Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka Valley, and most of Saline Valley. The park occupies an interface zone between the arid Great Basin and Mojave deserts, protecting the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and its diverse environment of salt-flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons, and mountains. Death Valley is the largest national park in the contiguous United States, and the hottest, driest and lowest of all the national parks in the United States. It contains Badwater Basin, the second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet (86 m) below sea level. More than 93% of the park is a designated wilderness area. The park is home to many species of plants and animals that have adapted to this harsh desert environment including creosote bush, Joshua tree, bighorn sheep, coyote, and the Death Valley pupfish, a survivor from much wetter times. UNESCO included Death Valley as the principal feature of its Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve in 1984.
Contra Costa County is located in the state of California in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,049,025. The county seat is Martinez. It occupies the northern portion of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, and is primarily suburban. The county's name is Spanish for "opposite coast", referring to its position on the other side of the bay from San Francisco. Contra Costa County is included in the San Francisco–Oakland–Berkeley, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about 16 miles (26 km) east of the city of Oakland. With a total estimated population of 70,166, Walnut Creek serves as a hub for its neighboring cities because of its location at the junction of the highways from Sacramento and San Jose (I-680) and San Francisco/Oakland (SR-24) and its accessibility by BART. Its active downtown neighborhood features hundred-year-old buildings and extensive high-end retail establishments.
Scotty's Castle is a two-story Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival style villa located in the Grapevine Mountains of northern Death Valley in Death Valley National Park, California, US. Scotty's Castle is named for gold prospector Walter E. Scott, although Scott never owned it, nor is it an actual castle.
Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in central Texas about 50 miles (80 km) west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country. The park protects the birthplace, home, ranch, and final resting place of Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States. During Johnson's administration, the LBJ Ranch was known as the "Texas White House" because the President spent approximately 20% of his time in office there.
Walter Edward Perry Scott, also known as Death Valley Scotty, was a prospector, performer, and con man who was made famous by his many scams involving gold mining and the iconic mansion in Death Valley, known as Scotty's Castle.
Bessilyn Johnson, known also as "Bessie" or "Mabel", was the wife of the Chicago millionaire Albert Johnson, a man who was variously the partner, friend and dupe of the famed American Old West figure Death Valley Scotty. Bessie was one of the main characters who provided the impetus for the construction of Scotty's Castle in what is now Death Valley National Park in California.
Albert Mussey Johnson, was an eccentric millionaire who served for many years as president of the National Life Insurance Company, built Scotty's Castle in Death Valley, and was variously partner, friend, and dupe of infamous Wild West con man Death Valley Scotty, for whose outrageous antics he later served as financier.
Mat Roy Thompson, known also as Matt Roy Thompson, Matthew R. Thompson, Mathew R. Thompson, M. Roy Thompson, Roy Thompson, and Leroy Thompson, was a civil engineer and architect who worked on a great variety of construction and development projects across the United States, most notably on Scotty's Castle, the Death Valley mansion of eccentric millionaire Albert Mussey Johnson.
The John Johnson farm is a historic home and listing on the National Register of Historic Places in Hiram Township, just west of the village of Hiram, Ohio, United States. The home, built in 1828, is a significant location in the history of the Latter Day Saint movement as the home of Joseph Smith and his family from September 1831 to March 1832. While Smith lived at the home, it served as the headquarters of the Church of Christ and was the site of several revelations to Smith and other Church leaders. The Johnson Farm is also significant as the site of the tarring and feathering of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon in March 1832.
The Orcutt Ranch Horticulture Center, formally known as Rancho Sombra del Roble, is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument located in the West Hills section of Los Angeles, California, USA.
The Harmony Borax Works is located in Death Valley at Furnace Creek Springs, then called Greenland. It is now located within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, California. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Rancho Arroyo de Las Nueces y Bolbones was a 17,782-acre (71.96 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Contra Costa County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Juana Sanchez de Pacheco.
Rancho Santa Rita was a 8,894-acre (35.99 km2) Mexican land grant in the Amador Valley and western Livermore Valley, which is in present day Alameda County, California.
Rancho Las Juntas was a 13,293-acre (53.79 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Contra Costa County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to William Welch. The name Las Juntas translates as "the Crossroads". The grant was located between Ygnacio Martinez’ Rancho El Pinole and Salvio Pacheco’s Rancho Monte del Diablo, and included northwestern Walnut Creek, all of Pleasant Hill, and the eastern portion of Martinez. The original borders of the claim were defined as the straits to the north, "Las Juntas" to the south, the Walnut creek to the east, the Reliz ridge to the west, and, to the northwest, the Alhambra creek.
Rancho Corral de Tierra was a 7,766-acre (31.43 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day coastal western San Mateo County, northern California.
The Old Borges Ranch is a 1,035 acres (419 ha) Historic District containing four contributing buildings, in the Diablo Foothills of the northern Diablo Range, within the 2,600-acre (1,100 ha) Walnut Creek Open Space in Contra Costa County, California.
Miles Ranch near Dawson, Nebraska was the first of the great ranches established west of the Missouri River. It was established by Stephen Boyd Miles in 1855 as part of “mail grant land” awarded by the United States Government in exchange for transporting mail, freight, and passengers between Independence, Missouri, and Salt Lake City, Utah. Strategically located along the Overland Trail, the Ranch became the headquarters of Miles’ stage line empire. Hundreds of horses and mules were recuperated at the Ranch to service the thriving stage line business. Hemp was the first crop and used to make rope.
Cherokee Ranch, in Douglas County, Colorado near Sedalia, Colorado, has been a purebred cattle ranch since 1954, including raising Santa Gertrudis cattle. The ranch is private property but offers frequent public and private events and tours.
