In the mid-19th century and earlier, potash was produced almost exclusively on asheries from burning wood or kelp, but by 1861 Germans pioneered mining potassium salts and American farmers soon started using them as fertilizers on a wide scale.

In 1863, John W. Searles (1828-1897) discovered concentrated minerals in the saline deposits in Slate Range in the Mojave Desert southwest of Death Valley.

Dolbear founded the California Trona Company and filed 250 land claims for 160 acres around Searles Valley in 1908.

The California Trona Company built two experimental plants to recover soda ash, potash, borax and sodium sulfate from the dry lake.

The Foreign Mines Development Company began legal action to sell the property to recover mortgage debt on September 7, 1909.

[3][4] By the beginning of the 20th century, Germany had a practically worldwide monopoly on potash in its Magdeburg - Halberstadt rock salt basin.

In June 1909, Americans attempted to buy the mineral not from the national syndicate, but from independent producers at far lower prices.

[7] On June 17, 1910, eight men were spotted heading to Borax Lake to claim jump land of the California Trona Company.

June 20, 1910 "On Saturday afternoon when the boys were brought to Borax I furnished them with food and had them all sign a quitclaim deed relinquishing to California Trona.

[8] On October 19, 1910, 44 new Los Angeles claim jumpers arrived at Searles, their leader was Henry E. Lee, an Oakland attorney.

Nick Cataldo claimed the Earp was working at the request of Tom Lewis, a Los Angeles Police Department Commissioner.

Engineer Lou Rasor told how Earp grabbed one of Austin's men's rifle and then had a revolver put to his face.

With unrest starting in Germany, who controlled the world market of potash, and with the importance of potash in the US, on December 23, 1912, a Federal Court instructed that Lee's claims be guarded by United States Officers, Deputy Sheriffs and the William J. Burns International Detective Agency.

The action was taken due to the threat of Lee's armed men seeking to get back claims they said were taken from them in the rich potash and borax deposits of Searles lake.

[14] Those that fought both with guns and in court were correct, the dry lake holds vast amounts of rich mineral wealth.

[15] In 1913 Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa, British owned, founded the American Trona Corporation.

He saw the actions of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in the Owens Valley and wrote a report to the Secretary of the Interior about the issue he saw.

Austin had a test drill done and found that the mineral-rich layers ran about 100 feet under the dry lake.

To start fresh they traveled to Southern California after hearing about the gold and silver finds in the Slate Range.

They had some good gold and silver finds in the Slate Range, but in the end, they again lost everything after another debt lawsuit in 1870.

They changed their focus from mining to the deposits at the Slate Range dry lake that now bears their name.

In 1878 Searles sold his interests and the claim patents for the dry lake to the San Bernardino Borax Mining Company.