As the mule skinners died out, a new group of men, railroad engineers, experimented with steam technology to move precious ore out of Death Valley. Due to the dry desert conditions, water was a scarce commodity so a series of small engines that used less water were experimented with.
Seen here in an image from the Lieberry of Congress, an unidentified railroad engineer tends to the “LETC 618” the first and last miniature steam engine used to haul botox ore up the furnace creek grade and out of the valley. “618” refers to number of mule power the engine could generate. The Furnace Creek grade was an experiment in using bitumen extract to cement the desert sands together to prevent erosion from the occasional ‘gully busters’. It was washed out in the great storm of ’05.

As the mule skinners died out, a new group of men, railroad engineers, experimented with steam technology to move precious ore out of Death Valley. Due to the dry desert conditions, water was a scarce commodity so a series of small engines that used less water were experimented with. Seen here in an image from the Lieberry of Congress, an unidentified railroad engineer tends to the "LETC 618" the first and last miniature steam engine used to haul botox ore up the furnace creek grade and out of the valley. "618" refers to number of mule power the engine could generate. The Furnace Creek grade was an experiment in using bitumen extract to cement the desert sands together to prevent erosion from the occasional 'gully busters'. It was washed out in the great storm of '05.

• Year: 1875
• Location: Death Valley, Ca
• Camera: 4X5 plate camera
• Lens: 650 mm Ektamore
• F Stop: f/64
• ISO: 6.2
• Shutter Speed: 10 seconds
• Capture Method:

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