reclamation Act. This bill gave funding to investigate plans as to how to decrease the salinity and restore the sea for economic development.

But many are doubtful that things will ever change. Scientists and politicians have been talking about saving the sea for the last 30 years, but their promises have always gone nowhere. Now as the doubtful citizens continue to wait through the endless studies and delays, the Salton Sea is threatened by yet another potential calamity.

Because the sea has no natural inflow, it is reliant on agricultural run-off to sustain itself. However, this water has become increasingly valuable due to the tremendous population growth in Los Angeles and San Diego. Now several Southern-Californian metropolitan water districts have negotiated to transfer the agricultural water from the Imperial Valley, to the cities on the Pacific coast. With a decrease in agriculture, there would be less runoff to the Salton Sea, which would then dry up and kill millions of birds that now call the Salton Sea home. Then an exposed sea bottom would create huge dust storms, which could devastate the entire southeast corner of California, including the wealthy resort community of Palm Springs. As the battle over the water transfers continue, the fate of the communities around the Salton Sea remain uncertain.

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