2005 Oldores

Old Ores
Mining History in the Eastern Mojave Desert
Robert E. Reynolds, Editor
The Oro Belle claim in Hart. Photograph courtesy Larry Vredenburgh.
Old Ores: mines and mineral marketing

in the east Mojave Desert—a field trip guide
Robert E. Reynolds and Ted Weasma
Abstracts from the 2005 Desert Symposium

Robert E. Reynolds, compiler
California State University, Desert Studies Consortium and LSA Associates, Inc.
April 2005
The 2005 Desert Symposium
Table of Contents
Old ores: mines and mineral marketing in the east Mojave Desert—a field trip guide
Robert E. Reynolds and Ted Weasma....................................................................................................................................3
Cancelled due to flooding

William Presch.........................................................................................................................................................................20
An overview of mining in the California Desert

Larry Vredenburgh.................................................................................................................................................................22
The historical mining towns of the eastern Mojave Desert

Alan Hensher...........................................................................................................................................................................28
Railroads around Mojave National Preserve

Gordon Chappell....................................................................................................................................................................41
The mint at the Mescal Mine

John E. Bennett........................................................................................................................................................................49
Evaporative salt production on Soda Dry Lake

Rob Fulton............................................................................................................................................................................. 55
The Silver Lake talc deposits, San Bernardino County, California

Lauren A. Wright....................................................................................................................................................................61
Halloran turquoise: a thousand years of mining history

Robert E. Reynolds.................................................................................................................................................................63
Recent rare mineral finds at the Noonday and War Eagle mines, Tecopa Pass, Inyo Co. CA
Robert M. Housley..................................................................................................................................................................68
Recent rare mineral finds in southern California and Nevada desert mines
Robert M. Housley..................................................................................................................................................................73
Rich Hill, Arizona: a modern gold rush to a historic gold district

Erik Melchiorre, Dante Lauretta, M. Katherine Crombie and Chris Gholson.................................................................74
The 100% true story of Hubert Tecumseh Miller (except for the made-up bits)
Steven W Smith.......................................................................................................................................................................77
Age constraints of the Copper Canyon Formation, Death Valley National Park, California
Torrey Nyborg and H. PaulBuchheim..................................................................................................................................79
Landslide damage within Big Santa Anita Canyon, Los Angeles County, California
Suzanne M. Baltzer..................................................................................................................................................................82
Abstracts of Proceedings, 2005 Desert Symposium

Robert E. Reynolds (compiler)................................................................................................................................................87
—2—
Old ores: mines and mineral

marketing in the east Mojave
Desert—a field trip guide
Robert E. Reynolds, LSA Associates, Inc, 1650 Spruce Street Suite 500, Riverside, CA 92507. bob.reynolds@lsa-assoc.
com and Ted Weasma, Mojave National Preserve, 2701 Barstow Road, Barstow, CA, 92311. Ted_Weasma@nps.gov
Summary (1) Sulfide ores run through a roasting furnace; oxide ores
On Day 1 we will visit base metal mines: gold, lead, run through a blast furnace.
silver, zinc and copper. These metals occur in relatively
(2) Multiple runs through roasting and blast furnaces leave
thin deposits in contrast to the bulk-commodity, open
lead bullion, and continue the separation of copper
pit mines we will visit on day two. Thin, metal-bearing
matte and blister copper.
hydrothermal dikes and secondary enrichment deposits
required crushing, concentration and smelting to produce (3) Lead/silver bullion is put into acid solution that allows
a marketable product. Free-milling gold in quartz simply lead chloride to be precipitated and roasted into bul-
required crushing followed by water panning to concen- lion.
trate the heavy metal. Complex processes were developed On Day 2 we will visit bulk commodity mines whose
to extract low-grade ores of mixed metals associated with production was facilitated by the economics of population
uneconomical “gangue” minerals of pyrite, calcite, barite growth and two World Wars. We will see mines for pure
and fluorite. limestone (marble) that have produced raw material for
Gold extraction (beyond simple arrastra crushing) cement since the 1930s. The first Portland cement factory
required: was commissioned in 1900 at Alameda, California by F.
(1) Classification and fine pulverization; density concentra- M. Smith (Hildebrand, 1982). Iron mines active from the
tion on shaker table. 1930 produced iron as an additive for cement and for the
(2) Amalgamation. Gold has an affinity for, and sinks in, steel industry. Talc was used in cosmetics, ceramics, and
mercury, which floats other materials. Heating drives manufacturing rubber products. These mines were mainly
off mercury for collection and reuse, leaving gold open pits where precision ore removal was followed by
behind. crushing and size classification that allowed shipment of a
marketable product.
(3) Cyanidation. Gold attaches to cyanide, and can be fil-
tered in charcoal. Roasting the charcoal leaves behind
the gold. Historic mining: what to look for
1. Claim Location (location monument, claim notice cor-
Copper extraction is accomplished by leaching. ner posts, discovery prospect)
(1) Copper ore is pulverized and saturated with sulfuric
acid (pyrite helps). 2. Ore (vein, lode, or placer; stockpile)
(2) The copper sulfate solution is mixed with tin (cans), 3. Mine workings (adit, shaft, tunnel, stope decline, tunnel,
causing precipitation of native copper, then sent to winze, raise, prospect pits, open pits)
blast furnace for purification. 4. Equipment (collar, winch, headframe, bin, shoot, hoist,
(3) Copper ore needs sulfides for roasting (mix of ox- tram chute, hoist, ball mill, Wilfley concentrating table)
ides with copper sulfides or pyrite). The blast furnace 5. Milling equipment (arrastra, crusher, grizzly)
produces native copper “matte” which can be shipped
economically. 6. Smelting equipment (assay shop, ovens, slag)
(4) Ultimate refinement involves dissolving copper into a 7. Leaching equipment (reservoirs, ponds, tanks, tin cans,
sulfate solution, and using electrolysis to separate pure sludge)
copper from gold and silver. 8. Ore transport (conveyor, tram, roads, wagon ruts, rail
Lead and silver extraction involves furnaces. beds)
—3—
Introduction Planck, 1961; Vredenburgh and others,1981; Vreden-

Native Americans in the Mojave Desert used fine- burgh, 1995, 1996a, 1996b, 1996c; Hensher, 1996; Hewett,
grained volcanic rocks, chalcedony, and chert for cutting, 1956; Shumway, 1980; Casebier, 1973, 1974. Also see
chopping, and piercing tools. They used coarse crystalline articles by Vredenburgh and by Hensher in this volume.
rocks and vesicular basalt to abrade and grind vegetable
and animal material, clays for pottery, salts for tanning,
and metallic oxides for pigment. Turquoise and other
stones were used for jewelry and ceremonial objects. Day 1
Gold and silver were located in the Mojave Desert in Early exploration, transportation, ore deposits, mines, and
1849 by immigrants on their way to the gold fields of the prospects.
Sierra Nevada foothills. We will visit the Amargosa Gold
Mine at Salt Springs on the Spanish Trail, and the Mojave 0.0 (0.0) Convene at Zzyzx with a full tank of gas for the
Road will take us through the early Rock Springs mining 212 mile trip. Wear sturdy shoes and dress for the occa-
district of the Mid Hills. sion; bring water, hats and sunscreen.
Many early strikes were of high-grade (secondary 4.7 (4.7) Enter I-15 eastbound, toward Baker.
enrichment) concentrate. The low cost of extraction by 11.0 (6.3) Continue past Kelbaker Road and central Baker.
simple mining tools (pick and shovel) and concentration Proceed eastbound on I-15.
in arrastras was offset by the expense of transporting ore
to mills and smelters as distant as Wales, Utah, or Alame- 24.4 (13.4) continue past the Halloran Spring offramp.
da on the California coast. Advances in milling technol- 30.4 (6.0) Continue past the Halloran Summit exit. An
ogy (concentrating jigs, flotation solutions, blast furnaces, electrical wind generator is shown on 1956 USGS quad
cyanidation, and heap leaching) allowed extraction and maps south of this exit. Ahead, Shadow Valley contains
processing of lower grade ores. We will investigate ore the sites of three mills. The Valley Wells mill and copper
processing techniques at several historic mines as we travel smelter were two miles north of Highways 91/466. On the
through vast stretches of mineralized mountains that are south side of I-15, one mile west of Cima Road, is the site
now withdrawn from mineral location and extraction. of Windmill Station (Hubert Well), the mill site for the
Excellent summaries of mining history in the eastern Evening Star Mine. Another mill site (Evening Star Mine
Mojave Desert are recommended as further reading: Ver
The Mohawk Mine on Mohawk Ridge: simplified cross-section. 1: landing (=dump). 2: adit portal. 3: adit. 4: drift. 5: winze. 6:raise. 7: incline
(decline). 8: main landing. 9: lower landing. 10: stope. 11: stope to daylight. 12: dump (waste). 13: ore bin. 14: ore chute. 15: winch/hoist.
16: tram station. 17: tram cable. 18: tram buckets. 19: haul road to mill.
—4—
Mill, Evans, 1971) is shown east of the Stuckys complex at of the 1917 blast furnace foundations, acid tanks, and slag.
Cima Road. Valley Wells Station and an associated cattle The slag was poured hot into forms that developed a flat,
ranch were adjacent to the I-15 rest stop. working floor when it cooled. The iron arsenate scorodite
37.6 (7.2) Exit at Cima Road/Excelsior Mine Road. at the Valley Wells smelter suggests that some ore pro-
cessed here came from the Mohawk Mine.
38.0 (0.4) Stop at Cima Road. Turn left (north) and
proceed north over the freeway. The copper milling process involves trucking ore to ore
bin above the crusher. Upon crushing, it was sent by belt
38.5 (0.5) Turn right (east) on old Highway 466 (gas conveyor to a ball mill for fine grinding. Iron pyrite was
pipeline road) and proceed to the Mohawk Mine. roasted in the adjacent sulfuric acid plant, and sulfurous
43.3 (4.8) Turn left (north) toward the Mohawk Mine. gas mixed with the fine ore. The ore was washed and
44.3 (1.0) STOP 1-1. Park. The Clark mining district filtered, and the copper sulfate solution ran through tin
was formed in July,1865, and claims such as the Copper cans in a series of concrete tanks (launders). The copper-
World and Mohawk were surveyed in from stone “min- iron mud was taken to the adjacent smelter or shipped as
eral monuments” such as USMM1, USMM 3, and USMM concentrate (Labbe, 1960). The smelter produced copper
35 and from vertical-angle bench marks (VABM 7929 in matte, which was first hauled to Manvel (Barnwell) and
that district). The Mohawk ore body is high on a ridge, later to the new (closer) rail head at Ivanpah. After 1917,
and the ore follows fractures downward into the hill. The the copper matte was hauled to Cima and shipped by rail
miners had to work against gravity to bring ore to the sur- for further refinement at Garfield, Utah.
face, and then use gravity to help bring ore down shoots The community surrounding the smelter included wooden
and cables to loading bins. The mine produced lead, zinc, buildings and cabins excavated under a roof of Pleisto-
and copper, along with a small shipment of gold. The cene caliche. Rosalie was the post office (Vredenburgh,
Mohawk Mine has produced the most diverse secondary 1996a), and the Valley Wells Cemetery is located north-
assemblage of arsenates, sulfates, carbonates and silicates west (Reynolds, 1996). Be careful of collapsing structures
in the Mojave Desert (Wise, 1989, 1996). and of snakes as you explore the mill site and miner-dug
Although the Copper World Mine, two miles north, cabins. Note that the shelves dug into the cabins’ clay
was worked in the 1890s (Vredenburgh, 1996a and this walls of are the size of wooden dynamite boxes. Retrace
volume; Hensher, this volume), there are no records of to Cima Road.
claims or mill site at the Mohawk until 1916. This suggests 53.3 (1.6) Turn left (south) onto Cima Road.
that ore extraction and shipment was prompted by World 54.4 (1.1) Cross to the south side of I-15.
War I. In 1916, stopes and the mill on the north side of
Mohawk Ridge produced 1.5 tons of lead and silver. A 55.4 (1.0) Turn left (east) and enter east-bound I-15.
drilling program in 1942 located deposits on the south 64.2 (00) Exit at Bailey Road.
side of Mohawk Ridge, and by 1952, 16 tons of ore had 64.5 (0.0) Stop, reconvene at the overpass, turn
been produced. It contained lead, silver, and zinc, and right (south), and stop at Frontage Road.
206 ounces of gold (Wise, 1989; Wright and others, 1953).
Retrace to Cima Road. STOP 1-3. The first mining in the Mountain Pass district
to the north was at the Sulfide Queen, for gold, silver, and
50.1 (5.8) Turn right (north) on Cima/Excelsior Mine lead (Wright and others, 1953). The government encour-
Road. aged prospecting for radioactive minerals after WWII.
50.8 (0.7) Turn right (northeast) onto the road leading Prospectors recognized radioactive monazite, and the
to the Valley Wells copper smelter. United States Geological Survey identified lanthanide-se-
51.7 (0.9) STOP 1-2. Park at Valley Wells (Rosalie). ries minerals in 1950 (Wright and others, 1953; Ririe and
The Valley Wells copper smelter milled ore from sur- Nason, 1991; Hensher, 1996; Morton and others, 1991).
rounding mines, and was a shipping point for incom- The Mollusk (Mescal, Cambria) Mine dumps can be see
ing goods and outgoing products. Ore processed at the upslope to the southwest. High-grade gold and silver and
smelter came from the Copper World mine as early as associated antimony extracted between 1882 and 1888
1898, first by 20-mule team and later by tractor and trailer were processed through a 10-stamp mill at Mescal Spring
(Vredenburgh, 1996a). The two ore bins at the Copper (Vredenburgh, 1996a; Wright and others, 1953). An excit-
World mine were for different purposes (Labbe, 1960): the ing story about counterfeit coinage is associated with this
larger held copper ore, and the smaller held iron and lime mine (Bennett, this volume). Return to vehicles; proceed
for fluxes at the Valley Wells smelter. Sulfur, to charge the east.
smelter, came from the Francis copper mine in the south- 65.1 (0.6) Turn south.
ern Providence Mountains and from Utah (Vredenburgh,
1996a). The assay house and pyrite from the dumps were 65.6 (0.5) Turn left at the junction of roads at a corral.
removed by the EPA in late 1990s because of arsenic (ar- Continue to summit.
senopyrite) with the pyrite. We are looking at the remains 67.2 (1.6) Bear right at the summit.
—5—
67.5 (0.3 ) Bear right at the road junction with a sign to hauled by wagon to a smelter at Needles. Rail service was
Kokoweef Cave. established to Cima in 1905, and ore was then hauled by
68.2 (0.7) Stop at the intersection with a sign to 16-horse-team wagons to rail cars bound for smelters in
Kokoweef Cave. Salt Lake, Utah. Retrace to the west.
STOP 1-4. Kokoweef Peak is to the southeast. The Car- 73.3 (0.1) Turn left (southwest) at the “Y” junction
bonate King Mine (southern dumps) produced zinc from toward the Evening Star Mine.
the zinc silicate, hemimorphite, and the zinc carbonate, 73.5 (0.2) Pass a reverse “Y” junction.
smithsonite, along with lead and silver between 1940 and 73.9 (0.4) Continue past the cemetery with headstones
1944. Additional ore was shipped as late as 1950 (Evans, that read J. Riley Bembry, Raymond Arthur Walker, and
1971; Wright and others, 1953). Dumps to the north are Joseph N. Kelley.
from the adit intersecting Kokoweef Cave, where 75 years
74.3 (0.4) Continue past a left turn and proceed southwest.
of looking for the Lost River of Gold have produced more
fossils than base metal (Reynolds and others, 1991). Pro- 74.5 (0.2) Proceed southwest across a road running west to
ceed southwest. Cima Road.
68.9 (0.7) Bear left (south) where the road forks toward 75.0 (0.5) Three-way junction. Two forks trend southeast;
Striped Mountain. take the southern fork toward the Evening Star head-
frame.
69.2 (0.3) Cross an airstrip.
75.2 (0.2) STOP 1-7. Evening Star Mine. The Eve-
69.3(0.1) Pass through a reverse junction and continue
ning Star Mine was the only producer of tin ore (cassiter-
southwest toward Striped Mountain.
ite, tin oxide) in the eastern Mojave Desert. The cassiterite
69.7 (0.4) Turn left (south) at the three-way junction, was found associated with copper sulfides (chalcopyrite,
toward the saddle on the east side of Striped Mountain. bournite and covellite) and their oxides (malachite, cu-
70.0 (0.3) Continue past a left turn. prite, tenorite) in a skarn body that contained the gangue
70.5 (0.5) Pass through “Y” junction. minerals pyrite, scheelite, chrysocolla, and wollastonite
(Aubury, 1908; Wright et al, 1953; Joseph, 1984.). The
71.2 (0.7) Continue past mine workings to the southwest. mine was in production between 1939 and 1944. The
71.5 (0.3) Cross over the saddle. tall head frame was built to hoist ore from underground
71.8 (0.3) Turn right (north) toward the Silverado– workings. When the ore reached the top, it was dumped
Tungstite claims. through a series of four-cylinder engine-powered crushers
and screens that classified the ore into marketable concen-
72.1 (0.3) Stop 1-5. The Silverado–Tungstite
trate could be separated from unwanted gangue minerals.
claims. Silver was shipped from the Silverado Claim be-
The amount of imported timber and the crushing equip-
fore 1900 (Wright and others, 1953). The Tungstite skarn
ment (now missing) indicate how serious the miners were
is along a dolomite/granitic contact containing epidote,
garnet and scheelite (calcium
tungstate); it was prospected until
1951. The four rock ruins were
apparently housing and an assay
building.. Retrace to main road.
72.4 (3) Turn right (south).
72.8 (0.4) Turn left (southeast)
toward the Standard No 1 Mine.
73.0 (0.2) Continue past mine
dumps.
73.2 (0.2) STOP 1-6. Standard
No. 1 (Excelsior, Bluegrass,
Copper Town) Mine Camp.
The Excelsior was located in 1896
and produced copper with gold
and silver between 1902 and 1908
from a skarn that contained mag-
netite, chalcopyrite, and scheelite
(Hewett, 1956; Wright and others,
1953; Weasma, 2005) . Before
1905, ore from the Standard No. 1 was The Evening Star Mine. R.E. Reynolds photograph.
—6—
in their fight against gravity.

At first ore was hauled by truck to
Cima and shipped by rail to Texas
City, Texas. After the headframe
and crushers were installed, the
concentrated/classified ore was
hauled by truck to Windmill Station
on Hwy 466 (south of Valley Wells)
for cleaning and concentration. The
Windmill Station mill was con-
structed by Steel Service and Sales
Company (Chicago, Ill.), owners of
the Bernice (Evening Star) group.
The Windmill Station mill further
concentrated the ore, passing it
through a rougher and cleaning jig,
followed by concentration (enrich-
ment) on a sand and slime (Wilfley
shaker) table. A diesel generator
provided electricity, and water came
from a 100-foot-deep well on site
(Page and Weise, 1945). The first
milling operation was in 1943, when
one ton of concentrate was trucked
to the government stockpile at Jean,
Nevada. Later (Thompson, 1978),
400 tons of ore were processed at
this mill. Retrace west to Cima
Road.
75.4 (0.2) Turn right (northeast)
at a complex intersection.
75.7 (0.3) Turn left (west) on a
graded road toward Cima Road.
The Death Valley Mine. Photographs courtesy Larry Vredenburgh.
78.3 (2.6) Pass a corral and stop at
paved Cima Road. Watch for cross traffic and turn left
onto Cima Road; proceed south. ley Gold Milling and Mining Company (initially called
Dawson Camp) was formed by the Dawson brothers. First
81.2 (2.9) Continue past the turn to Valley View Ranch. opened in 1906, most production was between 1917 and
82.4 (1.2) Slow for dangerous curves. 1921. The quartz veins contained argentite (silver sulfide)
84.1 (1.7) Continue past Kessler Spring Ranch. and galena (lead sulfide). Typical of ore bodies in arid cli-
mates, the silver at the ground surface was dissolved and
87.3 (3.2) Pass under power lines.
carried down the dip of the vein and redeposited. The
88.4 (1.1) Slow for curves. portion of the vein above the water table was “secondarily
88.7 (0.3) Stop at a complex intersection north of Cima, enriched” with embolite (silver chloride/bromide). The
where the Cima and Morning Star Mine roads meet. underground workings burned in 1927. The equipment
Turn left (north) on Morning Star Road. present today is the result of mine reactivitation in the
88.8 (0.1) Turn right (east) across the railroad tracks; 1950s, and includes an unusual steel headframe.
proceed to the Death Valley Mine. The first ore was hauled to the rail head at Cima, bound
89.1 (0.3) Pass a right turn. for the mill at Needles. By 1907, ore was sent to the
American Smelting and mining Company in Salt Lake
91.4 (2.3) Continue to the Death Valley Mine foreman’s City. The onsite mill burned in 1927. The 1931 concen-
house, built in 1920s. tration plant consisted of a Blake-type (14 x 21”) crusher,
91.5 (0.1) Park at the gate and walk to the Death Valley and classified ore went to an elevator feeding a marathon
Mine and associated structures. rod (roller) mill, then to elevated 10-mesh screens where
STOP 1-8. Death Valley Mine. The Death Val- oversize ore was returned to the crusher. The fines went
to a cone classifier that fed the coarse fraction to an Isabell
—7—
concentrator, and fines to a double-deck Deister (concen- 101.8 (3.0) Continue past a left (north) turn to the Death
trating) table. The entire plant was driven by an electric Valley Mine.
motor. 102.4 (0.6) Slow; enter Cedar Canyon Wash.
When one author (Bob Reynolds) visited the mine care- 103.7 (1.3). Slow for sharp right turn ahead.
takers (Dick and Bea Huff) in the mid-1970s, Dick had
just finished clearing debris from the collapsed vertical 104.7 (1.0) Continue past a right (south) turn on Black
shaft. He and Bob climbed down to the main crosscut and Canyon Road that leads to the Hole-in-the-Wall and Mid
observed almost a hundred skeletons of birds (scrub jays Hills campgrounds.
and flycatchers) and mammals (cottontails and ground 105.4 (0.7) Pinto Mountain is on the north.
squirrels). During hot weather, the animals had worked 107.6 (2.2) Slow for a sharp left turn just beyond the rise.
their way down fissures in the collapsed shaft, following
108.2 (0.6) Continue past a right (south) turn that leads to
the scent of moisture. Groups of skeletons lay pointed at
Government Holes, marked by a corral, water tank, and
puddles; they could enter the mine to drink sulfate-rich
cottonwood trees. This is the site of a battle between gun-
water, but could not climb out for food.
men hired by the 7IL Cattle Company and homesteaders
Return to vehicles at the gate; retrace to the paved who were trying to claim and farm rangeland in Lanfair
Morning Star Mine Road. Valley (1925, Casebier, 1987; Reynolds and others, 1995,
91.6 (0.1) Pass a left turn on the scenic road south to Ce- p. 16). After a brief duel at the range cabin, one gunman
dar Canyon Road. was killed; the other died later of bullet wounds. Report-
94.2 (2.6) Stop at paved Morning Star Mine Road. edly, bullet holes could still be seen in the cabin in 1950.
Watch for cross traffic and turn left (south) toward 109.5 (1.3) Slow for a steep downhill stretch.
Cima. 110.0 (0.5) Turn right (south) into the sand wash that
94.3 (0.1) Stop at a complex intersection where Cima leads to Fort Rock Spring.
and Morning Star Mine roads meet. Turn left (south) 110.1 (0.1) Bear right at the fork.
on Cima Road.
110.2 (0.1) STOP 1- 9. Camp Rock Spring. Indian
94.6 (0.3) Pass the Cima store and Post Office. This was a attacks in 1866 claimed the lives of troops and civilians at
community center, supply source, and rail head for ship- Soda Lake, Marl Spring, and Camp Cady. Moses Little,
ping from 1915 to 1960. a miner, was killed at Macedonia Mountain in the New
98.8 (4.2) Turn left (east) on Cedar Canyon Road. York Mountains northeast of Rock Spring on June 12,
We are traveling on the Mojave Road, first pioneered by 1866. In response, government troops built and occupied
Lieutenant Edward Beale in 1856 and well established by redouts or small fortified camps at springs one day’s travel
1858 (Casebier, 1974; Vredenburgh, 1995). After Mo- apart along the Mojave Road. Immigrants and mail stages
jave Indians forced emigrants to turn back in 1858 and entered California at Fort Mojave on the Colorado River,
prospector Moses Little was killed in 1866 (Casebier, 1973; continued westward to Fort Piute, Camp Rock Spring,
Vredenburgh, 1995), troops were sent to man outposts at Marl Spring, and passed Seventeen Mile Point to reach
springs that were one day’s travel apart; the route then Fort Soda (Zzyzx). The Mojave (Government) Road con-
became known as the Government Road (Casebier, 1974). tinued up the sandy outwash of the Mojave River, through
This area along the Mojave Road was originally called the Afton Canyon, joined a branch of the Old Spanish Trail,
Providence Mountains and was later divided into the New and proceeded west to Camp Cady. It continued from
York Mountains (north), Mid Hills (ahead), and Provi- Fish Ponds on the Mojave River (between Daggett and
dence Mountains (south). Barstow) to the Drum Barracks in Los Angeles.
The Rock Spring mining district (Stop 1-9) is the oldest Mining in the Rock Spring area preceded the military
district in this area (April 1863: Vredenburgh and oth- camp. Camp Rock Spring was established on a cold
ers,1981; Vredenburgh, 1995), established after Beale December 30,1866 (Casebier, 1973) by soldiers that were
opened the Mojave Road. The Rock Spring mining dis- under-supplied and nervous; petroglyphs around the
trict was large, including Macedonia Mountain in the New spring indicated heavy Indian usage. They chose the site
York Mountains. The eastern New York Mountains (New for its water and defensible position, and they stored sup-
York, Manvel district, April 1870) contained deposits of plies in mine adits dug previously (Casebier, 1973).
copper, lead-silver-zinc, and iron/manganese tungstates Return to vehicles, retrace to the Old Government
along with a system of mule trails to haul lumber and Road.
charcoal (Reynolds and Reynolds, 1995). The Columbia
110.5 (0.3) Stop, watch for traffic on the Old Govern-
(Macedonia) district, organized August, 1865 near Colum-
ment Road, and turn right (east) toward Lanfair.
bia Mountain to our east-southeast, produced lead-silver-
Proceed slowly along the curving road.
zinc and minor gold; scheelite (calcium tungstate) is also
recognized in the district. 111.0 (0.5) The Old Government Road bears right.
—8—
112.5 (1.5) The Old Government Road bears left. 161.4 (0.8) Turn left (south) at the intersection. Con-
113.0 (0.5) The Old Government Road bears right. tinue past a hill of white Paleozoic limestone overlain by
Miocene volcanics.
114.0 (1.0) The Old Government Road bears left.
162.6 (1.2) Pass under I-40.
117.2 (3.2) Pass on the north side of a Paleozoic limestone
outcrop. 162.8 (0.2) STOP 1-12. Gold Hammer Mine. Park
and walk to the Gold Hammer Mine (Wright et al,
120.2 (3.0) STOP 1- 10 at the intersection of Ivanpah 1953). Caution: Watch for open mine shafts. We have
and Lanfair roads. The site of the Lanfair school house is passed through Paleozoic limestone and are now standing
to the northeast. Lanfair was a community center in the on “Archean Gneiss” which contains gold-bearing quartz
1890s–1930s. The Nevada Southern Railroad brought sup- veins. The Gold Hammer Mine workings consist of an ore
plies from Needles to mines in the mountains surrounding loading structure (jaw crusher probably present), an Ellis
Lanfair Valley and connected with Manvel (Barnwell) Ball Mill for pulverizing ore, and a Wilfley shaker table
in 1893 (Myrick, 1963). The California Eastern Railroad for concentrating the ore before shipment. Retrace to
was continued to Ivanpah in 1902 to receive ore from the Essex Road.
Copper World Mine and the Vanderbilt Mine. When
the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad siphoned off trade 164.1 (1.3) Turn right (east).
in 1907, the Santa Fe built the Barnwell & Searchlight 164.9 (0.8) Stop at pavement: turn left (north) on
Railway to service mines and communities. Labor difficul- Essex Road toward Mitchell Caverns. If you do not
ties and severe washouts halted rail service to Barnwell have a high-clearance vehicle, take the alter-
by 1923 (Myrick, 1963). Homesteaders, often working in nate route, below:
the mines and for the railroad, grew dry crops on their
40-acre parcels and sent their children to school at Lanfair.
In the hot summer months, railroad workers in Needles Alternate Route (50 miles on pavement)]
sent their families to the cooler reaches of Fourth of July 164.9 (0.8) STOP at pavement: Turn right (south) on
Canyon. Essex Road toward I-40.
(2.3) TURN RIGHT (west) onto I-40 toward Kelbaker Road
Turn right (south) on Lanfair Road.
Pass, the Clipper Mountains, and the northern Marble Moun-
122.3 (2.1) Continue past a right (west) turn to Fords Dry tains.
Lake.
124.7 (2.4) Slow for sharp turns downhill.
125.4 (0.7) Cross Vontrigger Wash.
126.2 (0.8) Continue past a turn to Vontrigger Springs
(Hensher, this volume). The California Gold and Copper
mine lies to the east at 9:00.
132.7 (6.5) Pass under a powerline road leading northeast
to the Leiser Ray Mine, a vanadium producer.
140.5 (7.8) Stop 1-11. Goffs School House. Enjoy a
tour of local history, discussion of the Government Road,
and Mojave-wide mining paraphernalia. We will see steam
boilers that powered mining equipment and stamp mills,
head frames, ore bins, ore cars, and other equipment used
to extract minerals from Mojave Desert mountains. Return
to vehicles and
proceed south to Route 66.
140.7 (0.2) Turn right (west) on Route 66 and proceed
toward Fenner.
150.5 (9.8) Continue past Fenner.
150.8 (0.3) Enter westbound I-40.
158.0 (7.2) Exit at Essex Road.
158.2 (0.2) Turn right (north) on paved Essex Road.
160.1 (1.9) Slow for upcoming left turn.
160.6 (0.5). Turn left off pavement onto a west-trending
dirt road. Loading bin at the Gold Hammer Mine. R.E. Reynolds photograph.
—9—
164.9 (0.8) Stop at pavement: turn left (north) on Es-

sex Road toward Mitchell Caverns. The Blind Hills to the
east were a site of one of General Patton’s camps for des-
ert training late in World War II and in the early 1950s.
The view at 1:00 is of the Colton Hills with Wild Horse
Mesa in the distance. Wild Horse Mesa is the largest mesa
in the Mojave Desert. The granitic and metamorphic
rocks at the base are overlain by fine-grained fluvial and
lacustrine sediments, breccias and mud flows (Reynolds,
Hunt and Albright, 1995) which are in turn capped by the
Peach Spring Tuff (18.5 Ma) and the tuff of Wild Horse
Mesa (17.8 Ma, McCurry et al, 1995). Piñon and juniper
were cut on the top of the mesa, and hauled by burros
down steep trails west to the Columbia Mine and south to
Ball mill at the Gold Hammer Mine. R.E. Reynolds photograph.
the Bonanza King Mine (Reynolds, 1995).
168.6 (3.7) Stop at the junction of paved roads. Black
Canyon Road to the northeast leads to the Woods Moun-
tains, Wild Horse Canyon, and the Hole-in-the-Wall and
Mid Hills campgrounds. The paved road to the northwest
leads to Mitchell Caverns. West of Wild Horse Mesa and
east of the Providence Mountains is the town site of Provi-
dence (Hensher, this volume). The Trojan (Providence/
Bonanza King) district was organized in 1880. At this junc-
tion, note the powerline that runs west; we will proceed
west on this utility road. High clearance vehicles are
required for this road. Low vehicles, even with four wheel
drive, must take alternate route (above). Pro-
ceed west on the powerline road toward Foshay Pass,
the low area in the southern Providence Mountains.
169.9 (1.3) Pass to the north of a cattle tank and corral.
Shaker table at the Gold Hammer Mine. R.E. Reynolds photograph.
171.1 (1.2 ) Pass a right turn to Foshay Spring. To the
northwest, Fountain Peak (6,996’) rises above Foshay
(21.6) Exit I-40 at Kelbaker Road. Spring (4,200’).
(1.0) Stop at Kelbaker Road, turn right (north). 171.9 (0.8) Foshay Pass, elevation 4,790. Pass gasline valve.
(4.4) Continue across the Granite Mountains pediment, pass- View west of Old Dad Mountain and Tiefort Mountain.
ing a left turn to the Granite Mountain Research Station. Caution: proceed down the steep grade. An
(3.3) Pass the intersection with Hidden Hills Road. even steeper, rocky grade is over the next
(0.5) Slow for a 30 mph curve. saddle. Make sure you turn left at the gully
at the bottom of this grade!
(0.8) Drive over the cattle guard at Granite Pass; a micro-
wave station is to the east. Continue north on Kelbaker Road. 172.0 (0.1) Bottom of hill. Turn left and pass over the
(4.4) Right at 2:00 is the Vulcan Mine, north of Foshay Pass. saddle.
(1.9) Pass the junction with the powerline/gas line road. 172.1 (0.1) Proceed downhill.
(0.2) Pass the junction with a road to the Kelso Dunes. 172.2 (0.1) Bear right at the fork. View north of recum-
(2.8) Kelbaker Road bends to the right. bent folds in Paleozoic limestone.
(0.9) Kelbaker Road bears left. Prepare to turn right. 172.3 (0.1) Stop, turn left (west) toward the Vulcan
(0.3) Slow, turn sharp right onto Vulcan Mine Road. Mine at a utility road.
(4.6) Enter the canyon; Paleozoic rocks cap the ridge on left 172.7 ( 0.4) Pass a left turn where the utility road goes
(north). Dikes cut Proterozoic gneiss on the right (south). southwest over the saddle.
(0.3) Pass a left turn to the mine dumps. 173.0 (0.3) Pass a right turn to the east workings of the
(0.3) STOP 1-13. Park at the Vulcan Mine concrete mill Vulcan Mine.
footings.] 173.1 (0.1) Park at three concrete diesel tank footings.
STOP 1-13. Walk north to the Vulcan Mine open pit.
The mine developed a downward-spiraling haul road to
— 10 —
Bunkhouses and mess hall, looking northwest toward the orebody.

