Railroads have played an important part in the history of Death Valley. The Pacific Coast Borax Company first used the Death Valley Railroad to transport its ore to market and then to transport Death Valley tourists to its Furnace Creek Resort. "Death Valley Scotty's" leap to national fame came as a direct result of his chartering a private train to break the Los Angeles to Chicago speed record. The Carson & Colorado Railroad on the west and the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad on the east provided support to Death Valley's mining activity, its associated boomtowns, and early tourism.
Robert P. Palazzo is a historian, estate planning attorney, and author of Western US history. He has presented numerous academic papers at the Death Valley History Conferences and other historical events across the country, and he is the author of Arcadia Publishing's Death Valley in addition to dozens of articles and three books on diverse historical topics. Much of the visual material in his publications comes from his extensive private collection.