Death Valley Railroad Death Valley Railroad The Death Valley Railroad (DVRR) was a narrow gauge railroad that operated in California's Death Valley to carry borax with the route running from Ryan, California to the mines at Ryan C., located just east of Death Valley National Park, to Death Valley Junction, a distance of approximately 20 miles. When mining operations at the Lila C. Mine were declining around 1914, Pacific Coast Borax Company began scouting the land outside Furnace Creek for richer borax deposits. Once they found some a bit west of the present mines, plans were put forward to build a narrow gauge
Nevada State Route 373 Valley come into view. The route continues north from here to its terminus at US 95, near the former site of Lathrop Wells. An unimproved road through Amargosa Valley, connecting Nevada to Death Valley Junction, appears on state maps as early as 1927. This route crossed the state line roughly where the current highway crosses now, but instead veered northwest to State Route 5 (now US 95) southwest of Beatty near the now defunct town of Caracca. The road, which paralleled the tracks of the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad to the west, was recognized as State Route 29 by 1932.