Photograph from the Bud Davenport collection, Mojave National
Preserve.
take advantage of the magnetite/hematite ore body in

limestone on the east side of a contact with quartz monzo-
nite. During World War II (1942–1949), the Kaiser Steel
Corporation produced 2.6 million tons of blast furnace-
grade ore (Wright et al, 1953).
Ore from the Vulcan Mine open pit was loaded by cable- Test drilling on the east orebody at the Vulcan Mine. Photograph
operated shovels into haul trucks, then taken from the pit from the Bud Davenport collection, Mojave National Preserve.
up the spiral haul road to an onsite crusher. Crushed con-
centrate was hauled by truck to Kelso, and ramp-loaded
into Union Pacific gondolas bound for the steel smelter in water. Return to vehicles and proceed to Kelbaker
Fontana, California. Road.
Our walk takes us past black magnetite and hematite (the 173.5 (0.4) Pass the road at the west end of the dumps.
iron ore) oxidizing to red and brown limonite. Associated 174.9 (1.4) The Kelso Dunes are ahead; Old Dad Moun-
gangue minerals are green serpentine and white to tan tain rises over Kelso Hills.
marble altered from the Paleozoic limestone. Proposed
177.4 (2.5) Stop at pavement; turn right (north) on
post-war uses of the mine include a repository for auto tire
Kelbaker Road.
carcases. Bighorn sheep come to the mine for drinking
180.1 (2.7) Slow for a curve to the right.
180.6 (0.5) Pass a dirt ramp where Vulcan iron ore was
loaded onto rail cars.
180.9 (0.3) Railroad tracks at Kelso Depot. The road forks;
bear left (northwest) on Kelbaker Road toward Baker.
182.1 (1.2) View northeast of Cima Dome and Teutonia
Peak.
186.2 (4.1) The road bears left (northwest).
189.8 (3.6) The road bears left.
190.8 (1.0) Cross under power lines.
191.1 (0.3) View north of Cima volcanic field and a cinder
cone notched by mining activities to recover light-weight
aggregate and road-base material.
193.7 (2.6) Bend in road.
194.0 (0.3) Pass the left turn to the microwave facility; pass
Vulcan Mine mess hall and foundation excavation for bunkhouses,
August 1942. Photograph from the Bud Davenport collection,
Willow Wash Road on the right. To the north, the Old
Mojave National Preserve. Government Road from Cedar Canyon meets Willow
— 11 —
Wash, and proceeds west past Seventeen Mile Point and Mining Scams
the Old Dad Mountains. A. Soda Lake Salt Works. Walk east to the salt
199.3 (5.3) Slow through curves. flats of Soda Lake (see Fulton, this volume for details).
Excavated into the lake surface are ponds that were filled
199.6 (0.3) Cross Willow Wash. with brine from wells on the lake. Ample solar heating
200.4 (0.8) Pass Seventeen Mile point on the left (west). was available to evaporate water and leave a salt (sodium
Seventeen Mile point is about halfway between Marl chloride) crust. The crust was to be collected, shipped,
Spring to the east and Fort Soda (Zzyzx), the next stop on and concentrated in Los Angeles. Despite promotional ad-
the Old Government Road where protection and fresh vertisement, excavation of ponds, and railroad availability,
water were available. no product was ever shipped.
201.7 (1.3) Slow through curve. The road bends B. Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad (Chappell, this
sharply left (west) toward Baker. View west past Seventeen volume; Myrick, 1963; Mulqueen, 2002). Borax Smith,
Mile Point toward Fort Soda, Cave Mountain, and Afton competing with Senator Clark of Nevada for borax and
Canyon along the Mojave River. base metals in Death Valley, started building the Tonopah
212.1 (10.4) Cross I-15 into Baker. Be sure to fill gas & Tidewater Railroad (T & T) north from Ludlow in
tank and pick up drinks, snacks, and sunscreen for tomor- November, 1905. Rails reached Soda Lake and the active
row. community and shipping center (Rose, Heath, Fisk Co.) of
Silver Lake in March, 1906. The T & T roadbed can be
End of Day 1 seen just west of the main pond at the CSUF Desert Stud-
Day 2 ies Center as it runs north across Soda Lake toward the
site of Silver Lake (below). Building the T & T through
Introduction the Amargosa River gorge was extremely difficult, but
Along the way as we visit bulk-commodity mines, we will Beatty, Nevada was reached in October, 1907. Further dif-
stop at the West Camp/Apache Canyon turquoise mines ficulties arose when the Mojave River flooded Silver Lake
that have been prospected for over a thousand years in 1908 and again, more severely, in 1916. This prompted
(Reynolds, this volume). Who knows, maybe you will find the move of the T & T roadbed and the town to higher
a blue nugget overlooked by prehistoric miners! elevation on the east side of the lake. The line was aban-
doned in 1939. Winter/spring rains in 2005 again flooded
0.0 (0.0) Convene at Zzyzx with a full tank of gas for Silver Lake, submerging the original roadbed
the 150 mile trip. Prepare for a walking trip to local salt
C. Lost Gold Never Found! During the 1970-1980s,
mining operations before the full day vehicular trip. Wear
“mining” companies promoted the recovery of gold from
sturdy shoes and dress for the occasion; bring hats and
sands and silts located in valley centers (Shadow Valley,
sunscreen.
Soda Lake, and Silver Lake). The ore was a kind of water-
Fort Soda Tour: Historic Mines, Railroads, and soluble gold (great clue!), and was leached from surround-
ing mountains and washed centrally
to dry lakes. Here’s the pitch: you
could buy stock, buy “ore” and
process it yourself, or buy “ore” and
pay the company to process it! The
operation on Silver Lake had samples
assayed, and the values increased to
the west—that is, toward the T & T
roadbed, which was built with gold-
bearing andesite from the Bagdad-
Chase Mine at Ludlow. However, the
roadbed couldn’t be touched because
it was an historic site! Return to
vehicles, assemble at main gate.
1.1 (1.1) Pass the main gate.
4.6 (3.5) Enter I-15 eastbound.
10.4 (5.8) Baker Hill (Bishop, this
volume) is north of the west Baker
offramp.
10.9 (0.5) Exit at Kelbaker Road,
Silver Lake, filled with water. R.E. Reynolds photograph, February 2005. central Baker.
— 12 —
11.3 (0.4) Stop, turn left (north), and proceed north (Vredenburgh, 1994). For weeks the stages were crowded
over the freeway. with outbound, not inbound, miners. Because of the panic
11.7 (0.4) Stop at Main Street in Baker. Proceed of 1907, Crackerjack (only 90 days old) slumped, as did
north on Highway 127. other camps. About 1910, O.J. and Della Fisk moved to
San Bernardino where they became active civic leaders.
12.2 (0.5) The Aga Mine (Housley, this volume) is located
in the hill to the west, at the south end of Silver Lake. 20.2 (1.3) Pass under the LADWP powerline. We will re-
turn to this intersection after Stop 2-1, the Amargosa Mine
13.4 (1.2) The Soda Mountains are on the left (Gourley at Salt Springs.
and Brady, 2000).
20.4 (0.2) Pass over the saddle. Highway 127 leaves the
18.9 (5.5) Pass the second townsite of Silver Lake, rebuilt Silver Lake basin and descends into Silurian Valley,
at elevation 960’ along the relocated grade of the Tonopah marking the present divide between the Mojave River and
and Tidewater (T&T) railroad. Adobe ruins on the right Salt Creek drainages. Salt Creek flows northward through
mark the terminus of a stage line where O.J. and Della Silurian Valley and joins with the Amargosa River just
Fisk operated a mercantile store. Oliver James (Jim) Fisk north of the Dumont Basin.
was born in Iowa on August 10, 1873.
22.1 (1.7) The Avawatz Mountains and Mormon Spring
At age 14, Fisk headed for California, crossing the are to the northwest.
southern Nevada Mud Hills (Muddy Creek Formation at
Moapa) on foot. He was 20 when he worked as a hoist 26.9 (4.8) Continue past a turn to Riggs and the Silurian
man on the Gold Bronze Mine in Vanderbilt, Califor- Hills (Duffield-Stoll, 1996).
nia. In 1901 he built an ice place in Manvel (Barnwell; 31.7 (4.8) The site of Renoville is on the left. Continue
Hensher, this volume) that supplied ice to boom camps: past a right turn to Valjean Valley.
Searchlight, Crescent, and Sandy, Nevada; and Hart, 37.3 (5.6) Continue past Lake Dumont (Anderson and
California. He then went into partnership with the Rose & Wells, 1997).
Palmer transportation firm which hauled freight from the
38.8 (1.5) Turn right into the Salt Spring BLM informa-
desert railhead at Ivanpah Dry Lake across Stateline Pass
tion center (and rest rooms) at the southern Salt Spring
north into Pahrump Valley to Sandy Valley, Pahrump,
Hills.
Beatty, Bullfrog, and Rhyolite, Nevada.
STOP 2-1. Amargosa (Salt Spring) Gold Mine.
Around 1894 O.M. Fisk and Della May White were mar-
Salt Spring was a stop on the Old Spanish Trail, opened
ried in Redlands, California. Della, born in Sommerville,
by Armijo in 1830 and traveled by Frémont in 1844.
Oregon in 1875, was the daughter of Harsha and Maude
Argonauts discovered gold here in1849 (Lingenfelter,1986;
Yount White. Della’s father managed the Manse Ranch in
Harder, 1997, 2000; Vredenburgh, 1994, 1995). The
the Pahrump, developed by Joseph Yount, Della’s grand-
current mine owner, Emmet Harder, offers the following
father. Mr. Yount was a cattleman, and on the ranch he
excerpts regarding this discovery:
raised and sold hay and managed a vineyard and winery.
He later owned a sawmill and valuable timber options in Amargosa Gold Mine (from Vredenburgh and others,
the Charleston Mountains. Eventually Jim Fisk, a mining 1981, p. 60)
engineer credited with building and operating some of the The earliest recorded gold discovery in San
largest and most successful ore recovery mills in the gold Bernardino County occurred at Salt Springs,
boom, became involved in the mercantile and lumbering at a point on the Santa Fe-Salt Lake Trail. Per-
business. He and Della made their home in Greenwater, sistent rumors have it that gold was panned...
a copper camp near Death Valley. While Jim was mining, here by the Mexicans ...trading between Santa
Della ran a general merchandise store. Fe, New Mexico and Los Angeles from 1826
During the mining boom in Goodsprings, Nevada (Kep-
per, 2000; Hensher, 2000), Harsha White and Joseph
Yount located the Boss Mine (Housley, this volume) and,
two years later, the Columbia Mine. Jim went to Good-
springs in 1892 to take over Harsha White’s interest in the
mines and, with S. E. (Sam) Yount, formed the Boss Gold
Mining Company. In 1898 Jim built one of the mills in the
mining camp Johnnie, Nevada. He returned 10 years later
as a master mechanic in the operation.
Jim Fisk built a 30-mile road from Silver Lake to Cracker-
jack, a mining camp to the west on the south side of the
Avawatz Mountains, over which the Rose, Palmer & Fisk
stage line made tri-weekly trips carrying people and mail
The Amargosa River. R.E. Reynolds photograph.
— 13 —
until 1848. In December, 1849, a Mr. Rowan spot with a drove of horses and were attacked
and other members of a party of Mormons led by a band of Indians, nearly all massacred.
by Jefferson Hunt discovered a quartz vein in Bro. Rich and his company of packers left us
a small canyon near the spring, in which they here and went ahead...
found nuggets, the largest about the size of a
Nov. 30th Traveled 7 miles and come to
pea. In 1850, Frank Soule, later a state senator,
Salaratus Creek or Vegas, covered with grass
relocated the gold deposit and took some sam-
and a part of it was white as snow with Salara-
ples back to San Francisco. A Mormon party
tus ... We traveled down the stream... [Ama-
headed to San Bernardino in December, 1850
rgosa River] ...about knee deep and strongly
met William T. B. Stanford ... near Daggett, ...
impregnated with alkali that it is said to kill
hauling a mill to Salt Springs. Ben Sublette, a
cattle when they drink it, in many places grass
“noted mountaineer” worked the mines from
is plenty and good, the banks or walls on each
1850 to 1852 with great success. However,
side appear to be composition of clay lime
after several men were killed by Indians, he
and salaratus
abandoned the enterprise.
Dec. 1st Left the Vegas after following it 6
In September, 1860, a Los Angeles company
miles [where] the high banks run out and we
employed 30 men and had 3 arrastras running.
passed over a sandy desert to Salt Springs. As
Also in 1860, placer ground was discovered
we drew near the spring we left the wagon
about 2 miles away and the gravel was hauled
track and followed Capt. Hunt up a narrow
in wagons to the springs, indeed an expensive
canion, when I espied some [granite], ....and
way to placer.
observed that if we could find quartz among
In 1863 the Amargosa Gold and Silver Min- it we might perhaps find gold, as I was the
ing Company of San Francisco acquired the only one among us that had been in the gold
mines at Salt Spring and in the fall of 1863, mines, was why I took more notice of it al
they installed a new mill that “met with good first than the rest, we then all four of us com-
success.” On October 29, 1864, news broke in menced looking, ... we had not gone far be-
Los Angeles concerning the death of three... fore Mr. Rowan says “Here is gold,” on look-
caretakers at the property. One of the men ing I saw that he had found some in a stratum
had been killed by Indians, and the mill had of quartz about four inches wide running
been burned. The other two men were found through a ledge of granite. It was a collection
20 miles away, having committed suicide by of small particles the largest about the size of a
putting bullets through their skulls. pea. We found other specimans but the spring
was so salt that we could not drink it and we
In the middle of the 1860s, a new company
had to go ahead to the camping place to get
took over the mine and operated it success-
water which we found standing in holes, left
fully for a couple of months. Yet, even though
by the last rains.
they later were reported to have grossed
$11,000 from one blast of two tons of ore, and Walk northeast over the saddle on a BLM hiking trail to
during a period of one month, the five-stamp the Amargosa Gold Mine. Caution: stay away from
mill produced $58,000 in gold. By1870 the vertical shafts that have collars subject to collapse. Do not
property was idle. enter mine tunnels, adits or stopes, since they are homes
for rattlesnakes and bats. Return to vehicles, retrace
In 1902, J. B. Osborne worked the mine.
toward Baker.
In a week’s run of his five-stamp mill, $60,000
of gold was produced. Mendenhall (1909) 38.9 (0.1) Stop at Hwy 247. Watch for cross traffic; pro-
described the site: “At the old mine there is ceed south.
a little canyon that descends sharply to the 46.1 (7.2) Pass a turn to Valjean and Kingston Wash.
north, in which are the ruins of a twenty-stamp
50.9 (4.8) Pass a turn to Riggs and the Silurian Hills.
mill. Near the mill are two wells, protected by
curbing and covered... 58.2 (6.8) The road crosses a saddle ahead. Prepare to
turn right at the LADWP Powerline Road.
Journals of Forty-Niners—Addison Pratt’s Diary (Hafen
58.7 (0.5) Turn right (west) on LADWP Powerline
and Hafen, p. 94- 107)
Road and proceed through hills of Riggs Carbonate
(white) and black diabase (Gross, 1959).
Stayed here (Archalette) ..a great abun-
dance of grass here. A year or two since 59.0 (0.3) STOP 2-2. The Silver Lake Outflow
[1844] some Spaniards were camped on this drains to the north through a saddle at elevation 945’
before entering the Salt Creek Drainage flowing from Red
— 14 —
Pass north into the Amargosa basin.

The T & T Railroad was completed
across Silver Lake in 1906. When
the Mojave River flooded the Silver
Lake in 1908 and 1916, the railroad
attempted to drain the lake by exca-
vating a channel through this pass.
The attempts failed, and the railroad,
along with the town of Silver Lake,
were relocated at the higher eleva-
tion (960’) that we passed earlier in
the day. Look south at the first T &
T road bed that was built across the
flat lake surface. Today, the road bed
and first townsite are submerged un-
der lake waters that rise to approxi-
mately 940 feet.
Continue west on the LADWP
power line road.
60.4 (1.4) Crest of ridge. Drop into
the swale containing Silver Lake The T&T roadbed across Silver Lake. R.E. Reynolds photograph.
Climbing Dune (Reynolds, 2004)
61.2 (0.8) Turn right past an electrical shed at the road fore1950 (Myers, 1983). Watch out for a dip ahead.
junction.
80.3 (1.9) Drop into wash.
61.8 (0.6) Crest of saddle.
80.7 (0.4 ) Pass the left turn for the old road to the Silver
62.1 (0.3) Base of hill. Lake Talc Mine.
62.9 (0.6) Cross the wash. 81.1 (0.4) Caution: bend and washout in road.
63.3 (0.4) Pass a right turn to the southern Avawatz Moun- 83.9 (2.8) Beware of dip.
tains (Spencer, 1990).
85.1 (1.2) Turn left (north) toward the Kern River Pipe-
67.6 (4.3) Mesozoic volcanics on road side are a gravity line valve station and toward the talc mine.
slide block over Miocene silts.
85.2 (0.1) Pass valve station #617.
67.8 (0.2) Turn left to the Iron King Mine.
85.8 (0.6) Turn right on the talc mine road.
67.9 (0.1) Stop #2-3. Iron King Mine (Wright and
others, 1953). Walk a few hundred feet around the south- 86.0 (0.2) Turn left toward the talc mine.
east end of the hill to the open pit Iron King Mine, exca- 86.4 (0.4) Continue past a right turn.
vated in megabreccia. The hill exposes megabreccia of a 87.0 (0.6) Turn right (east) to the Silver Lake Talc
large-runout landslide in the Miocene Avawatz basin. The Mine.
iron ore body consists of magnetite and hematite replacing
87.2 (0.2) The talc loading chute at 12:00 is at Addenda
minerals at the contact of Paleozoic carbonate and Jurassic
Extension Shaft; the road bends east.
volcanic rocks (Wright and others, 1953; Bishop 2003).
Retrace to the left turn to Silver Lake. 87.5 (0.3) Stop 2-4. Silver Lake Talc Mine (Wright,
this volume; Wright, 1954). Park at Sierra Camp, with
68.3 (0.3) Right bend in the road; proceed east.
concrete building foundations and ore bin. The Gould
73.4 (5.1) Pass a road leading to the southern Avawatz Shaft is to the east, and the Addenda Workings are to
Mountains. the north. Claimed in 1911 by the Western White Talc
74.7 (1.3) Saddle. Company, the group was reorganized in 1918 as the
75.2 (0.5) Turn left at the junction with the powerline, Pacific Coast Talc Company. Production began in 1915
near the utility shed. and continued through 1952; the commodity was used in
cosmetics, ceramics and robber goods. Retrace to the
76.0 (0.8) Crest of ridge. LADWP Powerline Road.
77.8 (1.8) Stop at the pavement of Highway 127. Cross 87.9 (0.4) Turn left (south).
the highway and proceed east on the LADWP Power-
line Road. 88.5 (0.6) Continue past a left turn.
78.4 (0.6) Pass a LADWP construction camp built be- 88.9 (0.4) Turn right (west) at the junction.
— 15 —
clearing before the road begins a

steep four-wheel-drive ascent. The
canyon to the north with a car body
was flowing 12” wide in March 2005.
The road northeast continues to the
Himalaya (Tiffany Turquoise) Mine
(West Camp). The Apache Canyon
Turquoise diggings are to the north-
northwest. Both are accessible by hik-
ing or by high-clearance 4WD vehicles
with low range gears. Mr. Ed Nazelrod
continues to work the local mines and
prospects. Return to vehicles, retrace
to the complex intersection.
93.9 (0.8) Stop at a complex intersec-
tion and turn left (east).
94.2 (0.3) The road drops into the
wash. Turn right (south).
Sierra Camp at the Silver Lake talc mine. R.E. Reynolds photograph.
94.4 (0.2) Roads join at a complex intersec-
tion. Stay to the right (south).
89.1 (0.2) Turn left (south) at the junction toward the 94.5 (0.1) Bear right (south) at the fork, past the mine
powerline. shafts. (The left fork runs east past the microwave station
and the site of the historic air beacon.). Our route is over
89.7 (0.6) Pass valve station #617. Teutonia quartz monzonite (Beckerman,1982).
89.8 (0.1) Stop at the LADWP Powerline Road, look for 94.7 (0.2) Bear right (south) at the junction.
traffic, and turn left (east), preparing for an immediate
right turn (south). Make a quick turn left and then 95.6 (0.9) Turn left (east) at the junction.
right (southeast) and drive along the sand wash. 95.7 (0.1) Continue past the Wander Mine (Wanderer
90.1 (0.3) Slow for a dip. Mine and Mill), one of the earliest gold mines (1902) in
the Halloran Spring mining district (Vredenburgh, 1996c;
91.0 ( 0.9) Turn left (east) up the terrace. Tucker, 1931 p. 320). The district was active in 1900 and
92.3 (1.3) Turn left at a complex intersection. again in the 1930s. Today the Telegraph Mine, east of
92.5 (0.2 ) The road drops into the wash. Halloran Spring, is sporadically active, depending on the
price of gold.
93.1 (0.6) STOP 2-5. Halloran Turquoise (Reyn-
olds, this volume; Sperisen, 1897, 1983). Park at the 97.2 (1.5) Continue past a turn to the left (NN 577).
97.3 (0.1) Continue past a turn to the
left (NN 572).
left (NN 569).
98.5 (0.6) Continue past a deposit of
pyroxene andesite to the left.
south (NN 567) at Mesquite Wash.
99.2 (0.5) Bull Spring Wash Road
(with patchy pavement). Turn left
(north) and immediately right
(east).
99.6 (0.4) Continue past a black pyrox-
ene andesite outcrop and a mine cabin
on the right (south).
100.0 (0.4) Stop at the paved Hal-
loran Springs/Microwave Road. Look
for traffic; turn right (east) and
The Gould shaft at the Silver Lake talc mine. R.E. Reynolds photograph.
— 16 —
115.7 (0.4) Stop; turn right.

115.9 (0.2) Stop at Main Street in Baker. Check your gas
gauge; then enter I-15 westbound toward Barstow.
122.0 (6.1) Continue past Zzyzx Road.
127.8 (5.8) Pass Razor Road.
131.2 (3.4) Exit the freeway at Basin Road.
131.5 (0.3) Stop, turn left (south) over freeway.
132.5 (1.0) Pass a BLM kiosk.
133.6 (1.1) Take the right fork in the road.
140.8 (1.0 ) Cross a branch of the Mojave River.
141.2 (0.4) Turn left at a sharp reverse turn.
West Camp diggings. R.E. Reynolds photograph. 141.3 (0.1) STOP 2-7 Cave Canyon (Basin/Bax-
ter) Iron Mine. Park at the cut to examine black mag-
make an immediate left turn onto netite and hematite in white marble (Brown and Monroe,
BLM road NN 484.
100.2 (0.2) Turn right (northeast) onto
BLM road NN 486.
100.8 (0.6) Turn right (southeast) onto
BLM road NN 488.
101.0 (0.2) STOP # 2-6. Arrastras. Hike
1/3 mile south through the saddle in the ridge
line for an overview of arrastras and a stone
cabin (built much later). The Halloran Spring
mining district contained quartz veins with
free-milling gold (Tucker, 1931). The ore
required pulverizing before the final concen-
tration by panning in water. Arrastras have
been used in the west since Spanish/Mexican
time, and its use during the depression of the
1930s is often misinterpreted as being from
an earlier period. An arrastra consists of a
stone base, stone walls (race), and a central,
vertical pivot-shaft. A beam was suspended
from the pivot, and drag stones were sus-
pended from that beam. Animals (burros or
oxen) were driven in a circular path outside
the race, causing the drag stones to crush the
quartz ore. The pivot in this arrastra may be
the front axle from an early twentieth century
wagon (Rory Goodwin, p. c. to Reynolds,
March 2005). Hike back to vehicles and
retrace to paved Halloran Springs/Micro-
wave Road.
102.0 (1.0) Stop at paved Halloran Springs
Road, look for cross traffic, and turn left
(southeast).
102.3 (0.3) Pass Halloran Spring.
102.5 (0.2) Cross Halloran Wash.
103.0 (0.5) Enter I-15 westbound, toward
Baker.
115.3 (12.3) Exit at central Baker. Arrastras in the Halloran Spring mining district. R.E. Reynolds photographs.
— 17 —
2000; Wright and others, 1953). This mine was opened in Hildebrand, G.H.,1982. Borax Pioneer—Francis Marion Smith. Howell-
North Books.
1930 and the iron was used in the manufacture of cement.
Hewett, D.F., 1956. Geology and mineral resources of the Ivanpah quad-
Retrace to Basin Road. rangle, California and Nevada. USGS Professional Paper 275.
141.7 (0.4) Turn sharp right at Basin Road. Ahead Kepper, Jack, 2000. The geology and ore deposits of the Yellow Pine
Mining District, Goodsprings, Clark County, Nevada. San Bernar-
lie the Cave Canyon (Baxter) limestone mines, and the dino County Museum Association Quarterly, 47(2):78.
World War II Afton Canyon (Cliffside) magnesite mine Labbe, Charles, 1960. Rocky trails of the past:222.
(Wright and others, 1953). Roads from the south brought Lingenfelter, Richard E., 1986. Death Valley and the Amargosa, a land
Afton fluorite to Baxter Siding for shipment (Wright and of illusion. Berkeley, University of California Press:664 p.
McCurry, Michael, D.R. Lux and K.L. Mickus, 1995. Neogene structural
others, 1953) . evolution of the Woods Mountains volcanic center, East Mojave
143.2 (1.5) Approach the Mojave River channel. National Scenic Area. San Bernardino County Museum Association
Quarterly, 42(3):75-80.
CANCELLED DUE TO FLOODING !!!!! (see Morton, D.M., K. D. Watson, and A. K. Baird, 1991. Alkalic silicate
Presch, this volume). rocks of the Mountain Pass district, San Bernardino County, CA. San
Bernardino County Museum Association Special Publication, SP
91-1:90 - 96.
Mulqueen, Steven P., 2002. Borax Smith and the T & T Railroad. CSU
References cited Fullerton, Desert Studies Consortium:19-25.
Anderson, D. E. and S. G. Wells, 1997. Late Pleistocene and Holocene
Myers, W.A. 1983. Iron Men and Copper Wires. Glendale: Trans_Anglo
valley-fill deposits of Lake Dumont. San Bernardino County Museum
Books.
Association Quarterly, 44(2):29-32.
Myrick, D.F., 1963. Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, vol 2,
Aubury, Lewis E., 1908. The copper resources of California. California
the southern roads. Berkeley: Howell-North Books.
State Mining Bureau, Bulletin 50.
Page, L.R. and J.H. Wiese, 1945. The Evening Star tin deposit and
Beckerman, G.M., 1982. Petrology of the southern portion of the Teu-
adjacent tungsten deposits, San Bernardino County, California. USGS
tonia batholith: a large intrusive complex of Jurassic and Cretaceous
technical reports section.
age in the eastern Mojave Desert, California. MS thesis, University of
Ririe, G. T. and Geoff Nason, 1991. Molycorp’s Mountain Pass Mine.
Southern California.
San Bernardino County Museum Association Special Publication, SP
Bishop, Kim M., 2003. Miocene landslides within Avawatz Basin support
91-1:87-89.
hypothesis of a Paleozoic allocthon above Mesozoic metavolcanic
Reynolds, R.E., 1995. Wild Horse Mesa pack mule trails. San Bernardino
rocks in the Soda and Avawatz Mountains, southeastern California.
County Museum Association Quarterly, 42(3):85-88.
California State Fullerton, Desert Studies Consortium, 2003 Field
Reynolds, R. E., David Miller, J.E. Nielson, and Michael McCurry, 1995.
Guide:42-47.
Field trip guide: ancient surfaces of the East Mojave Desert. San
Brown, H. J., and Larry Monroe, 2000. Geology and mineral deposits
Bernardino County Museum Association Quarterly, 42(3):5-26.
in the Baxter–Basin area south of Cave Mountain, San Bernardino
Reynolds, R.E. and J. Reynolds, 1995. Pack mule trails in the New York
County, California. San Bernardino County Museum Association
Mountains. San Bernardino County Museum Association Quarterly,
Quarterly, 47(2):42-46.
42(3):143-148.
Casebier, Dennis G.,1973. Camp Rock Springs, California. Tales of the
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Mojave Road Publishing Co., Norco, CA.
win, J.I. Mead, and B. Roth, 1991. The Kokoweef Cave faunal
___,1974 Fort Pah-Ute, California. Tales of the Mojave Road Publishing
assemblage. San Bernardino County Museum Association Special
Co., Norco, CA.
Publication, SP91-1:97-103.
___,1987. Guide to the East Mojave Heritage Trail, Needles to Ivanpah.
Reynolds, R. E., G. T. Ririe, D. Miller, and L. Vredenburgh, 1996.
Norco, Tales of the Mojave Road: 320 p.
Punctuated Chaos: a field trip guide in the northeastern Mojave
Duffield-Stoll, Anne Q. 1996. Mines and miners of the Silurian Valley.
Desert. San Bernardino County Museum Association Quarterly, 43(1
San Bernardino County Museum Association Quarterly, 43(1):139-
& 2):5-26.
142.
Shumway, G.L., L. Vredenburgh and R. Hartill, 1980. Desert fever: an
Evans, James R., 1971. Geology and mineral deposits of the Mescal
overview of mining in the California Desert Conservation Area. BLM
Range quadrangle, San Bernardino County, California. California
Contract No. CA_060_CT7_2776.
Division of Mines and Geology map sheet 17, scale 1:62,500.
Spencer, J. E., 1990. Geologic map of the southern Avawatz Mountains,
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northern Mojave Desert region, San Bernardino County, California.
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Map MF-2117: scale 1:24,000.
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Sperisen, F. J, 1897. Mineral Resources U. S. United States Geological
Avawatz fault zone. San Bernardino County Museum Association
Survey:504.
Quarterly, 47(2):76.
___, 1938. Gem minerals of California. California Journal of Mines and
Grose, L.T., 1959. Structure and petrology of the northeast part of the
Geology, 34(1):34-74.
Soda Mountains, San Bernardino County, California. Geological
Thompson, D.F., 1978. The geology of the Evening Star tin mine and
Society of America Bulletin, 70:474_510.
surrounding region, San Bernardino County, California. MS Thesis,
Joseph, Steven E., 1984. Mineral land classification of the Mescal Range
University of Missouri_Rolla.
15’ quadrangle, San Bernardino County, California. California Divi-
Tucker, W. B., 1931. Los Angeles Field Division, San Bernardino
sion of Mines and Geology open_file report 84_2. Hafen, L. R. and
County: California Division of Mines, 27(3).
A.W. Hafen, 1998. Journals of forty-niners—Addison Pratt’s diary:94_
Ver Planck, W.E., 1961. History of mining in northeastern San Bernar-
107.
dino County. California Division of Mines, Mineral Information
Harder, E.C., 1997. The Amargosa gold mine. San Bernardino County
Service, 14(9).
Museum Quarterly, 44(2):33-36.
Vredenburgh, Larry M., 1994. Fort Irwin and vicinity: mining history and
___, 2000. The last of the Death Valley prospectors. San Bernardino
development. San Bernardino County Museum Association Special
County Museum Association Quarterly, 47(2): 76-77.
Publication, SP 94-1:
Hensher, A, 1996. Mountain Pass, a modern ghost town. San Bernardino
___, 1995. A brief summary of the history of mining in the East Mojave
County Museum Association Quarterly, 43(1):38.
Desert, 1863-1947. San Bernardino County Museum Association
___, 2000. Dust unto dust: the colonies of the Mesquite Valley. San Ber-
Quarterly, 42(3):83-84.
nardino County Museum Association Quarterly, 47(2):54-55.
— 18 —
___. 1996a. Early mines of the southern Clark Mountains, northern Mes-
cal Range, and Ivanpah Mountains. San Bernardino County Museum
___. 1996b. Later mining history in the Mescal Range, Ivanpah Moun-
tains and south Clark Mountain. San Bernardino County Museum
___. 1996c. History of mining in the Halloran Hills, Shadow Mountains,
and Silurian Hills. San Bernardino County Museum Association
Quarterly, 43(1):135-138.
Vredenburgh, L. M., G. L. Shumway and R. D. Hartill, 1981. Desert
Fever, an overview of mining in the California desert. Canoga Park,
Living West Press: 324 p.
Weasma, Ted, 2005. Geology and mining activity in the Standard mining
district, San Bernardino County, California. National Association of
Geoscience Teachers, Far Western Section, Spring 2005 field confer-
ence, Zzyzx:81-103.
Wise, W.S., 1989. The mineralogy of the Mohawk Mine, San Bernardino
County, California. San Bernardino County Museum Association
Quarterly, 37(1):1-31.
___, 1996. The Blue Bell claims and the Mohawk Mine: two prolific min-
eral localities in San Bernardino County, California. San Bernardino
County Museum Association Quarterly, 43(1,2):91-94.
Wright, L. A., R. M. Stewart, T. E Gay Jr., and G. C. Hazenbush, 1953,
Mines and mineral deposits of San Bernardino County, California.
California Division of Mines, 49(1,2).
— 19 —
Cancelled due to flooding

William Presch, Desert Studies Center, Zzyzx, CA. wpresch@exchange.fullerton.edu
Southern California experienced heavy rains during

October, November, and December of 2004 and January
and February, 2005. Lake Arrowhead received rainfall
amounts of 19.23, 3.71, 8.85, 36.46, and 12.43 inches dur-
ing that time period. The surrounding watershed provided
sufficient water to fill Lake Arrowhead, a rise of about 25
feet, and filled Silverwood Reservoir. To prevent an over-
flow of the reservoir and to provide room for snow melt,
the Mojave Dam flood gates were opened on January 11,
2005, releasing an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 cubic feet of
water per second into the Mojave River.
Flow in the Mojave River resulted in the appearance of
the river above ground through Victorville, Barstow, into Mojave River from the Afton Canyon group camp.
and out of Afton Canyon, and into Soda Dry Lake. Water
flow continued under Interstate 15 and the Baker Road
bridge into Silver Lake. Silver Lake currently remains
flooded to a depth of about 3 feet in the deeper areas.
A second release of water occurred during the second
week of February, 2005. Water is still being released from
Silverwood Reservoir but at a lower rate. The Mojave
River remains above ground at Barstow, but at a greatly
reduced volume.
Afton Canyon; west crossing
West Afton trestle. East Afton trestle.
— 20 —
Basin/Baxter crossing on the Mojave River. Mojave River, south of Razor Road.
I-15 at Baker
West Baker Boulevard.
Sandy Fulton kayaking on Silver Lake; view south toward Baker. R. Fresh water at Badwater, Death Valley.
Fulton photo.
— 21 —
An overview of mining in the

California Desert
Larry Vredenburgh, Bureau of Land Management, 3801 Pegasus Drive, Bakersfield, California 93308
Placer gold, eroded from its host rock and deposited as in the Panamint Range, Jim Martin picked up a rock
nuggets or flakes in stream-bed gravel, provided the first which was nearly pure silver. Later, when he had arrived
non-native American mineral production in California. in Mariposa, he had the specimen made into a gun sight.
Shortly after the establishment of a Spanish community This discovery has been known as the “Lost Gunsight
at the present site of Yuma, Arizona, placer gold was dis- Mine” ever since.
covered about ten miles to the northeast on the California Shortly after the scattered survivors of the “short cut”
side of the Colorado River at the Potholes. The deposit arrived in the gold country, a man named Turner re-
was worked from 1779 to 1781. (The Yuma Indians wiped turned with a party to search for the source of the gun
out the Spanish community on July 17, 1781.) About this sight’s silver. Turner headed south from Mariposa and
same time placer gold was discovered and worked briefly set out for Death Valley from the ranch of Dr. E. Dar-
in the nearby Cargo Muchacho Mountains. The Potholes win French near Fort Tejon, now in Kern County. This
again began to yield gold following Mexican indepen- expedition returned empty-handed. In September 1850,
dence in 1823. Turner mounted another expedition. This time Dr. French
On the western-most fringe of the Mojave Desert, accompanied the group. This second group also returned
Francisco Lopez, Domingo Bermudez, and Manuel Cota without finding the lost silver ledge.
discovered gold on March 9, 1842 just some 30 miles Meanwhile, Jefferson Hunt led the rest of the party
from downtown Los Angeles and 50 miles from Palmdale south, eventually joining the Old Spanish Trail. Near
in Placerita Canyon. Gold was mined here actively until the south end of Death Valley they came to the resting
1845. point, Salt Spring—the same spring Kit Carson would have
However, these early gold discoveries are simply stopped at a year earlier. Here two men who had been
historical footnotes in comparison to John Marshall’s find in the California gold fields the previous year discovered
on January 24, 1848 on the South Fork of the American placer gold. The gold flakes were traced up a small ravine
River. Marshall made his discovery nine days before the that drained nearby hills. The source of the gold, a quartz
signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo. This treaty vein that contained pea-sized nuggets, was easily found.
called for Mexico to cede 55% of its territory, present- Within months a company was organized to mine gold at
day Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, and parts Salt Springs.
of Colorado, Nevada and Utah, in exchange for fifteen Following John Marshall’s discovery, prospectors
million dollars in compensation for war-related damage quickly fanned out to test nearly every river and ravine in
to Mexican property. In May 1848, Kit Carson, acting as the Sierra Nevada. The last of the Sierra Nevada placer
official courier for the U.S. Government, left Los Angeles, gold discoveries occurred on the lower Kern River in May
carrying a dispatch to Washington D.C. announcing the 1854. By January 1855 exaggerated reports of riches at
discovery of gold in California. On the trip east, follow- the “southern mines” began to fill newspapers from San
ing the Old Spanish Trail, he would have naturally have Francisco to Los Angeles. By this time all of the easily
stopped at Salt Springs at the south end of Death Val- recovered placer gold had been mined out further north,
ley. The reports of astoundingly rich placer gold finds and men looking for another chance at easy riches im-
caught the imagination of the entire civilized world. Soon mediately poured into the area. The reports of easy riches
it seemed that everyone was on his way to California to soon proved highly exaggerated, and by April the rush
strike it rich. was over. However, after most of the adventurers had
In October 1849, some 500 gold seekers in 110 gone home, a string of gold discoveries was made in the
wagons, who had arrived too late in the season to safely adjacent mountains. In 1855 and 1856, lode gold was dis-
cross the Sierras, chose to head south guided by Jefferson covered in the Greenhorn Mountains, at Keyesville, and
Hunt – at $10 per wagon. The route from Salt Lake City in Erskine Creek Canyon, and placer gold immediately
approached the gold fields via snow-free southern Califor- south of Tehachapi. The small community of Keyesville
nia. On November 1, near the Utah–Nevada boundary, a was soon established just up from the Kern River, near
group 100 immigrants decided to follow a doubtful map the lode gold mines. A few miles north of Keyesville, the
to cut hundreds of miles off the route. Those that left soon rich Big Blue Mine was discovered in 1861. That same
disintegrated into a number of smaller groups that found year placer and lode gold was found about 15 miles to
themselves lost in the Death Valley country. Somewhere the southeast, high in the Piute Mountains, giving birth to
— 22 —
the community of Claraville. Ten miles to the northeast lead-silver mines in 1861 were attracting considerable
of Claraville, also in 1861, lode gold discoveries resulted attention. At the same time the gold placers of El Dorado
in the formation of Sageland. In 1864, located little more Canyon (east of present-day Searchlight, Nevada) and La
than 6 miles south of Keyesville, gold was discovered on Paz, Arizona (seven miles north of Ehrenberg) were also
Clear Creek. The adjoining lode discoveries resulted in active. These discoveries drew men either overland from
the establishment of the town of Havilah which, in 1867, the coastal regions of California or up the Colorado River.
became the first county seat of Kern County. Many of During the Civil War the relatively easy transportation
the men who were actively involved with mining in the along Colorado River, rich copper deposits adjacent to the
Southern Sierra between 1855 and the mid-1860s would river, and growing demand and the high price of copper
turn up in mining camps though the Mojave Desert and combined to yield small tonnages of high-grade ore. Dur-
Great Basin. ing this time copper was mined in the Dead Mountains,
Far to the north of the Kern River, about 20 miles east Whipple Mountains, Turtle Mountains, and in Riverside
of the northern shore of Lake Tahoe and just north of the County in the Ironwood Mining District. What little ore
Carson River, prospectors began recovering placer gold that was mined was shipped around the globe to Swansea,
as early as 1852. This small-scale mining continued until Wales for smelting.
spring 1859 when Peter O’Riley and Patrick McLaughlin In the late 1850s, just prior to the outbreak of “Washoe
discovered the top of the Ophir bonanza. Within days fever,” miners were successfully recovering placer gold
they were extracting as much as $1,000 a day in placer north of Mono Lake at the camps of Dogtown and Mon-
gold. In July a local rancher had ore assayed in Grass oville. Then, in July 1859, Waterman “Bill” Body found
Valley from O’Riley and McLaughlin’s discovery that was placer gold some 20 miles east of Dogtown at the location
found to contain $3,000 per ton silver and $876 per ton in that bears the name Bodie. A year later gold was discov-
gold. The “blasted blue stuff” which had fouled gold rock- ered some 16 miles farther to the east, just inside Nevada,
ers since 1852 was found to be high-grade silver ore. With at Aurora. In 1861, lode gold was discovered at Bodie and
this assay, the Comstock Lode had its beginning. Califor- shared the limelight with nearby Aurora. Aurora grew
nia’s gold towns were emptied as thousands poured into rapidly into a town. Many of the houses and stores were
the “Washoe” region. A new rush for riches had begun. built of fine brick. Samuel Clemens worked here briefly
The late-comers, finding the surrounding ground com- in 1862. It was even the seat of Mono County for a short
pletely staked, immediately fanned out into Great Basin time until a boundary survey proved it to be in Nevada.
and eastern California looking for a second Comstock. It boasted two newspapers and a population of several
Fueled by the Lost Gunsight Mine story, prospec- thousand. But more importantly, the inflated value of the
tors began to scour the Death Valley region. Dr. Darwin mining stock, extreme speculation in mining property, and
French decided to give the search another try. In 1860, costly mills that largely stood idle led to a collapse in the
following the Comstock discovery, he led a group of price of mining stock. It began in January 1864 with Au-
about a dozen prospectors from Oroville and Sacramento rora’s Wide West Mine, but soon spread to all the mining
in a search for the lost ledge of silver. While the expedi- stock associated with Aurora and ultimately the Comstock
tion failed to find the source of the gun sight silver, they mines as well. At the time the mines of the Comstock
did find rich silver ore in the Coso Range. One member were themselves struggling, and would until the discovery
of the French party was Dennis Searles. He returned with of bonanza ore in 1871.
his brother John not long later. Together the brothers As mining capital dried up in the mid-1860s, most
found gold and silver mineralization in the Slate Range. of the mines within the California desert region were
By the fall of 1860 there were hundreds of prospectors deserted. An outbreak of Indian hostilities at this time
in the area. By early 1861 the Telescope Mining District also contributed. One bright spot in the region during this
had been established in the Panamint Mountains, and the time occurred in 1865 high in the Inyo Mountains with
Washington District in the Amargosa Range on the east the discovery of the Cerro Gordo Mine. The first wagon
side of Death Valley. In the early 1860s mineral discover- of silver bullion from this mine arrived in Los Angeles in
ies in the desert of southeastern California came in quick June 1868 for shipment to Selby Smelter in San Francisco
succession. At the base of the mountains at the eastern (which had been erected in 1867). Regular shipments
edge of the Owens Valley several gold discoveries were began arriving in Los Angeles in December 1868 and
made in the 1860s. From south to north these were Bend continued until the summer 1872. At that time the bullion
City (1863), San Carlos (1862), and Owensville. In 1863 was hauled over Tehachapi Pass to the Southern Pacific
the Kersarge Mine was discovered high on the crest of the railhead near Visalia. However, this arrangement proved a
Sierra Nevada west of Independence. To the south, gold disaster, and again in June 1873, Los Angeles became the
and silver was also found in the El Paso Mountains. recipient of Cerro Gordo’s output. The flow of silver-lead
In the East Mojave silver ore was found in 1863 es- bullion continued through Los Angeles until April 1875
sentially right beside the route of the Government Road in when the bullion route was again shifted over Tehachapi
Macedonia Canyon in the northern Providence Moun- pass to the railhead of the Southern Pacific Railroad at
tains. Located just 15 miles inside Nevada, the Potosi Caliente, located at the base of the pass. In late July 1875
— 23 —
rails finally reached Mojave. The teams of bullion from

