Color Photos Of California in the 1970s by National Geographic Photographer Charles O'Rear

 Transmission lines and railroad near Salton Sea. District of Los Angeles smog obscures the sun, May 1972

  Imperial Valley, May 1972
  Dry heat and high winds equal eye-stinging, nose itching dust storm, May 1972
  Early morning at Malibu Lake in the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu, California, which is located on the northwestern edge of Los Angeles County, May 1975
 Farm workers shoulder tools at end of day near Ripley, in the fertile Palo Verde Valley of the lower Colorado River region, May 1972
  Farm youngsters playing at sunset near their home in Ripley, May 1972
 London Bridge, transplanted here in 1971, crosses arm of Havasu Lake, which is fed by Colorado River, May 1972
  Pickers in field near El Centro, May 1972
 Moving cattle raise dust along the highway-near Calipatria in the Imperial Valley, May 1972
 near Calipatria in the Imperial Valley, southwest of Blythe, May 1972
 Gypsum plant at Plaster City. White dust from the plant is part of the atmosphere, May 1972
 A hundred-mile ribbon of sand dunes separates the Chocolate Mountains of southern California from the Imperial Valley, which stretches from the Salton Sea into Mexico, May 1972