The Gallery at Twin Lakes

Wildfire smoke is as thick as a pile of grits up here in the Lakes Basin from the fire burn'n over the hill. Lots of good granite and some mighty fine lakes be...tween the fire and Ol' Charlie though. A lot of good men are work'n to stomp that Creek Fire out before it gets here, but the fire season'z just gitt'n started this year.... so Ol' Charlie is hoping ya'll are careful to not git one started by being careless. Carelessness with a candle or a lantern is what started the big fire up here in Mammoth City back in 1880. That fire burned down over half the town... and caused it to quickly disappear from history, leaving me and my donkeys Joan and Jenny pretty lonely up here in the Lakes Basin. See more

In 1920, Stephen Willard made the first of many arduous journeys to photograph the Death Valley in his 1909 Chalmers automobile. During the 1930's, Willard wa...s commissioned by the U.S. Borax Company to produce photographs for their use in the promotion of Death Valley as a resort and tourist destination. Willard’s Death Valley photographs for U.S. Borax also played a key role in President Hoover’s 1933 decision to create the "Death Valley National Monument". U.S. Borax Superintendent H.P. Harry Gower felt that Willard's picture of "Dante’s View" was the best he had even seen. Their close working relationship and friendship was underscored in a letter from 1957 where Gower reminisced: "Hope this letter finds you and yours in health and prosperity. I would like nothing better than to look up and see you chugging into camp in the old Pierce Arrow. Remember the time we invaded the Ghost Town of Skiddoo? You cleared the cabin where we were housed of rats with your 45. I doubt if Miss Ronan or Mrs. Gower slept again that night." If you enjoy these posts, please share them with your friends. .

The gallery, in its early days, looked pretty much the same as it does today.

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