Cerro Gordo soon were connected here. But by Decem-
ber 1876 the mine’s output had essentially come to an
end.
The discovery of Cerro Gordo in 1865 and the 1871
discovery of bonanza ore at the Comstock proved a stimu-
lus through out the desert. As a result of the immense
quantities of silver extracted from the Comstock between
1871 and 1878 several men became fabulously wealthy,
and in general the investment climate greatly improved.
In the East Mojave the Ivanpah silver mines were ac-
tively mined beginning mid-1870 with ore shipped to the
Selby smelter in San Francisco. A mill was erected at the
New York Mine, located in the New York Mountains, in
December 1873, though it ran only briefly. The McFar-
lane brothers later moved it to Ivanpah. By the mid-1870s
two mills located near the town of Ivanpah were process-
ing ore. About 10 miles south of Ivanpah, the Bullion and
Cambria silver mines were productive in the early 1880s,
and the Bonanza King Mine was found in the spring of
1880 when two prospectors from Ivanpah discovered
silver ore in the Providence Mountains.
In Inyo County silver ore was discovered at Panamint
in January 1873, at Darwin in October 1874, at Lookout in
January 1875, and near Resting Springs in August 1875.
Silver and gold were discovered in the hills above
Oro Grande in the summer of 1879, and a substantial
water-powered mill was erected along the Mojave River
by April 1881. Silver was also discovered in 1879 at the
The Bidwell mill at Ivanpah.
Waterman Mine located just north of the Mojave River at
what is now Barstow. A mill to work this ore was con-
structed in November 1881. At nearby Calico, silver ore between $2 million and $4 million worth of silver each
was discovered in April 1881. Initially ore was hauled month from the western mines. The Bland-Allison Act of
from the Silver King Mine at Calico to the Oro Grande 1878 was repealed by the passage of the Sherman Silver
mill. But within a couple of years there were a number of Purchase Act of 1890. The 1890 act required the U.S. gov-
mills located in the vicinity of Calico. ernment to purchase nearly twice as much silver as before,
The significant output of silver during this time was and pay for it with legal tender, treasury notes redeemable
influenced by events that were transpiring far away in in gold. The silver was to be purchased at market rates.
Washington D.C. Silver was a relatively scarce commod- After the financial panic of 1893, President Cleveland
ity prior to the discovery of bonanza ore in the Comstock called a special session of Congress and secured, in 1893,
mines in the early 1870s. On the open market, it was the repeal of the act.
worth $1.02 an ounce. However, prior to passage of the The Bland-Allison Act and the Sherman Silver Pur-
Coinage Act in 1873, the U.S. Mint would only pay one chase Act provided stable silver prices at a time when
dollar to purchase an ounce of silver. With the passage of market forces would have otherwise depressed silver
this Act, the United States demonetized silver, and silver prices due to over-supply. As a result silver was king in
dollars were no longer were produced (although the half the California desert from 1878 until 1893. The repeal
dollar, quarter and dime continued to be minted). In addi- of the Sherman Act in 1893 sounded the death knell to
tion, U.S. bonds had to be redeemed only in gold as silver silver mining. One victim was the New York Mine, also
was no longer a monetary metal. During the mid-1870s known as the Sagamore, located in the East Mojave. Issac
the market became flooded with newly mined western Blake, the mine’s principal promoter, had invested much
silver. Also, France and Germany had adopted the gold time, energy and money in the construction of the Nevada
standard, dumping millions dollars worth of silver on the Southern Railroad to primarily serve this mine. The rail-
market. As a result, its price had dropped to ninety cents road, constructed north from Goffs, reached Manvel by
an ounce by 1878. Mining interests clamored for repeal of July 1893. However his entire empire collapsed at nearly
the Coinage Act that they labeled as the “crime of 1873.” the same time.
In 1878 the Bland-Allison Act, passed to reverse the Bodie, one of the premier gold mines in the region,
effect of the Coinage Act of 1873, mandated purchase of was an exception to predominance of silver mining during
— 24 —
the 1870s and 1880s. Rich gold was discovered in the un- River. The destination was reached April 19, 1883. At
derground workings in 1872, reviving the mine. By 1888 the same time the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad had been
more than $18 million was produced. The gold mines of building westward from New Mexico. It reached the Ari-
the Cargo Muchacho Mountains and at Picacho in Impe- zona bank of the river a month after the Southern Pacific.
rial County were also exceptions. In 1877, with the arrival On August 8 the A&P completed a bridge across the
of the Southern Pacific Railroad in the area, the mines river. The Southern Pacific built its line to halt the A&P’s
here began to be worked. advance into SP’s lucrative California markets. However,
Gold reigned as king with the loss of silver price A&P stood ready to make good on its threat to build a
supports in 1893. As if on cue, several important gold parallel line into California. This would have rendered
deposits were discovered. These included Vanderbilt the newly built Southern Pacific line redundant and of
(1893), Red Rock Canyon (1894), the Summit Diggings no economic value, and as a result the Southern Pacific
(1894), the Yellow Aster Mine (1895), the Mojave Mining agreed to sell the new line. On October 1, 1884 the A&P
District (1894), the Ratcliffe Mine in the Panamint Range paid about $7 million for the rail line to Mojave. In alli-
(1897) and the Bagdad-Chase Mine (1901). Mining revived ance with the Atlantic and Pacific, the California Southern
at Picacho, in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains, and many Railroad was built from San Bernardino over Cajon Pass
other older districts. to Barstow where it connected to the A&P in November
In June 1903 a standard gauge railroad, the Ludlow 1885. (After 1893, the Atlantic and Pacific was known as
and Southern, was completed from Ludlow to the Bagdad- the Santa Fe.) The mines at Oro Grande, especially the
Chase Mine. Ore was shipped to the Randsburg-Santa limestone quarries for cement, immediately benefited from
Fe Reduction Company’s 50-stamp mill at Barstow for the improved transportation.
processing. This mine was to become one of the premier Daggett was by far the most important source of reve-
producers in the entire desert. The Yellow Aster Mine at nue along the new line between Mojave and Needles. The
Randsburg was another major producer. In November mining activity at Calico was in full swing. In addition,
1897 the 28 mile long Randsburg Railroad was construct- Daggett became an important receiving point from desert
ed north from Kramer on the Santa Fe to Johannesburg mines. Between 1882 and 1883 borax ore was hauled from
near the mines. the Eagle Borax Works in Death Valley to Daggett. Borax
In addition to economic considerations that favored was also hauled from William Coleman’s Amargosa Borax
gold, there were several technical innovations. Foremost Works located at Shoshone. In 1890 the borax deposit at
was the introduction of cyanide to recover gold. In 1890 Borate, located just east of the silver camp of Calico, was
John MacArthur and Robert and William Forrest of developed. In 1898 an eleven-mile railroad was built from
Glasgow, Scotland introduced the cyanide process to the the deposit to Daggett.
Witwatersrand gold mines in South Africa. The process With depletion of the borax deposit at Borate and the
was found to extract 96 percent of gold from the ore. This discovery of borax southeast of Furnace Creek Ranch in
enabled recovery rates unimagined with mercury amalga- Death Valley, Francis Marion “Borax” Smith was looking
mation alone. The use of cyanide breathed new life into for a transportation solution that didn’t involve mules. In
many older gold districts. Bodie, whose production by his first attempt, a road was graded from the California
then had slumped, became one of the first mines in the Eastern Railroad terminus at Ivanpah to the Lila C. Mine.
United States to utilize cyanide. Soon its use became the In the April 1904 inaugural run, a steam powered trac-
industry standard. Also, men with portable cyanide plants tor pulled a “train” of open ore cars 14 miles, then quit
reworked old mill tailings. operating. Smith concluded constructing a railroad was
After the Southern Pacific Railroad reached Mojave in the only alternative. On July 19, 1904 the Tonopah and
1875, the line was pushed into Los Angeles, then south Tidewater Railroad was incorporated. The first rails were
through the Coachella Valley. In May 1877, the line laid in November 1905 from Ludlow on the Santa Fe; by
crossed the Colorado River at Yuma. The railroad had June 1907 the rails had finally reached Zabriski, north of
an immediate impact on the mining industry. Silver-lead the Amargosa River gorge, near Shoshone. Briefly ore was
ore was hauled from Darwin, Lookout, and Panamint teamed from the Lila C. Mine to the railhead. The line
City to the new railhead at Mojave. Borax ore, which had reached the mine on August 16, 1907, and was completed
been shipped from Searles Lake to San Pedro since 1873, on October 30, 1907 to Gold Center, just south of Beatty,
was now only hauled 80 miles. Beginning in the winter Nevada. When the Lila C. Mine became exhausted,
of 1882, and continuing for the next six years, William operations were moved twelve-miles to the northwest
Coleman hauled borax from the Harmony Borax Works to the Biddy McCarty Mine. The Death Valley narrow
in Death Valley to Mojave in the world-famous “twenty- gauge railroad was constructed to connect the mines with
mule teams.” The Bonanza King Mine located far out in the Tonopah and Tidewater. This line was completed on
the east Mojave Desert had its mill delivered in July 1882 December 1, 1914.
from Mojave. Just a year earlier, in 1913, John Suckow, drilling for
The Southern Pacific began construction at Mojave in water on his homestead claim, at a depth of 40 feet discov-
February 1882 of a new line to Needles, on the Colorado ered the largest borax deposit in the world, scarcely three
— 25 —
miles north of the Santa Fe

Railroad, about 10 miles
northwest of Kramer. Im-
mediately Smith’s Pacific
Coast Borax Company
bought up the property. In
1927 the Death Valley op-
erations were moved to the
Baker Mine near Boron.
Just as the discovery of
the Comstock Lode rocked
southeastern California,
the discovery of silver
at Tonopah on May 19,
1900 and the subsequent
discovery in 1902 of gold at
Goldfield scarcely 25 miles
away, sent prospectors
scampering through out
the region looking for gold. Hart gold discoveries, from a souvenir booklet about the town.
Gold discoveries in the
immediate aftermath of Goldfield include Skidoo (1906),
Harrisburg (1905), Hart (1907), and Crackerjack (1906). At about the same time, the widespread copper-stained
In 1905 the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad (later volcanic rocks of the Greenwater Range, east of Death
the Union Pacific) was constructed south through Las Valley, convinced many that a literal mountain of copper
Vegas, connecting with the Santa Fe at Daggett. The ore lay at depth. (Not a far-fetched idea, considering that
close proximity of this new line to mines located south of in 1906, Kennecott began open-pit mining the Bingham
Mountain Pass proved to be a stimulus to that district. Canyon Mine.) The town of Greenwater sprang up, fueled
A rail line was built in 1907 from Barnwell (Manvel) to by frenzied stock speculation and encouraged by invest-
the booming gold camp of Searchlight. The line skirted ment by some of the biggest names of the day in mining.
the north edge of the newly established town of Hart. By 1907 over 1,000 called Greenwater and its satellite
At this time the use of the automobile was becoming communities home. The fact that the promised ore never
widespread, and soon became as essential to the desert materialized, coupled with the financial panic of 1907,
prospector as the burro had been. Also, gasoline mo- caused the demise of Greenwater. Speculation in the
tors were beginning to be used in mills, replacing steam railroad and banking industries led to a short but painful
powered equipment. By the mid 1910s trucks began to be depression in 1907–1908. Many mines had to suspend
utilized to haul ore. Electric power was furnished by lines operations; banks from Goldfield to Los Angeles failed.
from the newly constructed Los Angeles aqueduct or, as In a discovery that is reminiscent of Comstock,
was in the case of Bodie and Calico, generated locally. Randsburg prospectors recovering gold using dry placer
Another stimulus to mining in the late in the 1800s and methods had been bedeviled by “heavy spar” from the
in the early years of the 1900s was the relatively high price beginning. In 1904 the confounded heavy white mineral
of copper. The Copper World Mine, discovered in 1869, was found to be the tungsten ore, scheelite. Mining began
was systematically mined beginning in 1898. Ore was in 1906 and continued through World War I. Produc-
smelted west of the mine at Valley Wells. After reduction tion soared during the war years, as did the number of
at the smelter, the nearly pure copper was teamed to the employees.
California Eastern Railroad at Manvel, 30 miles south- Primarily built to service construction of the Los An-
east. Supplies and coal from New Mexico were hauled in geles aqueduct, the Southern Pacific completed a branch
on the return trip. Three or four times a month a 20-ton line from Mojave north to the southern Owens Valley in
carload of copper matte was shipped to New York for 1910. However, one of the largest mineral deposits in the
final smelting. Each rail car of matte was worth $7,000. By United States was to benefit significantly from the new
late 1899 the Copper World was said to be one of the four line. Borax recovery from Searles Lake had ceased in
largest copper mines in the United States. Even though 1895, but in 1905 potash was identified in the lake brines.
the California Eastern Railroad was extended 13 miles In 1913 the American Trona Corporation was incorpo-
closer to the property in 1902, the mine sputtered and rated to extract potash, soda ash, sodium sulfate, salt, and
closed. The costs were simply too high. Between 1906 and borax from the brines. A standard gauge railroad was
1908 the mine was again active. During this time ore was completed to Searles Lake September 1, 1914, and at the
shipped to the Needles Smelter. same time a plant was constructed at Trona. A German
— 26 —
embargo of potash fertilizer during World War I sharply deposits have been mined in California. But it is the huge
raised potash prices, creating a rush of activity at Searles deposits of salines, borax, gypsum, and limestone that will
Lake—the only American source of potash at the time. continue to be mined for many dozens of decades yet in
With the decline of prices at the end of the war, potash the future, providing the nation and the world some of the
was no longer economically recoverable. However the basics of every-day life.
deposit continues to produce a host of products from the
lake brine. Bibliography
Between 1905 and 1910 the Santa Fe constructed a Clark, William B, 1980, Gold Districts of California. California Division of
line from Phoenix, Arizona, crossed the Colorado River Mines and Geology, Bulletin 193.
Hensher, Alan and Larry Vredenburgh, 1986, Ghost Towns of the Upper
at Parker, and then continued north to the main line at Mojave Desert, Volume I: San Bernardino County (typescript).
Cadiz. On August 9, 1916 a branch line was completed Hensher, Alan and Larry Vredenburgh, 1991, Ghost Town of the Mojave
to Blythe. In 1925 limestone mining began at Chubbuck Desert, A Concise and Illustrated Guide. Los Angeles: California Clas-
midway between Cadiz and Rice. A short narrow gauge sics Books.
Hensher, Alan, and Larry M. Vredenburgh, 1997, The Early History of
railroad was constructed from the mines to the kiln lo- the Resting Springs Mining District in Robert E. Reynolds and Jennifer
cated along the railroad. Also in 1925, mining operations Reynolds (eds.) Death Valley the Amargosa Route, San Bernardino
began at the large gypsum deposit at Midland, situated County Museum Association Quartly Vol 44 (2).
north of Blythe two miles west of the railroad. Lingenfelter, Richard E., 1986, Death Valley and the Amargosa, a Land of
Illusion. Los Angles: University of California Press.
In 1910 a nine-mile long rail line was constructed from McAfee, Ward, 1973, California’s Railroad Era 1850-1911, San Marino:
Tecopa, on the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad, to the Golden West Books.
Noonday and Gunsite lead-silver mines. The mines oper- Morton, Paul K, 1977, Geology and Mineral Resources of Imperial County,
ated until 1918. Many other mines were able to operate California, California Division of Mines and Geology County Report
7.
economically along the T&T’s route as well, due to the Myrick, David F., 1963, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California.
cheap transportation it afforded. Berkeley: Howell North Books.
In April, 1918 Congress passed the Pittman Silver Act. Nadeau, Remi, 1965, City Makers. Los Angeles:Trans Anglo Books
Under provisions of this law the United States purchased Nadeau, Remi, 1972, Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of California. Los
Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press.
about $260 million dollars worth of silver at $1.00 an Paher, Stanley W., 1970, Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining Camps, San
ounce. This silver was used to coin silver dollars. As Diego: Howell-North Books.
a result there was renewed mining at Calico, but most Paher, Stanley W., 1973, Death Valley Ghost Towns. Las Vegas: Nevada
importantly, the well timed discovery of the Kelley-Rand Publications.
Paher, Stanley W. and Robert L. Spude, 1976, Colorado River Ghost
silver mine in 1919 soon became the largest silver produc- Towns, Las Vegas: Nevada Publications.
er in the state. This deposit was discovered right beside Paul, Rodman Wilson, 1974, Mining Frontiers of the Far West 1848-
the road that is now U.S. Highway 395 in an area that had 1880. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
been intensely prospected since 1895. Troxel, Bennie w. and Paul K Morton, 1962, Mines and Mineral Resources
of Kern County, California, California Division of Mines and Geology
By the end of World War I the frontier was gone. Ac- County Report 1.
curate maps had existed for decades. Roads and railroads Vredenburgh, Larry M, Shumway, Gary L, and Russell D. Hartill, 1981,
crisscrossed the desert. The Automobile Club of South- Desert Fever, Canoga Park: Living West Press.
ern California placed road signs through out the desert. Vredenburgh, Larry M., 1996, Early Mines of Southern Clark Mountain,
the Northern Mescal Range and the Ivanpah Mountains, in Robert E.
Soon dirt roads would be replaced by pavement. Truck Reynolds and Jennifer Reynolds (eds.) Punctuated Chaos, in the
transportation would replace rail for many operations. Northeastern Mojave Desert, San Bernardino County Museum As-
Electrical lines already served the largest operations. High- sociation Quarterly Vol. 43 nos. 1 and 2, pp. 67-72,
volume low-grade operations were replacing the high- Wright, Lauren A. (editor), 1957, Mineral Commodities of California,
California Division Mines Bulletin 176.
grade deposits that led to the discoveries in the first place.
During the 1920s, inflation and the fixed price of gold
put a damper on mining. Increasingly industrial minerals
would play a more important role in the mining mix. Dur-
ing the 1930s the price of copper bottomed out, however
the increase of the fixed price of gold in 1933 stimulated
gold mining for a while. But by government order gold
mining was shut down during World War II in order to
concentrate on the mining of strategic minerals such as
iron, tungsten, copper, and lead. After the war, gold min-
ing did not recover. Again, inflation and fixed gold prices
were the primary reason. In 1968 the price of gold was
no longer fixed. The high price of gold coupled with new
innovations in the fields of exploration, mining, and re-
covery led to a new gold rush through the western United
States. During the last few decades, large low-grade gold
— 27 —
The historical mining towns of the

eastern Mojave Desert
Alan Hensher, 593 Collins Dr. #3, Merced, CA 95348
Abstract and installed a leaching operation, which produced some

In 1869, a prospecting expedition discovered copper copper. The nearest shipping point was Vontrigger on the
and silver veins in the Clark Mountains. A supply center California Eastern Railway, two miles away. Cram discon-
named Ivanpah arose at Ivanpah Spring, several miles tinued work about 1911. Several miles to the west in the
from the silver deposits; the two main properties be- Hackberry Mountains, the Getchell Mine was developed
came the Beatrice and Lizzie Bullock. Mills were built at in 1925 and a large camp, also named Vontrigger, was
Ivanpah in the mid-1870s. The district reached its peak built there, but the work soon stopped.
about 1879 and then declined rapidly during the early
1880s. Ivanpah
The Copper World, the other major strike, was devel- What a disappointment. A newspaper publisher in
oped in 1898, when a smelter was built at nearby Rosalie San Bernardino had just received the annual report of the
Wells. Although the production was large at times, the United States Mint, yet it was full of errors and incom-
operations were erratic, and the Copper World shut down plete. Not a word had been written about “our most
about World War I. productive mines,” near Ivanpah.
In 1879, gold and silver were found near Mountain Lured by the rush to the White Pine Mining District
Pass. This became the Mescal Mine. The property was in northeastern Nevada, a prospecting expedition found
developed in 1882 and remained active at least into 1887. promising copper and silver veins in the Clark Mountains,
The Mescal produced an estimated $250,000 in bullion. in the eastern Mojave Desert in early 1869. This was about
Silver ore was discovered in the Providence Mountains 200 miles from San Bernardino. The party named the dis-
in 1880. The main property was the Bonanza King Mine. trict after Albert H. Clark, a businessman in Visalia who
Two speculators in Colorado, Wilson Waddingham and was one of the supporters of the expedition. The group
Thomas Ewing, bought the property several years later. also organized the Yellow Pine Mining District, adjacent
They built a mill at a nearby spring and sank a deep to the Clark district, in Nevada. The Piute Company of
shaft. After producing $1,500,000 in bullion, the mill California and Nevada was organized in June of 1870 to
burned in 1885; as the price of silver declined, mining develop the veins.
became erratic, and work in the district ended during the The company had an impressive pedigree. One of
early 1890s. The Bonanza King was revived in 1906-1907 the trustees was John Moss, the leader of the expedition;
and 1915-1920. a noted mountain man, he maintained friendly relations
Bob Black, an Indian, struck gold ore near Vanderbilt with Indians along the Colorado River. The secretary was
Spring, in the New York Mountains in 1891 and a tent Titus F. Cronise, who had recently written an encyclo-
camp was founded. In late 1892, major development pedia on the state’s resources. The superintendent was J.
began. The main mines were the Gold Bronze and the W. Crossman, who was becoming an important writer on
Boomerang. Meanwhile, the Nevada Southern Railway mining.
was built into the area, and a railhead was established at The Piute Company planned four towns. Two of them,
Manvel. The veins were small, and the district’s two mills Cave City and Pachocha (variously spelled), were never
were inefficient. The district began to decline in 1894, built. The third site was Good Spring, in the Yellow Pine
though some mining continued through the late 1890s. district. Ivanpah, a 160-acre townsite, was laid out at a
Several prospectors from Goldfield, Nevada, found spring on the southeast slope of Clark Mountain, eight or
gold in the Castle Mountains in late 1907. A town named nine miles southeast of the mines.
Hart was founded in early 1908, and a mill was built. The Despite the isolation and heat, 300 men were in the dis-
leading properties were the Oro Belle, Big Chief, and trict by the summer of 1870. The first ore was shipped out
Hart Consolidated, but the veins were small and broken, in September, to San Francisco. Freighting cost about $70
and the district began to decline in 1909. Occasional min- a ton, but the ore was yielding as much as $2,000 a ton,
ing continued until about 1915. mainly in silver. By August of 1871, Ivanpah contained
Mining began in the Vontrigger district during the 15 buildings, including a hotel, two stores, the office and
1890s, but the mines were small. After 1904, Albert H. headquarters of the Piute Company, and small houses,
Cram, a promoter, developed a copper deposit known as all of them built of adobe and covered with good shake
the California Mine north of Goffs. He built a large camp roofs. Three of the buildings measured 40x60 feet, includ-
— 28 —
ing the hotel, the largest structure in town. (These might only a hand windlass in 1871. John McFarlane’s house,
have been tents.) office, and sleeping quarters, which contained several
The mines were on Mineral Hill (also called Alaska berths, consisted of a very large tent where he had several
Hill), eight or nine miles northwest of the town. The mineral cabinets that held more than 200 specimens.
most promising properties were the Hite & Chatfield Since the mines were dry, Indians were employed to haul
claim (later renamed the Lizzie Bullock) and the Monitor water by pack train from Ivanpah Spring. Mexicans were
and Beatrice, owned by the McFarlane brothers—Tom, employed to work the ore in arrastres, or circular stone
Andrew, John, and William. The work force included mills. They received $125 a ton, which meant that lower
Indians, Mexicans, and Anglos; among them were several grades of ore, worth at least $150 a ton, had to be left on
pioneers of the Kern River mines: Dennis Searles, Wil- the dump. Even so, the firm of Hite & Chatfield earned a
liam A. Marsh, and the McFarlane brothers. (Six miles $20,000 profit in 1872. Teamsters arrived from San Bernar-
southwest of Ivanpah was the Copper World claim, which dino with supplies and returned with heavy loads of ore.
would remain unworked for three decades.) During six months in 1873, the mercantile firm of Brunn
The original operations were primitive. The Beatrice & Roe forwarded $57,000 worth of ore to San Francisco.
Mine No. 2, owned by the McFarlanes, was equipped with With returns like those, the mine owners could af-
— 29 —
ford to develop their properties. In November 1873 the

McFarlane brothers put up a small smelting furnace and a
comfortable house. About early 1875, they moved a five-
stamp mill from the New York Mountains to a hill above
Ivanpah, where water was available. By then, their main
mine, the Beatrice, was nearly 300 feet deep. The brothers
also incorporated the Ivanpah Consolidated Mill and Min-
ing Company, which was often called the “Ivanpah Con.”
By mid-1875, the district had produced $300,000. J. A.
Bidwell and a partner, who had bought the Lizzie Bullock
Mine, built a 10-stamp mill near the Ivanpah Consolidated
in 1876. It started up in June.
Regional and national depressions, which had begun
in 1875, finally affected the Clark district in 1876. Both
the Bidwell and Ivanpah Consolidated mills had difficulty
getting enough ore to run full time. About $40,000 in
attachments were filed against the Ivanpah Consolidated.
Apparently, the property was sold and operated only
intermittently through 1877, although the McFarlanes were
kept on as managers. One writer charged that the mines
never had been properly developed, having been “gouged
too much by incompetent miners.”
Andrew McFarlane. It’s likely that Bidwell’s operation became the main
producer then. In late 1877, he overhauled his mill and
increased his force at the Lizzie Bullock Mine, to 20 in
August 1878. Both mills ran steadily,
but well into 1879 Bidwell continued
to send out heavy loads of bul-
lion, including one shipment worth
$8,000.
The camp reached its peak about
then. A post office was established in
June of 1878. By April of 1879, when
more than 100 hands were working
on Alaska Hill, the business district
comprised two saloons, stores, black-
smith shops, shoemakers’ shops,
hotels, and hay yards, besides one
butcher shop and “neat and comfort-
able” houses. By early 1880, about
65 people were living in town and
about the same number at the mines.
In May two printers, James B. Cook
and Wilmonte (Will) Frazee, started
a weekly newspaper, the Green-Eyed
Monster, but they had to suspend it
after a few issues.
Though the Ivanpah Consolidated
had produced a reported $500,000
in bullion by the end of 1879, it
continued to sink into debt. The
owners, a San Francisco company,
resorted to issuing scrip, for which
it neglected to pay a 10% tax to the
federal government. After failing to
pay its employees for several months,
The Ivanpah mill. the company suspended work. The
— 30 —
But that changed in

1898, when new own-
ers began developing the
property; it would become
the largest copper producer
in Southern California. A
large smelter was built in
early 1899 at Valley Wells
(also called Rosalie Wells),
several miles below the
mine; the Ivanpah post
office was moved to Valley
Wells in April and its name
was changed to Rosalie.
Eighty-five men worked at
the mine and smelter. Every
four days, long mule teams
would haul 20 tons of cop-
per concentrate, or matte,
to Manvel, 30 miles away,
The Bidwell mill. and would return with coal
and supplies. The operation
produced 11,000 tons of matte until litigation forced the
mine, smelter, and post office to close in July, 1900, but
government won a judgment for $1,480 and sent out E. F.
the Copper World was soon revived.
Bean, a deputy collector for the Bureau of Internal Rev-
This time, the California Eastern Railway built a 16-
enue, to attach the property. Upon his arrival, in mid-May
mile extension from Manvel into the Ivanpah Valley in
of 1881, a dispute arose; two days later, John McFarlane
early 1902 and established a shipping point. Known as
tried to shoot Bean, who managed to get off a shot first.
Ivanpah, the station contained an agency and telegraph
McFarlane died instantly. A judge in San Bernardino
office (housed in a box car), several stores, and other
ruled that the killing was “a clear case of justifiable homi-
buildings. From 25 to 30 persons lived there. A post of-
cide.”
fice, also called Ivanpah, was established there in August,
The district shipped out at least $162,000 in treasure
1903. But costly, wasteful operations forced the Copper
in 1881, but a decline soon followed. Most of the popula-
World to shut down after a year or two. When the San
tion departed during the early 1880s. Only 11 residents
Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad was com-
remained in early 1890. About the only businesses left in
December of 1892 were a store
and boardinghouse and the post
office, which Bidwell and his wife
ran. Soon after collecting mineral
specimens for San Bernardino
County’s exhibit at the World Co-
lumbian Exposition, in Chicago,
Bidwell died. His widow received
$75 from the county. A depression
followed in June of 1893, and the
price of silver fell to 58¢ an ounce,
its lowest level, in 1898. The store
closed about then. The post office
was moved in April of 1899.
For nearly three decades, the
Copper World discovery re-
mained neglected. In August of
1878, James Boyd, who owned the
property, built an experimental
smelting furnace in San Bernar-
dino, but nothing materialized.
The Bidwell mill.
— 31 —
The Copper World smelter at Rosalie (Valley Wells).
pleted in early 1905, the line passed within a few miles and a partner, Simon A. Barrett, had extracted a large lot
of Ivanpah station. The post office was moved to nearby of ore worth $100 a ton in silver and gold. They shipped
Leastalk, a station at the junction of the Salt Lake line their ore by pack train to Ivanpah, where the Ivanpah
and California Eastern. The Copper World reopened in Consolidated mill processed it in June of 1885. A few
1906; it produced 487,000 pounds of matte in 1907 alone. weeks later, Wells, Fargo & Company carried away the
But the matte was shipped through Cima, another station first bullion: two bars worth more than $2,000.
on the Salt Lake line. The operation was large enough to Mescal entered its most productive period after
warrant the formation of a local of the Western Federation McFarlane and Barrett leased out, and then sold, the
of Miners. When the Copper World shut down again, the Cambria to a company of businessmen in Los Angeles
California Eastern abandoned its station at Ivanpah. Four in January, 1886. A 10-man crew drove a second tunnel
or five buildings, all of them vacant, were burned in April, and laid a 350-yard ore-car track. (Eventually, two 300-foot
1908, supposedly by tramps—the usual suspects. tunnels were driven.) By late 1886, the camp contained
World War I drove up the price of copper (and other an assay office, comfortable offices, a boardinghouse, a
metals). The Copper World was reopened in 1916, a large lodging house, adobe houses for men with families, and
blast furnace was later built, and the work force rose from other buildings. The company also built a five-stamp mill
six to 60. A tractor hauled the matte to Cima. But when near Mescal Springs. The machinery started up in early
the war ended in November 1918, metal prices declined, December. In January of 1887, the mill produced 15,000
and the Copper World was shut down for the last time. ounces of bullion; the company soon added five stamps.
The California Eastern tore up its tracks in 1921. Several A post office named Nantan was established in March. By
years later, Leastalk was renamed South Ivanpah, which then, the camp had a store.
was soon shortened to Ivanpah. The post office remained That was Mescal’s heyday. The price of silver gradually
open until 1966. slipped; the value of the ore fell to only $20 a ton. Only
12 people remained in 1890; in December, the post office
Mescal closed. The mine had produced an estimated $250,000 in
Six miles south of Ivanpah, near Mountain Pass, was gold and silver.
the Mescal Mine (also known as the Cambria or Mollusk),
which was discovered about 1879. William A. McFarlane, Providence
one of the pioneers of Ivanpah, bought the property sev- Along the steep slopes of the Providence Mountains,
eral years later and began developing it. By early 1885, he south of the Clark Mining District, parties of prospec-
— 32 —
tors from Ivanpah found extremely rich silver ore during Meanwhile, the price of silver continued to slip. After
the spring of 1880. Some of the rock assayed as much paying dividends through early 1885, the Bonanza King
as $5,000 a ton. The richest claim turned out to be the suspended work in March. When the company reopened
Bonanza King, which was sold to Jonas B. Osborne, H. L. the mine a week later, it hired 15 men—at $3 a day—and
Drew, J. D. Boyer, and Charley Hassen, all of whom had hired others as fast as they could apply: 40 men in the
some knowledge of mining. mine and 35 in the mill when it started up several months
Though a rich vein was found in early 1882, the own- later. The shipments of bullion averaged $60,000 a month.
ers of the Bonanza King sold their interests to the Bonanza But in late July, the mill burned. The company discharged
King Consolidated Mining & Milling Company of New most of its workers. Although it cleared away the debris,
York. The owners were Wilson Waddingham and Thom- the Bonanza King never rebuilt its mill. Finally, assured
as Ewing, who had recently swindled investors in a mine that the coinage of silver would continue, the company
in Colorado. They put at least 100 men to work round reopened the mine in early 1886. Rich assays encouraged
the clock developing the mine. The company erected Waddingham and Ewing to keep at least 20 men at work,
a 10-stamp mill at a spring on Juan Domingo’s ranch, a but it seems that they shut the operation down about
mile and a half from Providence. (The milling camp was then. At the nearby Kerr and Patton property, however,
known as Crow Town.) The mill started up on January Godfrey Bahten, a widely traveled mining man, built a
1, 1883. During its first six months, the mill produced five-stamp mill that started up in January of 1887. The
$573,376 in bullion, according to mint reports. The com- Kerr and Patton claim was worked until at least 1890; it
pany then put its stock on the New York mining exchange reportedly paid good dividends. As a sop to mine owners
and began paying regular dividends. By early 1885, the and impoverished farmers, Congress passed the Sherman
main shaft of the Bonanza King reached 800 feet; the ore Silver-Purchase Act. The measure pushed up the price of
was worth as much as $100/ton in gold and silver. About silver to $1.05 an ounce. But it was only a token measure,
100 men worked at the mine and mill then. The company and the price dropped to its earlier level. The post office
spent $20,000 on wages and supplies each month, whereas was discontinued in May of 1892, although a store or
the operation was producing at least $35,000 a month. By saloon remained in business at least into 1893.
then, the mill had produced $1,500,000 in bullion. Providence experienced several revivals. The Trojan
Meanwhile, Providence thrived. A post office was Mining Company built a gasoline-powered, 10-stamp mill
established in June of 1882, and in October the county and worked the Bonanza King Mine from 1906 through
supervisors created an election precinct. By early 1883 the September of 1907, but the stock market crashed a few
camp had 300 residents. The business district contained weeks later. Meanwhile, Thomas Ewing had returned
the post office, several mining-company offices, two gen-
eral stores, two hotels (with
livery stables), a saloon, a
contractor, a blacksmith
and wagon maker, a deputy
sheriff, and a United States
mineral surveyor. Many of
the buildings were made
of a distinctive, locally
quarried volcanic ash called
tuff. The business district
soon shrank, though: by
early 1885, the only lodging
available was a mattress on
a store counter.
Waddingham and Ewing
paid their men promptly,
but they weren’t espe-
cially generous. The miners
received $3.50 a day;
board cost $8 a week. The
company would fire any
man found drunk. A fore-
man and a shift boss were
accused of working the men
more “than their health
and strength will permit.” The Bonanza King mill in 1905.
— 33 —
from Arizona and set up a small camp, where a short-lived office opened in late April 1893. It was named after Allen
voting precinct was established in May of 1908. In 1915, Manvel, the late president of the Santa Fé Railway. Sev-
the Hall-Rawister & Company of Massachusetts rebuilt the eral businesses (probably housed in tents) opened about
mill, reopened the mine, and hired 30 men; work went May. In early September, C. K. Dixon received a license
on round the clock. The presence of five families gave to operate a saloon there.
the place “a more charming appearance.” The company A camp also arose at the Sagamore, where 80 men
installed an electric-light plant, a water line, gasoline worked in early 1893. E. H. Leibey kept a grocery store
engines, and the most modern hoisting and milling equip- there. H. Ramsey moved his business from Providence to
ment. Two trucks made daily trips to Fenner. During the the Sagamore where, in early September, he received a
next few years, the company reopened several shafts, as liquor license, probably for a store. Leibey soon moved.
far as 800 feet, and was taking out very rich ore. But when The onset of a long depression forced the Nevada
World War I ended, the price of silver again declined, to Southern to halt most work in June of 1893, but the
$1.01. The company suspended work in July of 1920. construction of a grade over the New York Mountains
continued. About five miles beyond Purdy, the railroad
Manvel founded another camp. It was named Summit and stood
By the late 1880s, discoveries were being made on a juniper-covered mesa at 4,800 feet. In early June, the
throughout the eastern Mojave Desert. Among the most county supervisors granted licenses for two saloons; Virgil
promising places were the Montgomery and Yellow Pine W. Earp owned one of them. Scheduled trains began
districts. In the Yellow Pine district, about 40 miles north running there about August, when the businesses of Purdy
of the New York Mountains, Samuel S. Godbe was open- were moved to Summit. The camp supported one store,
ing up a silver-lead deposit. owned by R. J. Halsey. In early October the Manvel post
Isaac G. Blake, a mining magnate in Denver, was espe- office, which had been suspended for two weeks, was re-
cially interested in the Sagamore Mine, a deposit of lead, established at Summit; the postmaster was E. H. Leibey,
silver, copper, and zinc in the New York Mountains, just who had moved his business from the Sagamore.
inside California. He also liked the potential of the Yellow Manvel served as the nearest railhead for several
Pine Mining District, which contained veins of silver, lead, widely scattered mining camps, including Vanderbilt,
and gold. In December of 1892, Blake began work on a Goodsprings, Crescent, and Montgomery. A shipment
branch line from Goffs: the Nevada Southern Railway. to the Montgomery mines, 125 miles northwest, for
(Goffs would be renamed Blake in 1894.) Most of the example, totaled 25 tons. The trade increased in the late
route passed over a gently sloping plain. In late February 1890s, when the Copper World Mine was opened up and
1893, the grade reached the foot of the New York Moun- gold was discovered 20 miles to the east at what became
tains 25 miles north of Goffs. Searchlight, Nevada. By early 1898, Manvel supported a
A construction camp named Purdy, after Warren G. flour, grain, and lumber dealer, a general store, a hotel,
Purdy, one of Blake’s partners, was built there. A post a blacksmith, the post office, and a stage line running to
Montgomery. A school
district was organized in
January 1900. In early 1902,
the Nevada Southern com-
pleted a 15-mile extension
into the Ivanpah Valley,
to serve as the shipping
point for the Copper World
Mine. The railhead was
named Ivanpah. (Several
months later, the Santa Fé
Railway bought the Nevada
Southern and renamed
it the California Eastern
Railway.) At Searchlight,
meanwhile, the production
steadily increased.
As the main shipping
point for Searchlight,
Manvel was busy. The
town contained a depot and
telegraph office, a freight-
Providence in 1984. Larry Vredenburgh photograph. forwarding house, and
— 34 —
an agency of Wells, Fargo & Company. The increased A strike made by Taggart in the fall of 1892 finally set
business at the post office made it eligible to sell money off a rush. Allan G. Campbell, a Salt Lake City investor,
orders. The Brown-Gosney Company’s store transacted joined Beatty in developing the Boomerang property;
several thousand dollars worth of business a day. T. A. they even sank a 100-foot shaft. Two former lords of the
Brown, the co-founder of the store, organized a telephone Comstock lode, John L. Mackay and J. L. Flood, studied
system, started several freight lines and a stage line, and other nearby properties. By January of 1893, 150 people
opened branches in several nearby camps and towns. were living at Vanderbilt camp, which contained 50 tents,
(To prevent confusion with a town in Texas, Manvel was two stores, one saloon (unlicensed), three restaurants, a
renamed Barnwell in early 1907.) lodging house, a blacksmith shop, and a stable. A stage
As long as Manvel remained the only railhead in that arrived three times a week from Goffs. A post office was
region, its importance remained secure. But in early 1902, established in February 1893, although at first all the
the railroad extended its line into the Ivanpah Valley, businesses except one were housed in tents. In May, the
where it established a shipping point for the Copper county supervisors appointed W. A. Nash justice of the
World Mine. Then, in early 1905, the San Pedro, Los peace, which also made him a deputy coroner, and grant-
Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad was completed. The line ed four liquor licenses. When rail service to Manvel began
passed only 20 miles from Searchlight and 15 miles from about August, a stage brought passengers the remaining
the Copper World Mine. The management of the Santa five miles to Vanderbilt. Meanwhile, Nash established a
Fé opposed building lines into mining districts. But in ear- weekly newspaper, the Nugget, although it lasted only two
ly 1907, the company finally completed a 23-mile exten- or three issues. Then, in early December, Ben C. Jor-
sion to Searchlight, the Barnwell & Searchlight Railway— dan, a young correspondent for the Los Angeles Evening
just as Searchlight’s production plunged. A depression Express, began issuing a weekly newspaper, the Shaft. The
followed in October. In Manvel, blue pieces of scrip were county supervisors established a voting precinct in January
introduced as money; families began to drift away. Several of 1894 and belatedly organized a school district in April.
miles away, in the Castle Mountains, Hart boomed in With an estimated population of 400, Vanderbilt
early 1908, but the shipping point was established at Hitt, probably reached its peak in 1894. The business district
a siding and freight house on the Barnwell & Searchlight. contained three saloons (including one owned by Virgil
That September, a fire destroyed most of Barnwell’s busi- Earp), two barbers, a Chinese restaurant and two other
ness district, including the depot and the Brown-Gosney eating houses, two meat markets, a stationery and fruit
Company’s store. The company, which had moved its store, one lodging house, two blacksmiths, and three
headquarters to Searchlight, closed its store in Barnwell in well-stocked general stores. William McFarlane, one of the
February, 1910. Another fire followed in May. The pro- pioneers of Ivanpah, owned an interest in one of them,
duction at Searchlight fell to $23,000 in 1911. T. A. Brown in which he ran the post office, and owned a drugstore,
moved his family away in 1912. The railroad closed its which Dr. E. A. Tuttle managed.
agency in 1914; the post office was discontinued in April, Ten-stamp mills started up at the Gold Bronze and
1915; and the school district was abolished about 1918. All Boomerang mines in March of 1894. The mills used a
train service was discontinued in late 1923, and the rails design from Gilpin County, Colorado, where 1,850-pound
were torn up. stamps would laboriously drop from 25 to 30 times a
minute to crush the typically undecomposed granite of the
Vanderbilt Rocky Mountains. The owners, after all, owned proper-
During the 1890s, as the price of silver was allowed ties in Colorado and Utah. The typical mills in California,
to decline, gold became the preferred metal. In January, however, were designed to crush decomposed rock, using
1891, an Indian named Robert Black struck gold ore in 850-pound stamps, which rose and fell 60 times a minute.
the New York Mountains, about 40 miles north of Goffs (At Ibex Tank, 20 miles west of Needles, a well was sunk
on the Santa Fé Railway. An assay made at Providence and a 10-stamp mill started up in May, 1894. It had a
yielded considerable gold. To protect his interests, Black short-lived post office, named Klinefelter.)
brought in a trusted rancher, M. M. Beatty, the namesake As the mines were pushed deeper, accidents became
of the town near Death Valley, to file a claim. Two mining a problem. The first death occurred when a young miner
men from Providence, Richard C. Hall and Samuel King, was blown up by a powder explosion in the Boomerang,
then hurried in and located several veins, which became in May 1894. He was buried that afternoon. The next
the Gold Bronze Mine. Two other miners from Provi- month, a miner fell down a shaft in the Gold Bronze after
dence, Joseph P. Taggart and James H. Patton, joined his candle was blown out. All of the mines and businesses
Hall and King in June of 1891. The four men sank several closed during the afternoon of the funeral.
shafts and took out a few tons of rich gold and silver ore. The end of 1894, when about 100 men were working at
A camp soon arose at Vanderbilt Spring in a cove-like the mines, marked the end of the boom. The Gold Bronze
gully in the side of a hill. Within a short walk were copi- produced $47,000 during its first two years. Its shaft
ous springs and abundant piñons, which made excellent eventually reached 260 feet. The shaft of the Boomerang,
fuel. which reached nearly 500 feet, once employed 50 men.
— 35 —
ing company were especially hard hit.

