Free Republic

How could a ship come to rest on desert sands so far from salt water? One explanation holds that an exceptionally large tide from the Gulf of California may have collided with an exceptionally heavy runoff from the Colorado River at the delta, producing a flood which broke through the land barrier to the Salton Sea. The cresting waters could have carried a ship over the natural dam and down into the Salton Sea basin. The flood would have then retreated, leaving the vessel stranded.

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is threatening to scrap a major Obama-era agreement that sought to protect millions of acres of the California desert by placing sensitive areas off-limits to major solar- and wind-energy installations. The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan covers more than 10.8 million acres and was designed to guide energy facilities to parcels where they are least likely to cause environmental damage. {snip}...The Bureau of Land Management says it was moved to consider changing the plan "in response to President Trump's order to review regulations that unnecessarily impede energy development." It points out that under the conservation...

Inspired by Legos, and other children’s toys like building blocks, the U.S. Marine Corps is building the world’s largest urban warfare training area out in the Mohave Desert of California. There are currently some 400 structures, from private homes, to large government building complexes, erected in the training area. When more money arrives, the “town” will expand to as many as 1,500 structures. What’s different about all this is that shipping containers, equipped with doors, windows, some paint and contents, are being used to represent the buildings. Like Legos, the containers can be joined together, or stacked, to make larger...