Dr. Jim Kennedy of Dover NJ sent me some pictures of Trona in 1920 while his father worked for AP&CC. Please take a look and see if you can help identify anyone in the photos.

The next all class reunion will be in 2010. It is not too early to start making your plans. Be sure your contact information is up to date!

At the request of Sandy Lane and Doug Polly the Trona High School Alumni Registry has now been re-hosted as part of Trona on the Web.

Notice: I have been informed that some of you are getting email from a site called www.tronaalumni.com.  It is a commercial site and is not affiliated with this site, Trona High School or any Trona Alumni Organization. Please be aware of this if you decide to register there. The only email that you will get from me is in response to your email or a request for clarification if I don't understand something about your registration.

Spring is a great time to visit the desert. The wild flowers are in bloom and the temperature is just right. There are lots of thing to do and see in the Searles Valley area. Now is a good time to plan your visit.

Welcome to Trona on the Web. This site is over ten years old It is the oldest and the longest surviving Trona web sites in existence today. It is the most complete source of information about Trona found anywhere in cyberspace. 

If it does not have what you are looking for now, please email me I've been know to add a new page now and then when someone suggests a new topic. I'm always in search of new material and new links. Please let me know of anything you think I should add.

A Tribute to Ridgecrest, California ( High Desert Memories)  is an excellent web site well worth the visit and will bring back memories to anyone who lived in this area in the '40s '50s and '60s.

Ken Klein called me a few years back to ask me if I knew Doug Polly's address. I don't why we got the subject but he reminded me of how Bob Swanson used to entertain himself and the group of Trona kids that would gather around by throwing them his change. I don't remember the details of how he made it interesting for himself, but now it reminds me of how tourists sometimes thrown coins into the water for native divers to retrieve.

Is there anyone else besides Ken and myself that will admit being in that gang of kids that waited to see if they would end up with a penny or a quarter? This activity always took place on the Austin Hall sidewalk right outside the pool hall.

It was the place where some of the older kids would make their spending money shinning shoes. Remember that shoeshine stand? And was the place where kids of varying ages would make a little money selling the Herald Express. The better you were at selling would determine just how close to the plant gate your assigned spot was. Unfortunately I was much to shy to do well. Bob do you remember how many papers you sold each day? Bob was the best that I remember. I won't tell you his last name but he will know who he is. Bob, write me if you remember this.

Bob, it was great talking to you on the phone ( December 6, 2006). Please remember to email me the details that you told me. Are you sure you only sold 15 papers a day? I was sure it more like 75.

I watched so many games of pool through those pool hall windows that I should be an expert at the game. For many of the men who worked in the plant was the first stop after the 4 o'clock whistle blew and the second stop for many others who preferred a shower to cool themselves off before that first glass of cold beer.

Ken's call brought back so many fun memories. Please share your favorite memories of Trona with me and with the others of us that love our home town.

Laura Quezada sent me some well documented information about the 1941 strike and the role Mexican Americans played in the labor movement.  Her project is well worth the time to read. I am curious to know how many of you remember the Mexican village that used to exist on "the other side of the tracks"?