It remained for three prospectors from
Goldfield—James Hart and the brothers
Bert and Clark Hitt—to recognize the
possibilities of a rhyolite formation that re-
sembled the gold-bearing outcrops of west-
ern Nevada. In the Castle Mountains, the
trio found pockets of rich ore and located
several abandoned claims in late Decem-
ber of 1907. Their claims became the Oro
Belle and Big Chief mines. Tipped off
by the discoverers, George A. Foster, a
young broker in Goldfield, snapped up a
group of claims and laid out a townsite in
a basin below the properties. He named
the site Hart. (A siding and freight house
on the Barnwell & Searchlight Railroad,
about four miles north, would soon be
The St. George group employed only 14 hands. named Hitt.)
Even then, shortages of water, parts, or ore forced the In early January of 1908, the district began to boom.
mills to shut down often. Finally, in May, 1895, one mill Two stores in nearby Searchlight opened branches in
was converted to the California-style batteries. Even so, Hart; telephone lines were strung to Barnwell; J. B. Flana-
the Gold Bronze company was placed in receivership in gan, the publisher of the Searchlight News, began issuing
June. Allen Campbell still employed a force at the St.
George group of mines, from which he laid a pipeline
to the Boomerang’s mill. But the line failed to provide
enough water.
All of the mining companies except the Boomerang
began to lease their properties to small, independent min-
ers, such as Frank Williams, a young man from Kansas.
The mill of the Gold Bronze lost so much gold—perhaps
as much as 20%—that Williams and other small-time miners
considered suing. Williams considered the operators of
the Klinefelter Mill “mere robbers,” who paid him just
enough to cover the costs of milling and freighting. When
Williams sent a load of ore to the Boomerang mill, it lost
at least $9 a ton in gold. Even after Allen Campbell man-
aged to obtain enough water to mill custom ore, his plant
remained in such poor condition that Williams barely
made a profit. Finally, in the summer of 1895, a milling
there brought Williams and his brother $600, enough to
pay off all his debts and enable him to visit his parents.
Signs of decline in the town had appeared early. One
merchant closed his store in July of 1894 and moved his
stock to Needles. Jordan suspended the Shaft a month
later. Several months later, another store closed, and Vir-
gil Earp sold out. The Nevada Southern, which had been
placed in receivership, stopped work on its grade to Van-
derbilt in 1895. Businesses continued to close throughout
the year. The school lost most of its students in 1898 and
the district was abolished. The post office was discontin-
ued in March, 1900.
Hart
The fall of 1907 was a poor time for mining. A short
but severe depression began in October. Banks and min-
The Oro Belle No. 1 in Hart.
— 36 —
over the validity of their claims. In response,

some of the leading citizens organized a Busi-
ness Men’s League, which limited the sale of
liquor and enforced police and fire regulations.
The league’s law-and-order committee discour-
aged gamblers, toughs, and wildcat promot-
ers from moving into the camp. Finally, the
San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors
organized a judicial district in early March and
appointed a justice of the peace and a consta-
ble. The supervisors then granted nine liquor
licenses, created a voting precinct, and, in early
April, approved an official townsite.
Milling, however, became a problem. In
May 1908, Hart, the Hitt brother, and Foster
shipped in a 10-stamp mill from Goldfield and
erected it near the Big Chief Mine. But the
heavy machinery shook apart the foundation,
which had been poorly laid. The mill had to
be modified and didn’t start up again until No-
vember. A Searchlight mill ended up process-
ing most of Hart’s best ore.
a small, four-page weekly, the Hart Enterprise (although he The leading mines, however, were better
waited several months before moving the plant); a town- developed. The Oro Belle, owned by James Foster and
site was surveyed; and a four-mile pipeline from Malapais the Hitt brothers, had a 1,000-foot tunnel and a 200-foot
Springs was completed. A post office opened in late April. shaft. The shaft at the Big Chief, owned by George Foster,
By July, Hart had an estimated population of 400. The extended several hundred feet. Several others, includ-
business district embraced two hotels (both of them two ing Harry S. McCallum, who headed the Business Men’s
stories), a rooming house, two general stores, one book- League, owned the Hart Consolidated. The mine owners,
store, a real-estate office, a candy store, two lumberyards, however, granted many leases that accounted for much of
a combination bakery and restaurant, and eight saloons. the production.
Among the utilities were the water line, the post office, A local of the Western Federation of Miners was or-
telephone and telegraph service, and stage and auto lines ganized in early 1908; by July, it numbered 44 members.
to Searchlight and Hitt. During the most productive years, laborers and surface
But Hart boomed too fast. Claim-jumping and swin- workers received $4 a day, underground workers $4.50,
dling had become common as early as January. In Febru- and carpenters $6—comfortable wages for the time.
ary, three men from Searchlight sued the Foster brothers The district began to decline in 1909; the veins at the
Big Chief and Oro Belle
remained narrow and broken.
In November, 1909, Flanagan
suspended the Enterprise.
Only 40 people remained
by early 1910. In January of
1911, a fire destroyed half of
the town—mostly vacant build-
ings. A month after the fire,
one merchant restocked and
moved his store into a vacant
building. Later that year, W.
B. Andrews, the manager of
the Oro Belle, tried to drill
a well, lay a water line, and
build a tube mill, which was
designed to recover 96% of
the gold and silver in the ore.
Andrews completed the pipe-
line, but nothing else materi-
— 37 —
alized. After intermittent production, both the Oro Belle that turned out 5,400 pounds of copper in 1907.
and Big Chief shut down in 1913, and the union local By June 1909, the camp had grown to 20 buildings, in-
was disbanded. A company in Tonopah, Nevada, worked cluding the store, a boardinghouse, a rooming house, and
the Oro Belle for a while, but that was the last hurrah. cabins. The main shaft had reached 317 feet and 17,000
The post office closed in December of 1915. Up to early gallons of water a day were flowing through the pipeline.
1919, the mill, three furnished saloons, hotels, restaurants, Cram also developed an “electro-chemical” system that,
laundry, the office of the Enterprise, and many houses still he said, could extract gold and copper from the ore. The
stood. equipment was housed in a 96x100-foot building.
In 1911, Cram kicked off his final promotional cam-
Vontrigger paign. The electrochemical plant, he claimed, was
Small-scale mining began in the Vontrigger Hills dur- leaching out copper ore “on a commercial scale.” A fully
ing the 1890s, but larger operations appeared after 1904. equipped roller mill with cyanide tanks started up about
One operator, the Pentagon Mining Company, founded a June. Cram visited Goldfield, Nevada several times to buy
camp about six miles north of Blake (Goffs); it comprised additional equipment. In fact, he produced 4,000 pounds
an assay office, bunkhouse, and shafthouse. Nine miles of copper that year. The operation probably shut down
north of Blake was the California Mine. Its owner was after 1911.
Albert H. Cram, a prominent mining-stock promoter in Meanwhile, a settlement arose two miles away at Von-
Riverside. trigger, a siding on the California Easter Railway. A post
Cram’s promotional activities were somewhat dubious, office was established there in May 1907. In late 1908,
but he carried out a great deal of development. Organiz- Vontrigger consisted of a water tank, a loading platform,
ing the California Gold & Copper Company, Cram sank and a combination store, post office, and restaurant. A
three deep shafts and installed modern equipment. By the monument made of copper ore greeted travelers. The post
summer of 1906, Cram had 25 men at work. In 1907, he office closed in October, 1913. All that remained in 1917
built a large camp, which contained a barn, a well-stocked was the side track.
store, and a reservoir, and laid a nine-mile pipeline to Another camp, also called Vontrigger, grew up at the
Hackberry Springs. By then, about 40 men were em- Getchell Mine, several miles to the west in the Hackberry
ployed. In October, Cram began work on a leaching plant Mountains. By May 1925, the camp contained a store,
Plat of Getchell in the Hackberry Mountains.
— 38 —
restaurant, cold-drink resort, and 30 tents, and others were pp. 53-54.
rising “every other day.” A 30-room hotel was reportedly Richard Lingenfelter described the problems of the
under construction. The work probably was suspended Ivanpah Consolidated in The Hardrock Miners: A History of
about then. the Mining Labor Movement in the American West, 1863–
1893 (Berkeley, 1974). D. F. Hewett studied the district
Bibliographical Essay in the 1920s: Geology and Mineral Resources of the Ivanpah
Introduction Quadrangle, California and Nevada (United States Geologi-
Larry Vredenburgh, Alan Patera, and Phil Serpico cal Survey, Professional Paper 275, 1956).
have provided important information. Several visitors described the camp at several stages of
Two books offer the most extensive coverage of mining its life: “Jottings by the Way En Route to Ivanpah, Clark
in the Mojave Desert: Larry Vredenburgh, Gary Shum- District,” San Bernardino Guardian, Sept. 30, 1871; Fred-
way, and Russell Hartill, Desert Fever: An Overview of erick Dellenbaugh, “Record of a Sketching Tour to N.
Mining in the California Desert (Canoga Park, 1981), and Arizona & S. Utah, 1875-1876,” (extract from diary in the
volume 2 of David Myrick’s Railroads of Nevada and East- Arizona Historical Society); William Vale, “Log of Trip to
ern California (Berkeley: Howell-North Books, 1963). Ivanpah & Resting Springs” (typescript copy in California
The material on the post offices appears in Walter N. Room, San Bernardino Public Library); Frank Williams,
Frickstad, A Century of California Post Offices, 1848 to autobiography (typescript, Special Collections Depart-
1955 (Oakland, 1955), and H. A. Salley, History of Cali- ment, University of Nevada, Las Vegas).
fornia Post Offices, 1849–1876 (La Mesa, Cal., 1977). The only references to Ivanpah’s newspaper appear in
The San Bernardino County of Supervisors created two articles by Karl Shutka, both of them in the Journal
and abolished voting precincts, court districts, and road of the West: “‘Humbug Bill’ Frazee and the ‘Green-Eyed
districts; granted liquor licenses; approved townsites; Monster,’” October, 1962 (v. 1), pp. 215–218, and “‘Hum-
appointed justices of the peace and constables; and held bug Bill’ Frazee: His ‘Canteen Fish’ and Other Tall Tales,”
elections and certified the results. Their actions appear in July, 1964 (v. 3), pp. 369–374. Frazee and his partner are
their minutes (also called records), which are available in listed as registered voters.
the county archives. The most important sources were the broken files of
The statistics on the school districts appear in the the Colton Semi-Tropic, 1877–1880, and the following
annual reports of the county superintendent of schools. newspapers in San Bernardino: the Guardian, 1870–1874;
Few counties kept them. I used the official copies in the Weekly Argus, 1876–77; Weekly Times, 1876, 1878–1879;
California State Archives in Sacramento. and Valley Index (also called the Weekly Index), 1876,
The most important periodicals were the Mining & 1880–1881. Two articles appeared in the Mining & Scien-
Scientific Press, published in San Francisco from 1860 to tific Press in 1887.
1922, and the Los Angeles Mining Review, of which bro- Information on the Copper World appears in The
ken files exist from 1901 to 1913. Copper Handbook . . . (Houghton, Michigan, 1903), com-
piled by Horace Stevens; and Lewis Aubury, The Copper
Ivanpah Resources of California (California State Mining Bureau,
This chapter is based on an article that I wrote: Bulletin 23, 1902), which was revised as Bulletin 50 (1908);
“Ivanpah—Pioneer Mojave Desert Town,” Heritage Tales and John Ervin Brinley, Jr.: “The Western Federation of
(City of San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society, Miners” (dissertation, University of Utah, 1972), listed the
Annual 7), 1984, pp. 36-58. local of the miners’ union. Some news appeared in the
Larry Vredenburgh wrote a 14-page account in Desert Redlands Citrograph, 1898–1899. The Needles Eye and
Fever: An Overview of Mining in the California Desert (Ca- Searchlight Bulletin, 1908, reported on the fire at Ivanpah
noga Park, 1981). station.
The Piute Company of California and Nevada (San
Francisco, 1870) is a promotional booklet that contains Mescal
several lithographs of the area. Also of interest is a short The Calico Print was the main source of news. Few
biography by Roman Malach, Adventurer John Moss . . . issues exist, but the Mining & Scientific Press reprinted its
(Kingman, 1977). articles, 1885–1887. D. F. Hewett visited the Mescal Mine
Several writers profiled the McFarlane brothers: Il- (then known as the Cambria) in the 1920s: Geology and
lustrated History of Southern California (Chicago, 1890); Mineral Resources of the Ivanpah Quadrangle, California
J. M. Guinn, A History of California . . . (Los Angeles, and Nevada (United States Geological Survey, Professional
1907); and Fred Holladay, Odyssey, March, 1979. (Odyssey Paper 275, 1956).
is the bulletin of the City of San Bernardino Historical and
Pioneer Society.) Providence
A member of George M. Wheeler’s survey visited the The most detailed study is Larry Vredenburgh, Gary
district: Annual Report Upon the Geographical Surveys West Shumway, and Russell Hartill, Desert Fever: An Overview of
Of The One Hundredth Meridian . . . (Washington, 1876), Mining in the California Desert (Canoga Park, 1981).
— 39 —
William B. Vickers and others profiled Wilson Wad- A brief history appears in Ronald Dean Miller, Mines
dingham and Thomas Ewing: History of the Arkansas of the Mojave (Glendale, 1976). L. Burr Belden wrote a
Valley, Colorado (Chicago, 1881). But they proved to be concise account, “Hart, Gold Camp On Nevada Line,
swindlers, as Stanley Dempsey and James E. Fell show: Folded in 1918,” San Bernardino Sun-Telegram, September
Mining the Summit, Colorado’s Ten Mile District, 1860– 30, 1956.
1960 (Norman, Oklahoma, 1986). Extensive coverage appeared in the Searchlight Bul-
The main source of news was the Calico Print, which letin, Los Angeles Mining Review, and Mining & Scientific
the Mining & Scientific Press quoted, 1882–1887. The Press, 1908–1913. The Mining Review also reprinted news
magazine also published the mint returns. from the Hart Enterprise, of which no files seem to exist.
The ruins remained in good condition when Aaron The Needles Eye carried occasional articles.
Dudley and Alvin Fickewirth visited: “Ghost Town of the Some details of the union local appear in John Ervin
Mojave,” Westways, November, 1941 (v. 33), pp. 22–23. Brinley, Jr., “The Western Federation of Miners” (disser-
tation, University of Utah, 1972), and the Western Fed-
Vanderbilt eration of Miners, Official Proceedings of the Seventeenth
L. Burr Belden wrote two accounts in the San Bernardi- Annual Convention (Denver, 1909).
no Sun-Telegram: “Vanderbilt Ranks High on List of Rich,
Wild Camps,” November 30, 1952, p. 20, and “It’s Gold: Vontrigger
We’re Rich as Vanderbilts!” January 19, 1964, p. B7. The main source is Larry Vredenburgh, Gary Shum-
Fred Holladay, with whom I worked closely, stressed way, and Russell Hartill, Desert Fever: An Overview of Min-
the social and cultural life of the district: “As Rich as Van- ing in the California Desert (Canoga Park, 1981).
derbilt,” Heritage Tales, City of San Bernardino Historical Two periodicals, the Redlands Citrograph, 1906–1908,
Society, Annual Publication 2, 1979, pp. 1–16. and the Los Angeles Mining Review, 1906–1911, reprinted
David Myrick also described the mining boom in his articles on the California Mine.
second volume of Railroads of Nevada and Eastern Cali-
fornia (Berkeley, 1963). Both he and Stanley Paher found
several stunning photos of the town: Ghost Towns and Min-
ing Camps of Nevada (Berkeley, 1970).
Frank Williams visited the camp in its tent stage: type-
written autobiography, Department of Special Collections,
University of Nevada, Las Vegas. O. J. Fisk told Philip
Johnston about his days there: “Treasures from Vander-
bilt,” Westways, June 1952, pp. 22–23.
When Nell Murbarger visited the townsite, several
buildings still stood, including Virgil Earp’s saloon: “Sleep-
ing Ghosts in the New York Mountains,” Desert Magazine,
October, 1957, pp. 24–28. Norton Allen contributed an
excellent map.
The main sources of news were the Needles Eye,
1891–1894; Saturday Review (San Bernardino), 1895–1896;
Pioche (Nevada) Record, especially for 1893; and Mining
& Scientific Press, 1893–1896. The Mining & Scientific
Press also reprinted news from the Vanderbilt Shaft, of
which no issues exist.
Manvel
David Myrick described Manvel’s rise and decline
in Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California (Berkeley,
1963), volume 2; his maps are excellent. Stanley Paher,
Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of Nevada (Berkeley,
1970), concentrated on the pictorial history.
Edgar A. Brown, the son of a merchant, recalled his
boyhood there: “The Manvel I Knew,” Westways, Octo-
ber, 1956, pp. 22–23.
The main sources of news were the Pioche (Nevada)
Record, 1893, and the Searchlight Bulletin and Needles
Eye, 1902–1911.
Hart
— 40 —
Railroads around Mojave National

Preserve
Gordon Chappell, Regional Historian, Pacific West Region, National Park Service. Gordon_S_Chappell@nps.gov
No one knows when civilization began, but sometime follow. The railroad is still with us today and construction
around fifteen or twenty or thirty thousand years ago by the Union Pacific of a second main train across Mojave
mankind first discovered he didn’t have to live in caves, National Preserve is a measure of just how much it is still
but could build his own at whatever site he preferred with us today.
using rocks and mud and logs and twigs and other build- On May 10, 1869 at Promontory Summit (or Promon-
ing material, the beginning of architecture. At some time tory Station) Utah, two railroads met to complete the first
chasing wild cattle for food he found he could drive them transcontinental railroad. Beginning at Omaha, Nebraska,
into a box canyon and keep them there, handy to be where it connected with river borne transportation which
slaughtered as needed, without running around hunting via the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers connected with
for them in the wild, the beginning of ranching or animal oceanic transportation through the Gulf of Mexico and
husbandry. After hunting wild edible vegetables and fruits, across the Atlantic Ocean, the Union Pacific had built
he found that tossing their remains on a trash heap led westward, and beginning at Sacramento, California,
to germination of seeds close at hand, and he learned he where it connected with river borne transportation on the
could grow what he wanted close to where he lived in- Sacramento River which connected in San Francisco Bay
stead of having to hunt wild plants in the wild - the begin- with oceanic transportation across the Pacific Ocean, the
ning of agriculture. At some point he discovered he could Central Pacific Railroad built eastward, and when their lo-
ride a wild horse instead of just killing it for food, and you comotives touched, pilot to pilot, on May 10, 1869, above
had the beginning of horse-borne transportation. golden and silver spikes which secured the last rails, the
From that point fifteen or twenty or thirty thousand first transcontinental railroad in North America was in
years ago until less than two hundred years ago, the fast- business.
est a man could move on land was as fast as a horse he
was riding could run. And then, with the beginning of The Southern Pacific and later Santa Fe
the industrial revolution, and the invention of the steam transcontinental route
engine, and the application of that engine to a locomo- It is a common urge when business entrepreneurs
tive that rode on wheels that ran on metal rails, you had make a pile of money off of some investment that want
the invention of the railroad in the 1820s and within eight to replicate that feat by doing the same thing or a similar
decades, by the end of the 19th Century, man’s speed on thing again, and so the builders of the first transcontinental
land increased from the speed of a running horse to the railroad immediately upon its completion began looking
speed of a railroad locomotive moving at about a hundred for places they could make another pile of money by
miles and hour. building a railroad. Relevant here, the “Big Four” of Cali-
The invention of the railroad represented a revolution fornia capitalism who had built the Central Pacific, Collis
in transportation unlike any that had occurred in all hu- P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Governor Leland Stanford,
man history since the harnessing of the horse to carry man and Charles Crocker began looking north and south for
and pull his wagons. Furthermore, the railroad is the most arenas in which they could replicate their success with the
efficient system for moving passengers and freight over Central Pacific, and almost immediately they incorporated
land that has been invented to this day in terms of energy new companies and undertook construction both north
expended. The amount of a steel wheel that encounters and south of Sacramento. To the south, they extended
a steel rail on a railroad car is about the size of a dime, rails first to San Francisco Bay, and then incorporated the
and the amount of resistance of steel on steel as compared Southern Pacific Railroad to try to replicate their Central
with the much larger interface of rubber tires on dirt or Pacific success by building a southern transcontinental rail-
asphalt or concrete roads is infinitesimally smaller. That is road. From San Francisco Bay their construction headed
why the railroad network in the United States remains a southward on two lines, one down the east shore of the
key foundation block of the nation’s infrastructure. Imag- San Francisco Peninsula and then southward generally
ine if you will, all of the freight and passengers carried paralleling the coast to Santa Barbara and Los Angeles,
on trains (with passengers, especially commuter trains in and a second line down the central valley and over dif-
urban settings) being all transferred to trucks, buses and ficult Tehachapi Pass to Mohave, which their construction
automobiles, and the congestion unto gridlock that would crews reached in 1878. From there they resumed con-
— 41 —
Figure 1. San Pedro, Los

Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad
4-6-2 Locomotive No. 3414
with a Vanderbilt tender pulls
out with a passenger train
which will cross the lands now
in Mojave National Preserve,
early in the history of the
railroad. The train may be the
crack “Los Angeles Limited.”
struction southeastward via

Waterman (later renamed
Barstow) and Daggett to the
Colorado River at Needles
in 1882, and in so doing
they built the railroad line
which today flanks the
southern boundary of Mo-
line, especially the part between Needles and Barstow, the
jave National Preserve between Fenner and a point about
Santa Fe System achieved ownership of a transcontinental
4.5 miles east of Goffs.
railroad from Chicago to the Pacific Coast eventually at
But in transcontinental railroad strategy, while the
Los Angeles and through trackage rights at San Francisco.
Southern Pacific’s principal effort towards building a
Thus the trackage which runs between Barstow and
southern transcontinental railroad through Texas and
Needles south of Mojave National Preserve and, whose
Louisiana to the Mississippi and the Gulf followed a differ-
right-of-way from Fenner to a point east of Goffs actually
ent route eastward from Los Angeles to Yuma, this South-
forms the southern boundary of Mojave National Pre-
ern Pacific line from Mojave to Needles was built at least
serve, started out as a part of the Southern Pacific Rail-
in part as an attempt to block a competitor, the Atlantic
road, but soon became trackage of the Atlantic & Pacific
& Pacific Railroad, Western Division, a part of the Santa
Railroad, Western Division, a part of the system owned by
Fe System, which was even then building westward from
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. It was oper-
near Albuquerque, New Mexico Territory, across north-
ated initially with the typical 4-4-0 American Standard,
ern Arizona Territory, establishing towns such as Winslow,
2-6-0 Mogul and 2-8-0 Consolidation-type locomotives
Flagstaff and Williams en route, toward the Needles from
which most American railroads used in the 1880s, but in
the east. When the A.& P. in fact reached Needles in 1883
the search for new motive power, larger and ever large
and bridged the Colorado in 1884, it faced a competitor
locomotives would be added. Among the first were a
already there—the Big Four’s Southern Pacific. However,
number of 4-8-0 types, not a common wheel arrangement,
the Santa Fe crowd was not without its own leverage, and
but when first put in service they had so many more
threatening to parallel the Southern Pacific all the way
wheels than their predecessors that A.& P. railroad men in
to San Francisco and by other means heading for Cajon
the desert between Needles and Barstow and Cajon and
Pass and Los Angeles, the Santa Fe forced the Southern
Tehachapi Passes nicknamed them “tarantulas” after the
Pacific to work out an agreement acceptable to both
many-legged spider seen often in those regions.
parties which among other things involved selling the
In the decade which encompassed the Silver Crash
Needles-Mojave line to the Santa Fe System, specifically
of 1893, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad went
to the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, Western Division, and
into bankruptcy and when reorganized was renamed the
acquiring trackage rights over the Southern Pacific over
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, and its subsidiary
Tehachapi Pass all the way to San Francisco so that the
Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, Western Division, followed it
Santa Fe System would be able to offer through passenger
into bankruptcy, was reorganized, and emerged renamed
traffic on that route, although in time the Santa Fe built
Santa Fe Pacific Railroad, which operated from the late
and acquired its own line up through the Central Valley
1890s until 1902, at which time it was absorbed into the
and around via Martinez to Richmond and Oakland on
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway as a part of the
San Francisco Bay, with ferryboats across the Bay into
“Coast Lines” of that company, headquartered in Los An-
San Francisco itself. In taking over this Southern Pacific
geles. The railroad continued under that name until 1996
— 42 —
when through a merger with the Burlington Northern (it- plans of extension, and even a survey to Goodsprings, but
self a merger of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Great nothing came of it. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe pur-
Northern, and Northern Pacific railroads), it became the chased the remaining 51 per cent of stock in the California
Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway, a name changed Eastern and took it over effective July 1, 1902, making
further early in 2005 when the company dropped the it, in effect, a Santa Fe branch line. Today, portions of
name in favor of being known officially just by the initials, the grade across the New York Mountains are used by
BN&SF Railway. Thus the trackage between Fenner and the unpaved road, while the two legs of the wye north
a point east of Goffs, which also runs along parallel to the of Barnwell and the section of grade approaching and
southern boundary of Mojave National Preserve although passing through Vanderbilt is more-or-less preserved. In
some distance to the south of it west of Fenner, has been 1905, Senator Clark’s San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake
known by six different names under six different compa- Railroad crossed the California Eastern north of Vander-
nies: Southern Pacific; Atlantic & Pacific, Western Divi- bilt at a place initially named Leastalk, which eventually
sion; Santa Fe Pacific Railroad; Atchison, Topeka & Santa became the third location called Ivanpah, and sucked
Fe Railway; Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway; and much traffic away from the California Eastern, while
finally, BN&SF Railway. subsequent construction of two north-south railroads, the
During its long history this line carried not only an Las Vegas & Tonopah reaching north from Las Vegas and
impressive amount of transcontinental freight traffic, but the Tonopah & Tidewater reaching north from Ludlow
operated a long list of famous passenger trains, starting more-or-less killed the California Eastern’s hopes of ever
with the California Limited and the Santa Fe De expanding northward to additional mining districts. The
Luxe and in later years adding The Grand Canyon California Eastern continued to provide weekly train ser-
Limited, El Capitan, The Chief, and The Super vice across the New York Mountains between Goffs and
Chief which, under Amtrak’s operation of passenger the second Ivanpah until 1913, after which the track north
trains since 1971, continues today as an Amtrak train of Leastalk ceased to be used. Train service continued
known as The Southwest Limited. from Goffs to Leastalk, or South Ivanpah as it now was
called, until 1918, and then for three years was available
Three Santa Fe subsidiaries not on schedule but only when traffic was offered, and
What began as one morphed into three railways north effective March 10, 1921, the entire line north of Barnwell
from Goffs which all became wholly-owned subsidiaries was abandoned and subsequently dismantled.
of the Santa Fe System. The first of these was the Nevada The southern portion of the line between Goffs and
Southern Railway, the grade of whose abandoned track Barnwell had won a reprieve, however, for in 1906 and
north of the Santa Fe is intact and evident today, and a 1907 the Santa Fe built a subsidiary 23.22-mile Barnwell
historic earthwork structure, running north through the and Searchlight Railway, separately incorporated, spurred
Lanfair Valley, first on the west side of the dirt road, by efforts of promoters in the mining camp of Searchlight
later crossing over to the east side, up to a station called to built their own railway connection to the Salt Lake
Manvel where the Rock Springs Land and Cattle Com- Route at Nipton. The Santa Fe was determined to nip that
pany had established its home ranch headquarters. Begun scheme in the bud. The railway was completed March
in January 1893 by a group headed by Isaac C. Blake 31, 1907 and went into operation on April 1, no fooling!
of the Needles Reduction Company, it was intended to Initially the railway provided daily except Sunday service,
reach mines in the New York Mountains and beyond. and it took 2 1/2 hours to travel from Goffs to Searchlight
This railroad was completed to Manvel in July 1893, and by rail. Unfortunately the years in which the railway was
stalled there. There were grandiose plans to extend it all built were the years in which Searchlight boomed as a
the way to Pioche, but the mines were declining and the mining camp, after which it declined, no doubt helped by
railroad went into bankruptcy in 1894, the year after it had a sharp little recession in the fall in 1907 from which many
been built. mining enterprises in the American West failed to recover.
Others then refinanced and reorganized the railroad By 1919, trains ran to Searchlight only on Mondays and
in 1895 and renamed it the California Eastern Railway. Fridays. Cloudbursts washed out the line in numerous
As the 19th Century came to an end, the Copper World places on September 23, 1923, halting all traffic, the Santa
Mine of the Ivanpah Copper Company began produc- Fe looked at the balance sheet, and applied to the Inter-
ing, and this plus a new smelter in Needles rejuvenated state Commerce Commission for permission to abandon
the railroad, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway the line. The I.C.C. granted approval on February 18,
loaned it money, and in April 1901, the California Eastern 1924, and the history of the three little lines north of Goffs,
resumed construction over the New York Mountains from the Nevada Southern, California Eastern, and Barnwell
Manvel, renamed Barnwell, through Vanderbilt and out & Searchlight Railways, all eventually branches of the
into the Ivanpah Valley and north to a terminus more or Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, came to an end.
less in the middle of that valley which became the second These three railroads had operated right through the heart
location named Ivanpah, 15 miles south of the original of Mojave National Preserve.
Ivanpah on Clark Mountain. Again there were grandiose
— 43 —
The Salt Lake Route Line Railroad) grade and track to Clark in exchange for
Another railroad destined to operated through the 50 per cent of the stock in Clark’s San Pedro, Los Angeles
heart of what now is Mojave National Preserve, from & Salt Lake Railroad. Thereafter, construction continued
northeast to southwest, would operate under three differ- eastward from Los Angeles and westward from Utah, to
ent names: San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad a joining of the rails at an empty piece of Nevada desert
from its completion in 1905 until 1916; Los Angeles & roughly 27 miles west of Las Vegas on the afternoon of
Salt Lake Railroad from 1916 to 1988; and overlapping January 30, 1905.
with that second name, Union Pacific Railroad from the As was typical of railroads at the beginning of the 20th
1920s to the present. The idea of a railroad connecting Century, the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad
Salt Lake City with southern California probably went established side tracks or passing tracks often accompa-
back practically to completion of the first transcontinental nied by a section house and bunk house for the mainte-
railroad at Promontory Station in May 1969, which was nance crews known as section gangs about every ten or
followed by construction of the Utah Central from Ogden fifteen miles along the railroad, some of these with water
on the Union Pacific to Salt Lake City, making the capitol tanks to provide locomotives with boiler water, occasion-
of Utah Territory a railroad town, and the Union Pacific ally a wye track, and so forth. The railroad established
would soon take over the Mormon-built Utah Central. a number of these across what now is Mojave National
The first concrete evidence of Union Pacific intentions Preserve, the most important being a “helper station” at
consisted of the Union Pacific interests pushing construc- a place called Kelso, which would be a base for “helper”
tion of a subsidiary Utah Southern southwest from Salt locomotives which would be coupled on the front of
Lake City to Milford, Utah. Union Pacific interests then eastbound trains to “help” them climb the grade to the
played with the idea of an extension southwestward summit at Cima, after which the helper locomotives would
across Utah and Nevada to a connection with the South- be uncoupled, turned on the wye track at Cima, and run
ern Pacific at Mohave, but the Union Pacific entered an back “light” or without train to Kelso to await their next
era of financial difficulty and reorganization in the 1880s helper assignment. As a helper station, Kelso required an
and 1890s, though during 1888 Union Pacific surveyors engine house and eventually its replacement with a larger
worked on a line from Milford to Barstow with the inten- roundhouse, and crews of mechanics and others to help
tion of reaching Los Angeles. In 1890 the Union Pacific keeping the railroad running, as well as a restaurant or
actually built about 145 miles of grade from Milford to eating house and some accommodations for train crews
Pioche, but after laying a mere eight miles of track on it, staying overnight between runs. Thus Kelso, in the middle
construction stalled. Then the faltering Union Pacific went of the Mojave Desert at a location where the railroad had
into bankruptcy in the silver crash of 1893 and was not acquired springs and wells to serve as reliable sources for
reorganized and rejuvenated under the direction of Ed- boiler water for locomotives, became a railroad company
ward Henry Harriman until 1898. Meanwhile the railroad town, with company housing and other such facilities.
picture became greatly complicated, more a part of Utah’s The first through passenger train on the new railroad
history than that of Mojave National Preserve, and while started out from Salt Lake City for Los Angeles on Febru-
the Union Pacific was stalled, in 1900 a copper magnate ary 9, 1905, carrying, among others, Senator Clark. The
from Butte, Montana, named William Andrews Clark, Salt Lake Route was equipped with a stable of modern
who was also a United States Senator, entered the com- standard gauge steam locomotives, most equipped with
petition initiating a two year contest between Clark and partly cylindrical Vanderbilt tenders, and the latest of
Harriman. In a brilliant move, Clark bought the Los An- passenger cars. It soon had a premiere train, The Los
geles Terminal Railway, which gave him a railroad route Angeles Limited, which would remain the most presti-
through and base in Los Angeles, and initiated surveys for gious, Pullman-sleeping-car-equipped train on the railroad.
a railroad to Salt Lake. Covertly he had also bought the Whereas most of the line’s passenger trains stopped for
assets of a corporation that had never built any railroad, the passengers to have meals at stations such as Kelso, Las
the Utah and California Railroad, which however had Vegas, Caliente, and Milford, The Los Angeles Lim-
rights to a surveyed route from Salt Lake City across Utah ited had its own dining car and did not need to make
to the Nevada state border. In one brief coup, Clark had meal stops. It was not until the mid-1930s brought new
the two ends of his Salt Lake to Los Angeles Railroad; technology of locomotives powered by Winton and later
now he had to acquire rights across Nevada and the rest diesel-electric engines pulling new “lightweight” stream-
of California, and build a railroad between Salt Lake City lined passenger cars that a still newer train, the Armour
and Los Angeles using those rights. What followed was an yellow City of Los Angeles eclipsed the Limited as
incredibly complex contest between Clark and Harriman the principal train on the line.
involving lawyers, courts, legislatures, newspapers, compet- The railroad remained the San Pedro, Los Angeles &
ing grading crews, and every weapon either magnate Salt Lake Railroad until 1916 when management of the
could bring to bear, the result of which was a secret com- line decided to shorten the name, dropping the words
promise on July 9, 1902, in which Harriman agreed to sell “San Pedro” to make it simply the “Los Angeles & Salt
portions of Union Pacific-owned (technically Oregon Short Lake Railroad.” Five years later, in 1921, the company
— 44 —
persuaded Senator Clark to sell his 50 per cent interest with Fred Harvey envy, should decide to build at Milford,
in the line, and the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad be- Utah, Caliente and Las Vegas, Nevada, and Kelso and
came a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Union Pacific Rail- Daggett, California, attractive new depot-eating-house-
road. Unlike most such instances, when the Union Pacific hotel combinations all in the California mission revival
dissolved and absorbed the property of a subsidiary into style, emulating the style of some of the Harvey Houses
its own corporate structure, in the case of the Los Angeles such as the Alvarado in Albuquerque. And thus it was in
& Salt Lake Railroad, the Union Pacific retained it as a 1923 and 1924 that Kelso, California acquired a spiffy new
separate company until 1988, when it was finally dissolved depot, eating house and hostelry which the National Park
and absorbed into the Union Pacific Railroad. Until that Service now owns and has just finished restoring as a visi-
time it was common for locomotives owned by the L.A.& tor center for Mojave National Preserve.
S.L. to carry the name “UNION PACIFIC” in large letters The Union Pacific continued operating passenger trains
but to have elsewhere on cabs or tenders or both of steam through Kelso until 1971, when the Federally chartered
locomotives the initials “L.A.& S.L.” National Railroad Passenger Corporation, better known as
Commonly called the Salt Lake Route, the line Amtrak, took over most of the national’s passenger trains.
featured a number of fairly ordinary depots and eating On the Salt Lake Route, Amtrak operated a through
houses, many of them wood frame, until the early 1920s streamlined passenger train known as the Desert Wind
when Union Pacific management caught a contagious between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles until May 10,
disease that might be termed either “Santa Fe Envy” or 1997, when it was discontinued, and earlier operated a
“Fred Harvey Envy.” The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe “Las Vegas Fun Train” between Los Angeles and Las
System had worked out with an entrepreneur named Fred Vegas, Nevada. Since the discontinuance of the Desert
Harvey in the 1870s an agreement under which Harvey Wind. the Salt Lake Route has experienced no passenger
took over and managed railroad depot eating houses traffic across its line. Only freight trans now pass across
and depot hotels. Harvey had very definite ideas about Mojave National Preserve, but freight traffic has grown
how such establishments should be operated, hired first to such proportions that the Union Pacific is preparing to
rate chefs, obtained the highest quality of fresh meat, convert the main line across Mojave from single track to
poultry and produce, installed the finest of linen and double track. Meanwhile, the Salt Lake Route from its
china, and employed energetic young women uniformed completion in 1905 to the present, connecting with the
in black dresses with white aprons as waitresses, this in Union Pacific at Salt Lake City and Ogden, has offered
an era where railroad eating houses were notorious for that company another transcontinental railroad connection
their awful coffee, their stale sandwiches with desiccated as well as access to the markets of southern California, so
bread, rancid meat, and rubberized cheese, greasy China with its operation Mojave National Preserve had not only
and implements, and dirty employees. After the Santa Fe one transcontinental railroad along part of its southern
bankruptcy in the 1890s and its reorganization, under a boundary, but another right across its heart!
new president named Edward Payson Ripley the company
began hiring first rate architects to build attractive perma- The Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad
nent depot hotels, depots and eating houses in Spanish Another desert railroad flanked the western boundary
mission revival, English Tudor half-timbered, Moorish and of Mojave National Preserve and cut across a part of its
neo-classical Palladian designs. This was the competition northwest corner. That was the Tonopah & Tidewater
the Union Pacific faced after the end of World War I, and Railroad, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Pacific Coast
west of Mojave National Preserve at Barstow the Santa Fe Borax Company, which from 1905 to 1907 built a stan-
and Fred Harvey had their Moorish-style depot hotel and dard gauge railroad between Ludlow on the Santa Fe
restaurant known as Casa de Desierto, or “house of the main line to Death Valley Junction and Beatty, where it
desert,” and east of Mojave National Preserve at Needles connected with the Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad which in
the railway had its neo-classical, Palladian Harvey House turn connected with the Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad
and restaurant known as “El Garces” after a Spanish and provided a through railroad link which via the South-
padre of that name, both impressive pieces of architec- ern Pacific ran all the way up into western Nevada east of
ture. Worse, west of Daggett through Barstow and over Reno, not that through traffic ever characterized that line
Cajon Pass to San Bernardino, the Union Pacific shared because of its fractured ownership.
joint trackage with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, so The Tonopah & Tidewater grew out of an instance
that westbound travelers on Union Pacific trains who had in which Senator W.A. Clark misled and then double-
been fed at little board and batten eating houses across crossed Francis Marion Smith of the Pacific Coast Borax
Utah, Nevada and at Kelso, now passed by the elegant Company and the international conglomerate known as
depot restaurants and hotels the Santa Fe had to offer its Borax Consolidated headquartered in London. By 1905,
passengers. Eastbound, after passing such structures, they Smith and Pacific Coast Borax were running out of borate
were then faced with the Salt Lake Route’s rough facilities ore which they were mining about eleven miles north of
from Daggett to Salt Lake City. So it should not be sur- Daggett on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, to which
prising that by the early 1920s the Union Pacific, infected they had built a narrow gauge ore railroad known as the
— 45 —
Figure 2. Tonopah & Tidewater

