Over Memorial Day Weekend in 2018 we took a trip with friends to see the new house my parents are building near Joshua Tree National Park, and to do some hiking in the park.
As a historian, one of my favorite hikes was the one out to Wall Street Mill, where there’s a lot of abandoned machinery from the old Mill, but also this old car. One of the benefits of a National or State Park is that they preserve the landscape in tact. Including the old buildings and artifacts that are on the properties.
Of course, when the US Government shut down at the end of 2018 – beginning of 2019, the National Parks funding was suspended and there have been a lot of stories of the damage random jerks did while visiting the park without supervision of Park Rangers. One story said that at least one of the old vehicles left on the property had been stolen. I haven’t been back out there since it happened, and am almost afraid to do so. I sure hope this one is still there.
