Bristol is a large dry lake, about six miles wide and ten miles long, with a paved road through it, and the old Route 66 town of Amboy at its northern tip with its famous Roy’s Café. Salt is mined from the lakebed using a network of canals, wells, and linear evaporation pools, operated by the National Chloride Company. The brine contains a rare salt mineral found in just a few other remote locations, known as antarcticite. The rows of conical mounds dug from the ponds have been used for photo shoots and appear on at least one album cover (Moby). The west end of the lake is adjacent to a volcano and lava field known as Amboy Crater.