Railroad 2-8-0 Locomotive No.
6 takes a construction train up
to the end of track in 1906 or
1907, having north of Soda
Springs crossed the northwest
corner of lands now in Mojave
National Preserve. Note the
carloads of rail. Probably a
Frank Green photo [he was
a fireman on the railroad],
collection of Mallory Hope
Ferrell.
Borate & Daggett. Smith’s

next closest holdings were
borate mines on the west
side of the Amargosa
Valley in the Greenwater
Mountains east of Death
Valley at the Lila C. Mine
he had bought from Wil- through the Amargosa Canyon, to Death Valley Junc-
liam Tell Coleman in 1890. Smith needed a railroad to tion, with a branch from there down to the Lila C. Mine,
haul that ore, but the management of Borax Consolidated and on from Death Valley Junction through Rhyolite up
did not want to build one. As a substitute, Smith pro- to Beatty, where it connected with the Bullfrog-Goldfield
posed building a wagon road from the upper end of the Railroad to Goldfield and the Tonopah & Goldfield to
California Eastern at the second Ivanpah reaching all the Tonopah. True to his word, he gave the Las Vegas &
way north over State Line Pass to the Lila C. Mine, and Tonopah no traffic at all, and when the U.S. Railroad
he proceeded to build just such a road. He proposed to Administration took over the nation’s railroads during
use on it an experimental form of electric drive traction World War I, it decided the traffic-poor Las Vegas &
wagons powered by diesel motors, but after he built his Tonopah was superfluous and dismantled it, leaving the
road, the electric drive tractors never got off the drawing Tonopah & Tidewater to carry the borate ores from the
board, and when he converted the steam tractor he had Lila C. Mine and after 1914 from the Played Out, the
used north of Daggett before building the Borate & Dag- Upper Biddy McCarty, the Lower Biddy McCarty, and
gett Railroad from coal to oil fuel, on its first trip north Grandview, the Lizzie V. Oakley, and the Widow Mines.
from Ivanpah II it blew a flue on State Line Pass and had The Tonopah & Tidewater continued to prosper carrying
to be towed by mules back to the railhead. borate ores for the Pacific Coast Borax Company until
Next, Smith proposed building a railroad north from 1927, at which time that company opened the richest of
Senator Clark’s then-under-construction Salt Lake Route all California borate mines a stone’s throw from the Santa
at Las Vegas to the Lila C. Mine, and Clark encour- Fe main line east of Kramer near a station called Boron.
aged him, but after Smith had built a number of miles Borate mining moved there in 1927, where it continues
of standard gauge railroad grade north out of Las Vegas, to this day, leaving the Tonopah & Tidewater without a
and was ready to build track, when he sought a switch meaningful quantity of freight traffic. Pacific Coast Borax
and track connection with the Salt Lake Route at Las then developed a tourist business in Death Valley to give
Vegas, Clark double-crossed him and refused to let him the T.& T. passenger and some freight traffic, converting
make the connection, because Clark had decided to build its offices at Death Valley Junction into the Amargosa
his OWN railroad north from Las Vegas to the Lila C. Hotel, its dormitories at the mining camp of Ryan into the
Mine, to Beatty, to Rhyolite, and a connection with the Death Valley View Hotel, building a new Furnace Creek
railroads at Tonopah and Goldfield. In a rage beyond the Inn in Death Valley, and converting Greenland Ranch
powers of written description, Smith vowed never to give which had supplied alfalfa to the mule teams into Furnace
Clark’s Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad a car load of Creek Ranch with a golf course for tourists. That might
ore, backtracked to Ludlow on the Santa Fe, and began have saved the Tonopah & Tidewater had not the Great
construction of his own Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad all Depression begun in the fall of 1929. The Tonopah &
the way north from Ludlow, crossing the Salt Lake Route Tidewater suffered a slow death throughout the 1930s, and
at a point called Crucero, then passing across a portion of was finally dismantled for scrap for the war effort in 1942
Soda Dry Lake, through Baker, across Silver Dry Lake, up after the beginning of World War II.
— 46 —
Figure 3. Burlington Northern &

Santa Fe Railway Locomotive
No. 718, still carrying the red,
yellow and silver color scheme
of the former Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe Railway, heads a
westbound freight between
Goffs and Fenner, California,
along the southern border of
Mojave National Preserve on
February 17, 2000. Photo by
Gordon Chappell
a mile and a half long”

which it said extended out
onto the lakebed. What sort
of motive power this little
railroad used is unknown,
although it seems likely to
have been a four-wheeled
gasoline locomotive. The article in the mining journal is
The smallest railways not the only evidence of the little railroad, for a mile and
Completion of the Tonopah & Tidewater in 1907 led a half long grade, much of it still carrying little wooden
to construction of two tiny little railways connected with ties, still lies on the lake today, and measuring the holes
its line. These were both at Soda Station, which is to say for spikes in the ties suggests that it had a gauge of 30
Soda Springs, on the west shore of Soda Lake
south of Baker, California. The Tonopah &
Tidewater skirted the eastern shore of Soda
Lake from the south, and just north of Soda
Springs, cut across a portion of the normally
dry, white lakebed to Baker Station. Soda
Lake, of course, was a dry lake topped with
white chemical salts, and with railroad trans-
portation at hand, two groups of entrepreneurs
decided to try to make a business of trying
to harvest, purify and sell those chemical
salts from the vicinity of Soda Springs. Thus
it came to pass that by May 1907 the Pacific
Coast Soda Company was building sheds
and other structures at the south end of Soda
Lake, and in October 1907 Russ Avery sold
his 22 soda claims southeast of Soda Springs
to the company. The Los Angeles Mining
Review of August 8, 1908, carried an article
describing the plant the company had built
just south of Soda Springs and was in the pro-
cess of enlarging, and the “narrow gauge track
Figure 4. Southeast of Zyzzx out on the salt pan

of Soda Lake, abandoned ties and grade mark the
route of the 30 inch narrow gauge railway which
extended a mile and a half out onto the lakebed and
brought chemical salts to the refining plant of the
Pacific Coast Soda Company at the south end of
Soda Springs about 1907. Photo by Gordon Chappell
— 47 —
inches between the rails. ers. Omaha: Kratville Publications, 1974.

Marshall, James. Santa Fe; The Railroad that Built an Empire. New York:
A few years later, around 1911, the Pacific Salt and
Random House, 1945.
Soda Company built a plant north of Soda Springs, to Myrick, David F. Railroads of Nevada and Castern California. Vol. II, The
process the chemical salts, and it reportedly had a little Southern Roads. Berkeley: Howell-North Books, 1963.
railroad which, although it did not extend out onto the “Natural Soda; Plant and Operations of the Pacific Coast Soda Company
in the Sink of the Mohave River,” American Mining Review, Aug. 5,
lake surface, did serve the plant itself. Measuring again
1908.
spike holes in a surviving tie, this plant apparently had a Signor, John R. The Los Angeles And Salt Lake Railroad Company; Union
railroad or tramway with a track gauge of 36 inches. Pacific’s Historic Salt Lake Route. San Marino: Golden West Books,
There is little information regarding either of these 1988.
Waters, L. L. Steel Trails to Santa Fe. Lawrence: University of Kansas
companies with respect to how long they survived or
Press, 1950.
whether they made any money from their salt-processing Wilson, Neill C., and Taylor, Frank J. Southern Pacific; The Roaring Story
plants, but from the remains today, both seem to have of a Fighting Railroad. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.,
invested a fair amount of money in building such plants. 1952.
Wood, Sylvan R. “The Locomotives of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
Railway System,” Bulletin No. 75, 1949, The Railway and Locomo-
Rails around Mojave National Preserve tive Historical Society.
Thus historically Mojave National Preserved had Worley, E.D. Iron Horses of the Santa Fe Trail. Dallas: National Railway
Historical Society, 1965.
railroads along its southern and western edges and pen-
_________________
etrating its very heart. Two of them were components of
transcontinental railroad systems, one operating under Archives and Library of the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural As-
six different names in its history, the other under three, sociation, Goffs, California, courtesy Dennis Casebier
Archives and Library of the Mojave River Valley Museum, Barstow,
and both of those continue to operate today. Three were
California
essentially branch lines of one of the transcontinental
systems, although the first two of those had began as sepa-
rately inspired short lines. Another was a short line rail-
road wholly owned by a mining company that lasted for
a quarter of a century. And two were little tiny industrial
railways, easily overlooked in the shadow of greater enter-
prises. Altogether, the lands now within Mojave National
Preserve played a role in the history of more railroads
than those of any other unit of the National Park System,
and with a double-tracked main line across the center of
the Preserve and a former railroad depot, eating house
and employees’ hotel as its principal visitor center, Mojave
National Preserve and the history of American railroading
are inextricably linked together.
Bibliography
Bradley, Glenn Danford. The Story of The Santa Fe. Boston: Richard G.
Badger, The Gorham Press, 1920. [A recent second edition of this
book is preferred, as it has reinserted several chapters from the origi-
nal manuscript that were excised from the first edition to save space.]
Bryant, Keith L, Jr. History of The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway.
New York: The Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc., 1974.
Chappell, Gordon, Carper, Robert, et. al., An Oasis for Railroaders in the
Mojave; The History and Architecture of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake
Railroad Depot, Restaurant and Employees’ HotelaAt Kelso, California,
on the Union Pacific System. Denver: National Park Service, 1998. [A
Historic Structures Report].
Duffield-Stoll, Anne Q. Zyzzx; History of an Oasis. Northridge: Santa
Susana Press, 19??.
Dunscomb, Guy L. A Century of Southern Pacific Locomotives, 1862-1962.
Modesto: published by the author, 1963.
Hemphill, Mark W. Union Pacific Salt Lake Route. Erin [Ontario,
Canada]:The Boston Mills Press, 1995.
Keeling, Patricia Jernigan (Editor). Once Upon a Desert. Barstow: Mojave
River Valley Museum Association, 1976.
Klein, Maury, Union Pacific; Birth of a Railroad, 1862-1893. Garden
City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1987.
___, Union Pacific; The Rebirth, 1894-1969. Garden City: Doubleday &
Company, Inc., 1989.
Kratville, William W., and Ranks, Harold E. The Union Pacific Streamlin-
— 48 —
The Mint at the Mescal Mine

An article in the Los Angeles Sunday Times, December 8, 1895,
by John E. Bennett, U.S. Secret Service Bureau
The Mescal mine lay on the east fifty miles around were astonished one a foundry and machine shop which
slope of one of the largest mountains day to learn that the Mescal was going he conducted in Denver. There was
in the Mescal range...A tunnel opened to start up again. a small refining plant added to the
in the side of the mountain about half “What was the reason?” this was smelter, and a considerable portion
way between its base and summit, ran the inquiry on every one’s lips. The of the machinery was, oddly enough,
in three hundred feet and crosscut an mine, it was rumored, had been sold, taken into the tunnel; after the shaft
almost perpendicular vein of silver bought by a man named Davis, of had been sunk some distance, it was
ore of about eight feet in thickness. Denver. He had examined the proper- put down the shaft.
The ore had been stoped down from ty carefully and had a great confidence While this latter machinery was
the top for some distance and a wide in it; believed the grade of ore would being put in, several miners applied
chamber had thus been made about run higher as it got deeper, and he was at the mine for work; they were told
the interior locality of the “pay.” going to sink on the vein at the end of that no one was needed, that the price
This was the condition in which the tunnel. of silver was so low that it was neces-
the mine was left in 1889 when the Strangely enough, rumor proved sary for the mine to employ just as
price of silver dropped from 95 to 65 true. Williams, who had long realized few men as it was barely possible to
cents an ounce, and Bill Williams, he had an elephant on his hands, sold, operate with, and those who were
the owner, shut down the property almost for a song, a property which then employed had been brought
with a suddenness which fell like a had cost him $30,000, on which he from Colorado from one of Mr.
heavy blow upon every human heart had spent $20,000, and from which Davis’s mines there, and were tested
in camp. he had only received about $10,000 men. The applicants were advised to
At this time there were about sixty in return. The mine had never been acquaint any miners who wanted work
people there whose livings depended patented, and after it had been shut not to come to the camp as they would
on the product of this mine. The down, Williams, who was a wealthy certainly be refused employment, and
houses were well built, of adobe man, never troubled himself about as the distance from the railroad or
brick with good shingle roofs, and doing the annual representation work adjacent camps was great, they would
this notwithstanding that all lumber upon it as required by the statute, and have a long and fatiguing journey for
had to be hauled fifty miles from the the property had been jumped by two nothing.
railroad over a dry desert trail. There men who had thereby a more or less The miners asked concerning the
was a store there and a postoffice. The valid claim to it. The relocations were machinery, which was, in its carefully
small smelter employed about ten made, however, as a sort of “hold up” boxed condition, then being put into
hands, and the balance found work in scheme on Williams, so that if he the tunnel. Mr. Spencer, the super-
or about the mine; a number of men should ever want to start up the mine intendent, replied that it was hoisting
lived with their families there, wages again, he would have to either com- machinery; that it was to be set up at
were good, work steady and everybody promise with these or have a lawsuit the end of the tunnel, and above the
was happy; but through politics, or before he could peaceably resume. shaft. When asked if this was not a
finance, or commerce, or whatever This man Davis had, however, rather unusual way in which to work a
else, the price of silver tumbled, and a taken advantage of both horns of the mine, Mr. Davis replied that it might
forty-ounce silver ore mine situated as dilemma. He had been able to buy out be but, that the necessity for keeping
was this cold no longer be mined at a Williams for a trifling sum, partly be- down expenses compelled them to
profit; so that with this decline in the cause of the relocation by Brooks and operate in the most economical man-
market value of the commodity, opera- Boswell, and he was able to buy out ner possible.
tions at the Mescal ceased. the latter two for another trifle because All of the above facts I learned
Activities there remained sus- they held only a cloud upon the title to from my guide and driver of the team
pended until the early part of 1892, the property, which property was really which conveyed me to this camp early
when, silver lying at the bottom notch in Williams. in July, 1893.
on the market, the inhabitants of one Having completed his purchase, About a year after this mine recom-
or two little copper camps near by Mr. Davis proceeded at once to revive menced operations, the Treasury
and the agent and a few others at the the camp. His first move was to bring Department at Washington became
railroad station, forty miles distant, in a lot of new, and a part of it, singular aware that a new and wholly unprec-
who comprised all the population for machinery, which had been made at edented counterfeit one dollar silver
— 49 —
coin was in large circulation, appar- that dollar as legal tender. This margin country for months, was transported
ently all over the United States. It was was something over 40 cents, and if from its place of manufacture to co-
not made of spurious metal, to the any large number of coins were being conspirators, doubtless in the centers
contrary, it was of pure silver, contain- turned out daily those engaged in the of trade, by whom it was distributed.
ing only the proportions of alloy used unlawful enterprise were doubtless ac- The task then was to trace down
in like coins turned out by the mints. cumulating immense fortunes. from whence this particular bar had
The coins were not molded, as all the It was a hard case to handle. Not come. In order to do this we had to
counterfeit coins I have ever known alone was it difficult by reason of the “run down” each of the bars received
have been made, but it was punched, fact that the operators were evidently in that consignment. This was quite
pressed and milled, in other words, men of means and of intelligence far difficult, but after two weeks of labor
it was minted just as are the pieces above that of persons who usually we succeeded in tracing it to Kansas
coined at the mints. engage in debasing the currency, but City, where we learned it had come
The fact that this new counterfeit also from the fact that certain exist- from a pawnshop, a sort of “fence,”
was silver, that it had, consequently, ing popular and political conditions the keeper of which had bought it
the proper weight and the proper seemed likely to hedge about the from a thief.
“ring,” made it an imitation exceed- culprits a kind of indefinite sympathy Operating through the local au-
ingly difficult to detect; only by the and support... Thousands of persons thorities, the [person] who kept this
closest inspection, and the most ac- wanted free coinage of silver. They place was arrested and thrown into
curate analysis and comparisons were earnestly believed there was not jail upon a charge of receiving stolen
the experts of the Treasury Depart- enough money of all kinds in circula- goods; we told him if he would divulge
ment finally able, positively, to declare tion, and whoever these illegal coin from whom he had receive it we would
that these pieces had not been made at manufacturers were, the money they let him go free. He very gladly did so,
any of the government mints, and were were making was being turned directly and this brought us in contact with the
therefore, illegal and counterfeit. into circulation, while unfortunately thief. Employing the same tactics with
The points of difference between much of the coinage of the govern- him we learned that he had stolen the
the genuine and the imitation coins ment never left the mints where it was bar from the room of a lodger in a
having been once noted, it was pos- made... All of the numerous circulars lodging-house where he was employed;
sible to detect all of these fraudulent distributed broadcast by the depart- that the fellow had, one night while
issues, since they were all lacking in ment, offering enormous rewards for drunk, employed him to escort him
the same particulars. These particulars the apprehension of the makers of this to his lodgings; he did so, and while
consisted of certain shades of inferior- coin, were without avail... the man was in a sodden sleep he
ity in the execution of the whole of the After scouring the country for ransacked the room and everything in
obverse and of the eagle of the reverse; months for a clue, we stumbled upon it, and he had found this silver bar at
a difference which, however, was not one by accident. The Treasury Depart- the bottom of a big trunk which he had
apparent upon casual observation, and ment was at that time, under the Sher- broken into.
could only be originally perceived by man law, purchasing about 4,400,000 We secured a good description of
the aid of lenses in a studied com- ounces of silver monthly, and this was this bacchanalian silver owner, and I
parison between the genuine and the delivered at the mints in the usual started in search of him. I soon found
counterfeit. form of bars. In a consignment which he was no longer in the city and as it
It was clear, therefore, to the Secret reached the mint at Philadelphia there was more important to continue to
Service Bureau of the government that was a bar which, when subjected to the trace down where the bar came from
all of these illegal coins were made ordinary probing which is undertaken than to pursue this criminal, I turned
with the same die. Where that die was in ascertain that the government pur- this part of the investigation over to the
located and at work, whether within chases of “gold bricks,” appeared so bureau and myself continued on the
the United States or without, and who singularly cast that the director ordered main case.
was operating it, these were the great one end of it sawed off. Imagine the To find out through what channel
questions which concerned, not along surprise of every one present when it that bar had gotten into town was the
the Treasury Department, but the was seen that the exterior of the bar important thing. It was most likely
entire administration, and was commit- was really a heavy box or shell, and that it had come under some sort of a
ted to the Secret Service Bureau for its that within there was a large number cover—enclosed in something intended
best work. of these spurious silver collars. They to disarm suspicion of the fact that bar
It was clear to us that the manufac- were packed in rows so closely as to silver was being transported. It was
turers of this coin had been incited to make the entire practically a solid almost a matter of course that I should
their enterprise by the wide margin mass. There were one thousand of first call at the various railroad offices
that then existed between the com- these dollars and it became clear that to inquire if any person answering the
modity price of the silver contained it was in this manner that the counter- description of the drunken lodger had
in the coined dollar and the value of feit coin which had been flooding the at any time received any freight which
— 50 —
might allow of the hypothesis of its good team of mules in a light covered tive I have found that the best way
being bullion. Imagine my surprise wagon, started for the mine on the 1st to work up cases is to conceal your
and delight when the division superin- day of August. It was a long and weary identity while you can and never reveal
tendent of the first road I called upon, drive, across a broad desert into a your true case. Invent a set of circum-
the Santa Fe Railroad, told me that country of rugged and bare mountains, stances to employ for the time, which
large quantities of bar silver had been the most desolate region the mind can will prompt the one upon whom you
shipped over the line, billed to a man imagine. We traversed the dry bed of are operating to do your will; the need
I described, who went by the name of an ancient lake where the ground was of this will be but transitory and em-
Reynolds. He told me there was no blistering hot and our animals nearly ployed to overcome a present obstacle
secret about these shipments; that the strangled to death with the dust of or carry a point at hand, when you
bars were refined silver and that they alkali. Far down the valley hovered have done this and your true character
came from the Mescal mine in Califor- a water-like mirage, as though in mock- has been discovered, the man whom
nia. The Santa Fe hauled all the silver ery of a cooling sea. The ground was you have thus deceived will think
from this mine and most of it was partially covered with a stubby sage nothing of it so long as he himself is
taken to Kansas City and delivered to brush which made travel difficult, and not injured, and this it should not be
Reynolds, who from there reshipped occasionally we were forced to cross a your purpose to do, except he be the
it to various points throughout the deep dry rut which had been plowed party against whom you are operating.
United States. in the surface by the running waters of Indeed, it seems to me that the abil-
Possessed of this information, and a winter’s cloudburst. ity of a detective is measured by the
feeling myself on a hot trail, I com- Ultimately we entered the mouth readiness with which he invents these
municated at once with the bureau of a wide pass which Kevane said was circumstantial subterfuges and the
at Washington, advising them of my five miles from the mine. The great depth and strength of them.
intention of going to California, taking mountains on either hand were bare in If I had told Kevane that I was a
charge of the Mescal mine, and arrest- their dry desolation. only little dots of government detective, that I knew the
ing every person having any relation to color here and there against the bare operators of the Mescal mine were
it. I advised the chief that in order to reddish earth told that some famished a lot of counterfeiters and that I had
successfully carry out this programme shrub continued to cling to a weak come there to arrest them, his tongue
it might be necessary to make a show existence in desperate defiance of the would have burned at the roots, and
of force, and I wanted a detail of some furious sun. Occasionally in small he could never have cooled it until he
sort to be placed under my command. gulches, or depressions, orchards of had told the men at the camp all I had
Accordingly I received instructions yucca grew like stunted trees, the little told him. I did not commit this error,
through the War Department to call tufts of green palm-like leaves sticking besides, had I done so, he would have
on Gen. McCook of the Department from their tops, while often almost all realized that the camp was about to be
of Arizona to place at my disposal the balance of the plant was dead and broken up, and as it was a source of
whatever force I should feel myself in rotted. Across the valley stood Park’s great revenue to him, and of nearly all
need of. Mountain, bold, gigantic, grand! A the prosperity of the little town about
This being arranged, I started for great dark mass, dark, for it is lime- the station, where the spurious dollars
California. Arriving at the station of stone, while all the rest are granite. circulated like air, he would naturally
Bitter Creek, which was the point We turned around a small cone- have sided with the camp against me.
nearest the Mescal mine, I sought out like hill, and there before us, close I therefore told him I was an agent of
a teamster known as Dolph Kevane, upon us, was the Mescal camp. It lay Williams; that Williams had sold the
who had been an old prospector, who on a ridge which made out from the mine upon the condition that if the ore
was well acquainted with the country, mountain into the valley. A scramble developed over forty ounces he was
and especially with the locality of the down a steep s\hillside brings you to a to get a certain royalty on the differ-
Mescal mine. little stream trickling away from a pool ence, that we had reliable information
At that time Liuet. [sic] Ferguson, of the most delicious water, fed from that the ore was averaging seventy
with a detachment of twenty men of a pipe communication with a wet shaft ounces, and yet Davis had never told
the cavalry, had arrived from Fort in the mine. Above on the bald side us anything about this increased yield.
Wingate and were camped at Burton’s of the high roaring mountain is the The purpose of my visit to the mine
Bridge across Dry River. The lieuten- mine, its grey dump marking with a was to secretly ascertain how the ore
ant reported to me and I ordered him light splotch the dark slope. There is a was running.
to proceed with his troop to the Mes- bucket cable railway leading down over Knowing it was the strict rule of
cal mine, and to arrive there under the trestles from the mouth of the tunnel the operators to allow no stranger
cover of the night, at daybreak on the to the smelter several hundred yards in the camp or on any of the claims,
morning of the 5th of August. below, to which place the ore is carried and wishing to remain here as long as
Kevane and myself, equipped with for treatment. possible, I went disguised as a laborer
a sparse camping outfit, and driving a In my long experience as a detec- seeking employment. I arranged with
— 51 —
Kevane to have a mock quarrel with the mouth of the tunnel. faced man, with taffy-colored hair,
me after our arrival, the upshot of Mr. Davis, the proprietor, worked who, seeing me, said:
which would be that he would refuse in the mine, and, to my idea, he oper- “The team will be here this morn-
to take me away on the team. Having ated the minting and rolling machine. ing, and I want you to go in on it; and
no food nor water, I would then be an Mr. Spencer appeared to keep a if you ever come here again I shall
object of pity and sympathy to those at general lookout on the surface, a part send you to San Bernardino to jail.”
the mine, and being very harmless and of his practice being to carry a pair of “Is that so?” I replied: “then I will
inconsequential in appearance, I relied glasses in a case hung about him, and have you to know that you yourself, sir,
on my chances of being tolerated in with these to occasionally sweep the are under arrest. I am an officer of the
camp, and given a little food, while, valley. United States and I arrest you.”
without making any inquiries, I would From what I saw of the operation of I threw back my coat and displayed
keep my eyes open to all that went on the mine, they must have been taking my star, which I had lately pinned
about me. out about twenty tons of ore daily; on my vest. The man looked upon it
This programme came to be car- this reduced and refined, would have almost paralyzed with astonishment.
ried out exactly as it was laid down. yielded an average of eight hundred “On what charge do you pretend to
The quarrel with Kevane passed off ounces of silver, this quantity of metal arrest me?” he said, without question-
successfully, and I was left alone. I was coined into silver dollars would pro- ing my authority.
ordered out of camp by Superinten- duce about one thousand coins, so that “Upon a charge of counterfeit-
dent Spencer, but I told him I would it might be said that the gross output ing the coin of the United States,” I
not go, that I had neither food nor wa- of this enterprise in false money was replied.
ter, and that I could not walk over the $1000 per day. “Pooh,” he said, affecting a cool-
desert, as my feet were sore. I told him With silver at 63 cents per ounce, ness he did not feel. “You talk like a
that the only thing I could do was to which was then the ruling market fool” He pulled a cord which rang a
remain at the camp until a team went price, the silver contained in each bell in the mine, giving the signal for
down to the station and go on that. My coin was worth, as I have said, about the men below to appear on top. “I’ll
excuse did not please Mr. Spencer, but 40 cents; this left a profit of about 60 have you to know, sir,” he said, “that
he did not drive me off. cents on each coined dollar, or $600 it will take a better man than you to
So far as the mining of the ore and on the $1000 as profits obtained over arrest a whole camp and shut down
the smelting and refining was con- and above their profits upon the pro- a mine on such a fool charge as that:
cerned, I observed nothing unusual duction of the silver. how d’ye suppose you’re goin’ to take
nor extraordinary, except that they I managed to ascertain that no ship- us in the railroad? D’ye think we will
should have a refinery in connection ment of bars would be made for two furnish our own transportation and
with their plant, then they could have weeks, and, as there were quite a pile haul you besides? Ha, Ha!”
shipped the bullion and have had it of them in the refinery, chuckled over At this juncture the men who were
refined much cheaper in the East, and the thought that I should capture all of working below began to come out of
this is the usual method pursued at all these silver bars or boxes, each one of the tunnel, and Spencer started to
mines where any smelting is done, but which contained a thousand of their explain to them that they had been
I asked no questions. I observed, also, silver dollars. It was the 4th of Au- spied upon by a detective who wanted
that after the silver was cast into bars it gust. On the following morning Lieut. to arrest all hands upon the nonsensi-
was taken up into the mine, and subse- Fitzgerald and his troop would be on cal charge of counterfeiting. A short,
quently the bars were brought back to the ground. I knew the direction they thick-set man with black hair, a black
the refinery again, and piled up there would come so that night I stole away moustache, and light eyes whom I
in an iron vault. from camp and went to meet them. supposed was Davis, wanted to argue
After witnessing this I felt sure that The troop was within four miles of with me what an absurd thing it was to
coining was going on in the mine, the camp at 3 o’clock in the morn- talk about any counterfeiting going on
doubtless in the bottom of one of the ing, and, acting upon my suggestion, at that place.
shafts, and that the coins were packed they dismounted, left their horses I was not disposed, however, to
in these silver boxes which were then with a guard and traveled the balance play on words.
sealed up and made to look like solid of the way on foot. I went ahead and “I command you to call every man
bars. I felt sure that the eight bars of returned to the camp alone, directing here,” said I: “they must deliver to me
silver which I saw stack up in the refin- that they should advance as closely as whatever arms they have, and prepare
ery were so many boxes of counterfeit possible without exposing themselves, themselves to go to the railroad with
silver dollars, and this theory was con- and to remain concealed until I should me.”
firmed by the story that Kevane had give them a signal to appear. They laughed. “I will see,” said I.
told me about the machinery which The morning shift was just about to I blew a shrill blast on my whistle and
went into the mine, and by the fact of go into the mine when I approached instantly there tumbled over the top of
their keeping such a close guard over Mr. Spencer, a low-browed, moon- the mountain the blue forms of twenty
— 52 —
soldiers, their legs in brown leggings, a blast in the mine. “A shot,” he said, metal.
and their rifles in their hands. They “had been set and the fuse lighted; we I chafed under the realization that
scrambled rapidly down toward us, had come out of the mine to allow it to withal I was to leave the mine without
while Davis and Spencer turned white take effect without hurting anyone.” a particle of legal evidence that any
and looked appalled. Instantly Spencer “Are all your shots like that?” I counterfeiting had been in progress
blew a large whistle with a peculiar asked. there, but such was the fact: I had no
sound, and then I heard a great com- He replied that that seemed to be a such evidence. We took with us all the
motion in the refinery below us; they unusually heavy one, and it was. There men employed at the place, together
he beckoned to his men, and they ran must have been a ton of giant powder with Davis and Spencer, but the most
as rapidly as possible together down burnt in that explosion. The tunnel of them ... knew nothing beyond their
the side. had caved in, and the debris from immediate duties at the mines, and
Almost immediately after this, above on the mountain had covered from these I learned nothing.
and while the soldiers were still about the place many feet in depth. It was Davis, Spencer and Coughman,
half way between the summit and the perfectly apparent that both shafts the smelter foreman, were put on trial,
tunnel, there came at first a dull roar, within must have been torn to pieces charged with counterfeiting, but not a
accompanied by a slight shock, appar- and the whole mine was a wreck. word of damaging testimony could be
ently from the center of the mountain, Thousands of tons of much doubtless elicited against them. The metal I took
then in an instant followed an enor- filled the holes, and to have reached from the refining pot was assayed and
mous and most terrific explosion, an the bottom of the shafts would have found to contain just the proportion
explosion of volcanic violence which required as great an expenditure as of pure silver and the identical kind
seemed to [come] from below us and the total amount that had been used in of alloy contained in the silver dollar;
through the tunnel and to convulse the developing the mine. but they produced in court samples of
entire mountain. The earth on which It was clear to all of us that the the ore of the mine which was shown
I stood heaved and threw me from it. explosion had been effected on to contain the same minerals, to wit:
I was hurled forward, forcibly striking purpose. These counterfeiters had Silver and copper. A quantity of the
the ground head first, and rolled down taken into account the chances of the spurious silver coins were found on
the slope. I looked above me; the mine being some day raided by the their persons and we put our experts
concussion had loosened a quantity of officials who would trace to that place on the stand, who examined the coin
overhanging rock, and an avalanche the counterfeit silver dollars. They and pronounced it counterfeit: but
of debris was sliding down among the had stored hundreds of pounds of they produced a greater number of
panic-stricken soldiers. A great rock dynamite where the concussion of its experts who declared it to be genuine.
bounded past me and shocked me ignition would produce the severest of But what discomfited us most in the
with its wind as it went tumbling on in effects, and they had connected it with trial of the case was their tendering one
the gulch below. Men came sprawling an electric wire leading to the refin- of our experts on the stand a coin and
headlong down, dome rolled down, ery. Spencer had given the signal to asking him whether it was genuine or
while others remained lying flat on the discharge the blast, and the battery was spurious. He examined it with great
side of the mountain. turned on; the result was that minting care and pronounced it to be the latter.
When the effects of the explosion machine, dies, rollers and whatever They then put a number of witnesses
had passed I found, happily enough, else of evidence as in the crime of on the stand, each of whom testified
that I was uninjured and that Lieut. counterfeiting had instantly become that they had together on that very
Fitzgerald had also the good fortune to buried beneath thousands of tons of morning procured that identical coin
escape. He joined me and we began to debris. from a government mint, where it had
get together the members of the troop. We then proceeded to the been issued to them as genuine.
We found that one mad had been so refinery,intending to seize the silver We found it impossible to trace to
crushed between rocks that he was in bars which I had seen so numerously this mine, with the certainty of legal
a dying condition, another had a leg piled therein, but lo! every one had evidence, the bar containing the silver
broken and another had sprained an vanished. I asked where they were, but dollars which we had cut open at the
ankle. received no reply: to direct questions mint. There was no doubt that the
Such was the list of our killed and put to the foreman of the refinery I re- only way we could get evidence against
wounded. We turned to look for those ceived the reply that he did not know. the accused, proving that they had
whom we had come to arrest, and we I looked into the melting kettle; it was been engaged in the manufacture of
were in no pleasant frame of mind to full of silver metal. The box bars with counterfeit coin, was by penetrating
undertake the business. They were their silver dollars had been thrown those innumerable tons of rock in that
all huddled together, about twenty into the kettle, and had melted into mountain, and bringing to light that
of them, in a sheltered ravine. We bullion; but no trace of the form of a machinery which lay buried hundreds
charged upon them. They did not box or the shape of a dollar could be of feet below. There were no avail-
repent. Davis told us there had been discerned in the molten mass of bright able funds to meet this expense, and,
— 53 —
though Congress was called upon to

make an appropriation to this end,
yet the bill therefor, like many other
good measures, died in committee and
never reached passage.
The accused were acquitted
and they went their way. That way,
however, was not back to the Mescal
mine; that enterprise abides silenced,
and the silver dollar counterfeits have
about disappeared from circulation.
I did not succeed in convicting the
culprits, but I did succeed in squelch-
ing the industry. I afterward learned
that Davis and Spencer were partners,
and while they have been conducting
several important enterprises, yet they
had been pressed close to the wall of
bankruptcy; unable otherwise to raise
much-needed money, they took this
means of veritably raising it out of the
earth in defiance of United States laws.
Whether they accumulated sufficient
profits from their lawless venture to
recoupe their fortunes or not I have
never learned; but certainly, so far
as I have ever heard, their careers as
counterfeiters closed with that terrible
explosion at the Mescal mine.
JOHN E. BENNETT.
— 54 —
Evaporative salt production on

Soda Dry Lake
Rob Fulton, Desert Studies Consortium, Zzyzx, California.
The Mojave River is the southernmost major river

drainage in the Great Basin of North America. The River
headwaters in the northwestern San Bernardino Moun-
tains, and travels ~200 km to it’s terminal basins at Silver
and Soda Lake playas (figure 1). This large (~9500 km2)
drainage produced prolonged high lake stands in the
late Pleistocene/early Holocene that covered both playas
(pluvial Lakes Mojave I and II) and occasionally breached
a sill at the north end of Silver Lake, allowing flow north-
ward towards the Amargosa River and Lake Manley in
Death Valley. As the Holocene has progressed, several
intermittent shallow lakes have flooded these playas dur-
ing intense wet winter events, largely flowing from the
mountainous headwaters, which accounts for about 90% of
the precipitation in the Mojave River drainage (see Wells, Figure 1. The Mojave River drainage basin showing maximum
et al, 2003 for a review). extent of latest Quaternary Lake Mojave. (Wells, et al, 2003).
Soda Lake is the first of these two playas to receive
surface or subterranean flow from the Mojave River. In which we named Soda Lake [emphasis
addition, Soda Lake receives water from the significant added] we proceeded in a southwesterly direc-
portion of the drainage to the south and east of the playa, tion (Mollhausen, 1969 translation).
including the Cima Volcanic Field, and the arc of moun-
tainous terrain (the Mid-Hills, and Providence, Granite The salts of Soda Lake received little attention until the
and Bristol Mountains) that feed Kelso wash and others. construction of the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad (T&T)
As a result, much of its sediments are perennially satu- in 1906-07. About 33 miles north of its junction with the
rated, resulting in a type of playa sometimes referred to Santa Fe Railroad, the T&T started to cross the playa of
as a “salina”. The millennia of mineral salts deposited Soda Lake, on its way farther north to Death Valley and
here form concentrated brine, and evaporation from the Goldfield, Nevada. Those interested in commercial ex-
surface often forms a distinctive white efflorescence of salts ploitation of the salts of Soda Lake now had a convenient
on its surface. method to get product to market from the desert inte-
The American trapper and trader Jedediah Strong rior. Thus, in May of 1907, the Pacific Coast and Soda
Smith provided the first recorded description of Soda Company began construction of a solar evaporation plant
Lake during his crossing of the Mojave Desert in 1826. designed to concentrate and process the salts of Soda
While being guided by traders of the Mohave tribe from Lake. A description of this operation was published in
the Colorado River to Mission San Gabriel, he writes: the American Mining Review of Los Angeles on August
8, 1908:
I crossed a Salt plain about 20 miles long and
8 wide; on the surface was a crust of beautiful The Pacific Coast Soda Company has nearly
white salt, quite thin . . . (Smith, 1827). completed the enlargement of its plant at Soda
Lake Station, on the Tonopah and Tidewater
American military surveyors in 1853-54, first described Railroad, 33 miles north of Ludlow, in the
the basin as the terminus of the Mojave River. The Prus- San Bernardino county, California. This plant
sian born artist and documentarian H. B. Mollhausen, is only for separation and purification of the
attached to the expedition of 1854 lead by Lt. A. W. saline crusts that cover the sink of the Mohave
Whipple, was the first to record the name “Soda Lake”. River. This sink is one of the “dry lakes’ of
the desert, from two to five miles wide and
From this point we had a view over the sec- 18 miles long. Much of its surface is covered
ond half of the sandy valley, and it looked like with crusts of saline matter that look like snow
a field of snow . . . . .through this white plain, to the traveler. The top crust is white and is
— 55 —
Figure 2. Remnants of
evaporation ponds of the
Pacific Coast Soda Co. Photo
taken looking SE from the
adjoining limestone ridge. R.
Fulton, photo.
monia ice machine.

