Ecotourism on the Mojave Desert: China Ranch a treat for your eyes

Tecopa hot springs is about a half hour’s drive from Shoshone and is a bit of an attraction. From Tecopa it is a short drive to China Ranch with signs pointing the way. The drive at first is on a desert mesa which looks like it could not possibly offer anything. Then the road suddenly drops steeply down a steep, narrow arroyo which looks like it was carved out with a giant knife. The arroyo opens abruptly into an oasis. The contrast is startling. You have arrived at China Ranch.

China Ranch is private land on Willow Creek, a freshwater tributary of the Amargosa River. Native Americans had inhabited the area for 10,000 years. It was an important water stop on the Old Spanish Trail which between 1820 to 1850 and saw people like Kit Carson, John Fremont and Brigham Young pass thru. The Pacific Coast Borax Company about 1880 to 1890 was using Chinese laborers to mine borax at Tecopa dry lake. One of their laborers settled in the valley and grew fresh vegetables and pigs and chickens for meat. Those were a welcome break from the frontier diet of canned food. It was called the Chinaman’s Ranch.

Owner Bob Brown explains, “He left in 1900 and over the years the name changed to China Ranch. A long list of people tried traditional western ranching with raising hay and cattle. It just didn’t work out. It is very hot in the summer and remote. It is hard to get parts, supplies, and good workers.

“It was more or less abandoned when my father and aunt bought it in 1969. My late wife Bonnie and I moved out here in 1979 and we were trying to figure out what to do with the place. We hit on the idea of date palms and started planting them in 1989. We opened the gift shop in 1996 and opened the ranch to the public and publicized the interesting things in the area.

“Dates are not a traditional part of the American diet, so people do not know much about them. They are native to the desert areas around the Mediterranean basin. They are high in fiber and extremely nutritious. It turns out that dates are like apples – there are lots of different kinds. Some are almost a blonde color, some are jet black, and some are brown. They can be round; they can be long and dry, and some are very soft and moist. It’s an interesting food experience.”

They are a small family farm that grows their own product and sells mostly direct to the public. As such they can grow types of dates that are hard to find and that leads to Brown’s interesting stories about supplying very specific kinds of dates for religious purposes to Orthodox Jews in New York or a Coptic Christian church about 50 miles away on the Mojave Desert. They have an online business to send dates and date paste for making bread, muffins, and cookies. Check them out at chinaranch.com. The best part if in person is having a cool date shake before heading down the hiking trails to the Amargosa River Canyon, a Federally designated Wild and Scenic River with tiny, protected fish left over from the Ice Age and about every animal on the Mojave in abundance.

The Amargosa River, whether at Shoshone or China Ranch, turns out to be interesting after all. It just takes the right people.