“Salton Sea Story” is a pamphlet published by Helen Burns in 1952. Helen Burns first made her home in Salton Sea Beach in the 1940s, long before anyone cared or dared to treat the area as a tourist attraction or vacation spot. She continued to operate various forms of hospitality until she passed away in 1994. She revised ‘Salton Sea Story’ many times after its initial edition in the early 50s.
I made my first trip to Imperial County in 2019 and soon after read “Queen of the Salton Sea” by Donna Burns Kennedy (Helen’s daughter). It was there that I learned of the existence of the pamphlet. I viewed a reference copy in the Palm Springs Library in 2023 and later found my own copies. All of them are scanned here so the world may enjoy them.
Besides my scanned personal copies, I’ve also created some other sections of the website (also available via the icon in the upper right hand corner of each page):
- The Library – other pamphlets and books on the region, scanned here for your reference
- Blog – other related topics that interest me and bits of my extensive collection of ephemera
- Cartography – a collection of the various maps I own of the Sea and surrounding area
- I also have collections of some of Helen’s other written works:
- Salton Seafarer – this was a self published newspaper that was in circulation from approximately 1958-1988
- Salton Shorelines – Helen wrote a weekly column for the Desert Sun from 1989-1992
- About – a little background on my connection to the Sea and Imperial County desert