The cold brine from
the ice plant circulat-
ing through these
pipes soon chills the
brine in the tank
down to nearly the
freezing point, when
the sulphate of soda
is no longer held in
solution, but settles
on the bottom of the
tank like so much
largely salt (sodium chloride) below which is snow.
a gray deposit that is salt and sodium sulphate When nearly all the sulphate has been precipi-
mixed, and below is a damp silt-like material tated, the liquor is drawn off and the sulphate
that is mainly sulphate of soda. A narrow- is allowed to drain for some time in the cold
gauge track a mile and a half long extends tank. When well drained, the crystals are
out on the lake, and a small train is used raked out onto a conveyor belt that carries
to carry the crusts to the works, where they them to the dryer. This is a revolving tube,
enter a revolving tube mill and are rapidly over 40 feet long, where the crystals are dried
crushed in water kept at a temperature of by a blast of heated air until the water of
about 100 degrees Fahr., until saturated brine crystallization is removed and the sulphate is
is formed. Centrifugal pumps lift this brine dry as flour.
to v-shaped wooden vats, or spitkatzen, where
the sand is removed
by settling, the brine
overflowing through
a series of vats until
free from sediment. It
is pumped from the
last settling tank into
huge rectangular tanks
with sloping bottoms
and moveable covers.
These are the chilling
tanks, and are fitted
with brine pipes con-
necting with an am-
Figure 3. Concrete equipment

foundations (?) of the Pacific
Coast Soda Co. at the south end
of the limestone ridge, just west
of ponds seen in figure 2. R.
Fulton, photo.
— 56 —
Figure 4. Dry-laid retaining

walls forming building pads (?)
near the foundations in figure
3. R. Fulton, photo.
carbonate, bicarbon-
ate and caustic soda.
Both plants are the
result of the work of
Prof. G. E. Bailey,
the chemist of the
company, who has
devoted several years
to a study of the
saline deposits of the
state and their utiliza-
tion and who now
sees his ideas carried
The liquor from the chilling tanks is run into
into practical operation.
large soar vats or “salt floors” where the salt
(chloride of sodium), crystallizes out in a few The plant at Soda Lake cost over $25,000, and
days. When the salt crop is complete, the the plant at Santa Ana will cost about $75,000
mother liquor is drawn from the salt floors into when completed this fall.”
another series of solar vats where it is allowed
to evaporate to dryness under the desert sun.
This gives three products for the plant - - sul-
phate of soda from the chilling tanks, salt from
the salt floors, and impure sodium carbonate
carrying some sulphate, and some salt, from
the last solar vats.
The works were started up the last of May and
proved so successful that the plant was at once
ordered enlarged to a daily capacity of 25 tons
of sulphate. The plant is equipped with the
narrow-gauge road mentioned: a 60- horse-
power and 25-horsepower engine: a 40 ton
ammonia ice-plant, and several acres of vats
and floors. The sulphate of soda and the salt
produced are both practically chemically pure,
analyzing over 99 per cent pure. The sulphate
is produced at once and the salt is gathered
in a few days, instead of months as by the
ordinary process. Some of the sulphate is sold
for glass making and other purposes, but the
main use of the plant is to furnish sulphate for
the large plant building at Santa Ana, Califor-
nia, where the sulphate will be converted into
Figure 5. Wooden cross-ties of narrow gauge rail system on Soda

Lake, curving westward towards the salt works of the Pacific
Coast Soda Co. R. Fulton, photo.
— 57 —
Walking tour of Soda Lake salt works
Stop 1: Remnants of the Pacific Salt and Soda Company operation are north of the Desert Studies Center
and east of the Tonapah and Tidewater Railroad grade. Evaporative ponds, remains of sluice gates,
railroad ties, and foundations for machinery and buildings can be found in this area.
Stop 2: Walk south past the abandoned Pool House along the east side of the limestone ridge (there is a
path). You will pass Mojave Chub Spring (a small artesian pool with the endangered Mojave Tui Chub
fish survives), and arrive at the southeast corner of the ridge. Evaporative pond structures of the Pacific
Coast Soda Company are visible on the playa adjacent to the shoreline.
Stop 3: Walk to the east onto the playa from the evaporative ponds for about 15 minutes to the remains of
the narrow gauge (30 inch) railroad cross-ties that were installed by the Pacific Coast Soda Company in
1907.
Stop 4: Just south of stop 2 you will encounter the remains of several concrete foundations and a few
retaining walls constructed of limestone rock that form construction pads (buildings or machinery?).
Continue westward to the T&T railroad grade (now a dirt road), which you can follow northward to
return to the Desert Studies Center.
— 58 —
the wooden crossties (and at least one short section of rail)

are still in place (figure 5). One tie with spikes at both
ends indicates a railroad gauge of 30 inches.
A second salt recovery concern operated at the north
end of the aforementioned limestone ridge, and north of
the CSU Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx (figure 6). This
operation is thought to be that of the Pacific Salt and Soda
Company. This company also developed evaporative
ponds in 1907, and a narrow gauge rail system of about 36
inches (National Park Service, 2002). An article in the San
Bernardino Sun on August 11, 1907 titled “A Trip Over
the Tonopah and Tidewater” states:
Figure 6. Aerial photo looking south, showing the evaporation
The next development is that being made by
ponds of the Pacific Salt and Soda Co. The smaller remains of the
Pacific Coast Soda Co. ponds are visible at the top of the image the Pacific Salt and Soda Co. at Soda Lake.
just left of center. Desert Studies Collection. The railroad passes through this wonderful
deposit of almost pure soda for a distance of
nearly 12 miles, and the road bed is made of
The description of this operation fits with remnants of this great component of the American biscuit.
evaporation ponds or “salt floors”, concrete foundations The company is building large evaporating
with protruding anchor bolts, and constructed building beds into which the waters of the lake will be
pads with limestone block retaining walls found at the pumped and then allowed to evaporate under
south end of a limestone ridge along the western shore of the influence of the solar rays. Large furnaces
Soda Lake just east of the T&T railroad grade (figures 2 – are being constructed in which the deposit will
4). An abandoned narrow gauge grade extends eastward be refined for table use.
from this site, and if followed for about a third of a mile,
Figure 7. View looking NE over salt works of the Pacific Salt and Soda Co. circa 1908. Frank Green, photo: Hugh Tolford Collection.
— 59 —
Figure 8. Scene in figure 7 as it appears today. Note tamarisk tree at approximate location of wooden shed, and the berm angling up and
left from that location. An approximately 4” diameter pipe visible in the 1908 image (just right of an upright tank), is also visible in this
modern image. R. Fulton, photo.
The company doing this work must

not be confounded with the Pacific
nants of these two operations, have been nominated for
Coast Soda Co. (emphasis added). The
the federal Registry of Historical Places by the National
Pacific Salt and Soda Co. has no stock for
Park Service.
sale. It is a closed corporation that is working
the deposit (Haenszel Collection referenced in
Duffield-Stoll, 1994). References Cited
Duffield-Stoll, Anne Q., 1994. Zzyzx: History of an Oasis. California
A photographer, Frank Green, took a photograph of Desert Studies Consortium, the University of California. Santa Susana
Press, CSU Northridge.
these workings about 1908 (figure 7), which the author Mollhausen, B.H.,1969 translation. Diary of a Journey from Mississippi to
attempted to reproduce in 2000 (figure 8). the Coasts of the Pacific, 2 vols. Translated from the German by Mrs.
Any production records for these two operations are Percy Sinnett. Reprinted 1969 edition, New York.
unknown to this author, but production is thought to have NPS, 2002. National Park Service Cultural Landscapes Inventory: Zzyzx
Mineral Springs Historic District (unpublished draft).
been market driven in part, and probably seasonal, as Smith, J. S., 1827. Letter to General William Clark, Superintendent of
temperatures on Soda Lake can soar up to 1200 F in sum- Indian Affairs, dated July 12, 1827. In: Jedediah Smith and the Open-
mer. Combined with single digit relative humidity and, at ing of the West. Dale L. Morgan, 1953. University of Nebraska Press.
times, strong hot winds throughout the night, conditions Wells, S.G., Brown, W.J., Enzel, Y., Anderson, R.G., and McFadden,
L.D., 2003. Late Quaternary geology and paleohydrology of pluvial Lake
for evaporation may have been optimal, but difficult for a Mojave, southern California. In: Paleoenvironments and Paleohydrol-
workforce to endure. The Pacific Salt and Soda Com- ogy of the Mojave and Southern Great Basin Deserts, Y. Enzel, S.G.
pany’s elaborate plant may have initially operated for less Wells, and N. Lancaster, editors. Geological Society of America
than two years, with a resurgence of activity in 1912, when Special Paper 368,
“new blood” reportedly had joined the company. There
may have been activity as late as the end of World War
I (NPS, 2002). Records of operational duration for the
Pacific Coast Soda Company have yet to be discovered.
The area of Soda Springs (Zzyzx), including the rem-
— 60 —
The Silver Lake talc deposits, San

Bernardino County, California
Lauren A. Wright, P.O. Box 127, Shoshone, CA 92384
Deposits of commercial talc in the vicinity of Silver The invading granite is now known to be Late Cretaceous
Lake, San Bernardino County, California were almost con- in age (DeWitt, and others, 1984). The relative ages of
tinuously mined from 1915 to the mid-1970s. They yielded the metamorphic rocks and the various igneous rocks that
an estimated 300,000 tons of metamorphosed sedimentary intrude them can be reasonably well established but their
rocks. These deposits consist of mixtures of magnesian absolute ages remain in question.
silicate minerals – mostly tremolite but also various pro- As shown in Figure 1, the typical body of commercial
portions of talc, chlorite(?), serpentine, and forsterite. The talc is stratiform and generally 10 to 15 feet thick. It was
products sold as commercial talc were used as a ceramic once a sedimentary carbonate rock and was later altered
raw material and a paint ingredient. The talc-rich rock was to assemblages of calcium-magnesium silicate minerals.
also marketed as a lubricant in the manufacture of rubber Most of the talc-rich rock occurs in tabular bodies along
goods. the walls of the deposit, permitting it to be mined selec-
In mapping and describing these deposits for the Cali- tively. The tremolitic part of a typical deposit commonly
fornia Division of Mines more than 50 years ago (Wright, encloses masses of an earlier, higher temperature assem-
L.A. 1954), I found that they were part of a strongly blage composed mostly of forsterite and tremolite. Theses
metamorphosed succession of sedimentary rocks and composite bodies of commercially mined rock have been
associated igneous rocks engulfed in a granitic batholith. invaded by bodies of granitic rock, both fine-grained
Figure 1. Idealized cross section through a typical body of commercial talc showing bodies of various igneous rocks that intrude
the body (Wright, L. A., 1954)
— 61 —
Figure 2. Block diagram showing the geologic setting of the Silver Lake talc deposits (Wright, L. A. 1954)
and coarse-grained, and other bodies composed of mafic ics in a metamorphosed granitic terrane, southeastern California:
minerals. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v .95, p. 723-739.
The geologic setting and the major rock units of the Sil- Wright, L. A., 1954, Geology of the Silver Lake talc deposits, San Bernar-
dino County, California: California Division of Mines Special Report
ver Lake talc deposits are shown in Figure 2. Note that the 38, 30 p. and 3 maps.
bodies of commercial talc have formed in a well-defined, Wright, L. A., 1968, Talc deposits of the southern Death Valley-Kingston
layered part of a succession of metamorphosed sedimen- Range region, California: California Division of Mines and Geology
tary rocks. This succession, in turn, has been engulfed and Special Report 95, 79 p., and 3 plates.
separated into isolated islands in a sea composed of the
much younger batholith.
It is tempting to correlate the sedimentary rocks and
the associated talc deposits at the Silver Lake mine with
the talc deposits of the Proterozoic Crystal Spring Forma-
tion which is extensively exposed in the bordering region
athwart southern Death Valley (Wright, 1968). The talc
deposits of the Crystal Spring Formation, however, are
very different from those at Silver Lake in that they have
formed along the contact between a region-wide diabase
sill and the lowest carbonate strata in the Crystal Spring.
This setting is clearly unlike that of the Silver Lake talc de-
posits – the diabase sill is missing and the metamorphosed
sedimentary succession that contains the deposits remains
uncorrelated with any part of the Pahrump Group.
References cited
DeWitt, Ed., Armstrong, R. L., Sutter, J. F., and Zartman, R. F., 1984,
U-Th-Pb. Rb-Sr, and Ar-Ar mineral and whole-rock isotopic systemat-
— 62 —
Halloran turquoise: a thousand

years of mining history
Robert E. Reynolds, LSA Associates, Inc., 1650 Spruce Street, Suite 500, Riverside, CA 92507. Bob.Reynolds@ LSA-
Assoc.com
Abstract mento Mountains (Murdoch and Webb, 1966; Pemberton,

The Halloran Hills in the eastern Mojave Desert con- 1983). Turquoise is reported from the Crescent District of
tain alunitized Mesozoic quartz monzonite, cupriferous the eastern Mojave Desert in Clark County, Nevada (Cas-
Miocene gravels, and phosphate-rich Pliocene basalts, a tor and Ferdock, 2004; Morrissey, 1968). In the Mid Hills
combination that has allowed ground water to precipitate area of the eastern Mojave Desert in California, turquoise
turquoise—copper aluminum phosphate. Although gener- is reported from Signal Hill, Wild Horse Mesa, Barnwell
ally botryoidal, turquoise also fills voids and replaces origi- (Kunz, 1905; Murdoch and Webb, 1966; Pemberton,
nal minerals in miarolitic cavities in the Teutonia quartz 1983), and farther north in the Mescal Range. The Hal-
monzonite pluton. Turquoise mining in the Halloran Hills loran District and the Crescent District to the east contain
has continued from 500 A. D. to the present: over one aboriginal stone hammers suggesting a history of mining
thousand years of mining. that spans more than 1,000 years (Kunz, 1905; Morrissey,
1968; Leonard and Drover, 1980).
Mojave Desert Turquoise
Turquoise localities are distributed across the Mojave Geology and Depositional Environment
Desert from the Iron Mountains (west of Barstow), north to The geology and tectonic history of the Halloran Hills,
the Lava Mountains (east of Randsburg), north of Barstow northeast of Baker (Fig. 1), presented in separate focused
at Lane Mountain, and southwest of Needles in the Sacra- studies (Bishop, 1994; DeWitt, 1980; Dohrenwend and
Figure 1. The Halloran turquoise districts: West, Middle, and East camps (after Pemberton in Murdoch and Webb, 1966). U.S. Geological
Survey Halloran 15’ quadrangle, 1956.
— 63 —
others, 1984; Friedman, 1996; Reynolds, 1988, 1990, 1993; (4) A source of phosphate. Phosphate is more abundant
Reynolds and Calzia, 1996; Reynolds and others, 1996), is in basalt (0.5+%, Turner and Verhoogen, 1960) than in
summarized below. other volcanic rocks. Basalts flowed over the Halloran
Cretaceous (100 Ma) granitic plutons intruded older Hills after 5 Ma years.
rocks, leaving gneissic roof-pendants surrounded by Teu-
tonia quartz monzonite (Beckerman, 1982). Little remains Turquoise was probably deposited in the Halloran Hills
to record early Tertiary intrusion or deposition in the after 5 Ma. Ground water leached phosphate from basalt,
Mojave Desert interior, but there is evidence of extensive picked up copper sulfate solutions from the gravels, and
erosion and deep weathering. All rock deposits overlying traveled laterally through the porous, weathered quartz
the Teutonia quartz monzonite have been removed by monzonite until it reached alunitized quartz monzonite.
erosion. Iron oxides have stained this granitic rock red, The mineral alunite (K2Al6(SO4)4(OH)12 is a high alu-
and the interior of joint-bounded granitic blocks show minum sulfate produced by sulfate-rich water alteration
leisingang weathering rings that indicate deep weathering. of feldspar (KAl Si3O8). Therefore, the altered quartz
Decomposed granite has eroded away, leaving spheroidal monzonite is a porous, high aluminum sulfate/silicate host
boulder piles in place. Proterozoic quartzite lag-gravels rock. When it receives copper phosphate/sulfate solutions,
remain in paleotopographic swales. the copper aluminum phosphate turquoise is precipitated.
The early Miocene Peach Spring tuff (PST, 18.5 Ma.) All the turquoise deposits in the Mojave Desert (above,
is the oldest dated rock retained on the pre-Miocene Murdoch and Webb, 1966; Pemberton, 1983) are associ-
erosional surface. Associated with fine-grained lacustrine ated with Jurassic or late Tertiary volcanic rocks which
and fluvial sediments, this volcaniclastic sequence heralds may provide the phosphate sources.
the formation of the Halloran Hills–Shadow Valley basin. The host rock for turquoise in the Halloran Hills is
This west-vergent detachment basin was actively extending Teutonia quartz monzonite (Beckerman, 1982). Unaltered
westward between 13 and 10 Ma. The extension-related minerals and turquoise pseudomorphs give an picture
listric-normal faulting left a geologic signature or pattern of the original fabric of the Teutonia quartz monzonite.
repeated in fault blocks from west to east. The pattern is Most Halloran turquoise (Plate 1-1) is found in fractures
quartz monzonite, volcanic rocks (PST or pyroxene andes- between blocks of quartz monzonite. In certain areas,
ite) and fine grained sediments, then coarse, basin-filling turquoise is associated with quartz and beryl, suggest-
deposits of conglomerate and of avalanche and gravity ing deposition in miarolitic cavities. These cavities were
slide debris from eastern, copper-rich sources. Degraded formed near the end of emplacement of the granitic Teu-
fault scarps and the pre-Miocene surface are recognized tonia quartz monzonite pluton, and have the composition
on the west and east sides of each granitic block. of small pegmatite dikes, containing microcline feldspar,
After 10 Ma, erosion smoothed the surface of the quartz, beryl, and occasional apatite and (hematite-re-
east-tilted fault blocks. Interaction between the left-lateral placed) pyrite crystals. The cavities now contain turquoise
Garlock fault zone and the right-lateral Soda-Avawatz fault pseudomorphs of what appears to represent the following
zone thrust plates of Proterozoic Riggs Carbonate east mineral assemblage:
over the Halloran Hills. Beginning about 5 Ma, Pliocene
Quartz Unaltered hexagonal crystals
basalts flowed west and east over Halloran structures and Muscovite Unaltered monoclinic crystals
topography. Beryl, var. aquamarine Unaltered hexagonal crystals
Microcline feldspar Triclinic turquoise pseudomorphs
Pyrite, p. a. hematite Cubic turquoise pseudomorphs
Turquoise Deposition “Barite?” Orthorhombic turquoise pseudomorphs
Turquoise is a copper aluminum phosphate Apatite Hexagonal turquoise pseudomorphs
[CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8.4H20]; because there are six aluminum
atoms for each copper atom, a source for aluminum is im- The triclinic turquoise pseudomorphs have the mor-
portant for the formation of turquoise. The Halloran Hills phology of triclinic microcline feldspar; the process of
contain four important components for the deposition and replacement would be more straightforward if the feldspar
formation of turquoise: had already altered to alunite. Cubic pyrite crystals altered
(1) A porous host rock to goethite (limonite) are common in pegmatites and miar-
olitic cavities. The dissolved, empty cubic hollows can be
(2) A source of aluminum. Certain areas of quartz monzo- filled by turquoise.
nite in the Halloran Hills were alunitized, probably at The hexagonal turquoise pseudomorphs in the Hal-
the time of listric-normal faulting (13 - 10 Ma). “Alunit- loran Hills (Plate 1-2) have a different morphology than
ization” is hydrothermal alteration of feldspathic igne- the associated beryl (Plate 1-3). The hexagonal pseudo-
ous rocks producing alunite-rich rocks. morphs were originally described as being a beryl replace-
(3) A source of copper. Copper minerals in gravel from ment, since unaltered beryl was found in association.
the Mescal and Clark ranges to the east filled the Hal- However, the beryl has a relatively long “C” axis, promi-
loran Hills–Shadow Valley basin after 12 Ma. nent prism faces and no pyramid faces. All the hexagonal
pseudomorphs have a short “C” axis, and many show
— 64 —
been identified on basalt flows at Hal-

loran Spring and to the east at Cow
Cove (W. G. Turner, p. c., 1975).
Dates of prehistoric mining in the
Halloran Hills has been determined
by three different methods (Leonard
and Drover, 1980):
A. Radiocarbon dates from bone
and wood found in the turquoise min-
ing pits (500 and 1070 A. D. respec-
tively)
B. Pottery that is present in the vi-
cinity of the Halloran Hills turquoise
mines dates between 750–1000 A. D.
C. Half-Moon Cave, four miles
Figure 2. Stone hammers from the Halloran turquoise mines. south of the turquoise deposits,
contains strata with turquoise and pottery that date
pyramid faces. Alteration of a beryllium silicate to an between 700–1050 A. D.
aluminum phosphate is not as chemically easy as altering Distribution of the Halloran turquoise throughout the
a calcium phosphate (apatite) to an aluminum phosphate southwest has been documented (Sigleo, 1970, 1975) as
(turquoise). Additionally, SEM work by R.M. Housley far east as Snaketown, south of Phoenix, Arizona. Hal-
has identified crystals of xenotime and monazite (yttrium loran turquoise appeared along the Virgin River (Moapa-
phosphate and lanthanide phosphate) embedded in the Overton, NV) as well as in central Arizona by 400–750
hexagonal turquoise pseudomorphs. These two phos-
phates require high temperatures (hydrothermal/pegmatite
temperatures) to crystallize, and are commonly found
embedded in apatite.
Tabular, orthorhombic turquoise pseudomorphs (Plate
1-4) have been called replacements after barite crystals.
The occurrence of barite (BaSO4) is unusual in miarolitic
cavities. These pseudomorphs need more study since
other minerals known from pegmatites (e. g. columbite/
tantallite) are also orthorhombic.
Prehistoric Mining
Stone hammers from prehistoric turquoise mining
have been recorded from the Halloran Hills (Eisen, 1898;
Sperisen, 1897, 1938; Leonard and Drover, 1980). Many
hammers were pecked to develop grooves around their
median and show impact abrasions on both ends (Fig. 2).
Hammers were made from, in order of abundance, basalt,
quartz, quartz breccia, meta-quartzite, and quartzite, with
minor use of gneiss and chalcedony breccia (Leonard and
Drover, 1980). All these lithologies occur locally (Leon-
ard and Drover, 1980; Reynolds, 1988, 1990); quartzite
cobbles are also abundant along Colorado River terraces
60 miles to the east. The reconstruction of aboriginal min-
ing and mucking to recover turquoise and remove waste
rock has been described (Rogers, 1929; Leonard and
Drover, 1980). Descriptions of dead-falls and booby-traps
left by ancient miners to guard their excavations have
been reported by recent miners (Ed Nazelrod, p. c., 1975).
Petroglyphs described in early reports from the Halloran
Hills (Fig 3; Eisen, 1898; Kunz, 1904) are not directly as-
sociated with aboriginal turquoise pits, but instead have
Figure 3. Petroglyphs in the Halloran Spring district.
— 65 —
A. D. (Leonard and Drover, 1980). A second period of filled ...with wind-blown sands and dust, but
mining by Patayan cultural branches (Yuman and Prescott whose blackened roofs and rudely sculptured
branches) took place from 750–1200 A. D. A late pe- walls indicate that they were occupied for a
riod of mining by Panamint Shoshone and Chemehuevi long time by people who worked the mines.
occurred from 1200–1900 A. D. (Leonard and Drover, In the blown sand were found stone imple-
1980). ments and pottery fragments of rude type,
incised but not painted. The openings to these
Rediscovery and Commercial Mining caves are partly closed by roughly built walls
Sperisen (1938) published a portion of gemologist of trap blocks piled upon one another with no
George F. Kunz’s (1905) summary of the “re-discovery” of attempt at fitting and no cement, but evidently
Halloran turquoise deposits: made as rude protection against weather and
wild beasts. The tools, found partly in the
In the extreme northeastern part of this caves and largely in the mine pits, are care-
county there have been discovered old and fully wrought and polished from hard basalt
abandoned mines of turquoise covering an or trap, chiefly hammers and adzes or axes,
area of many square miles. Associated with generally grooved for a handle and often of
these mines were found the relicts of an early large size. Some are beautifully perfect, others
race; and it is supposed that this is the original are much worn and battered by use.
source of much of the turquoise found in The most impressive feature, however, is
the hands of the Indians of the southwestern the abundance of rock carvings in the whole
United States and Mexico. The turquoise oc- region. These are vary varied, conspicuous,
curs in small veins and also in kidney-shaped and peculiar … Some are recognizable as
masses about the size of a bean. … ‘Aztec water signs.’ pointing the way to springs
The first published announcement of the tur- … They are numbered by many thousands
quoise discoveries in this region was made in … Some are combinations of lines, dots, and
1897, (Sperisen, 1897). The locality was given curves....; others represent animals and men; a
as near Manvel [Barnwell] ... Mr. T. C. Bassett third... is that of the ‘shield figures’...
observed ... a vein of turquoise... and aborigi- One curious legend still exists among the
nal stone hammers... as usual at all turquoise neighboring Indians that is in no way improb-
localities in the southwest... the location was able or inconsistent with the facts. The story
named the Stone Hammer mine. was told Mr. Eisen by ‘Indian Johnny’, son of
On the reports of prospectors reaching San the Piute chief, Tecopah, who died recently
Francisco … an exploring party was organized at a great age, and who, in turn had received
by the San Francisco “Call,” and Mr. Gustav it from his father. Thousands of years ago,
Eisen, of the California Academy of Sciences, says the tale, this region was the home of
became attached to it as archaeological expert. the Desert Mojaves. Among them suddenly
The party set out in March,1898, going first to appeared, from the west and south, a strange
Blake Station [Goffs] on the Santa Fe Rail- tribe searching for precious stones among the
road, thence north to Manvel [Barnwell], and rocks, who made friends with the Mojaves,
onward some sixty miles, across the Ivanpah learned about these mines, worked with them
Sink, and up into the mountains ...The region and got great quantities of these stones. These
is conspicuously volcanic in aspect, being people were unlike any other Indians, with
largely covered with outflows of trap or lighter complexions and hair, very peace-
basaltic rock reaching outward from a group able and industrious, and possessed of many
of extinct craters....In canyons and on sides of curious arts. They made these rock carvings
hills are the old turquoise mines, appearing and taught the Mojaves the same things. This
as saucer-like pits,...around them the ground alarmed and excited the Piutes, who distrusted
consists of disintegrated quartz rock, like sand such strange novelties, and thought them
and gravel, full of fragments and little nod- some form of insanity or ‘bad medicine’, and
ules of turquoise. ...Stone tools are abundant resolved on a war of extermination. After
in the old workings, and the indications are a long and desperate conflict, most of the
plain that this locality had been exploited on strangers and Mojaves were slain, since which
a great scale and probably for a long period, time, perhaps a thousand years ago, the mines
and must have been an important source of have been abandoned. Mr. Eisen connects
the turquoise used among ancient Mexicans. this account with the existence of a fair and
...The canyon walls are full of caverns, now reddish-haired tribe, the Mayos (not Mayas),
— 66 —
in parts of Sinaloa and Sonora, some of whom Reynolds, R.E., editor, 1988. Cenozoic tectonics in the Halloran Hills,
in This extended land. Cordilleran Section, Geological Society of
may have reached these mines and carried on
America, Field Trip Guidebook:201-222.
a turquoise trade with Mexico. ___, 1988. Structural evolution of the Shadow Valley Basin. Redlands,
San Bernardino County Museum Association Quarterly, 35(3,4).
This region has since [1898–1905] been ___, 1990. Erosion, deposition, and detachment: the Halloran Hills
opened at several points, and at least a dozen sequence. Redlands, San Bernardino County Museum Association
mines are now being worked by various par- Special Publication, SP90-1.
ties, mostly with eastern capital. The principal ___, 1993. Erosion, deposition, and detachment: the Halloran Hills area,
California, p. 21-24, in Extended terranes, California, Arizona, Ne-
work is being done by the Himalaya and vada, D. R. Sherrod and J. E. Nielson, eds. U.S. Geological Survey
Toltec mining companies. The turquoise Bulletin, 2053: 250 p.
obtained, when pure and of good color, is cut Reynolds, R.E. and James Calzia, 1996. Punctuated chaos. San Bernar-
into fine gems;...ornamental stone....and beads. dino County Museum Association Quarterly, 43(1,2):131-134.
Reynolds, R.E., D. Miller, L.M. Vredenburgh, and G. T. Ririe, 1996.
Most of the material produced is sent to New Punctuated chaos: A field trip in the northeastern Mojave Desert. San
York. The yield in 1900 was estimated at a Bernardino County Museum Association Quarterly, 43(1 & 2):3-22.
value of $20,000. Rogers, M. J., 1929. Report of an archaeological reconnaissance in the
Mojave Sink region. San Diego Museum of Man Archaeological
Papers1(1).
Acknowledgments Sigleo, A. C., 1970. Trace-element geochemistry of the southwestern
turquoise. MS thesis on file at the University of New Mexico, Albu-
The author thanks Mr. Ed Nazelrod, Apache Canyon querque.
Mining Company, whose interest in prehistoric mining led ___, 1975. Turquoise mine and artifact correlation for Snaketown Site,
him to save examples of the mine pits, hammers, bone Arizona. Science 189:459-460.
and charcoal, and to provide samples of turquoise for Sperisen, F. J, 1897. Mineral Resources U. S. United States Geological
Survey:504.
study. The late Wilson Turner was instrumental in locating ___, 1938, Gem minerals of California. California Journal of Mines and
petroglyphs figured in 1898 reports. N. Nelson Leonard Geology, 34 (1):34-74.
provided discussions of the dates of cultural material Turner, F. J. and John Verhoogen, 1960. Igneous and metamorphic
associated with the ancient mines. Robert M. Housley pro- petrology. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co.: 694p.
vided SEM analysis and thoughtful discussion and review.
References cited
Beckerman, G.M., 1982. Petrology of the southern portion of the Teu-
tonia batholith: a large intrusive complex of Jurassic and Cretaceous
age in the eastern Mojave Desert, California. MS thesis, University of
Southern California.
Bishop, K. M., 1994. Mesozoic and Cenozoic extensional tectonics in the
Halloran Hills and Silurian Hills, eastern San Bernardino County,
California. PHd dissertation, University of Southern California. Los
Angeles, California: 252p.
Castor, Stephen B. and Gregory C. Ferdock, 2004. Minerals of Nevada.
Nevada bureau of Mines and Geology, Special Publication 31, and
University of Nevada Press, 512 p.
DeWitt, Edward. H., 1980. Geology and geochronology of the Halloran
Hills, southeastern California, and implications concerning Mesozoic
tectonics of the southwestern cordillera: M. S. thesis: 269p.
Dohrenwend, J. C., S. G. Wells, B. D. Turney, and L. D. Mcfadden,
1984. Rates and trends of Late Cenozoic landscape degredation in
the area of the Cima Volcanic Field, Mojave Desert, California. Geol.
Soc. Amer. Field Guide, Reno, Nevada, p. 101-115.
Eisen, Gustav, 1898. Long lost mines of precious gems are found again,
located in the remotest wilds of San Bernardino County and marked
by strange hieroglyphics. The San Francisco Call, March 18 and 27.
Friedman, J., 1996. Miocene strata below the Shadow Valley basin fill,
eastern Mojave Desert, California. San Bernardino County Museum
Association Quarterly, 43(1,2):123 -127.
Kunz, George F., 1905, Gems, jewelers’ materials and ornamental stones
of California: Cal. State Mining Bureau Bull.37:107-110.
Leonard, N. Nelson and Christopher E. Drover, 1980. Prehistoric
turquoise in the Halloran Springs District, San Bernardino County,
California. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 2
(2):245-256.
Morrissey, F. R., 1968. Turquoise deposits on Nevada. Nev. Bur. Mines
and Geology Report 17: 30 p.
Murdoch, Joseph, and R.W. Webb, 1966. Minerals of California, Cal.
Div. Mines and Geology, Bull. 189: 559 p.
Pemberton, H. Earl, 1983. Minerals of California. Van Nostrand Rein-
hold Co., New York: 591p.
— 67 —
Recent rare mineral finds at the

Noonday and War Eagle mines,
Tecopa Pass, Inyo Co. CA
Robert M. Housley, 210 S. Catalina Ave. #3, Pasadena CA 91106. rhousley@its.caltech.edu
Introduction site at the War Eagle (Newman and Stewart, 1951). Wood-
In conjunction with a loose collaboration with the
house in personal communications recorded in CDMG
Shoshone Museum, a few members of the Southern Cali-
Bulletin 189 mentioned scorodite from the Noonday in
fornia Friends of Mineralogy and friends including myself,
1945 and aurichalcite from the War Eagle in 1954.
Garth Bricker, Bob Reynolds, Dick Thomssen, and Joe
The Caltech mineral collection has specimens of cerus-
Marty have begun a systematic study of the mineralogy
site from the Columbia no. 2 Mine and galena, anglesite,
of the abandoned lead/zinc/silver mines in the Tecopa
cerussite, aurichalcite, brochantite, and linarite from
Pass area of the Resting Springs mining district. We are
Shoshone Mines, a grouping that included all the above
using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive
mines, but primarily worked the Columbia no. 2 and
x-ray analysis to identify previously unrecognized miner-
the War Eagle. These were mostly donated by Thomas
als. Most of our efforts so far have been focused on the
Coons in 1954. The Los Angeles County Natural History
Noonday and War Eagle mines where our combined
collections provide a good selection of
samples (Plate 2). Such mines offer an
unparalleled scientific opportunity to find
and study rare minerals that only form in
unusual chemical/geologic environments
and which are insufficiently stable under
surface conditions to ever be found in
natural outcrops. Indeed we have already
found some rare minerals as well as fine
specimens of some more common ones.
These will be described in the main
body of this report after brief discussions
of the history of mining in the area and
of the geological setting of the mines.
The main mines of the area are now
mapped on the USGS 7.5” Tecopa Pass
quadrangle as the Gunsight, the Noon-
day, the Columbia no. 2, and the War
Eagle. The Gunsight also often appears
in the literature as the Gunsite. What
was once known as the Grant Mine is
now considered to be part of the Noon-
day since their underground workings in-
terconnect. It appears that the Columbia
no. 2 was once known as the Noonday
no. 2. There seems to be little documen-
tation of prior studies of the mineralogy
of these mines. The mining literature in-
dicates that the ore minerals were galena
and cerussite at the Gunsight (Hamilton,
Figure 1. Topographic map of study region. Flags show the
1921), galena, cerussite, and smithsonite locations of the main mines in the region as given in the MAS/
at the Noonday (Waring and Huguenin, MILS database as well as the lower dump of the Noonday where
1919), and galena, anglesite, and cerus- we saw good jarosite and the S. E. entrance of the War Eagle.
— 68 —
Museum also has linarite from the War Eagle. mill at Tecopa. By the time Tecopa Consolidated ceased
Figure 1 reproduces the portion of the latest USGS operation in 1928 it is estimated that they had produced
topographic map showing the region we studying. The about $4,000,000 worth of ore.
most recently used south access adit to the War Eagle is The most recent history of the mines (Newman and
labeled “W. E. entrance.” Stewart, 1951) began after 1938 when they were purchased
by Shoshone Mines Incorporated. They were then sold to
History the Finley Company and in June 1947 to Anaconda Cop-
The Balance, the first mine in what came to be known per Mining Company, which operated them as Shoshone
as the Resting Springs mining district, was located by the Mines. Anaconda built a concentrating mill at Noonday
Brown brothers in the spring of 1875. The early history City, and focused their operations in the Columbia no. 2
of the district up through the turn of the century is well and War Eagle Mines. It is estimated that by the time they
summarized by Hensher and Vredenburgh (1997). An- ceased ore production in 1957 that they had produced an
other account of the history for roughly the same period additional $4,000,000 worth of ore (Baltzer, 2004, cited
with pictures is given at http://www.ttrr.org/tt_tocs.html below).
(McCulloch, 2004). From this table of contents page one
needs to go to Tecopa Railroad/Revisiting the Tecopa Geology
Railroad/History. In a nutshell the Balance and other near- The lead/silver mines in the Tecopa Pass area generally
by mines including the Noonday were soon purchased by occur as replacements and vein fillings in roughly north/
Jonas Osborne who formed the Los Angeles Mining Com- south trending fissure veins in the Proterozoic age Noon-
pany in May of 1877 to develop and operate them. This
company then also bought the Gunsight whose discovery
site and subsequent developments are photographically
documented at the above website at Tecopa Railroad/A
look at the Gunsight Mine. Largely because of the remote-
ness of the location and difficulties in processing the ores,
the Los Angeles Mining Company was never a financial
success. Osborne sold his stock in early 1880. The com-
pany ceased operations in July of 1881 after drilling more
than 1000 feet of adit to intersect the Gunsight vein at
depth. Osborne then bought all the property back in 1883
with backing from a San Bernardino banker. He kept the
mines and mill in operating condition waiting for the time
when transportation or processing would be cheaper. At
one point Osborne even built a large steam tractor and
used it to haul a couple of loads of ore to distant railroad
terminals, but this still did not prove profitable.
Things changed in 1906 when the Tonopah and Tide-
water railroad was laid out to pass within a few miles of
Resting Springs. In that same year Osborne and the heirs
of the banker sold their Tecopa holding for $350,000, ap-
parently to the Tecopa Consolidated Mining Company or
to investors that soon formed such a company under the
laws of South Dakota. When the T. and T. was completed
to Tecopa Station in February of 1907, Tecopa Consoli-
dated already had 800 sacks of ore ready for shipment.
The ore was transported the 10 miles or so from the mines
to the station in horse-drawn wagons. By December 1907
Tecopa Consolidated reportedly had 100 men working
and were shipping 100 tons of ore a day from the Noon-
day while they also had reserves in the Gunsight.
By July of 1908 Tecopa Consolidated had started work
on a work on a railroad spur to the Gunsight and Noon-
day Mines. When the company was sold to Philadelphia
investors in November of 1908 it reportedly had reserves
with a net value of $1,650,000 in sight. At some time be-
fore 1919 the company also built a 100 ton concentrating Figure 2. Map begins at southeast entrance of the mine, which is
labeled W. E. entrance in Figure 1.
— 69 —
day Dolomite (Newman and Stewart, 1951). A geologic

map of the larger Tecopa region and discussion of the
rock units is provided by Mason (1948). Some addi-
tional discussion compiled by David Jessey and students,
particularly S. Baltzer, as background for a Death Valley
field trip can be found at http://geology.csupomona.edu/
docs/DVT2004.pdf . This website includes a partial map
of the 250 foot south entrance level of the War Eagle
Mine, which is reproduced with permission as Figure 2.
It appears that the primary ore in the region was for the
most part argentiferous galena, which in many parts of the
mines was largely oxidized to earthy anglesite and cerus-
site.
War Eagle Minerals

