Lockhart Town Site, Harper Dry Lake, California


The abandoned building that once had a general store, a gas station, and soda fountain, and which was once the heart of the now gone community of Lockhart, was finally torn down in 2012, to make way for more solar plants. Lockhart was the center for ranching and agricultural activity that developed on the edge of Harper Lake in the early 1900s. The main ranch in the area, Lockhart Ranch, was once well known for its beef. The large ranch house was located in the middle of what is now the solar plant. Howard Hughes had a hangar here too, and used the dry lake for testing one of his airplanes. That too is gone, under the solar plant.