Kelso used to be a railroad stop built out of nowhere in the desert. The railroad company chose this location, at the bottom of a desert valley, as a convenient one along the line that connected the mountainous west to the coast in Los Angeles. A village grew out of nowhere, and the only decent way in or out was the train: the alternative was 70 miles of bumpy, unpaved pathways just to reach any other dwelling. Railroad employees received food, mail and everything else through their employer, and they even received daily cleaned linens through the train. Over time, the train lost its importance and, above all, thanks to electrification, the necessity of stopping in places like Kelso. The station was used less and less and in the end, by the late 1970s, was barely used as the central meeting point of a shrinking community. Eventually it was abandoned, its windows boarded up, its glasses shattered, and it was a pity. People left, and Kelso had become just a name, one of many ghost towns of the American west. It was only a few years ago that the United States National Park Service established the Mojave National Preserve and decided to move its visitor center from a small outlet in Baker to a restored Kelso Depot, revitalizing the abandoned building. It is still 35 miles, or 56 km, to get there on a paved road, and there are no services except for a working restroom and a small bookstore where they also carry water, but it now looks like a sort of oasis in the desert. This is a view of the landscape looking north; the railroad tracks are behind me, and an abandoned building still looms to the right. Kelso, county of San Bernardino, California

Production Date: Circa 1945 Source Type: Postcard Publisher, Printer, Photographer: American Art Post Card Company, Eastern Photo Litho Company (#E-5715) Postmark: None Collection: Steven R. Shook Tenney and Hilbert Published Market Price in 2009: $3-$6 Source: Tenney, Fred, and Kevin Hilbert. 2009. Large Letter Postcards: The Definitive Guide 1930s to 1950s. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 176 p.