The later underground workings of the War Eagle
which were accessed from the southeastern Anaconda
entrance are extensive and we have a number of samples
from them. We have not been able to locate any samples
from the older workings. From the entrance, or 250 foot,
level (Newman and Stewart, 1951) we have some nice Figure 4. SEM image of fraipontite cluster. Field of view 70
micrometers.
rosasite with calcite and also galena and bindheimite.
From the 350 foot level we have very nice aurichalcite
in the altered dolomite. An example is shown in Figure 3.
From cavities in gossan from this level we also have very
nice fraipontite associated with aurichalcite, zincian mala-
chite, and hemimorphite. To the best of our knowledge
this is the second reported occurrence of fraipontite in
California and ranks in quality with the best that has been
found anywhere. Figure 4 is an SEM image of one of the
fraipontite clusters. Several other minerals also were found
in this vicinity and are listed in Table 1. Of particular
interest is the indium hydroxide mineral dzhalindite which
we recently found during an SEM study of material from
Figure 5. SEM image of dzhalindite on fraipontite. Field of view 70

micrometers.
this level. This appears to be the second reported United

States occurrence of this mineral. Figure 5 shows an SEM
image of the dzhalindite.
Some nice brochantite associated with linarite and
aurichalcite came from the 500 foot level. Also a little bit
of plattnerite on white calcite occurred there.
From the 600 foot level, in addition to more aurichal-
Figure 3. Blocky hemimorphite on aurichalcite blades. cite, are several sulfates including serpierite, schulenberg-
— 70 —
aurichalcite. Also sometimes as

sharp, clear, unstriated, equant
crystals, which could easily be
mistaken, for example, for barite.
Hydrozincite. Tiny white
crystals associated with and
sometimes growing on aurichal-
cite. It can be easily recognized
by its fluorescence.
Linarite. Tiny crystals as-
sociated with brochantite on the
500 foot level. Nice crystals from
unknown level in Caltech and
Los Angeles Museum of Natural
History collections.
Mimetite. Tiny but well
formed and sometimes com-
plex crystals, recognized as pale
yellow regions associated with
cerussite.
ite, and unidentified Cu/Zn sulfate needles, all associated Plattnerite. Black needles on white calcite.
with gypsum Rosasite. Deep green balls associated with and some-
Stan Bogosian tells me that he found nice aurichalcite times imbedded in clear calcite on 250 foot level.
with cerussite twins on the upper War Eagle dumps as Schulenbergite. Blue hexagonal appearing platy to
recently as the Spring of 2002. blocky crystals associated with gypsum, serpierite, and un-
More complete descriptions of the individual minerals I identified Cu/Zn sulfate needles on 600 foot level. Identi-
have seen from the War Eagle follow. fied by EDX composition and appearance. First California
Aurichalcite. Sharp, clear, well terminated crystals and second U. S. occurrence.
to about 3 mm in sprays, which can coat surfaces, form- Serpierite. Sharp, clean, deep blue crystals associ-
ing nice cabinet specimens as well as micros. Commonly ated with gypsum, schulenbergite, and unidentified Cu/Zn
associated minerals are calcite and hemimorphite. Other sulfate needles on 600 foot level. Identified by EDX com-
associates include hydrozincite, fraipontite, smithsonite, position, crystal shape, and appearance. Very nice crystals
cerussite, brochantite, mimetite, and dzhalindite. for the species. Second California occurrence.
Bindheimite. Typical yellow earthy or powdery Smithsonite. Occurs as clear complex crystals as-
material. sociated with aurichalcite and as druzy coatings on the 350
Brochantite. Sharp green crystals to about 2 mm foot level.
which can form nice cabinet specimens as well as micros. Unidentified Cu/Zn sulfate. Occurs as long
Calcite. Small clear crystals, sometimes enclosing thin needles of constant cross section either singly or in
rosasite on 250 foot level, and white blades to about one clusters; parts or cleaves easily along needle axis. Needle
cm on the 350 foot level. shape is indistinct possibly due to twinning.
Cerussite. White flat lying plates to several mm on Zincian malachite. Occurs as complex needles
green botryoidal fraipontite. to 4 mm associated with fraipontite in the gossan on the
Dzhalindite. Tiny square plates associated with 350 foot level and associated with aurichalcite on the 600
tiny complex mimetites and conforming to the surfaces of foot level. Although not recognized as a species, zincian
green botryoidal fraipontite. First report for California and malachite has been previously reported.
second for U. S.
Galena. Polycrystalline masses in dolomite.
Noonday Mine Minerals
Gypsum. Small flat-lying crystals associated with
Garth Bricker and I spent a few hours at the Noonday
other sulfates on the 600 foot level.
in early summer of 2000 and after picking up some nice
Fraipontite. In cavities in the gossan, fraipontite
jarosite on the lower dump we followed a series of shallow
forms white balls to about 0.2 mm and small clusters of
surface workings that had accessed the top portions of the
individual crystals. On the dolomite it sometimes forms
vein along the hill south and up from the entrance. About
pale green botryoidal coatings somewhat resembling mala-
half way up the series we spotted a couple of blue/green
chite or chrysocolla. Second California occurrence. Good
areas along the walls where the vein had been removed.
crystals for species.
These contained micros of blue and green minerals,
Hemimorphite. Frequently in typical striated
mostly in gypsum, and we took a number of samples
blades to a few mm lying on surfaces or intergrown with
home for further study. One of the green minerals proved
— 71 —
to be the rare paratacamite. On a trip in 2004 in the same mm on Pb bearing secondary dolomite and associated
general area, Joe Marty found plattnerite. with other Pb minerals altered to black Pb oxide.
Bob Reynolds has also found hydrozincite veins with Unidentified Cu/Zn sulfate. Similar to material
hemimorphite in rocks on the dump. In an old ore pile describe under War Eagle Mine.
along the road he found galena with cavities containing
anglesite, caledonite, malachite, and cerussite. Concluding thoughts
More detailed descriptions of the Noonday Mine min- I think it is important to emphasize that as long as they
erals I have seen follow. remain open these mines continue to be a treasure trove
Anglesite. Small clear crystals in cavities in galena of interesting minerals waiting to be discovered and stud-
from the ore pile. ied. Even though we report three firsts and two seconds
Bindheimite. Typical yellow powder in cavities in for California as well as a couple of very-good-for-species,
galena of the ore pile and in altered dolomite of surface we have examined a relatively small collection of samples
workings from these mines. It is very likely that if we obtain access
Caledonite. Small but sharp blue green crystals in to more samples we will have to extensively modify the
cavities in galena from the ore pile. tables and mineral lists above. Nonetheless it seems worth-
Cerussite. Druzy yellowish coatings in galena, fre- while to document what we know now. I will be interested
quently associated with caledonite. in hearing from other people with samples from the area
Galena. Small chunks of weathered porous crystal and will try to keep the combined information up to date.
aggregates with small crystal-lined cavities in the ore pile.
Gypsum. Crystals to several mm associated with Disclaimer. This report is intended only to provide his-
other mineralization in the surface workings. torical and scientific information. It is not to be construed
Hemimorphite. Small clear striated crystals associ- as granting permission to enter or study these mines,
ated with hydrozincite from the dump and gypsum and many of which are private property.
other minerals in the surface workings.
Hydrozincite. As about 3 mm veins in altered do- Acknowledgements. First of all I want to thank Garth
lomite from the dump and as small white balls on gypsum Bricker whose cheerful and enthusiastic companionship
in the surface workings. helped make this work a pleasure. I want to thank Bob
Jarosite. Attractive specimens of sparkly reddish Reynolds who first suggested we look at the mineralogy
brown crystals coating surfaces of altered dolomite on of these mines and who provided samples from his col-
dump. lection. I greatly appreciate the help of Dick Thomssen
Linarite. Tiny individual blue crystals on gypsum and Joe Marty who also selected and sent me interesting
from surface workings. samples to study. Joe provided all the serpierite, schulen-
Malachite. Tiny sprays of crystals in cavities in bergite bearing material from the 600 foot level. I want
galena from the ore pile. to thank David Jessey for providing information on the
Paratacamite. Equant deep green crystals to about recent history of the War Eagle and for allowing me to use
0.2 mm on gypsum, and associated with linarite, hemi- his mine map. I also appreciate information provided by
morphite, and an unidentified Cu/Zn sulfate similar to the Stan Bogosian, Carl Moran, and John Samuals.
one found at the War Eagle Mine. Identified from EDX
composition and appearance. First reported occurrence in References
California. Alan Hensher and Larry M Vredenburgh (1997) The early history of the
Plattnerite. Tetragonal black needles to about 0.1 Resting Springs Mining District. San Bernardino Museum Quarterly
44, 67-70.
John F. Mason (1948) Geology of the Tecopa area, Southeast-
ern California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 59,
333-352.
M. A. Newman and D. L. Stewart (1951) Mines and mineral
resources of Inyo County. California Journal of Mines and
Geology 47, 80-81.
— 72 —
Recent rare mineral finds in

southern California and Nevada
desert mines
Robert M. Housley, 210 S. Catalina Ave. #3, Pasadena CA 91106. rhousley@its.caltech.edu
During the last few years a number of rare mineral finds a couple of light yellowish green sprays of the Pb silicate
have been made at Southern California and Nevada des- creaseyite. Later, conichalcite was also found.
ert mines. Each undoubtedly deserves a detailed write-up.
Such a write-up is provided for the War Eagle and Noon- Winter Prospect, El Dorado District, Clark County
day Mines in the volume. For the other mines, it seems (Plate 4)
worthwhile to at least mention the occurrences. This location is listed as being nine miles northwest of
Nelson in “Minerals of Nevada,” and several minerals are
California Mines listed as being found there including the rare chromates
Aga Mine, Baker, San Bernardino County (Plate 3) hemihedrite and iranite. Even though this area is small
In January of 2004 the rare Cu/Pb tellurate parakhinite and difficult to access, during February 2004 additional
was discovered associated with anglesite, pyromorphite, samples of hemihedrite and iranite along with mimetite,
and gold at this mine. Subsequently, besides vanadinite, willemite, and wulfenite were obtained.
mottramite, and cerussite, the additional tellurium miner-
als plumbotellurite, fairbankite, khinite, burckhardtite, and Acknowledgements
moctezumite have been found, although the later two can These finds were a joint result of the combined efforts
only be recognized in the SEM. of Tish Hunter, Walter Margerum, Dick Thomsson, Joe
Marty, Jim Soboleski and myself. The fact that I have writ-
Bagdad-Chase Mine, Ludlow, San Bernardino ten this listing should not imply that my role was greater
County (Plate 3) than any of the others.
In January of 2003 exceptionally fine crystals of the Bi/
Pb oxychloride perite were found associated with colorless References
Minerals of Nevada (2004), Stephan B. Castor and Gregory C. Ferdock,
mimetite and wulfenite at this mine. Other minerals occur- Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology special publication 31, Univer-
ring here include duftite, hedyphane, malachite, goethite, sity of Nevada Press.
hematite, and cerussite.
Nevada Mines
Boss Mine, Goodsprings (Yellow Pine) District,
Clark County (Plate 4)
Nissonite from the Boss Mine is listed in “Minerals of
Nevada”, (Castor and Ferdock, 2004). In February of 2004
two more good quality samples of this Mg/Cu phosphate
were found on the 200-foot level dump of the mine. This
brings to four the total number of pieces of nissonite that
have been found there during the last 10 years. This latest
nissonite is on gossan and is associated with dendritic
malachite pseudomorphs, probably after cuprite.
Quo Vadis Mine, Alunite District, Clark County

(Plate 4)
Abundant mimetite, willemite, and fornacite were
noticed at the Quo Vadis Mine in November of 2003. In
February of 2004 very nice murdochite crystals associated
with mimetite and fornacite were found. Also found were
— 73 —
Rich Hill, Arizona: a modern gold

rush to a historic gold district
Erik Melchiorre, Geology Department, California State University, San Bernardino, CA 92407; Dante Lauretta
and M. Katherine Crombie, Department of Lunar & Planetary Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721;
Chris Gholson, Arizona Outback, PO Box 10591, Glendale, AZ 85318
Rich Hill, also known as Weaver District No. 2, is among afternoon than Nevada mine workers will ever see outside
the most productive placer gold localities in Arizona. of the mill.
Located near Congress, Arizona, this district hosted major Inspired northeastward by Spanish legends, a party
placer rushes in the 1860s and 1930s, followed by an elec- of ten men left Yuma, Arizona on April 1, 1863, includ-
tronic metal-detecting rush that started in the 1980s and ing Pauline Weaver, Henry Wickenburg, and Abraham
continues to this day. Thousands of ounces of gold have Peeples. Wickenburg left the group near the Hassayampa
been produced by these modern amateur and professional River and discovered the Vulture Deposit. The rest of
metal detectorists, many of whom see more gold in an the group arrived at the base of Rich Hill in late May.
While drying antelope meat on
the first day, a few of the men
prospected a nearby creek bed
and immediately found gold. In
a couple of hours they picked
up over 90 ounces of gold. The
next day, four members of the
party went searching for their
horses, and returned with news
that a nearby hilltop was literally
graveled with nuggets. The next
morning the party went to the
top of the “Rich Hill” and found
chunks of native gold as big as
potatoes littering the ground of
a gently sloping basin, hence the
depression’s nickname “Potato
Patch.” During the height of
the following rush, Weaver was
bringing in twenty-five pounds of
gold each week, and placer min-
ers averaged sixty-five dollars
each day. Over 25,000 ounces
of gold were found around Rich
Hill in the first five years.
After several years the easy
placer gold was mined out.
The area started to attract men
like Charles Stanton who were
Figure 1. Index map of Arizona,

showing the location of Rich Hill,
and a detailed satellite image of the
greater Rich Hill District. Note the
visible mine tailings (white) below
Octave, and the large alluvial fan
(reddish) below Stanton. The white
box is the approximate outline of the
Rich Hill Mining District.
— 74 —
Figure 4. Certificate of stock in the Mountainside Gold Company.

Courtesy of Fred Holabird Americana, http://www.holabird.org
per month. Despite the decline, the Octave Mine man-

ager noted that after a good rain most of the shift work-
ers would skip work to hunt for nuggets. By 1907, only
400 ounces of placer gold were produced. Placer mining
remained in a slump until the Great Depression, which
spurred a short revival of placer gold mining at Rich Hill.
In 1975, the Rhenium Corporation floated a scheme
Figure 2. The only known image of Pauline Weaver. Weaver was an
to reprocess the Octave mine tailings, claming a grade
explorer, rancher, trapper, prospector, and entrepreneur, and was
involved in the discovery of two of Arizona’s richest gold strikes, of 1 opt palladium, ½ opt platinum, and 1 opt rhenium.
including Rich Hill. Courtesy of Sharlot Hall Museum. The unsuspecting Reverend Jack Oliphant, the execu-
tive director of the Ranch Challenge Hallelujah People,
purchased $100,000 of this stock. In the winter of 1976
more interested in stealing gold than mining it. In March Reverend Oliphant and about fifty of his followers, known
1875 a post office was established at Antelope Station as the “Hallelujah Boys,” took up residence in some of the
and Charles Stanton was appointed postmaster. His first abandoned buildings at Octave, believing their stock in
act was to rename the town “Stanton.” Stanton was later the defunct Rhenium Corporation gave them ownership
elected deputy and justice of the peace, though behind the of the mine. This didn’t sit well with Carl Carlson, another
scenes he was the mastermind of the Vega gang. There man who claimed ownership of the mine, and his trio of
were several murders and Stanton, acting as justice of the armed guards who lived directly across the road from
peace, named himself as sole beneficiary. Charles Stanton
was gunned down by unknown attackers.
Placer gold production was at least 50,000 ounces by
1883. By 1899 only twenty men were working the placer
fields fulltime, each producing about 100 ounces of gold
Figure 5. The Octave Mine in the late 1890’s. In the upper left
corner is the #2 shaft and headframe. The mill, to the center-right,
Figure 3. Charles P. Stanton in front of “his” store. Courtesy of was connected to the shaft by an elevated wooden tramway.
Sharlot Hall Museum. Courtesy of Sharlot Hall Museum.
— 75 —
Figure 8. The original Butterfield Stage Stop, where Charles

Stanton was gunned down, now serves as the Lost Dutchman’s
Figure 6. Lode gold production from the Rich Hill area, 1908 to Mining Association main office in Stanton, AZ.
1934. Over 100,000 ounces of gold has been produced historically
from the hard-rock mines of the district.
famous recent find is the two-pound “Tongue Nugget.”
With thousands of metal detector and drywasher hobby-
the Hallelujah Boys camp. Tensions quickly began to run
ists annually producing many hundreds of ounces of gold
high between the two heavily armed camps. On March
in the Rich Hill area, this revitalized district is a dramatic
20, 1978, Reverend Oliphant lost most of his right arm
example of a modern gold rush.
when he pulled a 16-gauge shotgun barrel first from his
car to confront Carlson’s guards. This feud wasn’t the only
incident at Rich Hill, and when gold hit $800 an ounce,
Figure 9. Fifteen gold nuggets
things got so crazy that the police and propane refueling totaling over 1-½ ounces, found
trucks refused to come out to Octave. with metal detectors in the
During the late 1970s, members of the Lost Dutch- Devil’s Nest area at Rich Hill.
From left to right: an “L” shaped
man’s Mining Association (LDMA) began to routinely visit
nugget of ½ ounce, 10 smaller
the area and pan for gold along Antelope Creek. They nuggets totaling a little over ½
also would camp among the historical ruins of the town of ounce, and 4 nuggets totaling
Stanton. The members of the LDMA were not looking to a little over ½ ounce with the
largest weighing 0.3 ounces.
get rich and considered themselves recreational prospec-
Courtesy Arizona Outback,
tors. They were drawn to Stanton as much for the beauty http://www.arizonaoutback.com
and solitude of the area as for the rich gold deposits. The
group purchased the town and mineral rights to some of
Figure 10. A 4-½ ounce nugget
the surrounding areas in 1978. Seventy R.V. hook ups found at Rich Hill at a depth
and dry camping for 125 people were constructed, and of 1-½ feet with a Minelab SD
the original buildings were restored. Without the LDMA’s 2100 metal detector. Courtesy
efforts to preserve this historic town from vandalism, it is Arizona Outback, http://www.
arizonaoutback.com
likely that nothing would remain today. Probably the most
Figure 11. Eight large nuggets between ¼ and ½ ounce found in

the Rich Hill area, including (from top, clockwise) Weaver Creek,
Johnson Mine area, two from Potato Patch, three from Devils
Figure 7. The old church at Octave, which was temporarily Nest, and the center one from south of the Octave Mine. Courtesy
occupied in the 1970’s by the “Hallelujah Boys.” Arizona Outback, http://www.arizonaoutback.com
— 76 —
The 100% true story of Hubert

Tecumseh Miller (except for the
made-up bits)
Steven W. Smith, Vice President, Mojave River Valley Museum, PO Box 1282, Barstow, Ca 92312-1282. barstow@
verizon.net
To study history you either go to some books and other party. The forty guests were instead asked to contribute
documents or you go talk to the people that lived it. The to a money tree. After the fried chicken dinner and the
sad truth is that you miss some of these people. One per- required singing of Happy Birthday, a birthday cake was
son I have discovered in my history searches that I wish I presented which had one big candle.
could have met is Hubert Tecumseh Miller. Miller’s celebration did not end at the party. On
Miller was born in St. Joseph, Missouri on December December 30 Art Linkletter invited him to his television
4, 1858. His father served under General William Tecum- show. After they talked Linkletter presented Miller with
seh Sherman in the Civil War. After Missouri, the family a gift. He had a number of showgirls escort Miller on an
moved west in a Conestoga wagon. Miller remembered overnight trip to Las Vegas. “I loved every minute of it.”
his father telling him of the move, “When I was five Miller was quoted as saying about the trip. Miller must
months old he put me in an ox cart and we headed west.” have been a good guest because Linkletter invited him
They first settled in Yuma, Arizona. back again January 19, 1960.
As a young man Miller became a prospector. He Also in 1960 Miller made it into the record books. He
spent the next seventy years looking for gold. In 1880–82 signed on as worker for the 1960 census. At 101 years old
he worked at Calico. The places that Miller claimed to he was the oldest census taker for that census and may
have explored stretched from Central America to Alaska. have been the oldest in history. The Desert Dispatch ran
About his mining success he was quoted as saying, “Al- a picture of Miller, in his best suit looking like the typical
though I have found some rich pockets I never made a grizzled prospector with a beard down to his chest, getting
fortune. I was never smart enough for that.” He worked his instructions from R.J. Steck the Director of the Barstow
mines until 1953 when he was temporarily blinded by Census. The picture was picked up by the news service
dynamite dust. UPI and was run by several papers nationwide. His work
He married in 1882, his wife dying 11 years later in on the census also got him a mention in the Ripley’s Be-
Alaska giving birth to their fifth child. Miller outlived all lieve it or Not comic strip.
of his children. In 1941, he left Alaska and moved back to After his work on the census I had a hard time finding
our desert area, still looking for a gold strike. At one time
or another he claimed Lone Pine, Bishop, Palmdale, and
Lancaster as home. Once he quit prospecting and worked
as a dealer in Reno, Nevada.
On Sunday December 5, 1958 his friends, Mr. and
Mrs. Eisenhower (the paper did not give their first names
and they seemed to be no relation to President Eisen-
hower) threw him a 100th birthday party. Mrs. Eisenhower
first met Miller in Daggett when she contacted him while
working for the Emergency Welfare Relief of Barstow.
The party was held at Will’s Café that was located out of
town on the old road to Needles and Las Vegas, High-
way 91. Mayor George Oakes started the celebration by
reading a birthday greeting from President Eisenhower.
The next speaker was Leonard Nunally, a representative
from the National Distillery Company of Beverly Hills,
who presented Miller with a bottle of Old Crow whiskey,
a fitting gift because when Miller was asked about his
secret to long life, he said, “I have been trying to find that Miller on the way to the
out myself. I guess have drunk just the right amount of Art Linkletter show in
whiskey to preserve me.” There were no other gifts at the 1960.
— 77 —
money and had to find lodging at a different home, this

time in Victorville. He lived there a few months and was
planning to work the 1970 census if “he felt spry enough.”
Miller lived in the home for only a few months. He
died May 5, 1970. According to reports he was still full of
life up until he passed in his sleep. He was cremated and
interred at Victor Valley Memorial Park in Victorville.
I am still looking for facts and stories about Hubert
Miller. If have anyone has information about Miller please
contact me at the Mojave River Valley Museum at (760)
256-5452 or e-mail me at barstow@verizon.net.
Miller receiving instruction from his census supervisor, R.J. Streck.

Photo taken by Bob Striegel of the Desert Dispatch went out over
the wire and was reprinted nationwide. Also basis of Ripley’s
Believe it or Not comic strip.
any more information on Miller so I

checked with all the local cemeteries
to see if I could find the date of his
death with no luck. So I went looking
through the newspaper files to find
his obituary thinking “He turned 100
in 1958— how much longer could he
have been around?” I went through
the papers in order from 1960 on. A
tedious task but I was determined. In
the January 5, 1963 edition, I found,
not his obituary, but his wedding an-
nouncement. The 104-year-old Miller
married 58-year-old Edna M. Mills
from Victorville. They were mar-
ried by Justice of the Peace Myron
E. Leavitt. Leavitt commented about
the groom “(Miller) had no trouble
repeating the vows, he was hale and
hearty.” The newlyweds went on a
Miller front and center and the Charlie Anthony family around
honeymoon to Las Vegas but it was 1964. Miller was 106 at the time but lied about his age and claimed
cut short because Miller had to get back to work. I don’t to be 120.
know what he was doing at the time and I have yet to find
out what happened to Edna Miller.
The wedding announcement gave me a few clues
about his obituary. I had mistakenly thought he died in
the early 60s when in reality I was looking in the wrong
decade!
December of 1969, shortly after his 111th birthday and
after losing his sight again, Miller found himself in another
adventure. He was living at an old folks home in Pomona
at the time and he thought the people that worked at the
home were stealing his money, so he escaped the home
and hopped a bus back to Barstow. He got a room in
the El Rancho Hotel and, as he thought, he settled down
to die. Somewhere along the way I think he ran out of
— 78 —
Age constraints of the Copper

Canyon Formation, Death Valley
National Park, California
Torrey Nyborg, Department of Earth and Biological Sciences, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92350, tny-
borg06g@ns.llu.edu; H. PaulBuchheim, Department of Earth and Biological Sciences, Loma Linda University, Loma
Linda, CA 92350, pbuchheim@univ.llu.edu.
Extremely well preserved ichnofossils including tracks Approximately seventy percent of the Copper Canyon
and trackways of mammals and birds occur abundantly Unit consists of fanglomerates that underlie and interfinger
throughout the fluviolacustrine deposits of the Copper with fluviolacustrine deposits (Drewes, 1963). The fan-
Canyon Unit. The Copper Canyon Unit was deposited glomerates represent alluvium deposits that accumulated
in an ancient lake that attracted an abundant and diverse before and during the fluviolacustrine sequence.
fauna to its muddy shores, leaving their tracks as evidence The fluviolacustrine deposits consist of lower, middle
of their activities. To date, thirty-six ichnospecies of cat, and upper sub-units (Figure 1). The lower sub-unit depos-
camel, horse, mastodon, and bird tracks have been identi- its are dominated by claystones, siltstones and debris flows
fied from the fluviolacustrine sediments (Nyborg, 1998; reflecting an initial unit of fluviolacustrine deposits. Up
Nyborg and Santucci, 2000). section within the lower middle sub-unit, the claystones
Two conflicting dates were previously reported for the are replaced by the evaporite gypsum, which reflects
Copper Canyon Unit (Scrivner, 1986; Holm et al., 1994). hypersaline standing water conditions and evaporation.
New age constraints confirm that the Copper Canyon Unit Further up section within the middle sub-unit the gypsum
was deposited approximately between 6 to 3 Ma. More layers become rare and lacustrine shoreline facies are
importantly, new age data place further time constraints prominent, preserving lingoid ripples, raindrops, mud-
on the vertebrate tracks (Figure 1). cracks, and mammal and bird tracks in abundance. At
The Copper Canyon Unit consists of carbonates, the upper sub-unit limestone beds are prominent. Within
evaporates, shales, claystones, siltstones, sandstones, con- these limestone beds ostrocodes and gastropods are com-
glomerates, and basalt flows exposed within Copper and mon and shoreline features are absent. The transition
Coffin Canyons, Black Mountains, Death Valley National from middle to upper sub-units probably reflects a transi-
Park (Figure 1). The sequence includes over 3000 meters tion from shoreline to freshwater conditions. At the top of
of basin sediments deposited in a tectonic setting involving the upper sub-unit the Copper Canyon Unit is eroded and
large magnitude extension, normal faulting, basin forma- unconformably overlain by younger conglomerates of the
tion, deposition, and subsequent uplift (Drewes, 1963; Funeral Formation (Drewes, 1963).
Otton, 1977; Holm, 1992; Holm et al., 1994; Wright et al., The Copper Canyon Unit is contained and well ex-
1999; Miller and Prave, 2002) (Figure 1). Since the initia- posed within a five square mile rectangular fault bounded
tion of extensional faulting, which began about 14Ma, low basin (Figure 1). Structurally the Copper Canyon Unit
angle normal faults, called detachments, have uplifted the has been synclinally folded and tilted to the southeast
Black Mountains and formed associated basins (Wright (Drewes, 1963). There are quite a few small northwest-
et al., 1999). Within these basins a succession of middle trending normal faults within the lower section, but
Miocene through Pliocene fluvial, lacustrine, and alluvial displacement is minimal.
sediments and volcanic flows that define the Furnace The Copper Canyon Unit is sandwiched between the
Creek Basin and the northern portion of Death Valley Ba- Badwater Turtleback to the north and the Copper Canyon
sin accumulated (Wright et al., 1991, 1999). Four deposits, Turtleback to the south (Figure 1). Turtlebacks represent
the Artist Drive (14-6 Ma), Furnace Creek (6-5 Ma), and low angle thrust faults that occurred during the extension
Funeral formations (5-3 Ma), and the Copper Canyon and subsequent uplift of the Black Mountains (Curry,
(6-3Ma) Unit, form the Cenozoic basin sediment deposits 1938, 1954; Holm et al., 1994; Miller and Prave, 2002).
associated with the uplifting of the Black Mountains and On the east, rocks of the Copper Canyon Unit are
formation of the Furnace Creek and Death Valley basins unconformably in fault contact with conglomerates of
(McAllister, 1970; Fleck, 1970; Cemen and Wright, 1988; the Funeral Formation (Drewes, 1963) (Figure 1). On
Wright et al., 1991; Wright et al., 1999; Miller and Prave, the south, rocks of the Copper Canyon Unit are in fault
2002). contact with Precambrian metasedimentary rocks of the
— 79 —
Figure 1. Aerial photograph of Copper and Coffin Canyons with age determinations reported herein. Aerial photo from USGS. The
fluviolacustrine deposits have been divided into lower, middle, and upper units.
Copper Canyon turtleback (Drewes, 1963) (Figure 1). On Age Constraints

the north, rocks of the Copper Canyon Unit are in fault The Copper Canyon Unit was first assigned a middle
contact with and partially overly the Badwater Turtleback Pliocene age based upon horse track morphology (Curry,
(Drewes, 1963) (Figure 1). In addition, the Copper Can- 1941). The middle Pliocene age determination was prob-
yon Unit unconformably overlies volcanic units (Drewes, ably based on knowledge of Hemphilian equid skeletal
1964; Holm et al., 1994). hoof structures at the time Curry published his abstract.
— 80 —
The first radiometric age obtained for the Copper Can-

yon Unit was a K-Ar whole rock age of 4.9 Ma from a ba- References
salt flow “low in the formation,” reported by Otten (1977) Cemen, I. and L. A. Wright. 1988. Stratigraphy and chronology of the
as a personal communication from Hildreth in 1976. The Artist Drive Formation, Furnace Creek basin, Death Valley, Califor-
nia, 77-87. In Gregory, J. L. and E. J. Baldwin (eds.), Geology of the
exact location of the basalt flow, reported by Otten (1977), Death Valley region: South Coast Geological Society Annual Field
is unknown but fits into the dates reported by Holm et al. trip Guidebook 6.
(1994) and the dates reported herein. Curry, D. H. 1938. “Turtlebacks” fault surfaces in Death Valley, Califor-
Scrivner (1986) reported two radiometric dates from the nia. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Abstracts, 49:1875.
Curry, D. H. 1941. Mammalian and avian ichnites in Death Valley.
Copper Canyon Unit: a 7.5 ± 0.5 Ma from a basalt flow in Geological Society of America Bulletin, 52(12):1979.
the lower lacustrine deposits; and a 9.4 ± 0.7 from zircons Curry, D. H. 1954. Turtlebacks in the central Black Mountains, Death
derived from a vitric tuff within the upper lacustrine de- Valley, California, 53-59. In Jahns, R. H. (ed.), Geology of Southern
posits (Figure 1). The Copper Canyon Unit was deposited California. California Division of Mines Bulletin 170. Drewes, H.
1963. Geology of the Funeral Peak Quadrangle, on the east flank of
within a basin and subsequently uplifted and folded into Death Valley. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 413, 78 p.
a SE-plunging syncline. There are a few, small normal Fleck, R. J. 1970. Age and tectonic significance of volcanic rocks, Death
faults; however, the deposits would be considered within Valley area, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin,
the boundaries of the Law of Superposition. Scrivner’s 81:2807-2816.
Holm. D. K. 1992. Structural, thermal and paleomagnetic constraints
(1986) ages, without evidence of an overthrust or inversion on the tectonic evolution of the Black Mountains crystalline terrain,
for the Copper Canyon Unit deposits, must be questioned Death Valley region, California, and implications for extensional
because the upper fluviolacustrine 9.4 ± 0.7 Ma tuff bed tectonism: Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 237 p.
age should be younger than the lower fluviolacustrine 7.5 Holm. D. K., R. J. Fleck, and D. R. Lux. 1994. The Death Valley turtle-
backs as Miocene-Pliocene folds of a major detachment surface. The
± 0.5 Ma basalt age (Figure 1). Journal of Geology, 102:718-727.
Holm et al. (1994) reported a 7.5 ± 0.1 Ma age from McAllister, J. F. 1970. Geology of the Furnace Creek borate area, Death
a biotite-rich tuff bed just below the unconformity at the Valley, Inyo County, California. California Division of Mines and
base of the Copper Canyon Unit. A similar felsic tuff Geology Map Sheet 14.
Miller, M. G. and A. R. Prave. 2002. Rolling hinge or fixed basin?: A
within the same unit as the biotite-rich tuff bed, about 3 test of continental extensional models in Death Valley, California,
kilometers north, gave a laser-fusion age of 6.1 ± 0.1 Ma United States. Geology, 30(9):847-850.
(Holm et al., 1994). Although an unconformity separates Nyborg, T. G. 1998. Paleontological resource management: Systematic
the underlying volcanics from the Copper Canyon Unit, recording and preservation of vertebrate tracks within Copper Can-
yon, Death Valley National Park, California. Death Valley National
Holm’s et al. (1994) ages do establish a lower age to the Park library, Death Valley, California, 37 p.
deposition of the Copper Canyon Unit. Holm et al. (1994) Nyborg, T. G. and V. L. Santucci. 2000. Track Site Conservation
also reported an Ar40/Ar39 age date of 4.9 ± 0.1 Ma from Through Vertebrate Track Replication and In Situ Management of
the basalt flow just below the lower unit of the fluviolacus- Late Miocene Vertebrate Tracks in Death Valley National Park, Cali-
fornia. Desert Research Symposium, 2000. San Bernardino County
trine deposits of the Copper Canyon Unit (Figure 1). In Museum Press, California, p. 9-12.
addition Holm et al. (1994) reported a Ar40/Ar39 age date Otton, J. K. 1977. Geology of the central Black Mountains, Death Valley,
of 3.1 ± 0.2 Ma from the unconformably overlying Funeral California – The Turtlebacks terrain: College park, Pennsylvania,
Formation conglomerates (Figure 1). Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. thesis, 406 p.
Scrivner, P. J. and D. J. Bottjer. 1986. Neogene avian and mammalian
To confirm Holm’s et al. (1994) age dates or that of tracks from Death Valley National Monument, California: their
Scrivner’s (1986) and to better constrain the fluviolacus- context, classification and preservation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclim-
trine deposits of the Copper Canyon Unit, three Ar40/Ar39 antology, Palaeoecology, 56:285-331.
radiometric age determinations were obtained from three Wright, L. A, M. A. Miller, B. W. Troxel, T. L. Palvis, E. H. DeWitt, J.
K. Otton, M. A. Ellis, M. G. Miller, and L. F. Serpa. 1991. Cenozoic
volcanic rock flows (Figure 1). Total fusion weighted pla- magmatic and tectonic evolution of the east central Death Valley
teau ages of 5.20 ± 0.07 Ma from a basalt flow low in the region, California, 93-127. In Walawender, M. J. and B. B. Hanan
Copper Canyon Unit deposits; 4.73 ± 0.05 Ma from the (eds.), Geologic excursions in southern California and Mexico, San
basalt flow just below the lower unit of the fluviolacustrine Diego, California, Geological Society of America 1991 Annual Meet-
ing Guidebook, p 34.
deposits, slightly younger than the 4.9 ± 0.1 Ma age ob- Wright, L. A, R. C. Greene, I. Cemen, F. C. Johnson, and A. R. Prave
tained for the same basalt flow by Holm et al. (1994); and 1999. Tectonostratigraphic development of the Miocene-Pliocene
a 4.33 ± 0.07 Ma age from the large basalt flow within the Furnace Creek Basin and related features, Death Valley region,
middle unit of the fluviolacustrine deposits were obtained California, 87-126. In Wright L. A. and B. W. Troxel (eds.), Cenozoic
Basins of the Death Valley Region. Geological Society of America
(Figure 1). Special Paper 333.
The three new age dates confirm Holm’s et al. (1994)
age dates for the deposition of the Copper Canyon Unit
occurring between 6-3 Ma. Scrivner’s (1986) age dates
are quite different from Holm’s et al. (1994) and the new
age dates reported herein; therefore Scrivner’s (1986) age
dates are most likely not valid. Additional age determina-
tions from tuff beds within the upper unit would further
age-constrain the Copper Canyon Unit deposits.
— 81 —
Landslide damage within Big

Santa Anita Canyon, Los Angeles
County, California
Suzanne M. Baltzer, Geological Sciences Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Introduction rock. The gneiss tends to weather in such a way that it

Big Santa Anita Canyon is located north of the city of
forms well-rounded dark colored slopes. Slope failures
Arcadia in Los Angeles County, California. The canyon
typically occur along foliation planes of the gneiss in the
lies within the San Gabriel Mountains and is one of many
steep canyon walls. Failures also occur frequently in the
V-shaped canyons cutting the mountain front. Because
diorite due to its highly fractured nature and presence
the general topography is steep and narrow the canyon is
of joints within the rock. Basaltic and granitic dikes cut
prone to rapid water run off, slope wash and landslides
across the faces of the intensely fractured bedrock further
during periods of heavy rainfall. The rainfall event of the
contributing to slope failure.
past six months (2004-2005) has significantly impacted the
Tertiary sedimentary rocks exposed at the mouth of the
canyon and local residents. This paper discusses factors
canyon are a yellow to yellowish brown unconsolidated
contributing to the performance of the canyon during
to moderately consolidated coarse-grained sand. This unit
storm events, human impacts and future mitigation. This is
contains large boulders up to 2-3 meters in size. Locally
a firsthand account by the author who currently resides in
these sedimentary rocks have been crushed and sheared
the canyon.
due to movement along the Sierra Madre Fault System,
the main thrust fault system found along the mountain
Climate front.
Big Santa Anita Canyon has a semi-arid to sub humid
climate. Typically, spring and summer is dry and warm.
Storm History
There is often early morning fog and commonly the cloud
The rainfall season for Los Angeles County begins on
layer can be found below the elevation of the canyon.
October 1st and ends on September 30th of the following
The winters tend to be mild with the occasional storms.
year. According to Los Angeles County Flood Control
Average annual precipitation is about 26 inches per year
rainfall records Santa Anita Canyon has an average rain-
with the highest rainfall typically occurring between the
fall of 26.60 inches. The highest recorded rainfall was dur-
months of January through March. The highest rainfall
ing the 1968–1969 storm season with a recorded rainfall
in a 24 hour period was recorded at Hoegees camp in
total of 62.15 inches. Two major flood events have taken
January of 1943 when 26.12 inches fell. Snowfall is highly
place in the canyon. These occurred during the 1937–1938
unusual in the canyon but there are rare occasions when
and 1968–1969 storm seasons.
it does take place. During the winter of 1939 and 1949
Beginning in October 2004, through the month of
the canyon experienced snowfall. This past storm season
March, a total of 61.14 inches of rain has fallen at Santa
(November 21st, 2004) Sturtevant camp received a light
Anita Dam (Figure 1). The heaviest rains fell during the
dusting of snow that was gone by the next day.
months of January and February. Prior to January, the
canyon had already received a total of 22.19 inches of
Geology rain. Then from January 7th to January 11th 2005 another
The bedrock in the canyon consists of both pre- 18.57 inches of rain fell. Later during February 18th -23rd
Tertiary plutonic and metamorphic rocks. Tertiary 2005, another 12.65 inches of rain fell. The intensity and
sedimentary rocks lie in fault contact with the older rocks duration of the January and February rainfall events lead
at the south end of the canyon in the City of Arcadia’s to the landslides and destruction in Santa Anita Canyon.
Wilderness Park site. The plutonic rocks are the Wilson Storm flows into Santa Anita Canyon caused the water
Diorite (so named by Miller in 1934-CDMG SR105). This to crest the Santa Anita Dam spillway twice this storm
rock is a quartz diorite that grades into a granodiorite. season. Peak flows in January had close to 1,700 cubic feet
The metamorphic rocks are typically gneissic. They are per second (cfs) of water coming into the reservoir. The
usually hornblende or biotite-hornblende gneiss. Most of water went over the spillway at 10:25 p.m. on Saturday
the gneiss is a fine to medium grained dark grey to black January 8th. The rainfall intensity at times exceeded two
— 82 —
The Arcadia Slide

