Darwin — "No gas or services in Darwin" sign on the road into Darwin. The road to Darwin shoots southeast from Lone Pine, skirting the alien-looking salt flats of Owens Lake and boring into a country of dry washes, Joshua trees, abandoned silver mines and thousand-year-old creosote bush.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — Kathy Goss, 70, a writer and musician, moved to Darwin from San Francisco nearly two decades ago. Goss is frustrated by the slow Internet services in her remote community. Goss channeled that frustration into a song recorded in her studio, a converted cargo container next to her home.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — Darwin, founded in 1874, was the hub of a vast silver and lead mining district, a place known for its brothels, saloons and shootouts. A century of booms and busts later, the mines were shuttered and Darwin was hanging on by a thread. That's when it was rediscovered by a different sort of prospector: aging hippies and artists from around Big Sur.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — Judyth Greenburgh, 47, works on her computer in Darwin. "I think there's something very clear about being in Darwin. The air is clear, the views are clear. You can pick and choose how you want to live," said Greenburgh, 47, a London-born former advertising executive. "But living remotely doesn't mean you have to go backwards in time."

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — Artist Judyth Greenburgh, 47, goes for a walk in Darwin. "A lot of people I do business with don't know I'm working from here," she said. "I don't know what they'd think of me living underground in the desert in a shipping container. I just deliver." She has recently upgraded to satellite service, with its daily data allotments and weather-related hiccups, but it has left her and the few others in town who've tried it unimpressed.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — Townspeople gather each day at the Darwin Post Office. It is slated to close soon. "So, not only are we being excluded from the information superhighway, we may also be kicked off the Pony Express route," said Kathy Goss.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — Susan Pimentel, 58, works in the Darwin Post Office, which is the only commerce in Darwin and is the gathering place for the local townspeople. It is slated to close.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — Here on the shoulder of the information superhighway, smartphones turn stupid, streaming videos shrink to a trickle and a simple computer download drags like a flat tire. Darwin is a former mining town cloistered in the high desert mountains between Death Valley National Park and China Lake Naval Weapons Center.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — Teapots hang from the library sign in Darwin. Abandoned cars outnumber Darwin's residents 3 to 1. There are retirees, artists, loners, eccentrics -- independent souls who've willingly traded a 90-mile drive to the nearest shopping center for the tranquil isolation of California's outback.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — John Hamilton, 81, waits for his dial-up connection to the Internet in his home in Darwin. Darwin is emblematic of the nation's digital divide -- the disparity between those who access the Internet through high-speed broadband and those who connect to the Web by dialing up a service through their telephone.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — John Hamilton, 81, waits for his dial-up connection to the Internet in his home in Darwin. He would like to sell his painting on the Web, but his connection to the Internet is so slow it can take hours to download one image.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — John Hamilton, 81, hangs up his towel after doing dishes in his kitchen.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — Kathy Goss, 70, walks into the Darwin cemetery. Gross says there are poets, Indians and miners buried in this small remote location.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Darwin — The road to Darwin is lonely and quiet. The only sound is the wind.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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