Niland, California: Salvation Mountain

A friend and I were out on a trip to check out Bombay Beach when we ended up in Niland to get some gas. There we saw a post card of the infamous Salvation Mountain and immediately asked for directions. We headed down Main Street to the technocolor glob in the distance.

As we drove along we noticed several heavily loaded military vehicles tailing us. Near the mountain, we came to a ten ft. chain link fence topped with razor wire. There was a narrow opening for the road that led straight to the mountain. We passed through slowly, uncomfortably aware of the odd looks of 10 or 20 people mulling around, some dressed in Arab-ish costumes. On the right was a 20-ft. guard tower, on the left the shambled remains of a vaguely middle-eastern town, complete with arabic grafitti and hand carts. We pulled over to let the caravan of military vehicles go speeding by as we tried to figue out if we should go on. The looks from the people standing around nearby (who didn't look like Hollywood or military types) definitely said "go away." So we did.

I'm not sure if this was a temporary installment, but it would certainly have made an attraction in itself.

Leonard Knight is creator of Salvation Mountain. It's not really a mountain; more like a hillside. Through the years, Leonard has dumped thousands of gallons of paint on it. It's Leonard's tribute to God. On the multi-colored hillside is inscribed Bible verses and other biblical references. At the top is a cross, which was once struck by lightning. I wrote several stories about Salvation Mountain in 1995 when county officials tested the paint-laden soil for toxicity. They were going to tear it down. It was then that I discovered art professors throughout the US already knew of it. One North Carolina professor said he included Salvation Mountain in a course with other artworks created by people driven by a religous force. Salvation Mountain is located about a mile east of Niland, which is on Highway 111 near the Salton Sea.