This slide began failing on Jan 8th,
2005 and started as a small debris flow
(Figure 3).
Later during the night on Janu-
ary 10th the uphill portion of the slope
catastrophically failed taking part of the
road with it and leaving the guard rails
hanging in space. In February addi-
tional large rainfall amounts caused a
larger portion of the roadbed to col-
lapse leaving behind a gaping chasm
approximately 80 feet deep, 60 feet long
and 20 feet wide. This collapsed area
has continued to slowly erode as there is
still water draining from under the slide
debris. This drainage has caused the ma-
Figure 1. Rainfall for October-April 2005.
terial under the roadbed to continuously
slough thereby further undermining the
road. With the massive weight sitting above the remaining
roadbed the asphalt eventually gives way increasing the
width of the original failure. Total slide mass is estimated
at 7500 cubic yards.
inches per hour. During the February event the peak flows The Arcadia slide is a debris flow consisting of allu-
approached 600 cubic feet per second (cfs) and the water
crested the spillway around 4 p.m. on
February 20th.
A total of 34 slides (Figure 2) oc-
curred along the main canyon access
road and a total of six along the dam
access road. Two large slides occurred
on the main access road and one large
slide occurred on the dam access
road. The canyon has several agencies
responsible for maintaining the access
road, which makes repairing the dam-
aged road difficult. The cities of Sierra
Madre, Arcadia, and Monrovia, the
County of Los Angeles and the United
States Forest Service all lay claim to cer-
tain portions of the road. The lowermost
large slide (the Arcadia slide) occurred
within the City of Arcadia’s jurisdiction
and has caused the delay of repairs
along the higher sections of road. The
largest slide occurred adjacent to the
Chantry Flat parking lot (Pine slide -
U.S. Forest Service) and the third largest
on the dam access road (Dam Access
slide - L.A. County).
Figure 2. Index photograph showing the

location of major landslides in Santa Anita
Canyon.
— 83 —
Figure 3. The Arcadia

Slide looking west.
bedrock, feasibil-
ity of repair method
and resolution of the
private land issues
associated with the
road right of way and
damaged slope areas
prior to making the
decision of which
mitigation measure to
use. It is not known
at the time of this
writing which design
scheme the City of
Arcadia will decide to
adopt.
The Pine Slide

The largest slide
vium and poorly consolidated weathered granitic bedrock. on the main canyon
The slide debris consists of coarse grained, orange brown road occurred adjacent to the Chantry Flat parking lot
silty sands that flow during periods of rainfall. At the slide (Figure 4). This is termed the Pine Slide due to several
scarp there is a thin clay layer, which was most likely the pine trees that are trapped in the slide debris. This particu-
slip surface over which the failure occurred. Other factors lar slide failed along joints in the granodiorite and can be
contributing to the failure were the existence of a one-me- classified as a rock/debris slide. The slide debris consists
ter-high graded pad for the former Gray’s Inn (removed of medium grey coarse-grained sands with abundant rock
in the 1930’s) above the slide area and the two fires that and boulders present. Some of the larger rocks exceed
took place in 1999 and 2002. The fires burned off the three feet in diameter. This slide damaged only a small
existing vegetation that would have aided in minimizing portion of the canyon road but it did destroy the existing
any surface erosion and stabilizing the slope. The canyons retaining wall adjacent to the roadbed. The repairs for this
steep topography and heavy rainfall were other factors section of road will be mitigated by the U. S. Forest Ser-
that contributed to the massive slope failure. vice. The removal of this slide will be difficult due to its
Current repair/mitigation costs are estimated to be in size and the height of the slide scarp. The upper portion
the neighborhood of $500,000. Several mitigation mea- of this slide lies approximately 100 to 120 feet above the
sures have been proposed. One idea is to place a bridge existing roadbed and another 100 or more feet lies below
across the chasm where the road has failed. However to- the road. Total volume of this slide is approximately
pography and nature of the underlying bedrock as well as 15,000 to 20,000 cubic yards. Although mitigation mea-
the prohibitive cost do not support this solution. A second sures for this particular area are not known at this time the
proposal calls for realignment of the existing road. This damaged section of road will need to be repaired and the
would involve cutting back the hillside to a calculated retaining wall rebuilt. A wooden wall south of the exist-
angle so that slope failure is minimized. This proposal is ing failure, built to prevent debris from covering the road,
complicated by private land issues. The feasibility of using may need to be extended northward.
solder piles and tie back anchors to secure and reinforce
the slope has also been discussed. With this method, how-
ever, there may be associated stability issues. The depth The Dam Access Slide
to competent bedrock is not known until a geotechnical The third largest slide occurred along the access road
investigation takes place. Lastly, reinforcing the soil under leading to Santa Anita Dam. This particular slide took
the existing roadbed with the combined use of soil nails, place Monday, January 10th around 11 pm. This slide
Geogrid and gabions has been proposed. The City of was actually a rock/debris fall with failure about 90 to 100
Arcadia will need to address several factors such as cost, feet above the dam access road. The rock fall completely
existing drainage and topography, depth to competent covered the roadbed and continued into the bottom of the
— 84 —
Figure 4. The Pine Slide

looking northwest.
the storms to minimize

further erosion. Mitiga-
tion for this road involves
stabilizing the roadbed
by constructing retaining
walls from the dam road
access gate to just beyond
the slide area. Fortunately,
the roadbed was not heav-
ily damaged; only one of
the crib structures directly
beneath it suffered mini-
mal damage.
Additional landslides
The remaining land-
canyon another 100 feet below. The material was similar slides are variable in
in composition to that of the Pine Slide and was made up nature and range from slope wash to small debris flows
of medium grey coarse-grained sands with abundant rock to rock falls and slides. Many of these only cover the
and boulders. It also contained a significant amount of downhill lane of the canyon road. There is a section of
plant debris and gunite pieces that had previously covered road within the City of Monrovia’s jurisdiction that has
the slope. The volume of this slide was between 1500 to collapsed. This stretch of road is about 200 feet long and
2000 cubic yards. the retaining wall and road support has fallen away along
Over the course of the next several weeks the local the uphill lane. The materials within these additional slides
residents worked on removing the slide debris. Much of vary in composition from poorly consolidated materials
the initial work was done using hand tools and wheelbar- similar to those of the Arcadia slide to sands mixed with
rows. In seven weeks almost one third of the debris was rocks and boulders similar to the Pine and Dam Access
cleared by hand. During the eighth week a 918 front-end slides. Much of the cleanup for these slides falls within the
loader was utilized to complete removal of the slide. The jurisdiction of LA County Public Works Road Depart-
most difficult parts of the slide debris to remove were the ment.
pieces of gunite and vegetation within the slide mass. The
slide materials were stockpiled for removal from the can- Human Impacts
yon once the Arcadia section of road was cleared. There are three permanent residents, 81 recreational
Removal of this slide was essential to allow transporta- cabins and a U.S. Forest Service Fire station within the
tion of materials between the Arcadia slide and the dam. canyon. All of these have been severely impacted by the
Transport includes people and supplies such as food, road closure due to the slides. The fire personnel have
(both human and animal), fuel for use at the dam, and been relocated but the equipment is still trapped. A pri-
any other items required for normal dam operation. One vate contractor for the U.S. Forest Service also has had his
lane of the Santa Anita Canyon road was subsequently equipment trapped. His cost to air lift the equipment out
cleared both below and above the dam to allow supplies is a prohibitive $90,000 (that does not include his 29,000
to be transported between the lower and upper Santa pound dump truck). There are a total of 12 vehicles
Anita Canyon road slides for those individuals living at trapped behind the slide areas, five of which are at the
Chantry Flat, the Pack Station animals and canyon cabin dam. As mentioned before, supplies have to be carried in
owners. Previously, all supplies had to be carried in and and out by hand. From the Arcadia slide to Chantry it is a
out with the use of backpacks, wheelbarrows, and the oc- 2.5 mile hike. From the Arcadia slide to Santa Anita Dam
casional use of donkeys from the local Pack Station. it is ¾ mile. There is no trash pick up and forestry person-
Several areas of the Dam Access Road have been com- nel have difficulty getting to their work stations. Many of
promised by slope creep during the heavy rains. Visqueen the canyons hiking trails have suffered significant dam-
weighted with sandbags was placed over the slope during age and will need to be rebuilt. Several cabin owners are
— 85 —
using small motor scooters to gain access to Chantry Flat. Bibliography

From there it is another hike in to their cabin. Pack ani- Crook, R., Allen, C.R., Kamb, B., et al., 1978, Quaternary geology and
seismic hazard of the Sierra Madre and associated faults, Western
mals have been allowed to graze as there is no means of
San Gabriel Mountains, California.
getting food in to them. Although the road is closed, there Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, 1997, Hydrologic
are approximately 600 visitors to the canyon on any given Report.
weekend. When the road was open the Chantry Flat area Morton, Doug; 1973, Geology of Parts of the Azusa and Mt. Wilson
Quadrangles, San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County, Califor-
received almost one million visitors a year. Once repairs
nia, CDMG SR 105.
begin on the Santa Anita Canyon road there will only be Owens, Glen 1981, The Heritage of the Big Santa Anita, Big Santa Anita
limited foot access. To facilitate foot traffic a “new” trail is Historical Society, Pacific Book and Printing Pasadena, CA.
currently being constructed, however, canyon access will Various (miscellaneous) documents regarding Santa Anita Dam obtained
from the Water Resources Division (WRD) Los Angeles County
be severely restricted during road repair.
Department of Public Works Rainfall
This year’s rains have promoted plant growth and
brought abundant water to the canyons’ intermit-
tent stream. The heavy flows in January and February
washed most of the dead litter in the canyon into the
dam reservoir. This has decreased the amount of dead
fuel in the canyon thereby temporarily reducing the fire
danger. Cabin owners are hiking in to do their required
brush clearance and the pack animals are helping out by
doing their own version of brush clearance. Fire danger
is always a concern in any canyon. With the road gone,
the U.S. Forest Service and L.A. County Public Works
have discussed getting an alternate route in. Utilities such
Verizon and Edison have also been severely impacted by
the road damage. There are several microwave towers
that require routine servicing as well as power poles and
meters that must be examined and read. In addition, the
United States Geological Survey maintains strain meters
and slope meters at Chantry that occasionally need moni-
toring. Currently, the only access for these agencies is by
foot or by air.
Conclusions
The storm season of 2005 has brought significant
changes to Big Santa Anita Canyon. Record rainfall
amounts caused extensive road damage. This in turn
has made it difficult for the residents, federal and county
personnel, cabin owners and the Pack Station. Numerous
landslides of varying nature and size have either covered
or destroyed the access roads lying within different city,
county and federal jurisdictions. Unfortunately for the
City of Arcadia the damage is quite significant and costly.
Several mitigation schemes have been proposed for this
slide but a decision has yet to be made. Since Arcadia has
jurisdiction over the lower most damaged area, the other
involved agencies must wait to begin repairs until the City
of Arcadia completes theirs. It is difficult to tell when the
road will completely reopen. It is hoped that some type of
emergency access will be available by early fall. It could
be two to three years before complete reopening of the
canyon to the public. In the meantime, the hikers and
bikers will enjoy the canyon trails and the residents and
cabin owners will pretend they are once again living in the
1930’s as they continue to hike their supplies in and out
while living in their corner of the wilderness.
— 86 —
Abstracts of Proceedings
2005 Desert Symposium
Robert E. Reynolds (compiler), LSA Associates, Inc. 1650 Spruce Street, Suite 500, Riverside, CA 92507. bob.reyn-
olds@lsa-assoc.com
Dense-boned late Miocene and Pliocene the added buoyancy that they might have encountered in
fossil walruses of the Imperial Desert more saline inland waters that were affected by evapora-
tion.
and Baja California: possible buoyancy-
control mechanisms for feeding on
Baker Hill: A landslide landform with a
benthic marine invertebrates in the
possible Miocene analog exposed at Old
Proto-Gulf of California
Lawrence G. Barnes, Dept of Vertebrate Paleontol-
Dad Mountain, Eastern Mojave Desert,
ogy, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 California
Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007. lbarnes@ Kim M. Bishop, Department of Geological Sciences, Cali-
nhm.org fornia State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State Universi-
ty Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032. kbishop@calstatela.edu
Strange walrus-like fossil pinnipeds have been found in
marine deposits of Late Miocene and Pliocene age in Baker Hill, 0.5 km west of Baker, California forms an
the Imperial Desert of California and in Baja California, outcrop of Pennsylvanian Bird Spring Formation 1.2
Mexico. The first such discovery was latest Miocene Va- km long by 0.4 km wide. The hill rises 80 m above the
lenictus imperialensis Mitchell, 1961, found in the Imperial alluvial fan materials that surround it. Localized breccia-
Group near Ocotillo Well, Imperial County, California. It tion and an out-of-place setting relative to nearby bedrock
differs from other pinnipeds by having a humerus that is outcrops indicates that the hill represents a landslide mass.
very large in mass (pachyostotic) and very dense (osteo- Given the present geomorphology, a possible interpreta-
sclerotic), the latter resulting from greatly reduced marrow tion is that Baker Hill is a block glide that detached from
cavity. In exposures of the Pliocene marine Salada Forma- its source area and moved across the low gradient surface
tion near Santa Rita, Baja California Sur, México, isolated it rests upon. If so, then the mechanics of movement are
bones have been discovered that represent at least four difficult to explain because friction should be too great to
species of fossil pinnipeds, all apparently new species. This allow sliding.
southerly assemblage of pinnipeds is the most diverse of A possible analog for the Baker Hill landslide is
its age to be documented in Baja California Sur, and it exposed on the east side of Old Dad Mountain. Here, a
is unusual by being dominated, both taxonomically and rock avalanche intercalated within an erosionally dissected
numerically, by walruses and walrus-like pinnipeds. One Miocene fanglomerate sequence is exposed in cross-sec-
of these is a large typical sea lion of the subfamily Otarii- tion. Across most of its 4 km width, the rock avalanche is
nae, and may have resembled the living Steller’s sea lion. a relatively thin sheet-like deposit with an average thick-
The three other species, however, are all various kinds of ness of 15 m. However, in the central part, the deposit
walruses. One is a typical walrus of the subfamily Odobe- contains a hummock about 1 km wide and 200 m thick.
ninae, and resembles the living Arctic walrus. A second Conceptualizing the evolution of the rock avalanche’s ex-
species is a new species of Valenictus. The third species posure after it was buried, it is logical that after a period of
is a very strange walrus that is even more highly evolved time following emplacement, the sheet-like portion of the
than Valenictus, and it is a new genus and new species. deposit was buried and the hummock stood as an isolated
The latter two species, like Valenictus imperialensis, both hill surrounded by an alluvial plain.
exhibit pachyostosis and osteosclerosis. These phenomena Based on the Old Dad Mountain rock avalanche, an
seem to characterize highly derived extinct walrus-like pin- alternative interpretation to the block glide model for
nipeds of Late Miocene and Pliocene age that lived in the Baker Hill is that the hill is part of a rock avalanche that
region of Baja California and the Proto-Gulf of California, is now mostly buried. In this model, the hill represents a
and might have been buoyancy control specializations hummock embedded in a much more extensive sheet-like
that facilitated bottom-feeding on invertebrates. The pres- deposit. A rock avalanche interpretation presents a viable
ence of these strange, specialized walrus-like animals in explanation for the movement of the landslide mass across
the Proto-Gulf of California also raises the possibility that a low gradient because rock avalanches are known for
their adaptations might have also helped them overcome moving with very low apparent friction.
— 87 —
Goldminer in a fluffy hat: Dr Rose is due to both the complexities of the natural system and
Burcham (1857-1944), Randsburg’s “New to the fact that the focus of many previous analyses was on
mineral exploitation rather than paleoenvironmental stud-
Woman”
ies. Consequently, lake level chronology is known largely
Lorraine Blair, PhD, Randsburg, CA 93554.
from Smith’s geochemical analyses of cores taken in the
In 1894 Hutchinson & Company of London, England lakebed itself without any comprehensive studies of extant
published a new novel about the budding phenomena shorelines within the overall Searles basin.
of traditional-role defying “new women” titled A Yellow In the present research, 22 new radiocarbon determina-
Aster. Several years later the name of a new gold mine in tions derived from tufa recovered in backhoe trenches,
California’s Mojave Desert was changed from the Rand archaeological test units, and drainage exposures located
Mine to The Yellow Aster. Coincidence? I suggest not. within the Searles basin were supplemented by sediment
Particularly when one of the major players beginning that analyses, obsidian hydration measurements, and pollen
very successful mining operation was Dr Rose Victoria La- analysis. Combined with dates found in the literature,
Monte Burcham, a brilliant and tough-minded gold miner these new data provide considerably more temporal con-
who performed most of her duties wearing, seemingly as trol over actual lake stands than was previously available
a crown of status achievement, one of her stylish, veiling- Refinement of these data allowed the identification
and-feather-encrusted fluffy hats. Over the Randsburg desk of 10 phases that alternate between wet and dry periods
of this corseted figure passed, for her scrutiny, every piece for the last 30,000 yr B.P. and point to the likely occur-
of the gold mine’s legal paperwork. rence of a major fluvial event dating to around 18,800
In the late nineteenth century some in the Anglo-Amer- B.P. Contrary to previous interpretations suggesting near
ican world were beginning to question the marginaliza- complete desiccation during the Holocene, it also appears
tion of women in society. Dr Rose’s career and personal that regional precipitation increased around 6600 14C yr
life story provide a new perspective on women’s place in B.P. resulting in a final lake high stand.
late nineteenth century mining towns. Rose became very
well known for her unique career coupled with her self-
described “imperative mode.” In addition to numerous Calico Site choppers and chopping tools:
mentions in local and Los Angeles newspapers, she was
morphological and use-wear patterns
featured in early twentieth century periodicals including
Fred E. Budinger, Jr., Calico Project Director, Friends
Sunset Magazine and London’s Wide World Magazine. Dr
of Calico Early Man Site, Inc. 2024 Orange Tree Lane,
Rose was even named one of the “Men of Achievement”
Redlands, CA 92374. Fbudinger@aol.com
in a book published by the Los Angeles Times in 1904.
The history of the American West suffers greatly from In the Old World, unifacially-flaked choppers and bifacial-
the mythology created and perpetrated by radio, televi- ly worked chopping tools were amongst the earliest stone
sion, and the movies. In-depth research is necessary to tools invented by early man. Such forms are also found
separate western myth from western reality—a reality that in early New World tool kits such as that recovered at the
even includes an exceedingly successful gold miner whose Calico Site near Yermo, California (see photos of repre-
workday attire often included a fluffy hat. sentative specimens at www.calicodig.com). The Calico
Site is the oldest stone tool workshop and quarry site yet
discovered in the United States. Its major sub-surface com-
Investigation of terminal Pleistocene ponent is currently dated between 100ka and 200ka.
This presentation briefly reviews the morphological
shorelines at Searles Lake, Kern County,
and use-wear patterns of 20 selected choppers and chop-
Luz Ramirez de Bryson, Post Archaeologist, National
ping tools recovered at the Calico Site. Diagnostic use-
Training Center, Fort Irwin, CA 92310.
wear is evinced by very small step-flakes on striking edges.
During the late Quaternary, Searles Lake was part of a The Calico Site is still regarded as problematic among
complex network of lakes and rivers beginning in the many American archaeologists. Use-wear patterns offer yet
Mono Basin to the northwest and ending 350 miles down- another line of evidence that Calico is a bona fide site.
stream in Death Valley. Fluvial sediment generated by
alpine glaciers in the Sierra Nevada was transported down
the Owens River to the Owens Basin, and then carried Surprise Canyon EIS
southward to Little Lake and on to China Lake. Much of Richard Crowe, Bureau of Land Management, Califor-
this sediment load was finally deposited in Searles Lake. nia Desert District. rcrowe@ca.blm.gov
The Searles Basin went through a rather complex series
of fills and desiccations over the past 35,000 years driven The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Death
by an array of environmental factors affecting the entire Valley National Park (DVNP) are jointly preparing an En-
Owens pluvial lake system. Attempting to unravel this vironmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Surprise Canyon
sequence has proven to be a daunting task. This situation (Canyon) to amend their respective land use plans on two
points: designations for Surprise Canyon Road (Road)
— 88 —
for casual use vehicle access and suitability of the canyon stem” to Panamint City.
stream as a Wild and Scenic River (WSR). The issues The nature of vehicle access since 1984, given the ab-
have high public sensitivity and reflect a shift in public sence of road maintenance and greatly reduced numbers
attitudes over recent years. of vehicles, on the canyon’s physical and biological values
The Canyon lies on the west side of the Panamint is probably less impacting than before 1984, however the
Mountains, south of Telescope Peak. Its two unique issues involved are much greater and complex today. That
features are the historic mining town, Panamint City, and the two halves of the canyon are managed by BLM and
a perennial stream with waterfalls and riparian habitats DVNP suggests that the two agencies should coordinate
and species. Threading through the Canyon is the historic their management, but the difference in management
Road, which has provided access—first wagons, then mo- mandates for the agencies adds yet further complication
torized vehicles and hiking—to Panamint City since 1874. for analysis and decision. Given the intensity and com-
For decades after mining faded the Road was a favored plexity of the issues, regardless of the EIS decision, yet
recreation touring attraction, especially for visitors to another lawsuit is sure to follow.
Death Valley National Monument. In 1984 a key portion
of the Road washed out, and with it the remainder of any
mining and road maintenance interest. General public Drought and population decline in a
vehicle access was rendered impossible due to the expo- Mojave Desert plant parasite at the
sure of several waterfalls in a stretch of Canyon 1000 feet
long that had been covered with road base for 110 years. Granite Mountains, CA.
Following the flood the extreme difficulty of the Canyon Thomas R. Huggins, University of California, Los
and Road was discovered by 4-wheel drive enthusiasts Angeles, CA 90095
for its rock-crawling sport value. At the same time, with Asphondylia auripila is a tiny gall-forming fly that produces
greatly reduced vehicle access and the process of natural a large, filamentous gall on the stems of creosote bush
reclamation, they were also discovered by hikers. Today, (Larrea tridentata). During my six-year study of A. auripila
the Canyon’s natural, cultural, scenic, and recreation galls at the Granite Mountains, California, gall numbers
values are outstanding in their own right, unique in the have precipitously declined. In 1999, some shrubs had
aggregate, and regionally superlative for both hiking and heavier gall-loads than one would expect at random (i.e.
rock crawling. galls were clumped on certain creosote bushes), and these
For more than 100 years the road and vehicle use were patterns in gall-loads between shrubs appear to persist
almost considered a “given,” a tradition of mineral access through time. Some differences in gall-load between
and recreation touring. BLM management, extending the shrubs can be explained by shrub size. The recent A.
entire length of the Canyon at that time, and including auripila gall population contraction is likely the result
the designation of the road as “Open”, was defined in of recent drought conditions at the Granite Mountains.
the early 1980s in compliance with Federal Land Policy Asphondylia auripila may be particularly vulnerable to
and Management Act (FLPMA), in consideration of the drought because of its high transpirational surface-area. If
Endangered Species and Clean Water acts. Little public A. auripila is sensitive to water stress, differences in creo-
concern for the environmental effects of vehicle use was sote bush water status may explain the original clumped
expressed. Since 1984, however, several events occurred distribution observed in the 1999 gall population.
to change the status quo, some setting the stage for and
culminating in the action of this EIS: the end of min-
ing and road maintenance, increasing polarization over Protohistoric diseases in southern
vehicle access, increased environmental awareness and
California: a view from the Portola
non-vehicle recreation, and the 1994 California Desert
Protection Act (creating the Surprise Wilderness Area Expedition
and placing the upper half of the Canyon into DVNP). In Frederick W. Lange, LSA Associates-Riverside Office,
2001 BLM closed vehicle access in the lower canyon due 1650 Spruce St. Suite 500, Riverside, CA 92507. fred.
to a lawsuit filed by several environmental entities. DVNP lange@lsa-assoc.com
closed its portion shortly after. The temporary nature of In the past decade, various scholars have begun to
both closures will end with an EIS decision. BLM’s 2002 explore the evidence for the protohistoric impact of Old
Northern & Eastern Mojave (NEMO) Plan included an World epidemic diseases on indigenous California popula-
eligible finding for the lower portion of the Canyon for tions, prior to the arrival of the first overland expeditions.
designation under the WSR Act. Both agencies are re- While they have summarized data for southern California,
quired by policy to address WSR values in land use plans. most of the detailed emphasis has been on the Chumash,
Out of concern for these initiatives two sets of 4x4 vehicle for whom the previous research and data-base are the
groups recently purchased two parcels of private land at strongest. These studies have also noted the difficulty of
Panamint City area to establish what they hope will be a evaluating the data for a protohistoric population disaster
right of vehicle access through the non-wilderness “cherry on the basis of archaeological investigations.
— 89 —
Renewed archaeological research at the Tomato Springs along the Mormon Trail in 1849 by members
Springs site (ORA-244) in 2003 and 2004 refocused atten- of the Mormon wagon train making its way to Rancho
tion on the Gaspar de Portola expedition in 1769. More Chino. It was recorded in Los Angeles County since San
than 200 years after the first opportunities had occurred Bernardino County didn’t exist until 1853. Earlier immi-
for the introduction of European diseases to southern grants and travelers undoubtedly looked for minerals, but
California, Portola and his party passed through Tomato didn’t legally record their findings. The recording at Salt
Springs and points farther north leading to the Monterey Springs brought a flurry of mining activity to San Bernar-
Peninsula, leaving their eye witness accounts. dino County, and particularly to the Mojave Desert, which
Brown (2001) made a major contribution to the study continues to this very day.
of the Portola expeditions by carefully re-examining the This is not a search for “lost mines” or “rivers of gold”,
various versions of the Crespi diaries and of others who but for lost and forgotten data that has been deposited
accompanied Portola on his explorations. His recent work in various repositories and odd places that needs to be
is the most complete and reliable and, for the first time, gathered together and put in one place where anyone
allows us to fully view the indigenous population as it was who needs to do research can find it, complete with refer-
along the route, not once, but three times. ences. At the beginning of my quest, I was looking for the
This paper recounts the actual sightings of persons names and locations of mines as well as district data and
and villages as well artifacts which indicate contact with the people involved in the mines, but it quickly became
external peoples and therefore potentially, and probably, apparent that there were mountains of data, so I separated
their diseases. my research into categories and decided that finding the
Finally, following the same precautions as those districts was the basic building block for further research.
expressed for the Chumash research, the paper closes I got data and encouragement from Ted Weasma and
by assessing the potential for archaeological research to Larry Vredenburg,, which has been incorporated into my
contribute to protohistoric population research. We also database. I want to thank them both.
briefly examine whether the independent nature of disease Creating a mining district is much like creating a corpo-
vectors supersedes the need for precise archaeological ration. You need to designate a hierarchy, delineate your
data. boundaries, and have a product. All this needs to be re-
corded with the county in which you are located and with
the proper state & federal agencies as necessary. You need
The Search for Mining Districts to keep accurate records and provide help and other ser-
Robin Laska, Archaeological Information Center, San vices to your members or mine owners. A mining district
Bernardino County Museum, Redlands CA 92374. has members with a product that needs to be refined and
rlaska@sbcm.sbcounty.gov shipped to market. They need a mill, living spaces, roads,
transportation, and someone to sell the product to the end
When I began my study of mining, I was told that there user. This is a simple model, but you get the idea. This
had only been 20 to 25 mining districts in San Bernardino mining district may decide to sell out to a new “owner”
County in its 150 years of history. Sources included Divi- and that requires a new name, a new corporate structure,
sion of Mines publications, Journal of Geology, books on and lots of paperwork just to keep the mines operating
mines, and state and federal geologists who, one would without skipping a heartbeat.
think, would have a good handle on this subject. I also
talked to county personnel and found that this county
didn’t have a list of mines in the county, much less mining
districts. Several different agencies had a few pieces of
Sourcing the green pigment from
information, but only the County Archives, the BLM and Newberry Cave
National Archives had any data older than 1995. To add Amy Leska, Lompoc, CA; Robert M. Housley, 210
to the confusion, the county became smaller in acreage in S. Catalina Ave. #3, Pasadena CA 91106. rhousley@its.
1893 when Inyo and Riverside Counties were formed and caltech.edu
land formerly in San Bernardino County now was in oth- Approximately 3500 years ago, Native Americans visited
ers. Add to that the fact that the California–Nevada state a cave in the Newberry Mountains. These natives, most
line was also found to be in error and that played havoc likely men, painted the wall faces in green (approximately
with property ownership. In the two years or so that I 68%), with some white and red. At the present time, New-
have been studying this, I have come up with 111 mining berry Cave is the only place in the Mojave Desert known
districts! A couple are questionable, but most are cited in to have green pigment in its rock art. It is also the only
reputable publications, location papers at the County Ar- archaic site in the Mojave with prehistoric pictographs
chives, or on maps of the county. Some have been spelled of animals, as well as the only site known with split twig
several ways, but are easy to recognize. figurines and rock art, making it a truly unique place.
As far as I can determine, the first mine to be located What process did these Native Americans employ to
and recorded within the county boundaries was at Salt make those green paintings? First, gathering the green
— 90 —
mineral was important. Several chunks were left behind in tain alunitized Mesozoic quartz monzonite, cupriferous
the cave, collected thousands of years later and studied. Miocene gravels, and phosphate-rich Pliocene basalts, a
Examination under a scanning electron microscope (SEM) combination that has allowed ground water to precipitate
determined the green pigment is composed of celadon- turquoise—copper aluminum phosphate. Although gener-
ite, found fairly commonly in volcanic rocks. It gives the ally botryoidal, turquoise also fills voids and replaces origi-
greenish color to some volcanic ash layers and frequently nal minerals in miarolitic cavities in the Teutonia quartz
occurs in pure form in vesicles in basalts. Celadonite is monzonite pluton. Turquoise mining in the Halloran Hills
generally formed by hot water alteration of volcanic rocks has continued from 500 A. D. to the present: over one
so it is not uniformly distributed in a volcanic unit. It is thousand years of mining.
localized to areas where the rock interacted with water for
a substantial period of time while it was still hot. There are
outcrops containing celadonite in the Newberry Moun-
tains within easy walking distance of the cave. Paleoenvironmental and geochemical
The celadonite from Newberry Cave was generally analysis of arthropod-bearing lacustrine
very fine grained and homogeneous, suggesting it was deposits, Black Canyon, Barstow
ground down, perhaps mixed with water and reformed Formation, southern California
into chunks or balls. The SEM examination found no Rodney Spencer, Department of Earth and Biologi-
evidence of a binder. One ball had a hole drilled through cal Sciences, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA
the center, so it could be carried on a string. Another had 92350. Rspencer04g@ns.llu.edu
a small twig embedded. These portable paint balls were
then ground down again to a paint-like consistency. It A new arthropod-bearing concretion locality, consisting
was then applied to the cave walls, atlatl shafts, and other of three distinct horizons, has recently been reported in
objects, most likely with ceremony, in enduring designs the Black Canyon area, approximately 30 km west of the
still visible today. Barstow Formation type section in the Mud Hills. Previous
studies have focused on the systematic paleontology of the
arthropod fauna from the Calico Mountains and correla-
tion of the microfossil horizons between Black Canyon,
Lost lakes of the east Mojave Desert:
the Mud Hills, and the Calico Mountains. However, little
rediscovery and recreation potential. research has been conducted on the sedimentology and
William Presch, Desert Studies Center, Zzyzx, CA. mineralogy associated with the concretions and no previ-
wpresch@exchange.fullerton.edu ous research has been conducted on the sediments associ-
The recent rains in southern California resulted in the fill- ated with the Black Canyon concretions.
ing of the water supply reservoirs for most of San Diego, The objectives of this study are to: 1) describe the pa-
Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Addition- leoenvironment and geochemical conditions under which
al rains have forced the water agencies to release water the arthropod-bearing concretions formed within Black
from the reservoirs to make room for snow melt and any Canyon; 2) determine if cycles of events occurred within
additional rains that may occur in the next month. The the concretion-bearing section and within each of the
effects of released water from the Silverwood reservoir three distinct, concretion-bearing horizons; 3) describe the
and the flow of water down the Mojave River resulted in lacustrine sediments associated with the concretions and;
a large volume of water flowing through dry river basins, 4) compare the sedimentology and mineralogy associ-
causing damage to county and private infrastructure and ated with the concretions from Black Canyon with those
filling some of the lost dry lakes of the east Mojave Desert. reported from the Calico Mountains.
Rainfall data at selected sites at the source of the river and The preliminary results of this study suggest: 1) cyclic
along the Mojave River and photographs of the resultant events were responsible for the three microfossil horizons,
down stream flow will be presented. Recreational opportu- possibly the result of lake transgressions and regressions;
nities, unseen for 50 years, have resulted in an increase in 2) cyclic patterns within each individual fossil horizon in
the number of users and a “flood” of people to view the the Black Canyon consist of alternating carbonate and
wildflower bloom. mudstone beds with intermittent gypsum beds.
Halloran turquoise: a thousand years of Deformation on the Manix fault east of

mining history Manix wash
Robert E. Reynolds, LSA Associates, Inc., 1650 Spruce Charlie Verdel and Bruce Murray, California In-
Street, Suite 500, Riverside, CA 92507. Bob.Reynolds@ stitute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125. bcm@caltech.
LSA-Assoc.com edu
The Halloran Hills in the eastern Mojave Desert con- The Manix Basin in the central Mojave contains a nearly
— 91 —
complete, approximately two million year old stratigraphic clays for pottery, sand for pottery temper, and pigments
record of predominantly playa and lacustrine deposition. for various uses.
The transition from a closed-basin playa to the through-
flowing ancestral Mojave River and ancient Lake Manix is
recorded by these Plio-Pleistocene strata. Sediments within
the basin are exposed along the Mojave River and are
particularly well exposed near Manix wash. The east-west
trending, left-lateral Manix fault cuts the Plio-Pleistocene
sediments in the same vicinity; the area was, in fact,
the location of a ML=6.2 earthquake in 1947, the larg-
est recorded earthquake in the Mojave prior to the 1992
Landers earthquake. Aftershocks following the Manix
earthquake suggest that it occurred at the intersection of
the Manix and Pisgah faults. Aftershocks from the Landers
earthquake and the 1999 Hector Mine earthquake attenu-
ate along the Manix fault. The area is thus particularly
well-suited for unraveling both the short-term and long-
term history of the Manix fault, as well as being a region-
ally important location in the context of Mojave tectonics.
A strain gauge was installed across the Manix fault in
1970 approximately five kilometers east of the Mojave
River/Manix wash intersection. The strain gauge requires
manual data recording; in the subsequent 35 years, 21
measurements have been recorded. These measurements
are remarkably consistent, and, assuming pure strike-
slip motion, they indicate that this strand of the fault is
creeping left-laterally at a rate of approximately 0.1 mm/
year. Our detailed mapping of the area indicates that
the fault consists of at least three significant strands in
this area, with the strain gauge spanning just one of the
strands. Therefore it is quite possible that the total slip rate
on the fault is greater than the 0.1 mm/year indicated by
the strain gauge. Additional mapping of Plio-Pleistocene
sediments should reveal offsets across the fault that place
constraints on the earlier history of the fault.
Prehistoric Mining in the Mojave Desert

Clifford J. Walker, Barstow, CA 92311. cjwalker@
mindspring.com
One ancient turquoise pit in the Halloran Mountains is
30 feet long, 12 feet wide and 12 deep. Even tunnels had
been started, and tools of hammerstones and picks were
left, as was some black and white pottery. Some 50 Pueblo
sites have been reported north and east of the Mojave Riv-
er, and Anasazi “Gray Ware” pottery shards littered East
Cronise Lake, Crucero, Halloran Springs and east into Ne-
vada. These are some of the extant evidence of prehistoric
mining (1,150–1,450 B.P.) in the eastern Mojave Desert.
But there was much more mining, i.e., obtaining and
utilizing minerals, in the desert. Elephant Mountain, at
Daggett, shows evidence of not only a metate quarry site,
but debris sites left from shaping and lessening weight
to make portable metates. Besides all the quarry sites for
making rock tools and points, Native Americans obtained
— 92 —

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Old Ores

Mining History in the Eastern Mojave Desert

Robert E. Reynolds, Editor

The Oro Belle claim in Hart. Photograph courtesy Larry Vredenburgh.

Old Ores: mines and mineral marketing

Abstracts from the 2005 Desert Symposium

Cancelled due to flooding

An overview of mining in the California Desert

The historical mining towns of the eastern Mojave Desert

Railroads around Mojave National Preserve

The mint at the Mescal Mine

Evaporative salt production on Soda Dry Lake

The Silver Lake talc deposits, San Bernardino County, California

Halloran turquoise: a thousand years of mining history

Rich Hill, Arizona: a modern gold rush to a historic gold district

Abstracts of Proceedings, 2005 Desert Symposium

Old ores: mines and mineral

Introduction Planck, 1961; Vredenburgh and others,1981; Vreden-

in their fight against gravity.

164.9 (0.8) Stop at pavement: turn left (north) on Es-

Bunkhouses and mess hall, looking northwest toward the orebody.

take advantage of the magnetite/hematite ore body in

Pass north into the Amargosa basin.

clearing before the road begins a

115.7 (0.4) Stop; turn right.

Cancelled due to flooding

Southern California experienced heavy rains during

Afton Canyon; west crossing

West Afton trestle. East Afton trestle.

West Baker Boulevard.

An overview of mining in the

rails finally reached Mojave. The teams of bullion from

miles north of the Santa Fe

The historical mining towns of the

Abstract and installed a leaching operation, which produced some

ford to develop their properties. In November 1873 the

But that changed in

The Copper World smelter at Rosalie (Valley Wells).

ing company were especially hard hit.

over the validity of their claims. In response,

Plat of Getchell in the Hackberry Mountains.

Railroads around Mojave National

Figure 1. San Pedro, Los

struction southeastward via

Figure 2. Tonopah & Tidewater

Borate & Daggett. Smith’s

Figure 3. Burlington Northern &

a mile and a half long”

Figure 4. Southeast of Zyzzx out on the salt pan

inches between the rails. ers. Omaha: Kratville Publications, 1974.

The Mint at the Mescal Mine

though Congress was called upon to

Evaporative salt production on

The Mojave River is the southernmost major river

monia ice machine.

Figure 3. Concrete equipment

Figure 4. Dry-laid retaining

Figure 5. Wooden cross-ties of narrow gauge rail system on Soda

Walking tour of Soda Lake salt works